Page 42 of Guarding Glenda

“Leigh?”

“Yeah?”

She played with the hem of her wet shirt. “Did you mean what you said before?”

“I did. I do.”

“Even now?”

“Especially now.” Tucking her hair behind her ear, then stroking my thumb over her cheek I said, “I’m always gonna love you, Glenda.”

She shifted, straddling me, before grabbing my face. My hands went to her hips.

She licked her lips, then leaned down. Her mouth met mine, and I squeezed her as she kissed me. First it was slow and soft, her tongue barely tickling my lips. Then it became deeper, hungry.

My hands moved up her sides, then up to her face, trying to pull her closer as if we weren’t already devouring each other.

Her hips rocked over me, and my already hard cock went fully rigid.

She pulled the hem of my shirt but I grabbed her wrists.

“Glenda, wait. Are you sure you wanna do this?”

She leaned back in, nipping at my lip. “Very sure.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” I gently pushed her back. “I’m not Reggie. And I’m not Bama. If you’re mine, you’re all mine. You understand?”

“I want to be yours, and only yours. And I want someone to have to myself. Can you promise me that, Leigh?”

“I only want you, Glenda. You have my word. There’s no one else for me but you.”

“Then let me have you.”

Chapter 17

Glenda

I’d been in a foggy haze for so long. But as Bama explained what happened the night Reggie died, something snapped. Like a taut line that had been holding the rug over my eyes was cut loose and everything was revealed. It all came rushing back. It was overwhelming, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, but so freeing.

I wasn’t magically cured. My brain wasn’t fixed. I knew I had work to do still. But now I could. I could finally move forward. I remembered everything. I knew what I had to unravel and work through. And I knew that all that time, I wasn’t mad at Leigh for what he did. I was mad for what he didn’t do.

I knew I had to be close to him, and looking around the room I’d shared with Reggie after Bama and Linny went back to bed soured my stomach. I couldn’t be there. I had no way to get back so I prayed he was near the phone. It was so late. But he answered. And he came.

Even though I knew the truth finally and everything made sense, we still needed to have that conversation. We’d probably have more eventually, but it was out in the open finally and the truth about Reggie was in my face. I was disgusted with myself that all these months I kept lying to myself about how wonderful he was. I’d told Linny he was the love of my life. But the truth was, I wanted him to be, but he wasn’t. Once he was gone, only remembering the good stuff made the rest easier to deal with. It made being alone tolerable. Making myself believe I’d at least had some great love somehow got me through my days.

But it was all a lie. One I told myself, which made it all worse. But I couldn’t harp on that now. I promised Linny I’d call Dr. Stanley. Not just for her, but for me.

But now that I was seeing things for what they truly were, one thing was abundantly clear: Leigh should have been the one all along.

Now I was in his lap, pulling at his shirt and finally letting myself feel all the things I’d been so badly wanting but denying myself.

Reggie patched me in, but Leigh promised himself to me. He’d shown me time and again who he was and what he felt. So when he said if we did this, we belonged to each other and only each other, I believed him.

All the pent up tension I’d carried, even before Reggie died, was melting away with each stroke of Leigh’s tongue, each touch of his hands on my skin.

I yanked my shirt over my head, needing to feel him against me. Not just his heat, but his skin on mine.

Both of our hands roamed over each other. My fingers squeezed at his hard muscles between running my hands over his hot skin.