Forget Me Not

Chapter 16

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

ARIS

She doesn’t verbally answer me, instead she shakes her head in denial while it’s still nestled in my neck. I get a feeling of completeness with her in my arms, a sensation of being home for the first time since she was all but ripped away from me.

The inherent desire to feel her lips on mine consumes me. With my upper hand, I lift up and comb it through her hair. With a gentle tug on her roots, I haul her head back and lean forward, capturing her lips with mine. I don’t give her a chance to resist, I reveal all of my pent up emotions in the kiss. With it, I tell her that I love her. That she’s everything to me. I confess that I can’t live without her. I show her that she’s my soul mate and prove to her that I’m hers.

When our lungs become oxygen deprived, I wrench my lips free from hers, even if that’s the last thing I want to do and lean forward to touch our foreheads together. “Do you get it now?”

“Yeah,” she remarks, licking her bottom lip as if she’s savoring our combined taste. “I get it, Aris.”

“Good. That’s good,” I convey, my heart pounding to its own staccato beat in my chest. “I won’t let you go so easily next time, Berlynn. There’s no escape for you. You’re mine and I’m yours. We need each other for survival. You are the key to my lock.”

“I was always afraid you’d forget me, Aris. That eventually, I’d be nothing but a blip on the radar from your glory days. I thought you’d look back on our friendship fondly but also with a heavy heart. I believed that you’d move on without me, settle down, and create your own family without me and Berk included. The longer the days went by without me being okay enough to bring you back into my life, the more I thought I’d lost you… forever. I was scared to invite you back in because things felt too dangerous, too unsettled. I didn’t want to put you or your family through any of this. It wasn’t, it isn’t , fair to any of you.”

“Through thick and thin. Through the good times and the bad times, I want to be there for you, Berlynn. For both of you. You always said I was your rock, but you?” I stop and sigh. “You’ve always been my steady, my anchor. Without you, I feel like I’ve been lost at sea without a way to save myself. While we’ve been apart, I’ve been drifting. You are the preserver of my life, Ber. I don’t just want you; I need you.”

“I need you too, Aris,” she whispers. “Did you mean what you said? That I’m yours?”

“Yes,” I hiss out. “You may not have been aware of it, but you have always been mine,” I admit. “We both needed some time to grow and find ourselves, fight our demons, but that time has concluded. From this point moving forward, we fight those monsters together. Hell, I’d fight the devil himself to keep you at my side. You’re my girl, my life. Mine to protect and safeguard. You’re my body, heart, and soul.”

“Prove it,” she challenges, heat blazing in her irises.

“How? Give me the words, Berlynn. Tell me how to prove it to you, baby girl.”

“Make love to me. Show me with your body, let me feel your heart as our souls mesh together. Love me, Aris.”

“Every day for the rest of our lives, Berlynn. Every single goddamn day,” I say as I tighten my hold on her and carry her over the threshold of the house. Lucky for me, the garage has an entrance leading inside. My legs pick up their stride as I get closer to the staircase while she nibbles on my neck. My dick grows uncomfortably hard beneath my slacks as thoughts of what I want to do with her dance through my mind. For half of my life I’ve longed to lay her on my bed and have my sinful way with her. I get irked when Jenning’s face floats through my brain. He was her college boyfriend and seeing as I was considered as one of her best friends, I got the unwanted pleasure of hearing how he stole her virginity.

It was the first time I ever contemplated murder.

I quickly dash those memories to the wayside because there’s no room for anyone else between us. It wasn’t like I was a choir boy during my teens and early twenties. He may have stolen what was meant to be mine, but I have the one thing he never will—her future. Whereas I won’t be her first, I can guarandamntee you I’ll be her last and that’s enough for me, it somewhat pacifies the inner beast inside that’s trying to claw his way free from my chest cavity.

When we make it to my bedroom, I close the door behind us with the heel of my foot never once shifting her position in my arms. This feels like a dream, one I’m not willing to test by releasing my grip on her. The door slams harder than I intended for it to, but I’m so damn anxious to feel her flesh touching mine that I’m having a difficult time concentrating, controlling myself and my actions.

Still keeping her where she is, wrapped in my embrace, I kick off my shoes and continue along the path that’ll lead me to paradise—my bed. Finally, understanding that this can’t go any further until I unlatch my arms, I slide her down my body, nipping the lobe of her ear as she descends. “Before we go any further, I need to tell you something.”

“What’s that?” she asks, her breath choppy and her voice husky.

“I love you, Berlynn. I’ve loved you since the first day you kissed my knee when I scraped it when we were three, and I loved you the day I had to let you go to keep you safe. I love you now, and I’ll love you until I draw my last breath.”

“I love you too, Aris. I’ve loved you since the day you picked me up and dusted me off when I fell chasing you during our game of hide and seek. I loved you the day I watched you walk away to keep you from drowning in my family’s crap. I don’t think there will be a day when I don’t love you. Through everything I’ve suffered, you’ve been the one person I count on. Whether you’re cheering me on from the sidelines or if you’re pushing me through the darkness from the shadows. I know you’re there whether I can see you or not. I’ll love you until I close my eyes for the final time. I’m sorry, so sorry that I stayed away for as long as I did. But we’re together now, and nothing will ever make me run away again. Even if I think it’s for your own good.”

With a power I didn’t know I held inside of me, I rip her top and watch as each button on her blouse flies through the air. When her lacy bra is exposed to me, I moan. Her globes are a temptation, a tasty morsel that I need to put my tongue on. Bending forward, I take a swipe of her cleavage. She whimpers, amping up my never-ending lust for her. If she’s this responsive to me by a simple touch, I can’t wait to start exploring her luscious, toned body. Years of gymnastics hasn’t caused her to lose her curves, if anything, it’s enhanced them.

She's all woman.

Perfection.

Her hourglass figure is a thing of elegance. Her hips are perfectly proportioned for me to grip as I pound into her from behind. She may have more meat on her bones now that she’s not working out on a daily basis and competing, but she’s the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen. She has an elegance and grace that exudes from her with every step or motion she makes. I am drawn to her like a moth is to the flame.

“Damn you’re so fucking gorgeous,” I tell her as I step back and draw her bra straps down her arms, trapping them to her sides.

Glancing up at her, looking for any sign of hesitation and finding none, I slide my hands behind her and unclasp the back. When it loosens and the material falls forward, I work hard on my impulse control and find enough strength not to rip every scrap of clothing from her body while ravishing her.

She deserves better than that no matter how much I want to devour her.

She deserves seduction and passion.

I want to take my time and memorize every square inch of her. Map every part of her captivating body with my mouth. North, south, east, and west, she is a compass and I’m nothing more than the man holding it, following her directions.

“I want to taste everything. I’m not sure where to begin,” I say, lowering her bra and blouse simultaneously, watching the fabric float to the ground to pool around her ankles. “Kick off your shoes, Berlynn.”

I become enchanted by the heavy lifting and falling of her chest as she maneuvers herself to do as I instructed.

This is how men lose their minds.

Beauty like this can make a man do things they never believed they would.

They’d burn villages to rescue a woman like the one standing before me.

They’re unable to resist the endless appetite they have for consuming their woman.

An overwhelming desire to mark the one they love for all eyes to see has destroyed some of the strongest rulers and smartest men known to mankind. I’m not ashamed to say I’m one of those men. I’d burn down the universe and take on the man of steel to spend even one more night with her in my arms.

Once she’s upright, I lift my palms and cup her breasts. Her nipples are stiff and raised, their color a beautiful dusting of brown. Bending forward, I suction her right bud into my mouth and clamp it between my tongue and the roof of my mouth, suckling her tit. Her hands reach up and grasp the hair on the nape of my neck in a tight hold.

“More,” she pleads.

Answering her request, without any words spoken, I press her glorious, succulent globes together, then begin a savage pattern of licking, nipping, dominating and worshiping them. Once they’ve been thoroughly ravished, I pull away and stare at them. They’re swollen, dark, and needy.

“We’re wearing too many clothes,” I inform her, my voice throaty.

“Then do something about it,” she says, in a tone that barks out a challenge to my ears.

Stepping back, I twirl her around and seductively reach my hands around her torso, making sure to brush the tips of my fingers against her exposed skin, and unbutton her pants. My fingers find purchase with her zipper and I slowly, yet methodically release the teeth as I slide it down. The sound of it releasing reverberates through the air, making the entire scene sound erotic.

Getting down on my knees, I lower them and grip her G-string panties between my teeth, and tell her, “Spread your legs wider, baby, and lean forward. Place your hands on the mattress, show me that pretty pussy.” Unable to resist the scrumptious temptation that’s in my line of sight, I lick her ass cheek, causing her to whimper. Once she’s in the position I requested of her, I glide her panties down her legs and tap each foot to have her lift them. “That’s my girl.” Propelling my head toward her midsection, I breath in her exotic ambrosia and lose my ever-loving mind. My senses become more alert, and the neanderthal that sleeps inside of me awakens. I lick her from slit to her clit, cleaning up the slick that’s coating her labia and inner thighs.

“Aris,” she groans out my name. “So good. Don’t stop.” She grinds her pussy into my face as I stick my tongue into her opening. Fuck, I’m going to drown in her nectar, and love every damn second of it.