“My legs feel like Jell-O,” she whispered into my skin.
“Good.” I pulled her closer, tenderness swelling inside me. For a long moment, we simply held each other, tangled and sweating, my fingers woven through her hair.
I thumbed her cheek, searching her eyes for regret.
“What is it?” she asked, her expression soft and open.
“It’s just…” I swallowed hard, a decade of loving her crowding its way into my throat. “You’re the whole sky, Ev.”
Slowly, her cheeks spread in a smile, her eyes silver with unshed tears. A strange feeling washed over me. Not déjà vu, not quite. We’d never beenhere,though we’d fooled around enough in the greenhouse to walk the line.
Eva touched the scruff on my jaw. “I do like this,” she whispered. “It suits you.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
She nodded, trailing her fingers down my jaw, then lower. She stalled with her palm to my chest, then she pushed me flat onto the blanket and swung a leg over my knees. Her pupils were dilated, her throat still flushed with climax and desire as she unbuckled my belt.
“Pants off.”
I was already hard, but her gentle order heavied the ache. When I fell back against the blanket, Eva took me in her warm, firm grip. I gasped, instinctively thrusting into her touch. “Fuck.”
“I’d like to,” she muttered.
“I don’t have a condom.”
And yes, she might have been sacred, but that was a wicked grin. “I do.” Eva let me go, tugging her scrunched-up sundress over her head. She held up a foil square.
I gaped at her. “How did you…?”
“Izzy left it in one of the pockets.”
I barked a laugh. It felt so good to laugh, after everything.
Eva tore the packet open and crawled back over me. I helped her roll it into place. I felt electric, my skin buzzing, my body tight and full with need. Eva sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she fit herself against me. One nudge and our bodies would join.
“Keep touching me,” she instructed.
I ran my palms up her sides, slowing to pinch her stomach softly between my forefinger and thumb. “I love how soft you are,” I murmured.
She laughed, a little self-conscious. “I’ve, um, gotten a little softer.”
“And I love it.” I cupped the bend of her hip. “You’re so beautiful, Ev.”
She leaned down to steal a kiss. Time slowed, even as our bodies quickened, the inches between us ripe with desire. Green tendrils brushed my arms. The greenhouse had overgrown itself.
Eva flicked a glance at the flora, then grinned. She plucked a leaf off a nearby lemon verbena and held it just over my lips. I took it between my teeth and bit down. Its flavor spread over my tongue as she sank onto me, sheathing me inside her. Pleasure was a shock. I gripped her hips.
“Oh.”Eva’s voice piqued with surprise. “You feel good.”
“You feel amazing.” I groaned when she pressed her lips to mine, tasting lemon verbena and her, her, her.
Eva braced a hand on the floor as we moved together, moss growing under her fingertips. I wrapped my hands around the small of her back, touching her everywhere I could reach. It was strange to return to each other this way, to remember each other soeasily when all we’d ever had was a single summer. So little time to memorize and learn the shape of each other. Back then, I’d thought I knew what love was. I’d thought it was this. Needing. Giving. Seeing.
And maybe it was that simple. Maybe love was simply putting yourself on the altar of being known.
Eva gave me a watery smile as I thumbed a rogue tear sliding down her nose. There were no words for this tender ache. It hurt to love so deeply. It used to scare me how loving left me vulnerable. I never realized until I saw it splayed across her features that it also made me brave.
Eva braced her palms on my shoulders, eyes shining. The windows of the greenhouse had long since fogged over, leaving us sweating. This little room was the birthplace to so many important firsts. First glances. First touches.
