AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Holy shit,” he breathes into my hair.
Gavin rests his head beside mine, arms clutching my breasts and belly, and heaves. No intimacy compares to what Gavin and I share. It isn’t just the sex—although sex with Gavin is literal euphoria.
Intimacy with Gavin is so much more. Friendship and love. Sunsets and strolls in the park. Shared whispers and tender kisses. Side glances and subtle smiles. Speaking without words. Acceptance. An incomparable bond. A life force all its own. The promise of forever.
My hips drop to the mattress and I relax more than I have in thirteen years. Gavin lays beside me and I roll to face him. He drags me closer to him, weaves our legs together, and plays with the ends of my hair. Tenderness bleeds from his pores into mine. So pure and true. He leans in and kisses my lips, the tip of my nose, then my forehead.
When our breathing regulates, he traces my cheekbones with his finger, then my lips—his eyes fixed on the movement. One, two, three heartbeats later, his gray eyes lock on mine. Gets lost in them. We lay like this for minutes or hours, entranced with each other. No words are spoken—not that they need to be. We simply breathe each other in. Realign our souls. Remember the feeling of us.
For the next several hours, we memorize every inch of the other’s body. Learn all the new lines and curves and dips and scars. And get lost in paradise time and time again.
I peek over Gavin’s shoulder at the clock and check the time. Five twenty-one. For the last seven-plus hours, we have worshiped one another. And although I would love nothing more than to pass out wrapped in his arms right now, a different idea pops in my head.
I bolt up and fumble through the darkness. “Cora, what are you doing?” His mumble is sweet and inquisitive as he props himself up on his elbows.
“Get dressed. I want to go somewhere.”
Gavin glances at the clock, then flops on his back. “Come back to the bed and cuddle with me. We can go later.” As adorable as he is in this very moment, I resist the temptation of falling back into the sheets with him.
After stepping into a fresh pair of lacy boy short panties, I slip on a pair of black jeans. “Can’t wait. It’s time sensitive.”
Gavin sits up and stares at me as I yank a shirt from a hanger. In the dark, I have no idea what shirt it is, nor do I care. I tug it over my head then walk over to the bed and grab his hand. He gives in and stands up, pulling me to his chest and kissing me. “Okay, baby. Where are we going?” he asks as he locates his clothes and dresses.
“It’s a surprise. But you’ll love it. Promise.”
While Gavin finishes dressing, I head out to the kitchen, feed and love on Luna, and make us both a large to-go mug of coffee. When he emerges from the be
droom, I hand him a steaming mug and place a kiss on his cheek. We’re quiet as we walk out the back door and get into my car. After a little maneuvering around Gavin’s car, we get on the road as I speed toward our destination.
Less than thirty minutes later, we land on Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg and head toward the water. The streets are still dark, but slowly waking up in the early morning hours. Soon, I park the car, feed a meter on Beach Drive and grab a blanket from the back of the car—one I kept back there to protect my camera equipment when I cart it onto the beach during shoots.
Gavin slips his hand around mine and I guide us near the waterfront. Near the new pier is a small man-made beach. We open up the blanket and spread it out on the sand. Gavin sits with knees up and legs spread, and I sit down between them. He wraps his arms around me and pins me close to his body.
“This is perfect, baby,” he whispers, his chin resting on my shoulder as we stare out at the Bay.
I relax into him more. “It’s time for a sunrise. Our lives have been filled with countless sunsets. Time to start fresh with new traditions. I want just as many sunrises as sunsets.”
Sunrises are the start of something new and invigorating. Although Gavin and I have known each other for what feels like a lifetime, we hit a snafu. A fault we couldn’t scale until the time was right. During that time, we grew. Into ourselves and into adulthood. We had the chance to discover who we are without each other. And fate still found a way to reconnect us. Make us whole again. Give us a chance to start anew.
A sunrise after the darkest sunset.
The sky pinks near the horizon and Gavin squeezes me tighter. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Believe me when I say, if I had known it’d be this long, I would have done things differently.”
I shake my head. “No, Gavin. Everything is how it’s meant to be. Was our time apart the most gut-wrenching experience of my life? Yes. There has been no pain worse than losing you. Never will be. But would I change any of it? I don’t think I would. It sounds wrong, but I think the years have taught us so much. Taught us how to love. Showed us what we’d miss without one another. Many couples stay together for years and grow unhappy with their relationship. A rift divides them and they fall out of love.” I pause, take a deep breath, and collect myself. “If that would’ve happened between us… as hurt as I was when we lost touch, I never stopped loving you. I suppressed it. Smothered it. Buried it deep in the corners of my heart and packed it tight with dirt. But it has always been there.”
Gavin inhales deeply and drags me impossibly closer to him. “I could never not love you, Cora Davies.” Everything about his statement is permanent, carved in stone, and I fall inconceivably harder for him.
The light pink sky blooms into a hot pink-orange as the sun edges closer to the horizon. Darkness fades from the sky as a faint blue comes into view. Another couple walks onto the sand and sits fifty feet from us, phone out and snapping images of the glowing scenery.
I lean my head against Gavin and marvel in his warmth behind me. His arms holding me close. His fingers drawing soft patterns on my forearms. I sigh and feel the pain of the last thirteen years lift away. Beautiful colors paint the sky. A few clouds linger and add touches of lavender and gray. Feeling like I can finally breathe for the first time in over a decade, I whisper, “Life is perfect.”
Gavin shakes his head beside me, and I turn to glimpse his expression. A smile stretches his face from ear to ear and displays his perfect white teeth. “There’s only one thing that could make life perfect.”
His steely-gray irises swirl with love and passion and admiration. I get lost in his eyes. Eyes I missed every day. Eyes no camera captured the way my memories did. Momentarily, I forget what he said and shake my head to snap myself out of the temporary fog.
“And what’s that?” I ask, matching his smile.
He lifts an arm from my waist, cups my cheek, and brushes his thumb in small circles. I lean into his touch and sigh. His other arm holds me unimaginably closer. Eyes hold mine as he breathes slow and steady. Quiet for a beat, his expression turns intense. Fierce. One-hundred-percent serious. His lips part and I drop my gaze just as he licks them. “If you were my wife.”
