Connected (Connections, #1)(63)

“I think you know,” he chuckles against my skin.

I sigh and breathe deeply.

“I’ve had enough show-and-tell for now, and I have one more room to show you,” he says as he leads us back into the house. “Let’s finish what we started in the car, in here,” he continues as we cross the living room and walk down a hall to an open door at the end.

“Your bedroom,” I manage as I look into the very large empty room. There are multiple closed doors inside it. One most likely opens into a bathroom and the others are probably closets. The room also has the same large glass doors as the living room, and I can see the sign and the city from here as well. Everything is just so beautiful.

I laugh when I look into the actual room. In the middle is an air mattress with pillows and blankets thrown on it. Turning to face River, I smirk at him and he smirks right back. He really does light up my insides. So much so, I know my darkest days are behind me.

“What are you smiling about?” I whisper while running my hands firmly up his chest.

“I don’t know. What are you smiling about?” he responds while moving some of my hair aside.

“I can’t believe you were telling me the truth. We really are camping.”

“I never lie,” he says, suddenly very serious.

Grabbing his hand, I lead him to the center of the room and turn to face him. “I never meant it that way,” I whisper into his ear before sucking on his upper lip.

He mumbles something I can’t comprehend, but for some reason, I don’t ask him to repeat it. He lightly shakes his head and runs his finger over my lips.

The sun is shining so brightly into this room, there is no hiding myself. I cannot cover up what I once didn’t want him to see.

Never taking my eyes off his, I break our embrace and peel my shirt over my head before pulling down my skirt, letting it fall to the floor at my feet. I’m now standing in front of him in the lingerie I bought for his eyes only, and I smile at him as I run my own hands down my body and he gasps loudly.

His fingers trace the skin above my push-up bra and moves down to my ribs before tracing circles on my almost non-existent stomach muscles. “You’re so beautifully sexy, perfect really,” he whispers as he leans to kiss the same trail he just etched with his finger.

I stand there, unable to move, his touch is searing, my heart is racing, and I really don’t know what is happening to me. Every time he touches me, the feeling becomes more of a need and less of a want.

As he stands back up, his powerful green eyes scan the length of me—slowly. Grinning, he runs his hands down to my garter belts as he says, “I’ve been wanting to see what these look like since this morning.” Then unsnapping, first one, and then the other, he continues, “It was certainly worth the wait.”

He leans back a little, catches my hand, and turns it over. Bringing it to his mouth, he gently kisses each fingertip, stopping to suck on them for just an instance before kissing my palm.

“I’m glad you like the outfit,” I pant out. My eyelids are fluttering as he breathes on the sensitive spot of my wrist and I continue, “I bought it just for you.”

I brush my fingers along his cheekbones and rub my thumbs underneath his eyes. As I jump into those eyes, I kiss him deeply before nipping at his lower lip then tracing my tongue along the inside of his mouth.

Groaning, he threads his fingers though my hair then runs them down my back, unhooking my bra but not removing it. I pull his shirt over his head and he rips his jeans off before I push him down on the mattress. As I stare into his eyes, so full of desire, I straddle him as he grunts, “I’ve wanted to do this since your little ‘name that tune’ game.”

I hover over him, wearing nothing but my lingerie, and I let his eyes devour me; I can feel our connection growing even stronger. And today, in the early hours of the evening, on the absolutely brightest and most beautiful day of the year, we slowly do what we haven’t done before. We begin to make love.





PINBALL WIZARD


How does she do it

I wonder how she is so good

She doesn’t even watch

As the ball whizzes by

She’s always happy to win the game.





Despite having slept on an air mattress, I wake surprisingly rested. Rising, I make my way to the bathroom. I look back over my shoulder and grin at the sight of River sleeping so peacefully. I notice again we don’t seem to have sides of the bed. I quietly pad over to his closet and find a white button down shirt on top of a bunch of boxes. While slipping it on, something grabs my attention. The top box has River’s boxers in it and Pac-Man catches my eye immediately. Pac-Man? Really? I love Pac-Man! When I was younger, my father used to take me to an old-fashioned arcade down the street from The Greek at least once a week. Still grinning, I slip on the boxers and make my way through the empty house to the kitchen in search of coffee.

Walking down the hallway that leads to the living room, I think about how we spent the remainder of yesterday’s daylight hours in his room getting to know each other in a more intimate manner. I’m surprised by how comfortable I feel with him; the ease and playfulness we experience together is simply intoxicating. It keeps me wanting more, and I’m pretty sure it keeps River wanting more as well.

When the darkness fell upon us last night, the Hollywood sign glowed in the distance. After stepping outside to take it all in, we made our way back inside to the living room where we ordered pizza and bottles of water. We ate and talked, then we laughed outrageously watching Letterman discuss his version of Fifty Shades of Grey while we lie together on his new couch. Finally, we made our way back to his bedroom and continued our most intimate discovery of each other.