Austin threw his head back and moaned when I palmed his cock in my hand.
“God, I want to get inside you,” he said. “Want you to know just how much I love you.”
I licked around the head of his cock before popping it into my mouth. His hand went through my hair, tightening ever so slightly. I released him from my mouth with a smirk and then crawled back on the bed. He followed after me, his cock jutting out toward me.
Austin settled down between my legs, hiking them up around his hips. He leaned forward onto his elbows to stare down at me. I gripped his biceps as he eased inside me, stretching and filling me to the hilt.
His gaze was intent on me as he pushed my hair out of my face. He didn’t move at first, and I squirmed under him.
“What?” I whispered.
“It’s different this time.”
“Better.”
“It was always amazing,” he said, “but this time, I just feel more connected. I’ve…I’ve never felt like this before, love.”
“Me either. It’s a little scary,” I confessed.
“I’ll take it slow.”
He leaned forward to kiss me and then started moving, keeping to his word. I couldn’t even describe how good it felt. His body pressed against mine. His cock sliding in and out of my pussy. Our breath mingling in the space.
There was no rush. We had all the time in the world. And, still, he barely had to move as our bodies eased together and then apart and then back together. We weren’t just fucking, like we always had before. For the first time, we were really making love.
While I liked both options, when we finally came apart at the same time, my orgasm hit me relentlessly. I saw stars. My mind went blank. I probably could have spoken in tongues.
Nothing compared.
And I realized that nothing ever would with Austin.
Being away from one another for those three months was the best decision of our lives. I’d found my art again. Austin had stopped drinking. We’d both healed. It had been necessary. Without it, we never would have gotten to where we were right now. We never would have been able to move on. It had taken that time to show that we were strong enough separate…but better as one.
We might be works in progress separately.
But, together, we were complete.
Epilogue
Austin
Five Months Later
“Do I finally get to see what you’ve been working on?” I asked Julia as we drove to the First Friday Art Trail.
“Maybe,” she said coyly.
She’d been hinting at a big event that she had been working toward for months. But nothing I’d said or done—and, trust me, I’d tried—could get her to change her mind. She was set on me finding out with everyone else. Because of that, I hadn’t been allowed to step foot into her art studio at her apartment. I’d respected her privacy, but it had been killing me not to know.
Julia had a parking spot for the event this time, so she wouldn’t have to park in a tow zone. I hopped out of her Tahoe and followed her around the corner to one of the warehouses already crowded with people.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
I took her hand and kissed the palm. “I can do anything when I’m with you.”
She laughed. “Oh, boy. Well, here we go.”
Julia walked me to the back of the exhibit, and when I realized what I was looking at, I stopped dead in my tracks. Julia shot me a worried look. And then I burst into laughter.
“Austin!” she gasped.
“You put up the naked picture of me?” I said through my laughter.
“It’s kind of the centerpiece of my exhibit.”
“Oh, Jules,” I said, sliding back into that nickname. It had taken a long time before she decided that I could start calling her that again. I was glad. I didn’t want her to associate anything with that douche.
“You’re not mad?”
I wiped a tear from my eye, and then I scooped her up in my arms and twirled her around in a circle. “How could I be mad at you?”
She giggled when I set her down. “Well, I don’t know. Everyone in Lubbock can see you naked.”
“Everyone is just looking at your talent.”
“Well, I could have had the space for this months ago. Nina told me to do it whenever I was ready. It took longer than I’d expected to get there. I’d started on a lot of these while you were away, but I didn’t get them just right until last month.” She bit her lip and then glanced around at the fifteen canvases that showed the range and depth of her abilities. “It’s kind of an ode to our relationship and the struggles we’ve overcome.”
I could see it when I knew what I was looking at. A watercolor of Waffle. A collection of letters. A charcoal of water. And so many more that I recognized. It was perfect.