“I need to ask you one thing.” She takes a deep breath and continues to fixate on our feet.

“Why now?” she softly asks, and my stomach twists in knots that she’s not one hundred percent sure how much I love her and want her in my future.

“I thought I could remove you from my mind, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t. Seeing you with another man, thinking of him escorting you through life tore me to shreds.” I grip her arms with my hands, wanting to shake the doubt from her, but her eyes remain down. “Chrissy,” I plea, my voice angrier than I’d prefer, but fear that I took too long or that she won’t give me a chance grows with every passing second she doesn’t look up to my eyes that I’m certain are portraying how much I love her in them.

“Okay,” she says.

“Okay, what?” I bend down to look into her eyes, seeing every bit of emotion that she feels but that I never allowed her to express. Picking up her head, those hazel eyes I love meet mine. Placing her hands on my cheeks, she pulls me down to her. “You are mine now. You got that?” She smiles, and I pull her toward me.

Releasing a huge breath while the fear slowly leaves my body. “I think I’ve always been yours,” I chuckle, “ever since you stole my Game Boy.”

“Kiss me,” she demands, and I gingerly bring her head in my hands.

Drawing her in, I close my eyes and plunge into the one thing I’ve denied myself from being all mine—the sweetness of Chrissy. Our lips brush a few times, and I hear her breath hitch as I press a little firmer. I deepen the kiss and my tongue dives into her welcoming mouth. She meets my thrusting tongue immediately, quickly increasing to a feverish pace. Unable to hold my urges back, my hand fists a chunk of her hair, holding her firm for me to devour the one temptation I’ve desperately craved.

She pushes her body flush against mine, close enough for me to feel the pounding of her heartbeat. Tilting her head back, I allow my lips to travel down her jaw until I reach the neck that beckons me each time her hair is pulled back. I lick the soft skin, just as delicious as I imagined, all the way up to her ear lobe. “I need you tonight,” I whisper to her, and her body shivers in my arms. I pull back and look into her eyes, but there’s no apprehension, just pure love and want.

I turn off the water and grab her ass so she climbs into my arms again. She giggles, and I stop to kiss her one more time. I’m not sure I’ll ever have enough from her. “Take me to your bed, Dex,” she demands, and I step out of the shower with her in my arms, water dripping off our bodies onto the tile floor. “Don’t slip,” she says, her hands behind my head, gripping me tightly.

Opening my door, I walk us over and lay her down on my bed. My whole body at peace with her there. The feeling of rightness in the moment can’t be denied. Half kicking myself for denying the two of us this for so long, I use the other half to make it up to her. “You’re so damn beautiful,” I say, crawling my way up her body. I lean down to her, and she whimpers, arching her back to me, and I draw her red, pebbled nipple into my mouth, sucking and licking. Her consistent moans, causing me to become harder. “Don’t stop,” she tells me in a low wispy voice, and it’s all I can do not to flip her over and take her quick and fast. But I’ve made us wait so long, I need to make this the moment she always remembers, because I know I’ll never forget it. My goal is to erase our drunken moment from weeks ago and instill this memory as our first time together. The time we came together, putting trust in the other to hold our future within their hands.

Moving over the valley of her breasts, I twirl my tongue over her nipple, swirling like licking an ice cream cone, before sucking it deep into my mouth, enticing her hands to grasps at the hair at my neckline, holding me close. “I need you inside of me,” she pleads, and I look up at her through my eyelashes, a teasing smirk splashed across my face that she wants me just as bad as my body is desperate for hers.

My body creeps up hers, the now pebbled nubs rubbing against my bare chest as I stretch out on top of her. “I need to see you move,” I instruct her, grabbing her hips and flipping us both over on the bed. She squeals and presses her hands on my chest, gaining her balance quickly.

“Condoms?” she questions.

“In the drawer,” I tell her, and she bends over to grab one while my hands slowly explore the curves I had imagined feeling all those years. She turns back, the foil packet already opened, and the ring of latex in her hands. Scooting down, she takes my tip and I buck when her fingers gingerly touch my cock in order to cover it.

She bites her lip and looks down at me. It’s the most beautiful sight I’ve beheld. Her on top of me. Rising a little, my heart picks up a beat and my stomach clenches with the longing to be inside of her. Feeling her wetness from wanting me.

She sinks down on top of me, taking all of me in one push, and stills her hands pressed to my chest. My fingers dig into her hips, rocking her a little to gain the momentum, because I need to feel all of her and hear those sounds that she releases, revealing how much she loves what I do to her.

Her hips circle, teasing me. She lifts and then sinks back down. The slow rhythm she’s setting is gradually making me come unglued with the heated desire to take over. My hands reach up, squeezing and molding her naked tits in my hands. Pushing her chest out, she leans back, her hands rest on my thighs as she rocks back and forth. Eyes shut, teeth clamped on her bottom lip, the array of moans escaping her mouth brings an uncontrollable drive through me, and I flip us, reversing our positions.

Her knees spread farther apart, heels pressing into the bed, and I ram into her, making her yelp. “Dex,” she sighs. Staring down at her soft and loving eyes, instantly slowing my pace. Thrusting in and out while my hands grip her shoulders, pulling her down to me at the exact time I push into her. “You feel so good,” she continues in a quiet welcoming tone, keeping her animalistic mannerisms at bay.

“Chrissy.” I call her name out because for the first time during sex, there’s not one dirty thought filling my head. There’s only my heart soaring toward how much I love this girl under me and praying I don’t fuck it up beyond belief and lose her. Going down on my forearms, I lock her head between them and claim her lips as I continue making love for the first time in my life. Pulling back, my eyes lock with hers and I see the love shining back, confirming that her feelings are just as strong as mine.

She raises her legs, locking my hips to hers. Clenching around me, her breath shutters, and I allow myself to finally release the buildup in me. My finger brushes the hair from around her face, and I bend down, my lips meeting hers, pouring every ounce of love that’s swirling inside of me to her.

I roll over and get off the bed to clean myself up. When I return from the bathroom, she’s there, cozied up under my sheets smack dab in the middle of the bed. My bed. A gleam of happiness in her eyes I’m not sure I’ve ever seen in all the years I’ve known her. Everything in my life seems to fit in this moment. She grabs the edge of the sheet and lifts it up, inviting me to join her. Not about to hesitate, I climb in and wrap her in my arms. A safe and love-filled motion that brings warmth to every bone in my body. My head in the crook of her neck, the scent of us together still lingering, I close my eyes in peace. “I love you, Chrissy Dawson,” I tell her for the first time, secretly enjoying how the words sound leaving my mouth.

Her hand rises, and she places it on the back of my head, keeping my face exactly where it is. “I love you, too,” she says softly, and I swear my heart really does grow ten times its size with her words.