Page 41 of Five

Our hearts race against each other. Beating fast, matching our heavy breathing. Her head is tucked into my neck, her wet hair plastered against her cheek as she finally begins to soften and still.

“I’m not on the pill,” she says, her voice tired, but relaxed at the same time.

“Like I care.” I laugh. “Jesus, Rory. I have been thinking about our future together forever.”

“Me too,” she says. “That’s why I never got on it. I knew the only man I’d ever have sex with was you. And there’s no way I was gonna miss my chance at being the mother of your children when we finally got our fairy-tale ending.”

I’m… a little surprised at this revelation. “You mean you never had sex while you’ve been away at college?”

She shakes her head but says nothing.

“You were… waiting for me?”

“Don’t feel bad,” she says, lifting up her head a little so she can peek at me through one squinted eye. “And I’m not gonna ask what you’ve been doing all these years. I don’t care.”

“The same, babe,” I say, my heart so full of love for this woman, I really don’t know what to think about it. “You are the only woman I ever wanted. Ever.”

She smiles, but says, “Don’t lie. You don’t have to do that to make me feel better. I’m OK with—”

“Lie? Rory, please. I have only ever loved one girl. You. It wasn’t even hard to wait. I knew we’d be together eventually, and here we are.”

She just stares at me for a few seconds. “Are you serious right now?”

“Dead,” I say back.

“But you’re so good now and the first time you were so…”

I laugh so loud, the echo in the cave makes me wince. “Bad at it? Well, in my defense I was only sixteen.”

She giggles. “God, it was bad, right? So, so horrible. I was so…”

“Perfect,” I say. “You were exactly like I imagined. I swear to God, Rory, I relived that night in my head for months.”

“I didn’t even come,” she squeals.

“I know. I felt so bad about that. And I came so fast—”

“It was a typical first time,” she says, smoothing some wet hair way from my eyes.

“I didn’t disappoint you?” I ask. “Because you sure as hell didn’t disappoint me.”

She softens against me even more, if that’s possible. But instead of answering my question she says, “I love you. So much, Five Aston.”

Which answers my question. I did disappoint her back then. But I don’t take it personally. I take it as a challenge.

“Let’s go into the pool house, Princess. So I can make it up to you.” I gently push her off me, get to my feet, and offer her my hand. “Come on.”

We jump back into the water holding hands. We swim under the waterfall and never let go. I never want to let go of her.

We leave our clothes where we took them off each other, walk over to the pool house naked, and leave a wet trail of drippy footprints. When we get inside, I toss her playfully down on the couch and place one hand on each of her knees.

She sucks in air, then chews on her lip as I slowly spread her open. A little whimper escapes her mouth as my head dips low, and when my tongue makes that first sweep over her glistening folds and finds her clit… she lets me make good on my promise.

A knock on the glass slider doors wakes me. It’s dark out now. I have no idea how long we’ve been asleep, probably hours.

“What’s that?” Rory asks, groggily.

“Someone’s knocking on the glass,” I reply, still not fully awake.