I might’ve grunted something in response, but she’d well and truly won. She’d shown just how right she was. Sex was just an act. Because we’d already surpassed mere pleasure and flesh. We were joined on so many levels, and nothing else mattered but that.
“Fine.” Marching toward her, I coughed and pointed ahead. “Let’s keep going.”
I was fucking captivated by her.
Utterly bewitched.
But I wasn’t prepared to spill the contents of my heart when I didn’t fully understand it myself.
“Okay…” Her forehead furrowed, but she obeyed, and I spent the rest of the day in agony, eyes fixated on her gorgeous ass as she strode ahead, my body in a perpetual state of thick, black desire.
Served me right.
I wanted her.
I could have her.
So why was I waiting again?
* * * * *
Every day, we travelled deeper into the forest, following the river and leaving behind the city we’d called home for so long. At night, we were pleasantly exhausted and returned to the ease of before when Della would ask for a story, and I’d willingly conjure past events we’d shared.
Even though I’d fully accepted the inevitable and just how screwed I was by falling in love with this woman, I hadn’t initiated anything past a kiss.
And Della remained true to her word and didn’t push me.
It’d become a silent joke, kissing, grinding, driving each other to the pinnacle of tearing off clothes and consummating but then pulling back at the last second.
Making out with Della was the best and hardest thing I’d ever done. Best because I never knew kissing could be pure fire, that a tongue could make me lose myself, that a fingernail dragged down my spine could almost make me come. And the hardest because I couldn’t let go…not yet.
We’d had almost two decades together, yet this element of touching and kissing was entirely new, and I wanted to learn everything I could before I jumped a grade. I wanted to be fluent in her moans. I wanted to know her levels of need.
Already, I knew her legs spread whenever I grazed my fingers along her lower belly. Her gasps became heavy whenever I’d tuck aside a curl and murmur in her ear how much I wanted her.
But it wasn’t enough.
I wanted to know what made her snap.
And on the fourth night, I found the spot as she spread out her sleeping bag while I kneeled at the bottom of the bed and pulled off my t-shirt. Her bare leg flashed me, her ribbon tattoo with its R, bright blue and taunting.
Without thinking, I flipped her onto her back, grabbed her ankle and dragged her freshly river-washed foot to my mouth.
She froze as I pressed a kiss on the ink, brushing my nose against her soft skin.
“Ren…” Her head fell back as I kissed her again, slipping my tongue out and licking the length of the ribbon all the way to the cursive capital of my first name.
I nipped her.
“Holy…” Her entire body crackled and sizzled with desire.
My fingers tightened on her ankle, holding her still as I licked the length again. “You got this to torment me.”
Her foot arched in my hold, her legs widened, her hands fisted in the sleeping bag. “No—”
“You got this because you were in love with me.”
“Y-yes.” Her breath caught as I nipped at the R again, scraping my teeth over the fine bones of her foot, fighting the feral part of me that wanted to clamp down and bite hard.
“You fantasied about me touching you.”
“Every night.” Her eyes met mine, blazing. “All the time.”
I almost gave up there and then.
My body had never felt so wired or hot or greedy.
The little boy shorts and t-shirt she slept in could so easily be removed, and her body feasted on.
But as much as I cursed waiting, I fucking adored the anticipation, and I licked her tattoo once more before placing her foot down gently. “You very nearly ruined me, Little Ribbon.”
Unzipping my jeans, I slipped out of them and didn’t bother hiding the raging erection I sported.
She licked her lips, eyes locked on my tented boxers. “And now you’re doing the same by teasing me so badly.”
I didn’t say anything.
I just wanted to bask in the heady drunkenness of lust and the unbelievable knowledge that I’d earned everything I’d never dared hope to earn.
Crawling beside her, I wedged her back into my front and breathed as hard as her.
And we just lay there.
Trembling with need.
Cooking with desire.
Fully aware we were playing a very dangerous game.
And we were utterly addicted to it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
REN
* * * * * *
2018
BY THE SEVENTH day, that intense desire meshed with carefree laughing. We’d found a balance of friendship and chemistry that made me trip even deeper into love.
Every day, we tramped until our bones ached, and we’d make our home in the wonderful heart-warming high of being just us again. Whenever I looked at her, I wanted to explode with affection. Whenever she looked at me, my body begged to override my hesitation.