When there had been so much separating them for so very long, she needed to be skin to skin with Wyatt, stark, honest, with nothing between them. Once they got his jeans and underwear past his hips, she hooked her feet under the waistband and helped him kick them off.
They were still kissing, with Wyatt’s tongue pushing into her open mouth over and over again. Bare skin against bare skin, she could feel the hot slide of his thick cock against her thigh. She remembered that he was big, that’d it been a challenge at first, but now it was likely an issue once again when it’d been so very long.
“I’m gonna get you off first, okay?” Wyatt whispered when his lips broke away from hers. He placed a kiss against the curve of her neck as if having the same thoughts she was. “It’ll be easier if you’re really wet and relaxed, because I’m not sure how slow I’m gonna be able to go once we get started.”
“I’m really wet now.” Tabitha panted, hating the idea of Wyatt having to rein himself him. “I think it’ll be fine.”
Wyatt’s hand slipped between their straining bodies, because they couldn’t seem to stop moving. It was as if they were instinctively trying to come together. Tabitha kept shifting under him, alternating between spreading her thighs wide and then wrapping her legs around him, letting her feet trail down his strong thighs.
His touch was soft as he rested all his weight on his other hand and pushed up a little to give himself the room to maneuver. He traced the line of her wet folds, making her squeeze her eyes shut.
“You weren’t kidding.” Wyatt’s voice was a low rasp of need. “You really
are
wet.”
“I want you,” she admitted as he slipped one finger inside her. She arched into the feeling of it. “God, Wy.”
“Christ.” His groan was almost pained. “We’re definitely gonna have to get you off first. You’re way too tight.”
Tabitha wasn’t sure why he was such an expert when he just admitted to having exactly as much experience as she did, but then she remembered Wyatt always did seem to have a knack for these things. He found the spot inside her that had stars bursting behind her closed eyes, and she gasped from the feeling.
“You want my fingers or mouth?”
She moaned and tossed her head to the side when she remembered what it felt like to have Wyatt’s mouth on her. Just the memories were enough when all she could feel was his warm skin and his knowing touch. All she could smell was the blend of her shampoo and his aftershave. All she could hear was the sound of their low, labored breathing as he relearned her body.
“I think I’m gonna come,” she admitted with an embarrassed moan. “I’ve had a really hard week, and I haven’t had time to touch myself. It’s all pent up, and being with you again is making me—”
“Tab, shh, you don’t have to explain yourself.” His touch moved up to her clit, soft and featherlight, as if he knew too much stimulation would overwhelm her. “Better?”
Tabitha clutched at the sheets and arched her hips into his touch as a low, keening sound of pleasure burst out of her. Words were gone, obliterated completely as Wyatt rubbed her clit like it’d been thirteen hours instead of thirteen years since they’d last done this.
“Just let go.” Wyatt’s touch grew faster, a little firmer, making the need wind tighter. His voice was husky with a hunger Tabitha thought she’d never hear again as he groaned and said, “God, I used to love to watch you get off from my fingers. Seeing you get all flushed and sweaty and desperate while I touch you, it’s still one of my favorite fantasies to jerk off to.”
Tabitha reached out to him blindly, needing to touch him as she strained for completion. She wrapped her arms around those wide shoulders and pulled Wyatt closer as she arched deeper into his touch and moaned from the fight for completion.
“You’re beautiful, baby,” Wyatt groaned against her ear. “Fuck, but I’ve missed you.”
Tabitha came with a shout, her entire body shaking from the force of it as she clung to Wyatt and rode out the wave after wave of pleasure that crashed over her. It was wild and shameless and one of the most amazing things she’d ever experienced in her life.
When the rush started to ebb, Tabitha ran her hands down Wyatt’s back, still holding him close. “What else do you think about?”
“Huh?” Wyatt’s voice was dazed.
“When you touch yourself? What else do you fantasize about?”
“Oh.” Wyatt swallowed hard, the quake of suppressed need making it come out in something close to a croak. “Everything, really. Seeing you. Touching you. Tasting you.”
“Fucking me?” Tabitha asked, sensing he was holding back.
“Yeah.” Wyatt shuddered in her arms and pressed his lips against her shoulder. “I think ’bout that a lot. Just completely drowning myself in you. Feeling you all around me. I miss it so much.”
It was Tabitha who guided him to her, because she thought about that too when the loneliness got to be too much. What it felt like to be so totally connected with Wyatt it was as if they were wrapped together into one, and she needed it desperately. Even if their souls were broken and fragmented, it felt like if they could just come together again, they’d fill in all those cracks and holes and be one whole, perfect soul instead of two damaged ones.
Wyatt really was a big man, and Tabitha was extrasensitive after such a powerful orgasm, but somehow they still fit. His cock stretched and filled her, and the pleasure was so white-hot all she could do was moan and push her hips up to take more of him.
His large hand held her hip as he took her slow, despite Tabitha shifting against his hold and begging for more. By the time he bottomed out, they were both panting and breathless.
So full
. It felt as if he had been made to be in her.
If he didn’t move, Tabitha felt like she’d die.
Fortunately the moment seemed to shatter the tight hold Wyatt had on his control, and that dangerous tiger he’d warned her about surged to the forefront. With a growl of defeat, he pulled out of Tabitha, only to take her hard the second time. She gasped from the reverberating surge of bliss it caused, and that seemed to be enough for him. He took her again before she’d even had a chance to catch her breath, and the pleasure was even more shocking the next time.
This wasn’t a gentle reunion; it was a claiming and rough in a way neither of them anticipated. Wyatt held down her hands and took her body over and over again with feral growls of pleasure. He dragged Tabitha along with him on the sea of ecstasy even if it felt a little like he was punishing her. It was harsh and filled with hurt, but they were together and that was so much better than being alone. She still felt safe and wrapped up in him until all she could feel were the strokes of his body moving in hers, every single one pushing her higher and higher until she was shaking with the need for a second release.
It became too much for Wyatt, and he stiffened over her with a furious gasp, making it obvious he hadn’t planned on it. Tabitha was afraid she’d have to finish another way, but then he leaned down and demanded in a harsh rasp against her ear, “Do it. Come for me, Tabby.”
And she did, just like that, Tabitha bowed to the pleasure. She came because he told her to, proving that his hold over her hadn’t lessened in time. If anything, it was more encompassing than ever.
They rode out the storm together, trembling in each other’s arms as Wyatt’s hips slammed into hers to the hard, erratic pulse of his orgasm and her body milked him in response. Then Wyatt was over her, crushing the air out of her chest and panting in her ear. She just savored the feel of being pressed into the mattress and holding him as tight as possible as he took several minutes to come down from the high.
When his breathing finally evened out, Wyatt said, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Tabitha assured him. “It was perfect.”
“I don’t think it was perfect. It was quick and messy and not at all how I pictured it. I need more time.” Wyatt pushed up, making his massive biceps bunch as he looked down at her in concern. “Once’s not gonna cut it, Tab.”
Tabitha’s gaze darted to the ceiling uncertainly. Things were nice now, but she had so many issues Wyatt didn’t know about. “Wy—”
“I know you had plenty of good reasons to end us,” Wyatt started, his voice cracking with emotion. “Don’t think I don’t take at least half the blame, but you’re here now, and I think you owe it to what we were to give us more time.”
“I can’t live in Garnet,” she said in anguish. “I’m not staying.”
“And I’m not asking you to.” It was a harsh reminder that neither of them might be able to recover from what leaving had done to a love that was once beautiful and perfect. His light eyes narrowed as he studied her. “But I am telling you I need more than one afternoon with my wife who’s been MIA for the past thirteen years. I got a big house all to myself with a whole lot of empty rooms. Makes no sense for you to be renting this place from Terry. You can stay with me till you get everything settled with your mother.”
“We can’t just—”
“We sure as heck can.” Wyatt cut her off. “And I ain’t taking no for an answer.”
When Tabitha would’ve argued again, Wyatt kissed her. She’d like to think she was a strong, independent woman who wasn’t prone to being swayed by his cavemannish tactics to persuade her, but the truth was she wanted more time too.
They’d lost too much, too soon, and a little more time was too tempting to resist.
It was foolish and impractical and likely dangerous as hell for both of them, but then, Wyatt had always been the one to make Tabitha believe in the impossible.
Still connected like they were, she could feel him get harder as they kissed, reminding her of sweaty nights a long time ago when they could stay wrapped up in each other for hours. His lips became softer, less demanding as his hips started moving in her a second time, and everything became enveloped in the misty memories of the past when youth made them invincible and love made them courageous to the point of stupidity.
Every story had an innocent beginning, even theirs, and Tabitha found herself wishing she had a chance to go back and relive it one more time, because she didn’t want to let go any more than Wyatt did.
Part Two
The Beginning
You just don’t heal that easy unless you’re young.
—Sugar Ray Leonard
Chapter Three
September 1986
Wyatt Conner loved red hair. He liked the way it shone in the early-morning sun, like the brightest, newest kind of penny. He liked freckles too. He found himself wanting to spend a day trying to count all of them sprinkled over one pert, slightly upturned nose.
Wyatt pressed his face to the window, stretching the seat belt.
“Stop it.” Wyatt’s sister Jules punched his arm. “You’re making it pinch me.”
Wyatt stayed where he was. “Good.”
“Daddy!” Her voice was shrill enough to make Wyatt wince. “He’s making the belt pinch me.”
“Boy, sit up straight.” His father reached around Jules and lightly smacked the back of Wyatt’s head for good measure. Then he turned back to his police radio and pushed the button on the mic. “Sorry, the twins are fighting again. Go on.”
The police radio crackled with the voice of Deputy Henry Caraway, properly distracting their father. Wyatt sent a scowl at his sister, but she just gave him a smug smile before she worked on straightening her headband and then ran her fingers through her long blonde hair.
“I hate you,” Wyatt told her matter-of-factly.
Unfazed, Jules stuck her tongue out at him.
“Dang it, lemme call ya back once the school opens up.” His father hung the microphone back on the police radio mounted on the dash. Then he turned to glare at Jules. “Ladies aren’t supposed to be letting their tongues hang out like that. What would your mama think if she just happened to be looking down from heaven? On the first day of school, don’t think she ain’t watching.”
Jules glanced up at their father with big blue eyes that shone with false innocence. “I didn’t.”
“Juliet Emma Conner. I saw you with the eyes God gave me.”
“I had something on my teeth. I’m just trying to look good for the first day of school.”
Their father frowned, his dark eyebrows scrunching together in disbelief. “You’re saying you weren’t just starting something with your brother?”
Jules blinked, still maintaining a look of perfect righteousness. “I give ya my word, Daddy.”
Wyatt snorted in disbelief. If his father fell for that, he’d put himself up for adoption.
“Well, seeing how Conners know better than to lie.” Their father leaned down, looking at Jules critically. “Lemme see your teeth. Can’t be showing up a mess for your new teacher.”
Jules beamed, showing off a sparking smile that smelled like mint toothpaste.
Wyatt thought he might lose his breakfast.
“Pretty as a penny,” their father announced as he leaned down and kissed the top of Jules’s head. “You look just like your mama in that color blue.”
Jules preened and smoothed out her new dress that she’d been anticipating wearing for the past three weeks. “Thank you.”
Wyatt rolled his eyes and looked back out the window. He stared at the kids sitting on the benches outside the building waiting for the doors to open. Most of them were the bused kids who got free breakfast. Their clothes weren’t pressed and new like Wyatt and Jules were wearing.
Speaking of pretty pennies.
He studied Tabitha McMillen, who was sitting next to that big oaf Clay Powers. She had a book in her hands, and her head was bowed as she read intently. Her long hair hung shiny and loose past her shoulders. Unlike Jules, who always wore something in her hair, Tabitha never had any fancy headbands or bows. It was just that bright, glimmering red that actually sparkled in the sunshine.
“Daddy, he’s making the belt pinch me again.”
Wyatt huffed and turned to his father. “Can’t we just go and sit with the bused kids?”
“Naw, ain’t fitting to just dump you off on the first day of school. I was gonna walk ya to class.”
“We’re in
third grade
now,” Wyatt said it with authority, because third grade felt like an accomplishment. It seemed so much older than second, and he was as excited to be going back to school as Jules, though maybe not the same reasons. “We’re okay.”