Page 89 of That One Moment

I hold Caiden tighter, slotting our legs together.

Seven. Six. Five.

Tipping my head to the side, I hover my lips over his.

Four. Three. Two. One.

I close the gap and kiss him on the stroke of midnight as glittery streamers rain down on us. He kisses me back and we lose the first minute of the new year in each other’s arms and I fall even deeper in love with him as every second passes.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Caiden

“Iwish this rain would quit for a minute,” Jamie says, his hand pressed to the closed window that looks out onto the road below our flat. It’s four days into the new year and the rain hasn't stopped since New Year’s Day. My boyfriend, who starts every morning with a run, doesn’t enjoy the activity in torrential rain, and so spends a lot of time complaining about it and pacing like a trapped lion.

Despite being early afternoon, the sky is dark, grey, and angry, and in the distance, thunder rumbles.

Stepping behind him, I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my chin on his shoulder. We watch the rain batter the window while a solitary figure darts out from one of the buildings opposite, taking cover under the bus shelter.

“Sucks to have to go out in this weather,” I muse. “Lucky for us, we don’t have anywhere to be for another few days.”

Jamie’s hands fold over mine, squeezing tightly. “Would you hate it if I abandoned you for an hour and went to the gym for a run?”

I shake my head and press my lips to the side of his neck. “Nope, I think it’s a great idea. I’m going to call D.”

“And when I get back….” He wiggles his ass suggestively, and I release his hands and slide one of mine down his side, bringing it around to grip his toned cheek.

“When you get back?” I ask playfully, still kneading his ass.

He spins around and lifts me, my legs wrapping instinctively around his waist as a laugh bubbles out of me. Jamie gives me something I’ve never had before - a love so strong I can feel it in my bones. My mind still tries to tell me some days that this isn’t real, that it’ll never last. But then he kisses me, or holds my hand, or simply brushes against me and my heart overrides my mind. Jamie loves me. He tells me and he shows me and I have no reason to doubt him.

As for me, I am so hopelessly in love with this man, my body sings with it. The crushing, drowning feeling that I’ve lived with for so long is still there when life becomes overwhelming, but I’m better now at dealing with it, relying less and less on the things that helped me in the past. Being in love is wonderful, highly fucking recommend. But, it doesn’t heal you automatically. It just means there’s someone in your corner with you. In the hospital last summer, I was sure I’d never feel happiness again, but I was wrong, and I’m so glad I was. Because this feeling, this weightlessness, this warmth, it’s everything to me. Jamie makes me happy. He makes me strong, though he keeps saying my strength is all me. He makes me want to wake up in the morning and kiss his silly face and smile until my face hurts.

He made me want things I didn’t think I deserved. He makes me believe I do.

Jamie carries me through to the kitchen and slides me onto the counter. I don’t unwrap my legs from around his waist as he bends his head and searches for my lips. When they meet, I open, allowing his tongue entry. He sweeps his in with a groan and I match his movements, both of us battling for dominance. After a while, Jamie releases his hold on me, his forehead pressing to mine.

“Movie and takeout when I get back?”

“So he was trying to set you up?” I ask Darius, who groans down the other end of the line.

“No lies, babe. The guy was greasier than a bag of fries and shadier than a spot under a huge oak tree. But his father is important to my father for some reason.”

“What did you do?” I kick my feet up onto the coffee table and stroke Ford’s back.

“I went on the date.”

“Fucking hell, D. What does Oliver think of all this?”

Darius is quiet for a second before answering. “He doesn’t get a say, we’re not dating. We’re hooking up.” He doesn’t sound convinced, but I don’t press the matter. Darius and relationships are always a contentious matter.

“Someone’s going to end up hurt,” I warn and he makes a noncommittal sound in agreement.

Just then, the front door opens and I end the call, then move from the sofa to the entryway where my soaking wet boyfriend stands, his hair sticking to his flushed face and his skin pebbling from the cold.

“It’s apocalyptic out there,” he says, shivering. Water drips onto the hardwood floors as he strips off his gym clothes and heads to the bathroom. I follow behind him, leaning against the wall while he climbs into the water, groaning as the heat warms his cold muscles. I watch as he lathers up his toned body, letting my eyes drift over every inch of his exposed, wet skin.

“You're not joining me in here?” he asks, making a show of cleaning around his soft cock.

---