Page 66 of The Summer of Us

“I’ve always loved your breasts,” I confessed. “Your tits starred in my nightly dreams.” I shook my head in amusement. “The things I wanted to do to them.”

“Tell me.”

I lowered my head, demonstrating as I spoke. “Lick them. Suck them. Squeeze them. Play with them.” I rose over her, close to her ear. “Fuck them.” I flicked my tongue on her earlobe. “I still do.”

She whimpered.

I smiled against her skin. She was so responsive, exactly the way I remembered. I sat back, lifting her, pulling the shirt away from her body. I wrapped her in my arms, holding her tight, needing to simply feel her against me. I knew how big this moment was going to be for us, and I didn’t want to rush it.

She gripped me hard, her fingers digging into my skin. I felt a tremor go down her spine, and I pulled back, tilting up her chin to look into her dark eyes. “Sunny, baby, what is it? Too fast?”

“No,” she whispered. “It’s overwhelming at times. I never thought I’d be here, like this, with you again.”

“I know.” I brushed a kiss to her lips. “I feel the same.”

“Linc…” Her voice trailed off, uncertainty filling that one word.

“Talk to me,” I begged. “If this is too much, we can stop, Sunny. I swear.”

“No, it’s just—” she swallowed “—I might not be what you expect.”

I cupped her face. “What I expect? I expect you. Nothing more.”

“I, ah, don’t have a lot of experience.” She huffed a sigh and looked up. “In fact, other than you, none.”

Her words hit me, and I stared at her, stunned.

“Sunny, you’ve never been with anyone but me? All these years?”

“No.”

For a moment, I said nothing. We hadn’t talked about the years we were apart. The people in our lives. Our experiences. I had assumed…well, apparently, I had assumed wrong.

I stroked her face with my thumb, trying to phrase my words properly. “Can I ask why?”

She shrugged. “Sex was never just about sex for me. What we shared that night meant something. I dated a few guys, but none of them ever touched my heart. I didn’t want them to touch my body if that was the case.” Her gaze looked everywhere except at me. “I just…didn’t.”

I pressed my forehead to hers. “Sunny, baby, you overwhelm me.” I exhaled hard, the air moving the curls around her forehead. “My experience was, ah, different,” I confessed, feeling shame at my words.

She wrapped her hands around my wrists. “It’s fine, Linc.”

“No, listen, please. I dated a few women. I had relationships with two. But they never touched my heart because you still owned it. They were both smart enough to recognize that, and we took the relationship for what it really was. We enjoyed each other’s company, and the sex was an outlet—nothing more.”

“So you only had sex with two other women?”

I nodded. “The last one was two years ago. Like I said, it’s been a long time.”

She met my eyes. “And you’ve been alone ever since?”

“Sunny, I’ve been alone since the day I lost you.”

“I’m here, Linc.”

I leaned my forehead back to hers, shutting my eyes. “I’m not worthy of you.”

“I think you are.”

I gazed down at her, her eyes damp with unshed tears, her lips trembling with emotion. Her confession shook me to the core. This woman, this beautiful woman, had been mine all these years. As alone as I was—and somehow waiting for me.