Chapter 25 #2
I move over her, holding my weight, and dip my head to kiss her.
She’s so wet when I enter her – and warm and tight around me – and it’s everything.
She’s everything. She raises her legs, and I slip deeper into her as she wraps them around me, hooking her ankles like she did earlier, her heels digging into my back, launching pulses of pleasure down my spine.
We find our rhythm again and I’ve thought of this so many times, have wanted it so much, that I know I won’t last long.
I look down, deep into her eyes, and her fingers rake the hair on my chest, tugging gently as I thrust into her.
A thousand sensations converge at once – I’m close.
The tip of my cock throbs, aching for release as tingling heat pools in my groin.
The orgasm consumes me, exploding through my body, and I stiffen from head to toe and give over to the release with a long, gruff groan.
Delaney moves gently below me and I exhale a sigh, then slip out of her. I return to my spot beside her where she waits with a kiss – a reasonably chaste one considering what we’ve just done.
I softly stroke her hair, and her hand lazily brushes my arm.
‘Worth flying across an ocean for?’ she asks, an undercurrent of uncertainty in her voice.
Her skin suddenly prickles with goosebumps, a shiver passing over her.
‘Shall we get under the covers?’ I suggest.
‘Hmm, I only have four pillows though – not sure that’s enough for a pillow fort.’
‘How about we forgo the pillow fort this time?’
We get into bed with me propped up on two pillows and her in the crook of my arm, her hand on my chest. I resume stroking her hair, a sensation I’ll never tire of. She reaches up, lightly tracing the scar above my eyebrow.
‘What happened here?’ she asks. ‘A stunt gone wrong?’
‘You could say that – Dan and I built a ramp for our bikes on the road outside our house, and I got cocky. I misjudged the landing and crashed into the kerb, smacking my head on a metal sprinkler.’
‘Ouch,’ she says with a grimace. ‘How old were you?’
‘Eleven.’
‘It didn’t scare you off stunt work?’
‘Nah – may have even planted the seed.’
She kisses the tip of her finger then touches it to the scar.
‘You said you wanted to tell me something,’ she says, a gentle prod for the man who isn’t quite sure where to begin. But there’s so much to say.
‘I, er…’
‘Start with Pippa,’ she says. ‘Is she okay?’
‘It’s thoughtful of you to ask after her,’ I say, struck by her compassion. ‘But we don’t have to talk about Pippa.’
‘Tell me.’
‘She’s okay. It was amicable. Pip and I will always be friends.’
Delaney tips her head to meet my eye.
‘Really?’ she asks and I nod.
‘Friendly enough for me to meet her? Someday, I mean.’
I search her eyes – how can she be so understanding? I don’t know that I would be if our roles were reversed.
‘Sorry,’ she adds hurriedly. ‘That was— Don’t worry about it. I mean you and I aren’t even—’
‘Aren’t even what?’ I ask, needles of doubt prickling my spine at the abrupt turnabout.
She pushes herself up and shifts to the other side of the bed. The spot where she was is still warm, but even so, a chill washes over me.
‘Aren’t even what?’ I ask again, looking across at her. Her gaze is fixed straight ahead and she’s nibbling on her lower lip. ‘Delaney?’
‘Did you come here just for the sex?’ she asks.
‘What?’ I reply with a laugh. ‘No. Why would I do that?’
‘Because,’ she says, finally looking at me, ‘we have serious chemistry.’ She waves her hand between us to punctuate her point, and I stifle a smirk – she is so far off base and I’m about to set her straight, but she barrels ahead.
‘So, who knows?’ she continues, her voice pitchy. ‘Maybe you came to LA to get me out of your system. Or maybe you came to seal the movie deal, and because of our serious chemistry, you got distracted and then we fucked.’
‘Oh, no, no,’ I say. ‘That’s too far.’
‘What is?’ she asks with a slight pout.
I turn onto my side to face her and grab her agitated hand, holding it tightly.
‘We, Delaney Cole, did not fuck. We made love. I made love to you – like I said I wanted to when we were on Capri. And I didn’t come here to cross you off my list – “Fuck Delaney”,’ I say, miming that I’m scrubbing out an item on a list. ‘And I didn’t come to seal the deal for the film. ’
She gulps, her eyes widening in that gloriously sweet way of hers. ‘They why did you come?’ she asks in a whisper.
‘Because I fell in love with you on Capri.’
She gasps, her mouth forming an O, her eyes filling with wonder.
‘And that last day when you shouted at me—’
‘I didn’t sh—’
‘You did.’
‘Okay, yeah, I did do that,’ she admits with a gentle nod.
‘But you were right to challenge me and to be angry with me – both for yourself and for Pippa. It was torture walking away from you – not knowing if I’d ever see you again – but I needed to sort out my own life before marching back into yours.’
‘It was so, so shitty, Nick.’
‘What was?’
‘Capri!’ she wails. ‘After you left, I hated it. Then I came home and I hated it here too. I missed you and I kept thinking I’d done the wrong thing – that I should’ve… I don’t know, been more supportive.’
‘No, no, you were supportive. You called me out for lying to myself and I needed to hear that.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m sure.’
‘But I could’ve asked you to stay! Would you have stayed – if I didn’t yell at you like that?’
‘No, leaving when I did was the right thing to do.’
She regards me thoughtfully, staring into my eyes for a very long time.
‘Okay, you’re right.’
‘I often am.’
She sniggers, her elbow digging into my ribs. ‘You dork.’
‘I am a dork, but I’m your dork.’
‘Yeah, you are,’ she agrees, nodding slowly as she looks deep into my eyes. ‘Oh, hey,’ she says, breaking the spell, ‘do you like pancakes?’
‘Yes, I like pancakes,’ I reply, wondering where on earth she’s going with this.
‘Good, because we have breakfast plans tomorrow morning.’
She grins, coming closer for another kiss, and I know without even a whisper of doubt that this is exactly where I’m meant to be.