29. Haley #2
“Now.” I wrapped my legs around his waist. “I need you now.”
He positioned himself at my entrance and started to push in.
My body resisted. Too tight, too tense, despite the orgasm that had just ripped through me. I winced, and he immediately stopped.
“Hey.” His hand came up to cup my face. “Are you okay?”
“It’s been a while.” I tried to relax my muscles. “I’m just - it’s been a while.”
He stared at me. “No. Are you kidding me, Haley?”
“What?” I felt my face flush with embarrassment. “I have a toddler. It’s not like I get time to have sex. Between work and Lily and just trying to survive, it hasn’t exactly been a priority.”
“Fuck.” He held his weight up, his whole body trembling with the effort of staying still. “Haley. You should have told me. I would have - we could have gone slower.”
“I didn’t want to go slower.” I pulled him closer, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I’ve wanted this for too long. I just need a minute to adjust.”
He kissed me, soft and gentle, his hands stroking my hair. “We’ll go at your pace. Tell me when you’re ready.”
I took a breath and willed my body to relax. He was patient, peppering my face with kisses, murmuring reassurances against my skin. Slowly, the tension eased.
“Okay.” I shifted my hips. “I’m okay. Keep going.”
He started to move again. Slower this time. Gentler. Inch by careful inch, letting my body stretch around him. His jaw was tight with restraint, sweat beading on his forehead, but he didn’t rush.
“Tell me if it hurts.” His voice was strained. “Tell me if you need me to stop.”
“Don’t stop.” I grabbed his face and made him look at me. “Don’t ever stop.”
He sank deeper, and I gasped at the fullness, the overwhelming sensation of being completely filled. When he was finally seated all the way inside me, we both went still.
“You feel incredible.” His voice cracked. “Haley, you feel - I can’t-”
I could feel him pulsing inside me, feel every inch of him pressed against my walls.
He started to move, slow strokes that made me gasp with every thrust. His hands were everywhere, in my hair, on my face, gripping my hips. Like he couldn’t decide where he wanted to feel me most.
“It’s been a while for me too.” The confession came out quiet, almost hesitant. “If I’m being honest.”
I looked up at him, surprised. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He thrust deeper, and I moaned. “I haven’t - there hasn’t been anyone-”
“How long?” I ran my fingers through his hair. “How long has it been?”
He hesitated. His hips stuttered for a moment before resuming their rhythm. Something passed across his face, vulnerability and fear and hope all tangled together.
“Since the night you kissed me in the hospital.”
The words went through me like a shock. I stopped breathing.
“What?” I whispered.
“I couldn’t.” He met my eyes, and I saw everything he’d been holding back.
“After that night, I couldn’t be with anyone else.
I tried. I went on dates. I told myself to move on, that you’d chosen differently, that I needed to let go.
” He thrust deeper, and I gasped. “But every time I looked at another woman, all I could see was you. All I could think about was you.”
Three years.
He’d waited three years.
While I was struggling through single motherhood. When I was building a life and convincing myself I was better off alone, James had been here. Loving me from a distance. Helping me without asking for anything. Keeping himself for me even though I’d never asked him to.
Whatever guard I had left came down.
“James.” I pulled him down and kissed him with everything I had. “I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Promise me.” His voice was ragged. “Promise me this is real.”
“It’s real.” I wrapped my legs tighter around him, pulling him deeper. “You’re real. We’re real.”
He groaned and started moving faster, harder. The headboard knocked against the wall with every thrust. I didn’t care. Let the neighbors hear. Let the whole world know.
“More.” I grabbed his ass and urged him on. “Harder. I need to feel you.”
He obliged, slamming into me with enough force to make me see stars. My second orgasm built faster than the first, a pressure in my core that expanded with every stroke.
“I’m close.” He pressed his forehead against mine, his pace becoming erratic. “Haley, I’m so close.” He started to pull out just as he said it. But I couldn’t let him.
“No.” I locked my legs around his waist, holding him inside me. “Don’t. I want you to finish inside me. Please.”
He groaned. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I pulled him down for a kiss. “I want all of you. Every part of you.”
He thrust once more, twice, and then he was coming, pulsing inside me, my name torn from his lips like a prayer. The feeling of him spilling into me triggered my own release, and we fell together, bodies shaking, hearts pounding.
He collapsed against me, his weight heavy. Neither of us moved. Just lay there tangled together, breathing hard, still connected.
After a long moment, he lifted his head and kissed me.