Page 190 of Love in Riverbend
“That’s probably where they got the name,” he says. “I thought maybe tonight we could walk around. Check things out. Find someplace to dine.”
“I thought you said we weren’t sightseeing.”
He cups my cheek.
It’s a habit I’m growing to love, to lean into his warm, firm touch.
“Sightsee tonight,” he says, “while you’re still wearing clothes. Remember, other than dinner tomorrow or maybe going out to the pool, we are on a clothes-free getaway.”
“You plan to starve me?” I ask with added dramatic flair.
“Room service.”
My smile grows. “You thought of everything.” I don’t want to wait. I’ve waited twenty-two years and never has it felt this right. The sights will be there tomorrow. Taking a step back, I veil my eyes and push one of the spaghetti straps off my shoulder.
“Devan.” His timbre is lower than moments before.
I push the strap off the other shoulder.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Plan B,” I say with a smile.
Justin comes closer and lifts my chin. Within his blue orbs, I see the brewing of a storm. It’s mesmerizing and intense. The summer thunderstorm that grows in the humid air, no warning, and no way to know what it has in store.
His voice is deep and soft. “I want you to know there is no pressure.”
“There is. I feel it. Not from you but when I’m with you. From that one kiss, when we’re together, my entire body feels as if it could implode at any moment. I’ve never felt this way before. I thought the feeling would dwindle, but it hasn’t, Justin. It’s more intense every time we talk, you reach for my hand, or we kiss.”
He sighs. “I’m fucking petrified I’m going to scare you away, but damn it, I like you—I think I love you. I’m not saying that to get into your pants.”
Love.
I concentrate on the last part of his statement. “You’ve already been there.”
“Yeah,” he says with a smirk. “I want to go back, but that isn’t why I’m saying this. I don’t know how you see us. I see us lasting for a long time. That means we can spend this weekend doing what we’ve done, holding one another, talking, and I might even allow clothes and sightseeing. We don’t need to go all the way. I’m not going anywhere. If we do it this weekend or a week from now or a year, Devan, I’m in this for the long haul.”
“I want to do all those things you said. I didn’t save my virginity for some extravagant occasion. I just have never wanted to go that far with anyone. Riverbend…before, there was no one I wanted to have that experience with. No one I thought of as my forever. Until now.”
Justin’s eyes close as he exhales. When he opens them, the storm clouds from earlier are replaced with the igniting of flames, ice-blue embers that are combusting into a raging fire. His voice takes on a gravelly tenor. “What do you want?”
“You, Justin. I want you. I think I love you too. Maybe it’s lust, but it feels like more than that—more than I’ve felt. It feels exciting, new, and at the same time, comfortable. Does that make sense?”
He nods. His gaze lingers on my lowered straps. “I can either help you push those back up or take that dress all the way off. If we go with the latter, I think room service is in our future.”
“How about we build up an appetite first?”
I don’t need to ask twice before we are on each other. It isn’t as if I have no idea how to proceed. As Justin lifts my dress over my head, I lift his shirt over his. This isn’t going to be a fast wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am. I want to even the playing field.
That means that Justin too will be without clothes.
No boxer shorts.
Nothing.
As our different items of clothing make it to the carpet, our hands skirt over one another’s flesh. Justin’s touch is everywhere: my arms, sides, breasts, and behind. I hold onto what he told me before—to be bold.
Running my fingertips over his broad shoulders, thick arms, and toned torso, I savor every indentation, every muscle, every inch of his massive body. As his boxer shorts are kicked away, I have a moment of trepidation. In principle, I understand the mechanics of sex. That said, I worry he’s too big or maybe I’m not big enough.
