Chapter 16 Dane
Dane
I didn't have to get up, though, I realized with a drowsy half-smile—I had the day off of work today.
So, I let myself be sleepy and content.
The ceiling wasn't that of my bedroom at Mom and Dad’s…
A smile spread across my face as the night before reclaimed my memory.
Lindsey.
As her name washed through me, the woman herself stirred. We hadn't moved all night—she was still in my arms, cradled against my chest. Her naked body was hot and silky against me, her thigh draped over mine, her hand resting low on my belly.
God, I loved her.
It filled me with a soul-deep peace and with an intense, wild, primal possessiveness; the two were a dichotomy within me, but I didn't question it.
I normally couldn't fall back asleep once my eyes opened, but with Lindsey sprawled out on me, her hair tickling my nose and her hand teasingly close to my dick and her breasts against my ribs and her breathing soughing on my skin, I found myself drifting back into a light sleep.
I woke again to a pink-yellow light from the sunrise bathing the room.
"Hi." Lindsey's voice was a delicate whisper.
I looked down at her, smiling. "Hiya, Gorgeous."
She blushed. "Thank you for last night, Dane. It was…" her eyes misted, blurred. "It was the best night of my life."
I brought her up for a kiss, intending it to be a quick soft closed-mouth good morning peck, but she had other ideas.
The moment our mouths met, she moaned and opened her mouth to mine, and while I knew we both had to have morning breath, I didn't care, didn't notice.
All I knew was the glory of her mouth, the heat of her kiss, the wildness of her need, the depth of her love.
She pulled away first, looking a little dizzy—which did wonders for my ego, knowing I could make her dizzy with a kiss.
"Best night of my life, too," I whispered.
She searched me. "Dane, I…" she buried her face in my chest, blushing.
"What, baby? You know you can tell me anything, ask me anything."
She nodded slightly, sighing. “Yeah, I know.
I just…" another sigh, and then she lifted her head to look at me again.
"I don't ever want to be apart from you again.
I know this is maybe, like, zero to sixty, but I just…
I woke up with you just now, and I slept so good, and I'm so happy, and I love you so fucking much it kinda scares me, but I…
I just can't bear the idea of not falling asleep with you.
" She cupped my cheek. "I don't care what our life together looks like, Dane.
I'll live in a shack or a van down by the river or a mansion on a hill.
I don't fucking care, as long as your face is the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning. "
My heart flipped, burned. "My god, Linz." My eyes stung unexpectedly, and my throat felt tight. "I couldn't ask for anything more."
She leaned on an elbow. "Dane, are you…crying?"
I cleared my throat gruffly. "Yes. Dunno why." I sniffed a laugh. "That's a lie—I do know. I've loved you since we first met. That night, while we were fucking, I knew. I just knew that you were it for me. I knew then that I'd never want anyone else. I'd never be with anyone else."
She shivered. "For real?"
I nodded. "Absolutely for real, honey. I knew I was in love with you then. I may not have been willing or able to admit it to myself or put it into words, but I knew, deep down, what I was feeling. I've seen it enough to know what it looks like."
She settled back down onto me. "Can I tell you something kinda weird about me?"
I chuckled. "Please do."
"I think diamonds are stupid."
“Okay." I wasn't sure what to do with that information or where it was coming from.
"And I reject outright the gender norms regarding marriage proposals."
My heart clattered in my chest as I began to grasp a glimmer of where she was going with this. "Linz?”
Her hand covered my mouth, and she wriggled upright enough to lean on my chest, gazing into my eyes. "Hush, Dane. Let me talk."
I nodded.
She removed her hand, resting it on my chest while gazing at me with such open and blinding love that I almost wondered who this woman was—she was utterly transformed from the person I'd known just yesterday.
She was bright and free, light and wild, joyful.
Her eyes sparkled like sunlight glittering through icicles hanging from the eaves of a roof.
"Be mine forever, Dane." She swallowed hard, emotional but unafraid. "Please? I don't want or need a ring. I don't care if we ever get married. I just want you. I want to wake up like this every single fucking day until I die in your arms."
"What if I said I wanted to marry you?" I asked. "What if I said I wanted you to be my wife, to become Lindsey Badd? What if I wanted to buy you a ring? It doesn't have to be a diamond."
"I'll marry you tomorrow," she said. "I'll wear any ring you give me. I'll take your name. I'm just saying it can look…however. I don't care. Just please, Dane, promise me that I'm yours forever, starting right now.”
I palmed her ass, getting a sly grin from her. "You're mine forever, Lindsey. You're mine, and I'm yours. You have my heart. You have my soul. You certainly have my body. You have my past, my present, and my future."
She let out a shuddery breath. "Oh god, Dane. I swore to myself I was done crying."
"Don't. Cry when you need to cry." I cradled her closer. "I've got you."
“You've got me."
"Forever."
"Forevah evah?"
“Forevah evah," I promised.
"I’m sorry, Ms. Jackson…ooooh! I am for reeeeaaaal!" She sang the chorus under her breath. "I love that you always know what I'm referring to."
We drowsed together, then, not quite awake, not quite asleep. I was on the verge of dropping back into a surface-level snooze when I felt her shift a little, sliding her thigh lower down mine, draping more of her body on top of mine. Her hand, resting on my belly, slid south.
"Mmmmm," I hummed, pleased at the direction this was going.
"Mmmmhmmm?" she murmured wordlessly.
“Mmmmmhmmm."
She curled her fingers around my cock, which was, until that moment, flaccid and soft, laying off to one side. "Mmmmmm-hmmmmmm.”
At first, she just held the soft little fella in her hand, and he responded gradually, swelling slowly. Once she felt him start to unfurl, she stroked with her thumb, gently petting. This lasted…oh, I don't know. Minutes. Long, slow, wonderful minutes of unhurried affection.
Eventually, I was erect in her fist, and she was lazily pumping me, stroking me, twisting around my head, rolling her thumb over my tip.
Eyes closed, I breathed slowly and just enjoyed her touch as she toyed with me, caressing my cock as much for her own pleasure as mine.
More long, groan-inducing minutes of slow strokes and soft caresses had me arching and writhing under her touch, feet scraping at the sheets, spine arching and bowing.
I didn't want it to end. I didn't want to come.
I fought off the urge to push into her touch, the urge to move, to thrust.
I felt the sheet and blankets move and cold air wash over my naked body, and then Lindsey was kissing me, taking my mouth and demanding my breath, stealing it, leaving me breathless and aching and swollen and desperate.
She broke the kiss, and her soft small hands were both caressing my cock and I was throbbing, helplessly bucking into her fists as they plunged down my shaft.
"Fuck, baby," I whispered. "I love how you touch me."
She didn't answer.
Not in words, at any rate.
She kissed my mouth again, this time quick and soft, and then kissed my chest, rested her cheek on my pec for a moment, and then kissed my diaphragm. I had inkling where she was going, but for the moment, it felt too fucking good to stop her.
She kissed my belly. My navel.
My hipbone.
"Linz?" I murmured. "No. Please don't."
She kept one hand plunging down my cock, and the other slid up my torso as she kissed my belly again, and then my other hipbone, and then my thigh. Her upward-wandering hand patted my face and then clapped over my mouth.
I tried to protest again, but she muffled anything I would have said, and her lips ghosted over my thigh, and I felt her breath huffing hot on my shaft.
And then her mouth was on my balls, softly suckling, tongue flicking, sliding. "Holy fuck," I gasped. "Linz!"
“Mmmmmhmmm!"
Her mouth slid upward, stuttering sideways along my shaft, tongue dragging against my skin, and my cock was throbbing and aching so hard it hurt, and every fiber of my being wanted her to take me into her mouth.
"Lindsey, wait," I said, instead. "Don't. Please don't. I don't need it. Just make love to me."
She didn't listen.
Her mouth slid up my cock, oh so slowly, lips and tongue wet against my flesh, and I arched my back and gasped as she covered my weeping tip with her lips, and her tongue slithered against me as she tasted my precum.
"Linz," I growled, trying again. "Don't. There's nothing to prove."
"I know," She whispered. "I’m not proving anything."
"Then—"
"I'm doing exactly what I want to do."
I opened my mouth to argue, but she chose that exact moment to take me into her mouth.
"FUCK!"
I had no clue what to expect next. Knowing Lindsey, in the back of my mind, I still half-expected her to stop and freak out, or, alternatively, to realize no freakout was coming and to go crazy, giving me a blow job for the ages…and then freak out.
She didn't freak.
Not yet, at least.
It felt fucking amazing, obviously. Her mouth was wet and hot, and her tongue eager, swirling soft circles around my cock. This wasn't just a blow-job; this was cock-worship.