Page 63 of Keep Me Still
Layla groans loudly, her voice echoing off the shower walls and adding to the urgency building inside of me.
“That’s all of it, baby,” I tell her, thrusting as gently as I can manage, reaching around to rub her clit as I sink myself into her as far as I can go. “Come hard for me, sweet girl.”
Obeying my command almost instantly, she comes violently onto my dick. Her internal muscles squeeze me so tight I lose my breath. “Fuck!”
When I come, a whole list of words I never intended to say in front of her pour out of me along with my orgasm. Followed immediately by, “I love you, Layla. God, I love you so damn much.”
Landenloves me. And I love him.
It’s that simple. The realization hits me so hard it should make a sound. But the only sound I hear as he holds me in his arms is our breathing. Steady, in rhythm with one another. Just like us.
I’m sore from everything we’ve done to each other tonight, but Landen’s warmth soothes my aching muscles. His heat is the balm I need for…everything. There were so many orgasms shared between the two of us tonight that I lost count. If his arms weren’t firmly around me now, I’d probably be floating up near the ceiling somewhere. As it is I’m boneless and spent.
Tracing the hand he has resting over my breast and listening to his steady breathing, my mind wanders. What if he hadn’t given up everything to come here? Would I be with someone else right now? Would he? What if things had ended the night he left Hope Springs? And if he knew what my last EKG had said, how short our time together might be, would he still be here with me now? It makes my stomach churn to think about, so I force myself to stop.
If I keep playing out all the ways things can go wrong, I’ll miss out on the here and now. Which, for me, might not last that much longer. So I close my eyes and concentrate on every part of Landen that’s pressing against my skin. The way his breath feels on me. The warm weight of his muscular arms. His masculine legs braided with mine.
Our bodies are so entwined that I can’t imagine how we’ll ever pull apart, which is fine by me because I don’t want to. Ever.
As much as I try not to think, I can’t stop. Rolling over in his arms so I can study him as he sleeps peacefully next to me, I reach out and trace the arch of his dark eyebrows, his smooth eyelids. What I wouldn’t give to have eyelashes as thick as his. My finger glides down the perfect bridge of his nose and his firm, full lips. His face twitches, and I smile into the darkness.
Why would this beautiful creature give up everything for me? I have no idea. But he did. And just before I snuggle myself into his chest and doze off, I realize I’d do the same for him.
Acrash of something slamming into the floor jerks me violently from the deep sleep I was in. “Sorry, shit. Sorry!” Corin’s loud whisper rings out after another loud crash in the darkness.
I sit upright, pulling the covers over my naked body. My thoughts are still thick with sleep, and I barely register that Landen’s next to me, sitting up and pulling me close.
“Dammit!” Corin hiss-whispers, and there’s another thud as something hits the floor.
“Shh, you’re okay, baby. It’s okay,” Landen murmurs into my hair.
And despite the fact that my heart is attempting to pound straight out of my chest, I am okay. I nod and let him squeeze me because I’m pretty sure he’s trembling harder than I am. “I’m okay, Landen,” I whisper.
He swallows hard and I feel him nodding against me as both of us go still. “What the hell, Ginger? Just turn the damn light on,” he barks at her.
“Landen!” I don’t want the lights on. We’re naked for goodness sakes.
He shoves fabric into my hands and I pull it over my head as fast as I can manage. The lamp on the night table flickers on beside us, and Corin scrambles to grab her blanket and pillow from under the dozens of CD and the shelf that now lay on her bed. She bends down to collect the pieces of a shattered picture frame.
“Told you two push pins wouldn’t be enough to hold all that,” I tell her, stifling a laugh.
“Yeah, yeah,” she mutters. “Sorry. I figured you had company so I was just going to grab my pillow and blanket and sleep on the futon.”
Once again, I feel like the slutty roommate.
“We were just sleeping, Corin. You don’t have to give up your bed. We can go sleep on the futon,” Landen tells her before I can.
“It’s fine, um, Skylar’s here so…”
Raising an eyebrow, I look at her closely. Her clothes are a little disheveled and her curly mass of hair is a mess. “Oh, Corin,no,” I say.
“Not what you think.Shut up,” she commands under her breath, throwing a pointed look at Landen. Okay, guess we’ll talk about it later then.
“Shutting.”
“Night night, kids,” Corin says, turning off the lamp on her way out.
After she slides the door closed, Landen huffs out a loud sigh and lies back down next to me. “Thank God for Topiramax,” he mumbles.
