Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
As the pressure inside me builds, I grip his arms, digging my nails into his skin as I grit my teeth, trying to hold off the inevitable. But he rolls his hips sinuously, and it touches off an explosion in me. Pressing my head back into the couch, I cry out his name as I shake wildly. I throb and pulse around his cock, so deep inside of me, and dig my nails into his skin.
He presses himself into me harder, sliding as deep as he can, and my eyes widen. My cry turns into a high-pitched, stuttering wail, and I thrust my hips upward. Eli groans, and his cock swells inside of me. The veins in his neck stand out, and his teeth are gritted as a sultry moan squeezes out between them. He explodes deep inside of me, filling me with his warm seed.
Eli collapses on top of me, his mouth crashing into mine as we kiss, both of us trembling, both of us breathless. He rolls off and pulls me to him. I lay my head on his chest and smile as I listen to the steady thump of his heart. I feel his spunk inside of me, warm and thick, and it makes me feel like he’s marked me and claimed me. And it makes me feel something I’ve never felt before—truly cared for.
We lay in silence, and he rakes his fingers through my hair. I don’t need to look at him to know he’s smiling. I can feel it. I can feel the warmth and the depth of his feelings for me. It’s almost overwhelming. And I can honestly say those feelings are returned. It’s just so amazing that not even a few short weeks ago, I was reading a letter to him, my landlord, telling me no parties, no loud music, and no fun, and now we’re lying in a warm, thick pool of our affection for each other. Exhausted and wrung out from our passion.
It's amazing to me that I had been ready to shut off this part of myself. To deny. To hide from the world. To hide from love and affection. And to learn to live alone. Learn to be comfortable in my own skin, without anybody. But if there’s one thing Eli has taught me, it’s that I don’t have to settle for one or the other. I can learn to be comfortable in my own skin while enjoying affection and love at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive.
Eli has taught me that it’s okay to open myself up again. And I think it’s a lesson I’ve taught him as well. I never would have thought it possible all those weeks ago when I was rolling my eyes at his list of rules. Thinking back on it now, it makes me laugh.
“What is it?” he asks.
“I was just thinking about the list of rules you tacked to my door.”
“We’ve come a long way since then,” he says.
“We really have.”
“The rules still apply, though. No parties.”
I slap him playfully on the chest and he laughs, a deep rumbling sound that washes across my skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
“Emery?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
His words catch me off guard. They surprise me. And yet, at the same time, they don’t. Probably because it’s a thought that’s been echoing around my own heart. I smile and bite my bottom lip as I intertwine my fingers with his.
“And I love you too,” I say and truly mean it.
EPILOGUE
ELI
One Year Later
Inail down the last of the shingles and look around at my handiwork.
“Perfect,” I say and nod to myself.
I climb down from the roof and am just moving the ladder around to the front when Emery pulls in, a trailer attached to the back end of her car. My heart stutters at the sight of her as she gets out. The sunlight slanting down through the trees glints off her auburn hair, setting it ablaze while it warms her pale, creamy skin, making it glow. She’s breathtaking. Ethereal.
Over the past year, we’ve grown closer—which is a feat given how much time we’ve spent apart. She did eventually have to go back to the city. She had to finish her classes, settle her affairs, and get herself organized. We had been taking turns with her coming here and me going there for a few months before we decided we couldn’t bear to be apart. So, we decided that when she finished school, we would live together. And much to my surprise, Emery wanted to come here.
She told me that she had never felt the sort of peace in her heart that she’d felt over the weeks she stayed here with me. She said she’d grown to love being out amongst nature and that it had rekindled the fire inside of her for her art. She said she had never felt more inspired than when she was out walking among the trees. And she really worked on and refined her craft. I’m not an art critic, but the shots she captured were breathtaking.