“Zach.”His name is a prayer on my tongue.His touch, electric.I quiver, shaking at the feel of him on my most intimate part.I feel my slickness gather, undeniable proof of how badly I want him.
“You’re so perfect.”His fingers slide between my folds, and my head rolls back, my hands braced on either side of his shoulders.I instinctively widen my stance.
“Zach ...”I murmur, flushed and trembling with need.
“I’ve dreamed about this moment,” he rasps, looking up at me, his shiny eyes now dark and hooded.He slides a finger inside, watches me shiver.He slides another one, I start to buck against him, mouth falling open as I try to contain myself.But just then he presses his mouth against me and kisses me intimately, as tenderly as if his lips were on my mouth.It feels too raw, too close, too … delicious.I moan in response as my body begins to convulse.
“You taste like a dream,” he murmurs, tongue and lips pleasuring me so deeply.
“I want you inside ...”I start to edge back, about to perch on the edge of the couch.
“Not here,” he says, suddenly, standing up.He grabs my wrist and pulls me towards the bedroom, and then onto the bed.
I lie back, spreading my legs, feeling hot and dirty, watching him climb out of his boxers.I savor the sight of his naked body as he moves around the room, finds a condom and rips the packet open.He nears me, his cock inches from my face as he slides a condom slowly and deliberately, over his length.
A heavy throb of need shoots through me.My mouth hangs open.Something trickles down my thigh.
“I’ll try to go slow,” he murmurs, his mouth latching onto my breast, as he sucks hard again, his fingers exploring my folds.
I pant, struggling for air, as he sucks the other breast, giving it the same careful consideration.I feel like I’m having an out of body experience when his fingers thrust in and out, pleasure ripping through, almost bringing me to an edge.
“Zach ...”I whimper.“I can’t wait any more ...”
As if he’s been given the green light, he positions his body over me, his tip nudging my entrance.His eyes meet mine as he slides inside me, watching me writhe as pleasure surges through me.Our tongues meet again, dueling and thrashing as he slams in, hard and fast, over and over again.
I cry out, overcome by the rush of connection and release, of him being mine after years of wanting and waiting.My body tightens, then breaks and surrenders as the pleasure crests and spills over.
Chapter 25
MAYA
I wake before Zach does, my naked body tucked against his side.He’s on his back, with one arm thrown loosely around me.I press against him, our bodies slick and soft, smiling to myself that we really did this.
He’s still fast asleep.We got carried away, making love through the night, becoming intimately acquainted with each other’s bodies.How he tenderly explored every inch of me.
My nipples harden just thinking about us, about what we did.How he feels inside me, how his face hardens just before he releases.How it leaves him feeling so spent afterwards.
I watch him quietly, seeing how his chest rises and falls.His face is softer now in sleep, and his signature stubble feels sharper, thicker under my fingers.I trace a line around his eyes, his temples, along his nose, and then his lips, and finally along the strong line of his jaw.
To think I almost let him walk away.
This feels right.I feel like I belong here, in his bed, with him.It’s not just the sex.What we have goes deeper, stretches further back in time.I knew Zach when he was just a tall, thin, sixteen-year-old; all sharp angles and quiet intensity and still dealing with trauma while trying to figure out who he was supposed to be.The man beside me now is steadier, stronger, and more sure of himself.He has the same decency.The same thoughtfulness, and always, he makes me feel seen.
He asked me why I’d changed my mind, why I’d stopped fighting this.I didn’t answer him properly.I didn’t want to give too much away, but I know exactly why I gave in.
It’s because I see him.Not his name, or his legacy, or the shadow cast by Paul Knight.
I seehim.
I’ve seen the parts of him he doesn’t show anyone else—the vulnerability his brothers would tease him for, that his father would see as weakness, and the expectations that burden him.I see how he shoulders responsibility without complaint.I see how his loyalty runs bone-deep.It’s because of this that I can never tell him what his father did.How his actions changed the course of my mother’s life and mine.
He’s become the man his mother would have been proud of.
My mother still carries scars, and I still carry the memory of that night, of being forced to leave a place I finally felt comfortable in, with a boy who made me feel chosen and safe.And then, when my mother told me the truth, that sense of safety shattered.I’ve carried the damage of it ever since, along with the resentment for the reason we ran.For everything that was taken from us without our consent.
This man lying beside me is nothing like his father and the moment I realized this, I gave in because I finally saw that he was still the Zach I knew.
I don’t know what the future will look like, for me, for him, for us.But I know that this man is worthy because he’s shown me time and again who he is through a thousand small acts, not words.
