Worth the Fall (Sugar Mountain #1)

DON’T WAKE ME UP

brOOKLYN

I f this was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up. Ever. I was so deliciously sore. My muscles ached in places I hadn’t even known could hurt. My body had been worshipped to the point of exhaustion. I’d been licked and nipped and sucked and touched all over. I’d had no idea that sex could be like that. Or that I could feel so beautiful while having it. Thomas made everything feel like a brand-new experience. I was in awe and never wanted him to stop.

Had we even slept for more than two hours at a time? I didn’t even know. Hell, I didn’t even care as long as we got to do it some more.

I shifted on the bed, moving Thomas’s arm from over me without trying to wake him up. But when I turned to face him, I saw his blue eyes already open, staring at me with a little grin on his face.

“You’re up?”

“I’m not sure I slept,” he admitted as his hand ran through the strands of my hair. “I think a part of me thought that you might disappear if I did.”

Swoon. This man is a real-life dreamboat.

“Do we have to go to work?” I asked.

“Today?”

“Ever.”

He laughed. “Yes, baby. We have to go to work.”

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my lips as I pouted, even though the nickname made my heart do funny things inside my chest.

“I’m not sure I can walk,” I said with a laugh of my own, but I could feel the soreness in my thighs.

Thomas stretched, the muscles in his arms flexing with the movement, and I swore I started drooling. “I’ll go start the shower for you. Put that body under some hot water.”

I waggled my eyebrows at him. “Are you joining me?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “Can’t. Clara will be home soon.”

My body tensed. “Should I go? Do you want me to be here when she gets back?”

I wasn’t sure why I started freaking out. I adored the sweet girl, but I had no idea how to be a parent or what Thomas thought would be the best course of action. All I knew was that I didn’t want to mess it up.

Thomas eyed me. “Do you plan on breaking up with me anytime soon?” he asked.

I wanted to throw myself at him and tell him that I was never breaking up with him, but I refrained and channeled my inner sarcasm instead.

“Not soon , soon,” I teased, still unable to wrap my head around the fact that I was Thomas O’Grady’s actual girlfriend.

“Well, in that case, I think it’s okay if you’re still here when she gets home then. We’ll only screw her up a little bit when you dump me next week.”

“Oh good. I was worried we might ruin her forever or something.”

Without warning, he toppled toward me, pinning me beneath his stupidly hard body. It honestly wasn’t comfortable, but who cared about comfort anyway? Not me. Not anymore. Not right now. That body was mine for the taking. Rock climbing and all.

“We’re not breaking up, just so you know.” He pressed a quick kiss on the tip of my nose. “But I’ll pretend it’s on the table if it makes you more comfortable and less likely to run.”

I struggled to formulate the perfect response, but he pushed out of bed and padded toward the bathroom, still completely buck naked, before I could. His nakedness ruined my ability to think straight. I heard the water turn on, and I couldn’t wait to get my body underneath all that heat. Throwing the covers off, I stepped onto the floor and stretched my arms overhead. And when I tried to take a few steps, I started laughing at the literal pain I was in.

People talked about being sore after sex or feeling like they’d ridden a horse all night, but I’d never been able to relate. At least not to this level. I felt like I was finally part of some not-so-secret sex club. The kind where you needed a full-body massage to work out all of the working out you’d done the night before.

When I finally managed to make it into the bathroom, Thomas was standing there, one hand underneath the showerhead, testing the water temperature, while the other fiddled with the lever.

“It should be good.” He stepped away and held my naked body with a heated stare.

Typically, I’d be a little uncomfortable, standing there in my birthday suit, thinking about all my imperfections and things that weren’t quite up to model standards, but Thomas made me feel anything but.

“Go put some clothes on. You can’t just walk around all godlike, looking at me like that, and expect me not to mount you,” I warned as I stepped inside the waiting shower right after I threw my hair up in a messy bun on top of my head.

The second the water hit my shoulders, I moaned out in pleasure from the warmth and the feel of it. The pressure was downright delicious.

“Brooklyn,” Thomas growled, but I could no longer see him. The glass doors had fogged right up, hiding him from view.

I knew when he left because I heard the door shut quietly. I stood there, letting the warm water beat on my back before spinning around so it could hit the front of me as well. And when the bathroom door opened once more, I went to ask Thomas if everything was okay, but he stepped into the shower before I could.

My eyes dropped to his chest before following it down. “I thought Clara was coming home?”

“She is.” He stepped closer. “Patrick said they’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes?” I laughed. “Last I checked, you didn’t do anything in ten minutes.”

“Figured it was worth a shot since all I do when I’m in this shower is fantasize about having you in it.”

I swallowed hard. “You thought about me?”

“Since the day you took the job. You and that damn mouth of yours,” he said.

I smirked at what he’d just admitted. I loved knowing that.

“So, what did you fantasize about?” I pushed, my curiosity getting the best of me.

“You. Like this.” He spun my body around and moved me toward the built-in bench. Placing a hand on my back, he pushed until I was bent over, ass up in the air, hands gripping the marble. “Hold on, baby,” he warned as he coaxed himself inside of me from behind and started pounding like he was a damn carpenter and I was a piece of wood in need of nailing.

Between the hot water spilling between us and Thomas moving in and out of me, the friction built quicker than I’d anticipated. For both of us, apparently. When it was done, I forced my body upright and turned around to face the man that I had very strong feelings for already. Thomas kissed me, spilling all of his unsaid emotions into that kiss. We were tethered together, he and I, in a way I couldn’t explain and didn’t want to overanalyze.

“I guess you can do something in under ten minutes,” I said once we broke apart.

“Don’t get used to it.” He kissed me again before getting out and wrapping his body in a towel.

I followed suit, not wanting to be naked and in the shower when Clara got home. I’d just finished putting on the same clothes that I had worn yesterday for dinner when I heard the front door open and Clara’s little voice shouting from downstairs.

“Daddy! I’m home!”

“We’re upstairs!” he shouted back, and I didn’t miss the way he’d said we’re .

Clara came running into the bedroom, her eyes growing wide when she caught sight of me. “Miss Brooklyn! You’re still here?”

“I’m still here,” I said, mimicking her tone as she ran to me with open arms, and I bent down to give her a hug.

“Did you have a sleepover too?” she asked once she let go of me.

I shot Thomas a look that said I was unsure how to answer this, but he gave me a subtle nod that told me it was okay to tell her the truth.

“I did. We missed you though.”

“It’s okay. We can have another sleepover together. Right, Daddy?”

“Of course,” he said as he scooped her up in a hug. “Is Uncle Patrick downstairs?”

She shook her head. “Nope. He had to go build the barn.”

“How was your night?” he asked as he put her down.

“Jasper slept in my room with me. On my bed.” She covered her mouth like maybe that was bad somehow. “I love him.”

“Sounds like he loves you too,” Thomas said softly. “Go get ready for school. We’ve got to take Miss Brooklyn home on our way there.”

“How come?” she asked, her little head cocked to one side.

“She needs her car,” he said, and Clara looked at me, her head nodding in understanding.

“And to change her clothes,” I whispered as soon as Clara bounded away.

And just like that, the three of us slipped into a routine that not only felt normal, but comfortable as well. Shouldn’t this have been a little more difficult to adjust to? Shouldn’t I have felt more like an outsider when it came to their firmly established dynamic?

All I knew was that I didn’t feel like I didn’t belong. I felt wanted. And included. It should have been weird, but it wasn’t. And that should have scared the hell out of me... but it didn’t .