Chapter 17
Nick knew where he would take her. The lights from Neverland, the legendary place where many of his high school buddies had lost their virginity, were stunning, and he knew she’d love it. They climbed the steep off-road drive, and as they came around to the flat area Devon gasped. Twinkling lights shone before her on the expansive Santa Rosa plain that stretched fifty miles. He angled the car pointing west, pulled onto a gravel shoulder and turned off the car.
“Beautiful.”
He was looking at her face in profile, thinking the same thing. He traced the line of her jaw, slipping his fingers around the top of her neck and pulling her to him across the console. His lips sipped from hers. Devon opened to him as his tongue found hers and coaxed her to return the favor.
The cabin was feeling cramped and his erection was getting painful.
“Come on.” He picked up a blanket from the second seat, coming around to lift her out of the car. They walked through the dried grasses to a perfect view. He spread the blanket and invited her to join him. Their shoulders touched as they watched the lights, felt the gentle breeze, and listened to the crickets. The smells of the grasses and the sounds of traffic in the distance were always soothing to him. Tonight, it felt like magic.
Nick had never felt this way about anyone in his life. He had thought of himself as Teflon—immune to love. He had been so certain that his loyalty to his Teammates and his country would forever be most prominent in his life.
But now there was Devon, and it just felt so natural to have her beside him. There was a lot he didn’t know about her. Could she handle carrying on a long distance relationship? Playing around with his buddies was one thing, but could she hold up during his difficult deployments? Would the intensity of their feelings survive being apart with him living in San Diego and her in Sonoma County?
“Thank you for bringing me here, Nick. I can see this is a special place,” she said.
Nick had to smile. “They call it Neverland.”
“Really? Why?” Her eyes sparkled in the reflection of the lights ahead of them. Then she put her hand to her mouth. “Oh. A makeout place, right? Like a legendary makeout place?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t—” He suddenly realized he shouldn’t have said it.
She touched his lips with her fingertips. “No. I never even got close to making love with anyone. I’ve barely been kissed.”
“That’s all in the past, baby.”
“Yes.” She looked down, as if shy.
“I can’t believe no one tried to get close to you, Devon. You’re beautiful, smart. You’re a good friend to Sophie. Girls like you don’t come along very often.”
“Thank you for saying that, Nick. I have to admit, I’ve never met anyone like you, either.”
The doorway was being breached. Surrender was imminent. But whose? He wanted to give himself to her as much as he needed her to fill all those raw spots and holes in his soul.
“I’d like this to continue after I go back to San Diego. Can you ever see yourself—what I’m asking I have no right to ask. You don’t even know me.”
“I know Sophie and she’s told me some stories. Sophie doesn’t lie.”
“No, she doesn’t. So now I’m afraid of what you’ve been told.”
She looked back out to the lights. He saw the moisture on her lips as they began to curl up at the ends. “She said you don’t let anyone in. Ever.”
“Until now, Devon.”
Her sparkling eyes lit up his heart when she turned to face him again. “I was hoping to hear that, Nick. For me, all this sex, it’s something more than just that. I feel like I belong here, beside you.”
“You do, baby.”
They kissed as he lay her down into the blanket. He nuzzled under her ear and spoke the words she wasn’t sure she heard at first. “I’m falling hard and I don’t want to stop. You’d have a terrible time getting rid of me if you change your mind.”
She laced her fingers through his hair, moving on to his temples and caressing the sides of his face. “Don’t stop. I don’t want you to stop. I don’t want to lose this feeling—”
Before she could finish he stopped her as he brushed her lips with a soft kiss and slid his hand up under her shirt. He pulled the cotton fabric off, bending to penetrate the tops of her bra with his tongue. She arched to him with a moan that nearly made him come. He removed her bra, then worked on her pants, sliding them down her thighs. Her white lace panties glowed in the moonlight.
She waited and watched him as he shed his own clothes. Then, raising one of her knees over his shoulder he bent down and licked the inside of her thigh. His tongue snaked its way under the elastic of the panty to seek and find her slit as he dipped the tip inside her warm opening. Devon wildly grabbed his hair, clutching with her fingers wildly as her hips writhed, presenting her mound to him.
Watching her face under the stars, he slowly pulled her panties off and slipped two fingers inside her. It was heaven to watch her melt with desire. He and only he had opened the doorway to her garden of delights. It had never been important before, but tonight it was. He vowed he’d be the only man to ever make love to Devon for the rest of her life. If she’d have him.
He sucked her * as he moved his fingers in and out of her.
“Please,” she moaned.
“Yes. I’m here, Devon.”
“Please, Nick, I need you inside me.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “I want—“
Should he say it? Was it wise?
“Please, need you,” she was moaning.
“I want to be the only one, Devon.”
“You are.”
“I want to be the only one, ever,” he said as he mounted her. He’d brought protection and quickly slipped it over his engorged shaft. The delay sent her into a frenzy.
“You are the only one. I don’t ever want to let you go.”
Nick entered her as she exploded all around him. Her warm sheath held him, pulled him deeper. Her breasts shone in the silvery night air, the red peaks of her nipples knotted with pleasure. Nothing in the world compared to the beauty of this woman surrendering fully to him under the night sky. She loved with complete abandon, and he vowed, he would never leave her.
Somehow, they’d figure out a way to make all the pieces fit into place, just as their bodies fit together.
Somehow.
Devon stroked along Nick’s back, felt the circular scars that reminded her he’d faced death more than once. Another long thin scar inched from his hip nearly to his spine.
His callused fingers were rubbing her chest, squeezing her nipples as he laid his head against her to listen to her heart. There wasn’t any part of Nick’s body she didn’t love. His thick thighs draped across hers, his steady breathing warming her. She ran her hand down his sides, reveling in the weight of his body on top of hers, right where he belonged.
They had not spoken of love, but she knew what this was. And she was sure he felt the same. She felt protected, honored to be loved by such a beautiful and powerful warrior.
She wanted to spend her life pleasing him. If he’d let her.