I heard the camera hit the glass of the coffee table as August quickly setting it down. His hands shook as his eyes met mine. Dark, heated, and filled with purpose, his gaze was locked and I was his target. His belt and jeans hit the floor and then I watched him move—slowly stalking me, like a predator. My thighs tightened and my breath hitched as his naked body moved toward mine.
As if he were a magnet, I felt his pull and instantly responded, moving toward him without thought.
Without reason.
My body was his. It was made for him.
I would always belong to August. I always had.
Goose bumps pebbled my flesh the instant his fingers touched me as anticipation overwhelmed me. No matter how many times his hands swept over my skin, it would never be enough.
I know now why I’d never left. Even when things got bad. Even when I thought it couldn’t get any worse.
Deep down, I was still in love with the monster he’d become. Deep down, I’d always help out hope that somehow…someway…he’d find his way back to me.
And he had.
He was new and different, but he was August.
And he was mine.
My hands slipped around his neck as he lifted me effortlessly, my legs slid around his waist.
“You feel so damn good,” he whispered as he fell back onto the sofa with me, his hands ghosting up and down my thighs. Rising up on my knees, my lips found his, kissing deeply as he pulled me closer. His fingers dug into the round curves of my ass as I slowly slid down on his hard length.
“Fuck,” he hissed.
Leaning back, I grabbed his camera off the coffee table and handed it to him. “I don’t think you’re done yet.”
He took it from me, his eyes never leaving mine as I slowly began moving up and down on top of him. He flipped the camera around, the lens pointing toward us as he began photographing our lovemaking.
It was erotic and I felt bold and completely brazen as he snapped away. My head fell back as I met each and every powerful thrust.
“It will never be enough. I’ll never get enough of you,” he said, an almost agonizing quality to his voice.
I was on fire and his words were like kindling, making me burn hotter and brighter.
When he finally couldn’t take it any longer, the camera hit the couch and both his hands took over, working their way through my hair, down my bare back, to grip my hips so he could push me deeper onto him. His low groans matched mine as we lost ourselves in one another until we were both breathless and spent.
As he carried me upstairs later that evening, well after the sun had given up to the moon and stars, I couldn’t help but remember the way he used to carry me to bed when we lived in the tiny house across the city.
“I’ll give you everything someday,” he’d whisper.
“I just want you,” I’d answer back.
“But you deserve so much more.”
Our life had started out so simple. Just a boy and a girl in love. But then August had decided he needed to give me the moon and the stars and everything in between…when all I had really needed was him.
And during the somewhere in between, I lost him, too.
After everything collapsed, I’d desperately gone in search of that simple life again, but I’d gone about it all wrong.
Ryan was right. Love should be simple.
Life may be difficult, but loving someone…whether it’s right or wrong, that should be the easy part.
And loving August had always been as easy as breathing.
Chapter Twenty-Six
August
“Go away, woman,” I muttered into my pillow, hiding the grin spread across my face. “I’m asleep.”
“No you’re not. You are definitely awake,” she said, wiggling on top of me to prove her point. A certain part of my anatomy jumped up to say good morning to her as she giggled.
“You’re relentless,” I laughed, lifting the pillow off of my head to see her beaming smile above me as I lay comfortably beneath her in bed.
“It’s morning! Wake up! Coffee time!” she exclaimed.
I laughed, shaking my head as tiny tendrils of her hair tickled my naked chest. “Don’t most people zombie their way to the kitchen in search of coffee? I’ve never seen anyone jump out of bed, practically singing show tunes in anticipation of coffee.”
“I’m just in a good mood.”
I gave her a hard look up and down, taking my time on the way back up.
“You want something,” I replied, seeing through her coy pillow talk.
Feigning innocence, she batted her eyelashes at me, trying to suppress the laughter I felt boiling up inside her like an old furnace about to blow. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
Grabbing her around the waist, I threw her down on the bed and straddled her between my thighs. “’Fess up, Adams. What’s with the happy attitude? I know I’m good in the sack, but usually only caffeine can bring about this level of joy in the morning.”