Page 107 of Badd Love
But…there was more to it than that, wasn't there? Tab A into Slot B was hookup culture. It felt good, yes. With the right person, it could even feel pretty fucking amazing. But what did itmean? Nothing. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. But at a certain point, one just needs…more.
I needed more.
I needed Dane.
I rested my hands on his wet chest, eyes downcast as I searched myself. I found no hesitation, now. I didn't want to run. I didn't want to avoid him.
The opposite.
"I love you," I breathed.
Dane turned to stone. "Will you say that again?" he whispered. "And look at me when you say it, please."
I forced my eyes up to his, knowing I'd cry yet a-fucking-again. His eyes were molten and tender at once. Full of understanding and love and…
Unmitigated, unhidden, undisguised need.
"I love you, Dane." My heart swelled as I said the words I'd once have sworn on a stack of Bibles I'd never utter.
And I meant them down the last atom of my being.
Fiercely.
Passionately.
I was only seeing the surface of how fiercely, how passionately I loved him, I realized. How deeply.
It would take a lifetime to explore it, to plumb those depths.
"I'm sick of thinking and feeling and crying and talking," I said. "I just want to…"
Dane smiled up at me, gaze never wavering from mine. "What, baby?"
"Make love with you." I winced. "That still sounds awkward as fuck to me, but I don't know how else to put it."
"It's not awkward, it's the truth. But we don't need tosayanything." He kissed the tip of my chin, and his hands roamed my thighs, caressing from knees to hips below the water. "In fact, maybe the only thing you need to say now is my name."
"Dane," I breathed.
"Kiss me," he commanded.
"Yes, Dane." I brought my mouth to his, tasted his breath, and then kissed him.
My heart swelled yet again, cracking and expanding, shedding layers like a snake's skin. I clutched his jaw in both hands and kissed him harder, deeper, groaning as my heart and soul seemed to burgeon infinitely, tangling and fusing with his, and all from a simple kiss.
I needed more.
"Take me to bed, Dane," I said.
"Yes, my love."
He stood up with me in his arms and stepped out of the tub. I snagged a towel from the rack as he walked us into the bedroom. I tossed it onto the bed as we approached it, and he tried to straighten it without losing my mouth, but that wasn't working. I wiggled out of his arms, and he fixed the towel while I dripped on the floor, and then he picked me up again, claimingmy mouth with a greedy grunt. My breasts crushed against his chest, and his hands dug into my ass, and my skin tingled, and my pulse hammered.
I was desperate for more of him, for all of him. I knew how he felt inside me, and I needed that more than anything.
Yet, at the same time, I was in no rush. I didn't want to hurry this process. I wanted to savor every millisecond.
So I clung to his neck with my arms and toyed with his hair at his nape, and clutched his hard, narrow waist with my legs, and I kissed him. I gave him my tongue, and I took his; I gave him my breath, and I took his.
