The Love Series Complete Box Set (152 page)

We both take a quick shower, rinsing off the salt from the ocean, getting lost to the feel of slick skin under our fingers. Lying in bed, side by side, Lucy looks up at me, longingly. I run my fingers through her hair and let my knuckles trail down her turned-pink-from-the-sun cheek. Without saying a word, she hooks her leg up and over my hip, pulling me underneath her.

“That’s some move, love.” My hands rest on her hips as she straddles my groin, the heat from her sex pulsating between us.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty more where that came from,” she murmurs as her tongue traces along the fullness of her bottom lip. “Let me show you what I can do.”

She kisses my chest before raking her nails across my skin − the perfect mixture of pleasure with just the right amount of pain. Her hot, wet tongue traces a delicious path down my stomach, making my cock twitch to life yet again.

“Oh, love . . .” The rest of the words get stuck in my throat as she coats my cock with her tongue. When she pulls the whole length of it into her mouth, my hips thrust up on their own will. I pull her hair to the side and watch the glistening skin of my shaft disappear into her lips over and over again. “Christ, Lucy . . . you’re so perfect.”

Her ass bobs in the air behind her as she’s crouched on her knees in between my legs, a sight that makes my erection even harder by the second. But she knows how far to take me. Just as I know her body, have come to love it and worship it, she does the same to mine. As she swirls her tongue around the swollen head of my dick, she cups my balls then traces her nails over them gently, setting loose a million tingles that race up my spine. “Fuck,” I growl as she releases me from her mouth.

She climbs back up into my lap and I reach for her breasts. Arching her back and pushing them into my palms, I pull her closer to me and suck one hard, pink tip into my mouth. She reaches between us and guides me into her − one silky, hot, wet, slick, fucking heavenly inch at a time. With more patience than I could ever have, Lucy sinks down onto me, slowly − so slowly that I have to grip her hips to restrain from pummeling up into her. I’m sure there will be bruising.

Before she takes me all the way, she lifts up on her knees, stopping only when my head is nestled inside the first inch of her pussy. “Fuck. You’re driving me crazy,” I mutter hungrily as my head lolls back into the pillows.

“That’s the point. I’m going to drive you crazy, until you can’t take it anymore. I’m going to ride you until we’re both shaking, until we’re both breathless.” Again and again, she lifts and lowers herself on my dick, playing my body like an instrument of pleasure. Unable to take her slow, torturous pace any longer, I wrap my arms around her waist and sit up with her still on my lap.

“I need you, love. I need more of you. I need all of you, now.” I ground out my words as I drive up into her and pull her down onto me with all of my strength.

“Evan. . . . ahhh,” she cries out as I pound into her. Needing more leverage, I flip us around so that she’s under me. Lucy, propped up on all fours, ass swaying gloriously in front of me, pussy lips swollen and dripping wet with desire − now this is something I’ll never get tired of looking at.

She angles her head back to me, staring at me with a sexy-as-fuck look plastered to her sweet face. “Please.” She lets the single word fall from her lips as she wiggles her ass in front of me.

I slide into her from behind, pulling her up into me as I loop my arm around her waist. Her groans fill the room, which is glittered with the warm rays of the afternoon sun. I toy with her clit, rubbing small, fast circles over it with the work-roughened pads of my fingers. On each thrust, I angle higher and deeper, hitting that sweet spot that causes her pussy to flutter wildly with her impending orgasm.

I feel her pleasure build, pulse by hot pulse, beat by wild beat. She screams into the pillow as she comes. Careening wildly, she’s barely able to hold herself up. I feel her body go limp as the heated rush of passion courses through her veins. “Let go, love. I’ve got you.” I band my arm around her waist once again, holding her in place as I drive into her.

“Fuck . . . fuck. . . . fuck . . .” I growl and I thrust into her one last time, my orgasm spilling hotly into her still-fluttering core.

We both crash into the bed, panting as if we’d just run a race. Pressing a soft kiss into her shoulder, I pull us onto our sides. Spooning behind her, we drift to sleep, staring out the sliding glass doors to our own private paradise.

Chapter Twenty

July 21, 2013

“That was the best vacation ever. I’m not sure I’m ready to get back to reality.” Evan drops his arm around my shoulders and pulls me to his side as the plane starts its descent to Elmira Regional Airport. It was amazing to get away, but now as the lush green landscape of upstate New York rises up to meet us, I already miss the tropical paradise we left behind.

“I know. I’m not ready either.” His shaking knee belies his calm voice

“You don’t like flying?” I ask, placing my hand on his bouncing leg. I must have mistaken his anxiety on the flight there as excitement. In my own excitement, I completely forgot about his fear of flying—a part of his post 9/11 PTSD.

My heart breaks a little for him. He’s so strong in so many ways, but there’s always a hint of his pain simmering right at the surface.

He looks down at my hand, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “Nah, it’s not my favorite,” he deflects, squeezing me closer to him. I’m sure the evening flight isn’t helping ease his anxieties any. As the sun dips below the horizon, my peacefulness sets in, a stark contrast to his unease.

“I told him I’d still carry him in my heart.” My words softly tumble from my lips as I look out at the sunset, thinking of our conversation from our first night on vacation.

He pulls me closer, squeezing my shoulder almost to the point of being painful, as he presses his lips softly to my temple. “Of course you will. He’ll always be a part of you.”

“There’s more,” I add as I straighten and turn toward him. Covering his hand with mine, I lace our fingers together. “I asked him not to be mad at me about finding you and moving on. I asked him to understand that loving you as much as I do doesn’t change how much I once loved him. When he died, I had no sense of closure − no chance to say goodbye. He was just ripped from my life, and then Melanie came along two weeks later, so I
had
to pick up the pieces. I think I’ve just come to realize that never moving on was part of trying to protect myself. If I stayed in love with Jimmy, then there was no reason to move on. But you . . .” I look up into his grey eyes as I trace my fingertip along his strong, hard, stubble-covered jawline. “Evan, you woke me up. You brought me back to life and you made my heart work again. You made me realize that it’s possible to love again.”

Evan shifts in his seat as I try to swallow the lump that’s just formed in my throat. “Can I confess something?” His words tremble a little, following the rhythm of his still-bouncing leg. “You might think this is odd, but I said something that night too.” He rubs his hand over his face, seemingly uneasy about sharing this piece of information. After puffing out a sigh, he looks back at me. “I don’t know if it was Jimmy who I was talking to or just to whoever the hell is in charge up there.” He chuckles a little as he points to the ceiling of the airplane, indicating the heavens above us. “I promised that I would take care of you, always. That nothing, not even my own stupidity, would ever get in the way of loving you, of being there for you.” His shaking leg stops as he searches my face for some kind of response. Overwhelmed by his words, I can’t find any of my own to speak. So I sit there, dumbly staring up at this sweet man who has just made me feel like the most cherished woman to ever grace the Earth.

“I know I’ll never be Jimmy,” he continues, less nervously than before when I don’t say anything. “And I truly do respect the love you had with him, but I need you to know that I love you and there’s nothing that’s going to ever keep me from doing that. Not even if a part of your heart still belongs to him.”

“Oh, Evan. I− I . . .” I take a deep breath, searching for the right words to convey the feelings that are all sorts of jumbled up. I’m not sure what I’m about to say makes much sense, but I hope he’ll feel the sincerity of my words. “He’ll always be
in
my heart, Evan, but my heart − it belongs to you now.” Cupping my jaw with more tenderness than ever before, he pulls my face up to his and presses his lips against mine.

No more words are necessary. Our kiss says it all for us.

Resting his forehead against mine, his lips pull into a beautifully crooked smile. His eyes warm and he pulls my hand up to briefly brush his lips against our joined fingers. It’s a simple gesture filled with so much, I’m not likely to ever forget it.

We hold onto each other through the rest of the landing and all of his tension eases as he combs his fingers lightly through my hair. Before long, we’re collecting our suitcases from the baggage carousel and waiting for the car service to pick us up.

It’s a quick ride back to my house, and the fifteen minutes passes in a calm silence as the exhaustion of traveling most of the day washes over us.

When the car stops in front of the house, Evan turns to face me. “I have a surprise for you, love. So I need you to just close your eyes and trust me.” His words set free a swarm of butterflies in my belly and cause my heart to start racing.

“You just took me on a week-long vacation, now you have
another
surprise? Did I hit the lottery or something?” Attempting a joke through my excitement just makes me all the more anxious to see what else he’s got planned for me.

“Yes, another one. Now, close your eyes and follow me.” After grabbing our bags from the trunk and carrying them up the front steps, he stops in front of the door − at least that’s what I’m assuming is going on.

“Open your eyes, love.”

My hand immediately flies to cover my mouth. A shocked gasp escapes my lips as I take in the sight before me. “Oh, my God! Evan! When did you . . . how did you . . . this is . . .” Obviously, eloquence is not on my side. But the newly redone front porch, fully adorned with brand new furniture and bench swing has absolutely stolen all of my words. The warm-colored stain makes the outside space feel like an extension of the inside. It honestly looks like something that belongs in the pages of
Better Homes and Gardens.

“Do you like it?” he asks nervously.

“I
love
it. It’s gorgeous. Did you . . .” I step toward the new porch light as I notice yet another part of his surprise. “You did! You had the house repainted. It’s beautiful.” The warm olive green, almost mossy color of the new paint, breathes new life to the home I’ve always loved. The shiny new black shutters are the perfect finishing touch. “I can’t believe you.” I wrap my arms around him and hug him as tightly as I can. Near tears, I can’t believe the limitlessness of his kindness.

“Come on.” He pulls his set of keys out of his back pocket and unlocks the door. “There’s more I want you to see.”

More? What more could he have possible done. This is already too much. As I walk into the entryway, I don’t notice anything different. Scanning the living room, I’m sure he sees the perplexed look on my face. But, as I walk into the kitchen and look out the bay window in the back of the room, I see the sparkling lights of the other part of his surprise.

I hear his footsteps behind me as I practically run to the sliding glass doors. Where there used to be a few falling-apart steps leading out to the more than dilapidated backyard, there now stands a beautifully landscaped oasis that spills out from the newly built deck—a perfect match to the one up front.

The classic pergola is draped with what looks like a million points of light, flickering beautifully against the midnight blue backdrop of the night sky. His eagerness to get a late flight back home suddenly becomes crystal clear. The twinkling lights create a moment that could in no way whatsoever be recreated in the daylight.

He stands behind me, coiling his arms around my waist. Leaning into my neck, he presses his lips there and I feel the smile pulling at his lips. “Why?” Is all I can manage, because for everything he’s said to me to prove his love, and everything he’s already done to demonstrate it, I just can’t wrap my head around why someone would want to do all of this for me.

He turns me in his arms, the light catching in his eyes, making them dance with more glimmers of love than they usually do. “Why?” he repeats my single word with a light mocking tone, softly chuckling at me at the same time. “It’s simple really.” He steps away from me and hits play on an iPod dock that I didn’t originally see.

The twang of Clapton’s guitar comes to life over the initial crackling of the speakers. Evan extends his hand to me as a bright smile plays across his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Dance with me, love.”

As the lyrics flow out into the quiet setting around us, Clapton sings about how wonderful the night has been. When he gets to the part about tucking his woman into bed, Evan pulls me even closer still and sings the lyrics to me, his lips barely a centimeter from my ear. As the song comes to a close, Evan pulls us both down onto a bench, holding me on his lap.