The Holiday {7}
WARNING: NSFW. 18+ only.
Ships: Nesta x Cassian / Aelin x Rowan
Written alongside @snelbz
Trope(s): Christmas, fluff, love at first sight, enemies to lovers, New Year's
Summary: Nesta has just been dumped. Aelin hates her job. Both women need an escape from reality and with Christmas quickly approaching, it's the perfect time for a getaway. After discovering a trend where people can swap houses for a non-traditional vacation experience, these two women decide to spend the holidays in each other's homes. With their houses comes a series of unique experiences and a couple of handsome suitors. It's time to see just how much a change of scenery and two weeks of Christmas solitude and romance can change a person.
A/N: This chapter is for 18+ readers only. We hope you all had a great Christmas! Enjoy these last few chapters! x
Rating: M for mature - language, smut, substance use, etc. 18+.
Inspired by The Holiday (2006).
Aelin was completely unashamed to admit that she was looking out the front window of the cottage every five minutes to see if Rowan was coming early. He said he’d be there at six with a bag full of groceries to make her dinner, and it was already a quarter to.
After last night, there were no nerves, only excitement.
She had ultimately decided on something far more comfortable than the night before. Instead of a sleek dress that showed off her figure beautifully, she wore leggings, a baggy sweater, and her favorite boot socks. She had no doubt that Rowan was not the kind of man to mind comfort on a date.
Especially a home date.
Despite her cozy attire, she made sure her makeup was pristine and her messy bun was just messy enough. She was in the bathroom, adjusting her hair, when she finally heard a knock from the front door.
Launching herself into the hallway, she hurried to the door before skidding to a stop in front of it. Aelin took a deep breath to calm her racing heart and opened it.
The blast of cold air made her grateful for that deep breath and she closed the door as soon as Rowan was over the threshold. She turned to him and smiled as he tugged his black beanie off. His hair was messier than hers, but not nearly as intentional.
Chuckling, she reached up and smoothed out his hair. “Hi.”
He let her with no hesitation. “Hi.”
Noting the bags in his hands, she took them away from him and carried them to the kitchen once she deemed his hair smooth enough.
“I’m not saying I’m a chef by any means,” Rowan began, kicking off his boots and taking off his coat, “but I’m about to make you a kickass meal.”
With a grin, Aelin tried peeking in one of the bags but Rowan was instantly beside her, swatting her hand away.
“Surprise meal,” he clarified. He did, however, pull out a bottle of wine and a pint of whiskey. “To keep us satisfied until then.”
“Charming,” she murmured, getting two glasses out of one of the cupboards. “Keeping me occupied with alcohol.”
Rowan chuckled as he searched around Nesta’s kitchen for everything he needed. “Don’t worry, you won’t be drinking alone.”
Aelin poured him a glass of whiskey before blessing herself with a massive glass of wine that she had absolutely no shame in.
Sitting on a barstool, Aelin drank her wine, listening with rapt attention as Rowan recounted Sutton’s tales from ice skating earlier in the day. Even though she was staying the night with her grandmother again, he’d picked her up that morning, ran a few errands and ended up at the rink in the middle of the small town square.
“She swears it was an accident and she bumped into me, but what seven year-old girl bumps with enough force to knock a grown man on his ass?” Rowan asked, chuckling, shaking his head as he chopped veggies and transferred them onto a large baking dish. Aelin had laughed, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. His smile was easy as he began seasoning two large steaks, eyes dancing between her and the food he was preparing. “I’m okay though, in case you were worried.”
“Why would you think I was worried?” Aelin crooned quietly before taking another sip from her glass.
She could see Rowan grin even though he was watching the knife at work in his hand. “I had a feeling.”
Aelin snorted but didn’t bother correcting him.
Forty minutes later, Aelin sat across from Rowan at the little kitchen table and breathed in the display before her. Rowan had made steak, cooked in homemade garlic butter, and a medley of fresh vegetables. He also brought cheese bread, which he made from scratch, and Aelin found that stupidly charming.
“So not only are you a lumberjack,” Aelin began, cutting up her steak, “but a hell of a cook, too?”
Rowan shrugged. “I just watched enough YouTube videos to know how to make my way through a kitchen.”
Aelin laughed at the thought of Rowan studying YouTube videos. It was adorable, to say the least. “Well, YouTube is a great teacher, because this is fantastic.”
She had to keep herself from moaning when she popped a bite of steak into her mouth.
Rowan watched her intently. His eyes trailed her movements, watching as her mouth opened and closed, watched as her eyelids fluttered shut from the pure bliss of deliciousness. When her eyes opened once more, she caught his gaze and smiled.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” she asked. “I’m not the neatest eater, I know.”
Rowan swallowed, shaking his head. “No, nothing on your face.”
Aelin’s cheeks warmed as she continued to cut up her steak. “Well, then by all means, continue to stare.”
Rowan chuckled, straightening as he focused on his own plate. “I’m glad we’re doing this, Aelin. Even though you’re leaving in a few days…I like spending time with you. I feel like our time together has gone by too quickly.”
Aelin felt that way too. The thought of leaving next week made her chest ache, but there was nothing she could do about it. Once she left, she would always remember the handsome lumberjack that made her chest ache and her knees go weak.
Rather than linger on it, on the disappointment the thought of leaving him dredged up, she steered the subject elsewhere. “Now what about dessert?”
There was a beat of silence. “Dessert?”
She nodded. “The delicious course eaten after dinner? Usually there’s cake or cookies or something sweet like that.”
Aelin leaned back in her chair, immensely enjoying watching Rowan start to panic. They’d discussed her love of all things dessert, most specifically chocolate cake, the night before and she wanted to see if he’d remembered.
From the look on his face, it hadn’t even crossed his mind. “I, uh, didn’t bring dessert.”
Smirking, Aelin tipped her wine glass back, emptying it, before she stood. “It’s a good thing I did then.”
Rowan’s eyes narrowed as he watched her cross the kitchen to the fridge, where she pulled out a box from the local bakery. “It’s not nice to try and make people sweat.”
“Nice isn’t necessarily how people often describe me,” Aelin said, chuckling as she set the box down on the counter. Her eyes lit up once she opened the box and saw the magnificent chocolate cake staring up at her. “Besides, anyone who forgets about dessert is begging to be teased.”
Aelin cut a slice for herself then one for Rowan, and his eyes remained on her as she brought both plates back to the table.
He blinked at the slice in front of him. “This is massive.”
Aelin snorted, digging in. “Please, I can eat this entire thing by myself. Just be happy I’m being generous.”
Rowan huffed a laugh before taking a bite himself. It was delicious, one of the best cakes Aelin could remember eating. Halfway through, Rowan asked, “What did you mean by people not thinking you’re nice? I know we just met, but I wouldn’t describe you as otherwise.”
Aelin took a minute to think about her answer. “I’m a young woman in a big, corporate law office… I guess I’ve had to create a tough exterior for myself.”
He took another bite, chewing slowly, before setting the fork down. “You don’t seem real thrilled about that.”
Shrugging, Aelin used her fork to mash up a few bites of her cake. She’d done her best not to think about Arrobyn or work or really home at all while she’d been in Orynth, save for a few texts back and forth with Lys or Elide, but now her impending return brought it to the forefront. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy what I do. Yeah, the hours are a bit long and my boss can be a real asshole, but I make great money. Can’t really complain about having to be more assertive than I’d prefer.”
Rowan studied her for a moment and she felt scrutinized by the intensity of his stare, but he nodded at last and took another bite of his cake. Most likely getting the hint that this is not something she wants to talk about, Rowan changed the subject. “Seriously, I don’t know how you eat this junk. It’s too sweet.”
Aelin pushed her anxious thoughts of work away and gaped at the man across from her. “I don’t trust a man that doesn’t like chocolate cake.”
Rowan took a piece of cake between his fingers and tossed it at Aelin, where it hit her square in the face. She picked it up and ate it, saying how no one should ever waste such goodness, and continued to eat both pieces of cake before taking everything to the counter to wash the dishes. Rowan volunteered to help, and even though Aelin protested because he cooked, she eventually gave in and let him be the one to dry after she washed.
After putting the last of the dishes back into the cabinet, Aelin leaned back against the counter. “I’ve got something for you.”
The dish towel he’d used to dry the dishes was in his hands and he paused where he’d been draping it over the edge of the sink. “You do?”
She nodded, words suddenly foreign to her.
“I— I don’t have anything for you,” he admitted, looking embarrassed.
Scoffing, Aelin left the kitchen and headed for the tree. “You just made me the most delicious steak I’ve ever eaten. That’s a gift in itself.” She picked up a package wrapped in paper decorated with little, green trees. Sitting down on the couch, she placed the present on the coffee table. “I thought the wrapping paper was fitting.”
Rowan chuckled as he sat next to her, rubbing the back of his neck.
“It’s not much,” Aelin continued, “so don’t think too much on it…but I saw it this morning when, you know, I was buying the world's best cake and thought of you.”
Rowan’s eyes lit up and she thought he may like her thinking about him. She sure as hell liked thinking about him.
Rowan picked up the gift and fiddled with the paper for a moment before Aelin said, “Gods, lumberjack, just rip into it.”
With a grin, Rowan did just that. A small white box was beneath the paper, which he opened politely and took out what was inside.
Aelin bit her lip as Rowan pulled out the mug and read what was on it.
An image of a burly lumberjack was on the front standing next to a tree with a face. The speech bubble above the lumberjack read, May I AXE you a question? And the speech bubble above the tree read, AXE away.
Rowan stared at for a second, suppressing a grin, before looking up at Aelin. “This is, by far, the nerdiest gift anyone has ever gotten me.”
Aelin finally let out her laughter as her face fell into her hands. She groaned. “I thought it was cute!”
Rowan fell back into the couch as his laughter matched hers. “It is. I love it. Thank you, Aelin.”
When Aelin pulled her face out of her hands and looked at Rowan, he was already watching her. His smile was soft and the look in his eyes stripped her bare.
“You’re welcome,” she said, her voice suddenly quieter.
The silence fell between them, but it wasn’t awkward. It was comfortable, listening to the wood pop and crack inside the hearth. Rowan was the one to break it. “Any Christmas Eve traditions you’re skipping this year?”
Shaking her head, Aelin tucked her legs beneath her on the couch. “I’ve always spent it with my cousin and his fiancée, but they just had their first baby. They’re making their own traditions now. You?”
“Sutton and I watch the Polar Express every year,” he replied, a wistful tone in his voice. “This is the first year in a long time I haven’t watched it.”
“Is she watching it at her grandma’s?” Aelin asked. He nodded and she bit her lip. “Would you… would you like to watch it with me?”
Rowan arched a brow. “Seriously?”
Aelin nodded. “I’m sure I could find it on some streaming service. I haven’t watched it in years. Why not?”
Rowan’s surprised expression softened and he smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”
Aelin searched all of her streaming services before renting it from Amazon Prime. She pulled it up on her laptop and they got comfortable on the couch together as the movie started.
Rowan’s arm was around her and she leaned into him with no hesitation. Her head rested on his shoulder as his fingertips drew soft, slow circles on her arm. Aelin’s hand rested on his knee.
They weren’t even halfway through the movie when Aelin couldn’t ignore the urge any longer and kissed him.
He laid her down on the couch, their kiss going from something soft to something demanding very quickly. It was nothing like their kiss the night before, although just as sweet. Aelin wrapped her arms around his neck as his tongue danced alongside hers. She didn’t know how long she spent kissing Rowan, but she knew that she had kissed him long until her lips were bruised and exhaustion overpowered her.
She fell asleep on the couch, wrapped in Rowan’s arms, perfectly happy and utterly satisfied.
<.>.<.>.<.>
Nesta had never been so bored. Typically, she was okay being an introvert, but there was something strange about being alone on Christmas Eve. It didn’t feel right.
She’d FaceTimed with her sisters during dinner and had sent her editors updated drafts, which went unanswered. It figured that as soon as she was ready, they were MIA.
Granted, it was a holiday, so she couldn’t exactly blame them.
At quarter to eight, she’d found a bottle of vodka under Aelin’s kitchen cabinet and with a gallon of orange juice, she settled onto the couch to keep watching true crime documentaries. As she was returning to her seat with a refill, she saw movement outside on the sidewalk and glanced out the window by the door.
Sure enough, Cassian was opening his own gate and hurrying towards his front door. He didn’t have his guitar with him but after watching him come home from the Illyrian night after night, she knew he often left it at the bar.
He was alone.
She wondered if he wanted to be alone.
Every time he saw her, he invited her over, told her his door was always open, and for the first time…she wanted to act on that offer.
After taking a sip from her tall glass, Nesta slipped on her boots and hurried across the street. She knocked on the door and waited.
Cassian yelled something from the other side of the door that she couldn’t decipher but appeared a minute later in sweatpants.
He was in the middle of pulling a t-shirt on and Nesta caught a long glimpse of perfectly toned, tan abs.
Gods, he was fit.
As soon as he realized who stood in front of him, shock contoured his features. That shock quickly turned into satisfaction and a grin crept across his mouth. “Nesta.”
Suddenly, Nesta felt ridiculous so she spewed out the first excuse that came into her head. “I need sugar.”
Cassian lifted a brow, that grin spreading. “Sugar?”
“I’m baking,” she lied.
Cassian's arms crossed across his chest. “Do I look like the type of guy that has sugar lying around?”
“Some people take it in their coffee,” she stated. “Even if they don’t bake, they have it around.”
Cassian shook his head. “Sorry. I take mine black. No sugar here. But, if you’d like to tell me why you really came across the street, maybe I could help you there.”
“I—” She hesitated for a second, wondering why she had come over here. She’d come to Velaris to get away from everyone, yet she couldn’t get the man in front of her out of her mind. He’d been at the forefront, no matter how hard she tried to ignore him. It had been his eyes or his husky voice or the maddening way he teased her at every opportunity. With a sigh, she added, “It felt pathetic to spend Christmas Eve on my own.”
Cassian hummed and looked over his shoulder. “I completely agree. You may as well come in.”
Nesta’s eyes narrowed, ready to attack him for his sarcastic remark when she was being serious, but then she stopped herself. She imagined that this was Cassian being nice, that he rarely was serious, so she sighed. “Alright.” Cassian stepped out of the way to let her pass but Nesta hesitated. “Alcohol.”
Cassian huffed a laugh, cocking his head to the side. “Alcohol?”
“I just filled a drink,” she explained, “and I left my show paused. Why don’t you…come join me?”
Cassian swore, eyes bright. “An offer from Nesta. I should consider myself lucky.”
She rolled her eyes and began walking down his steps. “Don’t ruin it.”
Cassian slipped on his boots and grabbed a sweatshirt before shutting his door behind him, following Nesta across the street. She only looked over her shoulder once and swore she caught him staring at her ass.
He had no shame in it.
They were quiet as they entered the house but Cassian slipped off his shoes and made himself perfectly at home, as if he’d been there a thousand times before.
She supposed he had.
Plopping down on Aelin’s couch, Cassian propped up his giant, socked feet on the coffee table and snatched the remote off the cushion beside him. “True crime documentaries? On Christmas Eve? Mother’s tits, woman.”
“Pretty crude mouth you’ve got there,” Nesta muttered, pouring Cassian a drink before grabbing her own and walking into the living room.
“I have a feeling yours is just as filthy,” Cassian crooned as he thanked her for the drink. “You forget your sex toy arrived on my front porch.”
Nesta rolled her eyes and hated the fact that her cheeks heated as she sat opposite of Cassian on the couch.
“That I did not get for myself,” Nesta reminded him.
Cassian shrugged and took a sip from his glass. He barely got it down before he scrunched his nose. “The hell is this?”
Nesta snorted. “A screwdriver?”
Cassian shook his head, even as he took another gulp. “This is awful.”
“Then why are you drinking it?”
“Who the hell turns down free alcohol?”
“Touché.” After another large gulp, Nesta reached across the empty couch cushion and snatched the remote from Cassian. “Back to true crime. Can’t handle it?”
“I just don’t think it should be watched on Christmas.”
“You’re a hallmark man, aren’t you? You love a good romance.”
Cassian barked a laugh and took another drink with a distorted look on his face. This banter was so easy with him. “Everyone loves a good hallmark movie at Christmas time.”
Nesta shook her head. “Every Christmas movie is the same.”
“They are not,” he scoffed, stretching his arm across the back of the couch.
Nesta raised an eyebrow. “Which version do you prefer? Big city writer guy who just got out of a relationship falls for a single mom on the verge of losing her bakery? Or a successful business woman who’s too busy for love falls for a handsome country boy who teaches her the true meaning of Christmas?”
They stared at each other in silence for a second until Cassian’s lips quirked to the side. “Big city writer guy and country girl.”
Nesta just rolled her eyes and took a drink. “You would.”
“Got me all figured out, do you?” Cassian asked, giving another distasteful frown as he took a drink.
“You’re not that much of a mystery,” she muttered, tossing back her drink far faster than she should.
Cassian, even though he complained about the fruity drink, was working his way through his own fairly quickly. “I can’t say the same for you. You’re one hell of a mystery.”
“Am I?” Nesta asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. She had been told that one too many times throughout her life, mostly from men. “Maybe you’re just too dimwitted to figure me out.”
“Calling me dumb?”
“Absent-minded.”
Cassian only grinned and she hated how much she found him attractive when he grinned.
Handsome bastard.
“What if I want to unravel you?”
The question caught her off guard. Surely he wasn’t being that blunt, was he? Yes, he’d already mentioned the sex toy her sisters had ordered for her, but he had no idea that it sat unused in her suitcase. For someone who wrote romance novels, her sex life had been nonexistent, even on her own, since she’d left Tomas. She hadn’t been interested, had been more focused on finishing her latest book, but now, looking at Cassian lounging across the couch? She was suddenly very interested.
“I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know who you are or what you do for a living.”
But then she realized he didn’t mean he wanted to physically unravel anything. He wanted to get to know her.
And she felt foolish for thinking he meant anything else.
“I’m a writer,” she blurted, feeling the unsettling warmth of her face turning a horrid shade of red. “So.”
Cassian just stared at her with that dumbass smirk on his mouth. “Did I make you blush?”
Nesta finished her drink and stood without giving him an answer before going to refill her drink.
“If you’re playing bartender, I could use a refill too,” he said, holding up his drink.
“I thought you didn’t like it,” she said, her heart still beating quickly as she mixed her own drink.
“It grew on me,” he confessed, lazily. “The more I drank, the less I tasted.”
Nesta wanted to snap at him, tell him to get his own damn drink, but she supposed she had offered to host him for the night.
Slowly, she walked back to the couch and took his cup from his hand. When their fingertips brushed, her jaw locked.
Cassian’s grin grew.
She could feel his heavy gaze on her as she went to mix him a drink. Nesta never knew how much to weigh the alcohol when mixing drinks. Hopefully the guy knew how to hold his liquor as well as she did.
“A writer,” Cassian began as she came back to the couch. “What is it that you write?”
“Contemporary romance,” Nesta replied, handing him his drink before taking her seat again on the other side of the couch. She could have sworn he was sitting just a little closer than he had been before.
“Romance,” he mused, raising his drink to his lips. “So you love true love, huh?”
Nesta let out a particularly unladylike little snort. “Not particularly. Not sure I believe in it.”
Cassian’s brow furrowed. “You write love stories but you don’t believe in true love?”
“Never seen it myself,” Nesta said, matter-of-factly, taking a large sip from her straw. “Besides, people don’t really read my romance novels for love.”
“Then what do they read them for?” He asked, his tone genuinely curious.
Nesta realized what she said and froze.
For a moment, Cassian was silent but she knew he was piecing it all together as his eyes widened. “Oh. You write romance.”
“I—”
“You write smut,” he went on, giddily. “Nesta, the porn writer.”
“I’m not talking about this with you.”
“This explains the vibrating dildo that landed on my doorstep much better,” he said, and his satisfied grin was infuriating. “Doing research for your next masterpiece?”
Nesta grabbed a throw pillow and hurled it at him, but he caught it with one hand and held it against his chest. “Hey, no judgment. I’m fact, I’d love to read—”
“No.” The word was clipped before she drank from her cup that was already becoming quite light, yet again.
“Come on,” he said, a husky laugh lacing each word. “Let me read some of what you wrote.”
“If you want to read it, you’ll have to go to the bookstore and pay up just like everyone else,” Nesta said, and the gods damn her, she was almost smiling as she did.
“That’s not fair,” Cassian protested, swirling around what’s left in his cup. “After all we’ve been through these last few days, surely I get some sort of special holiday-acquaintance privilege.”
“Oh, please,” she laughed quietly, leaning forward to set her empty glass on the coffee table. “I’ll be gone in a few days and you’ll never think of me again. Your groupies at the bar will be thankful.”
His fingers skimmed her shoulder as she sat back. When she glanced over at him, she wasn’t expecting his gaze to be so intense. “You think that’s true?”
One of her shoulders rose and fell. “Why wouldn't it be? We bonded over sex toys, acoustic covers, and burgers, but I’ll go back to my life and you’ll keep on with yours.”
“Just because you aren’t staying doesn’t mean you're forgettable.”
It was a piece of dialogue she would write for one of her male love interests, a series of words so desirable to be heard that no man in the real world would ever say it out loud.
Until now.
Her head fell to the side as she studied him. At some point during their conversation, they’d drifted much closer to one another and now shared the same space.
“I think you’re full of shit.” There was no bite to her voice. In fact, the words fell out of her breathlessly as his eyes darted to her lips and back up again. “And maybe a little drunk.”
“I’m not drunk,” he said, quieter than before, as he shook his head. Fingertips came up and brushed away a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her forehead. His touch burned her skin in its wake. “Not any drunker than you.”
Nesta wasn’t drunk. Maybe a little tipsy, but still fully in control of herself and her emotions. At least that’s what she told herself as she slid a hand over his sweatpants, up his hard thigh.
Cassian shifted, an arm going behind her on the back of the couch.
It was escalating, quickly, but she couldn’t help the natural draw to him.
That, and the fact that she was horny as hell. It had been a while. The alcohol didn’t help.
Cassian's jaw ticked and Nesta glanced down at her hand, seeing it was mere inches away from the long, thick outline forming beneath the gray fabric.
In the silence, Cassian’s chest rose and fell with his deep breaths.
“Still not going to let me read any of your work?” Cassian asked, voice low and taunting.
Nesta shook her head as Cassian shifted on the couch yet again, moving closer to her. Silent acceptance in this game they had started playing that Nesta had quickly taken control of. “I’m not in the mood for reading.”
“What is it you’re in the mood for?” He asked, that hand that was behind her coming up to cradle her face.
She kissed him.
It was hard, and sloppy, but Cassian didn’t seem to give a damn as he took her by the hips and dragged her on top of him.
His hands slipped beneath her sweater and she gasped against his lips as they skimmed over the bare skin of her back. They were colder than the rest of him but she didn’t let it stop them, didn’t deter her from what she wanted.
And what she wanted lay beneath them, pressed between their bodies and Nesta groaned as she ground down along his hardened cock.
Cassian’s groan was deeper, not nearly as needy as hers, but the sound filled Nesta’s core with liquid heat. She broke the kiss, pulling her shirt over her head and tossing it to the side.
He studied her, eyes so dark they matched the night outside, and Nesta had never felt as sexy as she as he looked her over. She didn’t even care that she wore a boring, t-shirt bra, not sexy lingerie.
Cassian didn’t seem to care either.
His mouth trailed down the side of her neck and Nesta’s head fell to the side as he wandered. With his hands still on her waist, he sucked on the swell of her breast, just above her bra line. With parted lips, Nesta’s eyes fluttered shut.
It had been so long since she had been worshiped by a man.
Calloused fingertips trailed up her back and undid the clasp, letting her plain Jane bra fall to the carpet. A deep groan left Cassian’s throat as he took her peaked nipple between his lips and sucked.
As he savored every taste, Nesta’s fingers dove into his messy, loose hair and she rocked her hips against his erection, slowly, as Cassian moved from one breast to the other.
Nesta knew that she was blessed when it came to her breasts, always thought they were one of her greatest assets, and it seemed that Cassian thought so, too.
He only leaned back for a split second for Nesta to take off his sweatshirt and the t-shirt beneath it before his lips found her breasts yet again.
Nesta’s hands began to wander over his broad shoulders, across the ink that sprawled across his tanned skin. Every inch of him was hard. His muscles flexed as he rocked his hips with hers, as he grabbed her ass and squeezed.
“Bedroom,” she murmured in between fervent kisses. “Now.”
Cassian took little convincing. He stood, her legs immediately circling his waist and his hands squeezed her ass tighter. All of the hot, tan skin before her was too much to bear and Nesta’s lips were on his neck as he carried her towards the stairs and the bedroom beyond.
“Gods, your mouth,” he groaned, voice deeper than she’d heard it before.
She was so focused on the feeling of his skin beneath her lips that she hadn’t realized where they were until she was dropped unceremoniously onto the bed. Before she could right herself, could gather her bearings, Cassian’s mouth was at her breast again, teeth tugging lightly on her nipple. With her head thrown back, Nesta moaned, the slight pain amplifying the pleasure coursing through her.
His mouth was gone a second later. She wanted to protest, to grab the luscious head of hair and guide him back where she wanted him.
But then his fingers hooked into the waistband of her leggings and she shut right up.
He yanked them off, her underwear going with them, and his eyes darkened as he admired the display before him. Nesta did not balk from his stare. Confidence radiated off of her — something that she did owe to the alcohol.
Cassian took his time drinking her in, let his eyes wander and memorize every inch of her bare body. Nesta could hear his heavy breaths in the silence, mixed with her own, and then he approached the bed and crawled over her.
He leaned down, his lips brushing hers but keeping his distance. Horrible, bastardly tease.
“So needy,” he breathed, nipping at her mouth. “How long has it been since you’ve been pleasured, sweetheart?”
Gods, she didn’t even know.
Too long.
Months.
Too many months.
Even before Tomas and her broke up, it had been a while since they were intimate. Even so, he never had her heart about to burst through her chest like it was about to now.
“Shut up,” Nesta whispered through shuddering breaths, “and fuck me.”
The grin he gave her was wicked and unyielding as he pushed himself up onto his knees and slid down his sweatpants until they were tossed behind him, long forgotten.
Nesta’s eyes immediately fell to his hard cock. She’d felt it as they’d kissed, knew that he was well equipped, but seeing and feeling were two different things. She couldn’t recall a time she’d ever thought a cock was pretty, but Cassian’s was perfect. She whimpered as he began to stroke himself, her eyes meeting his.
“Condom?” He asked, glancing at the nightstand.
Nesta shook her head, thankful she didn’t have to rummage through her host’s drawers for protection. “IUD.”
That was good enough for Cassian, who crawled over her body, pressing kisses all over her chest, neck and face. He claimed her mouth in a kiss that made her world spin. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and when she opened for him, it greedily danced with her own. Nesta kissed him like he was the air she needed to breathe. Her hands were in his hair, on his skin, dragging over muscles and ink and anything she could touch. The feeling of him was intoxicating.
The hand that had been twisted into her hair begun a lazy path down her body, pausing to knead her breast and circle her nipple, before slipping between her parted thighs.
Nesta gasped as she felt his fingers slide between her folds, teasing at her entrance.
“So wet,” he murmured against her lips. “Is that for me, Nesta?”
Gods, her name on his lips was erotic.
“Answer me,” he said, pulling away just a hair.
Nesta’s eyes locked with his as her hand ran down between them and wrapped around his length. A low groan came out of Cassian as his lips quirked into a humored grin. “If I say yes, will you finally stop with all these questions?”
“Only if it’s the truth,” he quipped.
Nesta’s free hand ran through Cassian's hair and tugged gently on the strands. He slowly thrust himself into her grasp with a roll of his hips.
“I’ve been this wet for you for days,” she breathed, and then his mouth was on hers again. She clung to him, their bodies moving together wildly on top of the blankets.
“Cassian,” she panted, when his mouth slid to her jaw where he nipped and sucked. “Please.”
His hand slid to her thigh and he moved her leg up higher across his backside before positioning himself just right. He pulled back just in time to see her reaction as he slid inside of her.
Eyes going wide, Nesta gasped as he sank into her heat. He was so thick that Nesta felt like her entire body was adjusting to the size of him.
“Tell me when I can move,” he said, leaning down to capture her mouth in a kiss.
Nesta was powerless to stop the quiet moans once Cassian began kissing her. Every small movement, every shift and bump and grind made her nerve endings come alive. She wanted him to move. Not only to move, she wanted him to touch her.
Shifting her hips, Nesta took Cassian’s bottom lip between her teeth and tugged.
The growl that left him was her only warning.
Cassian leaned back, sitting up on his knees and gripped both of Nesta’s hips before snapping his own into hers. Nesta cried out, the feeling so much more intense than just the slow roll he’d given as he pushed into her.
Cassian's thumb found her clit and he rolled it effortlessly as he thrust into her again and again, recklessly and wildly with perfect expertise. Nesta’s body felt it all, every inch of her on fire and tingling. She had no control of the sounds tumbling from her mouth, had no control of her hands as they wandered his thighs, as her nails dug into his skin. She fell into a state of pure euphoria as her back arched and her body began to tremble. Cassian did not hold back, did not falter in the slightest as her knees shook around him and she cried out. As she came around him, Cassian cursed and watched where their bodies were joined, watched where he fell into her with no remorse or hesitation.
When Nesta regained her composure, she took control. She pushed back on Cassian’s chest and he had hardly slowed when she rolled him over and sank down on top of him. He fell into the pillows with a groan as she rode him and he watched as her full breasts bounced, just as he had before.
Cassian’s eyes were something to behold. Beautiful, of course, but fierce, intense as they grazed her body. He paid attention to every damn detail, took in every inch of her and liked what he saw, without a doubt.
Beneath her, his hips moved with hers, thrusting up as she came down, and as Nesta’s knees began to shake once more, Cassian’s own movements grew unsteady. He pulled her down to crush his mouth with hers as he came, groaning between her lips, and as Nesta helped him ride out his orgasm, she completely unraveled.
Every ounce of herself that she had kept in check was gone, totally lost, to him.
As she fell into his chest with heavy breaths and reality began to sink back in, Nesta only knew one thing: she was in a whole lot of trouble.