“I love you, too” is all I come up with. There really aren’t any better words. “So I guess we’re both crazy.”

He smiles. “I guess so.”

I smile back and then his lips are on mine, kissing me desperately, again and again until I’m out of breath and grasping at his shirt collar. Tugging and pulling, I manage to pull his shirt off so I can feel my body up against his. I like how strong and big he is when we’re standing together, how he can look down on me but not make me feel powerless. He walks us inside his room, shuts the door, and presses me up against it in the now total blackness of his room, kissing my neck and throat as I exhale in bliss and savor the feel of his mouth on my skin.

I go for his pants but he traps my hands at his zipper, moving us over to fall onto the mattress as he starts kissing me all over again. His touch conveys unspoken things, filling me with hope for the future and peace for the present. And his lips pour into me beauty that’s unseen and worthiness that’s unearned.

“Wait, wait,” I say breathlessly and Daren pulls back. I climb on my knees and tug the piece of cardboard from his bedroom window, letting the moonlight fill his room so we are no longer in complete darkness. “I want you to see me.”

A wide smile stretches across his face in the soft blue light of the moon. Returning to the mattress, I stretch out on my back as he crawls over me and looks into my eyes. And oh my God, he is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Not because he’s handsome and symmetrical, with a broad chest and rippling ab muscles. But because he has a loving heart. And that heart loves me.

40 Daren

I take her face in my hands, stroking my thumbs over her cheeks as I tilt her head to the side and kiss her. My tongue slides into her mouth and roams over the tender flesh inside, loving how soft and warm she is.

Her body melts against mine instantly, and she relaxes in my arms, running her own up the sides of my body so she can bury her hands in my hair. Gripping the hair at the base of my neck, she tugs on it and I groan into her mouth.

Her soft hands, running over my skin and moving around my body, wrap me in a comfort I’ve never experienced before.

She arches her back and lifts up, her body trying to get closer to mine, and I run my hands down her rib cage and to the hem of her shirt. Pulling it up, I expose the pale skin of her belly before lifting it higher and taking it off completely, leaving her in only her bra. Slipping my hands around her back, I remove that too, exposing the most beautiful breasts I’ve ever seen. Large and full and perfectly round, they lie in my hands as I squeeze them gently.

“God. You’re beautiful,” I say.

Lowering my mouth to one of her nipples, I cover it with my lips—but I don’t suck on it, not yet. Instead I watch her squirm beneath me, wanting my wet mouth to pull her nipple into its hot depths, but not being able to control it.

With my mouth set against one nipple, my fingers play with the other, gently grazing over it before softly plucking at it over and over. She arches her back even more, and now her hips are shoved against mine.

“Daren…” she breathes out. “Please.”

I pull her nipple into my mouth fully and she moans in pleasure. God, that’s a hot sound. I press my body between her legs, keeping her from arching any more than she already is as I move to her other nipple and do the same until both nipples are wet and beautifully erect in the moonlight from the window.

She wiggles and moans as I suck her tight nubs into my mouth and squeeze her breasts. Then, moving back up to her mouth, I kiss along her jaw and over to her ear before running my lips down her throat. She thrusts her head back, carefree and trusting with my mouth against such a fragile place. As I gently lick a trail up and down her windpipe, I run my hand down the center of her chest, lightly touching each of her nipples before moving to her stomach and then into her pants.

I slowly slide my hand inside her panties and between her legs, where she’s already warm and wet, and cup her softly as I move my mouth back to hers and kiss her deeply.

She wriggles against my hand, but I refuse to make more than light contact with her most sensitive area. Instead I tease her, lightly brushing a fingertip over her clit. Then I pull my hand back completely before running a finger along the crease of her thigh. Then up to every tender spot on her flesh—except the one she wants me to touch.

She starts to pant and I smile against her throat, lightly tapping her center with my finger.

She jerks then whimpers. I kneel above her and slide her pants off, tossing them to the floor before tucking my fingers into the sides of her panties and dragging them down her legs and over to the floor by her pants.

With nothing on but her desire for me, I run my fingertips up her legs and over her knees. A quiet gasp escapes her mouth as the pads of my fingers trail up her inner thighs, skipping her neediest spot, and brushing up her hips and stomach.

I watch her eyes light up and her body writhe in want as I touch her lightly, and smile to myself. Kayla, who was always so modest, is lying open and waiting for me with passion and love in her eyes. Love for me.

41 Kayla

It’s a foreign thing, this meshing of love and lust deep inside my chest, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. I want to both please him with my body and comfort him with my soul, and the odd—yet satisfying—sensation tugs at my heart in a way I’ve never experienced. Sex and love two completely different species, but when put together they’re a beautiful force.

I run my hands down the hard muscles of Daren’s chest and stomach then unbutton his pants so he can spring free. He helps me take his pants off completely, then his underwear, until we’re both naked on his virgin mattress in the moonlight.

My skin feels cool all of a sudden, but when he hovers over me, his body heat instantly warms me. He leans down and kisses me while I spread my legs apart and pull his hard body against mine. Moving from my mouth, he starts to kiss a trail down my body, his hot mouth lighting me on fire everywhere he goes. He kisses beneath my jaw, soft and quiet. Then he places a kiss upon my collarbone, sliding his mouth along its length, branding me as his. His lips press above my heart, sure and steady like the rhythm inside my chest, then move to the spot just above my belly button, teasing and wanting. The trail drifts down to my lower hip and he places a gentle kiss on the inside, causing my muscles to flex with the touch, so sensitive and intimate. His kisses are little pieces of him, laid upon my body.

He kisses lower still and my legs start to shake out of pure anticipation. I see him smile against my stomach as his hands glide up the inside of my thighs and opens them all the way.

I arch my back so he can see me completely and tip my head back as I feel his hand travel to my core and lightly touch every part of my swollen wetness, except my neediest nub.

I swear he’s trying to kill me.

His hot mouth moves to my leg then licks a trail along the crease of my thigh before placing featherlight kisses against my folds. As his soft lips graze my wanting center, he moves his hands to my hips and holds me gently. Then he slips his fingers across my ticklish belly and back down to my thighs.

With my legs shaking and my heart pounding I whimper, “Please, Daren.” I can feel my wetness dripping from my body as his hot tongue slips out of his mouth and licks one long streak around me in a circle, but still not touching the cluster of nerves I need him to.

The tip of his heavenly tongue trails over more of me, wetting my folds on either side of my clit and making my core tighten with need. My legs shake. My belly tightens.