On the next thrust, she rises up to meet me and the point of collision is so...deliciously...sweet.
"Faster," Bess says.
I speed up my rhythm and with her heels pressed into the mattress, Bess is able to match my pace. Her hands slide from my back to my buttocks and press in time with each thrust to urge me on. I happily meet her demands.
The descent from a lazy push and pull into frenzy is so fast, I know without a doubt this is going to be over for both of us very quickly.
Bess mews on every shuddering end-point of each thrust and when I make no sound outside of my ragged breathing, she says, "Let me hear you. I want to hear you."
So I groan with each flick of my hips.
"Fuck yes," says Bess. "Louder."
If hearing my pleasure is what she needs, I'm happy to give it to her. I cry out and it feels good to add that release to the exquisite tension in my body, to the pressure mounting in my centre.
Bess matches my volume with her keening, and the noises coming out of us are non-sensical and full of want and pleading.
Her fingers dig into my lower back as her cries rise in pitch. I know she's going to come, but she tells me anyway and falls apart a moment later with devastating force. A flush rises up her body and she throws her head back, shuddering beneath me.
I place my mouth on her neck and as she contracts around my cock and loses all control, I can't hold myself back any longer.
Pressure builds to tipping point in my groin, and then breaks. The release is so fierce, I can't help but roar at the intensity of it. It pulses through me, chased by a swell of ecstasy that recedes into a deep loosening of everything.
I collapse and pant into Bess' neck.
She puts her hands on either side of my face and pulls me up to look at her before she kisses me. It is tender and loving and I don't want to move. I don't want to pull myself away from being this close to her after what we just shared.
But I also don't want her to struggle to breathe.
Reluctantly, I roll off her and out of her and the air of the room rushes in to cool the sweat on my skin.
Bess watches me, breathing heavily through a large smile. "That was..."
I beam back at her. "Yeah. It was."Somuch better than anything I could and have imagined.
Outside, a car drives past and someone mows their lawn before dinner. Ordinary life somehow continues outside this bedroom when something extraordinary has just happened, and is, I think, still happening inside it.
I don't think I've ever been happier.
Bess runs a hand through my chest hair and eventually breaks our silence. "Thank you for telling me. I know it was one of the hardest things you've ever done."
I don't say anything for a moment. "Courage is not one of my strongest traits."
"It's a pretty big thing to reveal to someone. It means making yourself incredibly vulnerable."
"Yeah," I whisper.
Bess lifts her head to look at me. "If I hadn't have spotted the painting, would you have told me?"
“I was going to. In the cemetery today. And then you laughed at the idea of us being romantically involved and I didn’t think there was a point.”
Bess is quiet for a moment. “Oh, Ed. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what I was thinking or feeling then. It was very much confused laughter.”
I pull her down back into the crook of my shoulder. “I know,” I say softly. “You had quite a lot to process.”
She gives a small laugh and follows it up with a sigh. “Somuch. It’s been quite a month.”
“Indeed it has.” I lay my hand over the one she's placed on my chest and after several breaths, I say, "You can make another sculpture. With real letters this time."
