“Ever hopeful,” he said, and pulled her up along the length of him until her breasts were pressed against his chest. Then he flipped her neatly onto her back and paused, touching his forehead to hers.

He said, “There are so many things we haven’t talked about yet.”

She groaned, reaching for him, but he held her down with no trouble at all, both of her wrists in his one hand.

“I’ve got things to say to you,” he whispered. “I don’t think you’ll mind hearing them.”

John wanted to talk, and really, Angie tried to tell herself, wasn’t that what they needed to do? This was serious business, after all, he was walking away from another woman, another kind of life, and why? To what end? What did he want from her, really, and what could she expect from him?

Important questions, crucial questions, for tomorrow or the day after, for anytime but now. As much as she loved John’s voice, right now she loved his mouth more. She arched up to kiss him, rich and deep and full, a kiss that flowered in the belly and sent little shocks back up her spine, flowing out and out. He made a humming sound. How had she forgotten that sound of his, that click in the back of his throat? Angie rubbed herself against him, spread herself open beneath him, beckoned. Now now now.

But John would have none of it; he held himself over her with his knees between her thighs, his shoulders wide as a raft, his arms and legs like oars, his chest pressed against her breasts. He held her effortlessly away from him, only his cock reaching toward her, Angie thought, biting back a burp of laughter, as if it meant to handle this on its own, with or without the rest of him.

He was whispering in her ear. Wait, and Christ, Angie, please.

She cupped his face in her hands and pressed small nipping kisses on his mouth. “What?” As if she didn’t know. As if she couldn’t see it, the things he was wanting to say and hear. They had been here before, the two of them, on the verge of words.

“Tell me.”

She said, “Of course I love you. I always have, you idiot. You dope. From day one. Didn’t you know?”

His closed his eyes, nodded. Sweat glistened on his face and throat and shoulders, his beautiful shoulders. “Good,” he said, and claimed her, finally, absolutely. “Good.”

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