His eyes meet mine as the music stops.
Grinning, he says, “Well, it’s a good thing I feel like being in control then, isn’t it?”
“Are you sure you can handle me after all these years, Roberts?” I breathlessly reply, buying time.
Rex groans, “Handle you? Damn it, Gwen, if you’re ready to submit, I’ll unleash a dominance you’ve never fucking known.” Sucking in a sharp breath, Rex searches my eyes, and says more gently, “Sweetheart, if you’ll let me, I promise to never hurt you again. Not when what we have is so damn right.”
His confession leaves me speechless. He pulls me close and places my hand over his heart. I look down at our fingers linked together and know he’s right. All the bullshit that has been relentless on tearing us apart over the years is meaningless when it comes to what we have between us. Even if he never tells me he loves me, even if we both always run, right now, he is telling me in a million ways all I’ve always longed for him to say.
Who needs three little words?
But will he stay?
Will he run again once it all gets too real?
Lord knows running is both our bad habits. And bad habits are damn hard to break.
“Take me home,” I whisper, glancing up into his eyes with a longing I haven’t felt since the last time he claimed me. As if he can read my thoughts, he laces his fingers through mine, grabs my hand, and starts off towards the exit. The instructor smiles at us. I look away embarrassed, but then I hear her say, “Je vois la vie en rose.”
Smiling to myself as I walk behind the man who stole my heart a long time ago, I commit her words to memory and know she’s right.
And I see life through rose-colored glasses.
I might not be able to see the future, but I know that much is true. No love is perfect, but ours can be as long as we look at it through rose-colored glasses.
14
Gwen
The dance studio happened to be right around the corner from my apartment. The sexual tension grows as Rex and I walk silently, hand in hand, down the streets of New Orleans back to my place. Climbing the steps to my apartment, my heart beats wildly as I wrestle with letting him back in. After all this time, I have to be sure once I open this door. There’s still a tiny piece of doubt in the back of my mind, but my heart is flowing over with hope, and damn it if my heart doesn’t always win.
Standing at the top of the stairs, I take a moment and slowly pull my keys from their hiding spot in my purse. Rex stands further away than I thought he would, and when I look up at him, sadness clouds his eyes as he questions me, wanting to know if I’m sure. If I’m ready for everything opening this door entails.
But as I stare into his gaze, and the fear of facing our past fades, a slight smile spreads across my lips. Not breaking eye contact, I enter the key in the slot as Rex’s stare changes from hesitation to desire.
He takes a step into me. His body brushes eagerly against mine. “Kiss me,” I whisper.
“Fuck, I thought you’d never ask.”
I push the door open, but before either of us can step inside, he quickly wraps me in his arms and crashes his lips against mine. His strong hands lift me under my thighs as he carries me across the threshold. Desperation fuels his kiss—a need to take. A need I’m sure will not be satisfied tonight.
My fingers lace through his hair as he kicks the door closed behind him. Greedily, I take his kiss. After all this time, I can finally admit, I need it like the air I breathe.
There is no holding back now. I need more of him. All of him.
He sets me down in the entryway. I take a few steps backward until my thighs bump against the couch. With hooded eyes, he stares at me in the dim light of evening like a predator about to take what he wants, and God knows, I’m all his for the taking.
“You have no fucking idea what you do to me, do you, Gwen?” he growls, taking a step closer and making me lean back against the couch with anticipation. Looking my body up and down, he runs one finger across the strap of my sundress before tugging the fabric down so hard it breaks.
My breath catches as I wait for him to make his next move. Taking another step forward, he says, “You have no clue, sweetheart, what this body of yours makes me crave. Fuck, I hope you’re ready because I’m about to take everything I can from you until you’re sore, swollen, and can’t breathe anymore from screaming my fucking name.”
My center pools between my thighs. Rex comes a step closer and leans in as if he will kiss me. I wait for it, closing my eyes and needing his contact. But it never comes. A low laugh rings through the room. I open my eyes quickly to see him staring down at me.
“Not yet, Gwen. I want to make you fucking beg first,” he growls. “I want you so worked up, your body needs only me to release it. And I think I’ll start… right here,” he says, running his hand up my thigh, below the hem of my dress, and to my dampened core. His fingers find my panties and slowly pull them aside. He hums his approval at my wetness and slowly dips one finger inside me.
My eyes close, my head falls back. His free hand grabs my neck, forcing my head back up. “Look at me, Gwen,” he demands, and my eyes flash open. “I want to stare into your eyes while I pleasure your cunt, sweetheart. I want to see the way I’m making you feel. The way you make me feel, because hell if your pussy doesn’t feel like fucking heaven.”
I let out a whimper and he licks his lips. His finger dives further into my core, then slowly back out to coat my arousal around my clit. Rubbing gradually in circles, he smiles and rests his lips against mine.
