That doesn’t mean I don’t need her, however.
I’m so damn horny, I’m dying. I think my balls might have skipped blue and gone straight to purple. There’s a fire that has sparked between us and I know we both feel it.
“In the end,” Maggie play-growls, imitating the guy on the television, “there can be only one.” She then dissolves into a fit of giggles.
I laugh, too. We found the movie doubling up in another DVD case. You thought we would have found gold when Maggie discovered it. I like that our memories mean as much to her as they do to me. I pull her from beside me on the couch to sitting across my lap, her head falling back against the couch arm.
“I just remembered why I love this movie so much,” I tell her. She’s still smiling, laughter apparent on her face, even in the way her eyes are sparkling.
“Why?”
“Because I love your giggle, Maggie May. In fact, I love every single thing about you,” I admit, bending down so our faces are closer.
“Bryant…”
“And you love me.”
“Maybe we—” she starts, her eyes clouding.
“Deny it,” I dare her.
“We’ve been through this. You know I can’t,” she murmurs, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.
“You have a problem, Maggie,” I tell her.
I watch as her eyes lazily close when my fingers stroke gently on the side of her neck. They open back up slowly, her breath coming deeper, causing her chest to visibly move with the effort to inhale.
“What problem?” she asks so softly that I feel her breath from the words, more than hear the sound.
“I want to make love to you.”
“What’s stopping you?” she asks.
“I need you to tell me it’s what you want, gorgeous,” I respond, my heart skipping a beat in my chest.
She brings her arms up and loops them around my neck, her fingers sifting through my hair. She moistens her lips, the tip of her tongue coming out to move over them. “Make love to me, Bryant,” she says.
“Fuck, yes,” I growl, as if I hadn’t had her body recently. When Maggie is involved, I will never get enough.
“Bryant,” she gasps a second before my lips crash onto hers. Heat ignites between us that quickly. She’s like a wildfire that always blazes out of control when we touch. My hand moves under her shirt, the pads of my fingers sliding against her stomach and along her ribs, not stopping until I palm her full breast, the full globe filling my hand and then some. I can feel her nipple pressing against my skin through her bra. Immediately, I shift my hold so that my thumb can tease her hard nipple against the satin material. Maggie groans and I swallow down the sound as I plunder her mouth, not stopping despite my lungs burning from lack of oxygen. Eventually, Maggie pulls back, inhaling loudly.
She looks up at me, her face flushed. Our breathing mirrors one another and it echoes even louder than the pounding of my heart in my ears. She slides off my lap and stands up. My heart thunders in my chest as I wonder what her next move is going to be. With Maggie, you always get a surprise. I’m just praying that this time it’s a good one. I know we’ve made progress the last few days. I feel that in my bones. It burns that I have to admit Ida Sue was right when she colorfully chastised me and said I needed to find my balls. I did. My only excuse was that Maggie and I had slipped into a pattern that was comfortable. I wasn’t home a lot, so it became a habit and in my head I guess I pretended everything was fine. I had Maggie often on my days off and I was afraid to rock the boat.
Clearly, I was an idiot.
This right here, standing in front of me, is what I want.
My woman, wanting me, her eyes filled with a hunger that only I can answer.
Maggie and I have wasted so much time and I don’t want to waste a second more.
She reaches out her hand to me and I take it eagerly. We walk hand in hand into the bedroom. It’s as if we make the decision to go there together, to put the cloud of the past exactly where it belongs, in the past.
Finally—finally—the two of us have decided to step into the future.
25
Maggie
I’m scared.
I’m not even going to try and pretend to myself that I’m not. I’m kind of terrified. This moment feels huge. I know that Bryant thinks all of our problems are behind us. I wish I had that confidence, too. I feel guilty for misleading him. I know I am, but I can’t seem to help that either. If my tests come back okay? Then, I will give my second chance with Bryant my complete energy. If I don’t have breast cancer, then it will be like a huge sign that the universe is okay with me being happy. If it doesn’t give me that sign, then…