Page 76 of Crossbones
He huffs a laugh and crawls under the covers. “This is my house and I already told you what I want.” When I don’t say anything he grins at me. “You’re welcome to sleep here,” His smile widens. “We don’t have to cuddle. Unless, of course, you’re into that now.”
I ignorethe joke and rub a hand over my face, making no move towards the bed.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I say.
Caspian yawns. “Do what? We just had fantastic sex. Don’t ruin it by thinking too hard, Blackwell.” When I still don’t move he groans in exasperation and throws the covers open on the other side of the bed.
“Just get in the fucking bed.”
He’s looking at me in amusement and I know the longer I stare at him, the more awkward it’ll be if I simply get dressed and leave.
So I stay. A look of happiness crosses Caspian’s face and I decide right then that makes it all worth it. I crawl under the sheets and lay down stiffly. Caspian hums in satisfaction and tosses the covers back over me, lying down with an arm behind his head. I can feel the moment Caspian decides he’s going to speak.
“Don’t,” I grumble.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say,” he says, a smile in his words.
“Whatever it is, it’ll probably make me regret staying.”
“Fine, Captain, I won’t make you talk about feelings tonight.”
“And tomorrow?”
He chuckles. “Tomorrow is a different story.”
CASPIAN
The soft, morning light spills through the window as I climb out of bed. As much as I want to stay here today, there are always things I need to take care of here in Foxhollow. Besides, Blackwell was awkward enough last night. I don’t want to make him think too hard about what to do if he wakes to find us still in bed together.
It is hard to leave him though—the light is drenching him in gold. He’s on his stomach, hugging the pillow, hair messy and unbound—looking like a fucking vision. My eyes drift over his back. His body is covered in scars and, like mine, his back a crisscrossed hell of lash marks. Following the lines lower, the sheet sits low on his hips, teasing me with just barely a glimpse of his perfect ass. I tell my cock to calm down as I yank on my pants, knowing I need to leave or I’ll just end up crawling back under the sheets with him. I make sure there’s coffee in the kitchen for him and head out in search of Carter and Van.
The rest of the day my thoughts are far from the tasks keeping me busy. They kept drifting through yesterday—the look on Blackwell’s face when he saw his sister was alive, the look of disbelief and tentative happiness over dinner with his family—I couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off my face all day. Then of course there was the sex—
Goddamn.
I was semi hard most of the day because the vision of him on top of me, remembering the unrestrained passion all over his face, it all kept popping into my head. Not to mention watching him come—fuck me.
The day couldn’t end fast enough and as the sun sank behind the mountains, I just wanted to go find Blackwell. My plans were ruined when Carter saideveryone was going to theFox & Ravenand insisted I go.
So here I am, more than a few whiskey shots deep and feeling good, when I see Blackwell walk through the door. My heart lurches up into my throat and my pulse starts to race at the sight of him. Our eyes meet and a small smirk pulls at my lips. His own twitch as though he might just return it, but Carter chooses that moment to throw his arm around my shoulders. Blackwell’s face darkens and he glares murderously at Carter’s arm. A pleasant feeling settles in my gut at the brutally possessive look I see in his eyes. Like he’s going to storm over here and throw Carter off me—
Why do I really want to see him do that?
Carter is leaning into me, talking about something that I’ve tuned out now that Blackwell has commandeered my attention. I watch him take two steps towards me and stop, change directions and head to the bar. Disappointment floods me, catching me off guard with the intensity of which I’d hoped he’d come over and assert his claim. But I know that’s too much to hope for, especially since the man is still new to all this.
He admitted to not knowing what to do, and while I have sympathy for this new side of him he’s exploring, I also want him to confidently step into it like everything else he does. Like he did during sex. There was no hesitation there. No tentativeness that screamed of him second-guessing himself.
“Caspian,” Carter drags my attention back to him, tightening his arm around my shoulders.
I turn back to Carter, seeing Blackwell out of the corner of my eye standing rigidly at the bar, strangling the drink in his hand, but refusing to meet my eyes again. Carter shoves a drink at me and I cheers him.Fuck it. Let him stew and get pissed off at Carter hanging on me. Maybe I should play with the fire and see if it provokes the flame.
I put an arm around Carter and lean in to say something in his ear. I watch Blackwell throw back a drink, then another one and another one.
“Why is Blackwell glaring at you?” Carter asks.
Sure enough, he’s glaring murderously in our direction. I stifle a smile and turn back to Carter.
“That’s his general state,” I say. “I don’t think the man knows how to smile.”
