Page 55 of Every Time We Touch

“Me and my pussy?” I say, because I’m losing my mind as well, that much is clear.

“Yeah.” There’s not a hint of smile on Jen’s face. “What am I going to do?”

Isn’t that the million-dollar question. It’s not a question I can answer with words, not right now. Not before I’ve had my way with her.

“You’re going to come very soon,” I say.

To my surprise, Jen shakes her head. “No,” she says.

“No?”

“I feel like…” Her fingertips steal across my jaw. “If you make me come one more time, I’ll be…” She pauses. “Completely lost.”

“I’ll be right there with you,” I say.

“No,” she says again. “It’s not the same for you.”

We are already lost, I want to say, but she needs to work through this and that’s not something I can do for her. Because she’s right. It’s not the same for me. But we can do this back-and-forth as many times as we like, the situation will always be the same. And I’m not letting her break up with me again.

A silence falls, and I let it. Because I may still be on borrowed time here—despite all my stubborn wishful thinking—and when she speaks again, she might ask me to leave.

“Is there really no solution?” she asks instead.

“There is.” I trap her hand in mine, interlacing my fingers with hers. There’s always a solution, but it’s not always easy.

“Did you finally figure it out?” Her voice is not very hopeful, because Jen’s a smart woman, and she doesn’t need me to tell her what needs to be done.

I nod, my chin bumping against her shoulder.

“Shall we elope? Move to a desert island?”

“Jen,” I whisper. “You have to tell your dad.” My words will likely ruin the spell we’ve been under, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need to be said.

“No,” she groans.

“I know, but…” I push myself a little closer against her. “If we want to be together, there’s no other way.”

“Is that what you want?” The beginning of a smile plays on her lips because she knows damn well what I want. “To be together?”

“Very much so.” I bring her hand to my mouth and plant a soft kiss on the inside of her wrist. “You?”

“I do,” Jen says.

“You don’t have to do this alone. I’ll be here every step of the way.”

“It’s going to crush him, and life’s already been so shit for him lately,” Jen says.

“Maybe for a while.” I hold on tightly to her hand. “But Eric and I… it wasn’t like this. It wasn’t like you and me.” I shake my head. “I’m not one of his big loves.”

“If you’d seen him earlier today, you might think differently.”

“He’s still sore.” Were our feelings for each other really so mismatched? Did Eric really care that much for me? “But he won’t be forever.”

“And my family,” she says.

“They’re good people. They’ll come around.” I don’t know them all that well and I’m aware I’m just saying things while hoping for the best.

“What if they don’t? What if Heather ends up hating me because of this?” Jen’s body is becoming twitchy and restless. “Families have been destroyed over way less than this.”