Page 84 of The Calendar of New Beginnings
Tension radiated from him as their gazes met. He gripped her hands even harder.
“Let go,” he said, rocking into her.
She tilted her head back as he pressed deeper and felt everything gather and then flash inside her. Her body contracted around him, and she cried out, thrashing against him. He thrust wildly and then froze above her, calling out her name.
The very sound of his voice like that broke something free around her heart. She felt the pieces shatter, and when he folded over her, this time the wave she felt was of the greatest, fiercest love she’d ever known for another human being. Her body seemed to be falling, almost like she was plummeting from a tall cliff. But instead of hitting the ground, she floated, because there was no bodyafter all.
Surrendering to that weightlessness, she felt this new heart of hers expand until she was sure its energy was cocooning him as well. And when he nestled close and pressed his sweaty head to her neck, she breathed him in. The love she had for him continued to expand, and so she surrendered to a place where words and thoughts were no longer needed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Andy knew he was probably crushing Lucy, but he couldn’t seem to muster the energy to push away. His breath was still coming out in heaving gasps, his heart was pounding, and sweat was coating his skin. Holy freaking Christ. What had just happened?
He hadn’t been with a lot of women, but he’d had a lot of sex. Good sex. Great sex. The kind of regular married sex that used to put a smile on his face throughout the day. It had gotten better with Kim the more they’d done it, the longer they’d been together.
He’d thought that was how things worked.
Lucy had just blown that theory to hell. Sex with her was like jumping to light speed, and he was flailing to wrap his shorted-out mind around it.
Things had pretty much gone as expected at first. There had been humor between them, and she’d gotten pushy. He’d known she would play an active part.
But something had changed the moment he’d entered her. She’d gripped his hands and opened everything she was to him, and he’d felt like the deepest parts of each of themwere merging together. And then she’d come, harder and hotter than he could have ever imagined. The passion between them had been crazy and urgent, and the last threads of his control had splintered. The force of his climax had been absolute and unwavering. His body felt hollow now, but there was this odd expansion in his chest, one that felt all warm and comforting.
He nuzzled her neck, wanting to touch her, to be close to her, to never be apart from her. There was love here. So much love he felt small in the face of it.
She was quiet, her breathing smoother than his, and so soft and pliant beneath him. He forced himself onto his elbows and realized their hands were still wrapped around each other. Her auburn hair was mussed, a lock of it laying against her soft, white cheek. The rusty line of her eyelashes curled in the most appealing way. He’d never realized how long her eyelashes were before. He saw every freckle, every pore on her face. It was like every atom that made Lucy O’Brien was suddenly visible to him.
She was beautiful, breathtakingly so.
Her lashes flickered, and her eyes opened. There was wonder there and so much love his heart seemed to fill with it like a water bucket from a well.
“Hey,” he said softly.
The only response he received was a smile, and it was enough.
He gathered his strength to shift off her, but she tightened her legs around him.
“No,” she whispered. “Stay.”
“I don’t want to crush you.”
“You’re not,” she said, all soft and warm under him.
“Let me take care of this,” he said and dispensed with the condom.
Coming back to rest on top of her, they stayed that way until he got a crick in his neck from being on his elbows too long. When he shifted onto his back, she cuddled against him.
Hours seemed to pass. They didn’t speak, and it might have been the longest they’d ever gone without saying a word. Her hand rested on his chest like she was counting his heartbeats while he ran his hand along the side of her back, marveling at the smooth line of her vertebrae.
Finally, his stomach grumbled, and he sighed.
“You’re hungry,” she said, still quieter, still more peaceful than usual.
“I can wait a little longer,” he said, not wanting to interrupt their reverie.
She made no move to rise, only rested her face on his chest. When his stomach made more noises, she finally pressed up. Her hair looked a bit tangled, which pleased him somehow, and her eyes were like luminous jewels.
“Come on,” she said. “You need to eat.”
