Her eyes go to my erection since it’s pointing straight at her, and then she goes, “Ohhhh. That kind of torture.” Grabbing my wrist, she says, “Come back, babe.”

Debating between jacking off in the bedroom while she finishes or maybe getting her to finish me off in here, I make the wiser decision. I slip back into the water and lean back. Rubbing my hand over my hair, I don’t care that it gets wet. I just need to get this situation handled because sleep won’t happen if I’m as hard as a rock all night.

She says, “Straighten your legs.”

I don’t have the will to fight her request or even question it. All the energy in my body has rushed to one member of it. I straighten my legs, and she straddles me. Grabbing her hips, I stop her from settling down. “I can’t. I don’t have a condom and water breaks it down anyway.”

“As much as I’m curious how you know that information, we don’t need a condom. I’m on the pill.”

Holy.

Fuck.

How did I not know this?

All it would take is to pull her down, and I could be sinking into her bliss. It would be easy to take her offer, just go slow and make love instead of fuck. And the cleanup afterward would be a breeze. We could be back in bed in twenty minutes . . . okay, closer to ten because I know I won’t last this time.

But when I look at her, I’m reminded of the pain she was in. I reach up and caress the side of her neck, staring into her eyes, knowing she’s only doing this to please me.

It’s so tempting to let her, too.

I sit up, and say, “You need to relax, baby. I know you’re sore.”

“But you’ll be in pain if we don’t.”

I shouldn’t laugh, but that’s funny. “It’s an annoyance, an irritation, even an ache, but I’m not injured.” I push up again, and this time, take a towel and step out. Drying off, I tell her, “Sit back and relax. It will help you sleep.”

“If you’re sure—”

“I am.” I move into the bedroom to give her privacy, hoping she’ll stop worrying about me, and focus on her recovery. Because once she’s good to go, there’s no stopping us.

25

Lark

I lost my virginity.

Or did Harbor take it?

Either way, I’m no longer in the V-club, and I couldn’t be happier I waited to give it to him. I couldn’t have chosen a better person to spend my first . . . and second time with. My patience definitely paid off. So did his.

My friends complain about their first times, but you won’t hear any complaints from me. My temperature is rising just thinking about last night. I feel so good, even if a little sore. But all highs have their lows. The person I would typically run to share my glorious news is not someone I’m currently speaking to. And that’s messing with my happiness.