A Little Too Late (Madigan Mountain)

REED

Ava doesn’t want me to make any promises I can’t keep. And she’s right—this is a dicey game we’re playing.

It’s also inevitable. Ava is the only one allowed to break my heart. Fuck, it’s already broken. How much worse could it even get?

I drop my head and kiss the corner of her upturned mouth. Her smooth skin is a balm on my soul. I drop a dozen more kisses on her face. It’s too dark to see the faint spray of freckles across the bridge of her nose, but I kiss them anyway.

Impatient hands lift to my face. Then she pulls me in for a real kiss. She’s done with sweetness and sentiment. She knows it will hurt more later if I go slow and make it last.

I take her mouth in a kiss, but not in the hungry way she’s asking for. I slide her top lip between mine and slowly run my tongue along it.

Ava moans, and I feel her thighs clench against mine. My cock is a hard length against her stomach. My inner twenty-two-year-old is raring to go.

Still, I force myself to slow down. I may be emotionally stunted, but I still know enough to savor this miracle. I never thought I’d see her again. I knew I didn’t have the right.

But here we are, and I’m going to make it count. I kiss her deeply, and she opens hungrily for me. Our kiss is wet and slow.

Some people say I’m sorry with roses or chocolates. I’ve got bigger plans. And they begin with tugging Ava’s nightgown up and off her body.

“Reed,” she gasps, and it sounds like a prayer, not a protest.

“I need your skin on mine,” I whisper. “All of it.”

She lifts her arms.

The sheets whisper against our skin as I peel my clothing off. Ava shivers, but not from the cold. She’s propped herself on her elbows, watching everything I do with a bright gaze.

That’s the Ava I remember. She’d always let me take charge, but not out of fearfulness. There’s no hesitation in her eyes as I settle my forearms onto the sheet again, hovering over her body.

She’s beautiful in the moonlight, her breasts peaked, her body sleek. I drop my head and kiss her hip bone slowly, and her fingers tangle in my hair. And as I kiss my way across her mons, her thighs soften and part for me.

My mouth waters. I lean in and run my tongue up her inner thigh.

“God, Reed.”

I chuckle. “You can call me by both those names.”

She lets out a moan of exasperation, but it’s hard to say whether that’s due to my stupid joke or the torture I’m currently imparting as I run my fingertips across her thighs and between her legs. The touch is too light to be satisfying, and she sighs and tightens her muscles in anticipation.

“Relax,” I whisper. And then I stop playing around and give her what she needs. I press my lips against her heated body and take my first taste of her pleasure.

“Reed!” She shivers as I deepen my kiss.

And now I really am twenty-two again, parting her thighs, losing all track of time and space as her fingers tighten in my hair.

I work her over slowly, as if I’m here to worship her. Kneeling at the altar of our former love. Remembering how intense it was…

“Reed,” she gasps. “Come here.”

For a moment I don’t listen. I’m reluctant to stop, since I know I’m so close to hearing her cry out my name.

“Please. I need you inside me.”

Fuuuuuck. Now she’s got my attention. I press up to look into her heated eyes. “You have condoms?” I probably have some in my travel kit, but that’s a whole room away.

“Think so.” She flails an arm out to her nightstand and yanks the drawer open. She fumbles inside for a second before grasping a little unopened box and tearing into the cardboard.

Grabbing it out of her hands, I do the rest, quickly suiting up before leaning over her again for one of the most soul-deep kisses of my life.

When you go ten years without any real passion in your life, it’s a shock to stare suddenly into the bright light of exhilaration. My body is buzzing with energy I haven’t felt in a decade. My heart is thumping, and my face is flushed with heat.

I’ve missed this.

I’ve missed her.

Our gazes lock, and Ava makes a soft sound as I break our kiss and position myself against her body. Staring into her eyes, I push forward into her tight heat. And I feel like I’m going over a waterfall in a kayak—thrilled and a little out of control. She gasps as we come together. But I can’t slow down. All my senses are dialed up to eleven as I begin to move.

Ava arches against me, and together we tumble back down onto the mattress, our limbs entwined, our bodies reaching for a rhythm we know too well to forget. Tangled tongues and the slide of heated skin.

My mind is static, but my body remembers the dance. I stoke the flames, her hands gripping me, her lips chanting against my own. Yes. Please. More. Until neither of us can hold out any longer.

The moment she calls out my name, I’m done for. I surge forward, pleasure swamping me. I roll us to our sides, finishing with a slow pump of my hips. And then another, for luck. I’m unwilling to let go of the moment.

Ava tucks her face against my shoulder and lets out a satisfied breath. Her hand finds the back of my neck and strokes my skin.

I close my eyes and try to memorize this perfect feeling. “It’s always been you,” I whisper.

“Shh,” is her reply.