Charlie and I stayed at the reception until the end, dancing and eating cake and laughing with our friends. I drove us home because Charlie had a few more than several drinks.

Home.

Home was with Charlie. Because I loved him.

Home had never been a place I knew I could run back to if I needed it. I’d never been homesick before. But now, this man, this funny, happy, beautiful man had opened his arms and invited me in, and I was home.

Charlie kicked off his shoes and flopped on his bed with his arms behind his head.

“I’m gonna need you to get naked now,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow from the doorway. “Oh yeah? What about you?”

He sat up and loosened his tie, then yanked it off. “Come here, Miss Eliza.”

I walked into the room and stood in front of him. He held my hips and rubbed his face against my stomach. I closed my eyes and let him hold me, cradling the back of his head. He’d gone from silly to serious in two blinks, but that was Charlie.

Needing more, I kneeled down in front of him and worked on unbuttoning his dress shirt. He watched me closely as I made my way down, his breath heavy and hot on my cheek.

I pushed his shirt open and kissed the very center of his chest.

“You’re in there,” he said softly.

I looked up at his suddenly very sober eyes. “Am I?”

He nodded slowly, deliberately. “You cracked me open and burrowed in deep.”

I bit my lip. “Sounds painful.”

He let out a husky laugh. “Hurts so good.”

I love you.

I. Love. You.

My heart ached with how much I loved him. How had I not realized this until today? It was so clear, so obvious. It was undeniable. I was shaky with it. I needed to let some of it out or I’d explode. And since I wasn’t ready to say the words and not have them reciprocated, I would show him with my mouth, my hands, my whole body.

I unbuckled his belt and opened his pants, palming his hard length through the fabric. Charlie groaned and lifted his hips so I could pull his pants the rest of the way off. His erection bobbed free, laying against his flat stomach.

He sighed my name when I wrapped my hand around his smooth, thick shaft. And then I swirled my tongue around the head, pressing on the spot that always made his eyes roll back in his head. I grinned around the dick in my mouth at the sound he made.

I took him all the way in, as deep as I could, just shy of too far, and then I lavished him with my tongue and lips and hand. Charlie had both hands digging in my hair, directing the pace. I loved blowing him. I loved it because he didn’t expect me to do it. He was always surprised when I took him in my mouth. And he reciprocated ten times over. Damn, did he reciprocate.

“Eliza, I’m going to come if you don’t stop. Fuck, you feel so good.”

His hands stayed in my hair, though, and I didn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. He grunted and thrust into my mouth while pressing my head down, and I took everything he gave me. I licked him until his hands fell away, limp at his sides.

“You’re a fuckin’ angel, Eliza,” he rasped.

I laid my cheek down on his thigh. “I like making you feel good, Charlie.”

“How did I get so lucky? What have I done in this life to deserve you?”

I looked up at him. He looked vulnerable, open, like he really didn’t know the answer.

“Charlie,” I breathed. “You’re just you. That’s all I could ever need.”

He brushed my bangs to the side and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. Then he pushed my dress off my shoulders and kissed along my collarbone.

“You still have an awful lot of clothes on,” he said.

I stood up and grinned. “I got a little distracted.” I turned around and looked over my shoulder at him. “Unzip me?”

He stood behind me without hesitation and pulled the zipper down, then pushed my sleeves down my arms. I held my arms over my head and let my dress fall to the floor, a red puddle around my feet.

Charlie sucked in a breath when he saw what was under my dress. He cupped my bare ass with his hands and pressed his already hardening length against me.

“Fuck. Where did this come from?”

I turned back around to face him and almost laughed. He was watching me with unadulterated lust and wanting in his eyes.

I ran my hands down my sides slowly, my eyes on Charlie’s. I’d bought a red longline bra and matching lace thong to go with my dress, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t buy them for Charlie too. And his reaction, the way he looked like he was seconds from either combusting or swallowing his own tongue, was more than I’d hoped for. Seeing the effect I had on him made me feel powerful, wanted.

“Were you wearing that all day?” he asked.

I giggled. “Of course.”

He ran his hands over his hair, never taking his eyes off me. “Thank god I didn’t know, or you would’ve missed the wedding. Just let me look at you for a minute. Then I’m going to lick every single inch of you.”

I rested my arms on top of my head and turned slowly, swaying my hips as I went. I had a small, athletic body, more muscle and hard lines than curves, but I saw myself in Charlie’s eyes and I felt like a sensuous, sexual woman under his gaze.

He grabbed my waist and pulled me against him, covering my mouth with his. Our tongues and lips crashed together, and every inch of my body was prickling with need for him. As Charlie trailed his hands over my skin, fireworks exploded underneath, every nerve standing at attention.

He reached around behind me and unhooked my bra, then held my breasts in his hands. He moved from kissing my lips to my nipples, taking the hard points in his mouth and sucking until I cried out.

“Get on the bed, on your knees,” he grated.

I crawled onto the bed and waited with my ass in the air. I felt him behind me, heard him breathing, but I didn’t look. I waited, soaking wet with arousal. I knew he’d give me what I needed, even more than I knew I needed.

Charlie hooked his fingers on the waistband of my underwear and inched them down my legs. Then he put pressure on my upper back, so I laid my head and shoulders down on the mattress. He palmed my ass and spread me apart. It took everything in me not to move away, not to cover myself. But I wanted this. Sex with Charlie was another adventure. We did things I’d never done, things I’d never known I wanted to do. And he kept me safe and loved the whole time.

He buried his face in my core, licking me from top to bottom. He lavished my folds and clit with his tongue, my hips rotating against his mouth. He made me desperate, mad, out of my mind. I had him, and still, I longed for him.

Charlie plunged his fingers inside me, thrusting in and out, hitting my clit with his thumb. His mouth moved higher, to an area no one had ever touched. He licked me there, and I tensed, but it felt so good combined with what his hands were doing, I couldn’t find the words to protest. He licked me up and down and circled his tongue around that opening, driving me even crazier.

“Oh god, I’m going to come!” I yelled into the pillow.

He curled his fingers inside me and pressed my swollen bundle of nerves, lighting me up from the inside. My back arched, and my hips rocked erratically as a wave of pleasure hit me so intensely, I saw stars and planets and galaxies behind my eyelids.

Charlie slid his fingers out of me while I was still clenching, but I didn’t have a second to complain because he slammed his shaft inside me all the way to the hilt. He held my hips firmly, driving into me at a pace so punishing, it bordered on painful, and I loved it.

“I love being inside you. God, you feel perfect,” he panted.

I rotated my hips in response, and he groaned.

He wrapped my hair around his hand and pulled, forcing me up on my hands. His chest pressed against my back as he leaned over me, and I turned so I could kiss him. There was no finesse involved, just lips and tongue and teeth crashing into each other with each pump of his hips against my ass.

“Rub your clit, Eliza. I want to feel you squeezing around me.”

I reached between my legs and circled my overly sensitive bud. When I almost collapsed forward, Charlie held me up with one arm across my chest, the other still digging into my hip.

He’d never taken me so hard and with such abandon. Even though he’d said he wanted to ravage me, to get me dirty, he’d yet to follow through. Until now.

Now, he was taking what he wanted from me.

Now, his hips slapped against my ass so hard, I knew I’d have bruises. And I wanted that. I wanted him to mark me, not treat me like a porcelain doll.

I was becoming overstimulated and frantic, with my fingers furiously circling my clit, Charlie slamming into me, his fingers rolling my nipple and his mouth clamped on my shoulder.

I chanted his name out loud, and in my heart, I chanted my new mantra: I love you. I love you. I love you.

“I’m gonna need you to come now. I can’t last,” he said, urgency in his breathless voice.

I pressed down on my clit, and I let go, finally untethered and floating above the bed, above my own writhing body. I was barely aware of Charlie collapsing on top of me, I was so far away in my own cloud of mindless pleasure.

I clawed at the pillow next to my cheek, trying to bring myself back to Earth, grounding myself in the feel of the crisp cotton beneath my fingernails. All I was aware of was the sound of heavy breathing, a solid weight on my back, and fullness between my legs. And there, in that bed, in our little corner of the universe, it seemed those things were all that mattered, because it was all Charlie, surrounding me, enveloping me, invading me.

I came back to myself when he slowly pulled out of me, a last zap of pleasure hitting me with his withdrawal. I moaned and squeezed my legs together. Charlie rolled to his back, and with my last ounce of energy, I turned my head so I was facing him.

“That was a little crazy,” I said slowly, almost as if I’d been drugged.

He looked at me sharply. “Too crazy? Did I hurt you?”

I propped my head up on my hand. “No, you didn’t hurt me. And I think it was just the right amount of crazy.”

He draped his arm over his forehead and stared up at the ceiling. “Sometimes, I just go out of my mind for you, Eliza. I don’t...I should be softer with you.”

I frowned. “Why?”

He rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip. “Because you’re so delicate and so lovely and sweet. I shouldn’t be ravaging you.”

A minute ago, I’d been flying, and now, I was crashing. And pissed about it. I got on my knees and straddled him, pushing down on his shoulders with my hands.

“Did I seem like I didn’t like what we just did?”

He shook his head, his eyes wide.

“Do you think I’m weak?”

“I know you’re not,” he said.

“Do you think I can own my sexuality and experience new things and decide for myself if I enjoyed them or not?”

“Of course.” He was starting to smile, clearly enjoying me being on top of him.

“Did you like the way we just fucked? Pounding into me and taking me hard?”

He tilted his hips up, bucking me. “I fucking loved it, Eliza.”

I leaned over so we were nose to nose. “Me too, Charlie. I’m no delicate flower. I just came so hard, I was outside my own body. I want you. Sometimes it’s going to be soft and romantic, and sometimes it’s going to break the headboard. As long as it’s with you, I’m all in.”

He pressed his lips to mine and kissed me fiercely.

“Sometimes I’m stupid. I’m realizing this is one of those times. Forgive me?” he asked.

I grinned at him. “Keep doing the things you just did with your tongue and I’ll forgive pretty much anything.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Liked that, did ya?”

“Mmhmm.”

He wrapped his arms around me, and I lay down on top of him, my head on his shoulder, my face against his neck. He smelled like sex and sweat and Charlie. So I licked him.

He groaned and pressed his hips up against my belly. “You’re killing me.”

“You should stop being so delicious,” I said.

“Eliza, look at me,” he said, his tone suddenly serious.

He sat up and took me with him so I was in his lap, my legs around his waist. He pushed my bangs back again, then stared at me for a long moment. I watched, unsure.

He took a deep breath, then cupped my jaw so I couldn’t look away.

“I...I really fucking love you, Eliza.”

When what he’d said registered in my scrambling brain, I let out a joyful laugh.

“Same, Charlie. I really fucking love you too.”

He looked so sweet and hopeful, his brown eyes full of every one of his past love stories that led him to this place, loving me. Do my eyes tell my story? Because that’s gotta be a shitshow.

“You do?”

I nodded firmly. “Your love is completely, one-hundred percent requited. I love you.”

His grin was like sunshine, and I was a flower, leaning in for its warmth and light. We kissed and wrapped our arms tightly around each other, so it was hard to tell where his body ended and mine began.

“Thank fuck. I wasn’t sure if you were there yet, but I felt like my chest was going to explode if I didn’t tell you. I have never known a woman like you, Eliza. Maybe because you wouldn’t have been at the punk rock shows where I spent most of my adult life. I don’t know. But the day I stumbled into this town was the first best day of my life.”

“The first best day?” I asked.

He kissed me, one, two, three times. “That was the first. Today has moved into the top spot. The last five minutes are my favorite minutes. But it seems like every day keeps getting better, so the best day keeps changing.”

I leaned my forehead on his and sighed. “Mmmm...Charlie. You keep getting sweeter and sweeter. I think I like it.”

He chuckled and rubbed up and down my back. “You think?”

“Yeah,” I said softly, vulnerably. “I’m not used to this, so a part of me needs to analyze it from every side and make sure it’s real. But mostly, I want to take your sweetness and your love and wrap it around me like a big fuzzy blanket.”

“Eliza.” He held my gaze fiercely. “You can examine it all you want. This is real. It isn’t going anywhere and it’s not changing. I’m here, and I’m in love with you, and I want everything you’ll give me. All of it. And it’s a shame no one ever loved you like I’m gonna love you, but damn if there isn’t a small, caveman part of me that’s glad to be the first.”

He flipped us over and pinned me to the bed. This time, he took me slow, leisurely, like he planned to make good on his word and live inside me forever.

With his warm body completely eclipsing mine, nothing sounded more enticing than forever with Charlie.