Chapter 2

My first thought when I wake up is that my mouth is insanely dry. Soft sunlight filters through the windows when I blink my eyes open. The bed is cold, alerting me to the fact I'm alone. I'm eternally grateful for the solitude. I need to get my bearings. I need to start acting right too. More like the good boyfriend I usually am.

The door to the bedroom opens with a soft squeak to reveal Colby with a tray full of breakfast foods in his hands. I blink slowly at him as he approaches. He's shirtless and barefoot but wearing tattered sweatpants. Colby sets the tray down on the fluffy down blanket, right in front of me. He settles beside me on the bed with a shy smile, averting his gaze from mine.

"I made you breakfast. I didn't know what you like best, so I made a few different types of eggs. And there's pastries." Colby clears his throat awkwardly. "Tell me what you like and I'll make it for you the rest of the time you're here."

I angle my head towards him. We stare at each other for a few moments before I lean up to sweetly kiss his cheek. He smells like aftershave, but it's soft, like maybe he only used a little. I like it.

"Thank you," I say softly against his stubbled cheek. "I like my eggs over hard with a bagel."

"Alright," Colby murmurs against my own cheek. His hand sneaks up to brush the messy curls from my face as he pulls away. "There you are."

I smile at him—a real smile, not a forced one—and turn back to look at the tray. I grab a pastry and bite into it. We eat breakfast together quietly as the sun creeps further up the horizon. Sleeping isn't necessarily a difficult thing for me, but I can't say the last time I slept for a full night with no interruptions.

"What's the plan for the day?" I ask around a mouthful of pastry.

"We can have a beach day and get to know one another more if you'd like. Do you like to read? Watch television? What's a hobby for you?"

I swallow a gulp of coffee. "I like to read."

Colby grins at me. "Yeah? Me too. What's your favorite genre?"

"Classics. I frequently dabble in romance, science fiction, and fantasy though."

Colby blinks at me, another one of those looks on his face like he's trying to figure me out. "We can take a run into town to the bookstore unless you brought some books with you?"

Yes, I brought books for what I thought was going to be a fuck fest, I want to say but don't. Instead, I just smile at him warmly.

"A trip to the bookstore would be great. I'm sure I can knock a few books out if we just mostly relax on the beach."

"We'll go before we hit the beach so you have a book for today."

Once I'm done eating, Colby takes the tray and leaves the bedroom without so much as a word. I roll out of bed, then softly pad to the bathroom. Blinking away the rest of the sleep from my eyes, I stretch and pull off the shirt Colby slipped on me last night. I inspect the shirt for a moment, wondering if it holds any keys to Colby Smith. It reads "Clay Road Farms" with pictures of trees against a dark teal shirt. Maybe it's a business from wherever he lives?

Carefully, I fold the shirt, laying it on the white granite bathroom counter. I turn the shower on, patiently waiting for it to heat up. The door pushes open just after I finish brushing my teeth. Colby meets my eyes in the mirror with a heated look.

"Can I join you in the shower?"

Oh, hell yeah. "Of course, husband."

He sighs deeply and closes his eyes. An odd look of pain crosses his face but it disappears just as quickly as it appeared. If I didn't know better, I'd think I had imagined it. I step into the shower with a blissful moan. The showerhead rains hot water over me, quickly steaming the bathroom up despite the sun rays shining through the windows. Just as I'm starting to shampoo my hair, Colby joins me.

My eyes fall to his cock out of sheer habit. Jesus Christ. He has the biggest cock I've ever seen. The prettiest one too. It's long, girthy, and he's so hard that it curves towards his stomach. I swallow and meet his heated gaze. I rinse the shampoo out of my hair, then step backward, out of the spray of water. He follows me until he's pressing me against the cold tiled wall.

A hiss escapes me at the sharp sting of the cold tile against my back but it quickly turns into a moan when his hand slowly glides up my thigh, to my hip, and under my belly button, teasing me, not yet putting his hand where I really want it. I bite my lip, blinking up at him, begging him with my eyes to touch me. To put me out of my misery.

He takes mercy on me and finally wraps his broad hand around my cock.

"This is mine for the week," he says firmly, without any pretense.

"Yeah," I confirm with a breathy moan.

Colby crowds into me further until his cock is pressed against my stomach. His hand holds me firmly, hand trapped between our stomachs, and dips down to bite my lower lip. I tremble in need against him.

"What do you want, Eli?"

I blink hazily up at him. "What do you mean?"

"What do you want?" Colby repeats, his thumb now lazily circling the head of my cock. I almost fall to my knees under his spell. "You want me to get on my knees in the shower and suck you off? You want me to turn you around, shove you against the wall, and eat you out until you're trembling and begging for it? You want me to jerk you off so that you get your cum all over me? What do you want?"

Oh, Jesus Christ. I stare up at him, panting, astounded at my inability to just fucking answer him. It's easy, Eli. Just open your mouth and tell him what you want. Instead, I stare at him like a fish with my mouth open, chest heaving with desire. He chuckles, the sound rough and low. Colby slides his hand down my cock once, before sliding back up to repeat circling his thumb around the head.

What is this magic he's working over me? It's been one day.

"Like this, then," he whispers before taking my mouth in a harsh kiss. He kisses me so hard that it's difficult for me to get air. But I like it. His hand on my cock is borderline painful, the grip almost too tight, but every swipe of his thumb over the head has me seeing galaxies behind my closed eyes.

When he grabs my thigh and hitches it up to his waist, I come. Without absolutely any warning. I gasp against his mouth, whimper too, and let him eat at my mouth until I'm trembling from the oversensitivity of his hand on my spent cock. He lets me go with a chuckle. My heart races as I watch him use his cum-covered hand to wrap around his own rigid cock.

My legs go weak at the sight. No one has ever done that with me before. I stare transfixed as he works his cock over using only my cum as lube. His other hand reaches up to my neck, his thumb pressing my chin up so that I have to meet his fathomless gaze. I watch as his lips part on a moan, and he grips my jaw tight, eyes on me.

"Tell me you want this," he says, voice wrecked.

"I want this," I tell him truthfully. I want him to let go and treat me like all I mean to him is sex. That's all this is for a week. Sex.

He lets out one long pained moan before coming all over my stomach. The heat of his release rockets through me, making me close my eyes out of relief. I stand there, frozen, unable to move at all, until the soft caress of a loofah brushes against my skin. My eyes blink open to find him washing me off with his own loofah and body wash.

I get the feeling I'm in for a wild ride this week for which I wasn't properly prepared. The man before me is not what I expected. He is soft and gentle but at other times there's an underlying meanness to him. A dominance that I never knew I craved.

Time will tell if I escape unscathed.

The bookstore isn't farfrom the beach house. Colby's Jeep rumbles down the coastal highway and I feel free sitting beside him. With the top off the Jeep, the wind whips through my hair, no doubt making my curls unmanageable and messy. The car is a manual, so I spend most of my time watching Colby change gears. It's kind of sexy. That's a lie. It's really sexy watching a hot man use the stick shift.

After he parks the car in a small lot by the beach, he hops out and runs over to eagerly open my door for me. With a hopeful grin, he holds his hand out to help me climb out of the Jeep. His hand is warm and large, easily enveloping my own, and he doesn't let go even as we cross the street to the bookstore.

Colby ushers me into the quaint beachside bookstore with a possessive hand on the small of my back. This man definitely likes to touch and he doesn't care if anyone in this town sees. He abruptly stops at the entrance of the store.

Colby gestures for me to peruse the store. "Anything you want, it's yours."

I take his hand into my own and start down one of the aisles. He's a quiet presence beside me as I look through the small selection in the store. I grab a new fantasy novel I've been meaning to read and hand it to Colby. We go up and down the aisles like that until he can no longer hold my hand due to having such a large stack of books.

"You'll read these all in a week?" he questions me, a frown on his beautiful face.

I shrug effortlessly. "I'm a fast reader."

He follows me into the children's section with an even more confused look on his face. "What are we looking for in this section?"

"You'll see," I tell him with a teasing smile.

I always look for a certain book in bookstores. My mother loves The Wind in the Willows and I always grab a copy when I see it. I let out a triumphant whoop when I find a copy on the bottom shelf, tucked away in the corner. It's a gorgeous version, with an illustrated sleeve, and a deep lilac hardcover. Neither of us has this one yet. A total win.

"What's that?"

I hold it out to him. "The Wind in the Willows."

"Never read it," Colby says, taking a closer look at the cover.

"Ah," I sigh softly. "It's one of my absolute favorites. I have this thing with my mom where I buy a copy whenever I see it and send a picture to her so she knows I'm thinking about her. She does the same thing."

Colby beams down at me. "I love that."

I add the book to the precarious stack in his hands and nod towards the register. "Alright, husband, time to make the purchase."

He makes a show of carrying the stack to the register. The girl at the counter rings them up with a smile at us.

"Planning to get a lot of reading done on your vacation?" she asks conversationally while popping a bubble of gum.

"If I let him," Colby tells her before I can even attempt to answer.

I notice for the first time that there's a tan line on his finger where a wedding band would've rested. I wonder if he's married and this is an escape for him. It's not quite my business, I'm being paid, but I always hate the idea of someone cheating with me. I never want to cause someone that type of pain. It's not my business though, so I won't ask. I glance away from his hand just in time to avoid being caught. He smiles at me as he pays, then takes the heavy canvas bag from the cashier.

"Should we get lunch in town?"

I look towards the restaurants, then back over my shoulder. "Let's go back to the house. I'd rather spend the day alone with you on the beach."

That clearly makes him happy because he aims a pleased-as-punch grin my way. On the way back to the beach house he turns the radio on, some rock station with songs from when I was a kid echoing through the speakers. I watch as his fingers tap the tune against the steering wheel. He pulls into the garage of the beach house, grabs the books, and comes around to open my door again.

"Colby," I say as I take his hand but don't get out of the Jeep.

"Yeah?"

"You don't have to do this," I whisper into the dark of the garage.

He cocks his head again, scrutinizing me. "Do what?"

I make a helpless gesture towards the books. "I'm an easy thing."

Colby grunts in annoyed frustration. "We talked about this already. I thought we were on the same page."

"Well, even if you were my real husband, I'd say the same thing."

"And if you were my real husband, I'd buy you whatever your heart desired so that you always knew you were loved."

I try to hold back my visible flinch. It's a lovely sentiment but one I don't need. We've already had an argument about this, so I hold my tongue. I follow Colby into the house and into the living room where he lays out the books on the coffee table.

"What will you read first?" he asks me eagerly.

I point at the fantasy novel that's about eight hundred pages thick. "Probably that one."

"Alright. Want to head out to the beach?"

"One thing first."

The copy of Wind in the Willows really is beautiful. I position it on the table so it's alone and snap a quick photo.

thinking of you mama

Mama

love you my sweet boy

where are you this week?

Florida. I'm playing boyfriends.

Mama

be safe.

always! love you!

Mama

love you too

I smiledown at my phone for a moment, then glance up to find Colby watching me.

"Beach time?"

"Yeah," Colby replies softly.

We change into our swimsuits and I follow along behind Colby out to the private beach. He lays out a large beach towel that'll fit both of us.

After getting comfortable on my stomach, I open the book up to start reading. Colby lies down beside me, sunglasses over his eyes, and happily stares up at the sky. I try to read, I really do, but I can't concentrate with Colby beside me. Not with all the thoughts running through my brain. I keep trying to read for almost thirty minutes but give up with a frustrated huff.

"Not good?" Colby asks, head angled my way.

"I got three pages in the past thirty minutes."

"So … that's bad, right?"

"I can't concentrate."

"Why?"

I huff again and move to straddle him. "I didn't come here to read."

I press my hands into his chest, feeling the coarse hairs there. He feels wonderful between my thighs, powerful and strong. My heart kicks a crazy beat up in my chest when he moves a little, so I can feel his cock filling underneath me. That's more like it.

Colby pushes his sunglasses up his face with one finger. "Maybe relaxing isn't up your alley. We can go deep sea fishing or catamaraning. We can do a dolphin sighting tour or go paddleboarding."

I leer down at him, baring my teeth. "I didn't come here for any of that either."

Colby reaches up to sweetly brush a wayward curl from my forehead. "You're not going to calm down until I've fucked you, are you?"

I bite my lip, intoxicated just by the idea of it. "Definitely not. So will you?"

He nods against the blanket, a flush darkening his cheeks. "Yeah, tonight. Can you wait that long?"

I stare down at him, frustrated and deeply annoyed. He definitely likes making me wait. I'm beginning to wonder what exactly Colby Smith is planning to do with me. Patience is not my strongest virtue.

"Fine," I say between gritted teeth.

He just smiles serenely up at me. "It'll be worth the wait. I promise."

Yeah, whatever. I roll off him and stare up at the sky in annoyance. A few birds fly overhead as the clouds block the sun. Colby better be the best fuck of my life to make me wait so long. Like what kind of john doesn't fuck his paid piece the minute he walks through the door? Oh, husband, blah blah blah. Whatever.

Colby leans up on his elbows, blocking the cloudless sky from my view.

"Are you sulking?" Colby asks around a teasing smile.

"No," I grit out.

"Hmm." He brushes his mouth gently over mine and tugs on one of my curls. "Get in the water with me?"

He helps me stand and I follow him out into the ocean like a lost puppy. I just barely resist the urge to stomp my feet in the sand.