Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Avery

I CAN'T STOP kissing him. I know I'm supposed to be focusing on other things, but I linger against his mouth, letting our bodies rest against each other. I wiggle my hips to feel him against me, and Diego makes a little sound into my mouth.

It's absolutely addictive.

I definitely didn't think this was how my evening was going to go. I thought I'd watch movies and eat ice cream and fall asleep on the couch until Mia shook me awake. As much as I love Mia, this is way better.

My hands can't stay still, and neither can Diego's, apparently. Our touches are sloppy and aimless. Even with a goal in mind, neither of us are in a rush. For the first time, we're doing this with a big, open, thrilling future ahead of us, and it makes me want to take it slow and savor every second.

Despite my best intentions, however, I do eventually need to breathe. When I break from Diego's mouth, I find him rosy beneath me. His cheeks are darker than usual, his amber brown eyes liquid with heat, like chocolate melting on my tongue. I can't believe I get to have him. I can't believe we're going to do this together.

I find myself scrambling for the nightstand beside my bed. Diego watches every movement, his anxiety prickling at me. I set the supplies on the bed, but leave them lying there and go back to Diego. I get that this can be intimidating, especially if he's tried it before and it didn't go that well, but I'm not about to let him feel anything but incredible tonight.

I return to his mouth. Touching conveys my determination better than words. I'm not going to tell him what I can show him instead.

My hand sneaks down him, taking a wandering path over his body. I feel down his abs, over his flat belly. I give his cock a lazy stroke, play with his sac, grip his thigh to move one leg a little wider for me. The way he stays relaxed encourages me to keep going. I trail my lips down his neck, then enjoy his chest while feeling around for the lube. He might notice my hand moving, but he forgets when I flick my tongue at his nipple, then tug it between my teeth. Diego inhales sharply, his chest swelling under my lips .

As much as I want to keep toying with him, his breathing is raspy and I can't actually open the container with one hand while not looking, so I interrupt myself to deal with it. Diego is watching, and I lean forward and pluck off his glasses to make him stop. I stretch to set them on the nightstand, but my other hand goes low, touching him, grazing against him. He sucks in a breath, even though this isn't remotely new territory. It merely comes with new implications this time.

"Are you going to go this slow the whole time?" Diego says.

His impatience surprises me, but a beat later I grin wickedly down at him. "Yes, if I feel like it. Are you complaining?"

"Not yet."

"Wow, suddenly we're making demands? I guess I'll have to take good care of you, hm?"

His lips twist like he's holding back laughter. As we spoke, I kept feeling him, kept prodding, enjoying myself with lazy presses. I slip inside him now, and his mirth melts into open desire. Good. I want him to keep looking at me like that. I want him languid and wanting and hot.

His expression opens as I squeeze my fingers into him, working him loose. As badly as I want his lips again, watching them part as his breathing shreds into tatters is its own sort of enticement. I almost lose track of my goal as I spear my fingers into him and watch him shatter on them, his hips starting to work as he begins to crack and lose control.

"That's it," I say, breathy and quiet. The words come out on their own, like I can't help encouraging him as he lies beneath me so handsome and wanton.

I almost push it too far before I manage to stop myself. God, it's hard. It takes a real effort to remind myself what I'm supposed to be doing when I could spend the whole night touching him this way, slowly, slowly working him over until he breaks again and again for me, until he's begging me to stop, until he can't take any more.

Some other night, perhaps. We have that kind of time now, I remind myself, and the thought leaves me giddy.

I slip my fingers free, and Diego turns onto his side.

Interesting. So he does have some ideas about this. Well, I'm certainly not complaining.

I get ready as quickly as I can manage it, then slide close. At first, I merely touch my tip to his rim, letting him feel me there. With him on his side, I can hunch over him. I can even bend down and kiss his shoulder, my hair cascading past my neck as I do.

Diego shifts his hips, perhaps an involuntary motion, but we both feel it when it makes his ass rub against my cock. I reach a hand down and angle myself at him with more intention this time, and with just a bit of suggestion I start squeezing into him.

Tension streaks through Diego, but I simply pause and let it pass. He reaches back, holding his own cheek like he's physically opening himself to me, and I push a little more. It's tight and hot inside him, and I struggle to hold back wanting to sink even more of myself into the clench of his ass.

"Avery."

I don't realize that I'm hanging my head and concentrating so hard until Diego's voice calls me back. He doesn't say anything more, just reaches up and threads my long hair between his fingers, then slowly pulls me down to him. The motion makes me shift, pushing more of me inside of him, but he doesn't stop, not until I'm all the way to his lips, tasting his groan as his body clutches me tight.

Fuck, this is heaven. His mouth. His ass. Us locked together like this. With each beat of my heart, the swarm of sensation swells, and I'm caught in the center of it. More and more of me slides into him as Diego encourages me to delve deeper. He chews at my bottom lip as I roll my hips experimentally, and, well, I don't need to be a scientist to interpret the results of that test. I do it again, shifting however feels good, and Diego moans. I dip my head, kissing along his neck. It's not that I don't still want his mouth, but if I kiss him here instead those noises he's making will have nowhere to hide.

I start going faster, sensing Diego's growing need. His hand tangles more tightly in my hair, almost yanking me down against him. I suck hard on his neck and let my hips go at last, let them pivot forward with a bit of a snap.

"Oh," he gasps, halfway between a gasp and an expletive.

I almost lose my composure and laugh. Of all the things to say in a moment like that, "oh" is just about the most mild Midwestern Diego thing he could have chosen.

I hang on, moving my hips harder, driving my cock into him now that I know it's welcome. Maybe I can make him say something else, something actually harsh or filthy. I've at least got to try, right?

I prop myself up on my arms to get better leverage. Diego's still pulling on my hair, like he can't stand to let it go, but the prickle is pleasant as the motion of my body moves us both. Diego's eyes are screwed shut, his head tilting back, his mouth open around broken whimpers. He's always the quieter of the two of us, and that holds true even tonight. The moan I let out every time I sink into his blissful heat is much louder than his little whines.

I'll have to work on that.

I dive into him, shifting subtly until I find an angle that makes his whole body jerk. That's it. That's what he needs. That's what I need, if I'm going to shatter him the way he shatters me.

I chase after it, doggedly determined, thrusting into him with all I have so I can hit that particular angle again and again. Finally, Diego's voice rises. Finally, he moans from every thrust. Finally, he's pitching louder than me .

He releases my hair and grabs at himself, so overcome he actually fumbles his own cock at first. Then he has himself and he's moving in shaky little jerks, begging for relief.

"That's it," I say. "That's it, baby. You feel good, don't you?"

It's not a sincere question. The answer is written in every breath, in the heat billowing off his skin, in the sounds leaping from his throat. But I'm greedy. I want to hear it anyway.

"Don't you?" I push.

"Yeah," he gasps. "Yes. Fuck. Yes. I do. I…"

His body goes taut. I don't push him more. He's already dancing along the edge, and I have to rush to keep up. I can't believe that after all this it's Diego who breaks first, who shouts and comes over his fist while I'm still diving into him searching for release.

I thrust hard and fast, not wanting to overstimulate him but needing the relief promised by his body. His orgasm thunders through him, and he clenches around me. My eyes snap shut as the pressure threatens to blind me. I pound into him, thinking of nothing but the warmth, the tightness, the feel of my entire cock clutched inside his body.

I definitely shout louder than him when I follow him.

The sound explodes from my throat as I empty inside him. I can't hold it back even a fraction. It scrapes along my tongue before filling the bedroom, and I lose sight of everything but pure, head-spinning pleasure.

I swear I've never had an orgasm like this. I swear I've never come so hard. I'm floating out of my own body, leaving behind everything but this warm feeling of total bliss.

When I come back to myself, I find myself lying atop Diego, panting for breath while he combs his fingers through my hair. Shit, I don't know how long I've been lying on him like this. It can't be that long. He's not complaining, and there's still sweat slick on our skin where we touch. Even so, I force myself up on arms that feel like they don't have a single bone left in them and pull myself out of him.

Leaving the bed even temporarily is torment. I return as swiftly as I can and get us both under the sheets. I lie on Diego, my head on his chest, a leg thrown over his thighs, his fingers right back in my hair where they constantly seem to end up.

"Was it okay?" I say.

Diego's laugh rumbles under me. "You're joking, right?"

I push myself up enough to meet his eyes. "No. You said you only tried it once before. You seemed nervous. I want to know."

Diego's gaze is unsteady with his glasses set aside. He keeps threading my hair between his fingers like a ribbon. "Yes, it was okay," he says, but he wears a smile that says it was a whole lot more than okay. "Shall I write up a proper review?"

"You would."

"And you would actually read it and take it seriously."

We dissolve into laughter, and I settle my head back down on his chest. For a long time, we're quiet, just breathing, just being here like this, just feeling the new rush of a future that's big and wide and thrilling. And suddenly I realize the answer to what he asked me when he banged on my door tonight.

"I've been thinking," I say eventually.

"You were thinking during that?" Diego says. "Because I definitely couldn't."

I chuckle. "Not really. Okay, sort of. Look, my brain kind of never shuts up."

"I believe that."

"The point is," I say, "I was thinking about everything you said when you showed up tonight, what you proposed. And maybe it's just endorphins or whatever, but I feel like if I did this I'd want it to be an adventure. I wouldn't want to stay in Montridge. If I'm going to do this, I want to go all the way. I want to travel the world. I want to experience something totally new."

"Totally new, huh?" Diego says, a thread of tension winding through his voice.

"Yeah," I say. "We have such a crazy opportunity, Diego. We could go anywhere. We could do anything. We're young, and we have each other, and that's not a chance everyone gets. I want to do it all with you. I don't want to sit around and study in a place where I've lived for four years, a place that's a couple towns away from my parents' house. I want to experience something."

I get more excited with each word, but Diego is quiet and still under me. I push myself up again, anxious to see his reaction. He's watching me calmly, a shadow of a smile on his lips.

"You're going to run me ragged," he says. He tucks my hair behind my ear, fingertips grazing the side of my face. "If that's what you want, then that's what you should do."

"And what about you?"

My heart is going way too fast when I should be calming down, riding the cooldown.

Diego sighs. "I'll miss home," he says.

My heart skips its next several beats. "Does that mean?"

His smile widens. "Yes, Avery. I told you, you keep breaking down every barrier I think I know. Why stop now? You're going to drag me around the world, and it's going to be the most wonderful adventure of my entire life."

I grin so hard my cheeks hurt. A swell of emotion expands my chest. I'm a balloon about to pop and spray confetti all over this room, but the thought of going on this grand adventure with Diego beside me is beyond my wildest dreams .

"It's going to be so amazing," I say. "I promise. I don't know where we'll go yet, but it's going to be so, so amazing. It could be Japan or England or Italy or Brazil or Ireland or … or I don't even know. There's so many places out there, and I want to see all of them."

Diego chuckles and guides me down to his mouth to stop me from rambling on.

"How about we take it one at a time?" he says. "For my sake."

I kiss him as hard as I can, too hard, but it's the only way to explain all that's overflowing out of me. "Yes," I say. "We can do that. I can be patient."

There's no more anchor weighing me down. I'm free to dash off in any direction I choose. The future isn't easy, but it's not nearly as overwhelming as it seemed when I moved into this house. With Diego beside me, I'm ready to take it on.