Page 106 of Almost Love

“Wreck me first,” she whispered.

And he did.

Just like when she was on her knees, Oakley fucked her hard and fast. He held her legs steady against his torso and she raised her arms over her head to grab at anything she could. His beautiful face was tight with concentration as he thrust deep inside her with every shift of his hips. When he lifted his gaze to hers, Clementine saw so much—love, commitment, passion, desire. She wondered if she was reflecting those same feelings back at him.

Her legs trembled with the effort of being held up, but she didn’t say anything. She watched Oakley, loving the way it felt to have him fill her with every snap of his hips. She watched his jaw flex as he rocked forward and held himself there. One hand dropped to where they were joined and his thumb stroked her clit and she cried out. When her back arched off the bed, he thrust into her again, their bodies slapping together with every forward movement.

Between the deep thrusts and the pressure against her clit, she had zero hope of holding back. She screamed his name and came again, her walls fluttering around him. Oakley moaned loudly and thrust into her a few more times before he went still, eyes falling shut. When she felt the hot heat of him filling the condom, she quivered and sank into the bed, her chest heaving.

Their heavy breathing was the only sound in the room. Her vision was glazed over, but she felt him lower her legs and slide out of her. The mattress shifted as he collapsed beside her. She closed her eyes as she focused on catching her breath, until she heard movement. Through half-opened eyes, she tracked Oakley’s movements as he slid to the edge of the bed. She nudged him with her foot and his back flexed as he looked over with a smile.

“Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

She nodded and stretched out in bed, smiling at how wonderfully sore she felt. She’d feel differently in the morning, but right then, she felt fucking fantastic. Footsteps drew her attention to the reason she felt this good. He tapped her legs and she spread them, whimpering as he dragged the warm and wet washcloth between her thighs. Tossing it to the side, he climbed back into bed and pulled her into his arms. She burrowed against him, face pressed into his neck.

“How do you feel?”

“So good,” she whispered, nuzzling him gently. “How doyoufeel?”

“Fucking incredible. Thank you for trusting me.”

Her hand moved over his chest and stomach, sighing softly. “I’m glad it was you.”

He went still, then his hand was in her hair and their mouths were attached. She moaned into the kiss and dragged her fingers through his hair, kissing him back just as hungrily. When he pulled away, she saw something else reflected in his eyes.

I hope it’ll always be you.

CHAPTER 29

MAY

It was an extremely busy week, thanks to the Spring Food Fling and her decision to expand the bakery. But she made it a point to schedule therapy because she needed to sort through the chaos in her head. The first night of penetrative sex unleashed something in both of them. Clementine joked that they were getting all their pent-up frustrations out, but it was so much more than that. The unsaid words floated between them and it was almost as if sex was a way to express their feelings without actually saying it out loud.

She wasn’t complaining, but it was making her overthink everything.

While being at therapy was about understanding those things, it was also having someone who wasn’t biased help her through everything else in life. She’d bitten off more than she could chew, but when she grumbled about it to Oakley or Mack, they reminded her she was a badass and could totally do it. Shewasa badass, but she was also one that was anxious and stressed. She could count on Rhiannon to be honest and call her out if necessary.

“Your face is doing that thing again.”

“That’s my face,” Clementine muttered, but she knew what Rhiannon meant. Blinking and moving her jaw around, she added, “I’ve been making all these changes and waiting for the panic to hit.”

“It’s normal to anticipate the overwhelm. The more important question iswhy?”

“That’s how things have always been.”

Rhiannon scribbled something, then looked up at her. “One at a time, take me through the big changes.”

Blowing out a breath, she sat up straight. “I signed the bakery up for the Spring Food Fling in a few weeks. The organizers show up every year and I usually turn them down. This year, something prompted me to accept. Now we have to craft a perfect menu, close the shop for two days and churn out tons of food.”

“Does that worry you?”

“Sort of. More than that, I feel like maybe I’m setting myself up to fail. I’ve never done anything of this magnitude before. For weddings, we bake and plate, and that’s it. What you see is what you get. On a grand scale like this, I can’t run out of food. It looks bad.”

“You could always put up a sign that says ‘limited stock’.”

She shook her head. “Doesn’t that reflect badly on the business? That we can only make so much at a time, sorry!”

“Possibly, but you’re also being honest with people. You don’t want them to get their hopes up when they arrive and you have nothing to offer them.”

---