Page 106 of Audiophile

“No. Look at me, Pet.” When I open my eyes, his are tender and amber and perfect. Neither of us says it, but it courses between us. Three words I struggle not to say. They seem too good to be true for our short time together, broken hearts, and jagged scars.

I love you. I love you. I love you.All of me trembles with the effort of holding them back. “You know,” I whisper.

“Darling Petra,” he murmurs, eyes molten. “I know.”

He kisses me again and fire licks through my blood. He retreats, then slides back in slowly, carefully, slicking the way for us, and it’s so good that my nails dig into his back. He takes the next thrust harder, deeper, and I arch against him. “We should’ve been doing this for weeks,” I lament.

“Live with me in Portland and we can do this all the time.”

“Not content with visits?” I tease, but he hits a spot that has me crying out.

“Never.” All his careful exploration goes out the window. He sucks at my lips, my neck, my breasts, sliding deeper with each thrust. The friction of him drives me crazy, and my legs shake with it. He winds me up until I can’t see, breathe, or think of anything but Reed.

Reed. Reed. Reed.

We heal our scars together. We belong together. My eyes shut, but the sunshine bathes us, dazzles us, chases away our shadows.

I’m moaning, pleading, as he swipes his thumb over my clit. He does it again and again until I cry out. “Ti amo,Reed!”

“You can’t hide it from me in Italian,” Reed growls, and kisses me again. “One more, my love. Take it fromme.”

I clutch onto him for dear life as I arch against him. I’m on the edge, but it moves father and father away from me. Reed’s thumb moves faster, presses harder, as he kisses his way up my neck.

“You don’t need to hide it. You don’t need to run. I’m not going anywhere, because I’m so in love with you, Pet.” Reed’s lips brush my ear with his words. They slip inside me, smooth as silk, warm and sweet as melted chocolate, as vibrant as bouquets and coastal sunsets.

All around us, the sunlight explodes into a shower of gold. It drifts through me, filling me up, coiling me tight. I whimper as he lays claim to my mouth. I’m dizzy and out of breath as he kisses me over and over. He pulls back enough to let me breathe, and I fall over the edge.

With a moan that echoes in my bones, Reed follows.

All I know is Reed. And warmth. A warmth that seeps through my pores until I’m baking in it. I didn’t realize how deep the chill went before now. Reed’s skin is just as hot from the sun and exertion. He rolls off me and we lay together, savoring all the places we touch.

“I’ve never felt this before,” I confide after I’ve caught my breath. “My heart is walking around in your body. It’s yours, Reed. All of me is yours.”

“And all of me is yours, love,” he says. He leans in to kiss me slowly, softly—a kiss full of promises that fuels the fire banked in me. “When you’re ready to go again, let me know. I wasn’t joking. I’ve been fantasizing about this for weeks, and I haveso manyideas.”

I shiver at the possibilities. I’ve been craving him for weeks. “Does that mean there’s a chance I could be tied up again tonight? Because that really did a lot for me.”

“Fuck yes, there is. Amongst about a thousand other things I’ve got lined up for us. You’d better pencil me in for a couple decades while we work through them all. I love your whispers, but someday I’m going to make your screams echo throughout our house, Pet.” He reaches for me with a smug smile and bright eyes, but I slipfrom the bed before he can pin me beneath him. “Hey, hey, come back. I’m not done holding you.”

“I want to show you something.” I dig my manuscript out of my bag, and Reed blinks at me when I crawl next to him and place it in his hands.

He touches the first page with such reverence that it makes me cry. I brush the tear away, determined to hold it together. He delves in, turning page after page without saying anything. He doesn’t need to. His face says it all. He laughs, frowns, turns the pages faster when the conflict comes up. He makes it all the way to the end of the first book before he looks up.

“You’re amazing. You get a sneak peek inside my head with some of those audios, but this—seeing inside your beautiful mind, Petronia? The world you created, the characters you filled with love, the thought you put into every page. It’s stunning.”

Tears pour down my face, quicker with each word. He leans in to catch them, wiping them away with lips and thumbs.

“I’ve read a lot of books to my nieces, and none of them have conflicts like this. You’ve taken a genre that can be trivial and imbued real hardship in it, in a way that kids will understand. Do you know how many kids need that? Need something to connect to when they are full of big feelings that adults tend to minimize? It’s a gift.”

“I already had sex with you, you don’t have to flatter me,” I say with an uncomfortable laugh.

Reed is having none of it, though. He takes my face in his hands to kiss me softly. “If I didn’t know you, I’d say the same thing. I can’t wait to see where this new path takes you, because I have no doubt that it will be extraordinary. I’d be honored to record it for you.”

“You’re a charmer.”

He grins. “If I’m so charming, then how long before I can convince you to move inwith me?”

I close my eyes as he kisses me from forehead to shoulder, basking in the warm affection of it. “Mmmm. Four months? Three months. Two months.”

---