Underwater (32 page)

If I was being honest, I didn’t really want to use them. I didn’t want anything between us.

“It’s okay. I’m on the pill, so I would rather not use them anyway. I mean, I’ve always used them in the past but I don’t…I don’t want to use them with you.” Her cheeks heated. “I don’t want anything between us.”

“Thank fuck for that,” I growled. The thought of my sweet angel in the hands of someone else made my blood boil. But I had to calm down…it wasn’t the time, and besides…she was mine. Only mine from now on – and that was the only thing that mattered. “I’ve never done this before either. Fuck, the last time I had sex was when I was sixteen. And I used condoms. I wouldn’t lie about that.”

“I know.”

I whispered in her ear, “I’m glad to be your first.”

“And I am glad to be yours,” she breathed out.

I captured both of her hands, intertwined our fingers, and settled them over her head. Her lips came up to meet mine when I thrust inside her for the first time. I went slow at first and then gradually built up a faster pace. She uttered my name in a whisper over and over and I hoped to God I would be able to hold on because I wanted her to come first. Her pleasure was more important than mine.

She moaned.

I growled.

She arched her back, pushing her breasts up. I took a nipple in my mouth and thrust faster. Deeper. Harder. I was lost in her. She was everywhere. Beneath me. Around me. Above me. The sounds she made encouraged me to keep going, to give her everything I had to give.

I was captivated, watching her lost in the moment. Her eyes closed, and her breaths were quick, yet heavy as she writhed underneath me.

“I never knew it would feel like this,” I panted. “So perfect… so right.”

This unique moment when our bodies connected, joined, and bonded for the first time and I became one with her, would be a memory branded into my brain forever. Our souls had roamed the earth in search of each other and were finally reconnected again in the most carnal way that existed.

I truly believed that.

She was getting closer to the edge, her body tightening around me; the sounds of pleasure that escaped her were coming more frequently.

“Open your eyes, Tiny. Look at me.”

Her green eyes fluttered open.

I drove even faster, while slipping my hand down. My fingers found her sensitive bundle of nerves, massaging it with a fast rhythm until she finally let go and hurtled over the edge. I thrust one, two, three more times and went right after her. I came hard, grunting as I filled her with my semen, marking her as
mine
.

When our breathing evened out, I eased to the side so I wouldn’t crush her. I kissed every part of her face, savoring every little thing about her and wrapped her in my arms. With her head on my chest, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

“How rough that wood was, wild, and terrible: By the mere thought my terror is renewed.”

—
Dante Alighieri

I
awoke to the sound of a cell phone ringing. My hand blindly followed the noise, but I couldn’t reach the annoying sound. I heard sheets ruffling across the bed until the irritating noise had stopped ringing.

“Hey,” Tiny whispered, still tired from our night together. Male satisfaction passed through my body and warmed me from the inside out.

She was worn out because of
me
.

When my eyes blinked the fatigue away and settled on her, I noticed that she was talking on the phone in the far corner of the room.

I pulled myself up into a sitting position so I could see her better. When she ended the call, she whimpered into the palm of her hands. I quickly jumped out of the bed and rushed towards her like a bolt of lightning. When I reached her, I crouched down until my head was eye level with hers. She was hiding behind her bent legs and I couldn’t see her face.
I needed to see her face.
Slowly... tentatively, I reached out and gently stroked her soft hair.

“Tiny...” I whispered. “What happened?”

“It’s my dad...” She raised her head and her red-rimmed eyes bore into me. “He collapsed.” She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“I’m so sorry, love,” I whispered, having trouble finding the right words to comfort her. “So damn sorry.”

“I need to go home,” she said. “My mom and Adam are waiting for me.”

“I’ll take you there. And I’m gonna stay with you.”

She looked up at me with surprised green eyes, but I left no room for arguments.

Looking tired and mentally drained, she nodded her head in agreement.

What a fucked up way to meet the parents for the first time
, I thought, as I walked towards my car with her frame carefully tucked against mine.

I
couldn’t help but feel anger and guilt. The guilt was eating me up from the inside out. How could I have been so blind?

Damn it. I needed to calm myself down. I took a deep breath and cuddled closer to Dorian. I drew strength and heat from him.
Safe
. I felt safe.

I looked up at him, watching as he drove us towards the
hell
I was going to face. He concentrated as he drove with one hand on the steering wheel while his other one was wrapped around my shoulder, keeping me close to him.

He seemed tense and alert, as if he was about to go into battle. His five o’clock shadow was tinted in the darkened car, making his scars look more prominent, and giving him a scary edge. He looked even more rugged and intimidating than usual.

Like a fallen angel
.

He bent his head, looking at me heatedly, while his mouth curved up into a grin. He turned his eyes back to the road and said in a gruff voice, “Stop looking at me like that.”

“I can’t help it,” I breathed out.

His sad eyes fell on my face, staring at me intensely, searching for something as they ran wildly across my face, until they bounced back ahead.

“In that case,” his voice rumbled in the small, closed space, “keep staring.” He pierced me with a heated look. “Stare all you want.”

When his eyes left my face, I drew out the breath I was holding.
Whoa
.

He was high-strung and restless, close to the edge, and I knew that it was all because of me. If I’d learned anything about Dorian, it was that he hated to feel helpless. To be unable to help me. Unable to take my pain away. And right now, there was nothing he could do to save me from what waited ahead. I knew it gutted him. I could feel the powerlessness rolling off him in waves, and I too, felt incapable to help him.

What a pair we made
.

With a final look at his hard face, my eyes fell on the road, looking straight ahead while laying my head on his shoulder as he took me towards the one place I dreaded to face.

I flew out of the car and straight to his bedside the minute we pulled up to the house, with Dorian hot on my heels. My mother and Adam sat in the living room, looking tired and disarrayed, but I didn’t stop to greet them. I had to make sure my dad was okay.

He was probably so afraid
.

He lay unconscious on the hospital bed that hospice had provided. An IV bag was hooked up to his arm, fluids dripped in a steady rate, and a cannula tube set under his nose.

I looked at the thin form of my dad, lying so defenseless and wide open for the angel of death to take him away from me, and all I could feel was anger mixed with sadness.

He was so vulnerable. So weak. So exposed. So alone…

He was my life. My best friend. I couldn’t breathe without him. He still had things to do…important things; like walking me down the aisle at my wedding, and spoiling his future grandchildren. Looking at my frail father, I balled up my fists because I was angry – angry at the man who was slipping out of my life before I was ready.

Strong arms enveloped me from behind. His comforting hands settled across my stomach and pulled me against his chest. He sucked in a breath when he caught his first glimpse of my dad.

The arms around my waist tightened, and I put my hands over his arms and squeezed.

“My god, Tiny, I didn’t know. I had no idea,” he said, his nose touching my neck, his breath fluttering across my skin. “I’m so sorry.”

I couldn’t swallow, let alone speak. All I could do was nod. After a few moments passed, I sighed. It was time for Dorian to meet my family. “Are you ready?” I asked quietly.

His hands rose over my body until they settled on my shoulders. He turned me around, and when I faced him, I gasped. His eyes were burning as they watched me helplessly, and inside of them there was so much pain. Pain for
me
.

“Ready for what, love?” He bowed his head, kissing my forehead, my eyes, my nose, my cheeks, my chin, and then he fluttered a light kiss across my lips.

“To meet my family,”

He half-smiled and gave a gentle nod. As he led me out of the room, I turned my head and looked back at my dad’s sleeping form.

I sent a prayer to keep him safe while I was gone.