Twelve

Sutton

As soon as we were home, I disappeared into the bathroom with Jason. He needed a bath after playing in the sandbox, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t need a moment to regroup. Watching David with Jason was…heart-wrenching. And wonderful.

All the things Maverick was missing.

All the things David was getting instead.

It was wrong to compare them. Maverick and David were nothing alike. Maverick had been funny and silly and always an adventure. David was more serious. He had this look in his eyes that said he’d been through shit, but I could never tell if I was just projecting.

Plus, Maverick would always be what once was, and I couldn’t compare David to a ghost. They weren’t the same. I didn’t want them to be. But, sometimes, it was hard seeing David in Mav’s place.

Taking that extra minute to wash the sand off of Jason was enough for me to feel sane again. I changed him into his new favorite pajamas that said Future President and hauled him back out to the living room.

“Why don’t you pick out a movie?” I told him.

He raced to the movie cabinet and began pulling every single movie we owned off the shelves.

“Pizza should be here in fifteen minutes,” David said.

“Great.”

Jason picked Trolls, of course. I popped the movie into the player and set Jason down on the couch. David sat next to him, and I took the other spot.

“Bet this is exactly what you were expecting when you asked me out.”

“I mean…I was kind of expecting Thor. Abs and all,” he joked.

“Ha-ha. You’re so funny.”

He wickedly grinned at me before slinging his arm across the back of the couch and pulling all of us closer together. Magical.

By the time pizza arrived, David was as deeply engrossed in the movie as Jason was. I rolled my eyes at the pair of them and got up to get food. We ate our pizza on paper plates in the living room and sang along to the songs until Jason’s eyes were drooping. Eventually, he lost the fight and fell into a deep sleep, still sitting between us.

David swept Jason’s thick hair off his forehead. “I’ll carry him into his room if you get the door.”

With practiced ease, he carefully hoisted Jason into his hands. I walked in front of him and opened the door to Jason’s bedroom, tugging back the covers to his toddler bed. David gently laid him down on the mattress and tucked him in. His little head lolled to the side. He was completely out of it.

“Guess all of that time in the sun wore him out,” I whispered. “Usually, bedtime is an ordeal.”

David nodded. “Seems so.”

I bent down and kissed Jason on the forehead before quietly exiting the bedroom with David. I peeked inside one more time to get another look at my slumbering boy before walking back to the living room with David. Where we were finally…finally alone.

Our eyes met, and my heart stuttered at that look. Desire coiled through me—as hot as it was unexpected.

I wanted this man.

That much was so obvious to me.

Yet…I hesitated. I awkwardly stood there, staring up at him, like I’d never been intimate with anyone before. The two-year-old in the other room proved that wrong. But, of course, he was also one of the main reasons I hadn’t been with anyone else in over a year.

I hated this part. This pause. This inaction. This second-guessing.

Even if it was perfectly reasonable for me to question moving forward.

As if David could see what was racing through my mind, he reached down and picked up the remote. “Do you still want to finish the movie?”

I laughed, releasing some of that tension. “Do you know how many times I’ve seen this?”

“At least a hundred.”

“At least.”

David flipped the TV off, bathing us in darkness, except for the soft light coming from the side table. I chewed on my bottom lip.

“Do you…want a drink?”

He shook his head. “I’m all right.”

Then, he stepped across the room. His fingers pushed up into my dark hair and tilted my face up to look at him. My pulse accelerated, and both fear and excitement struck me like lightning.

“Are you all right?”

When I looked up into those golden eyes, I lost all thought, all doubt. I just nodded. And he kissed me.

I exhaled softly as a groan escaped me. He tasted delicious and utterly, undeniably wonderful. Our lips melded together. He opened my mouth on a sigh. Our tongues volleyed, meeting and touching and tempting. We stayed like that, lost in a perfect kiss, until he dragged my bottom lip between his teeth and then moved to kiss down my neck.

Goose bumps erupted on my skin. I felt as hot as the Texas summer. My body couldn’t seem to keep up with the sensations it had been deprived of. Everything was so intense, so much. I wanted to dive into a cold pool, into this feeling of exquisite rightness.

I arched my body against his chest. His hands slipped down my back, digging into the muscles as he scooped his way down, down, down. He wasn’t tentative or questioning when he grabbed my ass, and I didn’t try to stop him. If anything, my moan and thrust against him only indicated the opposite.

I was aching for more.

Aching to feel again.

He bent forward, capturing my lips again. Then, he grasped my outer thighs and lifted me into the air. A breath loosed from my mouth as I threw my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

I was now at eye-level, which, with his considerable height, never happened. I could see the molten-gold ring around his eyes and the little flecks of green that threatened to take over when he wore the color. My body pulsed against him. I was sure he could feel it.

His enthusiastic smile at my reaction was enough to say that he didn’t care. Not one ounce.

My lips found his, and he walked us back to the couch where he took a seat with me straddling him. My dress was hiked up to the tops of my thighs, and his hands explored the exposed flesh. Getting intimately acquainted with every inch of my skin. Every sweep of his hands became bolder and bolder until they strayed up to the hem of my pink thong.

My body jerked in response, and that was when I felt him through his khaki shorts. I gasped as desire shot through me like nothing before. His hardened dick was so…inviting. It would be so easy to just strip him out of those shorts and find sweet relief. Quench that throbbing need.

But I reined myself in. I wasn’t even on the pill. I didn’t need another whoops. One was enough.

“Fuck,” David groaned against my mouth. “You’re…fuck.”

“I know,” I whispered.

“Are you…do you…want to keep going?” he asked.

My heart melted for this man. He didn’t just take. He could. I would have let him. But…he still wanted to make sure I was okay. Through all of this, he was worried about me. I could just kiss him.

And I did.

“Yes,” I murmured against his lips.

His arms tightened around my body, squeezing me close once before laying my body back on the couch. I inhaled deeply as he started at my knee and began kissing his way down my inner thigh. He spread my legs a little further before brushing his nose against the satin of my thong.

I groaned, quite ready to throw my underwear off and toss them at him. But he was secure in taking his time. Slipping a finger under the material and swishing it down between the folds. He grinned up at me when he felt how wet I already was. He teased me with my own wetness before dragging my thong down my legs.

He wet his fingers and then circled my clit until I was thrashing. I was whimpering and practically begging for more by the time he inserted two fingers inside me.

“Oh,” I gasped.

I wanted more, but dear Lord, this was…so good.

He pumped in and out of me a few times, bringing me to the edge and then releasing me. When I thought I couldn’t take any more, his tongue replaced his thumb, still working my clit. My head whipped backward, and I arched off the couch. My entire body tensed, centering in my core, as if it were building pressure.

Then, I stepped on the land mine, and everything exploded. It shot out from my core, up through my chest, and all the way to my fingers and toes. I curled into myself and said frantically, “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my fucking God.”

Finally, my eyes opened, and I stared at a rather satisfied David.

“God, you’re beautiful.”

I laughed softly. “Wow.”

Wow was the only word in my vocabulary at the moment. I was running on a total high. That was the best orgasm I’d had in a long, long time. My body felt like jelly. My mind was full of cotton balls. Everything was so slow and so good.

David pulled my dress back over my lower half and leaned up to kiss my cheek. “I really want to have sex with you,” he admitted in a moment of perfect honesty.

And, in that same second, reality smacked me in the face.

Sex.

Oh, man.

I wasn’t ready for that. I…I wasn’t even sure if I was ready for what had just happened. It had been perfect, yet now, I was wondering if it was too soon. We’d only been talking for a couple of weeks. Sure, he was great with Jason, but was I ready for Jason to have a real father figure in his life? Was it too soon?

Stupid brain. I wished it would shut up for once.

“I’m not…not ready,” I finally told him.

David leaned his forehead into my shoulder. “Okay.”

“You sure?”

“I’m just going to need a cold shower,” he said on a hoarse laugh. “Your orgasm nearly did me in.”

My face turned the color of a tomato. “Oh.”

He gently kissed my cheek. “It’s okay. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready.”

I kind of adored him for that comment. He was giving me all the space I wanted. And, apparently, an epic orgasm…and I hoped I’d soon be ready for a second one of those. He drew me close to him one more time, and then I wistfully watched him leave.

Jason slumbered in another bedroom, but the quiet creeped me out. I wrapped my arms around myself as the ghosts of the past threatened me. It was much easier when there were other people around. When I didn’t have to remember what it had been like when the silences were filled or realize I was forgetting the sound of Maverick’s voice.

For once, I hoped the amazing evening would block out the nightmares.