Page 124 of Sunflower Persona
Uncomfortable pinpricks burn behind my eyes as my throat tightens. Fuck. I hide my face in the crook of her neck before I do something embarrassing—like start crying while fucking my woman—and start to move. Her gasp of pleasure drives away the worst of the emotional wave, but it doesn’t leave completely. I’m still overwhelmed as I thrust into her, driven by the need to be closer to her—even if I’m already buried as deep as I can physically go.
“I love you, Kori. I love you so fucking much. I never stopped,” I rasp against the skin of her neck.
“I love you too,” she moans as she comes, clenching hard around my cock.
“Please don’t leave me again. Don’t give up on me. Please fucking stay,” I beg as my orgasm rips through me. I cling to her as my cock pulses, filling the latex with my seed.
Fuck, I’d love to fill her for real and watch her grow with my kid. I shake away the unwelcome thought. Now is not the time to be dreaming of the future. We’ve never talked about kids or marriage or what happens once she graduates. That was my plan before I fucked everything up. I was going to sit her down and have a real talk about what our future looked like—my plans for my GED, timelines for marriage and kids, all of it. I was in it for the long haul, but now I’m not sure where exactly we stand. She said I wouldn’t lose her, but promises made while caught up in the heat of the moment mean nothing. There’s still a chance she could get up and walk out the door, claiming this was all a mistake.
“I can hear you thinking,” she says, running her fingers in a soothing pattern along my back. Tension I wasn’t even aware of melts from my shoulders. “What’s got you freaking out?”
I pull out of her and settle next to her on the mattress. “What happens now?”
“Well, as comfortable as this is, I would like a shower,” she says with a grin.
“A shower?”
“Yeah. Water from a pipe in the wall so you can get clean.”
“I know what a shower is.”
“I thought so. It would be real awkward if you didn’t. Can I crash here? I’d rather not get a rideshare back this late.”
Her attempt at deflecting is obvious as hell, but I’m not letting this go.
“I meant what happens with us. What are we doing, Low?”
“I told you earlier that you aren’t losing me. So unless you have any objections, I’d like us to try again.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. I know we have way more to talk about, but nothing so important that it will change my mind on that. I want to hear all about your apprenticeship and whatever else you’ve been up to these past couple of months, but I think it’s best if we wait and do the whole catching-up thing tomorrow. If we start now, I don’t think we will get any sleep.”
“I work in the morning.”
“Okay. Then we can talk when you get done. I’m not going anywhere, Gage.”
Her words are so fucking sure I can’t do anything but believe her. Sensing my acceptance, she turns to snuggle into my chest, and I trace my fingers along her spine the same way she did mine.
“Can I ask you a question?” As much as I hate to pop the bubble of peaceful bliss, this question has been squirming around in the back of my mind since she showed up.
“You don’t have to ask.”
“Where is the yellow?”
She looked hot as sin standing on my doorstep, but there wasn’t a hint of her favorite color on her. I almost didn’t recognize her.
“I—it—” She squirms as she stammers and won’t meet my curious gaze. After a few seconds, she groans and throws an arm over her face as she looks up at the ceiling. “It reminded me too much of you. Plus, it’s a happy color, and I wasn’t feeling particularly happy.”
“Low, shit. I’m sorry. For all of it. I’ve never regretted anything more.”
“I’m not. As much as it hurt, we both needed something to kick our asses into gear. If it never happened, I would have always used you as a security blanket, and you would have been a bartender your whole life. We are going to be stronger than we were before because we took the time to better ourselves on our own.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. But seriously, can we go take that shower now? I feel gross.”
“Of course, love,” I tell her, and scoop her back into my arms.
