Chapter Sixteen

Wyatt

Those seconds watching Zoey bite her bottom lip, considering everything I’d said were the longest moments of my life. Not walking down some desolate path between mountains waiting to see if someone shot at us. Not laying in what passed for a bed staring at the ceiling, always thinking about Zoey and what she was doing. None of that compare to the seconds ticking by and not knowing what she was going to say.

I’d seen horrible things up close but waiting for Zoey Goodrich to decide if she loved me back was the worst thing I’d ever been through. Now that was the worst torture.

“I love you, Wyatt,” she said in almost a whisper. “I’ve always loved you. That’s never been a question.” She swallowed hard. “What if you change your mind again?”

The doubt she had… I’d put it there. And I silently vowed to spend the rest of my life proving to her that nothing could make me stop loving her. I could’ve told her. Said it right then and there but saying it just wasn’t good enough. Instead, I brought my hands up to cup her face and let my lips do the talking.

Our mouths came together, each trying to claim the other. Thankfully, she conceded and let me win because I’d been thinking about how I’d do this for a really long time. Longer than she’d ever know.

When her mouth opened just enough for me to taste her, I groaned. It may have been out loud, I couldn’t be sure. But honestly, I didn’t give a fuck if she knew how much she turned me on. The opposite was true. I wanted her to know my feelings.

Zoey pressed her body against mine, her breasts brushing against my abs which sent a shock of desire straight to my cock and this time, I didn’t bother trying to hide it. In fact, I pushed against her even harder.

“Whoa.” She jumped back. “We’re just kissing.” The tone went up at the end like she was confused. As if it was unusual for just kissing to cause that kind of reaction. She didn’t know that I’d gotten hard before just by seeing her across the room or by simply thinking about her when I’d been overseas.

“Can’t help it,” I said making sure she could hear every ounce of the desire I felt. “A man knows when he wants something.”

She smiled and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. A movement that I had to mimic. Touching her skin and silky hair was a small gesture but one I wanted to repeat over and over.

She smiled and said, “So, about that getting naked with Riley’s sister thing… is that something you were thinking would happen tonight?” She bit that bottom lip once more which made me want to copy her again.

“That’s your call,” I answered honestly. “I want it to happen now, tomorrow, and every single day after that.”

She let the smile that had become a fixture on her face spread widely. “Now seems good,” she said with her head tilted to the side.

As soon as the “Now” came out of her mouth, I hoisted her up over my shoulder and almost jogged off to her bedroom. I’d been thinking about this moment for so long that the catalog of what I wanted to do was almost overwhelming. But we had time. All the time in the world and I vowed that I’d get to check every single one off the list.

But this time… this time was going to be slow, showing her every single thing I felt for her. I tasted her skin, savoring it until I thought I might explode. Licked and nipped at her neck then trailed down her body, removing clothes and sucking on her skin gently until she was naked and writhing under my hands. I let me fingers and tongue work in tandem to bring her to the point of no return. My stomach tightened as her body tensed. Holy hell I wanted inside of her. That would be my version of Heaven.

Being the person to bring her that kind of pleasure was the stuff legends were made of. Now that it’d happened, I was ready to see if Heaven really existed. Once I got a condom in place, something I’d made sure to have just in case, I slid into her and every muscle in my body tightened. It was almost too much please. Zoey felt like home. With her was where I was supposed to be.

I wanted to go slow, take my time, savor the moment, the feeling, and her but I couldn’t I just couldn’t. I hadn’t had sex in a while but that wasn’t it. Waiting so long to be with Zoey pushed my control too far. We’d have more time, I reminded myself. More time to discover every inch of each other. This was the first time not the only time.

“I’m really glad you didn’t get your dick shot off,” Zoey mumbled into her pillow as I trailed my fingers down her side once we’d finished.

I chuckled tiredly and remembered when she’d said that not too long ago. Being with her sapped me of every ounce of energy I had but it was the best kind of exhausted. The sweetest pain. Lying next to the woman I loved, holding her close with nothing between us qualified this as the best Valentine’s Day ever. Every year on that day, I’d give her the best Anti-V-day day I could.