Chapter 28
Riley
I’m not sure when or how we made it up the sloped path, but I have my wits about me enough to confirm we’re alone in the parking lot before I shove her up against the side of my truck and claim her mouth once more.
Steph kisses me back eagerly, going up on her tiptoes and fisting the fabric of my jacket.
I slide a hand into her hair, gripping her locks and tilting her head to deepen the kiss.
She yields control as my tongue sweeps in, moaning into my mouth and wrapping a leg around my hips in a desperate attempt to pull me closer.
I snake a hand down to grab ahold of her thigh, keeping her leg raised and allowing me the perfect angle to grind my rock-hard cock against her center.
For a long moment, I’m lost in the kiss as our tongues and bodies move in tandem, reveling in the renewed connection.
Eventually, my mind catches up with my body, and I force my hips to slow in an effort to dial back my desperation.
I don’t know where this is going to go beyond this one perfect moment—perfect kiss—and if that’s all it is today, that’s okay.
I pull back, pressing my lips lightly to hers once, twice, three times, before skating them slowly across her jaw.
She lets out a desperate little whine when I drop down to suck against her wildly thrumming pulse, causing me to smile against her skin when I move to the hollow of her throat.
The wind swirls around us, lifting her hair and tickling my face.
I return to her mouth, losing myself once more as time seems to stand still.
Steph unzips my jacket and slides her hands under my shirt, skating them over the heated skin of my back, then around to tease at my waistband.
“Riley,” she breathes, as her hands move to palm me through my jeans.
I grunt, thrusting into her touch and nipping at her lip.
“Please,” she whines, giving my cock a quick squeeze through the fabric before skating her hand up to the button on my fly.
I quickly move to grab her hand, stalling her progress.
If that’s where she wants this to go, I’ll sure as fuck never deny her, but …
not like this. I will not fuck her against the side of my truck for the first time after years apart.
Breaking the kiss, I murmur, “Hold that thought,” against her lips, brushing my nose tenderly against hers before pulling away, only for her to chase my mouth with her own. I chuckle and press her shoulders lightly against the truck. “Just a minute, Sunshine, I’m not going far.”
I move around to the rear of the truck and drop the tailgate, hopping up into the bed and unlocking the attached storage box where I keep tools, safety gear, and—conveniently—sleeping bags.
Hastily, I spread one out while Steph watches me from where she’s leaning against the fender, with a dazed expression.
Her face is flushed, and her short hair is in disarray.
She touches a hand to her swollen lips, looking like a goddam angel.
Hopping back down, I once more close the distance between us.
Her breath hitches when I grab hold of her hips and walk her backwards until I can hoist her up onto the ledge.
She obligingly spreads her legs so I can step between them and claim her lips once more.
Her hands come to my shoulders, and she shoves my jacket off before wrapping her arms around my neck.
I take it as permission to remove her coat as well, then allow my needy hands to run all over her body, exploring … remembering.
Wanton moans send electricity skittering through my body, ramping up my need to get her beneath me.
“Do you want this?” I ask, pulling back to study her face for signs I’m moving too fast, pushing too hard, but there’s no hesitation this time and nothing left between us to be said.
At her nod, I reclaim her lips, simultaneously lifting her once more to settle her further back into the truck bed, then breaking the connection to crawl eagerly in behind her.
There’s nothing tentative about the way we come together now. I’m impatient. She is, too.
There’s only hunger.
Only need.
We’ve both waited long enough. I make quick work of stripping her out of her sweatshirt and leggings, her bra and underwear disappearing equally fast, flung into the darkness beyond the truck.
I lose a little of my urgency then, my heart stuttering at the sight of her naked body.
Sitting back on my haunches, I take a long moment to admire her in the dying light of the approaching storm.
Steph’s short hair flies around her, wild and dancing in the air currents.
Her nipples, ones I know are a pretty pale pink in the light, are dark now and pebbled deliciously in the crisp air …
or perhaps it’s as a result of my heated gaze.
She always was so exquisitely responsive, but when a shiver wracks her body, I’m reminded that it is, in fact, damn cold out.
Under her watchful gaze, I remove my clothing, remembering at the last second to grab a condom from my wallet before they, too, are discarded somewhere out beyond the intimate bubble of my truck bed.
Steph’s legs fall open in silent invitation, and I settle myself on my knees between them.
She leans up and takes my cock in her delicate hand, ripping a desperate cry from me that I might be embarrassed about had anyone but Steph heard.
She takes the condom from me and rolls it on while I shudder beneath her firm grip.
We’re both too worked up for any more foreplay, and no doubt I’ll regret it later—not having given her that, not having tasted her—but a quick glide of my fingers between her folds tells me she’s ready.
I meet her eyes then, so many years of need, of longing wrapped up in this moment.
She bites her lip and nods her consent before I push in, holding her gaze while I fill her for the first time in more than a decade and a half.
Steph sucks in a sharp breath, her muscles fluttering around me at the intrusion, and I drop my face into her neck. The fit is so good, so right, I want to cry.
“Perfect,” I groan against her skin. “You feel so fucking perfect.”
And she does.
Her slickness. Her heat—being inside her again, so deep.
I ache with the need to move. It’s been …
so long. Too long, since I’ve held her like this.
Since I’ve felt her move beneath me. But I hold myself still, allowing her the time she needs to adjust, but also steeling myself so I don’t fucking spill inside her at the very next clench of her tight pussy.
She moans, then writhes against me, the movement causing me to sink even deeper.
Another clench of her muscles has me grunting.
“Steph,” I grit out. “If you keep doing that, this isn’t going to last long.”
“I don’t need that. It doesn't have to be perfect,” she pants. “I just need you. Now move. Please.”
So I do, pulling back slowly, then rolling my hips into her. I find my rhythm, stroking languidly at first, marveling in the delicious friction as I let our bodies get reacquainted.
Fuck, it’s just like I remembered, but so much better.
I loved her when we were together like this as teens, but now, with all the history that’s passed between us, with the time we’ve spent reconnecting, and all of our secrets finally laid bare, it’s a whole new level of intimacy. It’s transcendent. Life-affirming and life-altering.
“Don’t stop,” she whines, and I pick up the pace.
“Not a chance, baby. We’re just getting started,” I promise between thrusts.
And I don’t just mean sex.
I claim her mouth once more in a bruising kiss, desperate for more, deeper, my tongue tangling with hers, swallowing her moans.
Possessiveness surges through me, and I increase my pace, driving her higher and higher with my hips. Her needy cries echo in my brain, the sounds driving me feral.
“You’re mine now, baby. Only mine.”
She moans her agreement, but I need to hear the words, even if only in the heat of the moment.
“Say it, Steph.”
“I’m yours.”
“Nobody else’s.” I push. “You were always meant to be mine, weren’t you, baby?”
“Yes.”
“This pussy is mine too, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” she breathes out again. “Yours.”
The noise that rumbles up from deep in my chest is guttural, animalistic. I drive my hips in a near-punishing rhythm as I take out all of my emotions on her body.
And Steph?
She loves it.
She thrashes beneath me, emitting noises that only serve to drive my desperation higher.
It’s heady.
Frenzied and wild.
Her muscles clamp down tight around me, and I know she’s close. Thank fucking God, because that familiar pressure is building at the base of my spine and I’m in danger of losing all control.
I lean in and growl against her ear. “Do you still sound the same when you come, Sunshine? I’ve been losing sleep wondering.
” And it’s true, for she always used to hold her breath at the peak of her release only to devolve into gasping, whining noises that were so unbridled, so …
so unencumbered—so goddamn sensual, they never failed to push me right over the edge with her.
“I wanna know, baby. Let me hear it. Come for me,” I command.
And that’s all it takes.
She always did love my bossy side and my filthy mouth in bed.
Steph’s lids flutter closed, her mouth opening in a silent scream as she detonates around me. The feeling that rises in my chest as I watch her fall apart beneath me for the first time in years is indescribable. Ineffable.
She lets out a choked breath. Sharp gasps quickly morph into familiar, low, keening noises that are instantly carried off on the wind, and I revel in the fact I’m the one to wring them out of her while she continues to contract around my cock.
It’s more than I can stand.
I bury my head in her neck just as I bury my cock to the hilt, inhaling her sweet citrusy scent as I pulse, spilling inside the condom and chanting her name while white flashes behind my eyes.
I collapse on top of her, Steph’s arms instantly coming up to wrap around my shoulders, holding me to her chest while her breaths continue to heave.
Thunder booms overhead, shaking the truck in conjunction with the mini aftershocks still quaking Steph’s body.
It’s only a moment before I realize I’m crushing her.
I prop myself up on my elbows and reluctantly pull out.
She lets out a breathy little whine, and I lean up to give her an apologetic kiss.
As I do, a fat, wet raindrop lands on the back of my head.
It’s followed quickly by another, and then another.
Steph squeals, and the skies open up. We scramble, cold and naked, from the bed of the truck, slipping in the mud before I manage to get the door to the cab open.
I shove the damp sleeping bag in behind Steph, then spin back to attempt to retrieve our clothes from around the dark lot, regretting my haste and carelessness in discarding them.
We lay together a while later, still naked but wrapped in a second sleeping bag I’d managed to retrieve from my bin without getting it too wet.
Rivulets run down the glass, rain sluicing my truck.
Steph rests on her side, partly sprawled against my chest, legs intertwined with mine, as we listen to the staccato sounds of the water pinging against the roof of my truck.
I’m propped up and leaning awkwardly with my back against the door, too tall for the length of my bench seat.
The armrest digs uncomfortably into my spine, but I couldn’t be more elated.
I’m flying so high right now, nothing can touch me.
Steph is intoxicating—better than any drug, and I’m a fool for not appreciating her enough before it was too late. Before I blew up my life and hers.
No more, though.
I press my face against the crown of her head and just … breathe her in. Steph. My Steph once more.
Belatedly, I realize she’s been quiet since we got ourselves situated, and I start to worry that I’ve fucked something up. That she’s having regrets about what we just did.
Clearing my throat, I ask quietly, “Is everything okay?”
She’s still for a moment, but then nods against my chest. I hear the smile in her voice when she says, “More than okay.” Relief floods me, and I tilt her face to look at me, not wanting to miss this one.
Twenty-two.
And as I tighten my arms around her, as she continues to smile softly up at me, a truth reveals itself in this moment. One I feel certain of deep in my bones. Just as plants need sunshine, Steph—my sunshine— is vital. To me. To my life. And I don’t know how I ever survived without her.