Page 77 of Stone

I led Elise down the darkened corridor in silence. We didn’t need words. She could feel everything in my heart the same way I could feel everything in hers. We didn’t need to talk about it because it transcended words.

It was just us.

Pulling Leesy inside Abe’s room, I made sure to lock the door and put the key on the desk under the window before sorting the pullout. The sheets were already on there—smelling fresh, thankfully. I reached behind my head and pulled my tee off from the back, not once taking my eyes off Elise as she began to unbutton her dress.

I pushed my jeans and shorts down before going to Elise to help her unhook her bra. I ran my fingertips down her back, smiling as I watched goose bumps trail down her arms and spine.

“You’re so beautiful,” I whispered. “Everything about you calls to me. You’re in my head, under my skin. You course through my veins, Leesy.”

She turned, her fingers raising to my face and stroking my cheeks. Tears glistened in her eyes, but she smiled through them.

The fact was, I could’ve wept, too. Everything felt so raw and emotional, and it welled inside me, ebbing and flowing like the waves lapping the beach. My throat caught at its beauty and with all the love I felt in my heart for this incredible girl.

Bending my knees, I banded an arm under her ass and lifted her long, smooth legs, locking them around my hips. I carried her to the pullout and planted a knee on the mattress, placing her gently down onto the sheets.

Her hands reached for me, pulling my face to hers. She touched her mouth to mine and whispered softly against my lips, “I could live happily for the rest of my life with your weight on me.”

“Babe,” I rasped, one word conveying everything I felt deep down to my soul.

“I know.” She smiled. “I feel it, too.”

Reaching down, my belt clinked as I reached into my jeans pocket for a condom and slipped it on. I tugged her panties to one side and slid deep inside, groaning at her tight, wet heat. She fit me like a glove, but then everything about her fit me, body and soul.

Her eyes widened slightly. “Yes,” she whispered.

Slowly, I began to move, gently slipping and sliding, keeping us connected from chest to thigh. I didn’t pull out and slam back in, ‘cause, at that moment, losing the connection would’ve left me empty. Instead, I ground Leesy’s body down into the mattress, taking care to catch her clit with every circle of my hips.

We weren’t rushed or hurried, no pounding or moaning. It was just me, staring into my girl’s eyes, and her, staring back into mine, silently communicating everything we felt while I moved inside her. My hand went between us, my fingers hitting her clit until her entire body shook beneath mine as her orgasm hit hard.

I pressed in as far as I could go, grinding and circling slow and deep until my balls drew up. With a low moan, my hips bucked, and I emptied myself into the thin layer of latex protecting us both.

Years later, when I looked back with a bit of nostalgia and a lot of heartache, everything became clear as freshly polished crystal glistening in the sunlight.

I’d given Elise Bell my heart when she was an innocent sixteen-year-old with stars in her eyes, and I was a cocky punk who flew around town on a motorcycle, thinking I was the shit.

But two years later, the night I made love to her deep and slow on a pullout bed on New Year’s Eve, with magic and beauty swirling all around us, that was the moment I gave her my soul.

And God help me, I never took it back.

Two days later, I stood outside my house by Dad’s truck, where he waited to take me back to the airport. Elise was in my arms, her face smooshed against my throat, holding me so tight that my lungs were fit to burst.

This time, leaving her made me ache.

This time, as much as I loved my job, I didn’t wanna go.

But there was no choice.

I closed my eyes and inhaled her before kissing the top of her head. “I’ll call when I can.”

She murmured, “Okay.”

My hands slid to her arms, and I held her away from me slightly, tipping her chin up with my finger until green met gold. “Soon, we’re gonna have babies and make a family, and, God willing, one day, even grandbabies. We’ll work hard, do our best, and give to our family and friends. We’ll have birthdays and Thanksgiving, more Christmas holidays, and New Year's. We’ll laugh and love and build somethin’ beautiful, somethin’ we can be proud of, and live a long and happy life. Then one day, when we’re a hundred and eighty, we’ll lay in each other’s arms, and we’ll go onto the next life, holding each other. You know that, right?”

Her eyes misted over, and she nodded. “There’ll never be enough lifetimes with you.”

Something slid through my gut, a warm feeling only she could evoke. My eyes roamed her face, committing it to memory, knowing I’d need it to keep me breathing easy until I saw her again. “We just have to get through the next few years.”

One corner of her beautiful mouth hitched. “I know.”

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