That first week was hard, but now we were days away from the end of August and the start of our world tour. Guinie had grown distant from me in some ways over the last few weeks. We still continued to make love, but she was like a crazed woman. She demanded it at all hours in all places. I wasn’t sure there was a surface left not christened by our naked bodies. I wasn’t complaining, because she was amazing. Her body responded to mine. Each time we collided together, I felt like it was the first time over, and over, and over again.

One thing I did notice was the intensity of it, though. She never wanted to slow down and let me worship her like I wanted. She demanded harder, faster. I wouldn’t deny her, but at times I felt she made those demands as a way to escape into something, or escape from something. I worried it was me.

At times she would be excessively quiet and other times she was extremely skittish, especially if the whole band was around. I eventually started to take it as a sign that she was nervous about the upcoming tour and I was growing hesitant as well. I didn’t feel right leaving her behind to travel the world, but she didn’t want to feel like a groupie being dragged from show to show. I promised her I would call every day and come home if I could, but she just ignored those comments. I wanted us to get married before I left, but she said she wanted to wait until I didn’t feel the pressure and could concentrate on a wedding. She wanted us to share the experience. I had to say, I kind of did want to be part of the planning with her.

Tonight was the concert we promised my mother back at the end of May - her charity concert for abused women. I felt a stronger desire to help these women after the close call we had with Guinie. This function would be our unofficial kick-off to the tour, and the energy of the band was reaching that frenzy that I thrived on. We were excited to play for a crowd after three months of respite. We were three songs shy of a third album. We were going to perform one of my new songs tonight, as a trial. Things were lined up and I felt like I was in a good place for the night.

I should have known better with how the night started in the apartment. Hours before the concert, the band planned to break and regroup at five at The Round Table. Guinie was home. The girls had taken the night off to come to the concert. I wanted them to be one of the acts, but Guinie refused. She said it was our night to shine as the headliners, even if we were only singing two or three songs, tops.

I walked in to find the place eerily quiet. No Talia. I called Guinie’s name, but she didn’t answer. Like a bird following a trail, I noticed the breadcrumbs…articles of Guinie’s clothing were strewn over the floor. I picked up a shoe, then a skirt, a T-shirt, and finally a bra. This last item was draped over the doorknob of our room, and I opened the door to find Guinie standing before me in a long, white, gauzy shift.

The material did nothing to hide her lush body, but it softened her and made her look like the angel that graced the floor of The Round Table on a fateful night in May. She stood next to the bed looking sheepish, like the girl who was innocent and new at sexual encounters when I took her to my lake home upstate. She smiled shyly at me, and I remembered that girl who had an orgasm from a kiss. Based on Guinie’s extreme adventures in sex lately, I might have thought this was some kind of kinky dress-up act, and she was playing the coquette, but I didn’t think so. The way she looked at me, she wasn’t playing at anything.

I was frozen for a moment as I drank in her body and swallowed her smile into my mind. I wanted to etch her image in this moment into my heart and my memories forever. I dropped the clothes in my hand dramatically and she broke into a giggle. I knew from the first time I heard that sound that I loved it. I loved her smile instantly, and I loved her now, for the rest of my life.

I approached her slowly and saw her chest begin to heave under the material. I wasn’t ready to dive in and remove it. I hoped, for once, she would slow down and let me lead with tender, loving care. My hands cupped her cheeks and she closed her eyes. I leaned in to kiss her, her lips responding to my patient seduction. I tasted those lips like a fine wine, taking my time to sip and savor. Holding them in, sniffing for flavor, and releasing them to start the process again. She followed my lead and drank me in, as well, until my tongue licked her and she sighed in invitation.

I entered her and a slow waltz began as I dipped and crossed her tongue. We swayed into each other and her hands gripped my hips, but I didn’t release her face. Not yet. I hadn’t had my fill of her lips, her tongue, or her mouth. I broke free eventually and began a slow trail down her chin, over her jaw, and across her neck. I was mapping out her body in my memory, taking a photographic image through my mouth of her warm skin.

When I reached the edge of the white material, I wasn’t sure how to release it so I simply pulled it from the side. I noticed a small ribbon and tugged enough to loosen the tie. The shift fell open and pooled at her waist. I lowered myself to take in her breasts, each getting a turn with my hot mouth and rough tongue lapping and sucking on her. I was so hard I was ready to burst forth from my jeans, but I continued to torture myself and graph her body. Her topography was hills and valleys and I made my way across her flat stomach to the valley I desired.

I separated her legs with a nudge of my head and spread her with my tongue. She gasped in response, her hands gripping my hair. She didn’t tug at it like she had been known to do these past weeks, but slipped her fingers through it, massaging my scalp. I continued to navigate her folds and ridges, drinking in her wetness. I wouldn’t get my fill until she came, and she did not disappoint. It was a sweetness she hadn’t shown in a while. Instead of a fierce release, this was a slow cascade, and I looked up to see the gorgeous pleasure as she came apart slowly. Her eyes opened to meet mine as I knelt before her with my mouth on her. She looked drunk with desire and I was ready to fill her again.

I stood and ravished her mouth in my typical manner, but not for long before I scooped her up and laid her on the bed. The remainder of her garment had slipped off of her, and she lay bare and willing before me. I took a mental snapshot before I hastily removed my own clothing and crawled between her spread legs. I balanced myself on my elbows on either side of her and continued to kiss her. Her hips were tilted upward, finding a friction against me in her most sensitive spot. I let her play on me, spreading her wet against me in preparation. When I brought the tip of me to her entrance, she bit her lip. She was trying to restrain herself, but I could tell she was on the edge; she needed me and I slammed into her.

She let out an oof sound, but the smile that spread across her face could make me write a thousand songs in her honor. I was gentle after that, pulling to the edge of her, teasing her with want before thrusting forward to fill her and have her surround me. This rhythmic torture continued until I could tell we both needed to hasten the pace. I began to rock into her swiftly. She was moaning and I could tell she was close. I needed us to go together; I was losing control.

“I love you,” she whispered and I felt my heart almost stop. If I could freeze any moment it would be this one, buried inside her with those words on her lips.

“I love you.”

“Say it,” she whispered, “as you come.” She smiled again sheepishly.

It tipped me over although I wanted her to join me. “I love you, Once.”

I felt it with every atom of my being. I felt it as I spread myself inside her and she said, “I love you, Future,” before she released a second slow orgasm that lasted and lasted. I pulsed into her and she milked me, and it was the most heavenly moment. I felt filled with her love while I filled her with mine.

If only that moment could have lasted.