When Jacob spun his tale for the Diamondbacks, Lind did not back him up. At the end of the story, he said four words only:
“That’s not true.”
Jacob barely had the time to look at him in surprise before Alec walked into the room. The look Jacob’s face then was something that Lind would remember for the rest of his life. What happened next, Lind didn’t want to tell and Eve didn’t want to know. She was content in knowing that Jacob was dead; she certainly did not need the specifics.
“So,” she said once he was finished with his tale. “I guess this is it.”
Lind nodded. “I guess it is. I can take you home now.”
Eve stared at him. They were sitting on the couch in his apartment. She was wearing the clothes of a woman who had been there before her, long enough to leave clothes behind. And she was listening to him tell her that their paths were done crossing.
“Just like that?” she said.
Lind looked at her uncomprehendingly. “What do you mean?”
“I meant just what I said,” Eve said. “You’re sending me away just like that? You really don’t care?”
Lind licked his lips nervously. “I care more than you’ll ever know.” Eve froze in surprise. She had not expected him to admit to any feelings at all, let alone do it so readily. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we have to say goodbye.”
“Do we really?” Eve asked, but she knew even as she asked the question that it was a stupid question to ask.
Lind smiled sadly at her. “You know we do.”
Eve sighed and nodded. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I do.”
He leaned closer, reached out, and cupped her cheek with one hand, his thumb brushing over her cheekbone. “I think I could have loved you,” he murmured, “if things had been different.”
Eve’s stomach clenched, and her heart skipped a beat in her chest. “I think I could have loved you, too,” she said.
They met halfway then, each reaching out for the other at the same moment. Their lips crushed together and their arms wrapped around one another, each clinging to the other with the fiery, desperate passion of two people who knew that they were separating very soon.
It wasn’t tender. It was messy and hard and raw and passionate, and yet there was an aching tenderness underneath, brought on by a longing that wouldn’t be satisfied. Eve gave herself to him completely, and he did the same.
His hands were still magic, but there was something different to his touch, a gentle intensity, as if he was committing her body to memory. He probably was, after all, and her whole body tensed and vibrated in response to every single one of his touches. His touch was teasing, tantalizing; it sent her brain into full stop, her world going white as he found her waiting clitoris.
Eve simply could not get enough. Everything about Lind was like a drug. It was intoxicating and still so very far from everything and everyone that she had ever known. The thought of ever making do without him made her feel sick.
She reached up and grabbed a fistful of his dark hair, pulling him down for a hungry, desperate kiss. He moaned against her lips, and she shuddered in response. Like she had done once before, she arched into him, her hips grinding against his pelvis. She threw her head back and fell further down still, going to hover near that edge that drove them both crazy.
Lind didn’t wait this time. This was not a time for foreplay. He straddled her and looked down at her with fire in his impossibly blue eyes.
“Can I…?”
“Yes,” Eve moaned. “Please. I want you.” I want you so much.
He leaned down to take her mouth into a powerful kiss, long enough to leave them both panting when they finally resurfaced. Next thing Eve knew, he was inside her. She cried out in surprise, but her body adjusted quickly. She fit him like a glove. It was as if they were meant to make love again and again and again.
Their hips ground together and swiveled against each other—creating a dance and a world of their own—away from everything and everyone else. She clenched around him and felt his powerful cock harden all the more in response, a twitch sending that now familiar electric jolt running all over her body.
Eve drank in the sight of Lind straddling her, his powerful shoulder twitching as he held himself above and over her, his head thrown back in the throes of passion. Just the sight of him coming undone like that was enough to almost send her over the edge.
As if sensing her eyes on him, Lind opened his eyes and smiled down at her. Then, he lowered himself until he was covering her with his body, his whole length splayed over her—skin to skin, flesh to flesh. His thrusts became slow and languid, like they had all the time in the world. Like separation wasn’t imminent. He turned his head and buried his face against her neck, biting at the sensitive spot on her throat.
Eve gasped. “I want you,” she whispered again.
She had never wanted anyone so much, and the intensity of that want was driving her insane. Lind was driving her insane, and she couldn’t think about the fact that she wouldn’t ever know this insanity again.
She dug her fingertips into his back in renewed desperation. Feeling the renewed change in pace, Lind’s thrusts increased their cadence. Eve let her hips respond to the rhythm of the dance, following the movements of his body as if they had rehearsed the movements a thousand times before. It was a perfect harmony, a synchrony of bodies that she had never thought would be possible to reach with another human being.
The pace changed constantly. Quick, urgent, frantic thrusts and pushes first, slow, lazy, sensuous strokes later. They teased each other with abrupt changes, making each other’s head spin and their blood boil in their veins.
Lind’s hands began a searching journey along her body, mapping out her skin. They caressed everywhere—from thigh to hip to breast. Each touch brought her a thrill that was impossible to resist. Eve thought that he belonged inside of her.
She moaned, a deep sound at the back of her throat. She wasn’t going to hold back today, not with him. Never with him. She would let each sound bubble to the surface and escape.
As he thrust inside of her, his fingers found her clitoris again. The combination was mind-blowing, so much so that soon Eve found herself not knowing where was up and where was down any longer.
The way Lind’s fingers teased her sweet spot drove her almost mad with pleasure. This was the sweetest torture she had ever endured. His fingertips unfailingly showed a kind of agility that was surprising, considering what he did for a living. Lind’s fingers were dexterous and confident, and they drove Eve crazy.
She held on, however. She held back. There was a voice in her head that would not be silenced that repeatedly told her that this was the very last time Lind would be touching her. She was going to have the most intense orgasm possible, and in order to do that, she was going to delay it as long as she could.
He slid out of her, and she barely had the time to moan in protest before his lips were on her sweetest spot. Then, her moan of protest turned into a gasp of deep pleasure. Lind knew the perfect combination of gentleness and confidence to make her moan and gasp and beg, and Eve did all of these things…in no particular order.
He teased all areas—from the hood of her clitoris to the head to her lips. He kissed the insides of her thighs almost reverently, his sudden display of devotion making her shiver. His tongue sneaked out then, mapping her out. It glided and swirled, and soon Eve truly didn’t know where else to turn. She let go then, because it was just impossible not to. She simply couldn’t hold back any longer. Besides, another orgasm would come, she was sure of it.
Lind smirked down at her, clearly very pleased with himself.
“God, the things you do to me…” he growled. He leaned down and kissed her passionately.
And then he was back inside of her. Eve moaned in ecstasy and arched up against him once again, welcoming him in fully and completely.
She didn’t know how long it went on. Hands gripping, fingertips digging, hips grinding and thrusting. All she knew was that she didn’t want it to stop. She came again and again, lost in that world that was made of flesh and blood and pumping, thumping hearts.
When they were finally sated and spent on the living room carpet (and how had they even ended up there?), Eve felt dizzy from the intensity of it all.
She turned to look at him and found that he was already watching her. There was a blissed-out and yet dark look in his eyes.
“Fuck,” he breathed quietly.
Eve smirked. “I believe we just did.”
He chuckled weakly. “I meant…well…you know how I said I could have loved you?”
Eve suddenly felt very alert. “Yeah?”
Lind licked his lips nervously. “I meant it.”
Eve’s heart did a somersault in her chest. She locked eyes with him and made sure she had his undivided attention. “I could love you, too.”
Lind smiled. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”
Eve’s heart broke a little. “It does.”
She snuggled close to him, and he encircled her shoulders with one arm, pulling her close.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” he said, breaking the heavy silence that had descended between them with even heavier words.
“Me too,” Eve echoed.
They lapsed back into silence then. Her mind was working furiously, trying to find a solution that didn’t exist. She had to go, she knew that. There was no way around it. They belonged to different worlds, with different people. She couldn’t work in his world, and he couldn’t work in hers. She tried to picture him in her world and had to smile at the absurdity of it. She tried to picture herself in his world and knew that it was even more absurd.
“I can hear you thinking,” Lind said, with a smile in his voice.
Eve smiled back and sighed. “I was trying to find a solution. Some way that we could be together."
“There isn’t one, sweetheart,” Lind said quietly. “I’m sorry.”
“I know,” Eve said. “I’m sorry, too.” She hesitated. “Do you think we could see each other from time to time?”
“I’m pretty sure you know that’s a very bad idea.”
Eve smiled bitterly. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I guess it is.”
Lind tightened his hold around her, and Eve went willingly. She meant to enjoy his warmth for as long as she could, even if it was just a few minutes longer. Try as she might, she could not picture her world without him in it. It made sense to not have him in her life, and yet it didn’t.
But then again, she wasn’t even sure what her life would look like anymore.