“Why not?”
“Because I’m heavy.”
“You’re just right.”
She apparently sees the truth of this and stops talking.
“Take it all off,” I order while I do the same with my clothes. “And listen. I’ve got something to say. You are more than what you can give. So much more that I can’t believe you think that.” I pull at my sleeve, and a button goes flying. I move on to the other. “Don’t you see how much you bring to every room you enter?” I work at my pants and watch, anger warring with fascination, as she struggles out of her jeans and leans forward to work at her bra. “Stopchoosing other people, Rae. Choose yourself, for once. You are pure delight. You’re not just some person who makes the best cookies in the world or helps people.” I rip off my jeans, toe off my socks, and stare down at her, in all her glory. “You know what I see when I look at you?”
Her skin’s creased from the bra and jeans, and the freckles I knew I’d find everywhere are scattered as randomly as the stars we stared at a few minutes ago.
Only I didn’t pay nearly as much attention to that sky as I’m paying now to her body. Her face. Her beautiful, beautiful being.
Slowly, full of that good pain I described, I crawl onto the bed and over her. “Rae,” I grunt, because her skin under mine isn’t just soft; it’s exquisite. I want to rub myself. To sink in. I want to share all of it, all of her, all of myself. I’ve never once felt this open to someone else.
I stiffen my arms and look down at her, doing my best to ignore the snug perfection of my erection against her belly, the deep pleasure of just the points of her breasts against my chest. The sheer joy of so much skin pressed flush to mine.
“I see…” I swallow, staring down at eyes that have lost all but a thin circle of blue. “A woman whose love of life, whose enjoyment of the little things, lights up the world around her.” I can’t bring myself to carry on, to tell her that she is pure, sweet, hedonistic pleasure. That I’ve never felt so alive as I do while taking care of her.
I bend my head and kiss her. There’s too much sensation to take my time. I could do it out in the cold, on the water, but here, with all this heat and touch and solid, undeniable connection, I am lost to her. To this. To us.
The way our mouths work together in harmony is such a turn-on, I get lost in the deep, aching kisses.
I don’t know how long we kiss and writhe together. At some point, her legs go wide, and my hips settle, and I push back up, staring at her.
She reaches for me, lines us up, and I’m pressing in. Slow, taking my time because this thing has an end date, and there’s this feeling—this absolute certainty—that this is it. The last time this will happen. The one time like this. I don’t even know what this is.
Her. Me. Us.
I’m gasping, pressing into her, taking every thrust she gives me back. Staring into those endless wells of… what? What is that emotion in her eyes?
I… I can’t…
Oh, wow. This isn’t… I don’t…
She tightens around me, and I press deep, arms around her, and I’m coming. I’m coming so hard.
And it hurts. In my chest, my throat.
It is the best fucking pain.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
Grant
THERE’S A THUMPING. I ignore it and turn to press a kiss to Rae’s warm shoulder. She wiggles and lets out a sleepy/happy sound, and I dive under the blanket to kiss her collarbone, her breasts.
Fuck, these nipples. How did I live without them for all this time?
This is the best I’ve ever felt. Solid, raw, real. It’s that happy pain thing, times a million.
We fucked all night. Three times, at least. I’ve been inside her fast and furious, a little rough. Oh, hell, then the wild, twisty feel of her going tight around me while I tickled her through an extended orgasm. Laughing, playing. Things I’ve never done quite like this.
Then I spent at least an hour under the blankets playing with her body, exploring her. Tasting and sucking and breathing her in until I’d memorized every muscle, freckle, and curve.
Even now, after all that, I want more.
It should scare me, but it’s like my body’s taken over, and the control’s flown the coop, and oh, yes, she’s wet again, and pliant and smiling and ready.
