Page 141 of The Replay

A couple of fresh tears fall and I dry them gently with a hand.

"No need to cry." I kiss each side of her face too for good measure. "We'll figure it out."

"I'm not crying for that. It was years and I should have… we should have…"

"Sshhh." I guide her to lay down on the bed. "Hey."

We're on our sides, me on my good one to protect my knee, and I pull her top leg up to open her to me. She reaches between us and guides me inside again. We let out identical sighs and rock together slowly.

"Feel me like I feel you," I say.

"We lost time, didn't we?"

"It's okay." I kiss her. "We have ten times as long."

"I know. I'm the greedy one now," she moans.

"Be as greedy as you want with me." I curl the arm that serves as her pillow, until my hand can rest on her shoulder and she has no choice but to stay close to me. "It's okay. I love you."

We move in tandem, echoing each other, driving each other wild with the slow build up. And I kiss her again. And again.

She puts a hand over my heart. We keep moving slowly. She didn't say the words back to me before, and it doesn't look like she's ready to say them now either. It'll be fine. I'll wait for as long as I have to, as long as we have time.

I open my mouth to tell her she doesn't need to hurry her heart, but she puts gentle fingers over my lips. She stares at me, mouth parted and her face full of pleasure, but her eyes… they hold me captive.

"When you said it," she says, "my mind blanked. Not in shock. Definitely not in nerves of any kind. It was because I realized you were the last person to say that to me. So long ago. No one told me they loved me since you did over the phone, when I was engaged to someone else."

I shake my head at the injustice. My chosen person, having to go so long without hearing the words. My soul aches for her. But I can't judge. Her family shows affection through protectiveness and preference. Mine through food and practical care, but they're not vocal about it, either. The difference is that I've been certain of their feelings for me in a way I don't think she has.

Our movements are very slow, very gentle, and they feel like questions, but we don't stop.

"There was no love like this after you," she says. "Now we're together again and it's all I can feel."

I pull her hand away and kiss her fingertips. "Mari."

"There's so much freedom in love, isn't there? To be yourself and be accepted." She smiles. "Only with you I've felt it this way."

"Making you feel this way, always—" I caress her face. "It will be my favorite occupation."

Her smile stretches and she pushes me to my back. It's a fluid move that ends with her taking me in deep. Our moans mirror each other. She moves faster now, her hands braced on my chest. My hands reach for her hips and I gulp. I need her. More. Always. So I run my hands up her back, silently asking to lean down to give me her mouth. She does, and we lose ourselves into a kiss and her endless rocking on me.

She speaks so close I can feel her lips moving against mine. "I love you, Dom. So much. I choose you because I love you, it’s as simple as that."

The words are somehow unexpected. They dissolve into my burning chest and they're a welcome reprieve. They pool right between my lungs, stealing my breath for a second, and I hug her to keep them from leaving me ever again. I want no space between us. Nothing but heart-to-heart will suffice. We need this kind of skin-to-skin connection, so our cells blend and we become one.

"I will always choose you," I say. "You're the only one I want to love like this."

And I kiss her again. Her pace goes up. I groan.

"I don't think I ever stopped loving you like this," she admits against my face.

"We won't ever stop. This time we'll do it right."

"We'll do it right," she agrees.

And she rides me until we're both spent.

It must be the middle of the night, but I don't check the time.