Chapter Forty-Five
MARINA
PRESENT
The sound of glass clinking echoes through the house as Miles walks around the living space, collecting all of the empty beer bottles from our makeshift housewarming party last night.
I yawn as I stand at the sink, rinsing the dishes and stacking them in the dishwasher next to me.
Last night ended up being a late one. Isla and I got slightly more tipsy than we had intended, and when I tipped out a puzzle on the wooden floor at midnight, we spent way too long trying to get our drunk brains to comprehend what we were looking at.
“Tired this morning?” Miles asks from where he’s picking up a rogue puzzle piece off the floor.
“I slept enough,” I say. It was past ten by the time we were out of our plush king mattress that’s currently plonked in the middle of the bedroom floor.
“But yeah.” My body is still getting used to being on birth control.
I might be overthinking it and imagining differences in the way I feel.
But the one thing that hasn’t changed is just how much I want to get my hands under Miles’s clothes.
“This might sound bad,” Miles says as he comes to stand behind me, resting his hands on my hips, “but you look fucking amazing in this kitchen.”
“Oh yeah?” I say, leaning back against his shoulder, before realising it’s the wrong shoulder. “Oh, shit! I’m so sorry!” I spin around in his arms but he’s just smiling down at me.
“Didn’t even feel it,” he says.
Miles has his last physical therapy appointment later today, it’s the one where they will either clear him for work or not. But there’s no reason that they won’t. Miles’s recovery has gone so smoothly, it’s surprised everyone.
That means today is the day I’ll find out if he’s going back to work or not. I hope the day drags out, because I’m not sure if I want to know.
I’m not sure if I can handle knowing that he bought this house for us just for me to spend half of my nights all alone in here.
But anything is better than not having Miles in my life at all. If he wants to go back to his job, then that’s what he should do, as long as I know that he’s flying home to me. I might have to get a guinea pig or something to keep me company.
He slides his palm across my cheek, holding my head in his hand.
He’s looking down at me like he’s trying to read me, and I realize that for as much as I’ve been expecting him to open up to me, I haven’t done much of it myself.
I haven’t stood here and told him how desperately I want him to stay, how much I love that he bought this house for us, and how much I want to make it a home with him.
Putting my heart on the line feels risky, and I don’t know if it will make any difference to his decision, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if I let him go without saying it.
“I love you, Miles.”
The tired look in his eyes is quickly replaced by a shine, like he’s surprised those words just left my mouth.
“I didn’t mean to just blurt it out the other day,” he says. “There should’ve been flowers and doves and I don’t know… A string quartet.” A smile curls my lips as I listen to him ramble. “I di dn’t mean for it to feel so casual, because what I feel for you, princess, is anything but casual.”
“You didn’t quite give off casual when you bought a house for us before talking to me about it,” I say.
His other hand finds the other side of my head, holding me steady as he locks his gorgeous eyes on mine. “I love you, Marina D’Angelo. I think I’ve loved you since the moment you put that pilot’s hat on your head.”
“That’s a little quick off the mark, don’t you think?” I grin.
“Considering it took four years before we could be back here, it feels fine to me.”
“Hm,” I tip my head in his hands, “whose fault was that?”
“I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you,” he brings his lips to mine, “I swear it.”
“You can start now,” I say, as if he hasn’t spent every day since he got here already doing that. I wrap my arms around his waist, letting my hands rest on the top of his ass.
“Oh yeah?”
“Mm-hmm.” I nod, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth as heat rolls through my body.
“How can I be of service?” he says, his fingers trailing down my arm. His light touch leaves me aching for more.
“Keep touching me,” I breathe.
“Is this what you like?” he asks, his finger trailing from my chin down my chest, his fingertip finds my nipple through the thin cotton of my tank, circling it at an agonising pace before it continues its journey down my body, stopping at the band of my sweatpants.
I nod, incapable of words as I lean back against the sink.
“Should I take these off of you?” he asks. I just breathe in response, letting my head hang back as he runs his finger along my stomach, teasing the edge of the plush fabric. “Should I see just how wet you are for me?”
“Please.” The word slips off my tongue before I can even think .
Miles slowly kneels in front of me, his breath skating across my abdomen before he presses a kiss just below my belly button.
With every second I stand here, I get more and more impatient, more and more desperate to feel his mouth on me.
He hooks his fingers in the waistband of my pants, slowly dragging them down my legs before they hit the floor.
“I don’t think I tell you enough how much I love your body,” he says, running his hands up the outside of my thighs. He presses a kiss to the inside of my leg, and all I want is for him to get a bit higher.
“These curves feature in my dreams every night.” His palm is flat as he slides it up my leg, over my hip and around my waist. My hands are gripping the edge of the sink, holding most of my weight as my knees get weaker by the second.
Miles drags his hands back down my body and he doesn’t hesitate before pulling my underwear down my legs, leaving them with my sweatpants around my ankles.
I suck air through my teeth as he slides a finger through my core. “You are divine,” he says as his finger comes back moist.
“More, Miles,” I moan, closing my eyes against the daylight shining through the window. “I need more.”
He’s standing in seconds, effortlessly picking me up. I wrap my legs around his waist, feeling my pussy on the rough denim of his jeans before I’m landing on the dining table.
Miles pushes my legs open, standing between them before one of his hands finds my face, and his lips are on mine. I lean back on my hands, moaning into his mouth when I feel his fingers back on me.
He rubs back and forth, teasing my clit as I loosely wrap my legs around his waist once more. My skin pulls against the wooden table as I rock back and forth, matching his pace.
His other hand moves into my hair, tugging gently as he pushes his finger inside me. He pulls my head back as I moan into the open room, heat pulsing through me as he works his finger inside of me .
The sound of my panting fills the empty room, but I’m focused on the sound of Miles’s breath, the feeling of it on my skin.
“Can you take one more, princess?” he says, his voice low in my ear before he’s sucking on my neck.
I nod frantically, the overload of sensations sparking fuses through my body.
It feels overwhelming, the way my body reacts to this man.
I can’t help but feel like nothing could break this thing between us.
This love. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before; it feels inevitable.
I open my mouth as Miles slides another finger inside me. “Holy, fuck.”
He just chuckles against my skin, his eyes hungry as he meets my gaze once more. His eyes roam over my face, watching as I screw my own shut when he hits just the right spot. My mouth drops open when he does it again, my hips jerking towards him.
“Miles,” I moan.
“That’s it, princess. You gonna come where we eat?”
“Oh my god ,” I cry out as his fingers pump in and out of me relentlessly, my release crashing into me like a meteor strike. Miles captures my mouth in a needy kiss, his tongue tangling with mine as he slides his fingers out of me.
I feel the loss of his touch as he pulls away, my lips swollen as I watch him rip open his belt buckle. I just stare with anticipation as his cock springs free of his pants.
My breath catches in my throat. He is so fucking gorgeous.
“Can I pull one more from you?” he asks as he steps back into me, lining his length up to my throbbing pussy. “Hm?” He tips my chin so I’m looking straight into those green eyes filled with need.
I just nod before pressing forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my lips to his. Our kiss is hot, laced with pure desire as the tip of his cock nudges my entrance, teasing me with every roll of my hips.
“Get inside of me,” I say into his mouth.
He grins against my lips. “Yes, ma’am.”
Miles has one hand on the table, the other wrapped around my lower back as he pushes into me. We moan into each other when we connect, my hands ripping at his hair.
I gasp as he begins to move. My body is still getting used to him, even after being together like this countless times since that night on my bedroom floor.
He slowly moves in and out, allowing me to stretch around him as we find our rhythm. But it feels right, like our bodies were built to fit one another. Like the universe built us as two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. A space left completely empty when we aren’t next to each other.
“Fuck, Marina,” he groans, using his hands to tighten my legs around his waist, letting him sit even deeper inside me.
I gasp when he hits my innermost wall, one of my hands falling from his neck and I lean back on it, letting my head hang as everything intensifies.
Miles’s hands are on my bare ass, pulling me towards him as he thrusts into me, leaving me with my eyes shut and my mouth hanging open.
“That’s it, baby,” he coos. “Let me hear that pretty little gasp again.”
My eyes pop open as he slams into me. “Oh. Fuck.”
I attempt to move my hips in time with his, but I give up all control as my core floods with fire, my muscles beginning to tighten throughout my body.
I let Miles move me and use my body as he wants, clinging back onto his neck, leaving our bodies flush as he gets quicker and quicker. Every thrust pushes me closer and closer towards the feeling I’m chasing.
“I love you,” he breathes, and it tips me straight over the edge.
I moan over his shoulder, hugging him as close to me as I can as he pumps into me, groaning as he finds his release seconds after mine.
We stay like this for a while, both of us panting, our chests moving against each other as we stay completely entwined with one another. My hands find his hair, stroking the scruffy brown strands down his neck. “I love you, too.”