Ryan looked intrigued by this new idea of mine. “I’m not sure forcing you to find another job is such a great thing,” he said dryly. “However, finding opportunity out of a bad situation is evidence of your ambition, creativity, and strength. I appreciate that you won’t let life circumstances bog you down, but I can’t take credit for bringing out those qualities in you. It’s already part of who you are.”
“We all need to be reminded sometimes and you do that for me,” I said gratefully.
We gazed at each other for what felt like a long time. I was mesmerized by love and warmth in his eyes. The natural space between two people when they ate side by side seemed too far a distance and he pulled me closer to him. I took it a bit further and climbed onto his lap, straddling him. He wiped his hands on a nearby washcloth and then cradled my face, kissing me deeply and lifting his T-shirt off of my body so I was naked again. He buried his face in my neck and hair, kissing along my ears and my face back to my lips. When he lifted his head to gaze into my eyes, I saw deep emotion and an almost feral urge emanating from him. He stood up and, with my legs still wrapped around his waist, walked us back into the bedroom.
He laid me on the bed and kissed me tenderly. His lips moved down my body, worshipping it and taking his time. He brought his lips down between my legs and sweetly licked, massaging my sex in circles with his tongue. I arched my back and cried out with pleasure. Our bodies were overly sensitive and sore, but I needed to feel him in me like I needed water. I pulled him up to me, forcing his lips to seal again on mine. I could taste the flavors of my own body on his tongue. It was incredibly erotic.
“God, Julia, you are so beautiful.” His eyes were hooded and dark. “I need to be as close to you as possible.”
Rather than tell him that I wanted him inside of me, I wrapped my legs around him, grabbing his ass and pushing him desperately into me. I moaned loudly, both from the soreness and exquisite feeling of fulfillment. As our rhythm slowly increased, I sensed his desperate need to be as close to me as physically possible because I felt and needed the same. Our lovemaking was almost painful with our need to become one, connected and inseparable.
He pushed himself as deeply into me as he could go and I shattered. Tears stung my eyes and I cried out his name. I clawed my nails into his back, losing all sense of myself. My voice was his undoing. He made one final push, so deep into me that I felt like I would break in half, before he came loudly, muffling my name into my hair.
I was in my happy place.
Every once in a while, you have those moments in life, and unfortunately for me they were too far and few in between, when you sit there and you think to yourself, “Hey, I’m happy.” For me, it was a light bulb moment. Why don’t we think this more often? Was it human nature to always feel like you needed or wanted something more?
I felt like, for so long, I was always wanting more, needing more, looking for more; today, Labor Day, I woke up in my bed with Ryan by my side and thought that there was nothing better than this. Even my career hanging in the balance couldn’t take me away from my happy moment.
We arrived back in Seattle late yesterday afternoon and split up for an hour so we could separately unpack and do some laundry. He met me back at my place before dinner. We ended up ordering pizza and watched the latest George Clooney movie, The Descendants, which was an excellent movie by the way.
Anna texted me last night during our dinner. She was back from her honeymoon and wanted to meet me for breakfast this morning to hear all about my little getaway with Ryan. Likewise, I wanted to hear all about her honeymoon in Maui, so we met at the local Starbucks on top of Queen Anne.
“Okay, so you guys are officially a couple now, right?” Anna asked enthusiastically before we even ordered.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, trying to sound more nonchalant than I felt.
“What do you mean, you guess so? You’ve taken a mini-vacation together! That constitutes a whole different level of seriousness and commitment, I would think.”
I shook my head a little at her overzealous excitement. “You always want the happy ending, Anna.”
“And you don’t think this last week with Ryan warrants that conclusion?”
I knew I had a corny, lovesick smile on my face. I watched the steam rise from my coffee cup, basking in the warm feelings I got whenever I thought of Ryan.
“Look at you!” she exclaimed. “Julia Hayes, you’re in love!” She grinned all-knowingly. “I know that look.”
I met Anna’s gaze. I had a huge grin on my face. We giggled like schoolgirls at my dopey happiness.