Page 45 of Forever & Always
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Yes. I trust you, but I also know how it was in the past. You’ll be swarmed with women, and I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a small part of me that is bothered by it. Sex doesn’t mean the same thing to men as it does to women.”
Dylan stopped, faced me, and took both of my hands in his. “Before we weren’t together. It won’t be easy to be apart, but I’ll fly to Tennessee as often as I can and get you to the games or KC as often as your schedule allows.”
“That’s just it,” I protested. “I won’t have much time. It will be years before I’ll have a decent amount of free time.”
“Your parents made it work; we will, too. I won’t have it any other way. If that’s what you want, too.” His voice was calm, but with an underlying urgency that was reflected in his eyes. “As far as Alan; I’m sorry. I wish I could go back in time and change things, but I can’t. I know you feel committed to him, and I might be too late. How do you feel about him? Is it this intense ‘I can’t stand to be without you’ feeling?” He smiled that boyish grin that always stopped me in my tracks.
I felt the heat of a flush rushing up to color my cheeks. “You know that it isn’t.”
His smile widened and his arms slid around me, and he buried his face in the side of my neck, kissing up my neck and jaw until his mouth was hovering over mine. “Maybe, but I wanted to hear you say it.”
“You don’t play fair,” I whispered.
“I always play towin.” Dylan’s warm breath rushed out in a small laugh before he lowered his head and took my mouth in a passionate kiss. His hands roamed my back, one of them traveling up to tangle in my hair as he held the back of my head.
This was nothing like when Alan kissed me. It was like comparing the Fourth of July fireworks with a bowl of tomato soup. The one was comforting, and the other was like an explosion I wanted to last all year.
I couldn’t help getting lost in the amazing kiss. Our hands became more urgent and mine moved up into his hair to pull his mouth tighter against mine as passion grew and the kiss deepened.
When once again it softened and we came up for air, Dylan spoke. “Oh, Remi. I love you, so much.”
“I love you, too. You know that.” I turned my face so that my forehead pressed against this jaw as we struggled to regain control. My body was heated, and desire raged inside me. I could feel his erection against me and it only excited me more.
“I want you,” Dylan whispered, pressing his hardness into my stomach to emphasize his words. “If we were further off the trail, I’d lift you up and press you into one of these tree trunks so you could really feel me.” His breathing was shallow.
There was a soft little chuckle behind us and in an instant Dylan turned me and his head snapped up; instantly aware that we were not alone. He didn’t let go of me but smiled at a middle-aged couple that was coming up the trail toward us. He smiled, embarrassed that his words were overheard. “Whoops. Please excuse us. We just figured out we were in love after sixteen years of keeping it secret from each other.”
Our position was sideways to the trail now and they came up to walk around us. As they passed, the man patted Dylan on the shoulder and the woman smiled at us. “We’ve been together for forty years,” she said.
“Good for you, my boy. Sounds like you’ve got a good foundation to build on,” the man commented.
“Yes, sir,” Dylan said proudly. He was still grinning, the dimples in his cheeks deepening. “Now that I have her, I’m not letting go.”
The couple smiled again and then proceeded past us up the trail. Dylan looked down at me. “I’m not letting go,” he repeated looking down into my face. His tone and eyes were serious, and my heart soared.
I smiled. “Yeah, sure. It’s just because you were hiding your raging boner from those nice people,” I teased.
He threw his head back and laughed out loud. “That, too!”
Dylan’s arms tightened and he kissed my temple. “You’re mine, and that’s that,” he said simply. He turned, sliding his hands around my thighs, hoisted me onto his back. “How about a piggyback, babe?”
He settled me into position, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as I leaned my head against his. My mouth close to his ear, I murmured. “My legs work, you know.”
“Yes, I found that out last night when they were wrapped around me for hours and hours.”
A new rush of desire flooded through me, and I was acutely aware of my position and how even though his back was to me, he was still between my legs. “You don’t play fair,” I said softly.
“So, you’ve said. Match point.”
I couldn’t help but giggle, and Dylan’s laughter joined mine as he walked the trail that wound through the forest, up and down small hills. I laid my head on his back and let contentment fill me. It felt so right to be in his arms, to let the scent of his cologne surround me, to hold him tight. Love filled my heart so much; I thought it would literally burst. This was happiness and I’d take what I could get.
I’d worry about Alan later. I’d left my phone in my purse that was on the floorboard of Dylan’s Toyota. I didn’t want to think, I just wanted to feel.
“Now, I just need to convince you to come to the ranch with me. I know we shouldn’t have made love before you had a chance to end things with your relationship, and we don’t have to be intimate if you come to Wyoming, if you don’t want to. We can just be together, ride horses and help Uncle Ben and Aunt Marin with the work. Like old times.”
I felt his movements as he walked. “I need to go back to Memphis and talk to Alan before I do anything else. I can’t put it off. It will only make me feel worse. I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating.”