As expected, nobody noticed our disappearance from the reception. Everyone was tipsy anyway, so sneaking away was relatively easy. Even if they had a problem with us leaving, they would have taken one look at me and backed off because right now? Emery is the only damn thing on my mind.

"This fucking suit," she pants heavily as I kick the door shut to our hut behind us. We can't seem to find the room to breathe correctly, too desperate in our kisses to pull apart as she fumbles with my tie, hastily trying to undo it.

We stop by the entryway, continuing our makeout session. I run my hands through her hair, wanting to keep this tender and intimate between us now that our feelings have finally been placed on the table, but the love we share has never been that way. It's passionate. Fierce. An undeniable attraction I want to drown in for the rest of my life.

My nails scrape gently down her back, hard enough to give pleasure but without leaving a mark. The dress she's wearing is tantalizing to the point I can't wait another second without seeing it on the floor, so I spin her around, her back to my chest, and rip the zipper down. I don't care if it breaks.

Emery is officially mine. I don't have the proper words to express how light I feel. The situation with my father is being handled, Liam is gay and completely fine with us being together, and now I'm just...happy. For the first time in my life, I'm undeniably happy, and the rush of feelings that brings to the surface is powerful. I swallow down the ball of emotion when the navy fabric drops to the floor, revealing the silhouette of Emery's body—a shape I'm feeling blessed to explore for as long as I live.

"What?" Emery pants, turning around when I can do nothing but admire her. Only a tiny black thong separates me from what I almost let go of. What I almost walked away from.

"I'm not the best at explaining my feelings," I start, remembering her spilling her guts to me a mere ten minutes ago. "I've never been good at it, but I'm trying for you. For us. I'm going to get better at it, but while I'm working on properly forming my emotions into words..." I sink to my knees before her. "I'll start by worshipping you, Em. I'll start by showing you how sorry I am for walking away. How in love with you I am."

Glancing up at her face, I marvel at the tiny gasp she elicits when I hook her leg over my shoulder. Her cheeks are rosy, lips parted, as she says, "I...I think that's a good way to start."

My hand glides up the outside of the thigh draped over my shoulder, raising the tiny hairs and goosebumps along her skin. My erection is painfully tight in my suit pants, so while I kiss the inside of her knee, I use my free hand to undo my belt, ripping it from the loops and flinging it to the floor.

"I...I seriously don't think you understand how attractive you are," she whimpers. I smirk in response, laughing when she looks at the ceiling rather than me. "I'm going to come too quickly seeing you on your knees for me."

"Good," I hum. "I fully expect you to have more than one tonight. Let's get rid of this, shall we?" Grasping the edge of her underwear, I pull back so I can remove the thong, letting it dangle off the ankle over my shoulder.

Then, I get to work.

My tongue meets her clit, moving in torturous circles. I keep it slow, just like she loves, taking my sweet time with her. I love the little moans she makes. I revel in the way her fingers tug my curls, how she calls my name when I delve my tongue inside of her.

She glances down, noticing my eyes haven't left her face, and her jaw drops open, her hips bucking to meet my tongue. When she rises onto her tiptoe with her free foot to try and fight the orgasm, I sit up straighter to go with her, placing my hands on her hips to push her onto me.

My girl likes my tongue piercing, so I let my tongue go lax, allowing her to finish the job. I let her fuck my tongue however she needs to in order to push her over the edge, and when she falls over it, I'm moving it again to slurp up every fucking ounce of release she gives me.

"You are..." Her chest is heaving with a hand placed over her chest. Those eyes are fluttering shut, but I'm not finished with her yet. Not in the slightest.

Rising from the floor, I strip down directly in front of her, my cock hardening as she eye fucks me from head to toe. I'm too worked up to make it to the bed even though it's only a few steps away. I want her now. Need her right this very second.

Picking her up into my arms, her thighs straddle my waist, and I'm more than pleased she doesn't ask if she's too heavy to carry. It means I've given her the reassurance she needs in order for her to release those insecurities, and I don't plan to ever stop. With her back against the wall, I don't waste another second to slip inside of her, catching her lips with mine when she gasps.

I'm swept away into her ocean wetter than the one right outside this hut, and there's nowhere, absolutely nowhere I'd rather be.

"I love you, Em," I whisper, peppering kisses along her collarbone. "You have no idea how good it feels to say it."

Her head rests against the wall, her eyes heavy-lidded. "I love you too, Ev. So much."

Before her, I used sex as a way to distract myself from feeling emotions. It was a way I could escape the reality of my life and all of the shit wrong with it. But with Emery, just being in her presence always brought those feelings to the surface until I wanted to explode, and the minute we kissed, the second I tasted her lips, my feelings erupted like a fucking volcano.

Emery doesn't realize it, but she brought me back to life.

Thrusting my hips, I'm fully hilted inside of her, cursing at how exquisite she feels around my cock. Even when I'm buried in her, it still doesn't feel close enough. My body is fully against hers, our bodies slick with sweat from the humidity, but somehow, it'll never be enough. I will never get enough of her.

"Fuck me," she pleads.

Well, shit. Who am I to deny her?

With one hand braced above her head on the wall, I support her with my free one and do exactly as she pleases. I fuck her hard, causing the picture to the left of us to rattle in its place, my hips slamming against hers until her eyes are rolling to the back of her head.

But I need her to know this isn't just fucking to me. It won't ever be just fucking between us again. So even though I'm driving into her with long, rough strokes, I kiss her softly, my hand that was previously placed on the wall now moving to cup her face. I stroke her cheek with my thumb, keeping my eyes locked on hers.

We've never needed to say our emotions. Somehow, we've always been able to communicate through these stolen glances, even when we tried to deny it until our very last breath. When Liam, Emery, and I would be hanging out at his house, she'd be on the couch opposite me, watching me play with my eyebrow piercing, and in those moments, when our gazes briefly met, I just knew we had a connection. I may not have known it was love at the time, but it was always something. A feeling so strong between us that it was almost a tangible, living thing we could reach out and grab.

And the softening of her eyes is all I need to come so hard that my legs shake, my forehead dropping to her shoulder as we both spiral out of control.

The moments after sex with us I seem to cherish more than the sex itself. She's stunning post orgasm with her cheeks flushed and a lazy, tired smile on her face. Unable to help myself, I kiss her lips again, still inside of her and unable to pull out. I don't want to. Not yet.

"We should probably head back," she says. "I don't want your family to be upset that we've been gone."

I look around at our clothing discarded in different piles on the floor and shake my head. "No way in hell am I going to have you get dressed again. You're naked for the rest of the night if I have any say in it."

She giggles, and the sound travels straight to my cock. I'm already half-hard again. "I spoke with Izzy earlier. You know, to tell her congratulations and ask if I could play our song."

"And?"

"She told me she saw my sketchbook that I most definitely didn't bring along with me. Care to share how she got ahold of it?"

I catch a strand piece of hair from her updo, tucking it behind her ear. "I knew she'd love your designs. Should I have asked you first? Probably, but then you'd get all self-conscious about them and chicken out."

Her lips tilt up into a grin. "I hate that you're right."

"Well? Did she like them?"

A full-toothed grin spreads across her face now, and damn, I'm going to do whatever I can in order to keep it there for the rest of my life. "She offered me a paid internship to learn from her. I get to go from working three jobs to one, so, yeah. I'd say she liked them."

"I had no doubts, Em. They're incredible. You're incredible."

"What would you have done if she hated them?" She asks. "That was a ballsy move."

I shrug and kiss her shoulder. "We would have gone home, I'd put the sketchbook back where I found it, and never speak of it again. However, you still would have dropped down to one job since you don't have to pay rent anymore. No sense in working yourself silly for nothing."

She arches a brow. "No rent?"

I pinch her ass, and she squeals in delight, moving against my cock which is...yep. Fully hard now. "As long as it's what you want, I want you with me every day, Em. I want you to officially move in. Not as my roommate, but as my girlfriend. I want it all with you. Dancing in the kitchen, waking up with you in my arms, falling asleep together on the couch. I want your shoes by the door, and I want to be reminded of you every time I see that fucking rainbow lamp I've grown to adore. I want us. Forever."

Blinking through her tears, she laughs and says, "I think you're making rapid progress about expressing your feelings in words, Ev."

"Is that a yes?"

"You shouldn't even have to ask," she replies. "It's always a yes when it comes to you."

That's reassuring since I want to make her my fiancee sooner rather than later. As soon as we graduate college, I'm going to propose to her, and then, we'll buy the house she's always dreamed of, and we'll create the bigger-than-life family we've always wanted.

Now that there's nothing standing in our way, we're going to live out our dreams together.

Forever. 

Author's Note:

I'M ASSUMING YOU WANT A BONUS CHAPTER?

Luckily, I have one!

The bonus chapter will be released on Monday, and, in case you guys missed it, the description for CONNOR'S story The Perfect Shot is now up! Be sure to go to my profile and add it to your reading lists so you won't miss when the first chapter posts! :)

See you Monday!

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