Without thinking, I replied, “It wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough.”
“Enough?” She leaned down and pinched my chin between her thumb and index finger, steering my gaze toward hers, forcing me to hear what she was about to say. “You are always enough, Bowen. And this sometimes dark, cruel world has asked for more than enough from both of us. From me. From you. From everyone who survived the crash and more than that from the ones who didn’t. From Sally. We owe it to them and to ourselves to live. We are here. Right now, and by some kind of miracle, I get to love you.” The conviction and passion in her voice held me prisoner.
God, how had I ever even imagined a way to live my life without this woman?
Her hips shifted, and her lips ghosted across mine. “Let me save you tonight.”
It’s not all too masculine to admit that her heart-stopping words had owned me. I was a pretty big guy. Physically strong. Thankfully vital and healthy. Yet I felt weak and more vulnerable than I had felt safe enough to do in nearly a year.
The world still owed me nothing. What I had could all vanish in an instant. In my experience, over and over again. Tomorrow, it could all be gone.
But she was right; we had the present.
Fuck me, I had no idea I could ever love her more than I had in the past.
Once again, she held space for me to mentally work through the overwhelming emotion, her mouth exploring my body. Pleasing me. My neck. My stomach. My ribs. She was delicate and precise as she worked me over. She hummed, worshipping over every muscle and curve.
When she gripped my length in her palm before her face, my cock involuntarily flexed and she hissed, hungry and ready.
From base to tip, her hands and her mouth sucked me to Heaven with every lick and twist. She worked me over hard and fast, but every time she glanced up at me, her gaze stopped my heart.
“Babe,” I warned.
She ignored me.
I tapped her shoulder and my back arched, driving me deeper into her throat, but she took it and fuck…
“Babe,” I repeated, every muscle in my body going taut as my release tore through me. I moaned, throbbing and pulsing into her mouth.
Fucking beautiful.
She blinked up at me, lust and desire feverishly glowing in her eyes. Then, like a lioness, she gave her meal one last lick and stalked up my body.
After she’d climbed her way to my mouth, Remi tentatively kissed me and then smiled, clearly quite proud of herself.
“Oh, no. You’re not stopping here.” With my thumbs under her arms, I hoisted her higher until her gorgeous pussy was above my face.
There was no hesitation. She didn’t argue or try to fight me. Surrendering to what I wanted, she parted her legs more and lowered the rest of her weight onto my face.
I licked and sucked. Savored the taste of her.
Her hands lightly threaded through my hair. Her wetness quenched a thirst for her I never seemed to be able to satisfy.
“Bowen,” she purred, my name sounding longer than the five letters used to spell it.
As I savored the moment and let myself just be with her, I found something a lot like peace.
With her head back, she lifted herself up and her thighs trembled on either side of my head.
She was a vision.
And I was nowhere near done with her.
Looping my arms behind her knees, I rose with her and she wrapped her arms around my neck. Lowering her to the opposite end of the bed, I moved up her body, and without any assistance, my cock found her center and I sank myself inside her pulsating core.
Hot.
Wet.
Clinging to me like both our lives depended on it.
Maybe they did.
Because as much as the physicality of everything was sending me to places beyond my wildest fantasies, there was something more powerful coursing through us.
Something parallel and equally matched.
A fierceness and intensity that could only arise from a bond. A tethering. A linkage that felt like a live circuit running from me to her and back again.
The kisses were messy and raw. Our limbs snaked around one another. We clung to each other like life preservers in a rocky sea. Just holding on. Nothing in the past mattered, and the future was just as unknown for me as it was for her.
The only thing that mattered was that moment.
The bending and yielding, the screams and whispers true lovers make.
And she was mine again.
“I love you, Remi. So help me God, I’ll love you for the rest of my life.”
“Don’t ever leave me,” she begged as her mouth crashed into mine over and over. The thought was absurd. “Bowen, don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.” Her voice was shaky like she was crying. Only I knew that wasn’t the case because I had a front-row seat to the myriad of expressions overcoming her features as she finished again.
As she came down from her high, her chest heaved and her face was flushed. But a sneaky little smile tugged at her lips.
Yeah. That was my Remi.
“I love you too,” she whispered.
The world didn’t owe me anything, but I was beginning to wonder how much I owed it instead.
Remi
“Okay, who needs another?” Linda called out, holding up a plate with Rice Krispies treats covered in so much chocolate that it couldn’t even be considered drizzle anymore.
I smiled and looked at my trainer, John. “Does everyone get a party when they graduate physical therapy?”
He coughed out in laughter. “Does a final bill constitute as a party?”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll get one of those too.”
“My bank account appreciates it.” He shoved a heaping scoop of buffalo chicken dip into his mouth, grinning as he chewed.
Though I’d had my suspicions, Linda had never made it obvious I was her favorite. But that day, there was no mistaking it. She’d gone all out on this little graduation party. The breakroom—which I wasn’t even sure I was allowed to be in—had been covered in banners and balloons. There were cocktail weenies in a crock pot, chips, dips, cookies, you name it. She’d thought of it all. Right down to the delicacy of sherbet floating in a bowl of punch.
There was enough food to feed an army and definitely more than needed for me and the ten employees at Atlanta PT.
“Remi?” she called. “You want another, hon?”
I lifted my overflowing plate in her direction. “Still working on the first round.”
She beamed, her rich auburn hair brushing her shoulders. I could only hope I looked as good as she did when I was in my sixties. She might have only been a volunteer at the PT center, but she was well respected. So when she walked around stacking a second serving on everyone’s plate, not asking for permission or interest, no one said a peep.
It also could have been because the Rice Krispies treats were freaking unbelievable—no one with functioning taste buds and half a brain could have turned her down.
By the time she made it around to me, she had one left and she used her spatula to slide it onto John’s plate. She then lowered her voice. “Don’t worry. I have a whole plate for you in the back to take home. And I swear, child, if you say one word about paying me, I’m going to put you in my will so I’ll have the last word no matter what.”
I laughed. “Okay. Okay. Jeesh. My wallet is sealed. No need to resort to litigation.”