The warm smirk he shot me made my knees go weak.
I noticed some high school textbooks still sitting on a corner of his desk, saw his St. Norman’s letterman jacket hanging from a hook on the back of his door. It was as though his room had been sealed off with caution tape, frozen in time since the day he’d left the house.
“Holy crap. It’s like a shrine in here!”
I turned to see Trip staring at me, that lazy, lopsided grin still plastered on his gorgeous face. “What?” I asked, trying not to melt from the sweet, familiar smile he was aiming into my eyes.
“Nothing’s changed at all.”
I smiled back, knowing his comment applied to more than just the room we were standing in.
I put the 8-ball back down on the dresser and stepped closer to him, laid my hand over his heart. God. It was so amazing to be able to touch him whenever and however I wanted. Finally. “No. I guess it hasn’t.”
At that, his hands slipped out of his pockets and wrapped around me, pulling my head against his chest, a palm smoothing my hair. I hugged him back, allowed myself a deep breath, taking in that beautifully sweet, clean scent that was his and his alone. One of these days, I was going to find out what kind of soap he used so I could put it through a cheese grater and snort it like it was coke. Someday, my body would be found in a dirty alley somewhere, OD’d on the stuff.
I’d woken up that morning feeling sad and anxious, but only a few hours later, my life had begun. Trip and I had torn each other apart, and there were still so many unspoken questions between us. All those years of hurt and anguish don’t just disappear in a day. But right then, I was just grateful that we were standing there wrapped up in each other’s arms. Feeling him against me, his heartbeat drumming under my ear, the only thought in my brain at that moment was getting his lips back on mine again.
He kissed the top of my head and said, “We probably need to have that talk at some point.”
He was right. We had a lot of baggage to sort through. Hell, we had an entire airport of baggage. But right then, I wasn’t really thinking about talking, if you catch my drift.
“Trip? Do we really have to do that now?”
His shoulders shook as he laughed, and I knew victory was within my grasp.
He tipped my chin toward his face and dipped his head for a sweet, soft kiss against my welcoming lips. “Okay, fine. You’re right. But I just want to say one thing.” He put his hands on my shoulders, bracing me for his words. “I know you didn’t marry that guy, but you need to understand that I wouldn’t care even if you did. You need to know that it wouldn’t stop me from taking you, right here, right now. I wouldn’t even feel badly about it. If that makes me an asshole, so be it. But you’re mine, Lay. You always have been.” His hands moved to cup my face, fixing my eyes to his. “The thing is, though, is that I’m yours. You own me. You always did. This is happening. And we’re making it work this time.”
I thought I was going to melt into the carpet from his words before he’d be able to take me to his bed. But take me he did.
I will not go into detail here. I’m sorry, and I know it might seem strange after everything else I’ve shared about our sex lives. But we didn’t have sex that day. We made love. As corny and as sappy as that might sound, it’s the truth. I will share the gritty details about our sexual encounters, because that is fun and sometimes funny and most of the time, it’s just hot. But when the man I love is so deep inside me it’s as though we share a soul, when I don’t know where I end and he begins, when he is looking into my eyes and whispering the sweetest things this side of Shakespeare… that is simply between us and no one else.
Chapter 5
FUNNY HA HA
Oh my God, I’m totally messing with you. Of course I’m going to tell you every detail! Can you freaking imagine if I didn’t?
Chapter 6
NEVER BEEN THAWED
After Trip’s little speech, I couldn’t breathe. You’re mine. I’m yours. What could I possibly say that could even compare to that?
I bypassed any attempt at speaking, and just grabbed his head, pulling it to mine in a shattering kiss.
He was mine. Mine for the taking. And I planned on taking all I could get from that man.
I slid my tongue against the seam of his lips until they opened for me, our breath mingling with one another’s, the rapid gasps exchanged in frantic bursts of pure, unapologetic need.
My body thrummed in his grasp, his hands smoothing over my back, across my hips, pulling me tightly to him, afraid to let go. His low moans reverberated throughout my insides, turning me to mush. He wanted me. He needed me.