I nod, not wanting to say anything to get her to stop. I’ll take anything she’s willing to give me.
“You’re the only person I always look for,” she whispers. She leans back so her eyes meet mine. “I looked for you too. After I was in WITSEC. I tried cities near bases, thinking you’d stay on base or nearby.” Her confession surprises me, and I’m not sure what to say. “There are a lot of Henrys who were in the Air Force. I gave up looking after I chose Strutt’s Peak. I decided I needed to let go and really try to move forward.”
I’m coated in her words. In the reality that she wanted to find me, even after everything she had gone through and was dealing with at the time. I feel relieved and angry all at once. Relieved that she felt what I felt, but so damn angry that it has to be so hard.
“Then there you were. Right in front of me. And I couldn’t have you.” She searches my face, hoping for some kind of response, but I’m at war with myself over this. Hearing all of it. “I still look for you. In a room. A crowd. On the gondola. I’m always looking for you.”
She doesn't say anything after that. She just rests her head on my chest as we sway to the rest of the song. Tomorrow, we go back to our lives. A life where we can’t be like this, but I’m not willing to accept that any longer. I need to figure something out, because there’s no going back to how it was before. I’m different now. I can’t un-hear these words, not feel her like this.
I drag my arms around her waist tighter, and drop my head to her shoulder, breathing her in. She always smells like lemons and sugar, now with a little sweat and the smell of the ocean added in. When the song ends, she takes my hand to walk back to the beach. She yells, “Congratulations,” over the buzz of the crowd towards the bride and groom who are mid conversation. They smile back at us, curiously, both trying to place who we might be.
We’re down the beach long before they likely realized we didn’t belong there.
She never lets go of my hand. I squeeze it to pull her attention away from her own thoughts.
“I want you.”Squeeze.
She looks at me with a smile. She knows I mean it in more ways than one.
“Then let's hustle, Hanky.” She pulls her dress over her head and throws it at me, taking off in a run toward the opening of our property. Her naked silhouette moves ahead of me as she laughs. I look up at the moon, pleading for more time. I’m not ready for this to be over.
Our two days are up, but I’m not going to give her up so easily.
I chase her down the beach, shove the heaviness aside, and instead I smile, knowing I have one more sleep until she’ll try to hide from me again.
38
Giselle
The water engulfsme and warms my skin from head to toe. The breeze from the ocean left me feeling chilled. Or maybe it was the words that Henry left buoying between us.
I want you.
I’ve wanted that man for so long. I’ve wanted him so badly I tried to hate him out of my system, but it was inevitable, I suppose, that we would find a way to this moment. I don’t think there was ever a scenario where I wouldn’t end up beside him. Kissing him again. Feeling the way his body spasms, and the sounds he makes when he comes. That’s my own personal reward and torture rolled into one. The way he holds me, though, that’s the thing I never knew I wanted from him. I didn’t know how easily I fit into his side. The place where my head rests right below his chin when he’s holding me from behind.
How am I supposed to stay away from him ever again?
When I breach the surface of the water, I decide I’ll get my fill tonight. I refuse to ruin what time we have left and make it burdened with feelings we have to tamp down. He stands above me, at the side of the pool, with his chest moving up and down, sucking that the ocean air, watching my naked body swim around in front of him.
He makes my body react in ways only romance novelists dream about. Sexy fucker. I almost want to be annoyed at how he pulls these reactions out of me without permission. The goosebump inducing, panty-soaking, feel it in my toes kind of reactions. Just looking him up and down, his wide stance and big dick energy vibrating off from his thick thighs to those strong, corded forearms. Goddamn, those arms are where fantasies begin, and the way he’s looking at me and dragging his tongue over his lower lip is how they end. It’s intoxicating.
I swim toward the shallow side, to a shelf with built-in chairs that lay half in the water and half out. Shimmying my body across one, I drape one arm above my head. I know I look fucking hot right now, and I’m going to play it to my advantage, because if there is one thing sexier than Henry Riggs and all of his man-meat glory, it’s Henry Riggs turned on while he’s looking at me.
“Lose the shirt, Hanky,” I demand.
He doesn’t miss a beat. He starts to unbutton the white linen shirt as fast as his fingers will allow. His eyes never leaving mine. When his shirt falls to the tiles below his feet, he drops his attention to my chest, legs, and then back to my face. It makes my body flush with anticipation, or maybe it’s a promise. His eyes promise me exactly what I want, what I crave.Him. As he drags his tongue across his bottom lip again, his chest heaves up and down, anticipating my next demand.
“Show me how you stroke that big, beautiful cock of yours.”
He walks closer so any more instructions only have to be said rather than yelled. When he stops next to where I’m perched, he widens his stance, eyes flaring.
“Drop those knees open first, and let me see that pussy.”
Like the obedient bitch I am, I do just that. My knees butterfly open, and I tap two of my fingers on the hood. She’s ready for the attention, eagerly awaiting his praise and his punishment. The water that skims my bottom half is cool compared to the heat of my skin. It draws goosebumps out across my arms and legs.
I feel dizzy as Henry unties his shorts, and they snake down his thighs. But I don’t keep my attention on their path for long. He fists his hard, bobbing cock with harsh strokes. It’s an insanely beautiful dick. How am I supposed to go back and forget how it looks? How it feels in my hand, my mouth, inside of me?
I move out of the shallow shelf of the pool, the need to be closer to him so strong, I’m splashing my way to him. It’s not seductive any longer. It’s urgent. He meets me halfway. I bite his nipple as soon as I reach him and then drag my tongue over it to soothe the ache I may have left. By the groan, it sounds like Henry likes a little nipple play too. I bend forward instead of dropping to my knees and wrap my fist above his. His cock is big enough that we can both hold on like it’s the shifter to a damn fine ride, with room for me to still kiss the tip.