“We do.”
Obviously she was going to make me start.
“Ok, well, what I want to know is how do you want to do this?”
“Do what?” She chuckled.
“This.” I twirled my finger in the air between us. “Us. Do you want to start over, pick up where we left off, what?”
“Pick up where we left off, silly. Why would I want to start over?”
“We’ve been apart. I don’t know.”
“Sam.” She slid closer to me, gently taking my hand in hers. “If this hadn’t happened, would we have spent the last three weeks apart?”
“Fuck no.”
“Then let’s pretend we didn’t. Because those weeks sucked. Beyond just the burns. They’ve sucked. When I woke up, you were the first thing I asked for. And when they said they couldn’t get a hold of you, I cried. I cried so much that they thought it was the pain and it was a little, but it was for you. I asked about you so many times my mom started crying every time she had to tell me no. It sucked.”
Shit her words punched a hole in my chest the size of California. I’d regret not being there for her for the rest of my life, not that there was a damn thing I could’ve done about it.
“For me too.” Waiting until what I wanted to say was clear in my mind, I licked my lips then spoke. “I wish I’d been there, Miriam. I know I couldn’t have done anything, but I should’ve fucking been there.”
She slid even closer. “Let’s forget about all that. And let’s stop talking.”
Now that I could get behind.
And I did exactly as she said. I stopped talking and kissed her, my mouth demanding hers and hers demanding mine. I cupped her face—running my thumbs over her cheeks and memorizing the contours of her bone structure. I’d missed her. Missed her more than I could ever put into words. And I wanted her. So badly I was about to embarrass myself right there on the couch before I even took my pants off.
When she climbed onto my lap, I knew I had to get a move on.
I needed to feel her underneath me, taste her skin again and make for fucking sure she knows just how I feel about her.
In one motion, I stood and she wrapped her legs around my waist—neither of us willing to break the connection our lips and tongues were making. Once inside my bedroom, it was dark. The curtains hadn’t been opened, there were no lights on, and being Michigan, the sun set a while ago. So I sat her on the edge of the bed—pulling away was torture—while I turned the nightstand light on low because I really wanted to be able to see her. Then I took the spot right next to Miriam but turned to face her.
She did the same and I took her hands in mine.
“I know things were weird with me before,” I began while looking her in the eye. The brown sparkled, full of need but she had to hear this. I needed to say it. “That was on me because I haven’t done this pretty much ever. But I love you Miriam. I love the hell out of you and these have literally been the worst weeks of my life. I never want to do that again.”
Her eyes pooled with moisture and I knew—I knew she felt the same without her telling me. I didn’t need to hear it. She’d showed me time and time again with patience and understanding. Now I wanted her to show me with her body.
This time when my lips met hers, it was clear what I wanted and the way she responded—touching her fingers to my jaw, tracing and stroking and keeping me close. There wasn’t a part of her I didn’t want to touch, to taste, to make mine again.
So it took me by surprise when she pushed me back gently. Her eyes stayed on mine but she unsnapped the sheaths covering her burns, a reminder that I needed to be gentle.
After that she moved to pull her shirt off but I carefully pushed her away. That was my job. My fingers gripped her hips as I kissed her lips until she laid back. I slid my body down hers until I settled between her legs. She took in a quick breath when my lips touched her stomach—low. It was smooth and smelled of coconut like the rest of her and without meaning to, my tongue snuck out for a taste. I licked, kissed and sucked my way up, taking her shirt with me until I finally lifted it over her head and dropped it on the floor.
The white bra she was wearing shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was but at that point I’m pretty sure anything she had on would have been. But the front clasp took the cake. Couldn’t have been easier to get the thing off her.
My shirt went next. The feeling of her breasts, nipples pebbling against my chest…things were becoming too much.
Once all of our clothes were on the floor, Miriam laid spread out, bare on my bed. I still wanted to go slowly. I wanted to memorize every detail of her body again, know it better than I knew my own.
I was met with a groan when my mouth touched her, driving her to the edge quickly. It had been too long for both of us.
“Sam,” she said with a sigh pulling my hair so I’d look up at her.
I smirked in return and went back to teasing her. But even I had my limits.
Climbing back up her body, I didn’t even get all the way up before she flung herself at me. This time her tongue became demanding on mine, her hands did the exploring but I had to stop her before she got too far. One stroke up the length of me was too far. I needed to be inside her, needed to feel at peace with us.
Condom in place, only the sound of our quick breaths in the room, I sunk into her and it was like coming home. Miriam melted into the mattress taking me with her. Before I started moving, I turned my head to kiss the inside of her wrist. It was a nothing of a kiss but I needed to mark that soft, sensitive skin. Fucking second degree, partial thickness burn was going to leave my beautiful Miriam scarred. I didn’t care. When she tried to encourage me closer, get me moving, I pulled both of her hands away, interlocked our fingers and held them above her head.
“I need to move slowly,” I whispered right at her ear.
She groaned, pushing her hips into mine. I don’t even think she knew she was doing it but fuck did that make me want to change course.
I held firm though, rolling my hips slowly, pulling out then thrusting back in at a pace that was sure to drive her insane. Truth be told, I almost came when she tightened around me but I fought through, using every single skill I’d learned to make her do it again before allowing myself the release my body craved.
Laying there, my weight pressed against hers, neither of us could seem to form words. We didn’t have to. It was clear. We were up for any challenge that would be thrown our way. We’d already overcome a big one.
After returning to bed, I laid on my back—one arm behind my head the other around Miriam as her head rested against my chest and her fingers lightly drew circles across my skin. As much as I loved sex with Miriam, this part might be my favorite.
Just being together, not needing to talk but needing to be close.
“Have I mentioned how happy I am that you found me?” Her chin rested right on top of my heart, and she had a little satisfied smile on her face.
“Oh baby, you have no idea.”
“I have a little bit of an idea.”
“Not really,” I said back.
“How do you figure that?” Miriam cocked an eyebrow.
“Easy. You’re much better than I am, so you would have moved on eventually. Me? I would have been a stone cold asshole the rest of my life.”
She giggled. “I don’t believe that.”
“Ask Flannery.”
“I don’t know, Sam. You’d be a pretty tough act to follow.”
Miriam was kidding. I knew this but the thought of her with someone else had tortured me enough for weeks, so I couldn’t let it go without saying something.
“Let’s make sure there’s no reason for someone to follow me, ok?” I didn’t care if that made me sound like a pussy. She needed to know I wasn’t letting go. Ever.
“Done. You’re it for me, Sam. I’ve known that for a while now. I just had to wait for you to catch up is all.”
This time I chuckled. “Consider this remedial student a
ll caught up.”
Her laughter filled the room and for whatever reason I remembered she didn’t like to sleep naked. She assured me it wasn’t a body image thing, she just preferred to have clothes on in case something happened at night. A fire. Someone showing up unexpectedly. She didn’t want to get caught with her pants literally down. I could understand her reasoning, but if it’d been about her body, it would have become my life’s mission to force her to see how fucking sexy she really was. I’d do that anyway, just in case.
I tossed her one of my T-shirts when I went for my boxer briefs, which she let fall down around her then pulled her hair through the top.
“Does this mean I’m staying the night?”
“Baby, you’re going to be lucky if I ever let you out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
We didn’t leave my apartment the next day until I took Miriam home. She hadn’t brought extra clothes with her. I needed to work and she had the doctor’s appointment I wanted to take her to. Still it was hard to let her go. We were going to have to talk about our living situation. I wanted her to live with me and didn’t think she’d object. I hated having to take her home.
I got to her house Monday morning right at ten-thirty like she’d asked. Before I could get out of the car, she came out of the house like she’d been watching for me. And she was annoyed. Her face was too easy to read but this time I knew for sure it wasn’t something I’d done. Unless an endless number of orgasms in a twenty-four hour period made a girl irritated the next day.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as her ass hit my seat.
“Nothing. Uri’s being an asshole.”
“About?”
“Ugh. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t come to my appointment since he’s been to all the others.”
“If you—”
“No. I want you there, and you want to be there. He’s just being a bitchy little girl about it. Which I get. They hadn’t met you before, and I was spending all my time crying over a guy they didn’t even know was real, but whatever. You’re here now. He’ll get used to it.”
Well, ok, then.
We arrived about ten minutes early. Miriam chatted with the girl at the desk like they were old friends, so I knew she’d been there a few times. There wasn’t much of a wait which was surprising. Doctor’s offices always seemed to run late. But within five minutes a tall dark haired woman of about forty called Miriam’s name.
After getting her vitals and chatting, we were alone in the room again. Miriam sat perched on top of the exam table, her legs swinging like a kid. She looked over at me with her head cocked to the side and a sly little grin on her face.
“What?” I asked from where I sat in the chair against the wall. There were times—and this was one of them—that I wished I could read her damn mind.
“Nothing.” She shook her head slightly but those lips didn’t fall.
“Something. What?”
“You’re pretty hot in your work clothes.”
I snorted.
“Makes me wonder what would happen if we added a jacket and tie.”
Because typically I just wore dress pants and a dress shirt. I didn’t have a lot of interaction with clients, mostly none, so I didn’t need to go full out. And I’d taken my winter coat off when we got to the office right after I helped Miriam with hers.
“Obviously you wouldn’t be able to handle that.” Yeah, it sounded cocky but I didn’t care. I had to play it off before things got heated and the doctor came in.
“I think I could handle it.”
The reply that sat on the tip of my tongue didn’t get the chance to come out because the soft knock and door opening choked it off.
I’d guess the doctor was somewhere in his fifties, greying at the temple and wrinkles around his eyes. Seemed friendly enough but all I cared about was what he would tell us about Miriam’s burns.
“How we doing, Miriam?” He asked with a smile. His eyebrows rose a bit when he saw me sitting there.
“Oh, this is my boyfriend Sam Allen.” She said it so casually but her words shot right through me. I was her boyfriend. And I wasn’t freaking out about it. The poor doctor looked a little confused when he shook my hand but didn’t say anything to me.
“You’re looking a lot better today,” the doctor said.
Miriam smiled in return while nodding her head.
“Ok, let’s take a peek.” Dr. Fallon, as he’d been introduced, took a seat on the little stool and slid toward her.
Miriam removed the silicone so the doctor could see everything. He didn’t say much while he turned her hands this way or that before declaring everything good.
“How good it good?” I asked him. Since I hadn’t been around for the beginning of this injury, I really needed the details.
“Well, Miriam had a second degree partial thickness burn. Bad but not terrible. Second degree burns take about three weeks to heal, which it’s been. However, since it was partial thickness, she’ll have scars.”
“I don’t care about that,” Miriam said like she meant it.
“Me either…it’s just I touched your wrist the other night and…”
“Don’t worry about that,” the doctor cut me off. “It’ll be tender but there’s no reason to avoid touching the area. It’s all closed. Infection shouldn’t be an issue.”
He slathered both hands with some kind of ointment that he said would help keep the scars soft as she finished healing, put a loose bandage and some gauze over it then instructed her to do this twice a day or if the skin started to feel tight. But she didn’t have to come back unless something went wrong which made Miriam extremely happy. After that we were free to go.
***
It was another short week due to New Years. Our office closed at three on New Year’s Eve and would be closed for New Year’s Day. I felt bad I couldn’t take Miriam out to do whatever she wanted since I’d already promised my parents I would be at their big party. They had it every year, and I made that promise just before I sent Taylor looking for Miriam, so I had no intention of having any kind of plans of my own. I think they wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to spend the night drowning my sorrows and wallowing. Which now would be last thing I was doing but we didn’t know.
However, there were several upsides to this family obligation. First being I’d convinced Cain, Flannery, Kendra and Adam to join me. They’d agreed right away because, again, I was the sad one. Now at least Miriam would have people she knew besides just me. Second, Miriam would get to meet my parents and likely my sisters, without being the center of attention. And lastly, I didn’t really care what we were doing as long as we got to be together.
I’d changed. Maybe Miriam had changed me. Maybe I was just ready to be changed. I don’t fucking know. Forever wasn’t just an idea with Miriam. It was the future. One I would never have considered until her.
We entered my parent’s house that night to a party already in full swing. The group of us went out to dinner before coming to the party so we all arrived pretty much at the same time. It was like my mom had been watching for us because the minute we stepped through the door she was there.
“Damn. I owe your dad fifty bucks,” she said with a smile stopping right in front of us as someone—I’d guess someone hired for the party—carted our coats off to Dad’s office where they usually went.
“Why’s that?” I asked giving her a hug.
“I bet him you wouldn’t show up. He said you would. You know I hate it when you make him right.” She sighed like I was the one exasperating her.
“We can leave then. Truth be told I’d rather be somewhere else.”
Mom snorted. She’d heard it all from me before.
“But I thought you’d want to meet Miriam first.” I gave my girl a tug forward.
For some reason she’d been nervous to meet my parents. She didn’t have anything to worry about and when I saw her in that short black cocktail dress that left one shoulder bare,
I told her she didn’t have to go at all because I’d keep her locked in my apartment. Because her skin was darker and so fucking smooth she said she never wore tights or stockings or whatever the fuck girls called them, so her legs were bare—driving me crazy—and the black heels made my brain go wonky. I figured there’d be a day when something as simple as how she dressed didn’t make me rock hard but I hoped that day wouldn’t come and if it did it was way, way, way in the future. Like when I was ninety.
Mom gave Miriam a hug instead of shaking her hand like a normal person then went on to hug Flan and Kendra the same way. Which meant Mom welcomed her into our group and our family without blinking. Then she tracked down Dad and the girls which led to a big round of introductions. They had to meet Miriam and I had to meet three guys of varying degrees of douchebag that Aislynn, Alaina and Abby brought with them. Although truth be told, the guy with Abby didn’t seem so bad. Not good enough for me to remember his name but attitude didn’t roll off of him in waves like Alaina’s boyfriend. Him I hated immediately.
The music played, people talked and laughed. Cain and Flannery found Cain’s parents, who were there every year. It was kind of nice, even though I’d hated these parties with a passion up until now. I’d put money on the fact that it had more to do with the company I had rather than the party itself.
“Come with me,” I whispered into Miriam’s ear where no one else could hear me.
She nodded, set her glass down and let me take her up the stairs.
“This was my room,” I flipped the light on and closed the door behind us. I had a reason to bring her up here though seeing her in my space, my thoughts had shifted.
“Like where you grew up?”
I nodded.
“I can see that. Now that you have me here, what are you going to do to me?”
“Ha! Don’t tempt me.” I walked into the closet, pulled the box I’d left there out and pulled out another box and leaned against the desk by the door. Miriam moved in between my legs. “Before everything happened I bought you a Christmas present. Or Hanukkah present. Whatever.” I shrugged. I really needed to find out how that works for her. “Obviously I couldn’t give it to you then, so I want to give it to you now.”
Up for Everything (Up for Grabs #3) Page 19
