He wrapped her in an embrace and pressed his lips to hers. Things escalated quickly. The kisses were intense, passionate, and all-consuming. Caresses and strokes were intimate. They explored each other’s bodies with no inhibitions, no boundaries, as they had each fantasized about this moment for over a year.
Donna found herself on her back on the mattress with Rich atop her and watched as he tore open a condom wrapper. “I’m on the pill,” she said. “I went on it last year after…” her voice trailed off, not wanting to admit that she went on it with hopes of sleeping with him.
He smiled. “Good. I was hoping. I’m clean. I promise.”
“Me too. You can forget about that if you want,” she offered.
He grinned and tossed it aside, knowing it would feel so much better with nothing between them. And then he laced his fingers with hers and kept his eyes fixed on hers as he penetrated her slowly, enjoying every second of the incredible sensations entering her brought him. The love he made her was slow and deliberate at first, his eyes never leaving hers. He wanted it to last as long as it could. And given that he hadn’t had sex in well over a year, he knew that he’d blow quicker than he wanted to, especially if he gave in to his desire to pump into her at a frenzied pace. Now that he’d given himself permission to have sex with her, the intense yearning he felt to couple with her was the single focus of his existence.
The slow pace brought, as he intended, a connection with deep meaning to the act. He could see in her eyes that the honesty of the moment was not lost on her. This was momentous, the basis for what their relationship would be going forward. Their friendship had officially turned into romantic love, sexual love, a future, a promise.
For Donna, the intensity was shocking. Her prior sexual experiences, though realized by what she thought was love at the time, had never been fueled by friendship, admiration, and connection as her relationship and this coupling with Rich was. Not that this one was also not driven by attraction, desire, and love. It was. But the other components of a truly mature and lasting, committed relationship had been absent before now.
When Burke couldn’t contain it and deny himself any longer, he unrestricted his actions and unleashed his desire. He let pure instinct take over. Rational thought did not kick in again until he found himself out of breath, his heart beating out of his chest, and his cock buried deeply inside of her pulsating and throbbing after its load had blown. He held her tightly, their bodies coated with sweat.
Donna had never orgasmed from intercourse until then. What had he done differently to cause it? Had it been his eyes staring so deeply into hers that it made the act more intimate, more connecting? She hadn’t been able to look away, even though during it felt as though he could see her soul and he could feel every thought, every emotion she had. It had felt almost as though he was emotionally violating her somehow. And how he’d held her hands the entire time, it was a combination of a sweet gesture and a sensation that he held her down and heldher in place. The implications of that were thrilling. His length and girth filled her perfectly. He rubbed all the right places, immediately driving her crazy, crazy excited, excitedly wanting him to thrust faster and harder, which he denied her until the end. So every move he made left her silently begging for more. And when he did give her what she needed, she exploded in orgasmic fury, a wave washing through her that made her nearly black out.
She’d only been with three men in her life: the fathers of her children. She wasn’t promiscuous, like her sister believed. And sex with them had never been as intense as what she’d just experienced.
Elijah was conceived in the back seat of her high school boyfriend’s car. Like all high school girls, she thought it was true love and that it would last. But the adult responsibility of a child ended that romance quickly. Davis Sullivan was out of their lives and enjoying a normal college life before Elijah turned three months old. He’d been there for the birth and after seeing the miracle of a child coming into the world, refused to sexually touch her again. She knew now, as an adult, that he was too immature to handle not only the sight of the baby’s head coming out of her but the responsibility of parenthood.
Jayden’s birth resulted from a crush on a neighborhood bad boy. She confused fun and being in a carefree relationship with love. Dante White said all the right things. He lavished her with attention and distracted her from the burden of being a single teenage mother. She acted out in a way she never had, drinking and partying with a fun group of people who accepted her forwho she was and challenged her to embrace living outside of the expected behavior she was raised with.
But that rebellious side of Dante extended to resisting responsibility, specifically his after creating a child. He didn’t even offer to pay for half of the abortion, not that Donna considered one. He was just gone from her life with no real ending to what Donna discovered was a not real relationship. She didn’t even put his name on the birth certificate.
Jeriah’s father, Ronnie Hess, hurt Donna the worst. She met him at the neighborhood park. He was a single dad who also brought his son there to play. She resisted expanding their relationship past parents who chatted while their kids played for months. He too said all the right things. He portrayed himself as a caring dad, a good person, and a stable partner. She discovered later that he was none of those things. But at the time, Donna let her guard down and let him get close. He offered to pay for her babysitter so that they could go out. She fell for him hard and fast. Birth control failed and Ronnie Hess failed her too. Instead of standing with her, he first pushed for an abortion. When she declined that route, he too was gone, like every other man in her life.
Rich knew. They had discussed the conceptions of her children and their fathers, specifically, why their fathers were not in their lives a year earlier, when Rich protected her in Miami. It was one of the many deep and personal conversations they had in the evenings after the kids were asleep.
Her eyes fluttered open as she still inhaled her breaths in deep draws, attempting to calm her racing heart, which beat in timewith his. She was aware of Rich’s throbbing member deep inside her, aware of his weight on her pelvis and chest, aware they still held hands. His breath blew across her ear; his face was nestled beside her face. Her body was hot and slick with sweat.
She watched as Rich rose onto his forearms and hung his head over hers. For a moment, he just stared deeply into her eyes. Then he kissed her with such passion that she could feel the strong emotions coming from him. His kisses trailed down her face and neck.
“I love you,” he whispered, his lips near her ear.
“I love you, too,” she said on a breath.
He continued kissing her neck. He licked her ear and breathed a hot breath over it. He circled his hips, reminding her that his hard cock was still in position. It moved inside her, slid against her sensitive clit. She drew a deep breath and whimpered with pleasure. He shifted their position so that his fingers could help, and he quickly brought her to a second hard orgasm. And then he wrapped her in an embrace and just held her.
Uniform
The dim bedside light was still on when they opened their eyes, as neither had turned it off before drifting into a satisfied slumber the previous evening. Outside, the sky was just brightening, through the heavy cloud cover. It penetrated the room through the sheer curtains.
Burke held her tightly to himself, as he had all night. He knew there was more to discuss with her regarding his job, like the trackers. They’d get to that after she talked to Rae. He planned to call Wilson that morning to arrange a visit, as he’d suggested. Somehow, no issues seemed insurmountable at this point.
He smiled, experiencing a contentment he didn’t know existed. It was that feeling that everything was right with the world that he had felt when he was with Donna and the kids, but it was more intense, a stronger feeling. He recalled listening to the wedding vows of his teammates when they spoke of someone coming into their lives, bringing something they didn’t knowwas missing until it was suddenly in their lives, standing in front of them. Yes, he completely understood that feeling now.
Donna stirred in his arms and rolled to face him. She smiled at him and stretched. Waking up in bed with him was a dream come true. “What time is it?”
“Nearly seven thirty,” he said.
She sat up. “Shit, the kids and my mom are probably already awake because of the time change.”
He wrapped his arms back around her and pulled her into himself as he lay back down. “And I’m sure your mom is taking care of the kids and has figured out we’re in here.”
“And now she’ll think I lied to her because I insisted over and over that we weren’t sleeping together,” Donna moaned.
“Until we were,” Burke said with a grin. He squeezed her tighter. “You’re okay with going public with our relationship, aren’t you?”
