I wrapped my hands around her ankles, dropping to my knees at the edge of the bed and slowly kissing my way up the inside of her legs. She squirmed under my mouth, hands twisting in the sheets only I had ever touched as I alternated legs, kissing and sucking and biting until I reached her thighs. I hooked my arms under them, pulling her closer, one hot breath sparking a moan from her lips before I ran my tongue along her wet opening.
She arched, head falling back as one hand found my hair and she tugged. I swirled my tongue up and over her clit before sucking it gently, her legs shaking around me, hips grinding against my mouth to find more pressure. I gave it to her, sliding one hand up and under her thigh until I could slip one finger inside. Wren moaned, loud and breathy, body rolling as I slipped another finger in and sucked harder.
When she was on the edge of her release I stopped, pressing a feather-light kiss to her clit before crawling up her body, slow and calculated, stopping at nearly every inch along the way. I sucked the skin stretched tight over her hips, ran my tongue along the defined muscles of her small abdomen, rolled my tongue over each puckered nipple before biting them softly and finally kissing her mouth, the sweetness of her still on my tongue.
She wrapped her arms around my neck tight, hands fisting in my hair before they pulled down my back, nails carving into my skin. I hissed into her mouth and she smiled, grinding her hips into me, the tip of me brushing the wetness of her.
Our foreheads were pressed together and I broke our kiss, mouth still open and her breath hot on my lips as I spread her thighs wider and entered her, inch by euphoric inch. She whimpered as I stretched her, and when I pulled back only to press in deeper, she clawed at my neck, pulling my mouth to hers once more.
Everything felt different.
The way she wrapped around me, the beat of her heart under my chest, her lips on mine—it was rapturous. We were connected, bodies zipped together at every inch, mouths desperate to get closer, taste more. But it wasn’t just a physical connection. It was spiritual, like everything worth living for was wrapped up in the sheets with us in that very moment.
I rocked into her faster, my hands gripping her wherever they landed—her hips, her breasts, the apex of her neck, the small of her back. I wanted her closer, wanted to pull her into me, wanted to exist as one. I’d told her I loved her, and now I was showing her the words were true.
“I’m coming,” she whispered against my lips, breath catching. She held it, lips open as I kissed the corners of them, her chin, down to her neck, and when I rolled my hips, pushing in deep as my body rubbed against hers, the friction caught—fire started—and the flames licked at every inch of her as she came under my touch.
She pulsed around me, bringing my climax right on the heels of hers, and we both shook in each other’s arms. I didn’t stop kissing her, lips covering her skin as her name left my lips on a prayer. When I slowed, my heart still beating loud in my ears, Wren smiled and dug her heels into my backside, pulling me in one last time with a moan as she kissed me hard.
“I love you,” she whispered.
I brushed her hair from her eyes, letting her see mine. “I love you, too.”
“I’m scared.”
At that I laughed. “So am I.”
“But we’ll be okay?”
I watched her for a moment, this girl who’d spun into my life like the most dangerously beautiful tornado, and I nodded. “We’ll be okay.”
She kissed me again and I rolled over, pulling her onto my chest and rubbing wide circles on her bare back as we both came down from our highs. She shivered a little, a content smile on her face.
“There’s something else I have to tell you.”
She hummed, eyes closing.
“What’s that?”
I swallowed, but not because I was scared this time. I was excited, I had been since I’d found out, and Wren was the number one person I wanted to share my joy with.
“I got the job, with the guy out of Seattle. He’s coming out here next week to finalize all the details.”
Wren popped up to rest on her elbows, grinning wider now. “That’s incredible, Anderson. Congratulations.” She leaned down to kiss me and I held her there, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer until she threaded her leg between mine.
“We’ll be leaving in a little over a month,” I added, stomach dropping at the thought of leaving her behind. But she had her own dreams to chase, and I didn’t know how yet but I knew we could have our dreams and our love, both.
Wren hovered over me, her hair a mess from my hands being tied in it, eyes tired and sated. “And I’m about to be in crunch mode for this line,” she said. “Especially since I was supposed to be coming back with a book full of brilliance and I’ve got about ten pages of starting material, at best.”
I chuckled, squeezing her side. “You’ll figure it out. Your team is going to be so excited to see you and I’m sure they’ve been working, too. I’m not worried about you.”
“And I’m not worried about us,” she said. She stared at me for a moment, shaking her head like it was a dream to her, too. “You know, I never saw you coming. You were the last thing I expected to find out here.”
“That makes two of us,” I answered with a smile.
“I’m so happy I did.”
I swallowed, nodding in answer and pulling her down into me, my lips pressing against hers with the emotions of all the words I’d never know how to speak.
I didn’t know if she could feel it, that she’d saved me, but she had. And now I would spend every day I was lucky enough to keep her showing her how beautiful she was—just as she was—passionate, creative, kind and smart.
And maybe we did have a lot still to figure out. Maybe we would spend our lives together or maybe we were only prolonging a heartbreak that would hurt us both in the end. Either way, I knew one thing was true.
No two days would ever be the same again.
I woke up with the sun the next morning, Anderson wrapped around me with my back to his chest. It was warm under the sheets and I sighed contently, replaying the last twenty-four hours, how everything had changed.
He loved me. I loved him. It was crazy, possibly stupid, and yet the most amazing feeling in the world.
There was a giddiness that existed like a dozen butterflies under my ribs, flittering and filling me with something I hadn’t felt in so long I wasn’t sure it was actually real. It was enough to pull me from the cozy spot in Anderson’s arms, though he grunted in protest, but I kissed his cheek and pulled on one of his sweaters before padding downstairs.
It was early, a soft purple glow from the rising sun the only light in Anderson’s kitchen as I swiped my sketchbook from the table. There was a blanket draped over the arm of his couch and I grabbed it, too, before letting myself out onto the back porch.