TAYLOR
The first time was impatient, rushed, urgent. Desperate. I had never wanted Adam,cravedAdam as much as I did Jack. I needed him with an intensity I’d never felt before. Hadn’t realized it was even possible to need someone that much. It got to the point of being unbearable, and I told him I would die if I didn’t have him inside me at that moment. It was a ridiculous thing to say, but in that moment, I believed it. I had to have him. And when he entered me, I understood why.
It was as if we were two pieces of the same puzzle. There was no awkwardness, or clumsy, fumbled moments as we figured things out. Only the seamless sense of two pieces coming together.
Afterwards, we lay side by side, facing each other as we tried to catch our breath, staring at each other in wonderment.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t hold out any longer.’
‘I didn’t want you to.’
‘That was incredible.’
‘It was.’
For a moment, his contented expression turned worried. ‘No regrets?’
I shook my head emphatically. ‘No. None.’
He looked relieved. ‘Good.’
‘You?’
‘Hell no.’
I laughed.
‘So…’ He traced a finger over my sternum, down one side of my breast, along my ribs to just above my belly button, where it lingered. ‘What happens now?’
‘Now as in, right now? Or now as in tomorrow, and the next day?’
‘Both, I guess.’
‘Well, for now, we wait for our strength to return, and then, if you don’t mind, I’d quite like to do that again.’
‘I don’t mind at all.’
‘As for tomorrow, I can’t answer that. And if I’m honest, I don’t want to think about it. I’d rather focus on right now, right here.’
He pushed himself up, leaning over me, grinning wickedly. ‘Fine by me.’
‘What are you doing?’
‘It’s your turn.’
28
JACK
At some point I awoke and reached for her, finding the bed empty. At first, I was confused; had it all been a dream? But the sheets still smelled like her perfume.
I propped myself up on one elbow. ‘Taylor?’
But there was no answer, and the en suite off the bathroom was in darkness. I reached over and flicked on the lamp, checking the time on my phone: 4.36a.m.
‘Taylor?’ I called louder, throwing off the sheets and putting my feet on the cool wooden floor. She wasn’t in the lounge or the kitchen. A weird feeling settled in my stomach. I hadn’t thought she’d be the kind of woman to just take off in the middle of the night. I still didn’t think that. Had last night upset her?
Flicking on the light over the sink, I saw it. A note on the fridge, held on by a magnet.
