Hold Onto the Stars by Tracy Broemmer

Chapter 21

Crosby wasn’tsure what she’d expected, but making sweet love against Peyton’s kitchen wall wasn’t it. Not that she was complaining. Obviously, she had hoped—planned—for sex. She’d chosen the lace thong and matching bra without Violet’s help. She’d showered and shaved and smoothed cocoa butter lotion head to toe, imagining Peyton’s hands on her as she did so.

Still, she had assumed they would have dinner. Maybe talk a bit. And then move things forward. Or upward, to his bedroom. She hadn’t been able to wait, though. She had to get her mouth on his the second she was in his house, and then some inner horny she-devil had consumed her, and she’d all but begged him to finger her.

Which had been incredible. His hands had roamed her body almost like a sculptor, and the touch of his fingers on her clit, in the slick heat between her legs, had been her undoing. Even as her orgasm had ripped through her, reminding her that good sex was not overrated, she was imagining him naked, hungry to see him, to touch his body. His cock.

She’d climbed him like a tree when he was finally naked. And then she had expected a hard crash against the nearest flat surface. She had assumed he would fuck her, maybe roughly enough to make it hurt just a little, and yet, Peyton had shocked her with his tenderness. Rather than drive his massive cock into her and fuck her against the wall, he had pushed into her slowly, as if he needed to savor each inch he claimed of her. He had looked her in the eye as their bodies moved together. Kissed her intimately. Called her perfect.

Different.Every moment with him was unexpected, and therefore, delightful. And different.

Crosby didn’t doubt love existed, but she wasn’t sure she would ever find it. Love at first sight—fast love—was the stuff of movies and books. It wasn’t real, and if it was, it was never enough to last.

And now, here she was, back against Peyton’s wall, her legs wrapped around his waist and his cock buried high and hard inside her, thinking this was perfect. Across the room, the table was set for two. He had made her dinner and poured her wine, and his damned dog had greeted her like a long-lost love, and Peyton was moving inside her, driving them both to the stars. CJ wanted to grab them with both hands and hold on and stay there.

Perfect.

No promises. No heavy words. No script to follow.

Just perfection.

Arms wrapped around his shoulders, face pressed to his, Crosby moved with him and dropped her head to his shoulder when the waves of pleasure rolled over her. She moaned softly and hung onto him as the room faded away, and it was just the two of them, her body quivering with pleasure.

Only when she felt his body tense against her did she lift her head to look at him. Eyes closed tight, he held his breath for a moment. Crosby kissed his cheek, making him blink at her. She held the eye contact as he groaned her name and collapsed against her.

“I don’t want to move.” His lips moved against her neck, his breath warm on her skin.

“I know.” She rubbed his shoulder absently, head tipped back on the wall.

“I need you naked.” He moved just enough to drag his thumb over her nipple. “I need to kiss you everywhere.”

She was overcome with the need to tell him this was different, that no one had ever fixed her dinner like this. She had never dated a guy who set the table with pretty dishes and handed her a wine glass and told her she looked beautiful. To keep her mouth from spilling all of her secrets now, she bit her lip and stared at him, content to drink him in.

All of that was different, yes.

But even that wasn’t what made him special.

It was the way he made her laugh. The way he loved his dog. The collection of baseball and football cards he still cared enough about to move inside the house. The fact that he had lost his chance at a college soccer career and lost a woman who should have loved him enough to stay with him, and the fact that he was a teacher. Maybe he’d wanted to teach high school, but maybe Peyton had ended up with younger kids for a reason.

“What’re you thinking?” His gruff voice stirred her from her thoughts. She offered him a lazy grin and lifted one hand to stroke his lips.

“Trying to decide if Junie’s as impressed as I am, or if she’s jealous and planning to bite my ass the second I turn my back to her.”

Peyton swung his gaze over his shoulder to find Junie sprawled in her bed near the back door, mournful eyes on them.

“She doesn’t look impressed,” he decided as he turned back to CJ. “And you’re lying.”

“Well, you’re her dad.” CJ shrugged. “So, that’s an ick factor. And I’m not lying.”

A smile tugged at Peyton’s lips as he stared at her.

“Also, I highly recommend biting your ass.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Super tight and sexy.”

CJ snorted softly. She lowered her legs, loving the friction of her skin over his. Peyton’s hands were everywhere on her at once, but CJ felt cherished rather than ravaged. He unhooked her bra as the oven timer went off.

“And I was just getting started.” He let go of the lace and skimmed his fingers over her rib cage, just beneath her breasts. CJ arched her back, her nipples hard and ready for his touch.

“I don’t want you to stop.” She arched her brows hopefully.

“Hang on one second.”

CJ watched him as he moved in his kitchen, not remotely self-conscious in his nudity.

“Don’t move.”

“I’m not,” she promised with a small smile. “Enjoying the view.”

He flashed her a grin and tugged on matching red oven mitts.

“Be careful there,” she said softly when he opened the oven door.

“Not funny.” He shook his head and reached in for the glass dish. “I’m thinking this could sit for a little while.” He put the dish on hot pads on the counter, closed the door, and turned the oven off.

“I like that idea.”

“And we could go upstairs.”

“Even better.”

Peyton tossed the oven mitts to the counter and turned to study her for a moment.

“What?”

“I’m thinking.” He pursed his lips. “Take it off down here. Or when we get upstairs.”

CJ laughed and rolled her eyes.

“If I get the full show down here, we’re not gonna make it to the bed again.”

“That would be a shame.” She tugged one cup down just low enough to give him a peek at her nipple.

“If we wait and get upstairs?” He cocked his head and grinned. “I’m gonna tear you up.”

“Mmm.” She patted the lace back in place. “I like the sound of that.”

“And I like…” He crossed the room to stand in front of her. “The idea of your dress on my kitchen floor. Your thong on the floor here. And your bra somewhere upstairs.”

“Yeah?”

“Mmm.” He nodded and eyed her bra and belly again. “The idea of your clothes scattered all over my house while I have you in my bed, legs wide and my mouth on your pussy.”

“Jesus, Peyton,” she hissed. She rolled her head on the wall and dipped her fingers between her legs again. “I want your mouth on my pussy.”

“Then I guess we’re going upstairs.”

“What about—”

“She’ll be fine.”

Junie lifted her head when Peyton moved away from CJ to pick up a stuffed duck from the floor. He tossed it in her direction. Junie stretched, but she was still too far away to grab it. CJ chuckled when she huffed and put her head back down on her paws.

“Ready?” Peyton looked back at CJ and reached for her hand.

She linked her fingers with his and followed him out of the kitchen, through the living room, and up the steps to his bedroom. CJ tipped her head back to watch him, thrilling at the fluid movement of muscle under his skin, the way his butt tightened as he climbed each step. When he glanced over his shoulder and caught her shamelessly watching him, she gave him a hearty laugh and wagged her eyebrows.

“I’m thinking,” she said with a smile. “First time I’ve had this view.”

“And?”

“I’m a fan.”

At the top of the steps, Peyton turned to grab her. He hauled her over his shoulder and carried her into his bedroom, both laughing all the way. But when he put her down at the end of the bed, the playfulness was gone, replaced with that same tenderness he had shown her in the kitchen.

Kissing her with long, slow strokes of his tongue, Peyton slipped the lace straps of her bra from her shoulders. The skimpy piece of material fell away as he cupped her breasts in his hands.

“I love looking at you.” He tipped his head back to look at her, his gaze lingering on her breasts, on his thumbs on her nipples. “Touching you.”

CJ pushed him gently to the bed, crawling up over him when he lay flat.

“I wanted to touch you that first night with Violet.” Straddling him, she stroked the hard planes of his chest and then cupped her hands around his thick arms. “It killed me that she was talking to someone else and not eating up every second she could be with you.”

“But you were gonna let her have me?” He settled his hands on her hips.

“What if she had wanted to see you again?” CJ leaned over him to kiss him. Peyton smoothed his hands up over her back and slipped them around to play with her breasts again. Enjoying the attention, the playful pinches, and the way he rolled her nipples between his fingers, she lingered at his mouth, happy to nibble and lick his lips and his tongue.

“I think this is why she didn’t.” He lifted his head to catch her mouth in another slow, deep kiss.

“What do you mean?”

“I couldn’t have had chemistry with her,” he said simply. “Not the way my body needed yours.”

CJ straightened briefly, only to lean down again and drop kisses over his belly as she inched back over his legs.

“That all you need from me? My body?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” he growled. “Because you feel it, too.”

CJ nipped at his hip bone and met his eyes. She did feel it, but she wasn’t ready to say so. Besides, he was right. Neither of them needed to talk, no words could make what they were doing any more real, more right.

“Do you have more condoms?”

“Yes.”

“Peyton?”

“Hmm?”

She licked her lips and considered how to continue.

“I don’t mind.” Whether it was her throaty whisper or the flick of her tongue over the tip of his cock, Peyton’s hips shot off the bed. CJ took him in her mouth for a moment. “If you don’t use one.”

“CJ.”

“I trust you.”

“C’mere.”

CJ gave him her hand and let him pull her up to lie beside him on the pillows. Their eyes met as he pushed her hair back from her face.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

His hand cupped her breast, and he lifted it as if in offering. She watched him duck his head and close his lips around her nipple.

“I haven’t been with anyone for a long time,” he told her. “I’m clean.”

She nodded. “Me too.”

Another kiss, and he threw his leg over hers and then straddled her. On his elbows, his hips over hers, ready to drive into her, he paused and met her eyes.

“You sure?”

“You’re positive you won’t—”

“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t get you pregnant. I wouldn’t play games with you about that.”

“Yes.” She lifted her hips toward his, the tip of his cock grazing her seam. “I want to make love like this. With nothing between us.”

He drove into her harder this time, but she was ready for him. He filled her completely, his cock thick and hard and hot inside her. CJ wound her legs over his and fitted the arches of her feet over his calves, moving, rolling her hips with his as he moved over her. The bed was hot, and his skin was flushed and sticky over hers, and he whispered to her as he kissed her.

“You’re beautiful,” he told her. “Never gonna get enough of you, Crosby.”

CJ, desperate to take everything he gave her, met him thrust for thrust. She clung to him, nibbling on his neck and licking his lips, her hands claiming, possessing every inch of his body she could reach. She was breathless when he shifted over her and slipped his hand between her legs to stroke her clit.

“Oh my God.” She clenched her teeth as he worked her sensitive skin with his fingers. “Peyton, yes. Right there.” She twisted and writhed under him, chanting his name as he lifted her thigh to plunge deeper. The heat exploded inside her, throwing sparks through her blood and under her skin. Wrecked as he continued to move for her, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and whimpered against his neck.

“Are you sure you want me to—”

“Yes.” She pushed his face back just enough to look him in the eyes. “I want to feel you come inside me.”

“You feel so fucking good.” He nearly growled the words as he picked up the pace. Seconds later, he stiffened above her with his release. CJ reveled in the feel of his hot, wet excitement pulsing inside her. He collapsed on her, his weight pressing her into the mattress. CJ kissed the side of his head as he nuzzled his face in her neck.

“I don’t think I can move,” she mumbled, eyes closed.

“Why would you ever move?” Peyton flopped over to lay on his back, pulling her with him. CJ snuggled close, resting her head on his chest.

“Mmm.” She smoothed her hand over his flat belly. “You mean we can just stay here like this forever?”

“Absolutely.”

“What about dinner?”

“You stay here, and I’ll bring dinner to you. I’ll even feed it to you here in my bed.”

CJ laughed softly. “Peyton?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s more, right?”

He lifted his head from his pillow to grin at her. “Greedy girl. Hell yes, there’s more, but you’re gonna have to give me a minute.”

CJ scooted up to kiss him and then drew back to look at him. She stroked her fingers over his lips.

“No. I mean…” She closed her eyes when he sucked her fingers into his mouth. “Between us. Does this feel different?”

Peyton cupped the back of her neck in his hand and pulled her close for another kiss. CJ whimpered when he flipped her over again to lie on her back.

“This feels perfect.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “Nothing’s ever felt this perfect.”