Page 12 of Ripe & Ready
My throat tightens. My voice is wobbling now.
“I’ve always felt like I’m a few steps behind you, trailing after you like an idiot and I thought that maybe someday I’d catch up but I worry that if I don’t say something now you’re gonna find some adventure that’s far more exciting than me, so I have to tell you?—”
The look he gives me shuts me up instantly.
It’s all comfort and sunshine, warm enough to reach somewhere deep in my chest and maybe anyone could give me a smile like that. Some people are naturally bright, but when it’s him? It undoes me. Every time.
“What?” I snap, too fast, already spiraling. “I’m pouring my heart out and you don’t have anything to say?”
Because of course I can’t accept the smile like a normal person. No, I have to go full defense mode, questioning everything even when the answer is right in front of me.
He scoffs. Shakes his head. “I’ve been waiting on you, dummy.”
Then he kisses me.
Slow. Certain. His arms wrap around my neck and I gasp into him, breath hitching as every nerve lights up at once.
“All this time,” I whisper against his lips.
He pulls back enough to look at me in that way only he can manage when I’m clearly coming apart. His expression softens, and suddenly it’s obvious. The love was never hiding. I wasn’t ready to face it.
“I didn’t want to rush you,” he says, voice low. “I figured if you felt the same you’d come to me when you were ready.”
“Derek, that could’ve taken years.”
He shrugs, effortless as ever. “You’re worth the wait.”
So I crash into him. Mouth on his. Heart on fire hoping to convey that I’m ready now and his patience was worth it.
I push him back toward the bed, this man who loved me so much he let me find my own way to him when I felt fearless enough to do it.
“Feelin’ aggressive there, Andy?” Derek laughs as I toss him back onto the bed.
“Well, apparently I’ve spent the last decade too scared to take advantage of something we should’ve been doing a long time ago,” I say, climbing on top of him. “I’ve got lost time to make up for.”
He barks out a laugh. “We’ve got time now. Plenty of it. Now that we know.”
“This feels too good to be true,” I mutter, searching his face. “How do you know?”
“Because I’ve known you for fifteen years. If I was gonna leave, I’d have done it already.”
That hits me harder than it should. “What if we don’t work?”
“Then I guess we figure it out.”
I blink. “Why is this so easy for you?”
He shrugs under me. “Because life’s already hard enough. I’m not gonna waste time overthinking something that feels simple.”
I groan and push him flat, his head hitting the pillow as I lower myself onto him, knees on either side of his hips, my ass brushing against his cock, already hard and straining at his zipper.
“You cannot say things like that,” I whisper, mouth inches from his.
“Why not?” he manages between kisses, breath catching.
“Because it makes me love you more.”
He grins, eyes half-lidded. “What’s wrong with that?”
