Our clothing fell to the floor. In the darkness of the room, his tattoos seemed to move on his arms. He twined his fingers with mine and pressed our clasped hands above my head, catching a nipple with his mouth. I bucked under him as he sucked and sucked, teasing me with his lips and tongue. He rolled his hips, letting me feel how hard he was, how eager, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, tugging him over to the side.
He yielded to my touch, flipping me to sit across his muscular thighs. I kissed a trail from his hip bones to his lips as I crawled up his body. “Right here,” I whispered as I lowered myself onto his hard, thick cock with one smooth movement.
Jamie groaned. “Right now.”
I bore down on him until he filled me completely. I wanted to melt into him, to lose our boundaries until only one whole remained. He panted beneath me and guided my hips with his big hands, moving me on top of him just the way he liked. Our gazes remained locked, and even in the dim light, I could see the raw emotion swimming in his eyes.
He sat up quickly, holding me steady in his lap, and brought his lips to my ear. “I’m yours, Ivy. Every fucking part of me.”
When my thighs started to quiver, he reached for my clit. I gasped as the pleasure intensified and forced myself to move faster. I wanted to see him break apart at the same time as me. His jaw tensed, and he let out a strangled groan. “Fuck. Oh God.”
“Come with me, Jamie,” I whispered.
He swore and leaned back on one arm to thrust his hips in time with my movement. Heat spread outwards from my center, my muscles clenched around him, and the tight coil inside me unravelled. I came with his name on my lips. He tossed his head back and jerked inside me as he rode his own release.
We lay in bed until the sun began to rise. I was pressed up to Jamie’s side, my arm thrown around his waist, our legs tangled together.
“I don’t want to move for the rest of the day,” I told him, pressing a kiss to his chest. “I don’t want to get dressed.”
“Then we won’t,” he said, the smile clear in his voice. “We can lie here and talk. You can tell me why you never told me I was your first.”
I propped myself up on one elbow to check his expression. He didn’t seem angry, just curious. I traced a line down his chest with my index finger. “I wanted you so badly, it was like being drunk on lust. I was throbbing the entire time between you leaving the club and me coming to your place the next day.” I couldn’t hold back the laugh at the satisfied expression on his face. “I needed to have you,” I said more seriously. “And I wanted to own the moment I finally did it. I was taking my autonomy back and going after what I wanted. What if I told you and you said no? Maybe I was being selfish, but I didn’t want anyone making that decision for me. And if you knew and still agreed to sleep with me, I was worried you’d behave differently. I just wanted it to be real. I didn’t want you to hold anything back.”
“It was real,” he said, his voice low. “And I’m glad you did what felt right to you.”
He meant that. It made me want to wrap myself around him and never let go. I’d found someone whose soul spoke to mine, someone who would always allow me to be my own person. Jamie would never try to change me, but he’d support me through every transformation with his fierce love and acceptance. The world felt impossibly big and open with him by my side.
Settling back down, I closed my eyes, but a moment later, Jamie rolled on top of me, holding his body up on his elbows as he met my gaze.
His lips brushed against mine. “Angel?”
“Yeah?” I asked, smiling.
“It will always be real between us.”
Epilogue
IVY
Zoey’s suitcaserattled on the floor in our living room as she tried to stuff inside double the volume it was designed to accommodate.
“I can’t believe you convinced your parents to come out to LA for Christmas,” she complained as she plopped on top of the lid, squishing it down with her ass. “My folks would never do that. What am I supposed to do in River Valley for two weeks without you there?”
I glanced up at her from the dining table where I was making the place cards for Christmas Eve tomorrow. “The iconic Christmas garden tours, obviously. You always loved those.”
“Maybe when I was ten. That place has lost its magic. Last time my family went, the cafeteria smelled weird,” she said, scrunching her nose. “And I won’t even get my annual Christmas holiday hug from Cole. It’s really a tragedy.”
The balled-up piece of paper I threw bounced against her head. “You creep. All the sudden, I’m glad he’s spending Christmas far from your lecherous eyes,” I said, shaking my head.
Bleeding Moonlight was in the middle of recording an album in a recording studio in Paris and had decided to stay there for the holidays. That was half the reason my parents agreed to come to LA. The other half was the opportunity to meet my boyfriend.
“They’ve got enough eye candy in France without stealing our own. So have you warned Jamie that your mom will most likely demand a live performance?” Zoey asked, wrestling with the zipper.
Nial’s place card was finished, and my cursive didn’t look half bad. “I think he’ll be up for it. He’s got a lot of new material he’s been playing for me.”
“Is he going to release anything?” my friend asked as she finally got the suitcase to close. “Crap, I think I forgot my favorite pair of leggings.” She ducked into her bedroom.
I grabbed another blank card. This one was going to be for Jamie’s mom, Marie, and I was determined to make it perfect.
