My breath catches when she calls me that. She hasn’t said my nickname since we were kids playing on the swing set. I’m not sure what makes her say it now. It makes me wish for some type of connection with her. One besides pain.
She takes a deep breath and keeps going. “I don’t have a good reason for doing what I did. Everything, every excuse that I have told myself at the time made sense. It wasn’t you. You were perfect, Rowan.” Even with her back turned, I can see the tears fall down her cheeks, one after the other, drop upon drop.
I step forward to grasp her wrist, and an electric current zaps between us. I want her to turn around so bad. But she won’t. I know that if I see the pain in her emerald eyes, it will break me. But maybe that’s what I need.
“Look at me,” I beg.
She shakes her head, causing more tears to rush down her cheeks. “I can’t.”
“Give me that much, Everly. Please. Look at me.”
Slowly, trembling with emotion, she spins around on shaky legs. My stomach twists, my nerves shatter, my heart trips over the ache. I let out a quaking breath to try and calm myself, but my lungs aren’t working. I don’t let go of her wrist. The feel of her smooth skin on mine takes everything away. Suddenly, it’s just me and her alone.
I’m on cloud nine again.
“He has to have something. Someone had to have something for you not to want my love, Everly. Just tell me because I can’t live like this anymore.”
She opens her eyes, and my knees buckle. She’s so damn beautiful it hurts. “Don’t cry, Everly. Please. I’m barely keeping it together,” I beg as I swallow my emotion the best I can, but I can still feel a single tear dripping down my own cheek.
Her lips quiver as she breaks eye contact with me, and she stares at the ceiling before wiping her eyes. “Rowan, I’m sorry.”
I cup her face with my hands and make her look at me. “Tell me what I did. Was it not… was it not good for you? Did I do something wrong?” I won’t ever tell her that I had no idea what I was doing because I was a virgin too, but this has to be cleared up. It sounds so stupid talking about it two years later, but with her standing in front of me, and my hands holding her delicate face, it’s like I’m back there all over again.
She pinches her brows and lays her hands on top of mine. Her tears get trapped by our fingers as she cries. “Oh my god, Rowan. No, that was never it. That will never be it. That was the best night of my life. It was amazing. You were amazing. It was everything I dreamed of. I need you to know that.”
I smile, remembering how good it felt to be with her. I lay my forehead on hers. “If it was everything, why did you go? Why did you leave me?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” she whispers, her breath ghosting over my lips, teasing me with the faint remembrance of her taste.
I rub my nose against hers, closing my eyes, taking in how she feels against me. It’s been so long. My life feels right again. My heart doesn’t ache anymore. This is how it’s supposed to be. I don’t want to talk anymore. I just want to feel her. I need to. It’s been too long.
I tilt my head to the side and hover my lips over hers. It’s been too long since I’ve tasted them. I only got to taste them once, and it was nowhere near enough.
“What are you doing?” she pulls back a little, gasping as I take a step forward to close the distance she put between us.
“Shh, don’t question it because right now I don’t really know. I just know I need you.”
“I need you too, Rowan.”
My name falling from her lips breaks the last resolve I have.
I press her against the door, pelvis to pelvis, and close the distance between us. I keep my hands on her face, caressing her cheeks, moving to push my lips harder against hers. She whimpers into my mouth, and I swallow it down like it’s water, and I’m a dehydrated man. I plunge my tongue inside her lips, licking those divine taste buds. Her tongue duels with mine but not for domination. Instead, she pulls me even closer to her. It makes me flex my hips, rocking my cock against her. Her lips are so perfect and round. I’ve never stopped remembering our first kisses, and for so long the fantasy of kissing her again was a luxury I wanted desperately.
Still is.
Breaking our lips apart for a second to catch my breath. I groan as my body trembles with need. My cock jerks in my jeans, aching to be inside her again, the place I belong. I run my hands down her neck, my fingers dragging along the soft column of her neck, tracing her collarbones, running them down her chest until I hit the curve of her breasts.
Her breaths are coming out harsh, and her cheeks are red from desire, for me. I stop before I go further and take a chance to examine her face. God damn, she is beautiful. Her eyes are my favorite thing about her. They are pools of melted emerald stones, glistening in the sun. Hypnotizing. Erotic. Mine. Always have been. Always will be.
No matter what curves life throws at us, no matter the space we put between us, I know we will always find our way back to each other.
“I love you, Rowan. That’s never changed.”
Her words elicit a deeply content growl from my throat, and I plunder her mouth again. My
