Data…

I’d never, in all our years together before she’d disappeared, seen Mali let go. I watched her come apart above me and while she wasn’t orgasming, not yet, she was close. Her body trembling finely above me and around me, her muscles lax, eyes closed in perfect love and perfect trust as she met me halfway and she felt incredible.

Her metaphysical walls were down, the hardness went from her expression and it was an intimate glimpse of her. I had only seen it a scant handful of times on her face, usually under our old oak tree confiding our deepest and darkest hopes and dreams. I knew I was her number-one confidant back then, and she was my greatest secret, my one heart’s desire that I coveted above all else.

…and now she was really here, really mine, and I was never letting go.

She was finally in a place where she was ceding her hard-won control and I would be a fool not to take advantage. I smoothed my hands over her silky soft skin and sat up, rolling her off to the side and under me. She gasped, holding onto my shoulders but I didn’t give her time to react, I didn’t want to lose her to the dark fear that plagued her. The one that was always there threatening to pull her back from me, so I stroked deep, deeper than our position of a moment before would allow. She gasped, her pussy flaring around the head of my cock, clamping down around my shaft and I knew she was almost there, so close, so damn epically close and I wanted so bad to take her there.

I cradled her body against mine, lifting one leg up over my shoulder and pressing her into the cloud of a mattress. She shuddered beneath me, her cry sweet and beautifully real and true. I smiled to myself and covered her mouth with my own. She was as passionate as I imagined she would be, holding me to her tightly, kissing me fervently, her body tight, squeezing down around me until it was almost hard to thrust. She was a coiled spring, and I wound her tight and tighter until she tore her mouth from mine and with a piercing, passion-filled scream she sprang apart beneath me.

Her body jerked and she stiffened, and the way her pussy milked my cock there was no way I could hold out anymore either. I drove deep and felt myself spill inside her and it was probably the most satisfying experience of my fucking life.

Of course, then reality set in. We’d just done it without a condom, although, to be fair, she’d definitely started it and while Mali wasn’t reckless, she was definitely the more reckless of the two of us. Thus, it bore talking about. Just not right this second. Right this second I was getting us both under the blankets, gathering her close in the dimly lit interior of the shop building of Point Nowhere.

I don’t think this place had ever witnessed anything beautiful before and the vibe of the whole building rang like a tuning fork that’d been struck against a stone. The life-changing reverberations of what we shared echoed back at us from the very walls. Mali and I panted, concentrating on regaining our breaths to a steadier cadence before either of us tried to talk.

She immediately pressed herself to my side, laying her head on my shoulder and one of her legs across both of mine. Her body pressing as tightly as she could make it to my side, and I loved that. I held her close with one arm along her back, my other hand atop her thigh, smoothing up and down her leg to reassure myself that yes, this was really happening and it wasn’t just another one of my fanciful dreams.

“Say it again,” she breathed against my chest and I looked down at the crown of her head, her expression hidden from me.

“What?” I asked, drawing a blank.

She looked up at me, and the keen sharp look she gave me led to my ‘oh duh’ moment of the night. I smiled and said, “That I love you?”

“Yes.” Her voice sounded relieved, her body relaxing against mine; eyes fluttering shut as if tasting my words and savoring their flavor.

“I’ve loved you since the third grade Amalia Rose Junix. Nothing about that ever changed and I never thought for a minute you left by any means other than foul play.” I sighed and she laid her head back down, cuddling close. I could feel the tension returning to her muscles and I wished I hadn’t said anything now. I could feel her going back on the defensive and she was always on the defensive. She may have loved her daddy, but I don’t think her daddy really knew how to love her back, at least not by traditional standards. Not with all the shit he put her through.

She came from the epitome of a fucked-up broken home and the scars from that ran deep. They were deeper than skin, deeper than blood and bone. These scars weren’t something that could probably ever be fixed, but I didn’t care. I loved her for who she was, damage and all, difficult as that sometimes made her.

At least, with Mali, I would never, ever, be bored.

“No more secrets, no more games,” she murmured. “Not between us.”

“No games, no secrets,” I agreed immediately.

“I missed there even being an ‘us’ so much,” she said and she shivered against me, the same sort of shudder she gave when we were kids and she was fending off tears. The same sort of shudder that always led someone to ask ‘are you all right?’ which of course led to Mali blowing up in their face in over-compensation to prove that she was just fine.

I didn’t fall for the trap, I just held her a little closer and smoothed my hand up and down her sexy, toned thigh and said, “Yeah, me too. You have no idea how much.”

She huffed a bit of an incredulous laugh and I smiled, too. If there were anyone on the planet who knew or had any idea, yeah, it would be her. I didn’t know exactly where to go from here. What to say, or if I should ask, and I didn’t want to ruin this carefully cultivated calm. Seriously. We were safe here, even though we couldn’t stay here forever, for obvious reasons. We had time, though. Time before we had to make a move.

“Sleep, for now, baby. We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

“Pretty sure it is tomorrow, and I like that.”

“Like what?”

“That you call me ‘baby’ so easy, like you’ve always said it.”

I chuckled and kissed the crown of her head. If she only knew how many times I struggled not to say it in the weeks and months leading up to her sudden disappearance. Or how many hours I searched internet back alleys, how much time I spent immersed in the dark web muttering over and over, ‘Where are you, baby?’ into the dark.

Amalia had been mine for a long, long, time. She just didn’t know it then, and I’d had no way to tell her.

“You really like it?” I asked, a little worried by her sudden silence. “You’re not just saying that?”

She pushed herself up, twisting to look down at me. Her lips echoing the movement by twisting into a wry smile that warmed her eyes to a deep caramel.

“I love it,” she whispered and brought her mouth down to mine for a lingering, decadent, sweet kiss that had my dick stirring beneath the sheets all over again. She didn’t hesitate to go exploring, wrapping sure but gentle fingers around me; stroking me to life the rest of the way.

“Do I need to get you the morning-after pill?” I asked against her mouth. She smiled back against mine.

“Implant,” she said, “but I wouldn’t say no to condoms if you decide you want this to be an open kind of deal…”

I froze and pulled back from her scowling, demanding… “Is that what you want?”

“No, but I know how MC’s work. Club girls aren’t always out of bounds whether you’re in a relationship or not. I’m telling you right now though, I find out about her, I’m cuttin’ the bitch.”

I felt a lazy smile cross my face, she was fishing. I shook my head and told her, “Not how I operate.”

“I didn’t think so, but I wanted to be sure.”

“I thought no more games…” I murmured, and pressed my mouth to hers, kissing her breathless even as she stole mine with her careful, nimble fingers.

“Wasn’t playing,” she said straddling me and looking down from her perch across my hips. She was sliding her pussy up and down my length, teasingly… not penetrating, just driving me wild. I laughed and put myself in her. She sucked in a sharp breath and settled into a slow, rocking rhythm.

“I ain’t playing either,” I said, “You’re mine now and you disappear again? I’ll hunt your sweet ass down all over again and spank it.” I swatted her on the ass to make my point and she yipped and laughed before letting out this sultry moan.

“Mm, I’m good with that.”

“You sure?”

“You give fantastic dick. I’m sure.” I laughed and she grinned and once again I marveled at the fact that it was like we’d picked right back up where we’d left off. Like nothing had ever happened.