15 ALICE
As I drive down the road with him in my rearview mirror, my eyes begin to fill with tears, and my heart is filled with dread.
I feel like I’m making a big mistake, and the crazy part is that I didn’t even feel this way the first time I left.
When I snuck out of the house and left while he was asleep, I felt excited, like I was finally free.
But now, I feel like there is only one place I belong, and it’s not in California. It’s here, with him.
But again, we’ve been back together for one week.
I shouldn’t act hastily. I need to think things through and figure out my options.
Just because I still love him doesn’t mean I need to give up everything I’ve worked for.
And I need to make sure he’s willing to give up just as much as I am.
I can’t be the only one who’s giving things up. That was our problem before.
My heart is begging me to turn around and go back to him, but my brain is telling me to go home and to figure out the answers to these questions before just acting on impulse. My brain is smart, and I know it’s right. But I’m ruled by emotion. My heart always wins.
I take a deep breath as I push myself to keep going, my brain telling my heart to shut it.
The roads are clear, and it’s easy to find my way back into town and to the airport where I rented the car from.
I park the car and grab my bag and purse before heading inside the airport.
There’s a long line of people, and I have a seat, suddenly in no hurry to leave this little town, I hated only a week ago.
I sit by the window and think things over.
I love Cole, and it’s easy to see that Cole still loves me.
These past ten years haven’t been fun for either of us.
We’ve both been living without our other half.
But we’re lucky because somehow, despite the odds, we found one another again.
We’ve been given a second chance. But here I am, walking away from it.
What if we’re not given another chance? What if leaving is what does us in?
What if we can’t handle the stresses of a long-distance relationship? Am I making a mistake by leaving?
Chill, Alice. Think this through. If you stay, how do you see your future playing out?
I think things through a little better. The city is fun, but it hasn’t felt like home in a long time.
I look around the airport and then out the window to see the town I practically grew up in.
I could live here. I could find an empty building and buy it to have a studio here in town.
Any orders placed at the California location could be forwarded here, and I could mail out the costumes when I finish with them.
I could even hire someone else to hold down the smaller jobs in California.
I could take on twice the amount of clients.
Now that I’ve started my business, I could run it from anywhere.
It’s starting it up and making it successful that’s the hard part.
The more I think about staying, the more I feel like I could make it work.
Ideas form in my head, and I know I have what it takes to make such a big change and still rock it.
It’ll be a new adventure. I’m standing at a fork in the road, and it’s time to make a decision.
Do I go right and go back to California to resume my life, or do I go left and see where fate wants me?
I’ve always trusted fate to lead me in the right direction. Why should I stop now?
It’s not long before I’m pulling back up to the cabin and rushing up to the steps with my bags on my shoulder. I try the knob, but it’s locked, so I knock over and over and over. The door flies open, and Cole is standing on the other side, looking confused.
“What are you doing here?” he asks in awe.
I laugh. “I’ve been sitting at the airport, trying to decide what I should do,” I say.
He pulls me into the house and closes the door behind me. He quickly kisses me as his happiness is growing too much to contain.
“And?” he asks.
I smile as I pull the divorce papers from my purse and toss them into the fire. “And I’ve decided to stay home.”
“This home?” he asks with a smile in place.
“Home is with you, Cole. I’m home.”
Faster than I can process, he pulls me in, and his mouth finds mine. My bags slip from my shoulder and fall to the floor, then he carries me back to the bedroom and kicks the door shut behind us.
No sooner than the door has closed, his hands are on my stomach, pushing my shirt up.
He tugs it over my head and arms and then slings it across the room.
We fall onto the bed, and his mouth gives to mine while his fingers work to free me from my bra.
It unsnaps, and he pulls the straps from my arms.
Seconds later, it’s gone too, and I’m pulling his shirt up his chest.
When both our chests are bare, he pulls me closer, and the skin-on-skin contact feels amazing.
His flesh feels so hot it might as well burn me.
My legs wrap around his hips, and his hips move against me, grinding against a part of me that is almost begging for attention.
“What’s the matter, Alice? Someone getting impatient?”
“Yes,” I breathe out. “Please, make me come undone already, Cole.”
He can't resist my begging for him, and within seconds, he has my pants off, and his mouth is between my legs, his tongue pushing me closer and closer to falling over the edge.
My back arches and every muscle in my body tightens as my release begins to build.
My fingers lace into his hair, tugging at the root until he’s found the spot I need and the pace it takes to get me there.
Without warning, my release rises higher than it’s ever been before.
It shatters and breaks, raining down on me hot and strong.
My entire body has erupted in tingles like I’ve just jumped into the ocean, and the waves are beating me and pulling me down, not allowing me to catch my breath before another wave knocks against me.
I hold my breath as long as I can, and I enjoy each strong wave.
When I can’t do anything else, I suck in a deep breath, more than ready to drown, but to my surprise, air fills my lungs and my eyes open, realizing I’m in a bed and not at the bottom of the sea.
I pull his mouth up to mine, and I can taste myself on his tongue.
I push against him until he rolls over, and then I kiss my way down his body and between his legs.
I free him from his pants, and then I move his tip to my mouth, wanting to pleasure him more than ever.
His hand tangles into my hair, and he moves me at his pace.
His breath is labored, and his hips lift off the bed with each pass from my mouth.
His soft moans and whimpers are enough to have me excited all over again.
Listening to how much he enjoys me pleasuring him in this way makes me excited all over again.
I keep pushing him farther and farther back into my mouth, and I don’t stop until he’s begging me to.
When I finally pull away, I move up his lap and slide down his hard cock until he’s filling me completely.
His hands grab my hips, and they squeeze and hold me against him until we’ve both calmed down.
Slowly, he lets me start to move up his shaft and back down, painfully slow.
The slowness is just what I need, though.
It allows my release to build stronger and stronger until I can’t hold it back anymore.
When my hips start to move faster, his hands tighten on my hips, and he holds me down, not allowing me to move.
I feel like I’m going to go insane, and after fighting one another for several minutes, he flips me over and pounds into me so hard I feel like I’m being split in two, but that’s exactly what I need because I come, long and hard, and more powerful than I ever have before.
I moan and whimper and beg for more. I call out his name and rock against him.
My heart is racing, and my lungs are doubling their normal pace.
Every hair on my body stands on end and chills race up my spine.
His lips move to mine, and he kisses me soft and slow.
I tighten my hold on his neck, and I kiss him until I can’t breathe. “I love you, Cole.”
He kisses my jaw, my neck, and the swell of my breast.
“I’ve never stopped loving you, Alice.” He sucks my nipple into his mouth, and then he pulls away and flips me over.
“I’m never going to stop loving you. You’re mine now, and I’m never going to let you go again,” he whispers into my ear as he slams into me from behind, making me call out.
My hands turn to fists in the pillows, and I cry out as he works himself faster and faster until he’s falling over the edge and emptying every last drop into me.
When he collapses, he pulls me against his chest and holds me close.
I feel like I finally have everything in the world.
I have my dream career and the life I’ve always wanted.
I have him. And I know things never would’ve worked out this way had I not left, so I can’t hate the ten years we spent apart.
Again, I’ve always trusted fate, and this was a part of our journey.
This was the road we had to take to get together.
This is our path, the guarantee that we will make it.
If we can make it over a ten-year separation, we can make it through anything.
I don’t know what life has in store for us, but I know that we’ll never give up. We’ll never stop fighting for one another. We will get our happily ever after because we won’t stop until we’ve found it. That’s a promise I’ll be sure to keep.
He presses his lips to the top of my head. “Good night, Alice.”
“Good night, Cole.”