Page 15 of Hold Me for Now

Instead, I think about the way he described me as beautiful, smart, and brave. Words I’ve never truly heard, not when they were spoken by others, not even when I tried to tell them to myself. But when T said them, they felt different. Like he meant them.

“Love you,” he repeats into my skin, my hair, and for the first time I don’t question it. I just let myself believe that I’m the person he described.

Someone worth loving.

“Love you,” I sigh back, soaking in the sight and sound of him. Mint and sunshine and tan skin that’s rough in all the right places.

T hums, gives me a small smile. “This feels good, K. I want to stay in you forever.”

Forever.

What a beautiful word. It seems like something I should pay attention to, analyze, fear.

But I don’t.

Because right now, there’s only this. The slick slide of his body against mine, the pressure building between us. The heat, the need. The way my pulse pounds in my ears as my body tightens around him.

I don’t have to think. Don’t have to worry about what happens when this is over.

I just let go.

“So good,” I slur, my mind consumed by the fire that’s building deep inside me, lit by T’s words of love, the honeyed sensation of him moving in and out slow as molasses but gaining speed now.

His fingers stroke between my legs, circling, pressing, teasing. “Tell me what you want.”

I whimper, twisting against him, my body surging into his touch. Then I remember our lesson on communication. “I need you to touch my clit.”

He smiles at me, like he’s proud, then brings his hand between us to flick my clit, sending an ache spiking through my body.

“Oh God,” I pant. “Yes.”

His pace quickens, his lips trailing down my throat.

It’s happening—finally, finally happening.

“Shit,” he gets out. “It’s—you’re incredible, so beautiful.” He moves faster, his hip bones dancing under my fingers. T swears, driving into me hard, over and over. “I’m getting close.”

Tears leak out of the corner of my eyes as my muscles clench, tighten, until I’m shaking. “Me too.” This is it, the same sensation when I pleasure myself, right before I come. That feeling of careening toward the edge of a cliff, about to fall off the precipice.

“Say it,” T demands, his eyes squeezed tight, his skin flushed. “Say you love me. Come with me. We do this together.”

“Together. I’m coming, T. It’s happening. I love you so fucking much!” The last word leaves my mouth as the orgasm hits me, a tidal wave that drags me under the water, drowning me with sensation. I’m pulsating, quivering, crying out as I lose myself in it.

“Yes. Do it. Love you.” T lets go as well. With a hoarse groan, he gives one, then two more jerks and comes shuddering deep inside me, so hard I feel him fill me up.

Our orgasms seem to go on for a long time, both of us trembling with shivers of pleasure that wrack our bodies.

Finally, he softens and pulls out, leaving a rush of warmth that drips down my thighs. He rolls onto his back, pulling me along with him so I’m draped over his chest with my ear over his heart. I take comfort from the sound, that steady lub-dub.

Chapter eleven

Wedidit!”Tsays into my hair, exultant. “I can’t believe it.”

I turn my head toward him and smile as wide as my cheeks will go. “We did.”

Eyes bright, he grins at me. “I’ve got it now. I see what I need to do. It’s the love, K. I just need to remember the love. To focus on that and the rest will follow.”

His excitement is infectious. I can’t help but grin back. My body is sore, spent, but underneath the exhaustion, something inside me clicks into place. I look inward, toward where pleasure finally let me in, and I realize he’s right. The door to my release opened with love.

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