I was caught up in the delight of being filled by him. I had convinced myself I would never experience him again. I was beyond thrilled he was back. I moved a little, adjusting him inside me. “I have dreamed of you every night.”
“This?” he asked as he stroked a hand down my spine. “Have you dreamed of me doing this to you?”
“Yes,” I whimpered as fresh new shivers of desire coursed through my veins. “This. Over and over.”
“I love you,” he said again and began to move. His strokes were long and purposeful. The usual fury of our lovemaking was gone. It was as if we both recognized we had time. We didn’t have to be in a race. There would be a next time and a next time after that.
“I love you,” I told him, realizing I had yet to say the words. I knew I loved him and had known it for some time.
The moment I said it, his cock grew inside me. My body tightened around him, squeezing him. I imagined myself holding him in my arms, hugging him tight. He gasped, sucking in a sharp breath as my body responded to his.
“I’m going to make love to you all night,” he promised. “This is just the beginning. This is to tide me over until we get home. I want you in my bed. I want me inside you.”
“Yes,” I gasped, my head dropping to my chest as he slid in and out of me. Every stroke touched new places. Every stroke sent my body into a wild tailspin of desire and need. “Please. Please. Don’t stop.”
He didn’t speed up his pace. He kept moving in that slow steady rhythm, sliding in, grinding his hips, and then gliding out and leaving just the tip inside me. The spasms rocking through me made it difficult for me to remain standing. I wanted to crumble in a heap at his feet with him still inside me.
“This is just the first,” he said, his voice strained. “I can’t hold back. Your body is milking me. You are too tight. Too hot. Too fucking wet.”
“Don’t hold back,” I told him. I needed his release. I could feel mine hovering just out of reach as if my body refused to give in until it had his complete surrender.
He let out a long, low groan. I felt him explode inside me. I kept myself from screaming with the pleasure that was shredding my nerves. My brain was in sensory overload. I couldn’t cry out. The very last thing I wanted was some Good Samaritan bursting through the trees to save me. I would kill anyone that stopped me from getting every last drop of pleasure from my man.
His arms reached around me, pulling me upright with him still deep inside me. The action spawned a new wave of tremors through my body. He grunted, sounding as if he had been punched as my body clamped down on him again.
“Damn woman, you are going to kill me if you keep doing that.”
I softly laughed, resting my head on his shoulder as he nuzzled my neck. “I think that it’s the other way around.”
“I want to get you home. I need more. I have a long week to make up for.”
“I think I kind of like this outside thing,” I teased.
He stepped away from me and slowly turned me around. Our bodies pressed against each other once again. It was a magnetic pull that was futile to resist. “I have a very private backyard.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that.”
“Get dressed. We’ll go to my place.”
He didn’t have to ask me twice. I quickly shook out my panties, praying to god no critters had taken refuge in them before pulling them on. We both dressed before he took my hand and led me out of the trees. “I feel like a naughty teenager. What would we have done if someone came upon us?”
He smiled, his white teeth flashing in the moon that had made a grand entrance while we had been cloistered in the trees. “We would have told them to leave us alone and let us finish our business.”
I giggled like a schoolgirl and helped him pack up his picnic. “I’m glad you chose to come back,” I told him.
He looked at me, directly into my soul. “I didn’t come back to the place. I came back to you. Wherever you are is where I would be. It isn’t where I am but who I am with that I care about.”
I sighed. “You are good.”
“Good?”
“This is the part where I tell you that you had me at hello. Except, I think I said hello first. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you, you were going to be a problem for me.”
He quirked his lips. “A problem?”
“Yep. You came into my neat and tidy life and shook things up.”
“I hope that’s a good thing.”
I hugged him again. I couldn’t stop touching him. “It’s a very good thing. It’s the best thing. But know this. You are stuck with me. If you try to run away from me again, I am going to chain you up and lock you in the basement.”
He grinned, his brows dancing. “Chains, huh? I didn’t know you were into the freaky stuff.”
“With you, I never know what I’m into. I wasn’t into having sex outside in a very public park until I met you.”
“I can’t wait to find out what else you are into,” he teased.
“Let’s go. I’m already feeling like I might drag you back into those trees.”
His soft laughter washed over me. It was like being wrapped up in love. I never dreamed I would have the love of a man like Xander. He was so perfectly flawed. I couldn’t wait for us to learn everything there was to know about each other. I knew we would heal each other. We would correct the flaws and weave together a beautiful relationship.
As I followed him back to his place, I let myself dream of our future together. I was probably getting ahead of myself, but I could see us having beautiful babies together. I could see us sitting at our children’s graduations and meeting our grandchildren together. It was a future I’d never imagined before.
And then there was Xander. Meeting him changed everything.
The bumpy road that Nelle recommended I take was turning out to be the best ride ever. I was never letting him go. I hoped he was ready for me to stick to him like glue. He was stuck with me. He could run, but I had already proven I would find him.
He was mine.
Epilogue
Xander
One year later
Pride. That was what I felt in that moment. My ships were heading out to sea. Everyone else was already making their way back away from the dock. I couldn’t leave just yet. I watched the ships navigate out to sea one at a time. I didn’t have children, but I imagined what I was feeling was similar to what a proud papa would feel.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Charlie next to me.
“This is a big day,” he said.
“It is. You pulled it off.”
“You pulled it off.”
“What do you think?” I asked him. “Is it going to work? Do you foresee them falling apart halfway around the world?”
He shook his head. “My guys did excellent work. That shit is solid.”
“Good. Those test ships seem to be holding up.”
“Of course, they will. My team is the best. Your idea wasn’t half-bad either.”
“Thanks,” I said, watching as one of the ships cleared the harbor.
“You know, you could have made a lot more money with that plan,” he lectured.