“Ah, fuck,” he grits out, his head dipping again, teeth sinking into my shoulder. “I love when you come with me inside you. Jesus, it’s so good. Do it again. Come around my cock again, baby. Show me how bad you need me inside you. As bad as I need to be inside you.”
His teeth skate along my neck and his tongue licks at my pulse where it hammers. I am still coming down from the last orgasm, so I cannot possibly go off again. He must sense this because he moves, his mouth closing around my breast. His teeth tug at my nipple, his hand plucking at the other, proving me wrong. I can come again, and I do, coming so hard, I come apart in so many pieces, I am sure he cannot put me together again.
But of course, he does. “That’s it. That’s it, honey. I love you. I love you, Scout. Love you so fucking much, I thought I might die without you. Don’t you dare leave me again. You hear me?”
“Yes, yes, I do. I love you! I am in love with you, Sebastian!”
Sebastian throws his head back as he slams deep once more, coming inside of me as his body is wracked with shudders. Collapsing against me, he cradles me close, pressing kisses all over my shoulders, my face, my throat. I laugh, pushing at him playfully before he growls and nips at my shoulder.
“Mine. Do not take it away,” he teases, biting my breast gently, leaving his teeth impression around a stiff nipple.
Sobering, he sits up, chest heaving, eyes wild, a huge smile at his face. I grin too, feeling so light, so good, so complete I am not sure what to do with myself. With him. With the happiness bouncing between us. Rolling us, he pulls me astride him, cradling my face as he plays with my hair.
“Scout, I love you,” he husks, eyes holding mine. “I never should have let you go. I was...I was a damn coward. I was fine up here on my mountain, hiding away from the world, having nothing and no one to come home to. Until you smiled at me that day at the bar, and I knew I wouldn’t be fine living that way anymore. I think I fell in love with you a little that day.”
Tears sting my eyes because no one, besides my mother, has ever told me they love me. Never felt this sort of love, this bright, shining, blooming love that I have felt for him just about every moment since I laid eyes on him. Leaving was me being a coward. Me not wanting to hold tight to what I thought was too good to be true.
“I love you, Sebastian. I do. I should have never left. After that picnic, I just...I was afraid of becoming a hassle or a burden.”
“I never meant to be so...”
“You were good. Amazing. You accepted me with my diabetes, without hesitation. It was me. Me feeling the guilt of ever feeling my mother was a burden. Me not wanting you to deal with all the shots, the tests, the charting and tracking I do. I had it under control. I never wanted someone to help.”
“Well, too damn bad. You’re no burden, but if you’re going to be, you’remyfucking burden. You’remine, you have been from the moment you passed me your number. Even if I never called. I will help you. Because you help me. You helped me open myself to the people in my life. I was so fucking alone before Scout. I pretended otherwise, but I was.”
Sighing sadly, I cuddle closer to him, brushing his dark hair back from his forehead. “I am here. I am going to be here. Here, with you, is where I belong, baby. You’re it for me. Home. I was alone too. I went all over the country with my mom’s ashes, mourning her for too long. My mother would not have wanted me to be alone or be afraid to love someone who is as good as you are. I was scared. Afraid it was too good to be true. It’s not. This, us, we’re the truth.”
Sebastian smiles, dragging me down to kiss me softly. It turns deep, hot, hungry as he pulls me to straddle him. His hands slide up my back, down my front, palming my breasts. Circling my hips, I rub against his shaft greedily, laughing when he plucks my nipple hard to get me under control.
“I love you,” he husks again gently. “I will love you forever, whether it’s here on this mountain or wherever you want to go. You’ve become my whole world, Scout. Made my world better. I love you for that. I love you for daring me to give this a chance. To give me something to come home to, someone to take care of. I want to take care of you. If that means learning every single thing I can about diabetes, if it means giving you a shot, or making us the right food, I am going to do it. I want to be burdened by you, I want you in my life.”
Beaming down at him, I press flat against his chest, kissing him softly, slowly, taking my time. We haveso muchtime. I am not a burden. I am not an illness. I am a woman who loves a man, who has an illness. One we can manage together. We will have our whole life to figure out romantic picnics with safe treats. Plenty of time to have some cookies too, if we want. We can do anything together.
“Truth or dare,” I tease him, pushing up to smirk at him.
“Dare.”
“Dare you to show me how I belong to you, baby.”
Sebastian smirks before he answers. “Oh, I can do that, honey.
True to his word, he gets to work showing me I definitely, without a doubt, forever and always, belong to him.
Epilogue
Sebastian
One Year Later....
Playing games was never fun for me.
Until I started playing truth or dare with Scout. Now we play all sorts of games together. It might seem silly to someone else, but we start our day and end it the same way. We play truth or dare, seeing who wants to share an important truth—who loves the other more is a frequent topic—or dare each other to do something new in the bedroom.
Now we play scrabble on the weekends, cards each Thursday night with some guys from the landing and their ladies, and once a month we go to bingo night at the Driftwood Peak Parlor. Any time spent with Scout is a damn good time, but this is more than playing silly games.
It is how we bond with each other. How we share stories or secrets. How we tease each other until we’re tearing clothes off and taking risks to please each other. That time we got caught in the bathroom at The Rusty Nail will never be forgotten by us or her boss, Tre.
We’ve come a long way from playing truth or dare to get to know each other. Another thing that has grown is my understanding of her diabetes and how to help manage it. It has not always been easy, and I’ve made some mistakes while learning about it, but we got to a good place with her letting me help her. It was hard for her to let someone else look after her, but she indulges me a lot better these days.
