Page 119 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

“I had to bribe you with cupcakes to watch the first episode.”

I grin. “I totally would have watched without the cupcakes.”

She playfully slaps my chest, but then a seriousness stills her. “That’s when I first realized I had real feelings for you.”

My brows scrunch together. “When I tricked you into making me cupcakes?”

“No. The second week of the show. You had your first game of the season that Thursday, remember? You won, and someone was throwing a house party to celebrate.”

“I remember . . .” I’m still not quite following.

“Troy and Dean were both going. You didn’t know I was behind you, but I overheard your friends begging you to go. I was about to leave and text you that we could watch the rerun another day, but you didn’t even hesitate. You didn’t even make a vague excuse. You told them that you already had plans with me and I was who you wanted to celebrate with.”

I recall the memory. It was the start of junior year and the first full game I played in high school. I felt damn good. Mom and Dad were so proud. They never encouraged me to drink, but I knew they’d let me go to the party and pick me up if I asked. But I hadn’t even needed to think about it. I loved my team, but outside of game time, Thursdays were reserved for Sophie. No matter what. The revelation hits me like a wave that smooths the sand rather than disturbs it. “I’ve always been yours, Soph.”

“I was so convinced it would be one-sided. When you told me you had the same feelings that day out in the woods, I could hardly wrap my head around what I thought would always be just a fantasy.”

Instead of replying with words, I turn on my side, gently rolling Sophie onto her back, my hand smoothing over her stomach as I press my lips to hers. She hums in satisfaction, her hand running up my arm. I bring my hand to her jaw, thumb holding her chin, locking her into a slow kiss. She opens her mouth just enough to grant me access, our tongues tangling without rush.

I can feel the strain in my swimsuit already, Sophie’s confession and nearness more than enough to turn me all the way on. My fingers leave her jaw, dragging down her neck. Across the soft skin between her breasts. Past the thin string of her bikini. Lightly over her stomach until I reach the hem of her shorts and feather my fingers along the edge.

She deepens our kiss, threading her fingers through the back of my hair, and it’s the permission I need for us to cross this line again. Her shorts are undone with an easy snap, and I slide the zipper down. I break our kiss to trail soft ones following the same path my fingers took. Kneeling beside her, I tug both her shorts and bikini bottoms as she lifts her hips, leaving her nearly naked beneath me and glowing in the moonlight.

When I shift my gaze up, I’m met with Sophie watching me take her in. I lay back down, putting my weight onto one side as I lean into her, my hand finding her waist. “That day in the woods . . . the moment right before I told you I wanted to kiss you . . . our whole lives flashed before my eyes. Everything we might have if you wanted to kiss me too. I was fucking terrified that you might not. But I was more scared of missing out on the vision in my head if I didn’t take the chance.”

“Thank you for taking that chance for us.”

I grin before pressing my lips to hers again, untying the strings of my shorts with one hand. I manage to tug them off and kick them to the side as I kiss her. As I hover over her. As I settle between her legs.

I reach between us, but rather than play with her, I just align us. I press into her slowly, feeling she’s just as into this moment as I am. Inch by inch I sink into her, her arousal increasing as I do. As I fill her, I feel every place we connect and the way she stretches around me in a perfect fit.

Once I’m inside, I pull my hips back at the same torturously slow pace before rocking back in, taking every inch the same as I did the first time. “You feel so good,” I breathe against her neck, before kissing toward her jaw.

Her fingers still tangled in my hair, she kisses the skin before my ear, sending a pulse straight through my cock. Fuck, I love it when she does that. “Can you stay slow, just like this?” she whispers.

I answer her request by maintaining a speed that gives me time to feel everything between us. The smooth push and pull of my dick inside her with every slow thrust. My skin rubbing against her clit when I’m to the hilt. The cool breeze on my back. The hard porch beneath us. The smell of fresh air mixed with the faded flowers and sunscreen on Sophie’s skin.

I push my knee against her thigh, opening her wider for me as she wraps her other leg around my back. This time when I press into her, I hit even deeper and the connection sends a chill through her, a wave of goosebumps covering her skin. I soothe the ones on her neck as my fingers thread through her hair, thumb locking onto her jaw.

I kiss her long and hard before pressing my forehead to hers as my hips do the work. Her breathing picks up, soft moans escape her lips, and her hand flits from my neck to my lats, skimming to my waist and up my arms–as if she wants to touch all of me at once–as if she’s reaching for control. I feel her tighten slightly, squeezing my cock enough to let me know she’s close.

“Fall over the edge, Sophie,” I whisper, pulling almost all the way out of her.

She shakes her head ever so slightly, her breath catching as I push back in. “I don’t want it to end.”

“We’re never going to end,” I assure her as I retract just barely. When I thrust into her again, she tumbles, shattering over the edge. Fingers of one hand tighten their grip on my hair. Her others dig into my side. Her heel locks onto my back.

“Oh my god,” she manages in one breath, her stomach clenching against mine as her orgasm explodes through her. Her pussy tightens around me with the next wave, and it sends me over the edge with her, nearly knocking the breath from me with the way a flood of tingles shoot through my body. I manage to stay steady with my hips, pulsing with each pump, her body seeming to pull me in as we come together.

On the next breath, I wet my lips before pressing them against Sophie’s. Even with just the moonlight, I can see her flushed cheeks and her fully sated smile as I still inside her. “Whoa,” she says, the stars reflecting in her eyes.

“Good?” I chuckle.

She hums as I brush my thumb softly along her hairline. “So good. I’m so happy we found our way back to us. You’re everything to me, Coop. I want that to be clear in everything I do from now on so you never have to question us again.”

“We made our mistakes and did our time. It’s all in the past, and all I want to do is focus on our future.” I pull out of her slowly, taking my weight off her.

“I think our future is bright,” she whispers, glancing back up to the sky. “Like these stars.”

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