This is a new chapter of Attraction - and I'm expecting all of you to thank me for this scene :P
Anath was not happy when we hugged her goodbye. "Don't leave now. I want to play. When will you come back?" The questions poured out in quick succession.
Tom crouched, smiling like I'd never seen him smile before. "We'll come back soon, and I promise to play with you for an entire day."
The parents laughed, both of them. "Oh, you don't know what you're promising," Luke said. "But I'm glad to hear that it wasn't a onetime visit." The last words tinged with a flavor of uncertainty.
Tom sported his half smile. "I think I can keep up with a child."
"I'm not a child. I'm six now." Anath held five fingers in the air, furrowed her eyebrows and added one finger with her left hand. It caused another round of laughter.
We were among the last to leave the party even though we had a good way to drive. Tom had said something about six or seven hours, but that was without traffic jams. Or pit stops. I was in serious need of a few touches that went beyond hand holding. Not because Tom was holding out on me, but everything that had happened over the weekend had me all kinds of emotional.
"We might come and visit as well," Lizzy said. "It's been a while since we drove that car longer than around town." She stood on her tip toes as she hugged Tom close.
"Sounds like a plan." Tom moved on to his brother, hesitating. Their hug came with caution, but both of them held on. The embrace carried meaning and perhaps the words none of them had dared to speak.
"So, Mom told you to call?" Luke asked.
"Yes. I think I'll give it a few days, but I'll call eventually."
"And Dad?"
Tom shrugged. "I wasn't expecting him to understand."
"If Pops were alive, I bet he'd talked Dad to reason."
"Maybe."
"Well, maybe I can try. I'm quite good at talking after all." Luke replied, keeping a light tone.
Tom let out a tired chuckle. "You've always been the better brother."
"Now that's just lies. I remember you telling them to our parents, and to me on occasion, but I thought you'd outgrown the need for loose tales." Luke smiled gently, appearing almost wistful while talking about old memories.
A solemn shadow lingered in Tom's gaze. "Maybe one day I'll deserve your forgiveness, but not today Luke. Not by a long shot."
Luke leaned closer. "I love you, big brother. I'm just happy to get another chance. Life never was the same without you."
I almost choked on emotions, feeling Luke's message hit me right where it hurt. But there was a healing power to his words. No, life was never the same when you lost someone dear and close, but it was possible to live another life. Or at least it was for me. I gripped Tom's hand tighter. A life with Tom was more than enough for me. I ached to crush him in a hug, but this was their moment. I was a bystander, watching something precious take place. Something raw and powerful—painful even.
We kept things light after that. There had been much more to say, but perhaps this had been just the right kind of reunion, ending with a pleasant goodbye and hope for the future.
It wasn't until we sat in the car that Tom began to cry. His entire body shook, trembled. There was nothing left of his armor. Sometimes it was too easy to only see his strength and forget that he needed companionship just like everyone else. The realization made me all warm with love. I'd never ever thought that he would need me. Ever. Not in this way at least.
"Hey, baby." I leaned closer, touching skin where I could. His shoulder, neck, my lips against his cheek. "You did it. I'm so proud of you."
He softened, yielding under my caress. "I feel like a total shit for waiting so long."
"It doesn't matter. We should all live in the now. Now is important. What you did yesterday, today, that's what counts."
He heaved a deep sigh, settling deeper into the seat. "It's been a lot. I'm exhausted. Of course I'm happy. Sorry about this."
"No need to apologize. You're right. It has been a lot, and maybe we should just stop at a hotel. Get some sleep instead of you driving for several hours."
Tom had the look of a sad puppy. It was adorable. "I want to get home. Sleep in our bed."
I was not about to disagree. That sounded amazing. "All right, whenever you're ready. I'll try to keep you awake."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, why?"
Tom chuckled, drying the remaining tears. "I expected another kind of reply. You must be losing interest."
I leaned closer again, nipping at his lower lip. "Never. I'm already thinking about our bed and what I'll do to you once I've stripped you naked."
Tom didn't say a word. He let the roaring engine do the talking.
* * * *
The city had welcomed us back with open arms and jammed roads. Exhaust from countless cars had wafted from the streets, and the cacophony of sounds had been both familiar and a tad overwhelming after our visit to the country. I was glad to be home. But, most of all, I was ravenous. The journey had been too fucking long.
Tom inserted the key to the apartment door, wiggled it a bit and opened up to the darkness. He stood to the side, sending me a smoldering look that said 'you first'.
I waved the paper bag full of take-out. "We have to eat first. Remember what happened last time? I'm starving here."
"Starved, you say?"
I stepped closer, placing the softest of kisses on his neck. "I know you'll wear me out, so you better feed me first."
He nuzzled my cheek, skating fingers up my back. "Fine. I'll let you eat. For a while."
Dragging him inside the apartment, I decided that we wouldn't wait another second. I toed off my shoes, discarded my bag in a corner and aimed for the kitchen. Tom wasn't far behind me, but instead of rushing, he moved with deliberate ease as though he lived to taunt me. My breathing was already picking up when he pressed my hips against the counter. He was too damn hot for my sanity.
"Thank you."
I slowed, placing my hands on the cool marble. "For what?"
"For pushing me." He placed a kiss behind my ear. "For not giving up. I wouldn't have visited them if it weren't for you."
"You're welcome." My voice trembled. Something was different. The way he touched me, spoke into my ear. I wasn't exactly sure what was different. It just was.
"Oh, fuck this." I pushed the paper bag to the side, wormed my way around to face him, and melted into his embrace. The food would have to wait.
Intense. Soft. Passionate. Each kiss was everything all at once. Then slow. Deliberate. Kisses destined to unravel.
He grabbed my thighs, lifting me carefully onto the counter. Something fell behind me, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Not when he kissed me like that. With hunger and the something else. Every swipe of his tongue, every sound from his mouth—I fell for each coaxing touch.
He set the pace, and I followed, languidly exploring every nook of his mouth, the feel of his skin beneath my hands. His clothes were in the way, obstructing the path to closeness. I struggled with the buttons, beginning from the top only to mewl when nothing wanted to cooperate. It was a desperate sound, one that flushed my cheeks the second it left my throat.
Tom inched back, smiling, his lips wet from my attentions. "Are we in a hurry?"
One hand around his neck, I nudged him to return. "Not exactly." But I didn't want to be away from him. Not now.
I managed the first two close to his collar, gave up and tugged at the lower hem. "This needs to go."
In a swift move, he pulled it off, dropping the shirt behind him, exposing endless expanses of beautiful skin.
I ran my hands along his torso, appreciating every ridge and smooth curve. I loved how broad he was, wide as though his body was an extension of his confidence.
When he curled my T-shirt beneath his hands, I simply raised my arms and allowed him to undress me.
Another kiss, my crotch pressed against his. Something else fell behind me, the clattering sound enough to break through the heady bonds of seduction.
"The bed," I breathed.
As before, he gripped my thighs and lifted. Curling my arms around his neck, my legs around his hips, I allowed him to carry me through the apartment while nipping at the soft skin around his neck. He smelled of leather and tasted of salt. Masculinity and power, but there was also that something. This wasn't like the other times. There was no rush—the heat was blossoming rather than explosive.
Tom walked with determination, only stopping once we reached the bedroom. He let me slide down until I found my footing. Unsteady. The room bathed in shadows until he lit the bedside lamp, framing the bed with a caress of yellow warmth. It stood in stark contrast to the darkness outside the window. A city full of vibrant life, but too large to be intimate, almost impersonal—nothing like we had between us in the confines of the room.
He sat on the bed, looking at me with an openness I'd never seen before. Something tender that pinched my heart. He reached out, clasped my hand with sure fingers and beckoned me closer. Nothing hurried, no rash decisions made in frenzy. It felt as if we were doing this for the first time. Nothing like our wedding night, nothing like the evening we had shared in coalescent anger, or any of the other times when we had shared body but not our full selves. Not like this.
His gaze held as he deftly unbuttoned my frayed jeans shorts. One of his fingers beneath the band of my boxers, pulling. I stepped out of the pile of clothes that had bunched around my feet.
A kiss beneath my ribs. Gasping. I was rendered helpless as he found the spots where my nerves bundled, spasmed.
"You're ticklish," he said, not without amusement.
"Sensitive."
His mouth found my left nipple, teasing another moan from my vocal chords.
When he went up for air, I straddled his lap, my arms resting on his shoulders—anything to get closer. His gaze didn't waver, locked on mine with intent. The kiss was languorous, luxurious, another layer stripped clean. For the very first time, it felt like I had him right where I wanted him to be. With me. Completely.
I almost wanted to ask what had changed, but I decided not to question anything. This was something to be experienced without interruptions.
He closed his hand around my erection, stroking gently until I broke the kiss.
"You need to get naked."
"I thought you promised to strip me," he replied, his voice breathy.
Another slow meeting of tongues.
I slid off, sinking to my knees. He leaned back on his hands, surveying me with unwavering focus. The belt was easy. So were the button and the fly. He helped me along, lifting his hips when I pulled. His cock had swelled, rising toward his stomach. I forgot the pants, halfway down his calves, and took him in my mouth. Savored, cherished. Circling the head, kissing down the length until the coarse hair tickled my nose.
I looked up, watching him watch me. His chest moving with each inhale and slow exhale. His fingers in my hair, teasing through my tangled locks. He tasted of passion—of impatient need for fulfillment.
"Come here," he said.
I released him with one last kiss and climbed my way closer. Our erections strained next to each other, waiting for something to give. Anything. But then, we weren't in a hurry as he so pointedly had reminded me.
No words. Only silence and soft sounds without consonants.
Eventually, I pressed my palm against his chest, fingers splayed. He understood the gesture, sinking back onto the bed until I had him beneath me. He gave me free reign, receiving whatever I bestowed. It was kisses eagerly given and reciprocated, touches mirrored and extended. It was slowly building heat until I shuddered against him.
His response was to turn us over, tumbling across the sheets to pin me beneath his weight.
"Yes." The word slipped past, stolen from a breath.
"You like this?" Amused again.
"Yes."
Another kiss—a meeting of lips and tongues. And just like that, he switched gears. Each movement became decisive, and I wondered how much he had held back during our slow ascent.
He grazed my thigh with his palm, spreading my legs with ease. "I've not started yet."
His eyes were dark, pupils blown wide. It felt as though he was staring into my soul, seeing everything all at once, getting a taste of what I wanted to say but feared would ruin us. But I couldn't look away.
"Stay where you are," he said.
It ached when I lost his touch, the yearning so immediate that I closed my eyes. I hadn't been prepared for this. Not this journey toward the depths. No matter how much I had longed for this, for something true and honest, it scared me to know that he might not feel the same. He'd left without a sliver of hesitation.
"We should keep this closer to the bed," he said, returning from the hallway. He bit into the plastic, ripping the seal. He sat beside me, stroking my side in yet another change of pace. "I promised myself to savor this."
"This?"
"You."
My heart whined. I needed this, but I also needed so much more.
I sat up beside him. Naked. Bared and stripped of everything but that kernel of emotion that pulsed within my chest.
"Tom."
"Yes."
"Make love to me. Please."
There was nothing to hide behind, no banter, no walls.
His next kiss was even deeper, driving me back until I lay beneath him. With my eyes closed, I gave up to sensation, allowing the world to shrink until it contained us and no one else.
The first hint of a slicked finger against my entrance sent me reeling. The next coaxed me to open. He took his time, teasing reaction after reaction to surface.
When he sank inside behind me, I held on for dear life, clutching the sheets with trembling fingers.
He closed his hands over mine, pinning me to the mattress with each thrust of his hips. Warmth seared my insides, burning a path of need and quivering anticipation. Once I had been afraid of his talent that forced my emotions to surface, but this was different.
He changed the angle, going deeper than I'd thought possible.
"Yes. Like that." I could hardly speak.
Every stroke was like the beat of a heart, necessary and perfectly timed. He drove me up the hill, closer and closer without a chance to catch my breath.
I gasped and arched beneath him as he found the sensitive spot between neck and shoulder.
"Fuck."
It was a sweet assault on my senses. In that moment, he owned every part of me.
Sex had never been like this. Not even with him.
The slow exploration of what we could become, of promises and hopes for the future. It was all there, exchanged between us with each joint movement.
"I like it when you're honest," he whispered into my ear. "When your sounds betray you."
I hadn't even realized. He wrenched sounds from my lips that no one had heard before. Vulnerable moans and short gasps of helpless abandon. Sounds for him alone.
Another moan came as he left me empty. "No. Please."
He turned me around, limb by limb. I had no control, no strength to aid him. He lifted my legs, spread me apart and drove right in. One long stroke of perfection.
"I...I won't last like this." I fought to hold on.
His chest was glistening with sweat, damp beneath my touch. He'd never been sexier, never more gorgeous. All mine. It was a secret, dangerous thought.
"Then come for me."
I'd heard those words before. I'd hated them. But not now. I wanted nothing else than to do just that—to show him that I was his for the taking. That I was his.
He increased the pace, his face tight with pleasure. I was about to touch myself when he took my wrists and held me in place.
I soared higher and higher, discarding that last lingering trace of fear, if only for a second. I could pick it up later on, when I wasn't lost in the throes of all consuming passion.
We fell together, stumbling down the path of love.
I was close to breaking apart, bursting with emotions I couldn't control.
It ended with a sweet kiss. "I think I finally understand." Tom's gaze was set on mine. Fearless.
"What?"
"Why everyone's so obsessed with love."
My heart jumped, skidded and fought to stay upright. "I...I know what you mean."
"I've fallen for you, Joah."
I'd known. It had been there since I'd first been allowed to glimpse the man beneath the shell. But I had been too afraid to understand it.
"You're not falling alone." There. I'd said it. Now I couldn't take it back.
Perhaps it was pointless to think too hard on the connection we shared. It was simply there—a pull none of us could explain. What did it matter that we hadn't known each other for very long, or that we'd married for the wrong reason. Did that have to determine how happy we were with each other? Did we deserve less love and happiness compared to other couples? I wanted to believe otherwise.
My head was swirling with thoughts, only silenced when Tom pressed his lips against me. They were soft as always, but the touch held so much more than sweet nothings.
A/N soooooo, mushy mush! Gotta love it :D Anyway, I hope you didn't miss that Magnetic was released today. If you want to buy Dante's side of the story of the time they spend apart in Volatile, you might want to give it a shot. It's almost free...almost :) only 99c
xox
PS, I'm behind on answering comments, but I will get to them ASAP