Page 61 of Ache
“Huh?” She looks down at herself. “I didn’t even feel it.”
“So I noticed.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I don’t mind. I don’t sleep much anyway.” I run my fingers through her hair, loving the softness of the strands.
I never really got to touch her. To just explore in a slow, appreciative way.
“What are you looking at, Tage?” She notices the way I trap the ends of her dark hair between my fingers.
“You should stop dying your hair.”
I have always thought that. Since the first time she did it. “Your natural color is so much prettier.”
“It’s red.” She curls her lip. She was never a fan.
“It’s auburn, and it’s beautiful. Complements your freckles.” I follow the pattern of dots across her nose with one fingertip. “You’re a rare beauty. Embrace it.”
She stares up at me silently, the echo of the water pouring down around us.
“Did you always think that?” she asks meekly.
“That you’re a rare beauty? Yes. From the moment I saw you. I never stopped thinking it. I never stopped thinking about you.”
“I never stopped thinking about you either.” She traces the face of my ferocious dragon tattoo. It wasn’t there when we were together. I got it a few years later. To cover the scar Gunner left when he shot me and as a symbol of strength. Of survival. Of endurance.
A reminder, I’m not so easy to kill. That mindset takes you a long way in my line of work.
“I know you didn’t.” I cover her hand with mine. Everything has been so crazy over the last few days. Moving so fast there has barely been time to breathe. To take it all in. We needed a chance to reconnect, just the two of us, and we’re finally getting it.
Everly explores my body with her hands, dragging her fingertips slowly over my torso and stopping at the angry blue koi tattoo on my hip bone. That was there when we were together. She drinks me in, and for the first time in what feels like forever there’s
no barrier between us.
I’ve been watching her through glass for eight long years, we could always see each other, but I was on the outside looking in and she was on the inside looking out. Total separation and complete awareness all at the same time.
Sheer torture.
Her fingers move a little lower and I quiver. “Keep touching me like that and something dirty is bound to happen.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Her words are soft, seductive, not laced with lust, but filled with emotion.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with that.” I take her face and kiss her emotively. “But that’s not why I came in here.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what I need. Just you. Right here, right now.”
“Love, you can have me any time, any way you want me. I’m here for whatever you need. Always.”
It’s a pledge. One I took long ago when I fell in love with a young, innocent girl who burrowed her way right under my skin and straight into my heart.
Everly kisses me, and it’s the most honest embrace of my life. It’s pure, and unspoiled and belongs solely to us.
I lift her off the ground and pin her to the wall, just so I can get closer. So every part of us can connect. We do nothing but kiss. Do nothing but stroke our tongues and set our inhibitions free.
I don’t know how long it goes on for, the heady kissing and the outpour of love, but both our bodies react to the connection. Succumb to the inevitable. The constant rub of my erection against her pussy puts us on a one-way path.
“Tage.” My name falls from Everly’s lips, and the innocent word destroys me.
