So Good

He was silent for a second, bringing his beer bottle up and taking a long drink as he watched everyone. When he set it down there was a small smile on his lips. “Yeah, it really does feel like this is how it should’ve always been.”

My dad brought the plate of steak and hotdogs, chicken and ribs to the table. Everyone sat around, passing the side dishes, laughing, talking, the atmosphere just overall comfortable.

Charlie was enamored with Georgia, Cora was smiling at my father, and Matthew sat right beside me as close as he could get, his arm slung around the back of my chair, his body heat seeping into me.

This was perfection, every little moment, every second of life not being wasted. I’d never known what truly being happy was, but as I looked at Matthew, I knew this was what life was all about.

Epilogue

Ivy

Matthew pulled up to the university and I felt like it was the first day of high school. I was scared and nervous, not sure that I’d actually succeed in this.

“Hey,” he said softly and placed his hand on my thigh. “You’re going to do fantastic.”

I glanced at him and he was smiling. I leaned over and placed my lips on his.

Over the summer things hadn’t really changed very much. Although Matthew still lived with my father, he was looking for a place of his own now that my dad had a full-time job. Not to mention Cora was over constantly and I knew they wanted their private time. Even though I was starting college, I was driving back and forth, and so now more than ever I felt like I was intruding on them even though my dad assured me I wasn’t.

They didn’t know I’d overheard them talking about Cora moving in. So I really needed to decide what I was going to do, because commuting while Cora was thinking about moving in was not something I wanted to do. I should’ve gotten a dorm.

“Cora’s thinking about moving in.” Matthew didn’t say anything, but I could tell by his expression he already knew. “You knew?”

“I overheard your dad talking on the phone with her one day. I didn’t say anything because I figured it wasn’t my place.”

“Yeah, I overheard them too. They haven’t talked to me about it yet, so they’re either up in the air with the decision, or afraid to tell me.” I exhaled. “I told my dad and Cora I’m happy for them, and I assumed she was going to move in eventually. I just wish you would feel comfortable enough to let me know these things.”

He drew me into him for a kiss.

“I should’ve just gotten a dorm,” I said against his mouth and gave him one more lingering kiss before pulling away and looking back at the university.

“Or, how about you can just move in with me?”

I was taken aback and leaned away, looking him in the eyes. “Move in with you?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders and gave me a half smirk.

“Would it be the worst thing?”

I smiled and shook my head.

“At least then your dad and Cora can have a place of their own and you don’t have to actually walk in on them doing it.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Kind of like what he did with us … almost?” Now it was his turn to grimace.

“Let’s not talk about that.”

I started laughing and placed my hand on his thigh. He put his on top of mine and gave it a light squeeze.

“I was being serious, Ivy. Move in with me. I can take you to school every day, make sure you get there safely, pick you up, and bring you back to our place and fuck you.”

Our place.

I felt my face heat from his obscene comment and promptly felt arousal rise up.

“We can pick out a place together, make it ours.”

God, that sounded so perfect.

I looked around the lot where we were parked and saw only a couple of cars on the far end. We were kind of isolated, with trees behind us and right outside the driver side.

Maybe I should have taken things a little more seriously, prepared myself for the first day of classes. But instead, I found myself crawling over the seat and gear stick, straddling Matthew’s waist and placing my hands on his chest, gently pushing him back.

“Ivy?” he asked but promptly groaned when I ground myself on him.

He growled low and placed one hand on the small of my back, his other one gripping my waist. He pushed me down gently and I felt the stiff outline of his erection digging between my legs.

“Fuck, baby.” He was breathing heavily.

“This is crazy, but feels so good.” I moaned those words out.

He cupped the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair. Matthew dragged his tongue over the seam of my lips. I parted them in a gasp, grinding myself against his erection, wanting nothing more than to reach between us, unzip his pants, pull his dick out, and shove it deep in my body.