The pier is pretty packed considering it’s the day after the Fourth, but it’s worth it. We shop and I spend money on Eli even though he tries to stop me. I buy him souvenir items toremember his time with me. We buy matching hats because they have manatees on them which oddly makes Eli smile.
The last store we wander into is a jewelry store, with expensive beach-themed jewelry. I’m sure we look a sight, but the sales people must be used to people like us wandering through the store. Eli stops at a glass case of ocean-themed necklaces in varying shades of gold. He smiles down at them, before moving on. I grab his forearm to stop him.
“Pick one,” I tell him softly, out of hearing of the nearest sales person.
Eli swallows, throat bobbing. “That’s too much.”
I shake my head fervently. “I want you to take something with you. I need to do that for you. Let me?”
Eli purses his lips, but nods without argument. For which I am very grateful. He spends a while perusing the glass case, before settling on a gold conch shell on a matching chain. It's beautiful.
I wave at the sales person that’s been watching us a few feet away. “We’ll take the gold conch shell.”
The salesperson nods and leads me over to the register to check me out. It’s not crazy expensive, but it’s real gold, so I know it’ll last as long as Eli is careful with it. Which I know he will be. Once we’re outside of the store, I take the box out of the bag, and pull the beautiful necklace out of the cushioning.
Without a word, I spin Eli around, and tenderly place the necklace around his neck. His fingers come up to play with it, his lips tipping up in that smile that I know means I did good. Pushing those pesky curls out of his gaze, I dip down to kiss him chastely, just a sweet press of mouths.
Finally, after we’ve bought bags’ worth of things we definitely don’t need, I take him out to the edge of the pier.
“No one’s fishing?” Eli asks with a frown.
“No, because people swim here. They don’t want to attract sharks.”
Eli nods in understanding. “Makes sense. What are we going to do with the rest of the day?”
I lean against the railing, looking out at the horizon. “I kind of want to just take you home and have you as many times as I can.”
“Sounds good to me,” Eli replies. He bumps his arm against mine so I look over at him. Eli looks at me tenderly, eyes shining sweetly, like he knows everything I’m not saying.
So, I take him back home. The house that I had purchased for me and Marcus suddenly feels less like a reminder of what I lost with him, and more of a reminder of what I’m going to lose with Eli. I’d purchased the beach house as a surprise for Marcus but he never got to visit. The cancer came out of nowhere and stole him from me so quickly. Diagnosis to hospice in the matter of months.
I’d wanted to bring him here but never got the chance. An odd part of me is grateful that I never did. Although it was purchased for us, for him, now I’ll always remember this week with Eli when I visit the beach house. This one perfect week.
8
ELI
The final day with Colby is the sweetest torture I’ve ever known. He took me to a garden so that I could stand among butterflies. I’d watched them fly around me, into the sky, one even landed on me. But what made it even more perfect was the way Colby had watched me. The look in his eyes when his gaze landed on me was something else. I felt every inch of his gaze like a caress.
Then he took me to the pier, bought me anything I so much as looked at. Bought me that damn necklace that I’ll never take off. He’d walked me to the edge of the pier and told me he wanted to take me home to have me. He had sounded so in need that I hadn’t been able to deny him.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to deny Colby. I don’t want to either.
We return to the house just in time for dinner. I leave Colby in the kitchen to cook. It doesn’t take long for me to get ready for him. After so many years, it’s a routine that I have down easily. Music echoes around the kitchen when I come back downstairs.The sound of my feet padding along the wood floors has Colby turning to look at me from where he stands at the stove.
He aims a breathtaking smile my way and in that instant I know I’m forever fucked.
It took five days for me to fall in love with this man. How many days will it take for me to fall out of love? My stomach churns at the idea of doing this with anyone else. Just the idea of being touched by someone else makes my heart clench painfully in my chest.
“Can we eat dinner later?” I ask quietly, suddenly feeling shy.
Colby’s gaze is hot on me, but he nods tightly, then covers the pans on the stove, turning the burners off. He stalks towards me, all heat, want, and need. Taking my face in his large palms, he kisses me possessively. All the air leaves me in a rush when he licks into my mouth, owning me with his lips. My cock aches just from one simple kiss with Colby.
His hands trail down my back and cup my ass, lifting so that I’m forced to wrap my legs around him. I gasp into his mouth as he carries me up the stairs to the bedroom. Warm sunlight casts the bedroom orange. Colby gently lays me on the bed, following me down with his body, kissing me with an urgency that I’ve never experienced before.
His mouth devours me and I just try to hang on. I curl my fingers against his back, digging my nails into his skin, hoping to leave marks there long after I’m gone. Colby tears himself away from my mouth to trail kisses down my neck and chest. Moans flow freely from my mouth because my body has a mind of its own.
Colby’s lips leave a wake of fire behind them as he kisses down my stomach. His fingers hook into the band of my underwear, tugging them down without any fanfare. My cock slaps against my stomach and I tangle my fingers into the sheets to stop myself from dragging Colby back to my mouth.
