“Not with you, not anymore.” He brushed my hair back and leaned in, kissing the bruises again. “I…I can’t breathe when you aren’t around, Selena. Everything else—this competition, my sponsor, hell, even the surfing—it’s suffocating. But you, you’re like crystal-clear tropical waters. When I’m with you, I can just be Chase, and I would hope that you could just be Selena. Just you and me.”
I searched for the bite, for the joke, but no, he had his walls completely down. I saw the man who had defended my cousin, who had challenged me at every turn like no one else had ever dared, and who had lit me up from the inside out, my magic knowing what my heart was still catching up to.
“Chase, in a few days you’ll leave…”
“Says who? Sure, I have a few competitions lined up, but I told you, I have time, Selena. For you, I have all the time in the world.”
“You’ll stay?” My fingers tightened on his biceps.
He grinned. “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me, baby.”
I grabbed his hair and kissed him. I kissed him because I never wanted to let go. He leaned his weight against me and gripped meunder my thighs, lifting me up so my legs wrapped around his waist.
He fumbled with the door but got it open and carried me up the stairs, our lips never parting, until he tried to take us into Lupe’s room, and I giggled, pointing him to the other. He kicked the door open and dumped onto the bed, but instead of following me down, he stood and looked around the room.
“Just checking to see if you have any of my posters up yet,” he said, smirking down at me.
“Don’t need that when I have the real thing,” I shot back, yanking his shorts down. His eyes went feral, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of what I said or how I swirled my tongue around the head of his cock.
Before I could go further, he put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me onto my back, his weight over me as he settled between my thighs and kissed me again, his tongue rolling against mine slowly.
“Careful with your lip, Chase.”
“Nah, don’t care.” His hands traced from my thighs up, dragging my dress with them and over my head.
Then he wandered back down, memorizing every curve, like he was seeing me for the first time. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
I clawed under the hem of his shirt, tugging it off and letting my fingertips trail over the hexagon pattern under his jaw and down over his chest. We were both completely exposed.
He rolled his hips, sliding the length of his cock through my pussy, but never pressing in. He nipped at my neck, a deep ache flaring when he hit a bruise. I moaned softly as I moved with him.
“Chase, I need you.”
“You mean it, baby?”
I bit my lip but nodded. “I need you.” I grazed his cheek with my nails and looked deep into his eyes. “I need all of you, Chase Perez.”
He smiled, that real smile I loved, and then kissed me again as he stretched me open with a long, slow thrust.
I ran my tongue over his piercing as I moaned, and he held meclose. I didn’t rush him. I didn’t want to. I wanted to be as close to him as two people could get for as long as possible. He shifted my legs around his waist and pushed deeper, and when he glided over the perfect spot inside me, my skin glowed, pulsing with his rhythm.
My magic didn’t spark. It didn’t lash out or arc. It just moved with him, building slowly to something I knew had the potential to destroy me, but I welcomed it because, for the first time in a long time, I knew I would look up, and he would be there looking back at me.
“Chase, I…”
“I know, baby.” He kissed me again, cutting me off. “Now let go for me. I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.”
And I did. My back arched so he dragged against me over and over, and I let myself make every sound I wanted. I clung to him without shame and trusted that he would get me exactly where I needed to go.
“That’s my girl. Come for me,” he murmured in my ear, his breathing heavy as I felt him tremble beneath my fingers.
I shattered, gripping him tight with my legs and pussy, and he bit down in the same spot again. I swore I heard him mutter, “Mine,” as his hips pulsed erratically.
The minutes stretched on as we lay there, panting, neither of us willing to let go. He gently kissed my bruised neck, and then down my chest and across my stomach until he laid his cheek against it. I threaded my fingers through his hair, stroking absently until he let out a satisfied sigh.
“I guess the ocean still knows what it’s talking about,” he mumbled against my skin.
“What do you mean?”
