by Noelle Adams
“What?” she interrupted, looking horrified. “I don’t want to take things that slow.”
He chuckled and pulled her into his arms, cradling her against him. “Okay. Sounds good to me. I just want to be with you for real. No holding back anymore.”
“No holding back,” she said against his chest. “I love you too. I always have.”
“Good. That’s all I need to know.”
They stood there on the driveway for a long time, just holding each other until Ginny finally pulled away with a laugh. “Uh, Ryan, you know you’re in your underwear, don’t you?”
He glanced down at himself, aware of it for the first time since he’d rolled out of the bed. “Yeah. But it’s dark, and I don’t think the dogs and goats care that much.”
“Probably not. But maybe we should go back inside.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said, wrapping an arm around her as he walked, assuring himself she was with him, that she wasn’t going to leave. “We can go back to bed.” Then he remembered something. “Oh wait, you wanted to go back to Nan.”
She shook her head. “I don’t have to. I mean, I do still want to live with her, but she’s already in bed by now anyway. It won’t make a difference if I come home now or first thing tomorrow morning. I want to spend tonight with you.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“But just to sleep,” she added with a delicious little lilt to her voice. “I’m completely sexed out for the night, and I’m so exhausted I feel like I could sleep for days.”
“Me too,” he admitted. “So let’s just sleep.”
They went back into the house and climbed into bed together. But before they went to sleep, they both got out their phones and sent texts to their friends.
Ryan’s said, She finally came to her senses.
And Ginny’s said, He manned up at last.
As they laughed over the immediate and effusive bevy of responses, ranging from Carol’s I’m so proud of you both! complete with rows of sappy emoticons to Patrick’s Finally, they concluded that both of them had won this one.
“ARE YOU SURE YOU TWO don’t want to finish the contest?” Emma asked on Saturday night.
They’d all gathered at Beauty Like the Night one more time to celebrate Ginny and Ryan’s finally settled relationship, and they were standing around a small table in the corner, offering a random assortment of toasts.
Ginny was so happy she felt like it was bubbling out of her. She felt kind of silly, but there was no way to rein in her joy. Ryan was standing beside her. His arm was resting around her waist
“No!” Ginny exclaimed sharply to her friend’s question.
“No!” Ryan said at exactly the same time.
Everyone laughed at both their insistence and their synchronicity.
“But we’ll never know which one of you is better at coming on to the opposite sex,” Carol teased.
“I’m fine never knowing that,” Ryan said, tightening his arm around her.
Ginny leaned against him, feeling safe and warm and known and at peace with Ryan, whom she loved more than anything and knew now would always be beside her.
And with her brother and friends—of whom the exact same thing was true.
“Honestly,” she admitted, “I’ll be happy if I never have to come on to another guy for the rest of my life.”
She’d said the words lightly, expecting laughter, and most of the others responded as she’d expected. But Ryan leaned down to peer in her face. “You mean that?” he asked in a low murmur.
Her eyes widened. “Of course. Why would I want to come on to anyone else when I have you?”
“For the rest of your life?”
She suddenly realized why he’d responded as intently as he had. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she processed what she’d said, but she said, “Well, yeah. Don’t you feel the same way?”
“Of course I do!” His eyes were blazing with joy as he kissed her right there in front of everyone, and it occurred to her then that much of what needed healing between them was already on the mend.
The knowledge made her even happier.
When they broke apart, the others were watching them with amusement.
“Isn’t that sweet?” Carol sighed.
Noah shook his head. “Only the two of you would have your big romantic gesture be never coming on to someone else for the rest of your lives.”
“I think it’s fitting,” Carol said, looking nearly as happy as Ginny felt. Carol was like that. She felt really deeply for other people. “It’s perfect for the two of you.”
“But seriously,” Emma said, “I’ve always wondered which one of you made the first move. On each other, I mean.”
Ryan and Ginny looked at each other. Then Ryan said, “I don’t think either of us did. We just sort of fell into each other since we’d never stop loving each other.”
“Obviously, we all know that,” Emma replied rather tartly. “I meant way back then. In college. When you went to see that movie. Which one of you made the first move?”
Ginny met Ryan’s eyes again as they both thought back.
“I did,” she said.
“I did,” he said too, at exactly the same moment.
After another uproar of laughter at their perfectly timed replies, Patrick said, “Obviously we need to sort this out since you two are clearly still confused about a few things. Ryan, what did you do?”
“I kissed her,” he admitted with a sweet, lazy smile. “When I dropped her back off at Nan’s house. In the car. I kissed her. That was the first move.”
“You kissed her?” Noah asked. “My teenage sister? At what was supposed to be a friendly movie? You went and kissed her?”
The conversation was interrupted for a minute as everyone laughed at Noah, but then Patrick brought them back to the topic at hand. “Okay, what was your move then, Ginny?”
She arched her eyebrows and drawled, “I didn’t just have one move. I had moves. I leaned against him while we were watching the movie. I took his arm as we were walking to the car. I lingered when he’d parked in the driveway, batting my eyes and gazing at him, trying to get him to kiss me. So obviously my moves were first.”
“But mine was the definitive move,” Ryan argued. “So I really think—”
“No way! You were just responding to all my moves. I’m clearly the winner of this little game.”
“But—”
“No buts. I win.” She was doing her best not to laugh through the playful argument.
Ryan finally shook his head. “Fine. You win. And I’m happy to let you win whenever you want, as long as I’ve won you.”
She stretched up to kiss him sweetly on the corner of the mouth. “You have.”
“Okay,” Patrick groaned. “That’s it for me. If this is going to get sappy, then I’m leaving. I’ve got some work to do anyway.”
“Not at ten o’clock on a Saturday night!” Carol objected.
“You’ve got nothing pressing,” Emma said. Since she worked with her brother, she would know. “You can’t use that as an excuse tonight. We’re celebrating.”
Patrick grumbled to himself, but he didn’t get up and leave after all.
The music switched to an old cheesy ballad, and Emma clapped her hands. “I love this song. Dance with me, Noah.”
Noah got up immediately. “I’d dance with you anytime, even to this ridiculous song.”
They watched Emma and Noah walk to the dance floor. Then he swung her into his arms, holding her close.
Ginny and Carol smiled at each other, and then Carol stood up. “Okay. If Noah and Emma are going to dance, and Ginny and Ryan are going to dance—”
“We’re not going to dance,” Ryan objected. “I hate this stupid song, and I can’t dance anyway.”
“Yes, we are,” Ginny said, taking him by the arm. “All you have to do is hug me and sway in the same direction that I do.”
Ryan gave her a mock frown, but she knew he’d already agre
ed.
Carol turned to Patrick. “See? If they’re going to be dancing too, that means you’ll have to dance with me.”
Patrick should have known where Carol was going when she began to talk, but he was clearly taken aback. He stared at her, mouth parted slightly.
“Dance with me, Patrick.”
“Are you serious?” he asked. “Just because we’re the only two left doesn’t mean we’re going to get stuck with each other.”
Carol wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want to get stuck with you, dummy. I just want to dance, and you’re the only guy left. So would you please get moving before the song is over?”
Patrick rolled his eyes as he walked over to her. “Can’t think of a more flattering invitation,” he muttered. “I’m the only guy left.”
Ginny and Ryan were chuckling about this as they made their way to the dance floor. They went over to where Noah and Emma were dancing, and Ginny met Emma’s eyes over Noah’s shoulder, nodding toward Carol and Patrick.
Emma looked over to where Patrick had his arms around Carol. Emma’s brown eyes widened, and she turned back to give Ginny a look of excited amusement.
Ginny raised her eyebrows with a responding smile.
If Emma and Noah were happy, and Ginny and Ryan were happy, there was no reason for Carol and Patrick not to be happy together too.
Maybe it was something they could work on.
A FEW HOURS LATER, Ryan was buried to the hilt inside Ginny, and he was honestly wondering if anything in the world could possibly feel better than this.
She hot and tight and wet and clinging to him inside her, and her arms and legs were wrapped around him, holding him as close as she could make him. She gazed up at him in the dim light of his bedroom, and her expression was deep, intense, awed, filled with something akin to adoration.
She loved him. He couldn’t possibly doubt it. And he was starting to believe that it was going to last forever this time.
They both wanted it. There was no reason why they couldn’t make this work.
He’d do anything he needed to do to make sure it did.
He was moving inside her as slowly and rhythmically as he could, wanting her to enjoy it as much as he was. Desire had clenched in his groin, and soon the pressure would be too much for him to rein in. But right now he was moving into the cusp between need and release, and it was perfect.
All of it was perfect.
As he rocked over her, Ginny’s face was starting to twist, and she was starting to moan low in her throat.
“That’s right, kitten,” he murmured, loving the pleasure he could see in her expression, as it had surprised her in its intensity. “You can come. You can come for me.”
She bit her lip and made a whimpering sound as her body started to shake.
He thrust into her faster, feeling her inner walls closing down tightly around his erection. “Fuck, kitten. You’re doing so good. Come for me.”
She arched her neck dramatically as she let out a keening sound. Then her whole body was shuddering and clenching and clamping down around him. He kept moving through her orgasm, wanting to draw it out, wanting her to feel as much pleasure as she could.
And then he finally couldn’t hold his own need back anymore, and he let himself go.
He came hard and was breathless and drenched in sweat afterward as he pulled out of her, rolled onto his back, and pulled her over against him.
She was gasping just as much as he was, still murmuring about how hard she’d come and how amazing it had been.
When they’d both managed to catch their breath, she pressed a kiss against his chest and looked up at his face. “I love you. Have I told you that yet tonight?”
“A couple of times. But you can keep telling me as often as you want.”
“I love you,” she murmured again, snuggling against him.
Ryan felt perfectly sated—both physically and emotionally—as if everything he’d ever yearned for had finally been granted.
He was so happy and so content that he wasn’t going to be able to stay awake very long. But he managed to mumble back, “I love you too, kitten.”
She let out a sigh as she nestled against him, clearly ready for sleep herself.
His last thought before he drifted off was that he still had an engagement ring in a box in the basement, a ring that had always been intended for Ginny.
He wasn’t going to give it to her yet. She wanted to go a little slow, so they were just dating now.
But eventually. Maybe even soon. He no longer doubted that they would get there.
He would pull that ring out of the corner of that box, and he would give it to her at last.
Epilogue
Three months later, all six of them were down in Ryan’s basement to search for an old ring of his mother’s that Ryan said he’d misplaced down there somewhere.
Ginny couldn’t help but wonder why his mother’s ring would have been in one of those boxes, but Carol had a long, convoluted explanation and Ryan insisted they needed to find it.
So he’d pressured them all into helping with the search, bribing them with steaks on the grill afterward.
The basement was still neat and mostly clean, and Ryan had organized them so they each had a different section to search through, opening boxes and plastic tubs to make sure the ring wasn’t inside.
Ginny couldn’t help but smile fondly at Ryan’s determined expression and no-nonsense directions as he assigned them each a part of the basement.
She and Noah had been having a discussion earlier, however, so as soon as Ryan turned them loose, she wandered over toward Noah’s section so they could finish their conversation.
“Are you serious?” she whispered to Noah, her eyes wide and her heart fluttering wildly.
“Yeah, I’m serious,” he said, lowering his eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“But Nan—”
“Listen. You’ve taken care of Nan for years. You’ve lived with her since college, and I know it couldn’t always have been easy. It’s my turn now. If she wants to stay in the house, I’ll hire her a caregiver to stay with her. Or she can move in with me.”
“But you and Emma—”
“Emma is fine either way. She loves Nan too.” Noah’s voice was soft but also firm. There was clearly no way he was going to move on this subject. “There’s no arguing about this. She’s my grandmother too. Give me a chance to help.”
“So I can...”
“You can get your own place. Or you can move in with Ryan. Or whatever.”
Ridiculously, Ginny found herself blushing.
She’d been thinking more and more about moving in with Ryan. Things were going really well between them, and she was spending the night over here more and more as it was. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t dealing with endless fears and hesitations and worries that she’d make a mess of things eventually.
She loved Ryan, and Ryan loved her. They were happy together. And when problems or disagreements came up between them, they’d been able to work them out.
There was no reason to think this wouldn’t continue to be true.
She dropped her eyes and murmured, “He hasn’t actually asked me yet.”
“Are you kidding? You think he doesn’t want you to?”
Ginny knew that he did. He hadn’t said anything recently because he was trying not to pressure her. He was trying to give her the space she needed.
She appreciated it, but she didn’t really want space from him anymore.
She wanted everything.
“Just let him know you’re ready. You can bet he’ll ask you again.”
“If you’re sure about Nan—”
Noah made a growling sound.
Ginny chuckled. “Okay. Okay. I’ll—”
“This isn’t time for chatting,” Ryan called over toward them, evidently having seen their private conversation. “This is the time for searching. Everyone get back to their own quadrant.”
&nb
sp; Ginny smiled and rolled her eyes at him, but she went back to the corner she’d been assigned.
As she did, Patrick said, “Am I really the only one to point out that there are six of us, so quadrant isn’t the right word.” When Carol and Emma both laughed at this and Ryan grumbled, he added, “Quad means four.”
Ginny was smiling as she searched through a couple of tubs of old athletic trophies. Surely a ring wouldn’t have made its way into those tubs.
Then she picked up a small box that was on the top of a stack and looked down on it. It wasn’t taped closed. The flaps were just tucked under. And on the top was written NOT! TRASH in two different inks.
With a little shrug at the oddness of this labeling, she opened the flaps.
The first thing she saw was a framed picture of her and Ryan. She pulled it out, gazing down at their happy faces. They’d been so young then. So in love.
But not nearly as in love as she and Ryan were now.
After a minute, she looked deeper into the box, pulling out a throw blanket she immediately recognized as the one they’d used to wrap up in together when they were watching TV in college.
The rest of the activity and conversation in the basement faded away as she dug deeper into the box and pulled out one memento after another of her relationship with Ryan in college. She stared a long time at the ticket stub from the first movie they’d gone to together, a deep and tender emotion making her chest ache.
Then she finally saw, in the bottom corner, a small jewelers box. The kind that held a ring.
“Oh, here’s a ring!” she announced, her voice cracking from all the memories that had been evoked from the other items in this box.
Ryan had kept them all this time.
They had been that important to him.
The others turned toward the sound of her voice, and Ryan came over toward her.
She held out the ring box she’d found. “Is this it?”
“I don’t know,” Ryan said, his voice strangely textured. “Open it up and see.”
Ginny opened the box.
