by Hazel Kelly
The weighty silence after she closed the door was so intense I feared he could hear my heart beating. “I was afraid you were six states away by now.”
He furrowed his brow and headed over to me. “What?”
I ran a hand up his arm. “I thought I’d scared you off.”
He shook his head and pulled me to him. “There’s nothing you could do to scare me off,” he said, fixing his eyes on mine. “I love you, Margot.”
My throat closed up.
“I always have.”
F O R T Y F O U R
- Landon -
Her pretty blue eyes were glassy, but the smile on her face let me know I hadn’t lost her.
“You don’t have to say it,” she said. “I’m sorry I pressured you.”
“Don’t be,” I said, lifting her chin with my fingers. “You have every right to want to hear it.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Especially when you’re the only reason I even know what it means.”
She exhaled the breath she was holding.
“And I need you to know that I don’t just love you now because of what we’ve been through lately,” I said. “I have always loved you. For as long as I can remember.”
She relaxed into my arms.
“I fell in love with you as a kid the day you were saving worms. I fell in love with you as a teenager the first time I heard you singing in the shower. And I fell in love with you on your eighteenth birthday when I realized that my heart would be yours forever, whether you wanted it or not.”
Her eyes sparkled. “I want it,” she said. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Good. Because I fall in love with you all over again every single day, and I don’t want to have to fight it or hide it anymore.”
“Me neither.”
“And I want to make up for lost time. That’s what all this is about.”
She looked around, her eyes bouncing from bouquet to bouquet.
“These are all the flowers I’ve wanted to give you since the day we met.”
“There must be two dozen bouquets in here.”
“Thirty-five, actually.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“One for every birthday and Valentine’s Day since I’ve known you.”
“That’s crazy, Landon. You didn’t have to—”
“I did.”
“But it must’ve cost you a fortune.”
“No.” I shook my head. “It was not having the courage to give them to you when I wanted to that cost me a fortune.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
My eyes smiled. “Yes, you do. You already said it last weekend.”
“What?” she asked. “That I love you?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate it the first time.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll have plenty more chances to let it sink in.”
“Good. Because I’m super needy, so you’re going to have to remind me all the time.”
“Deal.” She rose onto her toes and gave me a kiss.
Her lips were soft against mine and felt lighter than ever. “How long will Izzy be gone?” I asked, suddenly unable to think straight with Margot’s sweet taste on my lips.
“For the rest of the day. Why?”
I slid my hands under her damp T-shirt. “Because after all this talk about making up for lost time, maybe we should do some catching up now.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, grabbing my wrists as I pulled her shirt up. “Because I’m sort of grimy right now.”
“You’re not.”
“I am. Like I said, I thought my boyfriend was six states away so—”
“I love you grimy,” I said, liking the way it felt to say that four-letter word to her more with every admission. “And the only way I’m going six states away is if you’re going with me.”
“That won’t be necessary,” she said, pointing down the hall towards a cracked door. “I actually have a bed right here.”
My chest glowed. “It’s about damn time you invited me into your bedroom.”
She blushed. “Seems the least I can do after you turned my apartment into a botanical garden.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed past me, pulling me towards her room.
I grabbed a rose from a vase on the counter. “Now that I’ve seen how…compact it is, it does feel like I went a bit overboard.”
“I told you it was small,” she said, pushing her bedroom door open.
“You told me it was small,” I said, my eyes passing from her dresser to the bed to the small window above it. “You didn’t tell me Stuart Little used to live here.”
She rolled her eyes and stepped up to me, trailing her fingers down the front of my shirt until they caught on my belt buckle. “What are you doing with that rose behind your back?”
“Take off your grimy clothes and find out.”
She took a half step back and pulled her shirt off. There was a damp patch of sweat at the base of her sports bra, and seeing her body already wet made me hard.
“Keep going,” I said, widening my stance.
She pulled her bra off and stood in front of me.
“I swear to God, this is just like a dream I had once.”
She turned around and looked over her shoulder at me as she bent forward and pulled her leggings down.
My mouth watered at the sight of her perfect ass while she straightened back up and used her feet to pry her shoes off.
“That view makes me want to buy you flowers.”
She laughed.
“Turn around.”
“Not until you show me something.” She flashed her eyebrows and cocked a hip.
I pulled my shirt off as fast as I could without damaging the rose or taking my focus off her for longer than absolutely necessary.
Her eyes dripped down my chest and came to rest on the waistband of my jeans. “More.”
I bit the stem of the rose between my teeth and moved my hands to my belt.
“That’s a good look for you,” she said. “Calendar-worthy for my money.”
I undid my belt, unzipped my fly, and pulled the rose from my mouth. “I’m glad you like it, because you’re about to get all twelve months.”
She chewed her bottom lip for a second before turning around and stepping up to me. “Allow me,” she said, curving her fingers inside the top of my boxers.
“Did you read my diary?”
“No.” She tilted an ear towards me. “You have a diary?”
“No. But I might start one after this.”
One side of her mouth curled into a smile, and she pulled my bottoms down two inches.
I set the rose against her cheek and dragged it along her jawline.
She batted her lashes at me and then sank to her knees, taking my pants and boxers to the ground with her. “What about this?” she asked, looking up past my dick as she stroked it. “Was this in your dream?”
The blood drained from my head as I throbbed against her hand. “I think I need to sit down.”
She nodded towards her bed, and I sat on the edge of it, clenching the stem of the rose in my fist, my heart pounding as she crawled over and wrapped her palm around me again.
“Now,” she said, licking her lips. “Where were we?”
She was so beautiful I could barely get the words out. “I was just telling you how much I love you.”
“Oh right.” She tightened her grip on the base of my dick and stroked the length of me.
And if her mouth hadn’t been full a moment later, I’m sure she would’ve said it back.
F O R T Y F I V E
- Margot -
His whole body exhaled when the warmth of my mouth enveloped him, and as my knees sank into the carpet, I let my need for him consume me.
He leaned back on his arms and watched me, swelling against the inside of my cheeks as I sucked him to the back of my throat.
I gushed when I felt a surge against the delicate skin of my
lips.
“Oh, Margot.”
Hearing my name break through his breathlessness spurred me on, and I picked up the pace, using one hand to pump him past my lips and the other to brace myself, my nails digging into his muscular thigh.
He groaned and let his head fall back, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth as he lifted his head again so he could keep watching me pleasure him.
It turned me on to make him ache with need. Growing up, his presence always made me feel the same way, so I relished the role reversal. There were even moments when I wasn’t sure who was enjoying themselves more.
I closed my eyes and sped up when my jaw began to tire.
He exhaled suddenly and throbbed against my lips.
I braced myself for the explosion that came next, moaning as I drank him down. When there was nothing more to swallow, I wiped my mouth on the back of my fingers and looked up.
He was beaming at me.
I laughed. “You okay?”
He opened his mouth to speak only to close it again before shaking his head and pulling me up into his lap.
I pinned his dick to his belly with my wet slit, lifted a hand to his cheek, and dragged a thumb across his scar.
He slid his palms around to cradle my ass and pulled me towards him, encouraging me to slide the length of him. “You’re so wet, and I haven’t even touched you yet.”
I draped my forearms over his shoulders and wove my fingers behind his neck. “Oh, but you have,” I said, rocking my hips.
“I’m glad you think so,” he said, kissing me. “Touching you has always been my intention.”
I smiled.
“Though I can’t help but feel I’ve missed a spot.”
“Oh?”
He lifted me up so I could guide his slippery dick to my opening.
I kept my eyes on his as I sank towards the base of his shaft, my eyelids flickering as he drove deep inside me.
His brow furrowed as I squeezed around him.
“Are you sure you want me to ride you right now? I don’t want to…strain you or anything.”
A mischievous glint shone in his eye right before he bucked up inside me.
The fleeting pain felt so good my lips fell apart.
“I’m sure,” he said.
I leaned forward and kissed him again, opening my mouth to invite him in further as I began rolling my hips. And by the time he moved his large hands to my breasts, I could feel steady streaks of warmth shooting up my spine.
He smiled without pulling his lips from mine. “You feel too good,” he whispered against them as he pinched my aching nipples between his strong fingers.
“So do you,” I said, using his dick to whip my insides into a frenzy of heated arousal.
When he started kissing down my cheek, I closed my eyes and let my head fall to the side, making it easier for him to suck the delicate skin on my throat.
“Harder,” I begged as my clit began to burn.
His deep laugh warmed my neck. “Any harder and you’ll be stuck in turtlenecks for a month.”
“I don’t care,” I said, twirling clumps of his hair around my fingertips as I pulled him to me.
He moved to a new spot, knowing better than to argue with me or leave a big purple hickey on my neck.
“Tease,” I said, feeling increasingly lightheaded.
“If I’m going to give you a hickey, I’m going to leave it somewhere only I’ll get to see it,” he said, kissing my collarbone and sinking his fingers into my swaying hips. “Preferably somewhere that requires you to take all your clothes off so I can check up on it.”
“Promise?”
“Easiest promise I ever made,” he said, lifting my ass and catching one of my nipples in his mouth.
I fell forward and reached my hands for the wall, my whole body burning as he sucked me and fucked me.
“Come for me,” he said, growling against my breast.
My buzzing clit sent coils of pleasure up through me.
“Yeah,” he said, holding my waist as I bounced on him. “Right there.”
I poured over him a second later, quaking in his arms as I slid down his chest.
He rubbed my back when I tucked my head against his neck, panting as waves of pleasure crashed through me again and again.
When I eventually caught my breath, I leaned back and looked at him. “How about that hickey now?”
He rolled his eyes and laid me down. “You’re insatiable.”
“I blame you,” I said, blinking up at him.
He went to settle in the space beside me but inhaled sharply and popped upright.
“What is it?” I asked, lifting my head off the pillow.
He pulled the lone rose from behind his back.
“Did a thorn get you?”
“I’m fine,” he said, lying beside me again.
“I’ll say.”
“And you,” he said, dragging the soft rose up my thigh. “You’re more than fine.”
“Mmm. That feels nice.”
“Of course it does,” he said, draping the flower on one of my hip bones before dragging it towards the other. “It’s a magic rose.”
“A magic rose?”
“Yep.”
“Wow. Why is it magic?”
He dangled the soft petals over one of my flushed nipples. “It’s complicated. I probably shouldn’t overwhelm you right after you so thoroughly exerted yourself.”
“But it’s my rose,” I said. “Surely it’s vital that I understand the extent of its powers?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“I’m sure.”
He teased my other nipple with it. “Basically, it’s like a special kind of wand.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And anything I touch with it becomes mine forever.”
I smiled as he dragged it up each of the fingers on my left hand. “Is that so?”
He nodded.
“Forever, huh?”
“Forever,” he said, lowering the flower over my lips.
I laughed and inhaled the sweet scent, wishing with everything that we could press the magic rose to that very moment.
Because I’d never want anything more.
F O R T Y S I X
- Landon -
I didn’t know what I was so afraid of.
Telling Margot I loved her seemed like the most natural thing in the world. And it felt great to take that word back and make it mean something to me again. Something good.
What’s more, I understood now why she needed to hear it. It was because, like all the other four-letter words, it was the way a person said it that gave it meaning. Love, itself, was just a word, but I love you, was a feeling.
Best of all, every time I said it, I got a little bit closer to believing that I deserved to have it said to me, which felt amazing. Almost as amazing as the fact that we were finally on the same page after years of false starts and missed opportunities.
Perhaps it was naive to get so swept up in it. Maybe everyone who falls in love feels the same. All I knew was that it seemed like my whole life had led to this moment, this moment when I finally got the girl, this moment when I knew what it was like to not feel so alone.
“Thank you,” she whispered, trailing a finger down my chest.
“For what?”
“For not putting your stuff in boxes and moving six states away,” she said. “For not being afraid of my feelings for you.”
My smiling eyes drifted up the stem of the rose that lay between her breasts and came to rest on her soft expression. “My only fear is that they won’t last. That you’ll love me so good like this for a while and then you’ll burn out.”
She shook her head. “Don’t be silly, Landon. I couldn’t stop loving you if I tried.”
My heart swelled in my chest.
“Trust me. I know from experience.”
“Well, I feel the same. And I’m never going to give you another reason to try.”
“G
ood.” A yawn escaped her mouth, and she lifted her hands to hide it before stretching them over her head.
By the time I opened my mouth, her bedside lamp had already hit the floor with a thud
She raised her eyebrows and rolled over to survey the damage.
“Did it break?”
“It’s only cracked,” she said, making no move to pick it up.
“I know a place that might be able to fix it.”
She waved the idea away with a flick of her wrist. “Don’t worry about it. The only thing I ever liked about it was the price tag.”
“If you change your mind—”
“You light up my life plenty,” she said, rolling onto her side to face me. “Besides, now there’s room for some flowers there.”
“But where would you get some?”
She smiled.
“Seriously, though. I’m sorry I filled your apartment with an antisocial amount of flowers. I really had no idea it was this tiny.”
“Don’t apologize,” she said, fluffing her pillow under her cheek. “It was sweet.”
I reached down and pulled one of her thighs over me, wishing we could stay in bed wrapped up in each other forever.
“Would you be offended if I brought some bouquets over to The Nest so they can be enjoyed by more people?”
“The Nest?”
“The homeless shelter around the corner where I volunteer sometimes.”
“Oh right.” God, she was incredible. “Of course not.”
“I think I only go there for purely selfish reasons, but—”
“Doesn’t matter if you enjoy it.”
“I do,” she said. “Plus, it might come in handy having contacts there now that you’re unemployed and can’t afford your mortgage. Maybe we could start eating there a few times a week instead of that place you like with the fancy cocktails.”
“Good one.”
Her expression grew serious. “That’s your cue to tell me where the hell you were this week and why you went MIA.”
“I quit. So that explains why I wasn’t at the office.”
She scrunched her face. “It’s a start.”
“And I went MIA so I could make arrangements for my future employment.”
