“You’re going to have to give me a minute,” he grunts, nostrils flaring as he gains his composure. He’s doing his best to slow my movements, but I’ve never been a patient woman, and I certainly haven't ever let a man tell me what to do.
I lean down to capture his mouth with mine. “You can handle it, baby.” He isn’t the only one that hasn’t had sex since the last time we were together, and he isn’t the only one with some pent-up energy to release. I ease out of his grasp, pulling his hands from my hips and putting them on my breasts. Covering his hands with mine, I use his weight to balance as I lift my hips up and slam them back down. I bounce on him, rolling hips back and forth until sweat dots my back as I race towards my own pleasure.
I'm about to hit that peak, to fall over the edge screaming his name when he flips us over, and I yelp as I fall to my back, head hanging over the edge of the bed. Jim lifts my left leg, stretching me wide as he drapes it over his shoulder, settling in, rocking into me with a punishing pace. “Always such a fucking tease,” he groans, mouth coming down to lick a straight line along the column of my throat.
He grinds against me, and I cry out his name, lifting my head and begging for his mouth. He crashes his lips to mine, reaching an arm under me to pull me up on the bed for better access. Each movement is frantic. We’re so restless, needy for one another, trying to make up for all those months of lost time, that our hands and mouths can’t get enough. I’m about to fire off something cocky, something so I can be the one in control whenhe places his hand between my legs, thumb swiping back and forth against my clit.
My orgasm comes so fast it slaps me, and I clench around him, pussy spasming.
“Thank God,” he groans, laying his weight on me. He props himself up on his elbows for balance, and increases his pace, thrusts so deep and forceful they inch me up and up until my head is nearly off the bed again.
It isn’t long before he stops, and I feel him twitching inside of me, his arms giving out from exhaustion. He slumps his sweaty body over mine, and I wrap my arms around his shoulders to tuck his head into my neck.
“I love you,” I whisper again. Wanting – no – needing him to know I mean it.
“You have no idea,” he says, tilting his face to kiss the side of my neck. “I’ve waited years to hear those words fall from your lips.”
I release my death grip on his neck, tucking my chin down to look at him. “Tell me more about this. Last night Ryan mentioned that you saw me at a bar the night he and Lainey met, but you didn’t say anything.”
“I was too chickenshit. You are way out of my league and I wasn’t ready to dive head-first into rejection.”
I scoff, rolling my eyes at his stupid comment.
“Once I saw you for the first time, it was like I saw you everywhere. We crossed paths a dozen times and you never paid me even the smallest glance. One day I spotted you in the hospital coffee shop, and I thought I finally had my chance. You were furiously texting on your phone, hip propped on the counter as you waited. I stared so long that by the time I went and asked if I could buy you a cup of coffee, you already had one in your hand. You held it up to my face as if to say ‘already took care of it, buddy’ without even removing your eyes from yourphone. Oh, and once,” he chuckles, swiping a hand down his face. He adjusts his position so he’s lying along my side, his arm still wrapped around me. “God I used to make excuses to have to run to the fourth floor to talk to Ryan. Once I was standing at the nurses station as you came through. You stood right next to me, practically brushing elbows as you changed out the battery in your Ascom phone. You kept your head down, walked away once the task was done without even noticing there were other people in the room. I think I mumbled ‘Hi,’ but you didn’t even glance in my direction.”
I bury my face into his chest, embarrassment burning my ears, realizing how bitchy I must look to the outside world. “Have I said that I’m sorry?”
“Don’t be. It was a challenge that fueled me. A spark I needed to keep going.”
“And now? Now that you have me, now that the challenge is won, what do you think?”
He smiles, leaning in to place soft kisses against my lips. “Sweetheart, the fun is just getting started.”
Epilogue
3 Months Later
“Afew more steps, baby.”
I reach my hands to wrap around Jim’s forearms, using his body for balance as I blindly step forward. His hands press against my eyes, keeping me blindfolded so as to not ruin the surprise.
I quickly swipe an arm back, tickling his side and he bends to block my hand, pulling my body with it and I squeal, nearly falling over.
“Quit ticking me you little shit.”
“Then tell me the surprise.”
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”
I grumble in agreement, letting him walk me through the house until he stops.
He removes his palms from my eyes, reminding me to keep them closed as his hands work to straighten my shoulders. Oncehe’s satisfied with my stance, he leans closer to whisper in my ear. “Okay, open.”
I do as he says, blinking the black spots away as my vision focuses on the image in front of me.
Marissa’s wildflower painting.
I turn to look at Jim, brows pinched together. “Your surprise is that you hung up my sister’s painting?”
