I reached down under the covers and stroked him gently, feeling him stiffen beneath my touch. "So, was it everything you hoped it would be?" I grinned up at him.
He smiled back down at me and then drew in a sharp breath when I ran one finger around the head of him. He nodded vigorously and then signed, More.
As I watched him, his brow furrowed slightly and when I asked, "What's wrong?" he answered, I think I should go to the store and get some condoms. He looked down at me a little nervously.
I stared up at him, wondering if his uncle had talked to him about birth control–thinking that it was probably something I should have brought up.
They're ninety eight percent effective in preventing pregnancy, he said, still looking in my eyes. It says so right on the box at the pharmacy.
I couldn't help it, I grinned up at him.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled down at me. Are you laughing at me? he asked, but he didn't seem upset.
I put my hand on his cheek, going serious. "No, never." I shook my head. "I'm on the pill."
The pill?
I nodded. "It prevents me from getting pregnant."
When he just kept staring at me, I went on, "I've just refilled the prescription because it makes my periods lighter and… so…"
He nodded and leaned his face down and nuzzled his nose against mine, kissing my mouth and then both eyelids and then the tip of my nose. He smiled down at me and my heart squeezed in my chest.
He brought his hands up and pushed a few strands of my hair aside as I gazed up at him. He studied my face for long minutes as if he was memorizing everything about me.
"What are your dreams, Archer?" I whispered, wanting to know what was in his heart.
He looked at me for another couple beats and then pushed himself back onto his knees and pulled me up so that I was straddling his lap. I smiled at him, wrapping my arms around his neck, but pulling back to let him speak.
He brought his hands up and said, I didn't know enough to dream you, Bree, but somehow you came true anyway. How did that happen? He rubbed his nose along mine, pausing and then pulling back again. Who read my mind and knew exactly what I wanted, even when I didn't?
I breathed out, smiling around the lump in my throat. I smiled against his lips and said, "I feel the same way. You're my dream too, Archer. Just as you are."
He looked into my eyes again, and then pulled me to him and kissed me deeply, his tongue swirling inside my mouth, tasting me everywhere.
I felt him swell and harden beneath me, and I sat up slightly and guided him to my entrance and then lowered myself down on him until he was buried inside me completely. He sucked in a breath and held me loosely around my waist as I started rocking slowly, moving up and down on his hard length.
Every time I came down, my clit hit his groin, sending delicious sparks of pleasure through me. I started gasping out each time I came down, throwing my head back and riding him faster and harder.
Archer leaned forward and sucked one nipple into his mouth, now right at the level of his face, and swirled his tongue around, adding to the pleasure shooting through my body. I could feel an orgasm right within reach and I raced to claim it.
His breath was coming out in sharp pants against my chest as he moved between breasts, licking and sucking at the stiff peaks, making me crazy with lust.
My body tightened and pulsed around him as an orgasm washed through me, and I cried out Archer's name, shivering with bliss.
I opened my eyes and looked into his, half closed and dark with desire. He took over and thrust up into me as I held onto him and moaned out at the small aftershocks he was inducing.
After a couple thrusts, I felt him swell even more inside of me and his lips parted and his eyes lowered further as he climaxed, his chest rising and falling in heavy pants.
He was so beautiful. I felt something catch in my chest and knew it was just him, taking my breath away.
I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to me, and I stayed seated on him for several minutes as our breathing slowed.
Then I leaned up and pulled off of him, making a small noise of loss that made him smile up at me. I smiled too and collapsed back on the bed, sighing contentedly.
Archer laid down next to me and signed, Is there any reason we need to leave this bed for the next… three months or so?
I laughed, looking over at him and signed, Nah, not really. I mean, other than that I'll get fired from my job and won't be able to pay my rent, and this bed will be out in the road at some point.
He grinned, his chest rising and falling in a silent chuckle. For a portion of a second, I wished desperately that I could hear that chuckle–I'd bet it was deep and throaty–a beautiful sound. But almost as quickly as the thought came, I dismissed it. I wanted him just as he was. I'd never hear his chuckle, but that was okay. I had his heart, and his thoughts, and him. And it was more than enough. In fact, it was everything.
I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him and then pulled back and said, Come take a shower with me.
He smiled and followed behind me to the bathroom where I quickly pinned my hair up, and then turned the water on to hot and climbed in.
Archer followed behind me and we took turns washing each other's bodies. He touched me tenderly, almost reverently, as he rubbed body wash over my skin. He cleaned every part of me, even between my toes as I giggled and pulled them away, signing, Too ticklish!
He grinned and stood up and kissed me hard on the mouth, and I grabbed the body wash from him and washed him from shoulders to toes as well, spending an extra bit of time on his muscular ass–but that was purely selfish. He had an exceptional ass.
When the water started cooling, we rinsed off one final time and stepped out, drying each other off.
I blew the candles out and then we climbed under the covers together, naked. Archer pulled me into him as I rested my head on his chest, drawing lazy circles on his skin with my pointer finger.
Outside, the rain was falling down gently now, and the moonlight over the lake shined in, casting just enough light that I could see Archer's hands when he raised them and said, You're my everything, Bree.
I leaned up and looked at his face in the semi-darkness. How was it that he looked happy and sad at the same time? "You're mine too, Archer," I said. "Everything."
"And now," I said sleepily, drifting toward sleep, "when a thunderstorm comes, I'll think of you, not anything other than you."
CHAPTER 22
Bree
Over the next week we fell into an easy routine, so wrapped up in each other that I could barely wait to get off work, practically racing home to shower and grab Phoebe before heading straight to Archer's house. The smile that he greeted me with each day made me feel treasured as I ran into his arms, feeling in my head and my heart that I was finally home.
Not the place, but his arms. Archer's arms were my home–the only place I wanted to be, the place where I felt safe. The place where I felt loved.
We made love everywhere, spending long nights exploring each other's bodies and learning everything about what brought pleasure to the other. And just like Archer, he became a master in the fine art of lovemaking–leaving me languid and drugged with pleasure at the end of every interlude. Not only did he know how to make me wild with desire with his hands and his tongue and his impressive male parts, but he knew that when he scratched the backs of my knees with his short fingernails, I would purr like a cat, and that it relaxed me entirely when he ran his fingers through my hair. It was as if my body was his instrument and he learned to play it so perfectly that the melody vibrated within my very soul. Not only because of the pleasure he brought, but because he cared so much to know every little thing about me.