Page 45 of A Lifetime of Afters
The slight buzz that accompanied the complete giving over of myself kicked in, and my body melted against him.
“There you go, beautiful girl. My beautiful girl.” His lips danced over my eyelids, the crests of my cheekbones.
I could feel it coming, the wave building, the pressure mounting.
Prickly heat tingled, my flesh engorged further, gripping him tightly, demanding fulfillment.
A ripple of pleasure.
The most exquisite of warnings.
A violent shudder as waves of euphoria engulfed me and obliterated every thought in my head.
Floating in him, in us, the faintest awareness of reality, the world reduced to his hands, his body, his breath, his release deep inside me as he spilled what was only ever meant to be mine.
Chapter Eighteen - Cloud Nine
He rolled to his back, taking me with him. I lost him from inside me but gained a comfortable resting place for my head on his firm chest, his strong, steady heartbeat beneath my ear, one of his hands in my hair, the other cupping my hip.
Wrapped up in him.
The past few weeks together passed in a happy blur. Seeing as how he was never far from my thoughts, I spent my days in much the same state.
Even Harley, not known for her powers of observation, noticed.
Several times.
“What is going on with you?” she laughed. “You walk around like you’re on cloud nine!”
“I’m happy,” I shrugged. “It’s good to be home.”
She walked around me playfully, pretending to inspect me, her eyes narrowed to slits. “You’re not walking bow-legged but I’m pretty sure there’s a man,” she declared. “Only a really good dick can bring about a change like the one I’ve seen in you.” With her pretty lips pursed together, she braced her hands on her hips. “Come clean, Noelle.”
Oh, how I wanted to! Especially in that moment, the light of happiness in her eyes, happiness for me. We shared everything. We always had. It might be a little weird for her that the ‘good dick’ she referenced belonged to her brother, but we could get past that. I teetered with indecision but thankfully held true to my promise to Hawk.
“Harley, if I meet someone new, you’ll be the first to know.” Not technically a lie, it was definitely within the spirit of a lie. With great effort I stilled the twirling of my fingers and returned her gaze.
She looked uncertain for a moment, her eyes questioning. “Okay,” she decided. “I believe you.”
I maintained my innocent expression, but inside, I positively rotted with guilt. You don’t grow up that close to someone, closer than a sister, and lie to them about one of the most important things to ever happen to you in your life.
Even if it involved her brother.
Especially when it involved her brother.
It got worse when she showed up at my place unannounced when Hawk was there. It may have seemed like a foolish risk to have him there, but he parked on the other side of the resort, and people were used to seeing his truck parked outside at all hours.
It was not unlike him to arrive in his truck and take a different vehicle home. Many times he took a snowmobile home through one of the trails that wound around the lake.
He’d taken me out several times when I stayed with him at his place. Bundled up tightly against the cold, the sound of the motor echoing through the night until we reached our destination. Cutting the engine, we sheltered in a copse of trees he knew well, and stood in our own snow globe, nothing between us and the light of heaven but time.
“I feel closer to him here,” he murmured.
It was the first time he’d ever brought up his brother. “I can see why. He loved it out here,” I smiled.
“He loved a lot of things,” he agreed without looking at me.
I snorted. Time to bring a few things into the light.
