“Now, Mark, oh!” Her body clamped down on him as she came.
He kept moving, urging her on as he felt the tingling at the base of his spine that signaled the start of his own orgasm.
“Yes,” Jess panted as she writhed beneath him.
Release tore through him in a series of blazing hot waves. He ground himself against her as they both lost themselves in their pleasure, clinging to each other and moving frantically.
Finally, she flung her head back, a blissed-out expression on her face. “Every time, I think it can’t possibly get better, and then it does.”
“Yeah.” He dropped his head to hers, panting for breath as his dick still pulsed inside her.
“Mark…” She tightened her arms around him. Tears streaked her cheeks.
He froze as fear dropped like a bucket of ice water over him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She smiled through her tears. “Just the opposite, really. It’s so good, it’s almosttoogood. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, it does.” He felt it too. This thing between them had grown so big so fast; it was fucking terrifying when he stopped to think about it.
She looked straight into his eyes. “Promise me you won’t run this time, Mark. Whatever happens between us, we’ll face it together.”
He braced himself above her, his dick still buried inside her, his heart bursting with all the emotions charging through him. “I promise.”
“If something’s going on in your life, whatever it is, you need to talk to me about it. That’s what people do in relationships, Mark. I don’t care what it is or how hard it is to talk about. You can’t shut me out this time. Promise me you’ll never do that to me again.”
Is that what he’d done? He pulled out and flipped them, settling her back in his lap. “I never meant to make you feel that way, Jess.”
Fresh tears streaked her cheeks. “I know you didn’t. I know that.”
“I’m sorry.” He bent his head, inhaling the scent of her hair. She smelled like some kind of flowery shampoo and incense.
“Don’t be sorry. You were a kid.Iwas a kid. But we’re adults now, and I’m telling you, because I know you don’t have a lot of experience with relationships. This…you and me…we’re in a relationship now, Mark. And that means we’re part of each other’s lives. If something’s going wrong between us, you need to let me know. Talk to me so we can try to work it out. And if we can’t work it out, if it’s time to call it quits, we talk about that too. Okay?”
He nodded as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I promise you, Jess.”
“Good.” She kissed him again. “Because you mean a lot to me, and this thing between us is more than just sex. You know that, right?”
“It was never just sex.” He tightened his arms around her. “Not for me. You’ve always been so much more important to me than that.”
“I’m not naïve. I know we’re going to hit some bumps, maybe even huge bumps, but I don’t want to hide our relationship anymore. I want to make you a full-time part of my life, which means reintroducing you to my family, for one thing.”
“Okay.”
“Nicole and Bren are totally on board with this, by the way. And my parents will come around too.”
“If you say so.” He couldn’t blame them if they didn’t. If he put himself in their shoes, he’d want to kick his own ass too.
“They will.” She snuggled closer in his arms.
His heart thumped against his ribs. This was a big deal, a huge step in their relationship. It was what he’d wanted, what he’d always wanted. A second chance with Jess. He still wasn’t sure he deserved it, and he was terrified he’d somehow manage to fuck it up anyway, but he was going to do his goddamn best not to.
