Grace finished her drink in one gulp. “I think I know exactly what you mean,” she said, and then she didn’t hesitate to put her lips on mine.
I kissed her again and again. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me on top of her. I pushed a few pieces of blond hair from her face and traced her full lips with my finger. Her eyes reflected the flame from the nearest tiki torch. She had fire in her eyes. I looked at her, wondering what she was thinking. The flame danced in her irises, but she quickly extinguished it when she closed her eyes and pulled me to her.
Just like the last time I kissed Grace, her tongue grabbed onto mine and her teeth sank into my lower lip, delivering that subtle feeling of pain meets pleasure. I moaned, and she bit a little harder. She ran her hands through my hair as she kissed me. I tore my mouth from hers and kissed her neck and ear, biting and licking. She lifted her hips to me, giving me the green light.
“I want you, Grace.” I whispered hot breath into her ear.
A gentle breeze blew out six of the tiki torches, leaving just enough light to see only part of her face. Grace brought her hands to the bottom of my shirt. Her fingers curled beneath it, and she tugged it over my head. Running her nails down my neck, chest, and abs, she smiled.
I grabbed her shirt and she lifted her arms, allowing me to remove it. She was wearing nothing underneath. My hands immediately went to her breasts, cupping them, squeezing them.
Grace pushed me off of her and rolled me onto my back. She straddled me and then leaned down to continue kissing but only for a moment. Her lips left mine and left a wet trail going down my body. She unbuttoned my jeans and pulled part of me out of them. I laid under the stars while the most beautiful woman in the world devoured me. How did I get so lucky?
I stopped her before I finished. I couldn’t have the first time with Grace end so quickly. I wanted it to last forever. I wanted us to last forever. I’d never need another woman again if I had her, I told myself. I pulled her back up to me and kissed her again. Grace rolled onto her back, and I settled in between her legs, sliding her bottoms down. Kneeling in front of her, I took her all in. She was like a piece of art. She begged to be looked at, examined, studied. Grace smiled up at me. Her lips were swollen from our kisses. The fire returned to her eyes. I parted her legs a little more and brought my face to her center. I wanted to taste all of her. She moaned when my lips brushed against her most sensitive skin. She gasped as I went to work. Grace tasted sweet like a strawberry. Her back arched, and I ran one of my hands up her stomach, settling onto her breast. She grabbed a fistful of my hair as my tongue quickened.
“Calvin,” she said breathlessly. “I want all of you too.”
That excited me more, and I wanted her to lose control. I wanted her body to shake and tremble. I wanted her heart to race. I wanted her skin to sweat, her legs to quiver. I wanted her to explode, to cry out, to beg me to stop. I squeezed her breast hard. Everything I wanted out of her; she gave. She moaned so loudly, it sounded like the howl of a wild animal. Her whole body tightened, and she grabbed at my hair, yanking up on it.
And then she nearly collapsed. “It’s too much,” she gasped.
I went a little longer, making sure she felt more pleasure tonight than she had in her whole life.
Grace opened her eyes as I crawled up her. She panted while I kissed her neck and ear. When she was ready, she let her legs fall farther apart, inviting me inside.
I grabbed a condom from the picnic basket and held it up with a smile. “Packed it just in case.”
“Good,” she whispered.
It took a few seconds to unwrap it and put it on. “Are you sure?” I asked.
She nodded. I kissed her again and then settled between her legs. I stared into those blue, blue eyes where the fire danced and slowly lowered myself into her. She moaned when I was inside and so did I. Her hands grabbed at my back, the scarlet red fingernails digging into my skin as I thrust in and out of her. I cried out when she drew blood, but I kept going. Sometimes pain felt just as good as pleasure.
“Don’t stop,” she said.
“Never.”
I wrapped my hand around a clump of her blond hair and yanked it. I felt her center clench me, and I nearly lost it right there.
Grace felt so good—like the feeling of a warm bed on a chilly night, or the cold side of your pillow on a hot evening. I let go of her hair and ran my hand up and down her body. She orgasmed more than once. I could feel it like a jolt of electricity. My body tensed up. This was it. Grace felt too good to hold back and all at once I collapsed. She kept pushing up into me, our sweaty skin gliding against one another. It was too much, too sensitive, and I pulled completely out of her.
“You’re goddamn amazing, Grace,” I said in between breaths. I rolled on my side to face her.
Grace laid on her back and looked up at the stars. There was no point in looking at them now. They paled in comparison to her.
“That was incredible.”
She didn’t say anything. She just nodded.
I had never felt that with anyone else. We were in tune with one another. Our bodies craved the same touch, the same energy. We were like animals tearing into one another. Grace was the best I ever had. And thinking that made me wonder if I was the same for her.
“Whatcha thinking?” I asked, immediately regretting my question. It was something girls who were hung up on boys asked. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to know.
Grace turned her head toward me. The flame intensified in her blue eyes. “I’m thinking . . .” She bit her lower lip. “That I don’t want this to end.”
I smiled. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Calvin.”
“Yes, Grace.”
“There are no secrets between us.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement, but I nodded. “No secrets,” I said. But I wondered what made a secret. Was it having information that you hadn’t yet shared with the other person, or was it intentionally lying and withholding information? If she didn’t ask, was it a secret?
“What happened to your parents?”
I let out a sigh. It wasn’t something I liked talking about but I agreed to no secrets, and she did ask. “They died in a fire.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I’m so sorry, Calvin.”
We sat in silence for a little while. I didn’t know what to say. The past belonged in the past, and there was no sense in talking about it.
“Can I tell you something?”
I scooched a little closer toward her. “You can tell me anything, Grace.”
“Earlier today, Charlotte said something that I didn’t understand, but it made me uncomfortable.” She tucked her chin in.
“What did she say to you?”
“She said she hopes Joe keeps me here permanently.” Grace furrowed her brow.
I looked up at the sky and screamed internally. Char and Joe were going to mess all this up for me.
“What did she mean by that?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You said no secrets.”
I let out a sigh. “I told you about my ex, Lisa.”
Grace nodded. “Yeah, she died in a car accident.”
“One year ago today. Joe was driving that night.”