Page 54 of Hauling Ashe

“I’ll be right back,” he quietly says. After slipping free from me, he rushes to the bathroom but quickly returns with a washcloth. I need a minute and excuse myself for the bathroom. Returning, I find Tucker under the covers, his bare hip exposed, and I hesitate between grabbing pajamas and staying naked. I don’t typically sleep in the nude, but Tucker is giving me a look that says get in this bed and I climb up beside him. When I slip my head to his chest, he rotates to his side and within minutes, we’re wrapped together like some twisted knot. Legs entwined. Arms around each other. I nuzzle his neck and fall asleep in a position I’d never imagined sleeping in.

24

NEW MEXICO – DAY 5

Playlist: “Chasing Cars” – Snow Patrol

[Tucker]

In the morning, our upper bodies have drifted apart while we slept but our legs remain entangled and I’m hard as ever. I wake finding Mae already eyes wide open, staring up at the ceiling, and I wonder what she’s thinking, what she’s feeling.

Last night had been amazing.

Rochelle and I had an active sex life despite our troubled relationship. Being young when we married, we’d given in to the youthful ease of sleeping together. She was a spitfire and sometimes sex was the only thing to settle her. The connection reminded her I was there for her. I was the one present. She hadn’t mourned my father and admitted the affair had been a mistake. A young woman taken in by the attention of someone older, someone experienced.

The lusty behavior led to Julia’s birth, and I’d fallen into the path forged for me of fatherhood and working for the family company. Her father invested as Grandfather wanted. Rochelle was a stay-at-home mother as she wanted to be. Life moved forward. However, she grew restless, which led to blogging about her daily life, which turned into a college degree in modern women’s study and a master’s in psychology, all for a woman who originally only dreamed of staying home and raising kids. She crossed the line to working mother and balancing everything. I was her partner, her lover, her best friend. Or so she said to the world.

We were anything but behind closed doors.

Still, sex happened. How else can you profess Makeout Mondays or Liven-Up Thursdays unless you practice what you preach? And as much as we’d grown stagnant, we still tried to follow her rules. It hadn’t helped. We were two separate entities sharing a home. When Julia moved to California for college, the empty apartment was the end of everything. Rochelle’s platform had shifted from young marriage to motherhood of older children. When your kids become your best friends, she’d profess. Julia had been close to her mother, but they weren’t the same people, and my daughter hated the spotlight.

My eyes remain on Mae with these thoughts. She’s more like my daughter in that manner. She doesn’t need limelight. She didn’t need fame or attention.

What does she need? Would I be enough for her? The question seems impossible to answer. I’ve never been first in another person’s life. The thought feels like another unfulfilled dream.

“We should probably get moving,” I say. We have miles to cover today. Yet, I don’t want to leave this bed. Today is Tuesday and we still have the rest of this state plus all of Arizona and California to cross. I don’t foresee making it to Julia by noon on Wednesday. I’m not even certain I’d make midnight, and suddenly I don’t mind. We have wiggle room as Mae said when we started our journey.

But then what? I lose Mae. I don’t like that thought.

“Yeah,” Mae softly replies, rolling from the bed. But I’m on my knees on the mattress before I know what I’m doing, reaching out for her wrist and stopping her retreat.

“Wait.” Kneeling as I am, I’m fully on display, cock stiff and pointing at her. It knows what it wants. Mae and I meet eyes. “We don’t need to rush.”

With our eyes still on one another, hers drop, scanning my body. Her perusing gaze is like a soft caress as she dusts over my chest where her fingers played with the coarse hair last night. She eyes my abs, and I suck in a breath, emphasizing them further for her inspection. Finally, her sight lands on my cock, hard and stiff and so ready for her, longing for her. Morning wood is a blessing and a curse, and right now I want her to use ohmygod on me in both manners.

“It isn’t fair,” she whispers and my brows pinch wondering what she means. “That body is a weapon. Maybe not of mass destruction but…” Her voice falters. Does she think I’ll destroy her? She’s already ruining me. I didn’t know it could be like this. This yearning to be with someone has consumed me, especially since yesterday. Riding out the remainder of the day in the car with her was too much. I just wanted to pull into one of her roadside motels and book a room for the afternoon, bury myself inside her to keep her close and off the fucking roads.

My face heats at her assessment of me. I’m a vain man on a good day, but the appraisal from a woman like Mae is extra sweet. As I tug at her wrist, she lurches forward, catching herself on the mattress but I continue to gently pull her, forcing her back up on the bed. I fold to my back, hinting at what I want. Mae crawls over me and straddles my dick. She’s already wet and so warm, cradling me in that soft spot on her. Her hands come to my chest and coast over the tight skin, solid muscle, and coarse hairs with a hint of white in them. I’m coming out of said skin as I want her again.

“Kiss me,” I demand.

“I have morning breath.” She giggles as she rubs forward and back over me.

“I don’t give a shit.” I jackknife upward and take what I want from her. Cupping her cheeks in both hands, I kiss her as I did yesterday. Mae kisses back, fierce and hungry, just as I’d hoped she would. She said it’s been a long time and I can relate, and I’ve missed kissing like this. Guiding her down over me, I lean back, keeping her connected to me with this kiss. Her wetness coats me, and the heat of her folds against the length of my cock feels amazing. I want to slip into her bare but I’m practicing safe sex here.

Breaking free from her lips, I tip my head and reach for a condom I’d placed on the nightstand last night. Mae watches me as I roll it on. Her blue eyes are wide and bright, and hunger fills them once more. I want her mouth sucking me dry but right now, I want to be inside her more than anything. Once I’m covered, Mae tips up on her knees and I hold myself in position. The anticipation is too much and already I feel my lower back tightening. My balls hitch and suddenly I’m surrounded by Mae.

“Fuck,” I ground out as she takes me deep, sliding to the hilt. She didn’t waste any time, just dropped, and I’m inside, and damn, I want to stay here. I’m desert and she’s sunshine, and she’s going to scorch my heart.

Immediately, Mae moves, bopping up and down on my length. Her breasts jiggle. Her fingertips claw at my chest. I love watching her, but her eyes are closed.

“Look at me, sunshine.” Her eyes pop open but too quickly, they close again. “Keep them open.”

Mae opens once more, but she fights the battle. “It’s hard to look,” she whispers, and I wonder why. Did she always close her eyes during sex? I don’t want to think about her with that dick ex, but I want an answer.

“Why?”

Mae keeps moving, slipping up and back on me but she answers. “It helps me fantasize.”