“Don’t hurt me, Trent,” I beg him.
“Never. I promise. I love you, Lacy.”
I let myself go. I let my body react to his touch, his kiss, and his sweet whispers of love. “Show me,” I murmur against his mouth.
He doesn’t hesitate. He carries me up the stairs to my room and puts me on my feet next to my bed. He’s looking at me so intently, I wonder what’s going through his head.
“We don’t have to do this now, Lacy. We can wait until you’re sure.”
I blink. “I’m sure.”
But he shakes his head. “No, not sure. I guess I mean, you need to know something before we do this.” He sits down on the edge of the bed and pulls me down beside him. He turns, looking at me, and he’s holding both my hands in his. My heart is racing, wondering what he’s going to say.
“I love you, Lacy. I never stopped loving you. If we do this, you need to know that I’m never letting you go. If you decide tomorrow that you want to leave Forest Grove again, I’ll go with you. Where you go, I go. We are never going to be apart again.”
I raise my eyes to his face. We’ve both been so hurt. By his parents’ death, by decisions we’ve made, we’ve lost so much time. “I’m not leaving Forest Grove. And I’m never leaving you. Even if you push me away, decide you don’t want me anymore, I have no dignity left when it comes to you, Trent Keller. I want us, for as long as you’ll have me, I want to be right by your side.”
He releases my hands and cups my cheeks, forcing me to look at him. He doesn’t have to tell me how he feels because I can see it in his eyes. “I wish I’d never left,” I tell him in sadness.
But he shakes his head. “We can’t change the past. All we can do is take care of our future. Me and you, Lacy.”
And then he kisses me.
It’s the same sweet, thorough kiss that curls my toes and gets my blood pumping through my veins. But it’s different too. More intense. My heart pounds beneath my rib cage as he pulls me toward him until I’m straddling his lap.
His arms are tight around me, holding me against him like he never wants to let me go. I could kiss him all night, but right now, I need more.
I tug at the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head. He releases me only long enough to free his arms, and then he’s touching me again.
His hand touches the bare skin of my back, under my shirt, and goosebumps raise on my arms.
When I shiver, he pulls back. “Are you cold?”
But I just shake my head. “No, it’s just been a long time.”
His forehead rests against mine, and he clenches his eyes tight together. “I need to know, Lacy. And I know your answer may kill me, but I have to ask. Was there anyone else?”
I dated other men. I did it to try and get over him. But it was useless, and I know that’s not what he’s asking me. “There’s not been anyone else, Trent. Only you.”
He lets out a breath and then gives me a killer smile. “Me either. Only you, Lacy.”
He starts to pull at my shirt, but I stop him. He looks at me questioningly. “I’m different now. My body’s different,” I tell him with heat on my cheeks.
I put on the freshman fifteen but didn’t stop there. I’m probably thirty pounds heavier than I was in high school.
“I don’t care,” he says, lifting his hips against me so I can feel the bulge in his pants as he pushes against my most sensitive parts. “You are beautiful to me, and no matter how different you are, I will always love you.”
We stare at one another until finally I nod. He reaches for my shirt again and pulls it over my head. He stares at me then, taking in all the new curves of my body. But instead of disgust on his face, all I see is desire.
He cups my bra-covered breasts before unlatching the front clasp of my bra. It falls from my shoulders, and I let it fall to the floor.
His hands cup my breasts and each caress and squeeze causes me to grind my hips into him. When he bends his head, I stop breathing, and when he latches on to one hard peak, my back arches, and I about fall backwards onto the floor.
But he catches me, turning me so fast that I’m lying on my back on the bed and he’s on top of me, suckling my breasts, moving from one to another.
His hands go to my waistband, and I’m kicking off my shoes as he pulls my pants and underwear down.
With a mixture of awe and desire, he lies on his side, looking me up and down, taking it all in.
“Fuck me, Lacy,” he says, panting.
I try to pull him toward me, but he doesn’t move. “I will if you’d quit staring at me.”
He chuckles but shakes his head. “I can’t. Damn, you’re perfect, honey. I have to slow down or this is going to be over before it starts.”
A thrill runs through me knowing that I affect him that way. I run my hands across his chest before finally stopping on his belt buckle. “That’s okay. We have all night.”
“We have forever,” he corrects me.
I get his pants undone and slide my hand inside. “You’re right: we have forever.” I grip his hard manhood. One stroke and then another, and my hand is coated in precum.
His hips buck into my palm, and I love the way he tosses his head back, gritting his teeth as if he’s so close to losing it, but fighting it.
He pulls off his pants and climbs over top of me, kissing my skin. With each touch of his lips, my body jumps. I’m in agony, enjoying his touch but knowing I need him in the rawest way to feel complete and as if this is real.
We’ve done this before, years ago, but it still feels new to me. “Trent, please?” I beg of him, pulling him over top of me.
When he’s hovering over me, I’m running my hands across his chest, over his shoulders, and down his back. Everywhere I touch, I can feel his muscles move and shift as I learn his body again. He’s staring into my eyes, and emotion threatens to well up inside me. Don’t cry, I tell myself. Don’t cry.
I reach down between us and wrap my hand around his girth. I lift my hips, lining him up at my entrance. He kisses me, deep and thoroughly, telling me how he feels when the words just aren’t enough.
He moves his hips, just slightly, pushing into me, and I put my feet wider on the bed, welcoming him.
He doesn’t stop until he’s completely inside me, and once there, we’re staring back at one another, both of us with misting eyes.
“We’re going to be all right, Trent,” I tell him, maybe because I need to hear it too.
“Yes, we are,” he says before he starts moving in and out of me. We move against each other, both of us finding our way. He reaches between us, coating his fingers in the slick heat of my slit before circling my clit. He adds the perfect amount of pressure until I’m lifting my hips off the bed, meeting him thrust for thrust until every move I make becomes erratic and I have no control of what I’m doing.
He doesn’t stop moving until I’m hollering his name. “Yes, Trent, please don’t stop.”
“You’re mine, baby. You’ve always been mine,” he says, his hot breath against my cheek as his body strains, and he grunts his release, putting both of us over the edge until we’re just lying there in a tangle of arms and legs, breathless and completely and utterly happy.