I groan and lift her by the waist. She locks her arms around my neck, her thighs around my hips, and I carry her upstairs while we’re kissing. By the time I lay her on the bed, I’m hard again. I lean over her and open her bra, then her jeans, and draw all her clothes off her with the realization of just how many times I’ve had this fantasy.
I want to kiss every inch of her skin, but she drags me up her body, then rolls on top of me. I couldn’t ask for a better view or a more beautiful woman. She wastes no time stripping me and getting me inside her, and I certainly don’t argue.
As she sinks onto me, her eyes close and her head tilts. She feels like a tight velvet sheath, and there is nothing more delicious than the way she rides me, in long, slow, deep strokes.
Sitting up, I spread her thighs wider, grip her hips, and push deeper. I feel her body quicken, I see the promise of ecstasy slide over her expression. Then watch the orgasm splash across her face and feel her body tighten around me.
Her head lolls forward, and I brush her hair back and hold her head up. Her gaze is hazed with pleasure, and the sight pushes my heart into overdrive. When she melts, I lie back. Chest to chest, I stroke her hair off her back, then explore all this luscious skin beneath my fingers.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamed of this over the years.” My murmur sounds loud to my own ears. I instantly worry it’s too much too soon. Half expect her to freak a little.
Instead, she tilts her head and smiles up at me. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t too.”
Thrilled with the admission, my nervous heart settles a little. I wrap an arm around her, roll her to her back, and sink deeper into her. “The bed is nice, huh?”
She laughs. “I think the closest we ever got to a bed was a lawn.”
“Or the cushions on my boat.”
Her smile is so sweet, so openly happy, it fills my soul in a way nothing else ever has. This kind of joy is a double-edged sword, though. Even more for me, having known what it feels like to lose it. To live without it.
I lower my head and touch my lips to hers. Move inside her. Try to remember this perfection, even while praying I’ll never have to bring it back from memory.
This sex is slow and languid, but no less intense. More intense in a lot of ways. More time to look into each other’s eyes, more time to savor all the physical and emotional feelings, more time to make this connection deep and lasting.
As she nears orgasm, she arches off the bed, and I clasp the nipple of one breast between my teeth.
“Levi.”
Hearing her call my name at the height of passion spears love straight through my heart. This is the first time I can let her cries surround us, and I relish them as I find my own intense release.
When our breathing evens, I roll to my back and Laiyla lays her body against the side of mine, head on my shoulder, arm across my body.
“Oh my God,” I say.
She lifts her head and sleepy eyes look into mine. “What?”
I search my mind. “Is this the first time we’ve spent a whole night together?”
She rests her chin on my chest and smiles. “That’s crazy.”
Mind-bendingly crazy. When it’s right, the numbers and tallies really don’t equate to intensity of emotion for another person. Fondness may indeed grow over time, but you can’t force your heart to love someone.
That reminds me of something I’ve been keeping, and I reach over to the nightstand and pull out a jewelry box. “I found this a while back and haven’t been able to throw it away. Guess I know why now.”
She sits up, hair loose and falling over her shoulder. “What’s this?”
“Your eighteenth birthday gift.”
She instantly realizes the reason I didn’t give it to her is because she didn’t return that summer. “Oh, Levi.”
I stroke her face. “No regrets. We’re together now. That’s all that matters.”
She opens the box and gasps softly as she draws out the necklace, uses the other hand to rest the charm against her palm. It’s a delicate platinum chain with a platinum ladybug charm with diamonds for the eyes.
“Oh…” she says in that way girls do when they think something is sweet. “I love it.” A look of guilt comes over her face. “This had to cost you your whole summer’s earnings.”
“And I had to cut way back on beer too.”