Page 192 of Camp Bliss
“A-Are you sure? He came back for you, you know.” He speaks the words softly, but not without pain.
Good Lord, this beautiful, stupid man. His stupidity makes it just a little easier to be brave.
I tug him just a little closer. “He’s not the one I love.”
And the instant I register the shock on his face, my mouth lands on his.
This kiss feels like a first kiss. Not stolen and spontaneous, like our real first kiss, but a bald confession. And as with any heartfelt confession, I hold nothing back.
My lips own his. My tongue stakes an audacious claim. Still gripping his shirt, I leave no room between us. No room for misunderstanding.
And, holy God. Zach mirrors me. Lick for lick. Suck for suck. Moan for honeyed moan.
His hands are on the move. Riding the curve of my spine. Framing my hips. Gripping my ass. When he does this, he drags me tighter against him, and I feel him, hard. I hike up my right leg, and he catches it behind my thigh, sealing us together. And when he grinds into my seam, I swear, the Milky Way shimmers like a disco ball.
His moan buzzes my lips. My own hums from me like a harmonica.
I am lost to my senses. So lost that I miss it the first time his lips utter my name.
“Greta—” he pants the word against my cheek before drawing back just far enough to look down into my face. I blink up at him, confused as to why he’s not kissing me but wholly grateful that my body is still melded to his.
“Did you just say…” He blinks lazily, his pupils inky pools that match the night sky. “Did you just say that—that you…”
My smile is a slow pour of molasses. “That I love you? Yeah, that’s the takeaway.” There might have been a time when I’d have needed him to say it back right away. Or, hell, even say it first.
The thought occurs to me that it doesn’t matter when he says it. Because he’s said it already a thousand times. In his actions and his attentions and his acceptance of me.
What are words in the face of all of that love?
My gaze drops to his mouth. Right now, I just want it on me.
I pull him back to me, and bless him for not resisting. Oh, no. He doesn’t resist. In fact, he assumes control, spearing my hair with his fingers and tugging my head back so our kissing plumbs new depths.
The way his tongue besieges me, the way he clutches me tighter to him, angling his pelvis against me like this, I know he’s been holding back every kiss before this one.
Oh my God.I shiver with excitement.He’s been holding back.
I’m about to catch fire or melt into a puddle. Has ever a woman climaxed from kissing and dry humping?While standing up? On one leg?
Because this is. Just.Wow.
Did he need the words? Those three words? Is that what’s set him free?
Somehow, my mind manages to hypothesize, and with as many times as I’ve taught the scientific method, even in my addled state, I know the next step is experimentation. And it’s super convenient that the words come naturally, so I break the kiss, panting.
“I love you, Zach.” And saying it, wide open like that, not couched in an off-hand comment or glossed over in a quick reply, feels huge. And scary. And great. So I say it again. “I love you.”
Zach’s eyes blaze. “My God, Greta. I’ve loved you since day one.” He shakes his head, a bewildered look of happiness setting his face aglow. “I never thought I’d have this.”
He slams me with another kiss, only to pull back seconds later to meet my gaze. “Woman, I love you more than anything.”
And, boy, was I wrong. Hearing it doesn’t pale at all to feeling it. In fact, it feels like reverse skydiving. I’ve never soared so high.
Then I discover that I’ve left the ground. Literally. Zach now holds me beneath each thigh, so I wrap my legs around him. And that’s when I draw my conclusion.
Yes. Yes, indeed. Telling him I love him has set him free. Because in a movement that defies the laws of physics and convinces me of the superhuman power of his quads, Zach ducks us both into the opening of the tent and gently lowers me down onto the sleeping pad.
It took him weeks to set foot in my room and three words to carry me bodily into a tent.
