12 COLE
We’re both dripping wet as I carry her back to the bedroom.
We collapse onto the bed, wrapped up in one another.
Her arms are wound around my neck and her legs around my hips.
Her mouth is on mine, and she’s kissing me like I’m the air she needs to breathe.
Suddenly I’m left wondering…if she wants me this much, how has she managed to stay away for so long?
I’ve known Alice for many, many years. I know her inside and out, forward and backward, and I know this isn’t an act.
She’s never been a good actress. I can read her like a book, and what we’re doing right now, she wants it.
She needs it. But why hasn’t she wanted it before now?
What brought this on? I think back to yesterday, telling her how I felt about her in the kitchen, finally admitting my true feelings.
Did she just need to be reminded of how I felt?
If that was the case, wouldn’t it have been easier not to run off ten years ago?
All she had to do was ask me how I felt, and I would’ve gladly told her.
Maybe she needed to go out and explore her options.
You know what they say: if you love something, let it go.
If it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.
Well, she’s come back. But she came back to end things. She had no intention of staying.
With that thought, I realize that what we’re doing right now isn’t going to change anything between us.
She loved me then, and she still left, needing to find herself, her path.
Just because she’s realized she still loves me doesn’t mean that she won’t leave the first time she gets a chance.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not holding out hope.
Right now, all I want to do is enjoy this while she’s here.
I don’t want to waste a second thinking about her leaving or wondering how I’m going to survive her absence.
I just want to live in the moment, savor it.
All things must come to an end eventually, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy them while they last.
All thoughts leave my head when she pushes against my chest and rolls us over, taking her place on top of me.
She positions my dick at her opening, and then she sinks down every last inch, connecting us as one once again.
My hands are cupping her cheeks, keeping her mouth against mine.
When all of me is inside her, she lets out a moan that’s silenced by my lips.
As our kiss grows deeper, her hips move faster and faster until she’s moaning and whimpering into my mouth with her release.
God, I forgot how intoxicating she is. She’s had this effect on me since the day I watched her cheer for the local football team.
I couldn’t get enough of her then, and I can’t get enough of her now.
I’ll never get enough of her. I may have been young and stupid, but I vowed my love to her years ago.
That’s one thing that hasn’t changed and will never change.
I roll us over and take my rightful place on top.
Her legs wrap around my hips like she’s afraid I’ll leave her if she doesn’t hold on to me.
Her hands are squeezing my biceps as I hold my weight off her by my elbows.
My hips move forward into her, making her cry out.
As I push deeper and deeper, my hips move faster and faster, and suddenly, we’re both falling over the edge.
After I ride out every last wave of my release, I come to a shuddering stop on top of her.
Her arms and legs stay wrapped around me as I rest my head against her chest.
My eyes flutter closed as I listen to the way her heart is racing.
She takes a deep breath that makes my head rise and fall with her chest, and I lift my head up to look at her. She looks sleepy but content. Her eyes are hooded, and her lips are tilted up into a slight smile. “What?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Just enjoying the moment.”
“How about we go to the kitchen, and I’ll make us some pancakes for breakfast.”
She nods, and I pull away and stand. She doesn’t move as I move about the room, getting some clothes on. When I’ve finally slipped on a pair of boxers and sweatpants, I bend down and kiss her. “See you in there.” I turn and walk out of the bedroom, giving her a few minutes to herself.
In the kitchen, I get to work on making breakfast. I start a pot of coffee, then I pull out all the ingredients I’ll need. While I mix the pancake batter, I let the bacon cook in the skillet. I turn the TV on and listen to the morning news while I cook.
Alice walks into the kitchen, and I can’t help but take her in.
She’s wearing a pair of black cloth shorts.
They’re short, ending just under her ass, and they’re tight—almost like volleyball shorts.
She’s wearing a loose-fitting sweatshirt, and her strawberry-blond hair is piled up into a messy bun on the top of her head.
She’s breathtaking even when she doesn’t try to be at all.
“Coffee smells good,” she says, pouring a cup.
I look over at her with one brow raised. “Giving up on your cold brews, huh?”
She giggles as she stirs in some sugar. “No, but this is still good.” I watch as she brings the cup to her lips and takes a sip. “Breakfast smells good too. Anything I can do to help?”
“Just go have a seat and relax,” I tell her, leaning in and pressing a quick kiss to her lips. She kisses me back before taking her coffee into the living room and sitting down to watch TV.
As I get back to my cooking, I can’t help but to wish this was my life every day.
I’d love it if she’d move back in and be my wife again.
I feel like a dumbass for signing those divorce papers.
I hope and pray that when the time comes for her to go, she chooses to stay.
I know how much of a long shot that is, though.
She has a whole life back in California.
She runs a business and has her own apartment.
I highly doubt she’ll give all that up just to come back to living here in this small town with me.
She’s had that once, and she ran away from it.
I highly doubt things have changed that much for her to want to come back here and stay.
I have to enjoy my time with her, no matter how long or short.
I can’t allow myself to believe that what we’re doing now will lead her to fall back in love with me.
Hell, she may just be taking advantage of the shitty situation I put her in.
Or maybe she’s trying to get even. I did trick her into staying here after all.
She could be paying me back by making me fall even more in love with her.
Breaking my heart once wasn’t enough. She wants to do it again…
No. I don’t believe that, and I can’t force myself into believing it no matter how much I want to protect myself.
I know her inside and out, and she’s never been cruel.
I know she didn’t want to break my heart the first time.
I was just too damn stubborn to listen to her.
I was so focused on myself and my future that I forgot to give her what she needed.
She really had no other option but to walk away.
She tried explaining time and time again, but did I listen?
No. I was a know-it-all kid who had all the answers.
It was my way, that’s it. It’s taken me years to be able to admit this.
I was in denial for the longest time, thinking and telling myself that I did everything I could.
But that’s wrong. I didn’t do anything but push her further away when all I really had to do was listen to her.
I shake the thoughts from my head as I finish up the food and carry everything over to the table.
Without even having to call for her, she walks into the kitchen with her coffee and takes a seat at the table.
I sit across from her, and we both start eating.
I watch as she takes a bite. Her smile forms and her brows lift.
“Wow, you’ve really learned how to cook, huh?”
I chuckle as I cut into my pancakes. I shrug. “Kind of had to, or I would’ve starved.”
“How’d you learn?”
“A little bit of everything, I guess. From watching my mom growing up. From watching you before you left. Then what I didn’t know or couldn’t figure out, I’d ask someone or look it up. I’m not that great at baking, but everything else I’m not too bad at.”
I take a bite of my pancakes and chew before pointing in her direction.
“You know what I really want and can’t figure it out?”
“What?” she asks, looking up at me.
“That soup that you used to make.”
“The taco soup?” she asks, confused.
“Yes, that’s it. Will you show me how to make it?”
“Of course. Dinner tonight.”
I smile and nod, excited to have something that used to be one of my favorite dishes years ago but haven’t had since.
The two of us finish breakfast, and she helps me clean up the kitchen before we find ourselves back in the living room. The TV is on, but neither of us can settle on what to watch, so I pull out the photo albums that haven’t been looked over in years.
We end up sitting on the floor, around the coffee table as we look over page after page together.
We start at the beginning. High school. There are pictures of us in my old rusty truck.
We both look so young and full of life. I didn’t have a beard, my face as smooth as can be.
She wasn’t wearing much makeup, and her face looked so innocent with her glistening green eyes.
We’re both wearing wide smiles as she rides in the middle so we could touch at all times.
I have pictures of her in her cheerleading uniform, looking hot as hell.
“I wonder if that uniform would still fit,” she says, sounding like she’s thinking out loud.
I laugh. “I’m pretty sure it’s still in the closet if you want to find out.”
Her eyes widen, and a smile spreads across her face before she gets up and darts from the room. She isn’t gone long before she’s back, wearing the same thing she was wearing the night I fell in love with her.
The uniform still fits, but it is a little snugger than before. The skirt is shorter, and the top is a bit tighter. It stretches across her chest that has grown significantly since high school.
“Wow,” I say, taking her in from her head down to her toes.
“I know. It’s a little snug but not too bad for being twelve years old.”
“You’re going to have to go change,” I say, standing up. “Or we’re going to be pretending we’re in high school again,” I tell her, grabbing her and pulling her against my chest.
She lets out a squeal, but it’s silenced the moment her lips press against mine.
Her arms wrap around my neck, and mine wrap around her waist.
I pull her as close as I can get her before picking her up by her ass and carrying her back to the bedroom.
At this point, I don’t know why we even bother leaving this room.