Page 120 of In the Long Run
Pushing his hands out of the way, I take over unbuttoning his shirt, letting the thick cotton fall to the floor.His khaki undershirt clings to his chest in a way I plan to mimic once we’re in the shower.And then in our bed for the rest of the night.
The next few minutes are a blur of undressing and stumbling under the water together, our limbs already tangled and bodies pressed together.I busy myself soaping up Knox’s chest and arms, loving the way the bubbles glide over all his dips and ridges.
‘Halliday?’Knox nips at my neck when my hands drift lower.
‘Yes, babe?’I curl my fingers around his cock, watching his chest rise as he sucks in a deep breath.
It’s such a simple nickname.Not at all the one I thought he’d like the most, but if there was one word that could bring Knox Watson to his knees, I think it might be this one.But only when I say it.Because while our life here is filled with all the good things – from Eugene and my family and our friends and Croissants and Kilometres and little Opera – the love that we share will always be the best thing that’s ever happened to either of us.
And I don’t need Knox to tell me that, either.I see it every day.It’s there in the way he pulls me close in bed, curling around me protectively.On all the runs where he could go faster but he stays by my side.The way he gets overly invested in every contestant’s story who appears onThe Great British Bake Offbecause he knows it’s my favourite show of all time.
‘Ireallymissed you,’ he says.
‘Wanna show me how much?’
He has me up against the tiles in one motion, my legs winding around his waist, our lips almost touching.‘I’ll show you forever if you’ll let me.’
It steals my breath when he says things like this to me so freely.Because he’s the guy who believed he didn’t deserve a forever.Just like I thought maybe a great love wasn’t going to happen for me.
I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.
I nod, and Knox plunges inside me.
And then we do what we do best.
We let our love take over until I’m crying out his name, my hands in his hair, his thumb on my clit.And when I come, he tells me over and over again how beautiful I am, his thrusts speeding up, the feel of his skin against mine.
‘One more,’ he growls, almost begging, a hand plucking and rolling my nipple as he pushes me straight back up to the top.‘I want to come together.Can you do that for me, Halliday?’
I nod, my head tipped back against the shower tiles.Steam dances in the space between our bodies, mixing with the hot water.Blinking against the onslaught of pleasure Knox is stoking within my body, I moan loud enough to make me happy that we no longer share walls with anyone else.
That this place is just ours.
That he never moved back to Brisbane and we’ve worked hard to choose each other every day.
That we’re going to be together forever.
Knox buries his face in my shoulder as he comes, and I fall apart around him, knowing that I’ve never been so safe, so loved.
And when I can speak again, I say, ‘Welcome home, babe.’
41
KNOX
She’s not going to say no.
She’s not going to say no.
She’s not going to say no.
I keep my gaze fixed on the horizon and focus on breathing in and out slowly.Tell myself that it doesn’t matter that I don’t have a back-up plan today.That my confidence is well earnt.Gen’s not going to say no, because I’ve already asked her this question in hundreds of little ways.
Would she be interested in buying a house with me?
Did she want to get a dog together?
With the Sydney marathon joining the World Majors, how would Gen feel if we set ourselves a bucket list to run them all together?
