Page 103 of My Best Years

I shake my head, at a complete loss for words. There’s not a word in the English language to describe how incredible that was.

“I love you,” I mutter against her lips. “You’re the most precious thing in the world to me. And I’ll never stop apologizing for what I did to you. I’m so sorry, Birdie.”

She glides her hands up to my neck before threading her fingers through my damp curls.

“I love you, Cal.” Her lips turn up in a satiated smile. “And I’ve already forgiven you. What you went through…” she shakes her head. “I can’t imagine. I’m just thankful that we’re here now. After everything we’ve been through, we found our way back to each other.”

I capture her lips in another kiss, gently sucking on her bottom lip before pulling back.

“You can forgive me a million times,” I reply, “and I’ll still spend forever making it up to you. You deserve the world, Birdie. And I’m going give it to you.”

“Is that right?” she smiles, a hint of playfulness lacing her tone.

“It’s a promise, baby.”

Birdie flashes me a seductive smirk before shocking the hell out of me.

She places her palms on my chest, pushes me back against the mattress, and climbs on top of me.

“Well, I know how you can start making it up to me.” I watch intently as she bites down on her lower lip.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Mmhmm,” she nods, taking my breath away by crushing her lips to mine.

She rubs her soaked core against my flaccid cock, and within seconds, I’m hard again.

When she sinks down on my length and takes control, I lose all sense of space and time.

This time, it’s me calling out her name as she rides me to release.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Callum

I wake up abruptly in the middle of the night to a sharp pain that starts in my shoulder and shoots down to my elbow. I jolt into an upright position, unable to control my body's reaction.

Birdie’s head slips from my chest as my back thumps against the headboard. The back of my skull falls against the wood as the pain radiates through my arm, feeling like a knife twisting through my flesh and bone.

If I’m being honest with myself, my right arm has been bothering me all day. My muscles have felt weak and stiff since I woke up yesterday morning, but I pushed it to the back of my mind because I wanted to enjoy my date with Birdie. I wasn’t going to let anything get between my time with her.

But this…I can only describe this feeling as excruciating pain.

The stabbing sensation morphs into a sting, as if I’m being attacked by a swarm of wasps.

Birdie lets out a sleepy groan, starting to wake up when Isuck in a ragged breath and clench my teeth together. We must have fallen asleep after three rounds of sex because the last thing I remember is running my fingers through Birdie’s hair as she trailed kisses along my naked chest.

“Fuck,”I hiss as my left arm reaches for my right. I try to massage the muscles with my fingertips, but I know from experience that it won't do any good. I’ll have to ride out the pain and let this pass.

I hold my arm against my bare stomach, my muscles spasming as I draw in choppy breaths.

Immediately knowing something is wrong, Ollie bursts through the cracked bedroom door and jumps onto the bed with us. His front paws scratch at the comforter covering my legs as he whimpers and whines.

The feeling is so intense that a high-pitched ringing fills my ears as I ball my legs up to my chest and drop my forehead to my knees. Through the ear-splitting pain, I faintly hear Birdie’s voice as her hands cup my shoulders. Her words seem to echo like she’s speaking from the other end of a tunnel.

“Callum!”she rushes out while shaking my shoulders.

She gets on her knees beside me, taking my face between her palms and lifting my distressed gaze to hers.

---