Page 30 of After All

Both of us breathe deeply, our bodies heaving and sucking in oxygen like we’re drowning. I can’t move, but I know I’m crushing her. Forcing my hands to push me up, I try to move, but she wraps her legs around me and hangs on for dear life.

“Not yet. Just one more minute.”

“Are you sure? I know I’m heavy.”

“You are, but the weight is actually helping. If you move, I might come apart at the seams. You’re the only thing holding me together right now.”

Her words roll over me and soothe the jagged places that have heard how difficult I am all my life. They race over my heart and brain and feelings and synapses and fill in the holes where other women had taken chunks out of me by telling me I’m too needy and clingy. Men aren’t supposed to be the ones that can’t get enough, so I was strange to them. Odd. Weird.

But Amelie doesn’t think I’m too much or weird or clingy. She wraps around me like a spider monkey, and refuses to let me move.

It’s nice. Really fucking nice.

The second time I try to move, she lets me up, and I kiss her forehead, her nose, and her lips before moving to my feet. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to,” she says, chuckling.

I walk to the bathroom and chuck the condom. Leaning against the sink, I blow out a long breath and look at myself long and hard in the mirror. “Holy shit, Ortiz.”

Turning on the sink, I soak a washcloth in warm water and wring it nearly dry.

When I return to the bedroom, I find her curled in a ball in the middle of my bed. The male pride in me revels in the fact that I’ve worn her out entirely. The realist in me knows she wore me out just as much. I roll her to her back, not happy I have to disturb her, but I want to make sure I take care of her. In all the ways.

Her eyes flutter open as I gently wipe away anything left of us on her thighs and between her legs.

“Who are you?”

“Damn, cariña… was it that good?”

She chuckles as she makes room for me beside her and settles against my chest, one knee resting on my left thigh. “It really, really was. But I remember your name… Carter.”

“Guess I’ll have to do it better next time,” I say with a smirk.

“Next time… yeah.”

I switch off the light and crawl into bed beside her, curling around her and pulling her close.

She rouses slightly, but I shush against her ear. “Sleep.”

“Mmm” is her only response.

The next morning, I have rehearsal at nine, and she woke me up twice more in the night for rounds two and three. She needs the rest, and I want her in my house when I get back.

Showering and dressing in the guest bathroom, I scrawl a quick note on a napkin from my junk drawer and leave it by the coffee pot.

Amelie,

Words fail me on how beautiful, delicious, and enjoyable you were last night…

I think you should be in charge again tonight…

You are exquisite.

I’ll be home just after noon.

Wait for me?

If you can’t, please tell me I can see you again.

I like you. A lot. Just in case I failed to let you in on that little secret last night.

All three times.

Oh, and one more thing.

That wasn’t my chair after all.

Carter

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