Surrender (Seaside Pictures #4) - Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,56

gothic cross dangling down my chest, and the other was an old key that had hope inscribed on it. I felt every movement, every inhale, exhale as I waited for her to say, “Yes,” waited for her to choose me.

“I just want you to know…” She licked her lips and then stared at mine. “…that it doesn’t matter if you’re broken, because none of us are whole. Wholeness is a lie people believe when they can’t handle the truth. And every single part of you, even the ones you try to hide or are ashamed of— I want those too. So that when I choose you, every single time you choose me, you’re choosing the pretty along with the poison. Wherever love exists, pain must also be present.”

I felt myself falling then, down into the tumultuous depths of the love she’d spoken about, and I wasn’t gasping for air. It felt like someone had finally set me free. “I love you, and you can’t make me stop.” My hands shook as I cupped her face.

A tear slid down her cheek as she whispered, “I’ve loved you since I was sixteen.”

And then she jerked my necklaces and fell with me, overtaken as our kiss consumed us both.

I couldn’t get the shirt over her head fast enough.

I needed her, needed her badly, needed to feel her around me.

I finally broke off the kiss so I could rip her jeans down her body. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking, no matter how I tried. I missed the button in her jeans the first time.

With a shy smile, she gently pushed me away. “Drew?”

“Yeah.” I croaked, terrified she was going to say we needed to wait a bit longer.

“You’re trembling.”

“I know.”

“First time?” she joked.

I smacked her on the ass and then rubbed. “Cute.”

“Here.” She reached for her jeans and somehow managed to seductively strip the rest of the clothes off her body.

There she was in all her glorious naked beauty.

And all my hands could do was shake.

All my eyes could do was drink her in.

My heart screamed inside my chest.

My demons struggled to break free, to remind me why I didn’t deserve her. Thank God, I had a tether, and I was looking right at her.

Those green eyes told the demons to go fuck themselves.

And for the first time in forever, my chest felt light, as if someone had checked the closet for monsters and killed off every last bastard.

And then turned on the light.

“You stare at me a lot.” She chewed her lip nervously.

“Because each time I look at you, I see something different,” I confessed. “I could spend the rest of my life staring at you and still see something new across your face. I will be fascinated by you until the day I die.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Boyfriend?”

I couldn’t help my goofy grin. “Yes, girlfriend?”

“Have me.”

“You’re gonna need to actually ask…” My grin was wicked as her cheeks went completely red. “…which means that mouth’s about to get…” I leaned down and nipped her lower lip, giving it a rough tug before finishing. “…dirty.”

Her eyes glazed over, and then determination flashed across her face as she rasped out. “Fuck me.”

“My pleasure.” I managed to kick off my jeans, and then we were one; our mouths fused together as our bodies moved in perfect sync as if we’d done this a million times.

My hands shook when I toyed with her breasts, testing her, seeing what set her off, what made all those sexy sounds leave her parted lips as my tongue stroked hers.

Her hands tangled in my hair; her lips parted on another deep kiss; her little pants were coming faster and faster as I slid my hand between her thighs.

I groaned. “I could stay here forever.” I stroked her, loving how she already clenched around me.

She tore her mouth away from mine. “Best plan ever.”

“The kids will have to, naturally, raise themselves.” I rubbed my palm against her, earning a not-so-gentle buck from her hips right against my dick.

“They’ll survive. We’ll just leave the room for food and water.”

“Solid plan.” I pressed a wet teasing kiss between her breasts while strumming her with the perfection that had made me famous.

My hands, another extension of my instrument, she may as well have been my guitar as I played, searching for each note, and was rewarded with the groans and sighs that created one of the most beautiful and oldest songs of time.

“I need more.” Her eyes squeezed shut as her back bowed off