“Sweetheart.” Tipping her chin up, I gaze into her bright blue eyes. “Shh,” I quiet her. “You kicked ass today and you’ll kick ass tomorrow. But not if you keep getting yourself all worked up like this.” Popping a kiss to her forehead, I hug her through a few more of her deep, calming breaths. Holding her at arm’s length, I say, “I’ll make your lunch. You take a bath. Then we’ll go to bed.”
“Sounds good. Thank you.” She brushes her lips against my stubbled cheek before walking away and toward the bathroom. “Oh and, David?”
“Yeah,” I respond, looking up from the mess she’s spread out across the kitchen counter.
“You’re cute when you get all listy,” she jokes, laughing as she walks away.
Shaking my head, I get to work. As I put together everything she’ll need for her first day of school, I overhear her singing too loudly in the bathroom. As I spread the mustard onto the bread, I catch a glimpse of the rest of our life. It’s a strange moment, one that freezes me in the here and now while everything around me fast forwards on.
With sharp focus, I see everything. A big house and a few kids. Happiness and tears. Laughter and love. Though intangible, I watch as if floating above my own existence as I arrive home from work. Kids racing toward my car, telling me all about their day at school. Grace watches from the front door, relieved I’m home from a twenty-four hour shift. Catching sight of the love and happiness glimmering in her eyes, my chest fills with more emotion than I can put to words.
I’ve heard people say they experience an “ah ha” moment, a definitive slice of time when their entire lives make sense.
This is that moment for me.
All the decisions I’ve made to this point have led me to Grace. To our future. To all the possibilities I’m not even aware of yet.
In the four months we’ve been together, I’ve come to love her more than I’ve loved any woman. And in the last four minutes, I’ve dedicated all my tomorrows to her. Without a doubt, Grace not only owns my heart, my here and now, all of my todays, she resides in all my tomorrows.
Smiling like a fool, I pull out my phone and look up her favorite poem. She mentioned it way back on that first night she took care of me after my pulled muscle. At that point, I filed it away, knowing one day it would be useful.
Knowing this will make her smile tomorrow, I copy the lines of E.E. Cummings’ “i carry your heart,” onto a piece of paper and tuck it inside her lunch.
After putting everything back into the fridge, I punch out a quick text to Jade, seeing if she has some free time tomorrow.
Sure. What’s up?
Need to do a little jewelry shopping. Figured you might want to help.
Are you serious? You better be serious. OMG this is amazing.
Laughing at the words popping up on my screen, I realize I probably shouldn’t have said anything until I was face to face with her.
I am serious. Very serious in fact. But you can’t say anything. You got that, loose lips?
Pinky swear. I’ll call you now.
And in total Jade fashion, she includes an emoji of said pinky swear.
No. She’s here now. I don’t want her to hear anything.
We finish out the rest of the conversation, making plans to meet up during her lunch break at a jewelry shop close to her office. I delete the texts to be sure that a certain hot redhead doesn’t see anything she shouldn’t. Just as I slide my phone back, I hear the bathroom door open and soft footsteps pad into the bedroom.
“What’s the goofball smile for?” Wrapped in a towel, her skin all pink from the hot water, Grace sits on the edge of her bed. Her red hair is darker when it’s wet, looking more brown than red, but beautiful nonetheless.
Sitting down next to her, I turn her so she’s facing away from me. The drops of water on her shoulders mix in between her freckles, tempting me to drink them up before I devour her. “Nothing you need to worry about,” I answer as my fingers move over her skin, working out the knots and kinks from the day.
Rolling her neck to the side, she groans, making my body instantly stiffen. “That feels so good.”
Fighting as hard as humanly possible, I resist the urge to kiss her neck, lick those damn droplets of water. “Good, baby. Just relax. Let me take care of you.”
She groans again, leaning into my touch and what I intended to simply be a massage to help her ease into the night quickly morphs into something more. Reaching around to the front where the towel is tucked into itself, I unwrap the fabric, letting it drift down her body. “David,” she whispers my name. Her shallow breaths convey her need and amplify my own.
The spot where neck meets shoulder calls to me, making it impossible not to nibble on the soft skin there. My lips move across her neck and shoulders as my fingers work their way down her chest, tracing the curves of her lush breasts. Hardened into stiff points, I toy with her nipples, making her lean back into my chest. With her back to my chest, and the towel in a damp heap on the floor, I openly take in her body. Naked and writhing into my touch, Grace’s beauty is too much for me to take in. Needing more room than only the edge of the bed, I pull us more fully onto the mattress. Moving her head into my lap, her face rests on my upper thigh. “Open your legs, baby. Let me touch you. Make you come.”
Without hesitation, she spreads her legs, exposing her sweet flesh. My fingers dip into her tight pussy, reveling in her warmth. “Fuckin’ hell. You’re so hot.”
Near breathless, she writhes against me, grinding into my hand. I arch my body as her hands move to my waist. Sliding down the waistband of my mesh shorts and boxers, she wraps her hand around my cock. Pulling it toward her mouth, she licks and kisses it as my finger circles her clit. “Your mouth. Holy shit,” I cry out when she takes me all the way to her throat. My fingers move frantically in her pussy, plunging deeper as her mouth takes more and more of my cock. Seeing this erotic fantasy play out right before my eyes is almost more than I can take. “I need to be inside you. Now,” I demand with one final circle around her clit.
In a quick move, we’re in the center of the bed, her soft, needy body beneath mine. Smirking down at her, I wrap an arm around her waist and flip her onto her stomach. Without saying a word, I move her body, loving how easily she complies. On her hands and knees, facing away from me, I stroke a hand down the center of her back. “You’re stunning.”
Shooting me a sexy-as-sin look over her shoulder, she tells me, “You’re pretty incredible, too.” Her eyes travel over my body, settling on my hand working over my cock. “Please tell me you’re about to use that on me.”
“Only ever you, baby,” I promise, my words holding more meaning than she can fathom right now. Teasing the wide head of my cock over her slick flesh, my legs begin to shake. Only Grace does this to me. Makes doing the simplest things, like breathing and holding my body steady, far too impossible. Easing into her, I revel in the warm deliciousness of her tight body opening for me. Her hands grip at the pillow, white knuckled and flexing in pleasure.
“Oh, God . . . David . . . oh, my God . . .” Her words fall from her lips, a delicate balance of curse and prayer, of satisfaction and need.
“I know, baby. Oh, God, do I know.” With each plunge, her body shakes more. Within seconds, she’s incapable of holding herself up. More than happy to help her out, I secure an arm around her waist, supporting her. The soft curves of her body fit perfectly into the muscled lines of mine. In a grip I’m sure will leave bruises on her hip, I hold her steady, diving into her from behind. She bounces on my lap, crying out my name on every hard thrust.