He continued to f**k me, angrily and unbridled. “No one should have ever had this but me,” he said over the skin of my neck. He pushed into me. “I let you go.” He pushed deeper. “I threw you away.”

I started to move my hips, impaling myself on him. “So, take me back. Fuck me harder.”

My words set him off, and he accepted the challenge. He shifted me around so that his back was now to the wall, and he no longer had to shield my head from it. He repositioned my legs around him and wrapped his hand around my neck using the other to hold me up. He looked into my eyes while he moved in and out of me as he choked me lightly, just enough that it was pleasurable. Knowing how much that turned him on made me crazy.

Luckily, no one had come outside. We were still alone in the foggy night. The only sounds were the slapping of our skin, the clinking of his belt buckle and our breathing, which had fallen into a synchronized rhythm.

I reached my hand to lift his shirt halfway up so that I could see his abs. They were harder than I remembered and looked like they’d been cut from stone. I wished we could have been skin-to-skin, but getting fully na**d would have been risky here.

“Don’t worry. Later, we’ll take it off,” he said. “We’re gonna do everything tonight.”

An orgasm was starting to roll through me suddenly. I didn’t even have to say anything. It amazed me how well he knew my body.

“You’re coming,” he said. “I remember how it felt. Look at me.”

He held my neck and looked into my eyes as he rocked his hips, f**king me as hard as he could until he shuddered.

It took several minutes for my breathing to come down. He continued to hold my limp body as he kissed my neck.

“I love you, Greta”

I loved him so much that I couldn’t even form the words. So many feelings had risen to the surface, but fear had trumped all.

“Don’t leave me again, Elec. Don’t go back to her,” I said.

He held me tighter. “I won’t, baby,” he said, lifting my face to meet his eyes. “Look at me. You’ll never have to worry about that. I’m not going anywhere. I know I have to prove that to you, but I will.”

He put me down and fastened his pants before lifting me up again. His feet crunched on the gravel as he carried me in his arms to the nearest sidewalk where we caught a cab.

It still felt like a dream.

In the backseat, I leaned my head against his chest. His heart was beating fast against my ear as he gently caressed my hair the entire ride to my apartment.

When we entered my building, his hands were on my shoulders as he kissed the back of my neck the entire way up the stairs.

I fumbled with the keys and once inside, I had the sudden urge to do something I’d never done before.

I backed him against the door that had just closed behind us and lifted off his shirt. The look in his eyes was a mix of hunger, shock and amusement at my boldness.

My tongue circled along the ring on his nipple and licked down every taut muscle of his chest right down to the two shamrocks. I got down on my knees, and when he realized what I was about to do, his chest started heaving.

“Fuck,” he said huskily. “Is this really happening?”

He wasted no time ripping off his belt and throwing it to the ground. I lowered his boxer briefs and lifted his c**k out, taking a moment to marvel at its girth, its length, its heat and the shiny ring at the tip. I’d fantasized about sucking him off more than anything because it was the one thing we never did.

He bunched some of my hair between his fingers. “I can’t tell you how many times I have dreamt of f**king that beautiful mouth. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Instead of answering him, I flicked my tongue over the metal ring and savored the salty taste of the pr**um on his tip as I stroked his length. With each pump, with each lick, he became wetter.

His abs tightened, and his breathing was labored. “Shit. That’s such a tease.”

I stopped and licked my lips as I looked up at him. He closed his eyes in response. Elec was always so controlled, but now he was at my mercy, and that turned me on.

His eyes were still closed when I took him down my throat for the first time. The sounds of pleasure emanating from him were so damn sexy and only encouraged me to take him even deeper and faster. I loved the smooth feel of him filling my mouth. I couldn’t get enough and sucked harder. I was so wet and could have come so easily from this if I touched myself.

He dug his fingernails into my hair and pulled on it. “Stop. You’re gonna make me lose it, and I want to come inside of you.”

I sucked him harder. “No,” I said, wanting him to come in my mouth.

His breathing was erratic. “Are you on the pill by any chance?”

I nodded yes. “I have been for years. It regulates my cycle.”

He pulled out of my mouth. “Stand up and turn around.”

My heart was racing as he lifted my dress over my head. He grabbed my h*ps and sunk into me. Without a condom, the hot, wet feel of his skin inside of me, and the sensation of the metal ring were almost too much to bear. Every feeling was enhanced.

His hands gripped my ass as he f**ked me. I could hear my wetness as he moved in and out. I was ready to come at any moment, so aroused after sucking him off and his taking me bare.

“I can’t ever use a condom again with you,” he breathed out. “This feels too good.”

I was starting to come. “Come inside of me now.”

He pumped into me so hard, I was sure I’d have bruises on my ass tomorrow. “Fuck…Greta…oh…” He kept moving in and out until there was nothing left and even after, he continued f**king me slowly for a while.

Elec finally pulled out of me and flipped me around to kiss him. He chuckled. “We couldn’t even make it past the front door. Do you realize that?”

“I think I could even go again.”

“Good, because I’m nowhere near done with you tonight,” he said, dragging me to the bedroom as his pants hung down his waist.

***

Four lit candles flickered around us as we sat in my bed at four in the morning feeding each other ice cream out of a Ben and Jerry’s container.

“So, how did you know where to find me tonight?”

“Well, when you sent me the text that you’d finished, I was sitting at a Starbucks around the corner from your apartment. I came straight here since I assumed that’s where you were reading. I wanted to go right to you and surprise you. I waited on your steps. This…person…who said she was your fairy godmother came up to me and said, ‘Alec, right? I’d recognize you anywhere from the description my Greta gave me. I knew you’d be back for her, you dumb f**k.’”

“Are you serious?” I burst into laughter. “That’s Sully. She is like my fairy godmother.”

“Well, you do realize your fairy godmother has a bigger package than mine, right?”

“Yes, I’m well aware of that. We just don’t discuss it.”

“You must have given her an earful about me. Anyway, I just needed to get to you and asked if she knew where you were.”

“So, she gave you the name of the club?”

“Not at first. I think she wanted to make me suffer.”

“What did she do?”

“She made me take off my shirt.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m dead serious.”

“That was it?”

“I wish.”

“What?”

“She made me hold up a sign made out of cardboard that said ‘fuckface’ and took a picture of me holding it.”

I covered my mouth and spoke through my hand. “What?”

“Yeah. Then, she said it was collateral.”

“Sully is nuts.”

“Well, he…she obviously cares about you. I can relate in that sense. Anyway, it was only after I let her take the picture, that she gave me the address of the club and said, ‘This is your last chance.’”

“Wow,” I said.

“Yeah.”

Elec turned to me. “I need you to know something.”

“Okay…”

“Earlier tonight, after we finished in the alley when you told me not to go back to Chelsea, that was hard to hear. There’s a part of you that doesn’t trust that this is real, and you’re still traumatized by my leaving you in the past. It made me realize just how badly I hurt you, how much work I have cut out for me.”

“I was just very emotional at that moment, especially after reading your book all day. Every feeling including my biggest fear came pouring out.”

Elec took the ice cream from my hands and put it aside. He placed his hands on my cheeks. “There was never any contest. I loved Chelsea, but it was by default. I love you so much more. Every second I was with you again, I had to constantly reassure myself that I loved Chelsea, which is not something that you should have to do. My feelings for you were so powerful that they scared the shit out of me. The second I got on that plane, I knew I was really going back to California to end things with Chelsea. That was the right thing.”

“You hurt her pretty badly, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. She didn’t deserve it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It would have been worse if we were engaged or married because I’m not sure the outcome could have been any different. It wouldn’t have been fair to stay with her and love you like I do in secret.”

“I feel like I know exactly how she must be feeling right now.”

“Yeah, you probably do. A part of me will always feel horrible about hurting her, but there was no way to avoid that. It took me several days after I got back to figure out how best to explain everything to her because I wanted to be honest about you. I didn’t do it immediately, but I never slept with her again; you need to know that. I made up excuses. The bottom line is, I didn’t want to come back here to you until I no longer had any baggage and until you knew everything about my past. So after I moved out of Chelsea’s, I spent a lot of time working on the book until I got it to a point where I was comfortable with you reading it.”

“Thank you for sharing it with me.”

He kissed me. “I love you so much, Greta.”

“I love you, too.”

“I’m not going back to California.”

“What? Not even to get your stuff?”

“No. I put it all in storage. Mami is doing okay for now. We need to go out there soon to visit, though.”

“We?”

I wanted to meet Pilar about as much as Dorothy wanted to meet the Wicked Witch of the West.

“Yes. I already told her about you. She didn’t take it well at first, but I explained to her how much I love you and that she needs to accept it. She will, Greta. And if she doesn’t, it wouldn’t matter anymore.”

“I hope so. ”

“I needed to find another job because I quit the youth center after I ended things with Chelsea. So, actually, one of the things I did over the past few days was interview at a school here in the city last Friday. They offered me a guidance counselor position.”

“Are you kidding?”

“No.”

“Elec, that’s the best news!”

He picked up the ice cream and started eating it again. “I’ll need a place to stay, though. Do you know a girl who needs a roommate?”

“Actually, Sully’s been looking.”

He fed me a spoonful. “I’m talking about another girl. I was kind of thinking of moving in with this beautiful little nymph I know who likes her pu**y licked.”

“Oh…she might be interested.”

“Good, because I wasn’t planning on taking no for an answer.” He kissed me with his mouth full of Cherry Garcia ice cream. “Hey…you never explained to me what it is you actually do for a living. You say it’s an administrative position, but what does the company do exactly? Or are you really an FBI agent or something?”

Oh boy. I was surprised it took this long before I had to fess up. There was a reason I never went into it.

“It’s not quite administrative, and you have the agent part right. There’s a reason I’ve been kind of hesitant to tell you. I felt really guilty when we were apart because I wished I could have helped you, actually.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I’m a literary agent, Elec.”

He put the carton down on the end table. “Say what?”

“I represent authors, and I think I could actually help get some of your work published, particularly Lucky and the Lad. I work closely with a major publishing house’s young adult imprint, and I think we should submit it to them.”

“Are you f**king shitting me?”

“I’m dead serious.”

“How did you get into that?”

“Actually, I fell into it. I was looking for a job out of college, started as an intern and worked my way up to an agent position. I’m newer, so my clientele is still growing.”

“Please tell me I’m gonna have to sleep with you to get ahead in my writing career.”

“That’s definitely part of the deal.”

“Wow, in all seriousness, I’m so proud of you.”

“You have no idea how guilty I’ve felt this past year when I’d see writers not nearly as talented as you getting deals and having success. I didn’t know how to contact you or if you’d even want to pursue anything because I knew how private you were about your writing.”