He straddled me again, my hands resting on his thighs as he positioned himself. My fingers curled around his shaft, my thumb circling the head of his cock as he opened the condom and rolled it down the length of my dick. He rocked against me as I kneaded the muscle of his ass with my hands. Spreading his cheeks, I teased him with my finger, pushing just the tip of it inside him.
“Do we need—”
“I’m good,” he said, bearing down onto my finger.
A wash of red colored his neck and chest.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whispered.
“Condom has… lube,” he said between fevered kisses. “Fuck me,” he begged, his eyes clouded with desire as the pad of my finger found his prostate.
Wild lifted up onto his knees, his nails digging into my shoulders as he sank down onto my dick. I didn’t move, waiting him out, breathing through the urge to push all the way in. I’d never get used to the way his body swallowed me whole, the trust he gave each time he let me in.
He eased himself down until his ass met my thighs and a hiss escaped my lips. “Fuck, you feel good.”
Raising to his knees, he found his rhythm, and I let him ride me until he shook with the need to come. Sitting up as much as I could, I brought our chests together. Wild’s arms draped over my shoulders, his hands twisted in my hair as he pulled me closer. My lips against his throat, a flood of heat poured down my spine. I leaned back and he watched as our skin slapped together with each pulse of my hips. I took his dick in my hand, jerking him until we were both grunting.
Wild came hard with a strangled cry, his head thrown back as the heat of his release covered my chest. I pounded into him, filling him over and over, chasing my orgasm until I was spent and sweaty and he fell into my arms. I didn’t care about the mess we’d made as I kissed his shoulder and held him against me. My heart a drum in my chest, Wild whispered a breathless “I love you…” against my ear.
I held his face in my palms, tasting those three words on his tongue as I kissed him.
“I love you too, Wild, so damn much.”
Having him like this, all to myself, his scent on my skin, his body wrapped tight inside my arms, I had no idea how I’d ever go back to my old life, or how the hell I planned to survive his absence come October.
WILDER
Whoever coined the phrase “time flies when you’re having fun” never accounted for what happened to time when a person was in love. Time was sand through my fingers, or worse, like rain drops during mid-summer, evaporating before they even hit the hot, black asphalt. One second, I had a month, and then the next it was the last Saturday in September. I had a little over a week before I left for Miami, and after Jaxon went back to Marietta tomorrow, I only had one weekend left with him. I had no idea how I would get through this fucking week, all those days wasted, without him. I tried to remember that I’d been lucky enough to get a few extra days here and there this past month when the house he’d been working on had delays. But my melodramatic heart wanted to shout into the void, who cares, those days are gone now. I wanted him to stay with me this week. I wanted to be independently wealthy and pay off all the bills he had, make his mother love me, and then take him on tour with me.
Sulking, I observed him from behind the book I was supposed to be reading. Jax was spread out on my living room couch, all rumpled and sex tousled from the blow job I’d given him twenty minutes ago. His legs covered in the soft cotton of his sweats, draped over my lap. I stared at him, committing the image to memory as he scrolled through his phone with one hand, his other dangling off the couch, absently scratching the top of Rosie’s head.
Completely unaware of my mental meltdown, his eyes glued to his phone, he said, “Ethan and Jason are headed back from Henderson State Park.”
I hummed, pretending to be engrossed in a book I’d read way too many times. Usually Tolkien was enough to quell my anxiety, today though, not so much.
He laughed and his eyes filled with light humor as he lifted his head. “Ethan’s been good for him. I never thought Jay would take to camping like he has. Maybe I needed to cut the cord sooner. Apparently, Jason told Ethan that I was free to stay in Georgia as long as I wanted.”
I sighed and let my head fall back against the couch.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, setting his phone on his chest.
I shut my eyes as I attempted to channel his cheerful mood and pull my shit together.
“Nothing,” I said, and he laughed.
I filed the rich sound of it away with the way he looked at me when he said I love you.
“I don’t believe that for a second.” He sat up, and without the weight of his legs to ground me I almost lost it.
“Can you call in sick on Monday… maybe Tuesday too?”
He pulled me into his lap, my book falling to the floor.
“I wish I could, but if I can get this job done sooner, maybe I can come see you at one of your Florida signings.”
He’d already given up this weekend with his brother to be with me. Guilt sat sour in my stomach. “I’m being needy.”
“I like you needy.” He nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck. “Besides, it’s not needy to want to be with your boyfriend, Wild.”
The word boyfriend got tucked into the file with the way his lips curled up on one side when he thought I was being funny.
“You could commute for the week?” I tried, but he shook his head.
“I’d never make it to the site on time. Plus, Hudson is already asking about the chick I’ve been shacking up with every weekend. I’m surprised my mom hasn’t asked me about it with how much he runs his mouth to anyone who will listen to him in Bell River.”
The mention of Hudson, his mom, his closet, grated on me. He said he would tell them once he was back home. But why not tell them now? Why wait? Give them time to reconcile it before he moved back. My old ghosts had started to push through the door I’d sealed shut since Jax had come back into my life.
He tilted my chin with his finger, looking into my eyes, he said, “I don’t want to go back to Marietta tomorrow, and I sure as hell don’t want you to go to Miami. But this is what we have to do. I’m yours. No amount of time is ever gonna change that.”
He kissed me, and I memorized the mint taste of his mouth, stashing it next to the way he groaned when I bit his lip. I’d take all these little pieces of him with me and keep them safe. Hoping that when I came home, he’d be here, and all the memories I’d held onto would be something to cherish instead of grieve.
Rosie jumped onto the couch and Jax laughed against my lips as she pushed her way onto our laps.
“Someone’s jealous,” he said in that sweet, adorable dog voice. He kissed the top of her head before ordering her off the couch. “Get down, baby.”
She hopped down and stalked off to the sliding glass door, Gandalf on her tail. They both stood and stared through the glass, Rosie growling at birds while Gandalf weaved through her legs.
“I think Gandalf likes Rosie better than me.”
Jaxon’s head tipped back as he laughed. “You are definitely feeling needy today.”
He grabbed my waist and lifted me until I straddled his thighs. His biceps bunched as he pulled me toward his chest. I loved the way he manhandled me, his firm touch another thing I didn’t want to forget. His hands snaked under my shirt, the calluses on his palms dragging across my skin.