Present Perfect (48 page)

Noah lowered his head and wrapped his lips around one nipple sucking on it hard while his thumb circled the other. He released my nipple and then looked at me. His beautiful light blue eyes were beginning to glisten, causing mine to do the same. I had never felt this all-consuming love given to me before.

We stared at each other for several seconds before Noah whispered, “Thank you for finally letting me love you.”

We devoured each other’s mouths briefly then he worked his tongue back down my body. I felt his teeth skim over one hip, hooking my panties while on the other side his fingers did the work. As they slid down, Noah glanced up at me and said, “You won’t be needing those for a while.”

Sitting back on his heels, he grabbed my right leg, raising it up towards his lips. His hands moved smoothly up my outer legs as he kissed his way up to my inner thigh. I could feel my body tense up with anticipation. The throbbing between my legs was almost unbearable. He lowered my leg and positioned himself between them. My back arched up off the bed as my hands began fisting the sheets. Noah’s lips and tongue flicked and sucked me as my body writhed uncontrollably. The only verbal communication were moans of satisfaction. The more my body tossed back and forth, the faster his tongue moved until he plunged it deep inside of me.

“NOAH!” I screamed as wave after wave of sensation had my body convulsing. He pulled back slightly and I could feel the puff of air against the area as he chuckled.

His lips traveled up my body, slowly, finally landing on my lips. Looking down at me, he said, “You’re my favorite taste in the world.”

“You didn’t get those moves from Wal-Mart,” I said, my breaths coming out heavy as if I had run a ten mile race.

“I had to up my game for my number one girl.” The look in Noah’s eyes was heart stopping. It was the perfect combination of hunger and love.

He climbed off the bed and quickly stepped out of his jeans and boxers. My breath hitched when I first saw him. I had never seen completely naked Noah before. His body was as perfect as his heart and I was mesmerized. Sucking in my bottom lip, my eyes ran up and down his body.

Noah caught me staring and asked, “What are you looking at, Tweet?”

“What?” I looked up and saw the biggest sexiest grin I had ever seen. The blush ran across my cheeks and I shifted my gaze away from him.

Crawling back on top of me, he said, “I like looking at you too… and undressing you… and kissing you… and running my tongue all over you, tasting you.”

Turning my head to the side, I closed my eyes, enjoying his words and how he felt between my legs.

His warm breath drifted over my neck. “Tweet, look at me.” I opened my eyes gazing up at him. “I need to see you, hear you, and feel you, so I know this is real, and I don’t have to pretend anymore.”

I swallowed a big gulp of air. The other guys I had been with, we never made eye contact. I kept my eyes closed when we had sex, because I always pictured Noah. Looking at each other seemed too intimate to share with anyone, but him.

His hips began to rock as he slid into me, slow and gentle at first then faster and faster, always holding eye contact. “You feel incredible, baby. We fit perfectly,” he panted against my lips.

“I love you so much, Noah.”

We came together. It was the longest and most powerful climax I had ever experienced. By the look on Noah’s face, it was the same for him. We laid there, still, our foreheads resting against each other, trying to calm our breathing. All of a sudden a wave of sadness crashed over me and tears started running down the side of my face. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” He kissed my tears. “Don’t cry, Tweet.”

“I wasted so much time and hurt you.”

“Nothing has ever been a waste when it comes to you. Not my time, my thoughts, or my heart. I don’t regret anything about my life with you, even the times we were apart. Those times showed me how much I belonged to you. I knew we would be together one day. I just had to be patient and wait. And you were so worth waiting for.”

Noah and I
were
a perfect fit. In fact, we managed to
fit
together three more times before leaving the bed. My life was perfect. I still had cancer and a few more chemo treatments, but life was beautiful. By my side, I had the love of my life, my soul mate, my hero and what could be more perfect than that.

“I love your hair like that.”

“It’s just piled on top of my head and pinned. It’s a mess.”

“I like you all messy,” he said, as his lips skimmed up and down the side of my neck.

It took some convincing, but I finally talked Noah into taking a bubble bath with me. He was all onboard with getting naked in the water with me. It was the bubble part that he wasn’t sure about, but he did it for me. My tub was a fairly large one, so he was able to stretch out in it. I was on his lap, facing him. Bubbles were splashing against us.

We were eating the chocolate cake. I had just given him a forkful with lots of frosting. I noticed a little bit still on his lips. I leaned in and sucked his bottom lip into my mouth. “This is the best way to eat cake,” I said as I continued to devour his lips. A deep moan escaped him. I could feel him getting hard underneath me. He brought his hands up to my cheeks and pulled his lips away.

“Is everything alright?” I asked.

“I’m with the woman who I love and adore, who also happens to be hot as hell. There’s nakedness and cake involved. What could be better?” He paused for a few seconds. “You never got a chance to answer the question I asked earlier about what changed.”

“My perceptions. I’ve wasted a lot of my
present
holding on to past perceptions and trying to second guess the future, so it wouldn’t catch me off guard. It’s like I grew up, but my perception of myself and other people never changed. I always felt everyone else was better than me, that they had all the answers, but wouldn’t share them with me. Then I got sick and met a friend who shared his answers. The only thing perfect is our present because we’re breathing, moving, loving, feeling. And we’re able to let the people in our lives know how much they mean to us.”

“Every time I’m around you, you touch my soul. I didn’t think I could love you more, but when I found out you were…” He swallowed hard. I saw a tear trickle down his face. I raised my hand and touched his cheek, wiping away his tears.

“Noah…” My voice was shaky and tears began to pool in my eyes. “I don’t want another day to go by and you not know how much I love you. I’ve wasted my life up to this point not letting you know that I’ve loved you ever since March 23, 1990. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’ll never stop loving you. I don’t know how.”

“Tweet, put it down.” The look in his eyes was determined and full of desire.

“Huh?”

“The cake, put it down. Now.”

I sat the cake on the side of the tub. Noah reached behind my neck, pulling me against him. Our lips came together and our tongues knew exactly where to go and what to do. Grabbing his shoulders, I lifted myself up and then slowly sunk down on to him as his mouth and hands found my already hard nipples.

“This is the best bubble bath in the history of bubble baths,” I moaned.

Noah has 99.9% of my heart. The rest will always belong to a special boy who changed my life forever.

I still spent time with Dalton on the Sundays before chemo. It gave me comfort and strength to face another treatment.

“Dalton, I did it. I told Noah I loved him and he loves me. I wasn’t too late.”

I knelt, placing the flowers down and ran my hand over his name. Dalton Michael Connor.

The night I danced with Dalton was the last time I saw him. When I went to chemo the next morning, I found out he had died in his sleep, just a few hours after leaving me.

Dalton was the first cancer funeral I went to. He had planned it himself. There was a cover band that played The Stones, AC/DC, and of course, Whitney Houston. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t miss him. I realize now that what I felt between us that night was Dalton giving me my thank you and goodbye. But most of all, he was giving me my life with Noah.

See ya, goodbye, adios, sayonara, good riddance, ciao and good night to you.

My chemo finally came to an end just before summer. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. Other than my memories of being in treatment alongside Dalton, I wanted that part of my life over with. I still believe that everything happens for a reason, even the bad stuff. And I’ll always be grateful for the lessons cancer taught me, for the people it brought into my life and the bright light it cast on those already in my life, so that I could see how deeply their love for me was. I was ready to start back at school and make a life with Noah. Cancer had given me a second chance and I wasn’t going to waste it.

Noah and I were inseparable. Other than when he was in class, we were together. I guess we were trying to make up for all the time we weren’t a couple. We decided to move into together. His dad had left him enough money for a sizable down payment and then some, so he bought a condo in the same community as his friend Carter, which was great because we weren’t far from Emily. Emily and I were closer than ever. The support and strength she gave me during the worst of my treatment was incredible. I couldn’t have survived this without her.