Up for Forever

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “The one I had at the other place was barely a full and this room clearly calls for something much larger.”

  “Clearly.” He eyeballed the monstrosity still in the plastic it was delivered in, leaning against the wall. “Well, do you want to get some of the work done today?”

  “It’s your day off, you don’t have to do chores for me.”

  “Well, I saw your schedule for the next two weeks and I’m sure it’ll be packed after that because we’ll be so close to the wedding. But today, we have no plans.”

  Couldn’t argue with that.

  We went right to work starting in the bedroom. We talked and laughed a lot. Especially when I dropped my half of the mattress, which sent Adam stumbling back until he fell on his ass. My half-giggled apology seemed to ease his pain because he jumped up, grabbed me, and tossed me on the bed.

  By the time either of us said anything about being hungry, my bedroom was completely arranged. I’d still have to put sheets on the bed and get all my clothes put away when I moved them from Cain’s but it looked like a bedroom. And we’d quickly finished off the kitchen, which, in my defense, was almost done.

  A quick run for Chinese food and to stop at the store to grab a few things that would start stocking the refrigerator as well as a few bathroom items (I had the essentials) then we were back putting the living room together. It was only early afternoon, which was surprising considering how much we’d gotten done. Then again, two work a lot faster than one.

  “You need a better TV.”

  “What’s wrong with that one?” I looked over to the nineteen inch LCD that I’d just bought two years ago.

  “Um, it’s tiny. If you expect me to hang out here, you’re going to need a fifty-inch plasma. I want to feel like I’m at whatever game I’m watching.”

  “Aww … that’s cute that you think you’ll be watching sports on my tiny television.”

  “I’m not going to be. We need to go shopping.”

  I let him pull me out of the apartment not because I thought I really needed a new TV but I loved what he said about hanging out there. We ended up compromising with a forty inch plasma that I told him was going to scare me every time I walked into my apartment. I also let him talk me into a Blu-ray player that I said I’d never use because, hello, I was about to start law school. He said not to worry, he’d use it.

  “It’s getting late,” I said, leaning a shoulder against the wall near where Adam was hooking up the electronics he talked me into. All the activity had tired me out more than it normally would. I was still recovering. “Maybe we should head back. I kind of hate the idea of it getting any darker.” The sun had just started to set so we could still make it before it got too late and I had a feeling I’d be crawling through the area of my accident.

  “Why don’t we just stay here?” He didn’t even look up at me.

  “What?”

  “Yeah, you’ve got some clothes here, right?” I nodded. “So, we’ll just stay here tonight. I’ve got my bag in the car and I can just head home from here tomorrow.”

  “I haven’t actually spent the night here yet.”

  “Well, now you won’t have to do it alone.”

  I really liked the sound of that. “Adam, will you be sleeping on the couch?”

  Laughing he shook his head. “I can if you want.”

  “I don’t.” Yeah, I answered that a little too fast.

  After Adam was finally satisfied that the ever important electronics were working to his liking, we had the leftover Chinese then went to bed where we spent more than a fair share of the time kissing. I mean, high school, how far can we get before the parents walk in kind of kissing. His hand slid under the old t-shirt I put on to sleep in. It didn’t stop until he was right under my breast and discovered I wasn’t wearing a bra.

  There was a hesitation there. Like he was trying to decide if he should go for it or not. His guy side must’ve won out because the next thing I knew he was touching me. I mean really touching me. His fingers teased my nipple the way he knew would drive me insane. The way it always had. He could play my body like a piano with his fingers gliding from one chord to another.

  After his lips trailed down my neck, nipping at that sensitive spot by my ear, both of his hands started sliding south. So did mine. The very moment my fingertips slipped inside the waistband of his boxers, Adam sprung away like he’d been tased then fell onto his back with a hand landing on his stomach. His very toned stomach.

  “What’s wrong?” I propped myself up onto my elbows so I could see him. When he turned those bottomless ocean colored eyes on me I could see the problem. He’d almost reached the point of no return. As in he wouldn’t have stopped us. “Adam,” I sighed. “Quit being a boy scout.”

  “Didn’t we have this talk yesterday?” He was as out of breath as I was.

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  With the moment ruined, we both snuggled down for the night but it took some effort to actually fall asleep. My body had been humming moments before and short of a cold hose turned on me, it was going to take a while to quiet it down.

  I decided that waking up next to Adam was something I wanted to do more days than not. A small voice in the back of my head tried to warn me that that was one step closer to wanting to be married but I shut that bitch down. I just wanted to be with him.

  We spent that Sunday finishing off everything in the apartment. The more work we got done the more I appreciated the fact that we stayed. With less than a month to the wedding I was about to become very busy with my best friend and would have even less time than I originally thought to get that place together. Just before dinnertime, Adam announced that it was time for both of us to get a move on. He didn’t want me making the drive in the dark any more than I wanted to and he had a few things to get ready before work in the morning.

  Standing by my car for far too long, we kissed goodbye and whispered “I love you” enough to give my new neighbors something to talk about if they chose to. I wasn’t on the road ten minutes when my phone rang. It was Adam. We talked until he pulled into his apartment. Just like every other time, I hated hanging up with him.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Those next two weeks were very busy. We had a to do list a mile long. Lots of final things including flying out to New York again for a couple of hours just to pick everything up and bring it back. We also grabbed the guys’ suits that had been tailored and were ready. We set up one guest bedroom for the guys to dress in the day of the wedding though Flannery and I couldn’t help ourselves and we had to hide little things all around the room.

  She hid a few sweet notes for Cain. I tucked a few condoms in their pockets with notes saying that they were in case things got Brokeback when the guys got naked. I left Cain a little makeup kit because I wanted him to feel pretty. Flannery laughed so hard at that. I also shoved a note in the pocket of Adam’s pants. A dirty note. The kind that would tell him exactly what I’d be thinking when I walked down the aisle toward him.

  When Adele saw what we were doing, she almost wet her pants. Literally. Apparently being pregnant meant you sometimes lost control of your bladder. So that was something to look forward to in the future. Wait … what? I couldn’t believe that thought even crossed my mind.

  Then we got our room together. All three dresses were hung in the closet with boxes of shoes. Ava couldn’t come out until the day before and she didn’t want to forget anything so we brought her clothes with us as well. Everything we thought we might need was shoved into that bedroom or the adjoining bathroom.

  “Getting nervous?”

  Flannery had been buzzing the entire day. This was the last of the things we had to do and we were only fourteen days from the day she would become a missus.

  “Not about Cain. But I don’t love the idea of everyone looking at me. I’ll probably fall on the way down the aisle then roll like an Oompa Loompa.”

  “Well, make sure you stick the landing. Ouch!” She slapped my arm meaning t
o be playful but Flannery always packed a punch.

  “Seriously, though. I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else but him.” Her voice took on this light quality when we talked like this. I appreciated the fact that it was still there after two years.

  “That’s because you haven’t been with anyone else.”

  “True.” She got this little evil grin on her face. “Have you become a virgin again? I mean, I know it’s been months since you were with Adam and I haven’t seen any signs of anyone else.”

  “If I have, Adam will get a nice surprise.”

  “I don’t get the appeal. Like why guys get all excited about virgins.”

  “Oh, my dear Flannery. If you haven’t been with anyone else, you can’t compare them to anyone else. Guys care about that shit. Like in case their performance isn’t up to snuff or something.”

  “Idiots.”

  “Yup.”

  Due to being so insanely busy, Adam and I had to keep up with each other via text and nightly phone calls. We weren’t even that far apart but long distance sucked. And there we were on yet another Sunday night without enough time to get together. He had to be to work even earlier than normal because of everything he had to get done before Friday, which he’d taken off because the guys were doing their stupid bachelor weekend thing. They wouldn’t get back until Sunday and then everyone was returning to work for another four day week before the wedding.

  “So, hey, I was thinking, if I can, I’ll cut out a little early on Thursday so we can spend some time together before Cain and I fly out to meet Sam.”

  “That sounds great.” And the idea of the three of them in Las Vegas didn’t bother me at all. I told myself that. Honestly, those three were the most trustworthy of their gender as far as I could tell. There would be no hanky-panky except maybe out of Sam, which was acceptable. All three of them had said they were just going to go hang out and be guys. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know what that entailed.

  When Thursday came, I made sure my room was impeccably clean, fresh sheets and everything, then made sure I was impeccably clean and shaved where needed in anticipation of the fact that I didn’t care what Adam said—he was not sleeping on the couch.

  Since we’d spent so much time on the phone and texting, he had to know that we were past everything and solid in our relationship without the physical aspects. But I wanted the physical now. Flannery even ensured they wouldn’t be home until very late. She used the whole “you’re leaving for the whole weekend so I deserve a proper date night” and her beautiful face and eyes to get her way. Not that Cain would’ve turned her down anyway.

  Adam showed up at our doorstep at four thirty, bag in tow, saying he had a separate one packed for the trip to Vegas. I rolled my eyes because I felt like it was my job not to let those three get too excited about the way they were going to spend their last weekend with all of them still single.

  We had dinner in then watched a movie. I knew I couldn’t say I was tired to get us into my room because at nine o’clock there was no way he’d believe me. Instead, I went with the truth. But I didn’t use words.

  Pushing myself from where I was snuggled tightly into Adam’s side, I paused for just a second once we were at eye level. But his lips were right there and I couldn’t wait so I plunged right in. While my lips kept his busy, coaxing them open to take it to the next level, I moved myself around until I was in his lap, facing him with a knee on each side of his thighs. Adam’s hands gripped my hips hard, holding me in place.

  I worked past that firm grasp so that I could roll my hips into him getting the exact result I’d hoped for when he sprung to life in his pants. When his hands left my hips I missed the added pressure but loved the way they clasped around my head, dipping it back just enough that he could delve deeper. I wanted him deeper. As deep as he could go.

  We needed to take this somewhere more private, though, before things got carried away. Without my lips leaving his, I stood up, pulling him with me, then headed down the hall breaking away only long enough to yank my shirt over my head. Adam sucked in a breath. I had changed and wasn’t wearing a bra. In an instant, he had me pinned between his body and the wall so that his lips could work on me some more. Traveling down my neck at lightning speed until those lips found a nipple. I was about to come apart then and there. It’d been too long.

  With absolutely no finesse, I pulled his shirt off, dropping it right there. Again, if I didn’t get us moving, shit was going to get real in the hallway and that wasn’t the best idea since it wasn’t our place.

  Tugging and pulling him along until my legs hit the bed and I fell back with Adam landing on top of me. He pulled back so I could climb up into the middle. This was going to happen. It was like we couldn’t go very long without pushing our lips together yet somehow still managed to get every stitch of clothing off each other. Adam settled between my legs and that pressure almost made me come. My body was on high alert. My heart was ready.

  “Adam.” His name came out in a rasp of air. The sexy smoldering he had going on in his eyes was almost more than I could handle. “Please.”

  Adam was really good at the sex stuff, always making sure that he’d worked me up to the extreme and that was great but wasn’t what I wanted in that moment. I just wanted him inside me. I wanted us joined together in a way I didn’t want to be with anyone else. It looked like he was warring with himself, between what he thought he was supposed to do and what he wanted to do.

  “We have time … later.” I hoped that I made some kind of sense because all the words weren’t coming together the way they sounded in my head. To get my point across, I reached into the nightstand then tossed a condom right into his chest. A deep rumble, somewhere between a laugh and growl, sounded from inside him and flooded me with even more desire.

  Sheathed and back on the bed, his hands roamed my body, his lips tasted across my collarbone and shoulder. Talking matters in my own hands, I grabbed one of my favorite parts of him and guided him inside.

  We both sighed in relief and melted so thoroughly, I wrapped my arms around him to keep him in place. Finally, he started moving in long, languid strokes, coaxing me along. Adam was the one to explain to me once that there was a difference between having sex and making love. He said that made him sound like a girl and I felt stupid that I hadn’t realized there was a difference in the first place. I definitely understood that now. And I knew which one this was.

  I was lost. Lost in the way he moved against me, the friction, the feeling that he loved me the way no one else had. The way no one else ever would. Mostly I was lost in the acknowledgement of my feelings for him. All of it crashed into me and propelled me into the air in a flurry of tightened muscles curling through my body until I didn’t think I could take another moment of it. Shot through that cannon into oblivion, I slowly started to become aware of my surroundings again. The whoosh of blood in my ears, how I was very aware of my own heartbeat, blocked everything else out. It was just him and me.

  His pace sped up signaling that the end was near. I dug my nails into his shoulders, which pushed him further until finally he groaned with pleasure. Two more small movements and he rolled onto his back. The air was completely still in the room with only the sound of our heavy breaths to fill the silence. It was a happy silence. A calm quiet that only came with the exhilarating exhaustion that went hand in hand with what we’d just done.

  “Wow,” I huffed out, eliciting a quiet laugh from Adam. “What? I really missed that.”

  “You’re not the only one.” He pushed up, kissed me softly, then went to the bathroom to clean up. He came back in and pulled out a short pajama set from the dresser for me. I hadn’t noticed that he took his boxers in with him until he came out with only that on. I wanted to see him just like that every single day. It really was a sight to behold.

  After pulling my clothes on, he wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me again.

  “I’m going to go grab a drink. You want anyth
ing?” I asked. He nodded but kissed me again instead of telling me what.

  Stepping out of my room, I made it four steps before I realized we weren’t alone anymore. Cain and Flannery both stood there staring at me. Then in straight dorky fashion, they both started a slow clap that sped up as I passed just like you see in the movies. I couldn’t wait to move to my own place.

  “You’re both assholes, you know that, right?”

  “We’re just so proud of you.” Flannery wiped a fake tear away making me flip them both the bird over my shoulder. I didn’t move fast enough because I heard Adam’s deep laughter from the bedroom. I hadn’t shut the door tightly so he heard it all.

  We slept that night in each other’s arms. If I moved, he did. It might have been the best night sleep either of us had gotten since we broke up. I knew it was for me even though we didn’t spend every night together before, just the knowledge that we could was enough to keep our bodies happy.

  The guys had a mid-morning flight out of Detroit. Cain grumbled about how flying commercial sucked. That made me harass him about being a spoiled little bastard because that was exactly how he sounded. We kissed our men goodbye in a wholly inappropriate for public sort of way. But when I quickly glanced around, I found not one person watching us. Not that I would have cared. Then they were gone leaving Flannery and me alone.

  As we walked back to Cain’s car, I sent Sam a quick text saying that we would hold him completely responsible for the guy’s behavior. That got me a text back that said, “fuck u. they’re grown. We’ll keep the hookers a secret.”

  “Ass.” I giggled then told Flannery about it when she threw me a confused look.

  Flannery and I spent our weekend shopping for the honeymoon. They were going to Hawaii so there were a few new bathing suits and a cover-up so beautiful that I bought one for myself. Of course, there was the obligatory stop at Victoria’s Secret where, for once, I watched Flannery go overboard on something. She felt Cain would love all of it so she attempted to buy everything. It was nice to see her finally let go.