Chapter 28
28
I wake up to Adrian lying next to me.
His body heat against mine is a comforting weight I never knew I needed. This is my first time waking up to someone in bed after having sex with them.
In college, we’d sometimes doze off in his car after late-night conversations, but I never felt this refreshed when I woke up. The days after would always include a stiff neck and exhaustion.
Why was I so scared of him seeing my scars?
He’s always accepted me for who I am.
Neither of us knew it then, but he was there for me during my darkest time. The accident happened only two years before we met.
I lost my sense of self.
That’s why I attended a different college than River. I needed space to learn to love myself again. I hid my emotional suffering from everyone.
But Adrian, unknowingly, ended up helping me with that.
He made my dark days feel brighter.
He was comfort without making me feel broken.
His arm is draped over my waist, and his slow breathing fills the room, creating a soothing effect .
I break away from him and fall on my back. The cool air hits my skin as the sheet slides down, exposing my stomach. I instinctively cover it with my arms.
“Don’t, baby,” Adrian grumbles, his voice sleepy.
I cast a timid glance in his direction.
“Never hide yourself from me,” he says, lifting onto his elbow and pulling my arms away, splaying them out on each side of my body.
“It’s habit.” I blow out a breath and fight the urge to re-cover myself.
Stop it, Essie.
This is Adrian.
Your Adrian .
With his eyes locked on mine, he slowly moves the sheet down farther.
My heart pounds when he brushes his hand over my scarred skin, so similar to how he did last night. As he lowers it between my legs, I bite my lip. When it slips beneath my panties I’d put on before we went to sleep last night, all traces of my insecurities vanish.
“You’re soaked,” he whispers, dragging a finger through my wetness.
Rising to his knees, he positions himself between my thighs. He smiles up at me, dragging my panties down, and lowers his mouth to my clit. He gently sucks on it, and my knees buckle.
As his fingers slip inside me, my eyes flutter shut, and my head rolls back in pleasure. I feel him slide farther down the bed on his stomach, and he pulls my thighs over his shoulders.
A charge of excitement I’ve never felt speeds through me as he starts fingering and eating me out.
“You make me feel so good,” I moan.
That causes him to finger me faster.
His slow pace is gone, and he fingers me harder while groaning against my core .
My heels press into his back as I fight to hold back my body’s pleasure. I want this to last forever.
“Let go, baby,” he says, his words hardly audible.
Ecstasy courses through me as I shout his name.
As I come down from my high, he keeps licking and gently stroking me. He carefully lowers my legs from his shoulders. They fall slack against the bed, as if I’ve lost all control over them.
My body has never felt so tired yet full of life.
Adrian pretty much ate all the energy out of me this morning.
Goose bumps prick my skin as he moves up my body and presses his face against my neck.
He softly sucks on my skin and whispers, “I can’t count how many times I’ve thought of you as the most beautiful person on this planet. And now that I’ve seen all of you, I know I was right. You’re perfection, Essie.”