Walk with Me (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream) (21 page)

All the way home from the gym, I’m blasting my favorite station, still hyped from that new, sexy workout. I never would have thought I’d be into a dance exercise, but Zumba is my new favorite class. I may have to adjust my farmers’ market Wednesday schedule so I can make Zumba a new addition to my workout routine.

I strip off my sweaty clothes and throw them in a pile on my floor, grab my bath towel off the hook from the back of the door, and head to the bathroom. I squeeze a pearl of toothpaste on my toothbrush and step into the shower to begin my head-to-toe cleanse. After I finish my scrub down, and I stand with the water streaming down my back, I can hear Danielle’s
Green Team
disapproving voice lecturing me about the environment. My guilt gets the better of me and I turn the water off before I’m ready.

After a quick towel dry, I run the hairdryer over my damp hair, scrunching the ends to add a little extra body. Satisfied with my hair, I wrap my towel around me and make my way back to my room. I spot my cell phone blinking on my dresser, and I check for messages. Four messages. Two calls and one text from Donovan, and one call from Danielle. I guess I’m popular today. Just as I’m about to listen to the messages a call comes in from my work.

“Hello.”

“Kenna?” the caller from the other side asks with a relieved tone in her voice.

“Monica? Is that you?” I respond.

“Yeah, where are you? Are you at home?” she asks.

“Yes. I just got home. Why, what’s up?” Her hurried manner is starting to make me uneasy. I flash back to the thought that I have so many messages, and my mind starts to worry that something bad has happened.

“Nothing. We just heard about that terrible accident at the farmers’ market. It’s all over the news and we know that you usually go on Wednesdays. We just wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s all.”

“What accident?” I clarify. “I haven’t heard anything about it.”

“I guess some car barreled through the barricades at Third Street Promenade and ran over a bunch of people. Something like ten people were killed and even more were injured.”

“Oh my God!” I exclaim in the phone and then hear a banging on the front door. I walk to the door and I peak through the peephole, seeing Donovan pacing on the porch.

“Monica, I’ve got to go. Someone’s at my front door. I’ll call you later. Thanks for calling and checking up on me.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later,” she says and hangs up.

What’s Donovan doing here?
“Donovan,” I yell through the door. “Just give me a second.”

I run back to my room and throw my phone on the dresser. I grab my robe off the hook on the back of the door and secure the sash around my waist. It’s a cute ocean-blue terry cloth robe with three-quarter sleeves and the hem falling to my midthigh. Sunny gave it to me as a welcome gift when I moved in. She probably wanted to just make sure I had proper attire to wear when walking back and forth between my room and the bathroom.

I run back to the living room and open the door, confused but excited to see him. Donovan steps over the threshold with a tormented look of anger and fear on his face, his shoulders rounded like the wind has been knocked out of him.

“Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” he spits at me.

I take a step back, giving us space because I’m feeling a little threatened by his tone and body language. “I just got home and I didn’t have my phone with me,” I answer, but now I’m starting to get angry at his demeanor. Who the hell does he think he is talking to me that way? Just because we are spending more time together doesn’t mean he has the right to keep tabs on me. I don’t need to explain my whereabouts with him or check in with him.

“Didn’t you go to the farmers’ market today?” he asks, looking fiercely into my eyes. His eyes are a turbulent ocean green and almost too much for me to handle at this moment. He’s radiating exasperation.

“No.” I back up from him, distancing myself from his intensity. “I tried a new exercise class today.”

He reaches both hands toward me, capturing my shoulders, yanking me to him. He encircles both arms around my back and with a vise grip squeezes me tighter to him, pressing his face to my cheek. He excels sharply, draining all the tension from his body. “I was so worried about you,” he whispers in my ear. “I heard about the incident at the farmers’ market and was afraid you might have been involved. I couldn’t endure the thought that you were hurt or even worse.”

He hesitates and I feel his body shudder against mine. The tension he releases ripples through my body, catching my breath. “I can’t lose you. I didn’t even know that I needed you in my life until I met you. Now I can’t imagine my life without you…you’re too important to me.” He pulls his face back from mine and looks intently into my eyes. “I love you, Kenna Sloane,” he declares.

A small gasp escapes between my lips, but Donovan doesn’t give me a chance to speak, let alone think. My mind is in a whirl from everything that’s happened in the last two minutes. Between the calls, the tortured look on Donovan’s face when I answered the door, and his declaration of love to me. I can’t even process what’s going on. It’s like I’m having an out of body experience and I’m floating above watching the events unfold below me.

He releases his arms and moves his hands to both sides of my face, leaning in and crushes his lips to mine with an urgency to affirm my presence. I snap back to the present and my mind and body reconnect and ignite to his words and touch, because I need him, too. I need him in my life, I need him to need me, and right now I need him to make love to me. Matching his raw wildness, I tilt my head, opening my mouth wider, deepening the kiss with my tongue. His tongue finds mine at the same time, releasing a guttural sound from his throat.

He must sense my willingness and desire because in one swift movement, Donovan bends down and hooks his left arm behind my knees, lifting me into his arms. Cradling me to his chest, we never break our kiss as he kicks the front door shut and walks me back to my room. He stops at the right side of my bed and pulls his face back from mine.

“I’m going to make love to you now because I love you, Kenna, with all my being and I need to feel you against me and I need to connect with you completely,” he asserts with a heaving breath.

It’s not a question or a command. He isn’t asking for my permission, but stating how he feels and what his needs are at this moment in time. He waits for my answer. I tremble at his professing words that caress my heart and daze me into silence. With my voice lodged in my throat, all I can do is search his lustful eyes and nod in acceptance.

He sets me down on my knees on the bed. He brushes the hair away from the side of my neck as he leans in kissing and sucking below my ear. I tilt my head into the palm of his hand. I drop my hands to his chest, skimming his muscles and then moving them around his waist, trying to close the distance between us. I feel the sash to my robe being undone and then Donovan’s right hand slipping inside, starting at my hip and caressing my waist up to my breast. I moan in acceptance and then he kneads my breast and lowers his mouth to my nipple. A surge of pleasure blazes throughout my body and I arch my chest closer and deeper into his mouth. He responds by sucking and licking harder.

I need his mouth on mine, but I don’t want him to stop what he’s doing right now. Warmth and pleasure are spiraling down my body and centering at my groin. I turn my mouth to his palm kissing and sucking the pad of his hand. Unfortunately, my kissing and sucking pulls his mouth away from my breast and back on my lips. I groan with disappointment and he takes both hands, grabbing the collar of my robe, pulling it off my shoulders. I release my grip around his waist, allowing for the robe to drop to the floor.

As he kisses my lips he skims his hands around my back and down to my bare ass, pulling me toward his crotch. I can feel his erection growing through his jeans. Donovan pulls his lips from mine, nibbling at my chin with his teeth and tongue. Too many clothes, he has on too many clothes. I need to see and feel skin on skin. I can’t stand for him to be clothed any longer. I rip at his shirt, lifting it up over his rock-hard abs and chest. He continues taking it off, while I work on undoing his jeans. I reach both hands around his waistband and push his jeans and boxer briefs down together. He steps out of them and kicks them off to the side.

We are both naked now facing each other and looking into each other’s eyes. Without breaking eye contact, Donovan reaches over with his left arm and hooks it behind my back, cradling my head, laying me down onto the bed. My arms are locked around his neck and I pull him down with me to the bed. Lying over me with his weight propped up on his right side, he brushes the hair away from my face and kisses my entire face, starting with my forehead and moving down my eyes to the corner of my mouth and to my chin.

Slightly pulling his eyes back to meet mine, he cradles my face in his left hand. “You are so beautiful,” he murmurs against my lips. “I love you so much.”

The heat of his closeness kisses my skin and sends my body into a frenzy. I pull his face back to mine and moan into his mouth, kissing him with unfettered passion. He continues to kiss me and fondle my breasts as he moves his hand down to my waist and thigh. Running his hand over the outside of my thigh and then trailing his fingers around to my inner thigh, he separates my right thigh from my left leg and I whimper in anticipation of his touch and let my legs fall open, inviting him in. He trails his fingers to my sweet spot at the apex of my thighs, circling between my moist folds. I moan in response to his touch and slowly rear my hips toward his fingers.

He moves his mouth down to my neck and back to my breasts, sucking and biting gently. His erection is rubbing against my thigh. The sensation is overwhelming with pleasure everywhere. My skin is now so sensitive and every spot Donovan touches he leaves a trail of fire—my lips, breasts, and thighs. My hands are grabbing at the back of his hair, pulling him closer as I continue to arch my chest toward his mouth and buck my hips toward his hand. His touch spreads a yearning within me to deepen our intimacy. I need him inside me—now. I need to bond with him fully—to make our physical connection complete.

When the pleasure becomes almost intolerable I breathe with desperation. “Do you have protection?”

Donovan gradually comes to a stop and sits up grabbing his jeans off the floor, pulling a condom out of his wallet. He unrolls the condom onto his erection and repositions himself between my legs. I pull my knees up, keeping my feet on the bed, and Donovan positions himself at my opening. Leaning forward, putting all his weight on his hands, he cautiously enters me, eyes locked on mine. I gasp and exhale with a sharp moan at the fullness of his length. Donovan rears back, just as carefully, and repeats the movement over and over again—slowly in and slowly out, allowing for my steady absorption of the pleasure. The experience is overwhelming with his half-lidded eyes begging to own me, to surrender completely to him. I have to close my eyes to break the connection, raising my head back and moaning with desire.

Donovan shifts his weight to his forearms so he can cradle my head in his hands, pulling my face and eyes back to his. My hands are grabbing at his back, pulling and pushing in response to his pace, and exploring the ripples and curves of his upper body. Our breaths mingle and he picks up momentum, thrusting steadily but long and deep into me. My moans come faster and closer with each thrust encouraging his speed. He leans down and seals my mouth with short, deep kisses between my moans and wild breaths. All while his eyes focus on mine, connecting our souls during this raw, intimate encounter.

I match his rhythm with my hips and pull my feet off the bed, tilting my hips. The friction fans the embers deep within my groin. Back and forth. In and out. Over and over and over again. I move my hands down his arms to his hands that are on either side of my head. I interlace my fingers in his, making my final intimate connection, readying myself for the end that I know is coming near. A slow heat builds at my core and without warning I burst into a red hot flame. I throw my head back and release a silent scream in response to the deep spasm and burning fire spreading within my groin, not able to move, but still clutching Donovan’s hands for my life. He continues on for a few more strokes, and then stills himself within me, making a feral sound and collapsing on top of me with my head tucked in his neck.

We lay motionless, steadying our breaths until our lips tenderly seal our experience. A gentle calmness spreads throughout my body, and the trail of fire from his initial touch is now replaced with silent warmth. Donovan rolls off me and lies on his back, pulling me onto his chest. I lay motionless, waiting for my muscles and breath to become my own again. When strength returns to my arms, I play with the smattering of hair on his chest and he traces doodles on my back. We say nothing for a long while, stroking each other until our breathing is in unison.

Now, I know what everyone’s going on about. That was incredible and I can’t wait to do it again. I know Donovan is much more experienced at sex than I am but I hope he found it just as incredible as I did.

“That. Was. Amazing.” He answers my question. “I know you’re not ready to tell me you love me. And I want you to know I’m okay with that. I just couldn’t go any longer without letting you know how I feel.”

I pull my face off his chest and look squarely into his eyes. “I don’t know if what I feel for you is love, because I have never been in love before, but I can tell you that I have never felt this way about anyone else. And…I can assure you, that with my limited experience, sex has
never
felt that good.”