Chapter 15 #2
“Fuck, the sound my name on your lips does things to me, Gen.” Wrapping my hand around my cock, I align it with her entrance and push inside of her without warning.
She yelps a surprised cry that quickly turns into a pleasure-filled moan.
Grabbing hold of the lights wrapped around her wrists, I gently guide her arms up and over her head, forcing her back to arch.
I force her arms to stay upright, holding onto the strand that keeps them tied together, and I knead her breast with my free hand, thrusting into her relentlessly.
Moments later, our releases crash into us in a single, soul-shattering collision. I’ve never come so hard in my life, and for a second, all I can do is catch my breath on top of her—the rhythm of her breathing grounding me.
“Damn.” She releases a shaky exhale, a smile spreading across her lips.
“You can say that again.” I laugh, the intensity still lingering. It wasn’t just mind-blowing sex, our connection…that was something else entirely.
I roll off her, then reach to unplug the lights, plunging us into darkness. Gently, I unwind the strand from her wrists, then toss it near the edge of the bed.
As soon as I settle against her pillow again, she intertwines our fingers. So many emotions run through my mind, but I’m not sure how to articulate them. Gen stays quiet too, and I realize at that moment, words aren’t needed.
Our bodies spoke them for us.
She sighs contentedly and rolls onto her side to face me. I do the same, tucking a stray piece of her hair behind her ear. I’m about to tell her I’m falling for her when the smoke detector startles us both.
“Oh my God!” she gasps, bolting upright. “The cookies!”
“Why’s it smoky here?” Zee wrinkles her nose as she walks into Gen’s apartment thirty minutes later with Miller in tow.
We did our best to air out the apartment, but the second Gen started to shiver, I went around and closed the windows again.
I grin as Genesis groans. “Don’t ask.”
“Gen was a little tied up for a while, and we burnt a batch of cookies.” The image of her wrists wrapped in Christmas lights flashes through my mind, instantly hardening me again.
Rubbing her lower back, I shift her in front of me, not needing my cousin and his girlfriend to see how the memory is currently affecting me.
“This is going to take me a second to get used to,” Zee mutters, stepping further into the apartment.
Pebbles leaps from the couch and gallops over to Zee, jumping on her. She towers over Zee while on her hind legs, and Miller steadies her by placing his hand on her back as she sways.
“Hi, my girl. Auntie missed you so much,” Zee coos, ruffling Pebbles’s ears while the humongous dog licks her face. “Did you miss me? I missed you!”
Laughing, Gen shakes her head and busies herself as Zee and Miller settle into her apartment. I spring into action, moving around the kitchen as though it’s my own.
“You two are awfully cozy,” Miller observes with a playful quirk of his brow. “Can I do anything?”
“Yeah.” I thrust the platter of sliced pot roast toward him. “Make yourself useful and take this to the table.”
“Dick,” he teases, then balances it on one hand. “Give me something else.”
I pass him a gravy boat, and he tosses me a wink like he’s the lead server at a Michelin star restaurant.
Dinner is lively and full of laughter. Zee fires a few hundred questions at me and Gen in rapid succession, wanting to know everything about what happened between us, where it was going, and most importantly, are we in love?
“It’s only been a week!” Gen emphasizes when Zee asked the last question, her cheeks flushing as she flicks her gaze to me.
“So? Miller and I fell in love in a week,” Zee says nonchalantly, popping a roasted carrot into her mouth.
“I—we—” Gen stammers.
Sliding my hand under the table, I lace our fingers together, squeezing gently. “You’re the exception, Zee. Not the rule. Some people need more than a week to fall in love, but to answer your question—yes, I do have very strong feelings for Gen.”
Our conversation quickly shifts after that to resolutions for the new year, and finally, to wedding planning.
Gen rests her head on her hand, staring dreamily at the glittering diamond settled on Zee’s ring finger. Miller proposed on Christmas, and the girls have been gushing over the proposal on and off through dinner.
“So.” Zee clears her throat. “We know we’ve only been engaged for, like, a minute, but Miller and I have something we want to ask each of you.”
She looks over at Miller, who grins at his fiancée. “This may come as a shock to both of you, but you two are the most important people in each of our lives. This relationship better work out between you guys because—”
“Because we want you to be our maid of honor and best man!” Zee finishes for him, too excited to let Miller finish his sentence.
Gen shrieks with excitement, launching out of her chair. It scrapes against the floor, toppling over, but neither of the girls notice. Her and Zee collide in an embrace, full of bouncing and squealing.
Miller and I shake our heads, then pull each other into an embrace of our own. “Of course I’ll be your best man.”
“Good,” he says, clapping me on the back. “‘Cuz I don’t have a brother. Or friends. So it’s you, or no one.”
“Wow, I’m so honored to be your only option.”
Later, when the girls have dried their tears and Miller and I have cleaned up from dinner, we get comfortable in Gen’s living room with a stack of board games.
After several rounds of Cards Against Humanity, HeadBandz, and even a round of Life, Gen turns the TV on. We all stand as the pre-recorded ball drop ticks down, the last two minutes of this year vanishing before our eyes.
My heart hammers in my chest, excitement and nerves melding together. Gen leans against me, and I wrap my arms around her waist, swaying gently as we wait.
The countdown reaches thirty seconds.
Then twenty.
Zee and Miller are in their own world as they watch the countdown. I turn Gen in my arms, guiding hers around my neck.
Kissing her softly, I let the world fade away just as I hear Zee shout, “Ten!”
“It’s too fast for ‘I love you’s’,” I whisper against her lips, “but I want you to know how much you mean to me, Genesis.”
“Seven!”
“There’s nothing more important to me than you, and I know it’s crazy, but I mean it when I say I’ll never let you go. Next year, or whenever you’re ready, it’ll be us asking them to be in our wedding party—”
“Four!”
“—Because make no mistake, Gen. You and I are forever.”
“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
Miller and Zee erupt into cheers, but all I hear is Gen’s soft whisper of my name as tears fill her eyes.
Bending slightly, I lift her effortlessly into my arms. Her legs wrap around my hips as I cradle her.
Then I steal her first kiss of the new year, kissing her slow and deep—like a silent promise that I’ll always be hers.
Like she’s my beginning, my end, my forever.
Like she’s already my wife.