Page 38 of All The Ways to Miss You

“Sex and running? That’s crazy close to my perfect night. You don’t want me to enjoy myself too much, do you?”

“Maybe I want you to remember this night forever.”

I already know I will. I lift myself on my elbows.

Evan could become my addiction if he allowed it. Especially if every time we connected, we made love like tonight.

I glance away. What’s between us is a volatile and hazardous mixture that could explode, forming perfect stars or implode spiraling into a black hole, devouring us both. For one night we’re safe.

Returning his smile, I nod in acceptance.

He gets up, making the mattress beneath me lurch. As he moves around the bedroom, I devour the sight of his naked body. Thick corded thighs, defined knees, strong calves, and then there’s his ass. I catch a peek of it before he slides on his running pants. He searches the drawers of his dresser, and I count the brawny compartments on his chest. My deep frown forms when he tugs on a T-shirt, hiding them.

“I thought I was the only person in Chicago who ran in the middle of the night.” I kick away the sheet tangled around my foot and sit, legs crossed, on the edge of the bed.

“Insomnia,” he admits.

Something else we have in common.

“I think it’s a ploy to get me out of your apartment.”

“Or,” he nears and lowers his face to mine, “it’s a ploy to get you really dirty so I can take a shower with you after.”

“So you can make sure I’m really clean?”

“Sparkling.” He gives me a kiss and then stands tall.

“When you put it like that . . .” I shrug and glance away, feigning disinterest, though I’m beaming inside. All of a sudden, I’m a girl who wants to sparkle instead of fade away.

I hop up to dress too. I’ll do anything to push us to the point where we’re in a shower together, like I daydreamed.

I bound through his apartment and climb upstairs to my own in search of my running shoes. There, I change into my cool-weather gear. Back downstairs, I meet him near the mailboxes.

“Let’s see if you can beat me this time, Cat.”

Evan tears off through the front door at the challenge, and I follow. I launch over the marble stoop and sprint to catch him in the darkness. We race and chat and play for miles, hours. The city is so quiet; it’s like it belongs to us.

When we return home, I chase him down our street and follow as he darts up the stairs back inside. I’m barely through his apartment door when he twirls me in his arms and kisses me again. Evan’s hands encircle my waist and slide over my back, touching and teasing me everywhere all at once.

This. This is how I pictured us coming together originally, in a seductive crash of reckless abandonment.

He kicks the front door shut and unzips my jacket in one fluid motion. He peels off my top with arms lifted above my head. Adding to the chaos, I do the same to him. We’re on a new quest to be naked and in each other’s arms faster than we can scramble down the hall, leaving a trail of dirty clothes behind us.

The adrenaline surging through my veins flips to lust. He’s an animal, growling and nipping at my skin. Lying on the edge of the mattress, my long legs wrap around his hips, and my arms lock around his neck. He aligns himself and enters me with a commanding force that steals my breath.

It’s a relief to feel him deep inside again, to know our banter and attraction can create something this beautiful. My eyelids flutter. He leverages his weight and speed by standing on the floor and rocking into me. My fingers clench the edge of the mattress. He leans in to kiss me, and the ravenous, rolling connection between us intensifies, causing my insides to throb.

My release comes fast in a stormy wave of spasms. Evan comes right after, and the crash causes us both to collapse in an exhausted heap.

He leans over me and kisses my shoulder, my neck, and then seeks my lips. Their decisive touch matches the intensity of our lovemaking, and my knees clench him tighter.

I want to do this again, every night, for the rest of my life. How can I not when he makes me feel this way? When he shows me what life could be with him in it? And especially when he shows me this kind of attention when we’re nothing to each other. Imagine if we were more.

When he returns from the bathroom, he pours himself onto the bed beside me. He sighs in my ear, drapes an arm over my stomach, and tugs me closer until we’re spooned with each other, limbs exhausted. My eyelids sink closed.

Evan’s breath flutters my hair. “I’m ready for sleep.”

“You don’t want to run again?” I mumble.