“Show me,” I whispered, tugging on the back of his head, bringing his lips to mine. His lips were both firm and soft. Our mouths moved together, his tongue caressing mine, like they were designed with the other’s in mind. One of his large hands found the side of my face, his thumb stroking my cheek.
I adjusted my legs so that he was on top of me again and locked my ankles behind his back. He growled into my mouth as I urged his pelvis towards mine, running my hands up and down his back.
He pulled his face back, panting heavily, as breathless as I was. He grabbed his cock and guided it towards my opening, wet with need.
I kept my eyes locked on his, something I found very difficult to do even a few months before. His greens sparkled like stars shining in the night sky, gold flecks mirroring the same feelings I felt. It melted me, comforted me, made me feel whole to be able to accept that look and those feelings from someone else with full knowledge that they meant them. For better or worse.
I felt him push into me, a smooth hardness parting my folds. A smile tugged at the corner of his swollen lips as he sank himself inside my body.
I closed my eyes, enjoying the fullness when he pulled back out and dipped inside again. Slower than before, I felt every centimeter as our bodies became one.
Max brushed a stray lock of hair from my forehead and my eyes opened again. They immediately found his, like two magnets pulling toward each other from a distance. I returned his smile, an acknowledgement of the intimacy we both seemed to be feeling. We weren’t fucking and we both were okay with that.
I was okay with that.
It was overwhelming to feel that way, my chest bursting with so much love.
I pushed on his back with my heels again, encouraging him to move. His smile broadened, his dimple flashing in his cheek, and I couldn’t help it. The one thing I’d been fighting forever won—love and sex bled together . . . and it was a beautiful thing.
“I love you, Max,” I whispered, watching him realize the epiphany I’d just had.
“Ah, Kari. I love you, too.”
KARI
I sat in the same parking spot I was in the day my world changed. The day my perspective on all things began to shift.
The day Max Quinn walked into my life.
The sun was bright, the air crisp, as I sat in the parking lot of Pinnacle Peak. There were few hikers out this time of day and I was glad for that.
Max and I had gone to the courthouse and secured our marriage license that morning. Maybe it was the fact that we were filing for a certificate to get married or maybe it was that I was just in a state of bliss I’d never felt before, but Max was more beautiful than I’d ever seen him. Before him, I’d never have used the term “beautiful” to describe a man. Max was rugged and hard and dark and a little dangerous looking, but knowing his heart, he was simply beautiful. There was no other word to describe him.
He had smiled like a loon as we applied at the courthouse, holding my hand and tracing the lines on my palm. We had discussed what tattoo I was going to get, where we’d go on our honeymoon, and if we’d wait for Jada to have the baby before we left. She was getting close to her due date and hadn’t been feeling great, even by her standards, not Cane’s. I wanted to make sure we were there for the event, so I had asked that we wait until after.
With the evening sunshine pouring into the cab of my car, I pulled out my phone and called my father.
“Hello?” he asked. I could tell he was working on something because he sounded distracted.
“Daddy? It’s Kari.”
“Hey, baby girl,” he said and I could hear him set down his pen. “How are you? Everything alright?”
“Yeah,” I said, watching the clouds float by. “I just . . .” For some reason, I felt like crying. A knot was lodged in my throat and the more I tried to will it away, the tighter it became. “I don’t know, Daddy. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
“Wanna come by and see me? Maybe we can go to dinner, just you and me?”
I smiled. “I’d like that, but I’m going for a hike. I’m sitting at Pinnacle Peak now. Max is working late because we went and got our marriage license this morning, so I think I’m going to run by a florist on my way home.”
“I know I don’t tell you this enough, but I’m so proud of you. And your mother . . .” His voice cracked and it made my resolve not to cry crack as well. Tears trickled down my face. “She’d be so proud of you, Kari. When she passed away, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to raise you girls.”
“You did good, Dad. Look at us—we are happy and healthy. I don’t think either of us would change a thing about where we are right now.”
“I have those boys of yours to thank for that. When Max asked me to marry you—”
“What?”
He chuckled into the phone. “He didn’t tell you that?”
“He really did?”