Page 135 of Dream Chaser
We kiss, and it’s everything at once—hungry and careful, messy and precise, his hands charting the curves of my back with a slowness that makes every nerve ending stand at attention. He isn’t just touching me; it’s like he’s relearning my entire body. I swear I could feel him memorizing me, one palmful at a time.
His hands trace down to my hips, and every inch of my skin prickles where his thumb presses into it. He kisses me under my ear, and I make the sound that, until him, I was embarrassed of, the one I use to muffle against a pillow when I was alone and pretending it was someone else’s hand.
His.
We sink down onto the blankets, and I press my hands to his chest, feeling the beat of his heart, letting him know it matters. He shudders, and I feel my eyes get damp. We’re both trembling,nervous energy making us somewhat clumsy and, God, it’s so damn sweet.
Nothing like before.
Clothes come off with the gracelessness of two people learning, not like we’ve already learned—this is new.
He’s reverent, almost, the way he looks at me. We become sharp breaths and whispers now, and I memorize every sound he makes, every tremor, every time he curses quietly into my collarbone or says my name—Isobel.
When we’re finally there—when he eases into me—it’s different. Again, I get emotional because it’s beautiful and how it should have been. My heart feels heavy, almost unbearably so, when I realize what I lied to myself so many years about … this.
We move slow, together. We hold each other and kiss. We kiss so much.
I hold him like he’s both a confession and a prayer, and he holds me right back, just the same.
When he whispers that he loves me, not once but over and over, I feel it emotionally and on a much higher physical level.
When I say it back, I mean it with every part of me.
We move together, gentle and wild, until the world goes black and bright at the same time.
When it’s over, we don’t let go. We just stay tangled up, skin on skin, holding each other.
“You okay?” he asks, holding me closer.
“I’m … something.”
“You mean it, though, right?” he asks so softly I’m not sure I’m hearing him or his thoughts. “’Cause I do, Izzy, to my soul.”
I lift my head and rest my chin on his chest, locking eyes with him. “Griffon Skinner, I love you.”
He nods. “Okay.” Then he pulls my head to his chest and lets me listen to his heart and feel it at the same time as we lie there,our legs twined, as he traces shapes on my skin, heart shapes, and then …
“Did you just write your number on my ass?”
“Damn right I did.”
Chapter 28
The Big Show
Griffon
Iwake to an empty bed that smells like her—citrus and sunshine—but there’s no head on my chest, silky hair blanketing me, no thick, hot thigh draped over mine. Not cool.
I feel a little bit of panic set in. Like fuckingGroundhog Dayis gonna happen—not the holiday, that damn movie—like I’m gonna have to start over again. I mean, I would if I had to, but I really liked it when Iz said,We just go with what feels right, not as much as hearing her tell me she loves me. She loves me …
I swing my legs over the side of my bed because this … this doesn’t feel right.
I turn off my thoughts when I hear her talking softly from somewhere and follow the sound of her voice into the bathroom. Now I don’t wanna be that guy who eavesdrops, but I’m pretty damn sure she’s talking to herself, and since I’m doing the same damn thing—just inside—I decide that doesn’t feel right either.
I open the door and step in, seeing her shaking in laughter, lying on the damn floor. Her ass is peeking out under one of my hoodies, and I bend down to give it a nibble as she pushes up on her elbows.
And then, shit goes sideways.
