Page 55 of Loving You

The words of praise came out unbidden, but then she rolled her hips and her eyes slid closed, and when they opened… The heat I saw there, the satisfaction and desire and approval all wound together with her movements to send me over the edge.

I came like it was the end of the world, my body taking over as pure pleasure whipped through me and shot to my cock as I drove into her and rode out the orgasm.

Lights strobed across my eyelids like bursts of fireworks, and every ounce of sensation rung from my body whileherperfect body rose to meet me as I finished.

What. The fuck. Was. That.

Never, in all my life, had sex felt so significant. Not even the first time, when I’d been young and convinced there would never be anything better.

There was, obviously. But this?

Sex with April was like an answer to a question I hadn’t known I’d been asking, and coming on the heels of her finding her own release had felt more like coming home than I ever thought possible.

Once I stilled, we breathed together, recovering from the exertion until I rolled to the side. But when I would’ve slid out of her, she held me close, her arms around my back and her face tucked into my neck.

My heart squeezed before a glowing, beaming sensation took over. Love—What? Love?—nearly consumed me, causing me to inhale dramatically, likethiswas the first real breath I’d ever taken.

She stroked her hands down my back, still clinging to me like she’d never let go. And I hoped to hell she wouldn’t because I’d hold her all night like this if she’d let me.

Needing to get her as comfortable as possible so she’d be more inclined to stay in my bed, I pressed a kiss into the damp hair at her forehead and whispered, “Give me a minute. I’ll be back.”

Her arms tightened around me, making me irrationally happy, but then she let me go and I caught her biting her lip before I turned and quickly disposed of the condom.

When I returned, my heart stuttered at the sight of her. She’d slid under the blankets of my bed, her golden hair on my pillow like I’d imagined far too many times lately.

Thank Christ.I wasn’t ready to let her leave, and it thrilled me more than it should’ve to see that she felt the same.

“Come snuggle me. That is, unless you’re too manly,” she said, that playfulness I couldn’t resist lighting her eyes.

I raised my brows. “Too manly? You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

I crawled up the bed and joined her between the blankets, her eyes on me every second. She curled into me the second I hit the sheets and I held her in my arms, rightness coursing through me.

She giggled. “It would only be bad if it meant no post-sex cuddling.”

Her eyes practically sparkled back at me her smile was so wide. But something in her tone made me swallow, and the mood quieted, stilled somehow.

I lifted her hand with mine and knitted our fingers together, lightly remembering something cheesy about the image being a metaphor for how one person’s strengths covered another’s weaknesses.

In the low light of the bedroom, the enormity of our connection threatened to stop my heart. I wasn’t sure shecoveredmy weaknesses, but she didn’t hide from them. She drew me out of myself, out of my need to work constantly and control everything.

I meant what I’d said about us finding what we were into as a couple regardless of what I might’ve done with anyone else. In fact, even though she apparently found it a turn-on, I’d forgotten to tell her what to do because I’d been so in the moment there hadn’t been space for calculation.

The only need was a need forher.

It was freeing and terrifying, but I’d never been a coward. I’d been walking down the darkness of a tunnel with no end in sight, but my brothers were right. They were all flourishing. My mom was fine. Walker’s Brewery was growing and more solvent than I could’ve dreamed a dozen years ago.

Back then, there was nothing to encourage me from emerging from that dark path and into the light. But April? I knew with a sudden certainty that she held the flashlight. She’d flipped the switch and showed me where to go if I just kept walking, and stepping into the daylight was so much better than I could’ve imagined.

Dropping my head close to hers, I breathed in the scent of her andus.I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt so whole, so complete. Part of it was April—her goodness, her tenderness, and that feisty woman who loved to play—but part of it was simply allowing myself to feel at rest rather than to constantly be striving toward something.

God, what a relief.

When she spoke again, it was quieter, less humor and more sobriety in her tone. “You make me feel safe, Eric.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again as she angled her chin toward her chest and nuzzled into me before looking back up to shoot me a grin.

“And it’s not because of the security system or you mother henning me into eating three meals a day.” I gave her a scowl, and she wrinkled her nose. “Really, though, you make me feel like it’s okay to be me—whoever that is. That it’s okay if I’m a little bit brash, a little bit shy, a little bit plain-old weird me.”

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