Page 102 of Tulips and Lost Time

“I don’t think. I know.” I shrug. “You don’t dive straight into the deep end on your first day at the pool, Bear. You gotta wade in slowly. Bring a big, strong man along to keep you safe.”

She pitches her shirt and looks to her left. Then she half climbs off my lap, so the only reason she doesn’t splat to the floor are my hands gripping her hips. She yanks her bedside drawer open and pushes random notebooks and bits of paper aside. Then she takes out a dildo that has my eyes popping wide and my heart skipping a beat. “Six years, I’ve wanted you.” She straightens on my lap once more, holding the bright pink tool between us so I get to see. “Six years, Luc. I’m technically a virgin, in that no man has penetrated my body. But…”

“You’re a naughty girl.” I snatch the dildo and hit the button on the end, starting the vibration until it rolls along my arm and leaves the woman trembling in my lap. “How often did you think of me while you did this, huh?” I bring it up and let the vibrating end touch, feather soft, her plump lips. “How many times did you explode and think of me?”

“Too many.” Sighing, she drags her lip between her teeth and groans. “So many times.”

“Even when you hated me?”

She exhales a choppy, stilted breath when I drag the vibrator over her clavicle and down to rest between her breasts. “Maybe even more then.” She rolls her hips and buys me a one-way ticket to hell. “I wanted you, even when I wished I’d never met you.”

“Angry sex is the best kind.” I lower the dildo and place it between her legs on the outside of her pants, pressing the hard length against her core and sending myself closer to the edge because the vibration rockets along my cock, too. “You can stay mad at me a little longer if you want.” I bite her lip, eliciting a groan of desperation that arrows straight for my heart. “Just for this one time. Now that I know you’re not some inexperienced, damsel virgin.” I hold her hip and push mine up. I can’t help myself. I couldn’t stop the movement even if I wanted to. “Now I know I don’t have to be careful…”

“I mean…” She backs up a little, allowing her shy side to win in a battle against bravery. For a moment, at least. “Be a little careful…”

Snickering, I toss the vibrator aside and spin on the bed, dropping a squeaking Kari onto her back and following until I can kneel between her legs. Her chest lifts and falls, her heart racing and stressing her bra on every inhalation.

“Let me taste.” I dip my fingers into the waistband of her pants and give a gentle tug. Just enough to let her know what I’m doing, but not so much to expose her. I want to give her time to say no. “I can fuck you tonight if that’s what you want. Or I can just lie here and chat since you’re so tired.”

“Luc—”

“But I wanna taste you first.” Carefully, I drag the blue fabric down, pinching the drawstrings of her pants and freeing them from the knot she created at the start of her shift. “Dildos can’t tongue fuck, Bear. That’s for me only.”

“Oh god.” She sets her feet on the bed and presses her palms to her eyes. But she lifts her hips and allows me room to maneuver the fabric. “Don’t ask me for permission for these things.” Her cheeks flame beneath her hands. “I’m begging you, don’t ask. It makes me feel awkward.”

“But you’re not too shy to show me a fuckin’ dildo.” I drag the pants along her creamy thighs and grin when I find her legs smattered in freckles too. From her time spent at the lake, swimming in the sun and not inviting me in. Blasphemy. “I’m too shy to say I like you, Luc. But I’m not too shy to show you my sex toy collection.”

“That’s not my whole collection.” She smirks when my gaze snaps back up to meet hers. “Just my current favorite.”

“Fuck me.” I drag her pants down and tangle the fabric in her shoes. Desperate, I tug her laces undone and toss her sneakers aside, one, then the other. Kari giggles, her lithe body vibrating just like the bright pink dick buzzing on the bed. Then I unsnap my pants just to allow myself a little extra room to breathe. My cock roars in my boxers, seeping and pulsing with a feral need that is far more violent than she deserves. More violent than she could handle. “Please, Bear, for the love of everything holy, please let me taste you.”

“Stop ask?—”

“I’m gonna taste you,” I cut in. Not asking. Not making it weird. “I’m gonna take everything I’ve been dreaming of for six long fucking years.” I kneel on the bed, my knee between her legs, and scoop my free arm beneath her back to half lift, half drag her along the mattress. My touch is rough. Bruising. My desperation, palpable. “I’m gonna make us both really fucking happy.”

She crushes her hands to her eyes and shudders. “Oh god.”

“And your only job is to tell me no if something bothers you.”

Her breath hitches on the way out. “Okay.”

Lying her down, her head on the pillow, I bring my arm back and slide my fingertips over her flesh. Goosebumps sprinkle to the surface, nerves a physical, visible thing. But she circles her legs around my hips, demanding I stay close and sending shots of adrenaline firing through my veins. “Fuck, Kari.” Breathless, I lean over her and take her pebbled nipple between my lips. She still wears her bra, a simple, black, lace-less T-shirt bra that becomes the most beautiful fucking scrap of material I’ve ever seen in my life. “You’re gonna kill me, Bear.”

“Don’t die yet.” She cups my face and pulls me closer, latching her lips onto mine and taking my very soul with her kiss. “I’ve waited too long for this. You don’t get to check out yet.”

I snort and drop my lips to her neck. Her collarbones. The underside of her jaw. “I swear, however long you’ve waited,” I pull back and search her eyes. “I’ve waited longer.”

Her eyes glitter with emotion. Such a familiar look I’ve long ago grew accustomed to. But there are no tears this time. There’s no sadness.

“I love you,” she whispers. “Even when I hate you.”

“Fuck.” I dive in and take her lips with mine, my heart thundering in my chest and my cock pulsing against her core. Could this be real? Is it possible, after all these years, we’ve come out the other side of all the hurt and heartache, and finally, this gets to be our reality? Fuck knows. But on the off chance it’s real, I dig my fingers into her underwear and find her soaked and waiting.

“Oh god!” She cries out, too loud. Way too loud, considering she shares an apartment. She slams her own hand to her face and latches her teeth into the heel of her palm. “Luc!”

“I love you too.” I slip my fingers into her pussy. Since we’re not asking. Not making it weird. Just one finger at first, then two until I feel the stretch. “I’ve loved you for as long as I’ve known how to love.” I pepper my lips over her forearm. Her jaw. Her chest. And when she mewls, I pump my fingers and grin when she explodes. Wet and demanding, her tight pussy clamps down and begs for more. “You’re so needy.”

“I want to fuck.” She lifts her hips, chasing my hand and panting when I make her work for it. “Luca.”

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