Tide Changer

Fifteen

It wasn't me. It wasn't my inexperience and inability to relax as Brock said.

Maybe if you stopped overthinking, you'd enjoy it, Lyra.

I tried everything I could. What else do you want me to do?

You should move more; it's not just the guy's job.

Brock said he wanted to help me, but all he did was make me want to fake it so it'd be over fast.

I didn't need to fake with Rys, and I didn't want the night to be over. After cuddling me, Rys disposed of the condom in the en suite and slid back under the covers. I fell asleep in his arms for a few hours, but here I was now, wide awake at barely seven a.m., replaying our night and the events of the festival.

I'd planned to turn on my phone once we were back but changed my mind. If Max told Brock he saw me — and he would — I'd have to hear more reproaches and unsolicited opinions, and I'd rather stay in my happy bubble for a bit longer.

Soft morning light seeped into the room through the balcony door, and the first rays of sun landed on Rys's back. Handsome and serene, he slept on his stomach, hugging his pillow. My fingers itched to brush his hair away from his forehead, but I didn't want to wake him after keeping him up almost all night.

It would hurt like hell. Less than a week passed, and it felt as if I'd known him forever. And now that we'd become physically close and I didn't have to wonder anymore what intimacy with him would be like, my heart ached at the thought of giving him up.

Rys shifted under the white sheet. He opened his eyes slowly and found my knee under the linen with his hand. "Good morning, mi cielo."

I smiled. "Hi."

"Does it hurt?" he asked, rubbing the spot I'd hit.

"No," I said. "I forgot about it already."

Rys yawned into his fist and rolled onto his back. "I need to use the bathroom. Wait for me."

He rose from the bed and ambled to the en-suite, delighting me with the view of his gorgeous naked body.

When he returned, he got in bed and drew me to him. I put my head in the crook of his bent arm, and we lay in silence for a few moments.

Rys traced patterns on my bare back with his fingertips. "You're quiet today."

"Have a lot to process."

"Do you regret last night?"

I tilted my chin up to see his expression. "No. Do you?"

A shadow of a smile touched his lips. "I regret not making you mine sooner. I regret not meeting you sooner. I feel like I've wasted lots of time while you were somewhere out there."

I giggled despite myself. "How much sooner, Mr. Delano? Because you were five when I was born, and you'd already graduated when I started college."

Rys pushed me onto my back and trapped me under him. A smirk curved his mouth. "I told you not to call me that. Unless you really want me to show you who's the boss."

"So, I can tease you about your age but not call you Mr. Delano?"

"Age is just a number, mi cielo. I'm not sure you would've liked my younger version, anyway."

I grazed the light stubble he'd started sporting on his jaw with the pad of my thumb. "Why?"

"Because I didn't quite like it myself."

"So you regret not meeting me sooner, but at the same time, think I wouldn't have liked you if we'd met?"

Rys huffed out a quiet laugh and bent his head, nuzzling into my neck. "You know what? You'd triumph in the corporate world."