Page 43 of From the Embers

I pump my hips in and out slowly as I press my palms onto the shower wall.

“So b-big,” she stammers. “So fucking big.”

“It’s all yours, baby girl. Only yours.” I don’t know how we got to this point so fast, but we did.

I’ve never really had the feeling of rightness, and it isn’t just about the sex, as amazing as it is.

The feeling that I could spend my life with someone is something new. Even the relationships I’ve had weren’t ever like this—with my heart and soul. I’m working out a way to tell Daryl I want to date his sister and then convince him I’m the right man for her. There is nobody else for me.

“W-what?” she mutters.

“Huh?”

“You just said: there is nobody else for me.”

Shit. I just said that outloud?

“I didn’t realize I did,” I pant, loving how tight she feels.

“Do you mean it?”

Our eyes lock. “Yes. I’ve never said that to anyone before, never felt it like this, Adi.”

She smiles. “That just makes this all the more special.”

“Not gonna last with you looking at me like that.”

“Quitter.”

I grin, amping up the pace, but still being mindful not to be too rough. She squeezes me so tight and then her head tips back and she lets go. I follow behind, stilling as I empty myself for the first time inside a woman.

Adelaide is pure perfection.

“Geez, woman, you’ll be the death of me,” I pant, kissing her neck.

“I guess this is what they mean by rinse and repeat?”

We both burst out laughing.

I can’t say I’ve had too much to laugh about these last few months.

Work can be stressful a lot of the time. It doesn’t get any easier turning up to car wrecks or burning buildings knowing you can’t save everyone.

She brushes my hair back. “D? Are you okay?”

I nod. “I’m fine. Just a tough week.”

There was a car crash before I finished my shift and… shit got real.

“You know you can talk to me about anything.”

I pull her back under the water, not that I want to clean myself from her body and our combined sweat, but that’s the whole reason I pulled her into the shower in the first place. I begin to wash her again, liking this new ritual.

“Sometimes the job doesn’t always come with a happily ever after.”

Her face softens. “You must see a lot.”

“I do. Pulling bodies from cars isn’t what I imagined when I signed up, but those are parts of the job that you don’t realize when you go into rescue.”