Page 90 of Every Move You Make

He isn’t in the bathroom and his boots are gone. His phone is gone. Maybe he’s working out?

Throwing on some jeans and an olive green T-shirt, I slip on my shoes and head downstairs. The entire house is quiet, but there’s soft clanking coming from the kitchen. Rounding the corner, the smell of fresh coffee greets me and I catch Dell placing something in a basket on the counter.

“Hey,” I whisper, scaring him, but he chuckles. “What are you doing?”

Wearing almost the same thing I am, jeans and a white tee, he pulls at the back of his neck. “Fixin’ a picnic. Would you like to watch the sunrise with me?”

I swallow the sudden lump in my throat, will my heart to calm down, and nod1.

We hop in the truck, and he drives us down a dirt lane on their property that’s lined with trees. After traversing down a hill, Dell parks the truck at a clearing near a lillypad-covered pond and sets everything up. A blanket, acouple of pillows, napkins, and a basket full of fruit, bagels with cream cheese, some hard boiled eggs, and a thermos of coffee. Right as he pours our coffees into metal mugs, the first burst of sunlight flashes over the rolling hills in the distance. It catches on the agricultural board-on-board fences that define property lines and Kentucky as a whole. It catches on barns. It slowly illuminates the green pastures in new light.

Taking a sip of black coffee, I smile and lean back into his chest, his legs bracketing mine. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sunrise like this. It’s beautiful.”

“I’ve never seen a sunrise with someoneasbeautiful.”

The butterflies fluttering through my stomach must have some kind of contract with the temperature controls of my blood, because suddenly my cheeks are on fire. “That’s not really a word I’ve been called much.”

“Then I’ll make sure you hear it every day.”

Oh god, I’m going to say it aren’t I? No. I can’t. Is it too soon? It’s definitely too soon. But I’ve known him for months and this need for him pounds like a drum inside me. I need him like I need to breathe. I need him like I need Robyn. I want to take care of him and listen to him—listen to the things that scare him and—

“I love you, Isaiah.”

Did he just… “What?” I ask, setting down my mug and whipping around to look him in the eyes.

“I love you,” he repeats confidently. “Aww,” he smiles, touching the back of his fingers to my cheeks. “You’re so cute when you blush.”

“I love you too,” I whisper, suddenly unsure of what to do with my hands as my heart thumps wildly in my ears.

Thankfully he knows what to do with my hands and he guides them to his shoulders as I straddle his lap. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Dell cups the back of my head and whispers, “Say itagain.”

I kiss him. “I love you, Dell.”

“Again,” he says through another kiss.

“I love you.”

Taking me with him, Dell lays back and I cover his body with mine, getting lost in his coffee kisses and unruly mane, in his faint minty scent and the grassy fields beyond.My hands search for the warm skin of his hard stomach and skim up to his chest to dig in. But I need more.

Lifting his shirt off and tossing it aside, I bite my lip before planting more kisses along his neck. “Make love to me.”

“Are you sure?” he pants. “You said…oh god, that feels good,” he says distractedly when I lick up his neck and bite his earlobe. “You, you said you needed a deep emotional connection.”

I grind my stiff length against him to drive home the point. “I fucking love you, Dell. I’d say that’s pretty deep.” His answering moan tells me I have him, but when he flips me over with the ease of a former wrestler, I realizehehas me.

And I want him to.

“You’re definitely sure?”

I reach around and pull my wallet from my back pocket and pull out a condom and a lube packet. “Yes.”

He eyes the lube. “How long have you been carrying that?”

“Since I left for the airport,” I smile. “I have more in my suitcase. A Costco-sized bottle.”

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