Before us, the vastness of the ocean swallowed the horizon. Behind us, property that would be green and lush when the winter chill said au dieu. Above us, a twilight sky filled with stars. Below us, something that had stood the test of time.
My heart raced with a sudden rush of need. This would be our last moment of solace until the season ended. With the way things looked, it seemed like the Reds had a shot at the championships. After February, everything would change. This was the last of us, and I needed to hold on as long as I could.
My body radiated with pent-up energy. I was a racehorse, pushing against the gate. A lion on the prowl. A predator hungry to devour its prey. I nudged her scarf away from her neck and pressed my mouth to her warm skin. “Whatever happens at the end of the season, I want you to remember how it feels to be invincible.”
Wren spun, crashing into me with the force of a tidal wave. Hands clawed at clothes—pushing, pulling, unzipping, and tearing away each layer. Her breath quickened, coming in short gasps as she pleaded for me to have my way.
We stumbled over forgotten lanterns, planks, and loose stones. Wren’s back hit the glass that shielded us from the elements. The pane rattled against the frame as I grabbed her head, forcing her to look up at me.
I pressed my forehead to hers and closed my eyes. “Everything you’re feeling—fear of the future, doubts, insecurities… Everything in your head that tells you you’re small and insignificant… Every voice that tells you to stay where you are because familiarity is better than failing… Let it go.” I crushed my lips to hers in a punishing kiss, pouring every ounce of my heart into it. “Little birds like you fly through hurricanes and laugh at the wind as it pushes you to new heights.”
Wren tipped her head back, gasping for breath as I worked my way down her throat. “I think that’s better than ‘I love you.’”
I clawed at her sweater, pushing it up and off her head. The bite of glacial air burned my lungs as I sucked in a breath before pulling one hardened nipple into my mouth.
Her fingers were icicles, carving her name on my back as I lavished her breasts with attention. “Turn around,” I growled against her skin.
Wren’s teeth chattered. “It’s cold.”
I pressed my bare chest to hers. “Here’s how this is going to go, Little Bird. My role in this is to make you feel immortal.” I grabbed her hips and forcefully turned her, keeping her back against my chest for warmth. “Your role is to feel it. Trust me to take care of you.”
“Yes.” The whispered word turned into a fleeting cloud of breath.
“Hold those pretty breasts,” I murmured against her ear as I worked the snap of her jeans and shimmied them down her hips. “Hold them out like you’re offering them to the world.”
Wren’s small hands cupped her breasts from beneath. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were parted.
“Is this what it feels like to stand in a stadium of thousands and know that you are without a doubt the most powerful person there?” I asked as I skated my hands up and down her waist and hips. I wanted to savor this moment; I didn’t want to rush. I wanted Wren to feel every touch. Every kiss. I wanted her to hear every word of how much I loved her because, my God—she was it for me. I didn’t know how I knew; I just did.
“You would know,” she whispered. Her fingers flexed around her breasts, aching to tease and play with them.
“No, love. You’re a thousand times stronger than me. Look at you.” I wrapped my hands around hers, lacing our fingers together, and drawing her hands up. I clasped my hands around her wrists, holding them high above her head, forcing her onto her tiptoes. “Look.”
Wren opened her eyes. The sunset sky blazed like a fire, coloring our reflection in the salt-sprayed window in amber and bronze. “You’re standing on the edge of the world, not hiding behind a goddamn thing. You have the power to stand in front of the universe like this because you know that nothing inside you is weak or insufficient. Look at how majestic you are. Do you feel that? Do you feel how strong you are? You don’t bow to anything, Little Bird. Not to your own mind, and certainly not to fear.”
My cock was hard and strained against my fly as I rocked my hips against her ass. Her head tipped back, resting on my chest as I raised her arms higher. Wren’s breasts bounced with every shallow breath. Her thighs pressed together. A glimmer of wetness caught my eye.
“What do you want?” I asked. A rather significant and selfish percentage of my heart wanted her to say that she wasn’t going to go to New York.
Wren turned to face me. “You.”
I dropped her arms and held her hips steady as she kicked off her jeans, unzipped my pants, and freed my dick. I bent at the knees, cupped her ass, and lifted her. Wren braced her arms on my shoulders and wrapped her powerful thighs around my hips. She had the small, thin frame of a dancer, but her muscles were tight and strong. Wren didn’t need my help to hold herself up against my body. She didn’t need me for a goddamn thing, but she wanted me and that was better.
I lined up with her entrance and spread my stance, bracing as she sank down onto my cock. Tight heat squeezed the ever-living hell out of me. “Damn, Little Bird,” I grunted. “You gotta relax or you’re gonna make me finish right friggin’ now.”
Wren keened as her pebbled nipples scraped down my chest with each drop onto my cock. “Tay,” she whimpered, dropping her forehead onto my shoulder, clinging to me as I fucked her standing in the middle of the abandoned lighthouse. “I love you.”
“I feel you, Wren,” I tightened my arms around her. “All of you.”
There was something beautiful about being trusted with her vulnerability. It was easy for Wren to put on the Reds uniform and act the part of professional cheerleader. It was easy for her to schmooze highbrow clients without batting an eye at their net worth.
I didn’t take her vulnerability for granted. Beneath every façade is a person wondering if they’re good enough.
“I love you, too,” I said as she shattered around me. “And I’ve got you.” My release ripped out of me as her pussy squeezed the hell out of my dick. “You have all of me, and nothing less.”