She brought her lips to my neck, just below my ear, and I involuntarily sucked in a breath. She continued kissing, down my neck, then to my chest.
“I love you.” As her lips formed her words against my skin, my back arched and I let out a groan.
The feeling of her breath and her teeth against my skin was almost unbearable. I couldn’t take just being next to her any longer. Nudging her back slightly, she raised her knees, allowing me to settle between them as I stared down at her. With her hair scattered around her, I wanted to drink her in. To savor every essence that made her who she was. Shifting my gaze to her eyes, I found them slightly clouded with tears. But she looked happy. Content. Right.
“Are you okay?” I asked, taking a hand and brushing a strand from her face.
“Always,” she whispered, sliding her hands to my buttocks, pressing her fingertips into my skin. Giving me unspoken permission.
I shook my head slightly as I leaned down to kiss her. “God, you’re exquisite … ”
With those words, Savannah let out a soft moan as I slowly slid inside her. She opened up her body for me and I was humbled by her trust, given everything we’d been through. Everything I’d put her through. Suddenly I wanted to touch her everywhere at once. I didn’t want a single inch of my skin to be separated from hers.
“Oh …” She closed her eyes and rocked her head back on the pillow as her mouth formed around the word. My eyes traced along the smooth line of her neck, her jawline.
“Mmm,” I moaned onto her breast as my tongue desperately circled her nipple, feeling it get harder under my touch.
I moved faster, pressing my forehead into her chest. Beads of sweat rolled down my cheek and onto her skin.
“Hey.” Breathlessly, Savannah grabbed the sides of my face and hunted my eyes, perhaps looking for answers to five years of questions. “Go slow. I don’t want this to end.”
Slowly she lifted her hips, and lowered them again, teaching me how to move with her. I couldn’t look away from her as I waited for her to close her eyes again. She didn’t. I slid into her carefully, and backed out at the same cautious speed, watching her eyelids react to my motion. As I watched her reactions, my own body responded. Minute after minute I watched her as I felt every curve of her body move against mine. Making love to the only woman I’d ever loved.
As if sensing my need for more, she dug her fingernails into my shoulder blades and grazed her teeth against my earlobe. “Roll over.” Intense authority tore through her whisper, and I complied.
My view of her was paralyzing as we repositioned our bodies and Savannah straddled my hips. She ran a hand through her hair to move it out of her face, and it cascaded in careless waves over her breasts. Reaching up, I brushed her hair over her shoulder and let my hands slide down her arms, working their way to her calves. As she began to slowly rock, I arched my back in response. Trailing my fingers up her calves, her hips, her waist, soaking in every inch of her body. Committing every curve to memory.
My hands reached her breasts, cupping them, my thumbs grazing over her nipples as I stared at her in humble worship. Her head dipped to the left, as she moaned.
Biting her lip as she pushed harder against me, she commanded, “Harder.”
I worked my fingers deeper against her breasts and she threw her head back for a moment, exposing her neck. I wanted more than anything to sit up and run my tongue from the base of it up to her ear, but feeling her hips circle against me kept me in place.
I dropped my hands to her hips as she moved faster, with urgency. Savannah lowered her head, her hair falling down over her shoulder again, curtaining around my face. I leaned up on my elbows and kissed her.
I wanted to tell her she was beyond compare. I wanted to beg her for more. Harder. My words failed me as I strung together a mess of inaudible gasps and groans. With a low growl escaping from the depths of my need for her, I grabbed her hips and rolled her to her back.
“God, Gregory.” She swallowed hard as she lifted her knees.
Sitting back for a second, I grabbed one of her ankles, then the other, and set them on my shoulders. She straightened her legs, bringing me even deeper as we cried out in unison at the raw intensity of the feeling.
Savannah’s long fingers wrapped around the backs of my thighs, holding me in place, as I pushed harder and faster. The pitch of her cries climbed each time I thrust into her. Each time her nails dug harder into my skin.
“Yes … Savannah … ah …”
Her eyes closed tightly as she cried out one last time, every muscle in her body tensing underneath her glistening skin. She released her grip on my thighs, clawing at the sheets, balling the fabric in her hands as her back arched. Driving me insane. Watching, feeling her come undone, overrode my sense of self, and I was completely lost in us. I buried my face against her neck, a moan escaping my lips, as I felt her entire body shuddering against mine. My eyes forced themselves closed as my mind went utterly blank. My body spasmed against hers once, twice, three times, before I collapsed onto her, my heart pounding in my chest, my breathing ragged.
Both of us lay there, gasping for breath. Our bodies were slick with sweat, and I leaned my head back and looked her in the eyes and said, “You are so fucking beautiful, Savannah.”
“I love you, Gregory,” she whispered for the second time since we’d been in my room. The words hurt this time. Because I did love her. I’d always loved her. But how did I reconcile that with my life?
I slowly and carefully rolled off of her, shifting so she could rest her head on my chest. Our breathing had finally slowed, but I could feel her heart beating against my chest. With one languorous arm stretched across my chest, her fingers curled up on my right side. My head tilted to the left, and if I leaned down, I could have kissed her forehead. I wrapped my left arm behind her and the fingers of my right hand intertwined with hers. Our legs were tangled, hooked around each other’s, and goosebumps sprang up across her skin.
“Are you cold?” I asked.