Page 123 of Love, Second Chances and Other Nonsense
“I carried it with me everyday. To remind myself what I was fighting for.” He tells me, a soft look in his eyes. For a minute,both of us are lost in the intensity of the moment until I take a deep breath and step back.
“You know, this workshop. It’s perfect for someone who wants to, say, make furniture to sell.”
“I had noticed that, yes.”
“And it’s a pretty big house. One woman living there on her own, she might get pretty lonely.”
“What are you saying, Caitlin?” He’s standing so close to me now that I can feel the heat of his body, although he isn’t touching me.
“I love you, Adam,” I whisper, the words coming easily now that I’ve started. “I’ve loved you ever since you sat at one of my tables at that diner in Colorado. I’ve loved you every day for the past year, even when I was angry, even when I was hurt. I never stopped loving you.”
Adam inhales roughly, his eyes blazing with emotion. His smile is brilliant, transforming his face from handsome to breathtaking. When his hands come up to cup my face, his touch is infinitely gentle.
“I love you, Caitlin Hughes,” he says, his voice rough with emotion. “I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you, and I’ll love you until my last breath.”
Then he leans down, closing the distance between us. The kiss is gentle at first, but when my arms slide up around his neck, pulling him closer, it deepens into something more. He kisses me like he needs me to breathe. Wrapping his arm around my waist, he pulls me flush against him.
Our tongues tangle, teeth clash. I grind against him, my hands in his hair.
We haven’t made love yet, although we’ve come close several times since the beginning of our reconciliation in that hotel room in Iowa. Everything felt too new, too fragile, and neitherof us felt ready to take that step. Now, I have an entire year of longing for him built up, and I don’t feel like waiting any longer.
My hands go to the hem of his t-shirt, and I start tugging it up.
Breaking our kiss, chest heaving, he picks me up, wrapping my legs around his waist. “Not here,” he whispers as he carries me towards the house. “Sawdust. It’ll get everywhere.”
We make it to the kitchen. “I need you,” I moan, tugging at his clothes again.
Stepping back, he reaches behind him and whips off his shirt. And what I see when he does stops me in my tracks, emotion cutting through the fog of lust.
“Adam,” I step forward, touching his skin with gentle fingers. Because there, right over his heart, is my name in flowing script.
Taking hold of my hand, he brings it to his mouth and places a gentle kiss on my palm. “So neither of us will ever forget that you own me; body, heart, and soul.”
Taking me back in his arms, he makes short work of removing my clothes. Lowering us gently to the floor, his lips trail over my face and neck down to my breasts. He nips and sucks and tugs while I writhe beneath him, running my fingers through his hair and over his shoulders and back.
“Please, Adam, I need you,” I beg, hooking my leg around his waist and grinding up into him.
With a muttered curse, he rolls away just long enough to divest himself of the rest of his clothing. Then rolling back, he gently flips us so he’s lying on the floor and I’m on top. With a moan, I lower myself over him, taking him slowly until he’s fully sheathed. The feeling of being joined with him again is so overwhelming that I have to close my eyes for a moment to savor it.
Opening them again, I look down at Adam. All the love he has for me shines in his eyes, and I know he can see my love for himin mine. We keep our gazes locked as I begin to move, slowly at first and then faster, bracing my hands on his chest and rocking against him.
He brings one thumb to my clit and begins to rub. My cries fill the room as I tense and come. Gripping my hips, he pounds into me a few times and then follows, my name on his lips.
I collapse against him, both of us breathing hard. His arms wrap around me, and he buries his face in my hair. I finally feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. The past year has been a long, winding road of pain and healing, of finding our way back to each other. But lying here in Adam’s arms, listening to his whispered words of love against my hair, I know with absolute certainty that every step was leading us home.
Epilogue: Adam
The flashlight beam swings wildly across the campsite as Caitlin tries to hold it steady while helping me untangle our tent. We arrived at Silver Falls State Park two hours later than planned, and we are now trying to assemble our tent in the dark.
“Remind me again why we can’t just give up and go get a hotel room?” Caitlin mutters, the flashlight bouncing again as she shifts position.
“How can I impress you with my manly prowess in the wilderness if I retreat just because of a little darkness?” I reply, trying to connect two pieces that clearly don’t fit together, despite the instruction manual claiming they should, “Besides, I’ve been fantasizing about making love to you in a tent ever since we started planning this trip.” I drop the mismatched poles and reach for another set, only to knock over our bag of stakes, scattering them across the dirt.
“In order to make love in a tent, we need to first successfully assemble the tent,” Caitlin points out, helping me gather the stakes.
“Oh, I’ll get it assembled. Never fear.”
“I don’t know, for someone who’s spent as much time outdoors as you have, you’re doing an awful lot of fumbling with those poles,” Caitlin teases, putting the flashlight on a rock so it illuminates our workspace and reaching for two poles of her own.
