“I’m not going anywhere,” I reassure her. “I’ll be right here next to you.”
She shakes her head. “No, stay in the bed with me.”
Our eyes lock, and there’s nothing playful in her request. She’s vulnerable, and it must have cost her to ask me that. Willow likes to show me how tough she is, but underneath is a woman who needs to be cared for, like anyone else.
“I’ll stay.”
She scoots over, and I climb into bed with her. It’s warm, and I fluff out the tangled sheets, letting them fall softly over her. When she rolls to her side, I nestle behind her. Her hand reaches for me, and she pulls it over her so it’s draped over her hips.
I try really hard not to notice the soft curves of her body, but lying like this has me instantly hard. Willow must feel it because her hips rock gently pressing into me.
“Sorry,” I mumble. “I’ll face the other way so you can sleep.”
She rolls over to face me, and her eyes are like saucers in the moonlight. “I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want another nightmare.”
I brush a strand of hair off her cheek, and my hand runs down her neck.
“Thank you for being here,” she whispers.
“There’s no place I’d rather be.”
She smiles, but I’m not joking.
Moonlight shines through the big window, casting her face in shadows and softening the hard edges. She tucks her fists under her chin, and we stare at each other. I wonder what she’s thinking. I wonder if she’s feeling the same things I am. That I’ll remember this moment for the rest of my life. That no matter the differences between us, I’ll find a way to see her when all this is over. To fit her into my life. Every paint scrap and dirty fingernail and defiant attitude. All of her.
My hand slides over her waist as I draw her toward me. Our lips meet, and the kiss is soft, gentle, nothing like the hunger that’s consumed us every other time we’ve been intimate.
This is a different kind of hunger. It’s sweet and steady, the kind of hunger that comes from the soul, and the only thing that will satisfy it is Willow.
Our bodies move together, and there’s no trying to compete, no one trying to get the upper hand. Just slow, gentle caresses as we explore each other in the moonlight.
I slide her t-shirt off, and she takes off my clothes nice and slowly, allowing me to explore every curve of her body as we undress each other. We lay together naked, facing each other on the bed, joined at the lips, the hips, and her leg thrown over mine. I feel her slick arousal as I slide between her thighs.
“The condoms are downstairs.”
I make a move to get up, but she stops me, saying, “I’m on the pill, and I’m clean.”
It’s a statement, not a challenge. And I see the same need in her eyes. I want to feel all of Willow, with no barrier between us. I’m going to break one of my rules for her, but it feels like the right thing to do, the only thing to do.
I sink back onto the bed. “I’m clean too.”
I kiss her eyelids and her cheeks and the corners of her mouth, and she kisses back. Her gentleness is so different from the Willow I’ve had in my arms before, a different side of the same woman.
A woman I want to give everything to. When this is done, I’ll find a way to have her in my life. To have more of this. The fun and the angry sex is great, but this… this is something else.
I roll Willow onto her back, and she wraps her legs around me. When I enter her, it’s like returning home. Our eyes lock as we move together, slow and gentle, finding our rhythm.
I watch her as I make love to her, noting every moan and whimper and expression of ecstasy as it passes across her face.I want to stay like this forever. I want to make love to her every night. I want to take care of her in the way she deserves.
When her legs tighten around me, she arches her back, sending me deeper inside. I watch her face, and our eyes lock as we move together, an unwritten agreement to finish this together.
Her brow furrows, and she cries out. At the same moment she releases, I do too. Her legs clutch me in an embrace as we shatter together. Rolls of emotion wash over me, and I pull her close, never wanting the moment to end.
Afterward, she rolls onto her side, and I nestle behind her. I fall into a deep sleep right where I’m meant to be, with Willow at my side.
23
WILLOW
