“I ran here,” she said breathlessly.
My eyebrows rose. “You what?”
“Here, have another glass,” Ma said.
Rae took it and chugged it back, groaning as it went down. I peeked over at Ma and she shrugged her shoulders, then nodded her head to my bedroom. Yes, Rae and I needed to talk. Something she had been encouraging me to do. I’d be late for Mike’s. But what the hell.
I could send him a text and things would be fine.
“Can we talk?” Rae asked.
“Sure. You want a shower first?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, no. I’m good. But we really need to talk.”
I nodded. “Yeah, we do.”
I ushered her into my room and took one last look at Ma. At the flick of her wrist, I closed the door behind me. I turned around and saw Rae pacing the room and wringing her hands together. Despite the fact that she had sweated a ring around her T-shirt and her hair was matted to her face, she kept moving. Refusing to rest.
“Rae, you need t--”
“I need to travel,” she blurted out.
I blinked. “You… made a decision.”
She sighed. “Honestly, it’s a decision I should’ve thought about sooner. Something that should have occurred to me. Then, maybe, I wouldn't have made such a terrible mess of everything. You know, me acting like a total psycho and losing my mind.”
“Do you want to sit?”
“Actually, no. I don’t. I’m so full of energy that I just…”
I cocked my head. “You look happy.”
She smiled brightly. “I am happy. Clint, I was scared. Fucking petrified of committing to something I didn’t want. I mean, college has always been the plan. Get out, get away, get my own place. But the underlying reason was the issue. I didn’t want college for me. I wanted it to get away from Mom. To get out of here. To leave this shit behind and never look back.”
“I mean, it makes sense.”
“In a lot of respects, Michael was right. At the restaurant, you know?”
“How do you figure?”
She ran a trembling hand through her hair. “I am jealous of you.”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
She sighed. “I’m jealous. You don’t know much about your future, but you knew college wasn’t for you. And you were brave enough to make that decision. I wasn’t. I caved to my fears. To this idea that things would magically work out if I kept not thinking about it. And yes, I know how stupid that sounds. But I’m jealous of your bravery. Of at least partially knowing what you kind of want.”
“I don’t have it together as much as you think I do.”
She took my hands. “That’s the thing, Clint. You do. You knew school wasn’t for you. You know your writing is. You have a place here, with Cecilia. I don’t have any of that.”
“You have a place here with me.”
She blinked. “Do I really?”
I furrowed my brow. “Of course you do. Last time I checked, we were together. Still in love. Going through a rough time, sure. But still together.”
She smiled. “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.”
“Rae, what’s going on?”
She kissed my hands. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. The guilt is eating me alive that I let things come to this. I don’t think there are words I can string together to tell you just how sorry I am. Because you're the person that has been there with me through everything. And you didn’t deserve what happened this weekend.”
When her eyes came back up to mine, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I pulled away from her hands and cupped her cheeks, my eyes dancing between hers. She looked different. Seemed different. She held herself a bit differently, and I knew a great deal had changed.
She looked lighter on her feet.
Just like I felt.
“It’s okay, Rae. I forgave you the morning after.”
She shook her head. “You shouldn't have. You can be angry. It’s okay to be angry. And you can yell at me. Say anything you want to say. You can--”
I dropped my lips to hers, silencing her words with a kiss. Her hands fell around my wrists as a smile crossed my face. I kissed her lips again. And again. I captured her lower lip softly between my teeth. I felt her take a step toward me. Her hands slid up my arms before sliding down my chest. I cloaked her body with my wingspan, feeling her mold to me as our foreheads fell together.
“Shut up, Rae. I love you. And I just want you to be happy.”
She snickered. “Then kiss me again, you big lug.”
I crashed my lips against hers and my tongue fell into her mouth. She battled me for control as I backed her toward my bed. All thoughts of heading to Mike’s completely fell away from my mind. I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, but I didn’t bother to answer it. My hands splayed along Rae’s back. I held her close to me as we tumbled to bed. And as I stripped her of her damp clothes, the smell of her womanhood filled my nostrils.
“Oh, Rae.”
I growled as I kissed down her neck. The salted taste of her skin had my cock pulsing for more of her. I wrapped my lips around her pert nipples. I felt her rolling against me as she pressed herself further up my bed. With my face between her breasts, I shed my pants. I stepped out of my shoes and leaned up just enough to rip my shirt over my head.
And when Rae’s eyes fell upon my body, she licked her lips.
“Come here, handsome.”
I knelt against the mattress. I crawled to her, stalking her. Like the prey meant for my lunch. My lips fell to her calf and she sighed, lying down against my pillow. Her legs spread for me. I watched her body unfurl for me, her lower lips glistening with want. I kissed up the inside of her thigh. The heat of her smell battered against my face as I slid her legs over my shoulders. I massaged her with my hands. I felt her muscles jumping as I nibbled at the dollop of excess on her inner thigh.
Then, I let my tongue slide all the way up her slit.
“Clint, yes.”
I grinned. “Ma’s still here. Might wanna keep it down.”
She picked up a pillow and pressed it over her face. An action that made me chuckle. I lapped up her slit again, feeling her shiver as she groaned against the soft surface. I wrapped my arms around her thighs, pulling her as close as I could get her. I felt her heat encompassing my lips as I played her like the fiddle she had become. Her body was an instrument I had mastered. I knew exactly how to make her buck. How to make her moan. How to make her shiver and ache with need. My tongue traced the familiar track, tasting her before I swallowed her down. And as my finger slid into her pulsing entrance, her back arched.
“Clint!”
I’d never get tired of hearing her call out my name.
39
Raelynn
I pressed the pillow against my face as he buried himself between my legs. He bent them forward, pressing my knees against my chest with his forearm. His fingers filled me, pumping as I reached my peak of ecstasy. Fire ignited behind my eyes and all thoughts of traveling fell away from my mind. All I thought about was him. How me made my heart soar. How he made my soul complete. And as my toes curled deeper with every stroke of his tongue, I wailed into the pillow.
“Clint, that’s it. Right there. Right there. Right the--”
My body locked out and my legs fell hard against the mattress. I felt the pillow being ripped away from my face before his lips fell against mine once more. I kissed him deeply. I licked myself off his skin. And as he eased his aching dick inside my body, it solidified what I was thinking.
I couldn't travel without him.
I wouldn't.
My nails slid down his back. I felt every single muscle on his body rolling and jumping for my pleasure. We moved as one, our eyes never parting. I felt his heart beating against my chest, matching the rhythm of my own. I breathed the air he afforded me. I couldn't stop smiling up at him. With my legs locked around his waist, I fell deeper into the boy I loved.
Oh, no, no.
The man I loved.
“You’re perfect, Rae.”
I gasped. “Clint, please.”
“I’ll never leave you behind. Never.”
“Clint, yeah.”
“You’re mine. Always. Until you tell me to leave.”
“Never. Don’t leave me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I--”
He growled. “Stop it. Tell me what I long to hear.”
His hips snapped against mine before he ground his pelvis into my aching clit.
“I love you, Clint.”
He grunted. “Again.”
“I love you so much.”
“Louder.”
“I love you! Oh, fu--”
His mouth swallowed my sounds while his tongue explored me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down against my body. I couldn't get enough of him. I needed him closer. I needed him filling every part of me. The way he kissed me. The way he fucked me. The way he made love to me. I needed it in my life.
I needed him in my life.
He rolled us over and I straddled his hips. I ground deeply against him, with my hands against his chest. I smiled down at him as my hair curtained us off. He rose up, capturing my lips as his arms cloaked my back once more. He bucked against me, filling me as his cock grew against my walls. And as I rocked my body against his, our movements became one.
We became one with each other.
“Rae.”
“Clint.”
“So close. So close.”