I grip the duvet as he teases me with his fingers.
"Honestly," he says, "I'd like to spend some time with my face buried between your thighs, but I know the clock is ticking. In a few minutes, Mom will call out that dessert is ready, and when that happens we'll have about ninety seconds to plant our asses in our chairs before she comes looking for us."
I pull him closer. "Well, by then, I plan to be neck deep in a post-orgasm high, so you'd better get to work, lover boy."
A growl rumbles in his chest as he pulls down his jeans and boxers and settles between my legs.
"Grab the headboard and hold on," he says. "Because this could get rough."
I do as he says, and then, with impatient hands, he grips my hips and pushes into me.
Dear God in Heaven. I'll never get tired of how it feels to have him inside me. He grunts as he presses all the way in, and the sensation of being filled so completely makes me gasp.
"Don't ever doubt that you're my one and only, Cassie. Never doubt it again."
Then he starts to move, and even though his usual technique is to take his time with my pleasure, that's not what this is. When we get home, I know he'll make love to me for hours, but right now, we need to fuck. And judging from Ethan's dark determination, he aims to put everything with Vanessa firmly in the rearview mirror and reclaim me in the most primal way possible. Prove to me that as far as he’s concerned, no other woman exists.
His intensity takes my breath away.
As he slides in and out, hitting a little harder each time, I squirm beneath him in an attempt to bring him deeper. I'm trying to be quiet, but despite my best efforts, my moans are escalating in pitch. When Ethan speeds up, I have to clench my jaw to stifle the sound. He helps by filling my mouth with his tongue.
I kiss him greedily, not even caring when moans spill out as his thrusts hit my sweet spot.
"Ethan! Oh, God ..." I'm whispering, but I might as well be screaming. He knows the edge in my tone. The plaintive, desperate plea. He slides one hand under my ass to get a better angle, and then I'm a helpless passenger on the train to O town. I throw my head back as our hips connect, again, and again, and again, and when I'm hovering on the edge, I can't resist sliding a hand between us to launch myself all the way over. It only takes a few seconds before I'm gone. I stop breathing when my orgasm hits, and Ethan grabs the headboard in desperation as I arch beneath him. His thrusts get faster and more erratic until his entire body tenses up, and when he comes, he presses a long, strangled moan into my neck.
We stay there for long, pleasure-filled seconds, and after we've both ridden out the aftershocks of our orgasmic high, Ethan collapses onto the bed beside me and enfolds me in his arms.
I run my fingers through his damp hair and sigh. "Do you know the best thing about what we just did?"
He looks down at me while trying to catch his breath. "What's that?"
"I know for damn sure Vanessa has never had an orgasm like that in her life, and what's more, she never will. Because the only man who can deliver that kind of expert sexage belongs to me."
His expression morphs into pure joy as he grazes his fingers over my face. "Damn straight, he does. Forever and always."
Seeing how he's looking at me now - how he's always looked at me - I can't believe I ever doubted him. He said his heart is too small to hold all of his love, but that's not right. His heart is so big, it also takes up space in my chest. In moments like this when he stares at me in wonder and his eyes sparkle and burn, I can feel his heart inside me, pressing against mine in perfect synchronicity.
He's right. First love. Last love. And every love in between. That's what we are to each other. Now and forever.
FIVE
Ethan
When Cassie and I can finally breathe again, we fix ourselves up and head back down to my family. Cassie had to do a quick repair job on her hair and makeup to cover most of the damage, but apart from a very faint hickey on my neck, you'd never know we'd just had hot animal sex on my twelve-year-old duvet.
Note to self: spill something on that duvet before you leave tonight, so Mom is forced to wash it.
Apart from the great sex, I'm relieved we finally resolved the Vanessa issue. Now Cassie knows exactly where she stands as far as my heart is concerned, and I aim to never let her forget it.
"Perfect timing," Dad says, as he lays out fresh plates for dessert. "Your mother was about to send out a search party."
"Did you find the pictures of you and Liam in Romeo and Juliet?" Josh asks, and I swear I see him exchange a look with Elissa.
"Uh, no, actually. I thought they were in my bottom drawer, but I must have moved them when I collected my journals."