I’m off the bed and in his arms before the resignation hits the floor. Mine, he’s mine, and he loves me enough to take a chance like this. It means giving up security – for both of us. I still don’t know if I’m going to make this nonprofit a success.
Something tells me we can do it together.
“I love you.” Oh, that feels good. So good tears fill my eyes and roll down my cheeks, soaking into his sweater as he clutches me tight against his chest. “I love you so much.”
“I adore you.” His hand shakes a little as it traces my cheek, running over my hair and making my body sing. I’ve missed his touch so much. “You’ll never know how much. I’m going to show you. That’s my job now. Showing you every single day how loved you are.”
“You need to start right now.”
We share a soft laugh that’s quickly cut off when he touches his lips to mine in the sweetest, most tender kiss. He doesn’t need to use words. All he ever has to do is kiss me like this, and I’ll know I’m loved. And very lucky.
In more ways than one. I almost lost myself–there were times when I wanted to, when I wished the abyss would swallow me whole. “You pulled me back,” I whisper between kisses.
“Pulled you back?”
“From the edge.” My forehead touches his, and I close my eyes. “Before it was too late.”
“I didn’t.” He takes my face in his hands and releases a deep breath. “You pulled yourself back. I was there in case you lost your balance. That’s all.”
EPILOGUE
THREE MONTHS LATER
Ican barely remember waking up without a hundred things going through my head the second my eyes open. It’s like being a kid again, in a way. As soon as I come back to reality, I can’t wait to get the day started. There’s so much to do.
Only now, the stakes have changed. I’m not asking myself whether I should watch a movie or hang out by the pool. I have meetings with contractors today, plus another meeting with a potential supplier – we need bedding, mattresses, all that stuff, and I’m looking to make a deal with a wholesaler. Days are flying by, and the shelter will be open before I know it. Fingers crossed, anyway. Things have been moving smoothly, but I can’t help bracing in case something happens to throw the schedule off-track.
I’m going to have to deal with all of that today, and I can hardly wait. There’s a sense of purpose now. I’m in a hurry, but in a good way. It’s not like I’m staring at the calendar, wishing time would slow down, overwhelmed by the number of things left to be done. Instead, I wish time would move faster. There aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do as it is, but I’ve never been a patient person, either.
This morning, however, something else is on my mind as I slowly open my eyes in a sundrenched bedroom. The vast, east-facing windows make it impossible to sleep in— nothing short of blackout curtains would keep the room dark. But I like it this way. I like waking up with the sun shining on me.
It’s not the sun that woke me up today. It’s the man between my legs. The man who has helped keep things on track every step of the way. The man who even scouted a perfect location for the shelter and made it possible to retrofit what already existed rather than having to build something new. That knocked a ton of time off the schedule and kept costs lower. It means more money I can pour into the resources I plan on offering.
He’s industrious, all right, and always looking for ways to improve my life. He’s doing a pretty good job of it right now, in fact, and I reach between my thighs to run my fingers through his already tousled hair. He almost always wakes up before I do — one of his habits. I can’t say I mind when he chooses to wake me up this way.
The dark, coarse scruff on his cheeks chafes my inner thighs, and I welcome the sensation. “Good morning,” he murmurs with his mouth close to my mound, freshly shaved and already swollen and throbbing. All it takes is his hot breath fanning across my sensitive skin to light my fire.
“Good morning.” I bend an arm behind my head to prop it up so I can look at him, tangled up in the sheets like I am, placing feather-light kisses that somehow have the power to make my skin tingle and my nerves sizzle. I spread my legs wider, opening myself to him, and fresh heat pours from me when I see his eyes light up like I’ve given him a gift. A throaty growl escapes him before he uses his fingers to part my lips wide enough for the flat of his tongue to slide through my folds.
I suck in a sharp breath through my teeth, arching my back as pleasure rolls through me, pushing away the last bits of sleepiness. He takes his time, moving slowly, teasing one moan after another from me with every sweep of his tongue. There’s nothing in the world but the blissful sensations he stirs up and his soft grunts as he pushes me higher and higher, making my body tense, making my pussy drip with excitement while the tension builds, grows, and I whimper his name when it’s all too much. “Romero…”
And then I arch again, crying out softly, closing my eyes and giving myself over to sweet release. One wave after another washes over my writhing body, warming my skin and tightening my nipples. Making the fine hairs on my arms stand on end. He always knows exactly what I want, and how I want it. How I need it.
He’s still gradually kissing his way up my body when I open my eyes. When he rolls me onto my side, I go with him, sighing happily when his hard body presses against my back, and he lifts my leg to make room for his stiff cock. I reach down to guide him inside me, and he moans in my ear once he’s sunk deep.
“So good,” he grunts, moving slowly, waking my body up to even more profound pleasure. Not just the pleasure of him filling me, building friction in time with his soft grunts in my ear. It’s the pleasure of being this close, skin-to-skin, just the two of us in a nest of blankets and pillows, warmed by the sun streaming through the window. Working together in these few precious moments before the day starts. The pleasure of just being. No guilt, no doubt, nothing in our way.
I reach behind me and take the back of his neck in my hand, twisting my head around so our mouths meet. Every stroke of his tongue against mine is in time with the strokes below, and soon, we’re both breathing fast, lost in sensation that begins to heat up.
He snakes an arm around me, massaging my boobs before sliding that hand lower and finding my clit. It’s like my body bursts into flame all at once, and I welcome it. I want it. I strain against him, moving faster while his strokes go deeper, harder. “Tatum,” he rasps in my ear. I can only whimper in response. So close…
And then it all explodes, and he slams deep before filling me with a rush of warmth. His satisfied groans mix with mine, and the world spins wildly around me until, finally, it starts to slow again. Similar to how my heartbeat starts to slow, my breathing starts to even. All we can do is stay locked together like this, trembling, until it passes.
I have to laugh softly once it does, and life comes back into focus. “That’s a nice way to wake up.”
“I thought you’d like it.” He presses a kiss against the side of my neck before a satisfied groan vibrates from his chest into my back. “Not like I didn’t.”
“I was going to say. Don’t act like that was all for me.”