“Yeah?” I asked, easing inside her once she nodded. My eyes rolled back in my head at how fucking good she felt.
Sliding inside Stella was like coming home, a home I hadn’t thought existed for me. Her brother had told me to make sure I was all in, and I absolutely was. Beyond thepoint of no return or any kind of denial. And this was where I wanted to stay.
“You okay?” I asked her, sliding my arm under her waist to pull her close and sink even deeper.
“I am so much better than okay,” she said, scraping her nails down my back as she matched me thrust for thrust. Our mouths met in a sloppy, desperate kiss, and I was racing to the end much faster than I wanted to. I tried to remember how many condoms I’d felt in the box to calculate how many times I could lose myself in Stella before the sun came up.
She clenched around me, biting my shoulder as her body shook. It was all I needed to finally let go, spilling everything I had inside her.
I collapsed onto the mattress, burrowing my head in the crook of her shoulder while I waited for my heart to stop hammering against my rib cage. A sheen of sweat broke out on my skin, my body trembling as my legs liquefied against my mattress.
I’d had lonely, detached sex over the past few years, as functional as it was forgettable. This wasn’t that. This was the type of spent you could only get by giving away your soul along with your body. It was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.
“Holy shit, Stell,” I whispered, pressing my forearm into the pillow to pull myself up. I chuckled until I spied the fat tears snaking down her flushed cheeks. “What’s wrong?” I whispered, cupping her face while I swiped my thumb back and forth to catch her tears. “I didn’t hurt you, did I, baby?”
“No,” she croaked out, shaking her head. “It… You… It was everything.” She sank her teeth into her quivering bottom lip. “I’ve just…waited a while to be here.” She brought her hand to the back of my head, grasping me as if she was trying not to drown. I was right there with her.
“Me too, sweetheart,” I said, tracing my finger along the curve of her jaw, still trembling under my touch as more tears fell. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’ve just never…” She swallowed. “It was…” She tucked her chin to her chest, gulping air.
“Fucking incredible. Let me count the condoms in the box to see how many more times we can be incredible tonight.” I winked, reaching over when she grabbed my hand.
“I’m on the pill. And after Zach, I was tested for everything and was negative, and there’s been no one since.”
“Me too. I mean, it’s been a long time since I’ve…and I was tested and negative. No one since.”
“Once you have some recovery time, we don’t need anything. I don’twantanything between us.”
“Neither do I,” I said, kissing her cheek. “And just by that request, you cut my recovery time in half.”
My life was full of twists that seemed to come out of nowhere. Some great, some awful.
One of my best friends turning out to be the second love of my life was the best one yet.
TWENTY-EIGHT
STELLA
“Wake up, beautiful,” Lee whispered. His laugh vibrated against my back when I shook my head.
“No,” I groaned into the pillow, reaching back to pull him closer. “Stay in bed with me.”
“I can’t do that. The buses are coming early. Trust me, I wouldn’t go anywhere if I didn’t have to.”
I rolled over and sat up, running a hand down my face while I yawned.
“I thought you didn’t have to be there until the afternoon?” I rubbed my eyelids.
“Silas texted yesterday that the buses were rescheduled for four a.m.” He flashed me a wicked grin. “I was too distracted after we got Bennie to bed to mention it.”
“I would have probably been too distracted to remember anyway,” I said, adjusting the sheets over my torso. “I’ll find my clothes and head back to my bedroom before Bennie wakes up.” I squinted at the nightstand on my side, where my bra and panties hung over the edge. “We’re animals,” I said, reaching over as Lee caught my hand.
“Or you could stay in here. I like knowing you’re lying naked in my bed.” He ran his finger along the edge of the sheet covering my chest. “And we can explain to Bennie that you sleep in here now because you’re my girlfriend.” Lee raised a brow. “And you can stop sneaking down the hall like some kind of thief in the night.”
My heart leaped at the wordgirlfriend.
For the past couple of nights, I’d slept in Lee’s bedroom until a half hour before Bennie woke up. She’d noticed a lot already but hadn’t pieced it together, and I didn’t want to shock her.
