by Cora Brent
“So I’ll see you later?” Derek asked. I felt his hand on my leg and heard the tone in his voice. We’d spent a lot of time together this week but the technical definition of sex still hadn’t happened between us. I wanted it to happen. I wanted everything with him.
“You’ll see me later,” I promised and held his eye for a few heated seconds. I stood up and leaned over to kiss him. “I’ll be home around nine. Let yourself in whenever.”
As I walked away I turned and looked over my shoulder to find him staring at me and a powerful jolt of desire almost brought me to my knees. The next few hours of pounding pizza dough in the kitchen were going to seem endless.
Once my shift was finished I couldn’t get home fast enough. I smelled like tomatoes and garlic and wanted to jump in the shower before seeing Derek. The instant I opened the front door a text came from him saying he’d be here in about twenty minutes so I had a little time.
After a quick shower I towel dried my hair and combed through the damp tangles before slipping into my pajamas. As soon as I stepped out of the bathroom I could see Derek was already waiting in my bedroom, stretched out on the bed with his shirt off as he flipped through the television channels. He sat up and switched the power off when he saw me standing in the doorway.
“You’re wearing my favorite nightie,” he said, flashing a smile that did all kinds of things to me.
I slid one strap off my shoulder. “It’s my only one. So it’s this or the Snoopy shirt.”
His smile faded, replaced by unmistakable desire as his eyes roamed over my body. “I’ll take this.”
My fingers searched for the light switch on the wall.
“Don’t do that,” Derek ordered. “Don’t turn the light off.”
I shouldn’t feel shy, not around him, not after everything we’d been through together. But my voice came out in a high-pitched squeak. “What should I do then?”
He rolled to his back and beckoned. “You should come here.”
Instead of climbing in next to him I swung my leg over to straddle his waist. Derek’s hands slid up my thighs, beneath my nightie and over my hips. He hissed out a moan when he found only skin and realized I wasn’t wearing any panties. The strap of my nightie slipped off my right shoulder and I let it fall before slowly pulling the other one down too, baring my breasts. He liked that, liked when I felt sexy enough to show off for him. His big hands squeezed my hips and moved me to a rhythm. Grinding on him always felt so good and I could come so fast this way but his jeans were rough against my skin and anyway I didn’t want to come like this tonight. I wanted all of him.
He was so hard when I unzipped his jeans. After he impatiently pushed them down I took a moment just to stroke him in my palm, enjoying how grew even more immense.
“This needs to go,” he growled, yanking on the nightie that was now puddled around my waist. I stretched and pulled it over my head while feeling his thumbs graze the most sensitive part of my body. I arched my back, already on the brink, but instead of increasing the pressure he returned his hands to my waist and sat up. I could feel the rock hard length of him pressing against me, searching for a way in, and I badly wanted to give it to him. He kept his eyes on me and I thought his face had never been so serious as he slowly moved his hand up over my bare back and into my damp hair as I shivered. We kissed hard, a fiery explosion of tongues and passion that threatened to carry me away so I flattened my palms over his broad shoulders and positioned my body, ready to guide him in.
But Derek wouldn’t be rushed. He wanted to kiss more. He wanted to run his tongue over my skin and knead my breasts. He wanted tease me with the tip of his dick until I was practically a quivering pile of need, moving back and forth against him without shame and ready to beg if that’s what it took.
Suddenly he stopped. He pulled away a few inches and we locked eyes. I really liked this, being able to see him so clearly with the lights on. I didn’t know why he was hesitating. If he needed me to say it out loud then I would.
“Please,” I said, breathing hard. “I want you so much.”
He cooperated without words. He eased me down and finished kicking his jeans off after grabbing something from his back pocket. I’d never thought of condoms as sexy but watching him crouched naked between my legs as his deep blue eyes stared straight into mine while he slowly slid a condom on was getting me so freaking turned on I couldn’t stand it. I opened my legs as wide as I could and he was careful as he braced his weight on his elbows before pushing himself inside. My skin stretched and I sighed with pleasure, welcoming the massive feel of his body. Derek moved gently until I was used to him and when I started to shake from the shattering tide of the oncoming orgasm he went faster, harder, until I was clutching him and going to pieces as the wave crashed into me.
“I love you,” I gasped and it was true and it wouldn’t even bother me if he didn’t say it back. Love was a great thing and I did love him so I wanted him to know. “I love you, Derek.”
He was still pumping hard and I came again, reveling in the natural way our bodies collided. This was the romance that people were forever searching for, the kind of connection that transcended lust and the quest for an orgasm. This was making love.
“I love you, Paige,” he said while he moved inside of me and I understood everything now. I understood what it really meant to connect with someone.
Derek wasn’t finished. I kissed him and he slowed his pace, each thrust a mighty push that went deeper than anything I’d ever felt before. When he finally came our mouths were still fastened in the longest of kisses until he broke free and issued a loud groan as he finished. When I felt him finally leave my body I almost whimpered in complaint.
“You okay?” he asked as he discreetly did away with the condom.
I smiled at him and planted a kiss on his muscled shoulder. “I’m fine,” I said and for once the words were true.
We didn’t sleep right away. Derek held me and we talked and made plans and at one point raided the kitchen, me wrapped in a bed sheet, him only in his boxers. I sat in his lap while we ate cereal out of the box and he grew solemn, holding my chin in his hand and brushing his thumb across my lower lip.
“What?” I wanted to know, feeling the heat of his scrutiny.
“You.” He grinned. “Us.”
I pressed my forehead to his. “I meant it,” I whispered, knowing he’d realize what I was talking about.
“So did I.”
I thought of something and laughed out loud.
He was confused. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing’s funny.”
“Hence the laughter.”
I lightly traced the contours of his chest. He was so beautiful. And so real, far better than any fantasy I could possibly come up with. “Something just occurred to me, that’s all.”
“Tell me.”
“This is how a great story would end.”
He thought about it then disagreed with a shake of the head. “No.”
“No?”
“No,” he insisted. “This is where the best part of the story begins.”
Then he kissed me again in case I tried to argue.
Epilogue
Derek
Six months later
“Where’s the food?” Kellan demanded when he barged into the kitchen.
I pointed to the piles of raw meat that Paige had set out on the table. “Have at it.”
“I don’t want e. coli poisoning.”
“Then wait until I actually barbecue.”
Kellan decided to look in the fridge instead. “Can I have this cheese?”
“No.”
“I wasn’t asking you. Paige, can I have this cheese?”
Paige was beside the sink cutting up tomatoes. “I can’t vouch for the expiration date.”
“That’s okay.”
“Seriously, Kel, I think it’s been in there since last Halloween.”
Kellan shrugged and took it anyway. “Cheese alway
s gets better with age.”
He tossed the cheese in the air, caught it and then peered out the window as several vehicles pulled up in front of the house. “Better get moving on that barbecue, big brother. The Gentrys are invading.”
I offered him a plate of raw meat. “In that case, how about you forget about the cheese and give me a hand?”
He set his cheese down and helped me carry the food out back. Thomas, Sam and Ric were already out there in the grass with Julianne and Noah, playing some kind of game that involved a red rubber ball and ever changing rules that were invented by Noah himself. I’d played that game with him before. I lost every time.
Julianne and Noah were living here but it was a big house so we didn’t cross paths every day. I’d moved in a month ago when Thomas took my place in the apartment with Kellan. It made sense because the apartment was close to the university and full of college kids. Frankly, I was tired of being around college kids. And Paige was very eager to have me move in, although she argued that I didn’t need to pay rent. I paid it anyway and also took on whatever small repair projects she needed me to do around the house.
“What are we celebrating anyway?” Kellan wanted to know.
I turned the dial on the new gas grill in the backyard. “The fact that it’s fall and the temperature finally dipped below a hundred I guess.”
Today had been Paige’s idea and she’d invited everyone. She was excited to have a big get together and open up the house now that the interior had been redecorated. I still wasn’t sure how many people we were expecting. I’d noticed my parents’ car along with Conway’s truck pulling up before we headed outside. Paige said her aunt and uncle were planning on being here at some point. And supposedly Cami and Dalton were going to stop by with their baby girl. She’d even invited Chris from the Super Q, who said he’d bring his wife and daughter.
The back door opened and Paige appeared, balancing a couple of bowls of chips in her hands while my mother followed right behind. Paige was laughing and she looked so brazenly beautiful she nearly took my breath away. I’d always thought she was beautiful but now she was downright stunning. The past six months she’d really made a lot of progress as she came to terms with her mother’s death, embarked on a new career path and even added a few healthy pounds to her slight frame now that she’d started dealing with her food and anxiety issues.
But I liked to think that I also had something to do with her newfound radiance. We were good for each other. More importantly, we were good to each other.
I didn’t mean for my mind to veer into pornographic territory while I was flinging raw meat on a barbecue grill but I’d caught a glimpse of my girlfriend’s legs beneath her short denim skirt and now I was having memories. Memories of what it felt like when those legs were wrapped around my waist last night while I rode her like a fucking king and-
“You’re burning the burgers, dude,” Kellan complained, interrupting my very nice train of thought.
So I was forced to stop remembering my girlfriend’s moans of ecstasy and handle the meat on the grill. That was okay. Hiding a massive boner while your extended family flooded your surroundings wasn’t fun anyway.
After spreading out the chips and snacks on the long picnic table, my mom put her arm around Paige and they returned to the house while still giggling over some private joke. It was possible my mother loved Paige almost as much as I did.
Meanwhile, my dad came over and sniffed at the meat on the grill. “You’re burning those, son.”
“That’s what I said,” Kellan spoke up.
“They’re just well done,” I argued, flipping over a few burgers.
Kellan snorted. “If you like the taste of charcoal.”
“It’s a gas grill, Kel.”
My dad had already begun nudging me out of the way. “Let the master take over. I taught your Uncle Creed how to barbecue. He was terrible, burned everything in sight. He never thanked me but I know he was grateful for the education.”
Uncle Creed was standing eight feet away and he heard his brother’s claim. He threw my dad a look, shook his head and went to go sit beside Uncle Cord, who had also arrived at some point when I wasn’t looking.
Thomas was trying to corral some of our cousins into a ball game in the expansive, grassy backyard while little Noah ran in circles around everyone. Sam and Ric had retreated to a stone bench in a shady corner of the backyard with Julianne. Paige’s best friends had good reason to be suspicious of me in the beginning but I felt like I’d gradually won them over. Just the other night Paige confided to me that the twins told her they’d never seen her so happy. Sam looked up and waved when she saw I was looking in their direction. I waved back.
Since Kellan and my dad had seized the grill and were now arguing with each over the status of medium well vs. well done meat, I decided to go indoors to see if Paige needed anything.
The rooms were much brighter now that they’d been repainted, the paneling torn down and the dark wood furniture replaced with airy pieces that gave the living room a beach house vibe. That’s where I found Dalton, in the living room, holding his baby daughter while he checked out something that was hanging on the wall.
He noticed I was standing nearby and hesitated, like he didn’t know if he should talk about what he’d been looking at. I didn’t mind if he talked about it. I wasn’t embarrassed.
“Six months sober,” I explained, nodding at the mounted coin that celebrated the milestone. Paige had even made me a certificate before framing it and sticking it on the wall. Before this my longest sobriety stretch had been during the five months I was incarcerated and that was only because I had no access to alcohol. So I wasn’t embarrassed at all. I was proud.
Dalton smiled. “That’s great, Derek. Seriously. And I hear you’ve been promoted to manager at the garage.”
The baby, Annabeth, gurgled and waved her arms. I reached out and she instantly grabbed onto my finger.
“Yup,” I said and smiled at the baby. “She looks like Cami.”
Dalton kissed his little daughter. “Of course she does. She’s gorgeous.”
“And it sounds like she’ll have a playmate now that Cassie and Curtis are expecting.”
“They are over the moon,” Dalton agreed. Then his smile became a little wistful as he gazed at me. “We’re all real happy that things are working out for you now.”
That meant a lot coming from him. I wanted to say something about Hale, about how he was never far from my mind, but mentioning Dalton’s lost brother out of nowhere might give him a moment of sadness so I just said, “Thanks for that.”
Annabeth squealed.
I looked around. “Have you seen my girl?”
“Yeah, she’s in the kitchen with my wife.”
Dalton wanted to bring Annabeth into the backyard to be fussed over by her grandparents and great uncles so I pointed him in the right direction and then wandered toward the kitchen.
Cami was cutting into a tray of brownies, Paige was chewing on a chocolate chip cookie and my mother was making Christmas plans.
“Imagine how it will look with all the twinkling lights along the eaves. Just like a postcard.”
“We should put a giant Santa on the roof,” Paige excitedly agreed. “I always wanted one of those.”
“You could stick him atop the chimney,” Cami added. “And have a sleigh with eight reindeer waiting on the ground.”
“Is it eight?” my mother asked. “Or nine?”
I was already lost. “Eight or nine what?”
“Reindeer,” Paige answered. “I think it’s nine with Rudolph.”
I stole one of Cami’s brownies and moved to stand beside Paige, sliding my arm around her waist. “Why are we obsessing over Christmas decorations? It’s three months away.”
“Holiday lights are serious business in this neighborhood,” Paige informed me. “All the neighbors will start working on their themes in October.”
“And I guarantee that by the time
we’re done planning this will be the most Christmas-centric house on the block,” my mother announced.
I felt obliged to point something out. “Ma, you’re Jewish.”
She shrugged. “So? You know I love Christmas decorations. After all, do you really think it’s your father who meticulously hangs all those handmade cardboard ornaments you boys made in elementary school on the tree every year?”
When they started deliberating on how I ought to go about scaling the roof to install eighty thousand twinkling lights I gave up on the conversation and began grabbing plates and condiments for the barbecue.
“Let’s go eat,” I said, carrying everything outside.
All kind of things were happening in the backyard. Thomas was refereeing a kickball game in the grass, my dad and Kel were arguing over meat, a half dozen Gentry men were actively trying to elicit laughter from baby Annabeth, and Noah tried to leap from a picnic table before being blocked by Samantha.
Paige stood at the threshold of it all and took my hand. “You know, I don’t think there have ever been so many people in this backyard before.” She sounded awed.
“It’s a regular circus,” I agreed, checking out the scene and thinking.
Here, in the midst of family and friends, we were standing in the middle of a dream come true. And now I understood something important that a lot of them had figured out already. The best thing that could happen to anyone is to find the right person to stand beside us on our journey through life. That was the foundation. That was everything.
I looked down to find Paige was smiling up at me as if she’d somehow read my thoughts.
“What?” I smiled back.
