The Firefly Effect (37 page)

By the time I return, Melanie has tossed the blanket over the back of the sofa and I am treated to the sight of the century.

“I seem to be at a disadvantage here,” she remarks with a coy smile, dropping her gaze to my jeans.

“Sweetheart, we can take care of that right now.” I strip the rest of my clothes off in record time before lowering my body onto hers. Seven days without her could prove to be eight days too many. I had every intention of taking this slow and easy, but my body is doing everything it can to betray me. Especially when she wraps her legs around me and grinds that soft little pussy against my erection.

Oh, God.
Root canals. Tax audits. Poison oak on my balls. Steve Buscemi in a thong.

There. That helped a little.

“Shane…” she breathes, and I guide my stiff cock into her slickness, pushing it in oh-so-slowly. I swear, every time with her feels even more incredible than the time before.

“Is that better, love?” I murmur. “That what you came all this way for? Is it?”

“No…” Her hands slide down my back to squeeze my ass cheeks and I gaze down at her, one corner of my mouth twitching as my expression clearly tells her just how much I believe that shit.

“It isn’t, hm?” Gradually pulling out of her, I wait for an agonizingly long moment before gliding back into her welcoming warmth. “Then suppose you tell me what you did come here for.”

“You,” she whispers, lowering her eyelashes demurely.

“Oh, no. Don’t look away from me, Melanie. Up here. Eyes front and center.”

Surprised, she blinks up at me.

“Tell me again, baby.” Once more I retreat, wait, then leisurely penetrate her hot center again. “Tell me why you’re here.”

“You know why I’m here,” she moans, squirming beneath me. It’s all I can do to keep my composure when even the slightest movement has me on the threshold of exploding inside her.

“Yeah, I think maybe I do. But I’d like to hear you say it.” Wisps of my loose hair drag across her nipples, and they stiffen instantly into hard little peaks. I don’t think she has any idea that I’m well aware of how much that turns her on.

She wets her lips with the tip of her pink tongue, and I have to wonder if she has any idea how much
that
turns
me
on.

“I wanted to see you.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I missed you.” Her eyes dart away for a fraction of a second, but just as quickly I recapture her gaze with mine.

“Because you missed me.” If she only knew how my heart nearly stopped when I saw her standing there in my clinic. Or could understand the inherent possessiveness that had me wanting to lock her inside my office until I was done with my appointments, just so I could be certain she wouldn’t disappear. “Well, it just so happens I missed you too. So what are we going to do about that?”

“I don’t know.”

Transferring all my weight to one arm, I work the other hand between us to flick a fingertip over the silken moisture of her clit. I love how fucking wet she gets for me.

“Should we start here?” I smile at her gasp of pleasure.

“Mm…that –
oh
, that works for me...”

“I thought it might.” Pumping my hips in a slow and easy rhythm, I use two fingers to tease her to the brink. Stroking that heated pussy, lightly at first, then picking up the pace until I have her bucking like a wild filly beneath me. She is so eager, so receptive, so wantonly responsive to my touch. There is nothing that thrills me more than watching her come.

And her face when she reaches orgasm – heaven help me, it’s got to be the sexiest, most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.

Tax audits tax audits tax audits…

“
Shane
…oh, God…please, fuck me hard…”

That’s it. I can’t hold back anymore. Sliding my hands underneath her gorgeous round ass, I raise her hips and fuck my girl just the way she requested.
Hard
. Hard and fast and devoid of any trace of inhibitions until we’re both moaning and grunting like feral animals rutting in the dirt. Like two people so crazy for one another, they’ve completely lost their shit and gone mad with lust.

And I see stars…I swear to Christ, I see stars and hearts and rainbows, a whole array of fucking Lucky Charms swimming before my eyes as I blow my load like Mount Saint fucking Helens.

I lose a piece of myself in that moment. A piece I will never get back.

It belongs to her. Now and forever.

And I know and accept that no matter what happens, whether she chooses to stay or opts instead to run, she will always own a fragment of my soul.

Our breaths mingle as we pant against one another, waiting for our pulses to relax into a normal rhythm. Fearing I’m too heavy, I shift my body so I’m lying beside her instead of on top. She sighs and snuggles into my arms, a satisfied little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“That was nice,” she murmurs, toying with a strand of my hair.

“I didn’t realize
nice
was what you were going for,” I tease.

“Well, maybe nice isn’t quite the right word. Sue me, I didn’t bring my thesaurus.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d need one, being a writer and all. Come on now. Is nice really the best you can come up with?”

“I express myself better on paper, I’m afraid.”

“Sweetheart, you just expressed yourself in a way that definitely transcends anything ever put down on paper.”

A pink flush warms her cheeks, and I can’t help but chuckle at the cute way she has of transforming from a wicked hellcat into a shy, demure little kitten.

“Are you hungry?” she asks, clearly hoping to change the subject. “I thought about making you dinner but I wasn’t sure if you’d want me messing around in your kitchen.”

“Why? Was there a danger of you setting it on fire?”

“Hey! I’m a
good
cook.”

“Baby, I wouldn’t care if you had trouble boiling water without scorching it. You have my express permission to do whatever you like in my kitchen. But not tonight. Tonight, I am taking you into Nashville for dinner. There are a thousand and one things in this area I’m dying to show you.”

“I saw Main Street. It was…” She pauses with a naughty smirk. “…nice.”

“What say we eliminate that particular four-letter word from your vocabulary, hm?”

“All right. It was…convivially auspicious.”

“Ah, that’s a good one! I like that. I’ll have to bring it up at the next planning commission meeting. Maybe propose that we make it our new slogan. I can see it now. Welcome to Franklin, Tennessee – the convivially auspicious town.”

“I don’t think that one’s going to go over very well,” she giggles.

“No? You don’t think so?”

“No. Why don’t you use the one on your animal hospital sign?”

“What, the thing about neutering? Something tells me we wouldn’t attract too many tourists if we threatened to remove their nuts.”

“I thought it was funny.”

“If you
had
nuts, you probably wouldn’t be saying that.”

“Then how come you put it on your sign?”

“I can’t take credit. That was Clay’s handiwork. He’s responsible for changing out the message every couple of weeks.”

“I see. Well, don’t worry. Your nuts are safe with me.”

“Glad to hear it.” I trail my fingers down her back, making a path through the sleek tresses of her hair. Everything about her is so damn soft. Her skin, her hair, her lips...I never before saw the appeal of cuddling, but with her it’s different. I would be perfectly content to just lie here all night, holding her close and listening to her breathe.

I was planning to wait until later to do this, but somehow I just can’t summon enough self-control to wait. I have to know now. There’s no way I can get through the rest of the night with this weighing on my mind.

So before I have a chance to talk myself out of it, I find myself whispering my request.

“Stay.”

For a fraction of a heartbeat she doesn’t answer, and I pray it’s because she didn’t hear me and not because she’s trying to come up with a way to let me down easy.

But then against my chest I hear a muffled, “What?”

“Stay,” I repeat, a bit more firmly. “With me.”

Lifting her head to gaze up at me, she blinks uncertainly. I get the feeling she doesn’t quite comprehend what I’m asking. “Until…when?”

“There is no
until
. Stay. Just stay. I’m asking you not to go.”

“I…I don’t think you’ve really–”

“There’s a nice little office upstairs. It has lots of windows and a beautiful view of the woods, perfect for inspiration. I’ll fix it up any way you want. You can write here just the same as you can there, right?”

“Well, yes, but–”

“Or you can have any room in the house. Whatever suits you. Doesn’t matter to me, take your pick.”

“Um. Shane. I only brought enough clothes for a few days…”

“We’ll drive back down to Florida this weekend and get your things. Leah can rent the place out to someone else if she needs the money, or I’ll pay her myself. Whatever. That’s not important. We’ll work it out.”

Her mouth parts slightly as she stares at me in amazement. “Are you…are you asking me to move in with you?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m asking. Until the time comes when I’m able to get down on one knee and propose to you in a manner that’s suitable. But not now. Not like this. You deserve something far more romantic and refined than this.”

I must have truly and thoroughly lost my mind. I’m actually getting myself all worked up trying to imagine what might be the best place to ask her to marry me.

A horse and carriage ride downtown? No, no, no – too cliché. Some picturesque little spot in the Smoky Mountains, maybe? A sailboat cruise on Old Hickory Lake? Shelby Street Bridge at sunset? Oh yeah, that would be perfect…

“Shane. Are you sure about this? We barely know one other.”

“I know you well enough to know that I’m crazy about you. And if you’re worried about knowing me well enough…well, this would be the fastest way to remedy that situation, wouldn’t you say?”

She looks off into space silently, and I am terrified by the doubt I see in her eyes. Or is that my imagination? Maybe she’s just thinking it over. But should it be taking this long? Did I scare her? Am I coming on too strong? Fuck, I hate this. Not knowing what she’s thinking. I
hate
it.

My mouth, true to form, decides to press on.

“Don’t do it, baby. Please don’t bring up the past as an excuse. You know I’m not the same asshole I used to be. And I’m not like that other guy, either. I want you to be mine, I can’t deny that, but I don’t expect to possess you. Or control you. And God only knows I would never do anything to hurt you. All I want – all I’ve ever wanted – is to love you. That’s all, baby. It’s as simple as that. All you have to do is let me.”

Cupping her chin in one hand, I gaze into her eyes and hope that she can see how sincere I am.

“Just let me. Will you do that, baby?”

Her beautiful eyes glisten, and for a second there I’m afraid she’s going to start crying.

Instead, she says softly, “Yes. On one condition.”

A flood of relief washes through me, and the overwhelming elation that follows has me fighting back tears myself. “Anything. Name it.”

“You promise to let me love you back. With all my heart.”

Smiling broadly, I accept the terms that I was hoping to hear.

“Melanie, my love, that is a promise I will honor every day of my life.”

~ Epilogue ~

June, twenty-one months later

“Not exactly what I had in mind when I volunteered to do this.”

Sidling up from behind, Shane slips his arms around me and props his chin on my shoulder. I feel his broad hands on my eight months pregnant belly, warm and protective, and the baby elbows my bladder in response.