“I’m sureyou’reworth it,” she says. “But I don’t blame you if you don’t think that I am.”
“You’re worth everything to me,” I tell her, and I mean it. “God, all I want is to be with you, for real, without the cameras and the rules and everything. It’s not going to be easy, but there’s nothing I want more.”
She melts into me, but concern flits across her face. “Do you think our lives will fit together, though?That’s what you wanted, right? Someone who fits.”
“Becks, anything in my life that doesn’t fit with us can go. I want to be with you, and we’llmakeour lives fit. If you want that.”
“I do,” she says with a sigh. “All I want is to be with you.”
I kiss her again, and god, it feels so good. Our future is still uncertain, and when the show airs, I wonder if she’ll find all sorts of new reasons to doubt me.
But I’m going to choose her, every day, for as long as she’ll let me. “Do you want to stay a couple more days in Italy? We’ll have to fly ourselves back, but I can pay for it. We can show up tomorrow and deal with the crap they’re going to give us in exchange for our luggage, and then we can take a few days and just relax before we have to go back to California and camp out until after the show airs.”
“That sounds amazing,” She loops her arms around my neck and kisses me again, and there’s no better feeling in the world. I lay her back on the bed, and she pulls me down on top of her. Our bodies lock together, and we’re kissing and kissing, and I just want to devour her. I hope she knows how much it means to me to have her in my arms when I was so certain I never would again. Her skirts are spread over the bed, and I draw her body up against mine so I can reach around and unzip the back of her dress.
Becca laughs against my lips. “Thank god it’s not stuck this time,” she says, and I laugh with her and pull the dress down her body and toss it into a heap on the floor. I’m sure she’ll want to hang it up later—she looked so beautiful in it, like an angel—but right now, I don’t want to be apart from her even for a moment. She’s lying beneath me in a white strapless bra and cotton panties, much less elaborate than the lacy underwear she wore when she snuck into my hotel room, but no less sexy.
Because it’s Becca. She’s the most incredible woman in the world and I want her and want her and want her. She lifts my shirt up over my head, and that’s enough separation for now. I kiss down her neck and over the tops of her breasts and find the bra catch—in the back this time, where I expect it to be—and prove that I can, in fact, remove that article of clothing without fumbling. I kiss right between her breasts and down, down to her belly button and this time she doesn’t tense when I run my tongue down over her scars.
Becca whispers my name and grabs me by my arms, hauling me up and on top of her again, and she wraps her legs tight around my waist, pressing us together right there, oh god, right there,yes—
We’re moving together through my jeans and her underwear and having her body locked around mine like that just about undoes me.
“I love you,” I tell her, and she echoes it back, and I can’t have all these layers between us, not anymore. I think Becca feels the same, because she’s undoing the button on my jeans. I slip my hands down the sides of her underwear and drag them down over her thighs and then run my hand back up, sliding my fingers right between her legs.
I think I take her by surprise, because she gasps and arches back, and I’m not teasing her this time. My fingers dip inside her and I groan at how wet she is, how warm and tight. She gives up on my jeans and falls back against the mattress, uttering my name as a moan, and while I’ve been in love with her for weeks now, I still feel like I’m falling, and wonder if maybe I always will.
Becca’s whole body shudders, but I don’t think she’s gotten there, not yet. She renews focus on my fly and tugs down my pants. My boxers come with them and I have to drag my hand away to help her take them off. I mean to go right back to what I was doing, but Becca has other plans. She twists beneath me and shoves me onto my back, climbing on top of me with her knees on either side of my hips.
I lie back in a daze, watching this goddess as she rides up on me, and then reaches down and pulls me inside her with one fluid movement.
“Becks,” I gasp, and she moans as her eyes flicker closed. I keep mine open, watching her move on top of me, lifting my hips to drive into her deeper and deeper.
I still can’t believe she’s mine, this exquisite, beautiful person I love with all my heart and then some. Becca runs her hands up my chest, and I slip mine up the soft skin of her back, scratching gently with my nails. She responds with the most delicious groan and then we’re lost in the rhythm and pleasure and the ever-rising song ofus. Becca crests and peaks before I do, crying out and then kissing me recklessly as she continues to move on top of me, bringing me to heights I’ve never reached, not with anyone before, even with her. My voice lacks the control even to form her name, and I moan wordlessly as she brings me through.
After, as I’m holding her tight in my arms with nothing between us, I’m struck with the profound depth of how lucky I am to be here with her. She’s my heart and my home and my everything, and all I want is to be with her forever and always.
If we can survive what’s coming, I’ll have everything I need for the rest of my life.
