the porch. She wraps her arms fiercely around my neck as her legs come around my waist, and she holds on tightly before planting her lips to mine. I open, inviting her in, and she devours me as our tongues collide and teeth clank. I can’t get enough.
Breathlessly, she pulls away from my lips, but not my body. It’s then I can see the puffiness in her face, the redness in all her features, and the evidence of tears shed. My heart breaks. I never want to cause this woman pain.
“You’re alive,” she whispers, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against mine. “You’re with me, Blaine, really here.” I can feel the relief wash through her as her body relaxes, and I take her weight. “I love you more than the moon, the stars, the sun. My God, Blaine Reklinger, I love you,” she whispers with her lips brushing against mine with every word.
“Claudia Moakley, I was only afraid of one thing today.” I pause, pulling my head back so she will open her eyes to see mine. “I feared I wouldn’t have this moment right here. Baby, I know we have a plan, but I can’t.” With a squeeze to her ass, I say, “No, I won’t waste another minute by waiting to have life in order. I wanna marry you, Dia. You, me, ride for life, that’s it. I promise you the ring, the church, my name, and whatever you want, but baby, right now, I gotta know it’s me and you together forever.”
She smiles brightly and presses her lips to mine. “Always yours, Blaine.”
I hear Mary Alice squeal excitedly as I deepen the kiss with my woman, my future wife, and I do so with the knowledge I could have lost it all today.
Without untangling herself from around me, Dia pulls back and looks at her best friend. “Looks like we have a weddin’ to plan.” She turns her head back toward me, her eyes dancing in happiness. “And soon.”
“Whatever you want, baby.” I kiss her again.
Refusing to release her, I look over her shoulder at Rhett and Mary Alice. “I’ll be in touch, man. Gonna take my girl home now.”
Dia laughs against me as I turn around and carry her to my motorcycle. When I climb on and get it started, she hops on right behind me. The minute her hands wind around my waist, something changes inside me.
Every plan I had changed today and every single one of them for the better, but right now, this feeling I have for Dia is far deeper and more encompassing than anything we have ever shared before.
We hit the open road of highway 58, and the roar of the engine calms my mind.
Dia roams her hands under my T-shirt, finding her way to the skin of my abdomen and causing my muscles to flex involuntarily. The sensation of her legs against mine, her chest pressed to my back, and her hands around me makes it feel like she’s a part of me. Like the bike under me, she’s an appendage of my soul. The wind whips around us, and her hair flies around us both, hitting me in the face and reminding me I’m alive.
I am alive, and my woman is with me. We are one.
I twist the throttle, the bike spits oil like it always does, and Dia laughs against me as she tucks her head into my neck. I feel her lips first then her teeth as she nips, her legs tightening against mine. She runs her hands up my chest before she slowly traces down my waist to my jeans where she squeezes my cock through the denim.
I am alive, and my woman wants me. We are one.
Pushing the bike harder, I’m careful as we ride not to hit a bump yet still pressing the vibration through us both as I turn onto highway 24 rather than make my way to our place on the beach. When the turn for Nine Mile Road comes up, I slow without coming to a stop; instead, I roll us onto the road.
Nine miles of open road, nine miles of tight curves on a narrow road with the woman I love. Nine miles of life remembered. Nine miles of life cherished. Nine miles of a life of new beginning.
Nine miles, I ride. Me, Dia, and nothing but pavement beneath us. Then, when I can’t fight the need to be
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