by Emma Nichole
“You had to get here somehow, Isaac. Obviously there was lots and lots of sex involved.”
“I take it all back. I don’t want to do this anymore today. Sawyer, we can have dinner alone.”
I roll my lips together to keep myself from laughing.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Jean says to him.
“You’re right. I like you too much,” he replies. “Did you decide on where you’d like to eat tonight?”
“Actually, I was hoping you’d both agree to eat in the community center with me tonight. It’s lasagna night, and I have to tell you, it’s the best I’ve ever had, plus they’ve got a jazz band coming to finish out the night. It could be fun.”
I look over to Isaac for his answer, but he’s looking to me for mine.
“I love lasagna,” I tell him and he grins.
“Well then, let’s go have some lasagna.”
***
“Whoever made this is a genius and we should go thank them personally,” Isaac says, as he takes the final bite of his food.
“I told you. I don’t know what it is but they do serve good food. None of that hospital food mess you’d think.”
Jean is sipping on a cup of coffee and swaying a bit to the music coming from the small room to our back, where the band is set up for dancing and enjoyment. There are many people inside watching, and just as many dancing together. They’ve forgotten about all their worries and are enjoying the moment.
“So, Sawyer, Isaac tells me you’re a teacher?”
“I am. I teach English over at Sunnyville High.”
“How do you enjoy doing that?”
“I love it. I grew up wanting to teach, and I always had this passion for literature. It seemed like the perfect fit for me.”
“And you handle those rowdy teens all right?”
I wave my hand like it’s nothing. “I’m meaner than they are. They know better than to mess with me.”
She laughs and reaches over to pat my hand. “I like this one, Isaac.”
Isaac has been watching Jean and I converse with a smile on his face. He didn’t contribute much unless he was directly asked, and I think that was intentional. I know, even if he wasn’t nervous today, introducing me as his girlfriend to his Grams was a big step. It holds a lot of weight and I am taking that very seriously.
“I like her too, Grams. A lot,” he says the words while his eyes are on me. The butterflies that have permanently resided in my belly since the moment we met begin to flutter wildly.
“Excuse me, Miss Black?”
We all turn to see an adorable older gentleman with khaki pants and a blue polo shirt tucked in. A pair of gold, wire-rimmed glasses are perched on his nose and there’s a tuft of white hair on top of his head.
“Oh, hello, Samuel,” she says happily, with her face lit up like the Fourth of July. “I was hoping you’d be here.”
“You know I never miss the jazz,” he says with a chuckle.
It’s obvious to me immediately what is going on here, and I think it’s so fucking cute.
“No, you never do.” She smiles up at him. “Let me introduce you to my grandson. Samuel, this is Isaac and his girlfriend, Sawyer. Isaac and Sawyer, this is Samuel.”
Samuel reaches out and shakes first Isaac’s hand and then mine. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I’ve heard a lot about you, Isaac.”
“All good things I hope,” he replies.
“Ah, well, that I’ll never tell. Pillow talk is private talk.”
I cough at that, nearly choking on my water. “I’m sorry. Wrong pipe.”
Isaac rubs my back. “Are you okay?”
I reassure everyone I’m fine before Samuel turns his attention back to Jean.
“What do you say I take you for a spin around the dance floor? We’ll take it slow and easy. That is, if you don’t mind me stealing you away for a few minutes.”
“I’d love that. Isaac, why don’t you and Sawyer join us?”
Isaac and I exchange a glance. “A dance doesn’t sound half bad. Sawyer?” Isaac asks, offering his hand.
“Don’t step on my toes, Black, and we’ve got a deal.”
When we make our way over to the next room and onto the small, makeshift dance floor, Samuel and Jean have found a spot on the edge, while Isaac has pulled me to the middle and wraps me up in his arms. We sway gently to the music, his hands cradling me at the small of my back, and my arms around his shoulders.
“You and Grams are hitting it off.”
“She is ridiculously fun, and pretty smitten over Samuel there.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on. You’re not that obtuse, are you? Look at them. She’s got the hots for him and I am pretty sure the feeling is mutual.”
He looks over my shoulder, presumably at the pair of them then shakes his head. “Nah, no way. They are just friends.”
I arch my brow. “Did you miss that pillow talk comment?”
“I tried to ignore it,” he admits.
“Well, sorry to break it to you. Grams is still getting it.”
“Congratulations. I’ll never get hard again.”
I bury my face in his chest to laugh. “The horror.”
“You joke about this, but that’s my grandmother we are talking about. She is sweet and adorable. She isn’t supposed to be... wanted by someone like that.” He shivers dramatically.
“Hey, she may be elderly, but people are still sexual very late in their lives. Sometimes as late as their eighties. I took a human sexuality class in college. Read all about it.”
“Maybe that means I’ve got good genes and I’ll still be wanting to bone in my old age.”
I shake my head at him and smile. “You’ll never want to stop doing that. I am starting to see that you are quite insatiable.”
“Maybe that’s just with you. You’re pretty incredible, you know?”
I can feel my cheeks heat at his compliment. “Thank you. I’m just... me.”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Sawyer. You’re a wonderful person. Everyone in my life is drawn to you. Anyone who you’ve come in contact with in my circle adores you immediately. I’ve yet to find in single flaw. Sometimes I worry this is all a joke and I’ll wake up one morning to see it’s not real.”
My body and mind instantly want to reject every compliment he’s just given me. My head even begins to shake back and forth, physically saying no to every word. “I’m full of flaws, Isaac.”
“Your flaws are perfection to me.”
The residents of the senior community, still paired up and dancing to the slow music shift out of focus for me, and the world hones in on Isaac Black. On the stunning color of his eyes, and the barely noticeable scar on his temple. I’ve always heard people you need come into your life when you’re least expecting it. I needed him in my life. I didn’t even know I needed anything, but now, in this moment, it’s crystal clear to me. I’ve been waiting for Isaac Black. He’s making me feel whole again.
“Isaac... I...”
I love you. I want to say it, but the words just won’t leave my lips on their own. I’m scared. I’m too scared to love him because loving means if I lose him, it’s going to hurt ten times more.
But I don’t have to say it, because he kisses my lips gently and changes my world with his next words.
“I think I’m falling in love with you, Sawyer.”
A floodgate opens in my heart, sending everything pouring out of me and onto the dance floor. I smile and slide my hands up into his hair then back to his shoulders.
“I think I’m falling in love with you too.”
Chapter 20
Isaac
You know those scenes in movies where the couple is so enthralled with one another and can’t keep their hands to themselves long enough to get in the front door? So they are tripping over things and stumbling around until they finally make it to the closest hard surface once they finally make it home?
> Sawyer and I are living that reality.
The entire drive home after leaving Grams was spent with her tucked against my side in the middle of the truck bench, kissing at red lights and stop signs, hands roaming, with soft moans leaving her lips when I’d tickle her skin in areas I know she likes.
Her hand was in mine when we climbed the stairs of my front porch, and I pinned her against the outside of my door and explored the area between her earlobe and shoulder with my lips, tongue, and teeth. To be honest, if my neighbor hadn’t come outside to check his mail, I probably would have fucked her right there against the door, outside for all passersby to see.
I have her inside now, privately, with no prying eyes, and all mine.
I lift her feet from the floor and place her to sit on a small table I have by my front door, where I normally toss my keys and wallet when I come in. It’s waist high and suddenly the perfect place to fuck my girlfriend into oblivion.
I pride myself on taking my time with her, making her come multiple times with my hands and mouth before ever pushing inside of her, but after the declaration we shared, all I can think about is getting inside of her and showing her I meant what I said. I’m falling in love with her more and more every second.
“Say it again?” she asks, as I push her denim jacket off her shoulders, letting it fall somewhere on the floor.
“I love you, Sawyer.” My lips kiss and lick the new skin exposed on her shoulder, connecting each small freckle to the next with my mouth.
“I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”
She grabs my face in her hands and forces my lips back to hers.
“Lie back,” I growl against her lips and push gently against her chest with my hand. “And keep your eyes open.”
The table isn’t particularly big in it’s wooden, rectangular shape so when she eases backward, her body just fits on the surface, with her head hanging off the far end, so I wrap my hands around her hips and adjust her so her waist is off the end and her head lies comfortably against the wood.
She reaches down and curls her fingers into the edges of the table so tightly that her knuckles are white.
“Fuck me,” she begs in a whisper. “Please.”
“Say it back.” I pull her legs around my waist and slide her long dress up to her stomach.
“Isaac, I love youuuu!” The last word comes out as a surprised gasp as I slip my finger under her lace panties and swirl her wetness up and around her clit.
“Again,” I demand, continuing to circle her clit with one hand and unbuckle my belt with the other.
“Oh, God, I love you. Fuck.”
“No God here, baby... it’s just me.”
The sound that leaves her lips nearly makes me lose my nut right here in my pants. She laughs, but it bleeds into the sweetest moan of pleasure I’ve ever heard in my life.
I have to pull my hands away from her and lay them flat on the wood on either side of her body, bending over her with my eyes closed.
“What? What’s wrong?”
I shake my head and chuckle. “You’re just fucking incredible. I have to slow myself down or this will end before it starts.”
“Don’t hold back. We have all night for more.”
She yanks me back down to her, chest-to-chest, mouth-to-mouth.
It happens quickly after that. Zippers lower, lace is torn, and right here by my front door, I push inside of her with no barrier between us, skin on skin for the first time.
“Ohhhhh,” she cries out, arching her back off the table as I thrust viciously.
The wooden legs of the table scoot across the floor with each movement, creating a beat that blends with the sounds of our bodies connecting, blurring into a rhythm that will no doubt play in my head over and over.
Reaching forward, I slip my hand under the back of her neck and tighten my grip there, both for leverage and because I know she loves when I do it. My thrusts slow, becoming deeper and more powerful, like the ticking of a clock.
In... slam...out... in... slam... out.
Her nails claw my neck just under the collar of my shirt, no doubt marking me in a way I’ll be able to see and feel tomorrow as the walls of her pussy begin to flutter around me.
“Tell me you love me when you come,” I groan against her lips. “Tell me.”
With one hand on the tabletop, I push myself up so I can look down at her face. I watch as she bites her lips and I see the flush begin to rise from her chest all the way to her cheeks.
“Close. I’m so close,” she whimpers, reaching down to rub between her legs.
“That’s it. Come for me. Fuck, I love you.”
My balls begin to tingle, tightening up to the point of pain, my orgasm so close I have to force myself to hold back. I won’t go until she does.
“Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh my God. Yes. Right there. There. There. There!!” She screams out so loudly I have no doubt Mr. Lawson next door heard her. “I. Love. You!”
Her entire body arches, her chest skyward and her head down, pussy walls contracting around me. Two pumps later, I’m following her over the edge, grunting my feelings into her ear in the forms of harsh breaths.
We don’t stop. We can’t get enough.
Our floodgates have opened and the constant need for one another has grown into a beast of its own.
Not that you’ll hear a complaint from me.
I’ll never get enough of her. Not anymore.
***
The room is still dark when I open my eyes. The muscles in my forearms and upper thighs ache just a little; enough to be a reminder that what happened with Sawyer wasn’t a dream. It was real.
I hadn’t expected being with her in that way to be so all-consuming. Don’t get me wrong, I knew it would be incredible, but as I got to know her as a human, as I began to develop feelings for her, the better I knew how explosive we’d be together.
I can’t see much in the darkened room, as the curtains are pulled, but I can see the darkened form of Sawyer beside me, only she’s not sleeping, she sitting up with her knees pulled up to her chest and her cheek resting on one.
“Are you all right?” I ask, reaching out to touch her arm.
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
She tries to hide it, but I can hear the slight sniffle before she speaks.
I ignore her question and push myself up to sit next to her. “Are you crying?”
“I’m sorry.” She sniffs again and wipes her cheeks. “Today is a hard day for me.”
“What happened? Did I hurt you?”
She leans over and flips on the bedside lamp then looks back toward me and shakes her head.
“No, Isaac, you didn’t hurt me. You’re amazing. This has nothing to do with you.”
I glance over her shoulder to the small alarm clock on the nightstand and see that it is barely four in the morning.
“What’s the matter?” I reach across to wipe her tears with my thumb. “You can tell me.”
“I don’t want to drag you down with my shit, Isaac. The past two days have been incredible.”
“Talking to me about why you’re crying won’t drag me down, Sawyer. I love you,” I say honestly. “A lot.”
She smiles the smallest smile then leans over to kiss my lips. “I love you too.”
I wrap her up in my arms and settled back into the pillows with her head on my chest.
“Tell me what’s happening in that beautiful mind of yours.”
She doesn’t say anything for a minute, simply opting to trace shapes over my stomach, but when she finally speaks, her hands go still.
“I had a dream about my brother.”
“Fuck,” I say under my breath. “I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize. It was a good dream. They used to make me sad, but I’ve tried really hard to be better. I can’t live my life the way he would want me to if I’m upset all of the time. The way he died was so... traumatic for me. I had a hard time reconciling it in my head and heart, and I
don’t even know if I have yet.”
“What happened to him?” I ask, because I want to know what she is thinking in her head. I want to know everything about her so I can help her in whatever way I’m capable of. I don’t expect her to answer me, honestly, but when she does, I let her speak until she’s completely finished. I don’t interrupt. I don’t ask questions.
“I was living in LA. He had just turned seventeen years old, and started making incredibly wrong choices in his life over the course of a year. He kept getting in trouble with the police and we found out he was on drugs, and my parents didn’t know what to do or how to help him. He was pushing back, getting worse. The last straw was when he stole money from my parents for more drugs. He and my father got into a fight. I had to step in and help, so I told him I would let him stay with me as long as he got help. He agreed. I guess I was naïve.”
I can hear the emotion in her voice with each word, but still, I don’t speak, I just rub up and down her spine so she knows I’m here and I’m listening.
“He moved in with me a few months before the wildfires.”
My hands go still.
“The first month was hard, but he seemed to be doing okay. We had a few job interviews lined up for him and he’d been seeing a recovery therapist. I was so proud of him. Then a couple months later, the fires started. They happened so quickly. I mean, you know how fast it happens. It’s what you do for a living. I was watching the news and I thought we were safe. I was just leaving work when I got a call from Jason’s boss, who was a guy I was dating at the time, to tell me Jason hadn’t shown up to work. It didn’t take me long to figure out he had swiped my debit card and took hundreds of dollars from me.”
I can hear the anger and sadness in her voice, and my stomach is in my throat because of the things she must have gone through.
“I knew what he had done before I even pulled into my driveway. When I got inside, his bedroom door was locked. I pounded and pounded, trying to get him to open it but he kept telling me to go away, that he was sorry, and I didn’t need to see him like that. I refused. I sat in the hallway because I wanted him to have to face me when he finally opened the door. Hours passed... and I guess I had fallen asleep because the ringing of the smoke alarms woke me up. Everything after that happened in a blur. My house was on fire. I remember feeling the heat from the flames and not being able to breathe the smoke was so thick. I pounded on his bedroom door, but he never responded. I never heard his voice again. I tried to use my body to break it down, but between the exhaustion and the amount of smoke in my lungs, I had no power left in me. I stumbled my way through the halls to try to find something to pry the door open, but I ended up falling, cracking my glasses and gashing my head open.”