Page 28 of Ripple Effect
In them, two parents are holding hands with a little girl. She’s strutting around dancing and singing. Libby walks up to them and says something. The little girl pauses. After a moment, they exchange hats. Soon, Libby is weaving her way back over to me.
And as she does, my heart realizes what it should have known years ago. I wasn’t meant to know what love was until I met Libby Akin. Now that I do, I realize it’s a circle because she’s the beginning and the end of it for me.
“You gave her your signed hat.” I pull her toward me.
Libby shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Nonna taught me to be grateful for the gifts I’m given and to share when I’ve got excess. Before I walked in the door tonight, I already had so much, Cal. So much. I had you.”
I can’t not kiss her after a comment like that. When I lift my head, I whisper, “If I had a choice between anything and you, Libby, you know I’d choose you, right?”
We’re still kissing as the lights drop, announcing Small Town Nights’ arrival on stage.
17
Calhoun
Twelve Years Ago from Present Day
We stumble into her apartment after the concert. I can’t bear to lift my lips from hers long enough to let her turn off the alarm.
Libby reaches out a hand to slap at the panel and press a few buttons. I prove how grateful I am the alarm didn’t go off by pressing her body up against the door. Sliding the dress she’s wearing higher up her thighs, I pull one around my hip as I press deep against her.
She tears her mouth away to moan. “Cal—”
My lips brush under her jaw gently before I take a small nip. Using my other hand, I cup the fullness of her breast. “Libby, tell me you want me,” I plead.
Her head jerks back as if she’s been struck. Shit. Fuck. Did I push this too fast? I’m about to back away when all of a sudden, she wraps both arms around my neck and boosts herself up so both legs are hugging my back. Latching herself against my neck, Libby murmurs, “Make sure the door’s locked.”
Right.
Flipping the dead bolts, I turn, unable to believe I’m about to make love to the woman I’ve wanted for years but never dared hope I’d have the opportunity to touch. After all, how often can you touch the sun before you get burned?
I push her back against the door and drop my lips against hers. For long moments, I inhale the fragrant scent of her skin. As I grip the back of her neck, my mouth drops to the pulse throbbing in the base of her throat before I lift my head.
Libby licks her plump lips as if they’ve become dry in the few moments since I last had my mouth on them. “I want you, Cal.” Her body shivers in my arms as if she’s been imagining this moment.
She’s not the only one.
Boosting her tighter against me, I feel her tight nipples press through her dress against my dress shirt. All it does is drive me mad to find out what they look like. Will they be light and pink, daring me to darken them with my teeth and tongue? Are they sweet berries? Or will they be taupe, wanting to turn toasty brown as I suckle them deep in my mouth?
I can’t wait to find out.
Striding through her apartment, I make my way into her bedroom, hearing her moan against my ear as each movement of my legs rubs my cock against her thinly covered pussy. “I can’t wait to find out how wet you are,” I mutter. “To find out how slick your body’s making itself for me. God, Libby, do you know how long I’ve wanted to sink my cock into you?” I barely manage to get the last word out when my knees bump against the side of her bed.
But it’s her words that cause the lust to tear through my system. “Probably about as long as I’ve imagined you doing it,” she admits. Reaching down, she unzips the hidden zipper along the side of her dress to almost midthigh. Reaching under her hair, she unties the knot holding the halter top up. Soon, there’s nothing preventing me from getting to her luscious body but the pressure between us.
And it’s unacceptable.
I drop her backward, gripping the edge of her dress as she falls. She lands softly, giggling as, in my haste, I manage to get her dress tangled up in her boots. “Laughing at me only delays me finding my way inside of you,” I warn her with mock seriousness. But my lips are curving and my body’s shaking as I try to untwist her dress before yanking off her first boot and letting it drop. The other goes sailing over my shoulder and lands with a crash that sends Libby into writhing hysterics on the bed. I can’t help but join her.
Then part of my mind stills. Who would have ever thought to laugh at a time like this? Then again, why am I surprised? It’s Libby. She brings laughter and light to every corner of my life.
Pulling my shirt over my head, I hop on one leg and quickly untie my boot before doing the same with the other. Libby lies on her back like a perfect offering, just waiting for me to take her. Finally, I shuck my jeans and join her on the bed clad in nothing but my black boxer briefs.
When our skin touches, it sends off sparks that I’d swear must be visible, but I can’t see them in the dimly lit room. I drag my lips down her creamy, perfect skin to reach the light rose-colored nipples that are tightening even more as my mouth waters in anticipation.
I’m grateful for the dim light in the room as I can not only feel the heat of her arousal against my skin, I can see it as her skin flushes once my lips capture the first of the many treasures I intend on finding tonight. Flicking my tongue back and forth, I brace up on an elbow so my hand can tangle in her hair while my other hand cups her other breast, readying it for my lips, my tongue.
Libby is arching against me, her hands threaded in my hair, holding me tightly in place. “Cal, so good. So, so, good.”
