goosebumps rippling over my skin, and my nipples pebbled.
“We do,” I admitted slowly. “But it still scares the hell out of me. So much could go wrong…”
“And so much has and can go right,” he said, his tone firm. That caressing hand on my back began running up and down my spine in a petting motion. “Are you happy, babe? Right now?”
“Yes.” No hesitation in my answer.
“And you’re scared you’re not going to be when we go back?”
When we went back… “Maddy. Eddie. School. The stuff with Mitch. Sharon. There are so many things that we have to deal with…”
“Fuck Maddy and Edward,” Archie said, and I couldn’t help but smile at the disgust in his voice. “Grandpa is working on dealing with Edward. Wittaker and I can hold Maddy off to get you to eighteen. We cut them off. They aren’t us, and we don’t need them.” He trailed his fingers up to my hair and began to brush it away from my face. “I mean it, Frankie. We don’t need them, and we’re not giving them an ounce of control over us.”
I sighed, then nuzzled a kiss to his jaw.
“As for the rest? We’ll deal with it as it comes. I don’t care about anyone else, and if they give you a hard time, you let us know. We’ll take care of it.”
“What are you going to do?” I teased. “Send Jake to beat them up?”
“I won’t have to send him,” he said, his tone almost smug. “Or have you not noticed that Jake is very much hit first and ask questions later where you’re concerned?”
I laughed softly and then kissed him. It was a slow press of my lips to his. He wrapped his hand around my nape as we dueled with our tongues. There was no hurry in the kiss, more a savoring. Chocolate lingered on his tongue from our earlier dessert. I carded my fingers through his hair as he rolled us so he was on top. The kiss remained leisurely as he stroked his hands over me.
No hurry pushed us, it was all about tasting and kissing. When I nibbled away from his lips, he would drag me back for another kiss that took my breath away, each one deepening in intensity. When I snaked a hand between us to stroke his dick, he let out a huff of laughter before sucking on my lower lip and spearing his fingers into me.
Fuck, I hadn’t even felt his hand on my hip. I shifted to kiss down his jaw and he let me until I started to squirm off his fingers. Then he pinned me back to the bed, and between us, we lined him up and he pushed into me as he braced a hand against the bed. Hooking my legs around his hips, we both sighed as he sank all the way to the hilt.
There was something different about the way he touched me tonight. Light caresses interspersed with tight grips as he adjusted our position. The possessiveness in his kiss demanded an answer. A rush, then a slow. It was like we were dancing, but he only let me take the lead so far before he took it back.
Every stroke and touch eddied me higher, and I swore tears sparked in my eyes as my vision whited out. We kept edging toward orgasm, only to slow down again and work our way back up. Instead of being frustrated or teased, I felt…loved.
A smile would turn his lips as our mouths met, like he couldn’t help but smile, and when we tumbled over the edge, it was as natural as breathing. The harsh shout pulled from his throat buoyed me higher if possible, and the rush as we collapsed together, panting, left me shaken. He rained little kisses down on my face and interlaced our fingers together as he cradled me closer.
This.
This was what I never wanted to lose.
“We’re not leaving anything important behind,” he murmured after a while as if in answer to that earlier thought I hadn’t spoken aloud. “We’re all still going to be together. No matter what I have to do to make sure of it.”
“Hey,” I soothed. “What we have to do.”
This wasn’t all on him.
Another curve of his lips as he brushed them against my forehead. “We. I like the sound of that.”
I did, too. “Boyfriends,” I said slowly.
“Yep. You’re not getting rid of us now, babe.” He rubbed my shoulder. “Regrets?”