A. Jackson - When We Met

Misha

I tied a towel under my arms and studied myself in the foggy mirror as I pulled a brush through my thick, curly hair. It was so strange looking at myself so differently, finally seeing myself for who I was rather than the person I thought I’d wanted to be.

Naive.

Maybe I was. Maybe I would always be.

But through my experiences I knew I could no longer count myself a fool. Now I knew it was okay to be looking at things through trusting eyes, although I’d just be looking a little closer. Examining intentions without losing the heart of who I was.

Who I knew I really wanted to be.

I cast myself a soft smile, before I unlocked the bathroom door and padded out to Darryn’s closed one. I’d spent the last two days here, pretty much in his bed with his arms around me. All day yesterday we’d just talked and watched movies, a strong sense of calm and belonging filling me up with every second I spent with him.

Oh yeah.

And kissing.

A whole lot of it, too. We’d given ourselves over to relearning each other with the walls we’d put up to protect our secrets crumbled to the ground. No longer were there barriers between us, and it just felt good to bask in the entirety of his presence, complete and without pretenses or truths concealed. I’d just relished all that golden light that reflected something both dangerous and perfect in Darryn. My protector. My gorgeous avenging angel.

My boy-man-god who stole my breath.

My heart.

I twisted the knob and his door swung open. Darryn sat on the edge of his bed, wearing only his underwear, his hair still damp from his own shower. His chest flexed with strength, and his lips turned up at the edges, the softest of smiles taking him over as he caught me standing in his doorway taking him in.

Who could blame me?

Darryn chased a wave of redness from where his perusal began, at my bare legs, as his eyes caressed every inch of my skin. My thighs shook when he stared at them a beat longer than the rest. I could feel the heat of my blush, heading north just ahead of his stare, as if my body were preparing itself for the desperate need that would grow in me as Darryn’s gaze caressed up my skin. Finally he brought those hazel eyes all the way to my face.

“Can’t believe my fantasy is standing right there at my door.”

I shook with his honesty, with his blatant desire as he greedily looked at me.

I edged forward, and with each step I took, Darryn lifted his face a little more, tilting his head back as I came to stand between his legs. All those little darts of energy flew, fired, and fed the frenzy that was steadily building between us.

For two nights I’d slept in his bed with all those pesky layers of clothing still firmly set in place.

Darryn reached up and cupped my face. “My fantasy because I never thought I’d get the chance to love someone like you . . . my heart because I’d never thought I’d find someone I was ready to love.” A soft smile pulled at one side of his mouth, and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. “But you . . . you’ve become everything.”

He brushed his thumb across my bottom lip, and my tongue flitted out, just teasing his fingertip as it made a gentle pass. “Misha,” he whispered hoarsely.

I opened my mouth and sucked his thumb into my mouth.

“Shit,” he hissed, his jaw clenching as I pulled his thumb deeper inside my mouth, as I sucked and kissed. “What are you doing?” He choked over the question.

I couldn’t stop my gaze from slipping down over his wide shoulders to his taut stomach, finally drawn to find his erection that was straining at the thin material of his underwear.

My stomach tightened, and all those butterflies flapped and flew. A tumble of nerves tripped through every inch of my body as all of this pent-up desire broke free and beat frantically through my veins.

Darryn’s expression darkened with lust, and his hazel eyes flamed the most intense green.

As hard as I listened, no bells were going off in my head, no warning to get away and get away fast. All I could hear was the rapid beat of my heart that escalated with each breath I took, all of the affection I felt for this man bursting free.

I released Darryn’s thumb, and he stared up at me, panting as I undid the knot that held the towel under my arms. It dropped to the floor at my feet.

Darryn exhaled, heavy and hard, and though it seemed impossible, his eyes darkened more, desire evident in every cell of his body as he let his gaze drop and wander.

And I didn’t feel self-conscious or shy.

I felt beautiful.

Like this was right.

I braced myself on Darryn’s shoulders and leaned in close enough to brush my lips across his. For a second it was just soft brushes and lingering caresses, before we completely caught fire.

Darryn wound his arms around my waist, and in one movement, he lifted me from my feet and had my back pinned to his bed. And that glorious body was hovering over mine, caging me in and still making me feel the safest that I’d ever been.

“Are you sure you want this, Misha? I told you I’d wait as long as you needed me to, so you need to let me know what you’re thinking right now because I’m not sure my body is thinking the same thing you are.”

I wet my lips, searching his eyes and finding all the love I wanted to see staring back at me. “I asked you to be patient with me . . . respect me . . . to be honest with me.” I fluttered my fingertips down his face and across his mouth, and Darryn gently kissed each of them as they passed. “You’ve been all those things. Even in your lie there was honesty, and I know you’ll never take advantage of me. I trust you.”

“You don’t know how badly I wanted to hear those words.”

Darryn descended on me, his kiss everywhere, on my mouth and my jaw and my neck. I gasped when he went for my breast, drawing my nipple into the well of his wet mouth.

Flames tore through my insides. “Oh my God,” I whimpered, burying my hands in his hair, gripping and clutching while Darryn ignited something inside me I’d never felt before. It was all-around consuming, this untamed feeling that built and spread in the pit of my stomach, growing, begging for more.

I rocked against him, asking for it.

“I know, baby, I’ve got you.”

I whimpered when he pushed his weight back to his knees, and his head dropped below his shoulders as he slowly worked down my abdomen, kissing under my belly button, raking his lips over to my hip and down the outside of my leg.

My head spun when I realized Darryn was suddenly fully kneeling between my legs, heat searing me from the inside out. Without a doubt, my milky skin was glowing red, a flush of desire and a surge of warmth.

He looked up at me, his expression fueled by lust, but a lust that went so much deeper than just the physical. Like he wanted to consume me, heart and body and soul.

“P-p-please.” The word scraped up my throat and left my mouth on a barely constrained plea.

Because Darryn owned every single one of those parts of me.

He dove in, his tongue making a deep pass through my folds.

“Darryn,” I cried out, his name sung like praise.

I had no idea anything could feel so good.

Until he turned all his attentions to that little spot that throbbed and begged, just as needy as the incoherent words that were tumbling from my mouth. “Darryn,” I whimpered. “I don’t . . . I—I—I—”

“Shh.” His voice vibrated against my slick flesh, and that was it.

I came undone. And I thought I understood the meaning of an orgasm, what all the hype was about, but I had no clue. Pleasure tore through me at the surety of Darryn’s touch. Wave after wave, I was rocked in a jumbled state of pure bliss.