Page 18 of Trading Up
His thick, muscular thigh, covered only by his basketball shorts, was touching mine, covered by my sleep shorts. I stared at where we were touching for a few moments, feeling the heat from his body pouring into mine like a waterfall, ready to heat me to the perfect temperature. I flinched as I realized he was staring at me. I turned and looked directly at him. He was turned so his torso was turned toward me. He was looking so deeply into my eyes, I felt like he saw everything, like he saw into who I was deep at my center. My breath caught as my mouth slowly parted. His eyes flickered from my eyes to my lips and back again. The hunger in his gaze started to heat me somewhere a little further west from where his massive thigh pressed against mine.
I could feel myself getting wet, the longer he stared at me, studying my face. The anticipation was killing me. His hand gently grazed my leg, making me gasp. When he rested it on my other thigh, I was practically a lake. He blinked slowly, lazily running his hand up and down my leg. I stared into those deep, dark eyes, filled with love, lust, hunger, and possession.
“I’ve been waiting to do this since our second year in school together,” he bit his lip, “I’ve been in love with you for fifteen years. Since college. I’ve never been able to have a serious relationship with a single woman after meeting you. You know, there were flings, and everybody knew the score,” I nodded. Because I knew. I was married to Will. There was a point before he and I started dating that I thought about Row and me together. I thought there might be something there, but then he said he was going to culinary school so far away, and I thought he was running from me because I’d been putting down some heavy hints and wasn’t getting anywhere. But then I met Will and told myself to move past it.
When I kissed him all those months ago? It was instinct. He’s always been the one person I feel most safe with. That was something I had to work through and come to terms with. If I had communicated more directly, maybe we wouldn’t have lost so much time. I was still telling myself I couldn’t live in ‘what ifs’ because if I did, I’d miss the present.
And the present wasreallyfucking handsome.
“If we go down this path,” his hand cupped my cheek, his thumb gently rubbing across my skin, I leaned into his warmth, closing my eyes as his voice washed over me, “It’s for life. The choice is yours, but I will never be able to live without you again. You are the only one for me, Sarah.” His voice and eyes were honest, and I knew he meant it.
“You sound like you’re proposing,” I mused.
“No. When I do that, I’ll declare it to the world.” He said confidently, like he knew it would happen. “So, do you want me? All of me? To be your boyfriend? And eventually fiancé and husband?” His eyes flashed a brief bit of vulnerability before masking it behind his neutral mask. I smiled, reaching out with both hands. I placed his face between my hands, pulling himcloser. His shocked face before I spoke was the last thing I saw as I closed my eyes.
“Yes,” I breathed out as I kissed him. I felt him flinch, freezing for just a moment, and then, when I bit his lower lip and he realized this was real, he moved. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me onto his lap, pressing me flush against him. He moaned into our kiss, causing me to grind against him, needing to feel the friction against my aching core. I felt like a live wire; the spark was there, ready to explode at any given moment. His hands snaked under my shirt, caressing every bit of skin he could touch, while my hands explored him. Things were getting hot and heavy when we heard tiny feet and sniffling. Looking up, I saw Carter ambled out of his room toward us, wiping his eyes.
“Mommy?” We froze where we were, not moving an inch. Row’s hands stayed where they were, one on my bare back, the other gripping my ass, his lips on my neck. Carter rubbed his eyes, looking around for a few minutes, all sleepy, and went back to his room. In one fluid motion, Row had me up in his arms and down the hallway to my room in less than ten seconds.
I was pinned against the bedroom door, legs wrapped around his waist as he locked the door with one hand, his lips exploring my collarbone and neck again, pulling sighs and silent pleas for him to keep going. He ground his thick hardness into my center that had thoroughly soaked my sleep shorts. The strained, ragged breaths he pulled from me as we tried to stay quiet were filled with a desperate need. One I’d never known. I’d never been this needy for any man.
Never have I looked forward to trying to stay quiet while naked, quite so much.
***
I woke up the next morning to the sound of the shower running in my bathroom. In a fog of dream meeting reality, Ireached over where Row slept next to me, holding me like I was the most precious thing he’d ever held. The spot was still warm when I reached out for him. I stretched my limbs, deliciously sore in places I hadn’t known could be sore, every inch of me feeling thoroughly worshiped and loved. I laid there for a few moments, relishing in the soreness, my mind taking me back to last night and the many, many orgasms we both gave to each other. Our last time, just as we climaxed together, we both whispered ‘I love you’ to each other, and it felt like we connected. It was a connection to another person I’d never felt. Even with Will.
I got up and slipped into the shower with him, kissing across his shoulder blades, wrapping an arm around him, hugging him to me, loving the feel of him against me.
“Good morning,” I said softly between kisses. His hand gripped mine like he needed to feel me there. His other hand went to my leg, holding me against him as I rested my head on his sturdy back.
“I still can’t believe this is real,” he said, his voice still thick from sleep. He cleared his throat, “That last night happened…it’s like I finally got to live out my biggest fantasy, and now I don’t know what I’ll do if I wake up and find out it was all a dream.” I walked around in front of him, putting myself between him and the water. I leaned up on my toes and gently brushed my lips against his. Kissing along his jaw, I continued my journey south until I was on my knees. I took his length in my hand. It was so thick and meaty, I couldn’t close my hand around it. I started stroking his thick rod as he watched me.
I kept eye contact with him as I licked the underside of his dick. When I got to his head, I popped it in my mouth. I hollowed out my cheeks and began sucking, playing with his balls with one hand and with the other, placing his hands on my head before stroking his dick with my now free hand. Iwas determined to give him pleasure he’d only thought about, dreamed about, for years. I wanted him to know this wasn’t a dream. That I wanted him. He started groaning and grunting as he thrust into my mouth, holding my head down while he tried to put his full length inside my mouth and throat.
“Fuck,” he groaned as I felt his balls tighten. I knew he was close. He was a groaning, grunting mess as his fingers tightened in my hair. I kept up my ministrations, pushing him quickly over the edge, swallowing every drop of delicious cum he gave me.
“Sarah!” he moaned my name as he came, and I swallowed his babies. He pulled me up, kissing me.
“I love you. Forever,” he said, his voice thick with lust as he pushed me against the cold shower wall. This was the start of us, and I was looking forward to more.
Every day.
N I N E T E E N: Proposals.
Deavereaux’s POV
After our first night together, I started working on my proposal. I know to many people, this sounded way too early on in our relationship, but we’d been best friends for fifteen years, I’d been in love with her that whole time, and I knew my love wasn’t changing. She confessed last night, as we came together. Afterwards, I cleaned us up, held her, and listened as she talked.
“I tried in college to get you to see that I liked you. I wanted to be the girl you picked, but I was silly, not addressing my feelings directly. I should have done that instead of hinting. Then I met Will and thought that I should give it a chance. I know I loved him, but I also know that when I was drowning in diapers, emotions I couldn’t name or place, and two kids, he checked out. I know that he left me on my own, and that’s not what you do to someone you love. I realized then, once you helped me see I needed therapy, that he wasn’t the one for me. I was just going to wait until the kids were in school so I could get a job and start saving to leave him. When I caught him, it was like whatever lingering feelings I had were gone.” I hummed and nodded at the right time, letting her get it out.
“I had always felt safest in your presence, with you. I’d always known that you were my safe space, but I also thought I’d lost my chance.” She was quiet for a moment before turning around in my arms so I could see her face. Tears streaked it, with more filling her eyes.
“I’ve always loved you. I just thought we lost our chance, and I was stuck with him, so to speak. At least until I could take care of the kids on my own. But…like always, you never let me be alone. You never left me to flounder on my own. You always keptme close, helping me, loving me, supporting me,” I didn’t know where she was going with this, but I agreed.
“I don’t want to wait on forever with you.”
“Neither do I. And I promise. Soon,” I promised, kissing her nose as we snuggled back under the covers, sleep taking us.
