Page 65 of Then There Was You
His hand finds mine and holds it. “You didn’t fail.” When he turns to face me, he cracks his lids open. “You’re going to find your way out of this and be okay. It’s a new experience, but that’s how you grow and become independent.” Giving my hand a squeeze, he adds, “It’s not about having to figure out everything on your own. It’s about no one ever being able to control your life again.” Kissing my hand, he says, “You can stay here as long as you need, but if it’s best for you to be somewhere else right now, I support your decision.”
The disappointment I’ve felt, the shame and humiliation seem less potent when you discover you have someone in your corner fighting with you. It’s not about money anymore. That comes and goes, so I’m learning, it’s about cocooning into the next phase of life to become bigger and better than ever.
My parents won’t win this battle.
They thought they could keep us apart. They were wrong. We’re together and stronger than before. And I’m not alone in this fight. Not anymore. I just needed the reminder of what I’m really fighting for.Us.
Looking into his eyes, I caress his cheek, and whisper, “I love you, Poet.”
A rogue grin cuddles his cheeks. “I love you, too, Spark.”
CHAPTER 29
KEATS
Sosie’s been staring at that paperwork for days. She seemed positive that getting the apartment was the right move when it arrived, but she can’t bring herself to sign it to close the deal. So the rental agreement remains spread out on the countertop for her to peruse when she’s in the mood to do such things.
It’s been killing me not to say anything, but she must make this decision on her own, so I leave her to it. Looking over at me on the couch, she says, “I need to get out of the apartment. How are you feeling? Up to go out?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Fresh air and dinner. How do you feel?”
“Stir-crazy. It would be good to get out.” It’s been incredible to spend so much time together, cementing what we already knew. We’re good together. Though we’re in what some might call the newlywed stage of our relationship because it hasn’t been tested. I know that’s untrue because we fought to get where we are, even if it was years of being isolated from each other. She’s given up her entire life to be here for herself and me.
Something deep inside had me sacrificing years of my life waiting for her. I could have been playing the field, and by most guys’ opinions, I should have. But that wasn’t me. Once I met Sosie, I was a goner for her. “Let’s go out and be a couple,” I say, hoping she understands what I mean. “I want the whole world to see us together.”
She’s in the shower not five minutes later. Frowning with a face covered in shaving cream, I analyze the bruising that remains. The swelling has gone down, though it’s still tender around the one eye. Otherwise, it feels good to shave again now that most of the soreness has gone away. Looking worse for wear is apparently an aphrodisiac for my girl, so I’m not wasting any opportunities that present themselves.
She opens the door and peeks out. “I can’t stop thinking about how you said you want the world to see us together.”
I drag the blade through the soapy water in the sink, catching her eye in the reflection of the mirror, and grin—wild and goofy at the same time. I feel my age for the first time in years, rather than the old soul I’m always told I am. “What has you thinking about that?”
Her hair is wet and still cut crooked. If I had known she wasn’t going to fix my sloppy haircut, I would have made a better effort to keep it straight. But like her, I like it. It’s not perfect, just like we aren’t. Water drips from the tips and off her chin, but she doesn’t seem to mind getting the rug wet.
“Because Gregory, my mom, and even my father sometimes used to center everything on me. Gregory would say that other guys would be jealous when they see me, or he couldn’t wait to show me off.” I hate his fucking face and pretentious name. I hate that he paraded her on his arm like a trophy he’d won. I fucking hate that bastard. I grit my teeth when I turn around because she deserves more than my back. “My mom used to talk about guys wanting to talk to me because I would lookparticularly attractive one night or another, and my father . . . there always seemed to be a clause with the extortion regarding my appearance.”
I’m not sure what I did that was so different, but I set the razor down on the counter and cross the bathroom. “Anyone is lucky to be with you, but it’s not because of how gorgeous you are,which you are. It’s because of who you are that has captivated my soul and made it yours for the taking.”
Running her wet fingers across my chin, she eyes it before her gaze reaches mine. “That’s just it. I’m not arm candy. I’m an equal in your eyes. You see me, and that’s so incredibly sexy.”
“Sexy, huh?” The towel wrapped around my middle never stood a chance against the vision of those full pink lips. My body’s reaction is instant, and when the towel falls, I take it as the sign it is. Running my hand around the side of her slick neck, I kiss her and then deepen it as I walk her back into the shower stall and close the door behind me. The steam billows from the spray as I slide my hands down over her body.
I kiss my way across her jaw, then bend to tackle her neck with my lips, a carnal instinct kicking in to mark her as mine. I flatten my hand over her stomach and go lower, desperate to feel her pussy wrapped around me again. But no way am I passing up the opportunity to watch her come beforehand.
When I slide a finger through the silk of her slit, she moans before I swallow it whole, relishing the feel of her ecstasy against my lips. I pull back, realizing I not only want to feel her but I also want to hear everything she can’t keep inside. My mouth waters for the taste of her euphoria, my name rolling off her tongue, and her body trembles as she loses herself in the love we make.
Water pools in the divots where her shoulders meet her neck, and I lower to lap it up as my hands knead the soft skin of her tits. Turning her head, her lips against my ear, she whispers, “I can’t wait to feel you inside me again.”
My dick twitches, my heart sent into overdrive to thunder in my chest. But it’s my head, the thought of her wanting me inside her that stirs my core, already demanding an early release. Her hand comes around my cock as I slide my tongue across her collarbone while holding her against the wall of the shower. I lift to bring her higher, not sure I have the patience to wait to plow into her when she talks to me like that. The graze of her tongue across my shoulder pulls me back from the brink of existence to savor the here and now, her and the ecstasy of gratification ahead of us. I bite, igniting a gasp from the shallower parts of her chest. My cravings only harden my dick. “I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you, Spark,” I whisper in need to please her, and to get off again.
Her arms come around my neck, and she lifts onto her tiptoes. Swaying back as if in a trance, she tilts her head, allowing the water to wash over her. I stare in astonishment that this stunning woman is in my arms, that she wants me as much as I desire her. The graceful lines of her neck, the curve of her waist, the bow that caps her top lip, and the softness of her hips. “I was captivated by her beauty erupting all at once,” I whisper, kissing the mounds of her chest and then nip her peaks to watch her react. “It wasn’t one thing in particular that drew me to her. . .” I slide my hands between her thighs and kneel in front of her, quoting a line from my book. The hot water soothes the lingering pain in my muscles, but she makes me forget about it altogether. Looking up, I watch as she takes each breath like it can save her. She looks down at me, and I say, “But all of them that made her up.”
Running her fingers underneath my jaw, she says, “Always my Poet.” Her voice and the feel of her soft touch against the roughness of my scruff, the way her eyes shine like gold in the dimmer light of the shower, it all makes me feel like I’ve wonthe grand prize. But that exhilaration can’t stick when her love shines down like a beacon in the night, guiding me home.
“Always yours.”
My gaze journeys from that bottom lip being bitten to the awning of dark lashes that try to shadow the sparkle in her eyes and fails. With the weight of her breast in my hand, I massage and am rewarded with another plea for more. “I need you,” she says in a voice already on the cusp of begging. I slide my hand down to her waist, digging my fingers in to hold her still as I find her entrance with my other hand and tease before dipping inside her.
