Page 63 of Gatsby's Starlet
“Gatsby,” I breathed, my fingers threading into his hair, holding him close. He hummed against my skin, the vibration traveling down my spine, awakening every nerve. His lips moved lower, capturing my nipple in his warm mouth. He sucked gently at first, his tongue flicking over the hardened peak, then grazed it with his teeth, just enough to make me gasp and arch my back. Pleasure shot through me, sharp and sweet, my pussy clenching with need.
“I want to take my time with you this morning,” he said, his tone commanding yet tender, holding my gaze.
“Take all the time you want,” I murmured, already lost in his touch.
And he did.
It was hours later before we finally fell back to sleep completely exhausted.
***
I slept longer than I meant to, deeper than I expected to after everything, the kind of sleep that pulled me under completely, and when I finally started to come back up, it was slow, like I had to fight my way through layers of it, my breathing shifting before my eyes even opened as softer light filtered through the room in a way that didn’t match the night we’d just had.
For a moment, I didn’t move, didn’t think, just lay there breathing, until I felt it, the quiet awareness of him nearby, not touching me, not crowding, just there, steady enough that it grounded me before I even fully woke.
“Hey,” he said, quiet enough not to startle me, just enough to anchor me as my eyes opened.
Everything came back all at once, the night, the fear, the way it ended, and the fact that he was still here, and when my gaze found him, something in my chest shifted in a way that I’ve never experienced before.
“You’re still here,” I said, my voice rough from sleep, softer than I meant it to be.
“Yeah,” he answered easily, like it had never been in question. “Nothing could get me out of your bed.”
I held his gaze longer than I probably should have, wanting so much to be free to love him.
He pushed up from the bed after that, not rushing but not lingering either, running a hand over the back of his neck as he stood, his eyes moving around the room in that way he had, like he was always checking, always aware, before settling back on me.
“I gotta get to the bar,” he said, already shifting into something more practical even if part of him still felt like it was here. “Chain’ll have my ass if I don’t show for inventory.”
A small breath left me at that, something almost like a smile pulling at the corner of my mouth before it faded again, not quite strong enough to stay. “Right.”
I pushed myself up slowly, the blanket slipping down a little as I did, and something in me hesitated, not physically, but mentally, like my thoughts lagged behind my body, trying to catch up to everything that had changed overnight.
He stepped closer then, stopping just in front of me, and I went still without meaning to as his hand came up, brushing a piece of hair back from my face, the touch light but deliberate enough that it made my breath catch anyway.
“You good?” he asked, quieter now, not pushing, but not letting it go either.
I nodded too quickly. “Yeah.”
His eyes stayed on mine a second longer than necessary, like he didn’t fully believe it, like he was waiting to see if I’d say more, and when I didn’t, he let it go for now, his hand dropping back to his side as he shifted just enough to give me space, but not enough to feel like he was walking away.
“I’ll be at High Voltage tonight,” he said, like it was already decided. “Stop by and we can do something after.”
My eyes lifted back to his, something in me settling just a little at that, like it gave me something solid to hold onto. “Okay.”
He held my gaze a second longer, and when he spoke again, his voice dropped slightly, more deliberate now. “We can talk about what scared you last night.”
It wasn’t a question, and it wasn’t really a request either, it sat somewhere in between, something that carried more weight than just meeting up later, and I hesitated for a secondbecause there was still so much I hadn’t said, so much I didn’t understand yet about what this was and what he was asking without saying it outright.
“It was nothing,” I said.
He didn’t believe me, even if it didn’t show much, and he stepped back after that, turning to grab his things without dragging it out, and something in my chest tightened at the movement, because I already knew if he stayed longer, I wouldn’t want him to leave at all, and that felt like something I needed to be careful with.
“I hate running out like this,” he said, leaning down to kiss me. “But I’ll make up for it tonight.” He moved toward the door, pausing just long enough to glance back at me, his eyes taking me in in a way that made it feel like he was committing it to memory.
“Lock up after me,” he said, his tone shifting, more serious now.
My brows pulled together slightly, but I nodded. “I will.”
