growl, thrusting inside her, splitting her cleft and eliciting a sound so exquisite I could never in a million years tell if it is more full of pleasure or pain, more full of tension or relief.
“Tell me, does it feel good to belong to me? ” I ask, claiming all of her with all of me.
“Yes,” she admits, and if I have any doubt whether she truly understands what I’m telling her, it vanishes when she begs, “Take me, Sterling. Take what’s yours.”
I bury myself inside her, leaning back to accept the weight of her body so that I can push deeper, until I’m as far inside her as possible. She whimpers needily, her hips swiveling in a little circle to stroke her clit against me. It’s a few short steps to reach the long, broad-armed couch beside the floor-to-ceiling window, and when we arrive I lift her from me, leaving her with an anxious, longing groan. I spin her around, draping her across the arm of the couch, presenting her swollen sex to me like a goddamn work of art.
“Tell me again. What do you need?” I ask, enjoying the listless way her body moves, unable to find release from the rapturous surge of longing.
“I need you to take me, Sterling,” she says, the words thick and slow.
“Take what?”
“My body,” she says, but I can tell she’s unhappy with the answer. I brush the head of my shaft across her seam, providing a jolt of clarity. “Me. Take me. I’m yours.”
I slide into her slowly, savoring her every response. The way her muscles loosen. The sound she makes, a thing without thought or intention, as varied and as natural as a storm. The near-hysterical, vibrating thrum she experiences the closer she gets to taking all of me. The utter, blank release of her completion.
I’m not sure how long we make love. Everything simply falls away. The things in our past. The distinction between her and me. Time itself. She is mine, and nothing will ever come between us again. We’ll take back everything. And God help anyone who stands in our way.
I feel the hot explosion of my orgasm, feel the implosion of hers. I lift her limp form and lay her across the couch before settling next to her. She wraps herself around me instinctively, our bodies tangling together like vines.
She was mine once, five years ago, and she might have forgotten, but she’s been mine every day since. She always will be. I won’t allow her to forget again. I won’t allow myself too, either. “I love you.”
“Hmmmm,” she sighs, the curve of her pink lips weaving a contented smile on her face. “I love you, too.”
“And you won’t forget?” I say, brushing the tip of my nose on the downy spot behind her ear.
She bites her lip, her green eyes flickering to meet mine. “I’ve never forgotten. I’ve always been yours. All of me. All of you.”
I smile. “All in.”
We linger there, knowing that the real world waits for us, cold and hard and unforgiving. Here and now, we shelter together, and nothing can touch us. We’d lost sight of that years ago. I won’t make the same mistake twice. But learning from our mistakes, means we can’t avoid the truth forever.
I nuzzle her neck, drinking in the intoxicating scent of her one more time. Then I finger her necklace. “You kept it.”
“I figured a little extra luck wouldn’t hurt,” she says in a soft voice.
She’s right. We could use more of that. But luck or not, we can’t avoid the past forever. “We should talk.”
Her languid body stiffens instantly.
“Don’t panic,” I coax. “I’m not going anywhere.” I’ve imagined every terrible scenario. I might not know exactly what we’re up against, but I can’t fathom there being a possibility I haven’t already considered. Not a single one can shake me. I’ll continue to remind her of that, even knowing that only time will prove it to her.
“I don’t even know where to start,” she whispers. Her index finger trails my forearm, following along the lines of my tattoo.
“I’ll start,” I say, earning me a blink of surprise. “Ask me something.”
“What is this?” she points to the ink. “Jack has one, too.”
“So does Luca and Noah, but he regrets his,” I say, my mind fading back to a different time and a different place.
Summer five years ago
Considering I’m supposed to spend the next three weeks proving that I’m at the pinnacle of physical fitness, it’s a bit