Page 55 of Melt With You

‘But why didn’t you get me sooner?’ Dori asked afterward. She had slid on his T-shirt and her panties, and then climbed back into bed. Rowan’s arm was thrown over her body, and she felt safe next to him, safe with the weight of him by her side.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Why didn’t you bring me back earlier? Why didn’t you call me up and ask me out for a date? You know, like in 2005.’

‘I only just managed to make the device work in the last few months, and things weren’t even going so smoothly until just before the reunion …’

‘I don’t mean bring me back in time.’ She play-punched him. ‘I mean, why didn’t you call me? Talk to me. Send me an email. Let me know you were thinking of me.’ Other than the few exchanges they’d had before the reunion, she hadn’t talked to him in twenty years. She wriggled out from under his arm to get into better position. She wanted to be staring into his eyes when he answered. She wanted to both see and hear the truth.

‘You were taken. Violet said …’

‘Violet.’

‘You know we were close in school. We’ve kept in touch every so often. A phone call here. An email there. If you’d married Bryce …’

‘Yes?’

‘If you had, I’d have left you alone. I didn’t want to pull you away from someone you loved, from the life you were supposed to have.’

‘So what changed it?’

‘Violet told me the two of you broke up. And I’d just gotten the device to work. And I thought why not? We’d always talked about taking an adventure together.’

Dori’s eyes widened. ‘This is one hell of an adventure.’

‘Look, it was really difficult. I had to choose a time when neither of us would run into our younger selves. Your family is abroad. Mine is away for the summer. I had to choose a time when you would be back in town. The reunion was perfect. Because the device sends you back to the exact spot you’re standing on. If you were standing on a road that used to be a river, you’d wind up getting swept downstream. If you were on a field that had become a highway, you’d be dodging DeLoreans. This was the time to do it. To meet. To see whether or not we really were meant to be with each other.’

‘And what do you think?’ She felt tears in her eyes. Had she fucked this all up? Being with Van wasn’t something she’d usually have done. She didn’t fall into bed with people on the first date. Or the first afternoon. But she’d thought this was a dream, had been sure this wasn’t real life. And for once she’d decided to throw her insecurities away and act on her impulses.

‘I think, yes,’ he said. ‘I think true love always. How about you, Dori? How about you?’

She felt as if she were swallowing over a fist-sized lump in her throat, but as she nodded he continued to speak.

‘You showed me up, though. You fit in better than I could. You didn’t mope around. You didn’t wait for someone to help you, to save you. You just dived in. I don’t know why, but I didn’t think things would happen like that.’

‘You can’t predict people.’

Rowan smiled at her. ‘That’s what I’m learning,’ he said. ‘Although, I have an idea that certain of my predictions will come true.’

‘Yeah? Like what?’

‘Like if I do this …’ He slid down her body, kissing his way until he was at the split between her legs. ‘Really, really slowly …’ And now he pressed his mouth to her panties, and he started to kiss her gently through the filmy barrier. Dori sighed and arched her hips, lost in the way that his mouth felt on her. Loving the connection between the two of them. Rowan was amazing at making her come. She’d already learnt that in their few hours together.

‘Yes,’ she sighed, having a difficult time speaking. ‘If you do that, then what?’

‘Then you’re going to want me to do this …’ And now he started to pull her panties down, and he continued to kiss her as he slid the knickers down her thighs and over her knees, pulling the panties all the way off.

He parted her legs with his hands on her thighs, pressing his mouth against her now without any barrier between tongue and skin. She groaned and closed her eyes, shivering at the way his breath felt on her. Desperate for him to do more, to let the tip of his tongue make those perfect spirals up and over her clit. To let him take her higher with each subtle rotation.

‘Then what?’ she begged. ‘Tell me what’s next?’

‘You want to see the future?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’re going to have to be patient,’ he said.

‘No …’ She put her hands out, wrapping them in his dark hair, pulling him tight against her. But when she could stand it no longer, she moved, swiveling around on the mattress so that she could return the favor with her own mouth on his cock.

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