“Is that it?” I asked, my knees shaking in anticipation and I gripped the railing to steady myself.

“It is.”

Without hesitation, I dove for the box and settled it on my lap as I sat on the stairs. I quickly forgot the hard wood as I lifted the lid and came face to face with my family’s treasures.

“There really isn’t much in there,” Colton said beside me and I’d already forgotten that he was in the foyer with me.

Folded on top was a hand drawn blueprint of the house. It was more simplistic than layouts today with dimensions and such. This was just a generic layout of the house broken out into three levels.

“Wow. You see here, on the second story, there used to be a dumb waiter. That’s so neat,” I exclaimed, pointing out the small opening that would feed into the butler’s pantry. I knew just from the walk-throughs that the service had been torn out at some point. “Maybe you could look at having it installed again, or something similar, before the walls are closed in.”

“That’s a really great idea.” Whipping out his phone, Colton typed something while I set the piece aside.

Beneath the blueprint were some letters from my great-great-grandfather to the woman he would build this house for and pictures of their family. My great-great-grandmother had been a transplant from Carson, North Carolina, another small town built before the population flourished. My parents would go nuts for these images. I’d wondered if they’d ever seen them before.

More pictures filled the box, along with costume jewelry. I wistfully held a ring that contained a pink stone to the light, admiring the way it shimmered.

“This is really great, Colton.”

“Sorry it isn’t more. So far, we haven’t found much more in the walls other than scraps of newspaper.”

“That’s okay. This is more than enough. Are you okay if I take this to my parents? I think they’d really enjoy having these.”

“Of course. That was the plan, sweetheart.”

I quietly filled the box back the way I found it, sighing as I restored each item into the containers.

“Sorry it wasn’t as exciting as you probably imagined it being,” Colton said and I immediately apologized. “Colton, this was great. Thank you. I’m only sighing because the night is over.”

That smirk that creased the corner of his eye appeared and I felt my stomach flutter with the telltale sign of butterflies.

Leaning over, Colton snatched the box from my hands and set it back on the step. “It doesn’t have to be.”

“What?” I asked in confusion, my eyes searching his as he loomed over me.

“The night. It doesn’t have to be over,” he replied, reaching up to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. “Unless, you know, you have somewhere else to be.”

My voice caught in my throat as I watched those dark spots in his irises grow. They took me in, all of me, and never faltered.

“I don’t.” The whisper sounded foreign to my ears. It was rough and raspy. Colton had that effect on me. Since the first moment we met he brought out something in me I’d never experienced.

“Good. Because I wasn’t done with you yet.” His velvety whisper caressed my ear as the scruff of his day-old beard brushed my cheek.

“What did you have in mind?” My question rolled off my tongue effortlessly as I rested back on my elbows against a step above me, giving Colton better access to my neck. The feel of his lips on my skin eliminated any pain I felt from the hard wood against my back. He was my sole focus and I kept imagining all of the things I wanted to do to him.

Slyly, I ran one of my hands across his denim-clad thigh, then across his hip in search of his zipper until I stroked my hand across the erection tenting in his jeans. God, he was huge, not that I had any doubts because of how large he was everywhere else, but  in the darkness of the other night I never got a good look.

“Take it out, Autumn.”

I’d always been good at following directions, and this moment was no different. Colton was my teacher and I was eagerly ready to learn.

With the flick of my finger, I unhooked the button on his jeans with a level of skill I didn’t know that I possessed. Deftly, I pushed down the elastic waist of his boxers until his cock sprung free and landed in my palm.

Hesitantly, I wrapped my hand around the shaft and trailed my hand up the velvety skin until I reached the tip. The weight of his cock felt warm and heavy against my palm.

“That’s it,” he said as I stroked him up and down so slowly that I was driving myself insane in anticipation. I focused my eyes on the deep red mushroom tip as Colton leaned over me. His large hand reached under my shirt and cupped my breasts, my nipples immediately perking up at the attention. I squirmed underneath him as he whispered, “Give me your hands, Princess. I want to fuck your mouth.”

Wetness immediately pooled in my panties as I held up my hands and he gathered them in his single fist, raising them above my head. The wood from the stair ledge dug into my back and I was sure I’d have a bruise in the morning, but I was long past caring. All I cared about at that moment was tasting him.

“Fuck,” he growled as he traced my mouth with the tip of his cock, the small bead of moisture coating my lips. “Open up.”

Colton was gentle as he sunk his dick between my lips, only allowing the head of his shaft to pass through until he pulled back out. He repeated the movement, my saliva building as every release ended with a pop.

An unintelligible sound came from Colton’s chest as he fell forward, catching himself on the step as he increased his thrusts.

“Suck it, baby. Yeah, like that. Such a good girl letting me fuck your mouth.”

“Mmm,” I moaned with his erection edging to the back of my throat.

Colton’s knees buckled as he cursed.

“Do that again,” he commanded, releasing my hands as he wrapped his hand around my jaw, holding my head in place.

I repeated the sound, my eyes rolling back as his cock grew thicker against my tongue.

“I’m going to come, Autumn. I want you to swallow it.”

“Yes,” I sighed as he pulled his cock free and then slipped it back in just as his hot stream filled my mouth. I readily swallowed each drop as Colton’s body jerked above me.

“Wow,” I mumbled as he released my hands, his head tilted down to rest on my shoulder. “That was fun,” I added with a chuckle, then sighed as my thighs pressed together. There was an ache between my legs and I needed some relief soon.

I wiggled beneath Colton hoping he would catch the hint that I had some things to take care of back at home, only he wrapped his arm around my waist and hefted my body against his as he pushed off from the stairs.

“You didn’t think we were finished, did you?” he asked. “Oh, Princess. We’re just getting started.”

Colton lifted me in his arms as if I weighed no more than a feather and carried us around the bottom of the stairs, only for him to pause at the corner of the L-shaped staircase.

He gently placed me back on my feet and pulled at the edge of my shirt until he was able to pull it over my head, tossing it blindly behind him. Colton did the same with my shoes, socks, and pants, until I stood before him clad in my simple cotton panties and bra.

I instantly regretted my decision to wear the pale-yellow undergarments, but as my eyes met Colton’s all of that lamenting flew out the window like the wind from Friday’s storm.

His eyes were heavy and filled with lust as they looked me over. Consuming all of me in one glance.

His approach was predatory; cunning with each step closer to me. The temperature of the room increased and I suddenly felt like I was in a sauna, but I knew it was nothing more than my desire for him heating my skin.

“You’re beautiful, Autumn,” he praised as the back side of one of his fingers trailed across the top of my breast pushed high in the bra. “So fucking beautiful. I want to stand here for hours and take you in.” Colton’s finger dipped between my breasts, while he slyly unlatched the bra’s hooks across my back.

I felt like his body shrouded me like a mist that touched my skin all over, but he’d only barely laid a finger on me.