He turned his head slightly and kissed me a little harder before the embrace turned soft again, his fingers grabbing hold of my hair now, a deep breath leaving his nostrils like he loved the feel of my lips against his.
When I realized this was real, that this dream was a reality, my arms circled his neck, and I rose a little on my tiptoes to have greater access to his mouth, to fulfill my fantasy and do whatever I wanted to this man.
I parted his lips and gave him my tongue as one hand slid down his body, over his hard chest, over his beating heart, and I felt the grooves of muscle of his body, felt how strong he was against my fingertips.
He moaned into my mouth when I got into it, when I touched him and gave him my tongue at the same time, when my fingers moved into the back of his hair and gripped the soft strands.
He took it further by fisting my hair entirely, yanking my head back a little farther, kissing me harder like he might throw me on the table and yank up my dress and fuck me right there.
I wouldn’t say no to that.
But then he pulled away, his breathing deep and labored, his eyes burning into mine like it took all his strength to stop. “If you’re willing to be patient with me…I’d like to try.”
I’d wait forever for this man, the only man I would ever really want, the man I could picture myself married to when we’d only had our first kiss five seconds ago. He was the love of my life—I already knew. It was one of those moments that changed your life forever, that you looked back on decades later and your feelings about it never changed. Innate, true, unconditional. “I’d wait a lifetime for you, Dex.”
16
Dex
By the time we were done packing everything up in the rental van and were back at my place, it was almost two in the morning.
I was exhausted, but I didn’t care.
She didn’t seem to care either.
I hadn’t planned on kissing her. It kinda just happened. In a moment of sharp clarity, I realized there was something special here, and I’d be an idiot not to do something about it. She was special, and I wouldn’t find someone else like her. It was better to give this a try, to take it slow, than to spend my time with someone else I didn’t even want to be with.
When we got inside, I didn’t bother turning on the light, especially when the lights from the city kept the place permanently illuminated all hours of the night. She was in her beautiful blue gown, her wrap around her shoulders to stay warm.
Now that she was here, and not for work, I wasn’t sure what to do with her.
I’d asked her to come over, and she said yes.
She was warm inside my apartment, so she pulled the wrap off her body and left it on the back of my couch. Then she looked at me, as if waiting for me to decide what would happen next.
I didn’t have a plan. “You want to lie down…?”
“Sure.”
I felt like a schoolboy who had no experience, no idea what to do with a girl who actually liked me. I made my way down the hallway to my bedroom, the floor-to-ceiling windows bringing in light from the skyscrapers across the street. I kicked off my shoes and socks before I sat at the foot of the bed.
She joined me, sitting beside me and removing the pretty shoes that matched her dress. She looked out the window for a moment before she looked at me again, subtle glitter on her cheeks that matched her dress, looking like the princess of a winter wonderland. The light hit her eyes in this perfect way, making them a little greener than usual.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.” I blurted it out without hesitation, finally free to speak my mind, abandoning my sense of professionalism and telling her my thoughts as they came into my head. I felt free.
She gave a quick blink before she looked down for a moment, as if she couldn’t believe those words actually came from my mouth.
“And you have no idea, do you?” I whispered.
She looked up again, a slight smirk coming on to her lips. “You’re one to talk…”
I was a handsome man, but I wasn’t this anatomically, symmetrically, mathematically perfect person like she was. And the beauty on the outside went all the way down to her bones. She was just as stunning on the inside as the outside. “I want to make love to you, but I think we should wait.” This entire night was spontaneous, and I wanted to make this work, make it last, not rush to the finish line and ruin something so perfect. She wasn’t Natalia or one of the other girls I brought home. She was someone who meant more to me than anyone in the world besides my family.