Page 19 of Rumi: The Hawthornes

She tasted fucking fantastic, so I paid her back. Twice.

“Beautiful,” I murmured as I worked my way back up her body. I wasn’t going to make a big deal about it, but it had bothered me when she told me I didn’t have to call her beautiful. Like she didn’t deserve it or it wasn’t true or something, when it was the opposite. Nova was gorgeous and she didn’t even notice, and fuck whatever guy that had convinced her that she didn’t deserve to be reminded of that.

“More?” she asked dazedly as I reached over to the nightstand for a condom.

“Haven’t been inside you yet,” I reminded her softly, kissing the skin beneath her ear.

“Better remedy that,” she joked, her hands coming up to run lightly up my back.

“That’s the plan.”

It took seconds to get the condom on—I didn’t know how I’d broken one on Saturday night—and the second I pushed inside her, we both groaned.

“You feel so fuckin’ good,” I muttered, almost surprised.

Over the weekend we’d been goddamn acrobatic, changing positions, bending this way and that to find the best angle, but this time was different. With any other person, I probably would’ve thought it was boring, but with Nova it was anything but. Missionary, Nova’s legs wrapped around my waist and her nails digging into my back and her lips right there for kissing and her eyes meeting mine? Paradise. Nothing had ever come close. I couldn’t have given that up if I’d tried.

She came first, thank God. I wasn’t far behind her though.

“Fuck,” she muttered, kissing me as she let her legs slide down to the bed.

“Agreed,” I said with a sigh, rolling to the side. I would’ve cut off a pinky to stay where I was, but no way in hell was I going to let the condom come off inside her. I’d had it happen when I was younger and I’d never put Nova through that panic. “Are you on birth control?”

Nova’s head snapped to the side so she could look at me. “Why?”

“Just asking,” I said quickly, gesturing to my junk. “We’re all clear. The package is still wrapped.”

“Jesus, give me a heart attack,” she said in exasperation, closing her eyes as she relaxed against the pillow.

“You didn’t answer me.”

“Yes, Rumi,” she muttered. “I’m on birth control.”

“Good.”

“You’re still wearing a condom.”

“I didn’t ask not to,” I pointed out as I pulled the condom off and wrapped it in a couple of tissues.

“You get around,” she said, opening her eyes again to watch me. “And I’m assuming that’s not going to stop, so… condom.”

The words were kind of a gut punch, but I think I hid it well. She was right, I did have a pretty active sex life, but I honest to god hadn’t even thought about fucking anyone else since we started up. I mean, it had only been a few days, but I hadn’t even pictured it. I guess I just hadn’t thought about how shit would work now that me and Nova were hooking up, because I was so goddamn focused on how I was going to get her naked again.

“I’m fine with that,” I replied, hedging a little. “Don’t even remember what it was like without one.”

“You’ve had sex without one?” she asked in surprise.

“Once when I was seventeen,” I admitted guiltily. “Freaked me out so bad I never did it again.”

“Good. That was stupid.”

“I know,” I said, tossing the condom and laying back down. “I just kept thinkin’ that she was gonna get pregnant and my mother was gonna geld me.”

“She would’ve, too.”

“I’m well aware,” I replied dryly.

“I’ve never gone without one,” she said, turning to face me with her hands folded beneath her cheek. “There was one time when a guy tried to fake me out, but I caught him and got the fuck out of there.”

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