Chapter Twenty-nine

**warning! mature content ahead**

I was sitting across from Sky at Neon City.

The moment felt surreal. I’d spent the last few days trying to come to terms with the fact that we were never going to see each other again, and here Sky was, in the flesh.

I’d invited him to meet me here once I’d figured out the answer to Clarissa’s clue. I hadn’t had the nerve to call him on the phone, opting to text him the invite instead. I was afraid to hear Sky’s voice, terrified of the possibility that he was going to tell me something that I didn’t want to hear, something about how he’d moved on with his life and had no intentions of ever looking back.

“Raven,” he started. “How have you been?”

“Fine.” I kept my answer short. “How have you been?”

Please don’t tell me that you’re marrying Irene. Please don’t tell me that you’re marrying Irene. Please don’t tell me--

“Fine.” Sky’s answer was short, too. “Why’d you want to meet me here? I know this place probably doesn’t have the best memories for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I kissed you, up on that stage. And you must hate me now, so... why would you ever want to see me here again?”

“Sky, I don’t hate you. I could never hate you,” I replied, my voice low. “And I wanted to talk to you about the billboard. Did you… were you the one who put that up for me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because of what my father did to your business,” Sky continued. “I wanted to make it up to you. You didn’t deserve any of that, Raven, and it was shitty that my dad ever took it that far.”

“You helped me? Even after I broke up with you?” I couldn’t keep the confusion out of my tone.

“You didn’t break up with me.” He smirked. “You just completely stopped talking to me and treated me like I was already dead.”

“I’m sorry, Sky.”

“But I didn’t care if you never talked to me again, Raven. I still wanted to make sure that your business was going to be okay,” he went on. “Because I care about you, Raven. Because I still--” He stopped himself before he finished, even though I had a feeling I already knew what he was going to say.

“I still love you, too, Sky,” I admitted. “And I’m sorry I blew up at you like that. I thought that I was going to lose you, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

“It’s okay. The past is in the past.” He shrugged.

Was that how he viewed me? As something in his rearview mirror?

As the realization sank in, something in me finally broke. I didn’t care about trying to protect my heart anymore. I wanted Sky, for better or worse. I wanted to try with him, even if it ended in flames.

I didn’t want to just be a part of his past. I wanted to be his future, too.

I reached for his hand across the table. “Does it really have to be the end?”

“Raven…” He hesitated. “How are we supposed to ever really be together when you don’t trust me? We can’t build on anything like that.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I said. “It’s just… I don’t trust that anyone can ever really love me enough to… choose me. What happened with my ex just broke something inside of me.” I felt tears come to my eyes. “But Sky, when I’m with you, I don’t feel broken like that anymore. You make me feel whole. You make me feel like maybe I can mean the world to someone, because you mean the world to me.”

“You do mean the world to me, Raven,” he said, bringing his hand up toward my face, gently wiping away my tears.

“Can you give me another chance?” I asked. “I won’t fuck everything up this time. I promise.”

“You didn’t fuck anything up the first time.” He smiled. “And, of course, I’ll give you another chance, Raven. Honestly, I didn’t know how much longer I was going to make it without you.”

“That’s dark.” I grinned.

He laughed. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“I know.” I grinned again before I leaned across the table, happily pressing my lips to his.

* * *

I was trying to play it cool as I watched Sky out of the corner of my eye.

We were back at my apartment. We’d come here after Neon City. I was a little surprised that Sky hadn’t tried to touch me on the ride over, keeping his hands to himself like a true gentleman.

But I didn’t want him to be a gentleman tonight. I wanted him to make me feel like I was his, like I belonged to him and no one else.

I didn’t know how to say that to him, though. So, instead, I didn’t say anything as he lay down in the middle of my bed.

“God. Your bed is so comfortable.” He sighed. “I forgot how comfortable your bed is. What kind of mattress is this again?”

“Why are you asking?” I laughed. “So, you can get your own and won’t have to come over so often?”

“Please. You know I’m still going to come over.” He laughed, too. “I think we both know that I usually don’t come over here to sleep.”

“I mean, you could, if you wanted.”

“That sounds like you’re offering me a key.”

“Maybe I am,” I kept my voice low. “Would you… be interested in something like that?”

“I’d love something like that.” He beamed. “Why are you standing in the corner, anyway? You look like you’re stalking me or something.”

“I was just watching you,” I answered as I moved closer to the bed.

Sky playfully wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me down next to him on the bedsheets.

“Better.” He smiled, his arms still wrapped around me.

“I’d say so.” I smiled back at him before I kissed him, soft and slow. I didn’t want to rush things between us, potentially interrupting the rhythm of our bodies reuniting for the first time in weeks.

But Sky soon broke off the kiss as he stared down at me. “Raven?”

“Yeah?”

“When we were separated…” he started. “Did you… was there anyone else? It’s okay if there was. I just want to know the truth.”

“No. There wasn’t anyone else.” My heart began to race. “Was there anyone else for you?”

“No.” He smiled again. “And I’m happy there wasn’t anyone else for you, either.”

“I thought you said it’d be okay if there was?”

“Well, it wouldn’t have been,” he admitted. “But I would’ve gotten over it. Eventually. Maybe.”

“You, Sky Easton, are an eternal mystery.” I sighed dramatically.

“And you, Raven Williams, are the love of my life.” His words came out calm, as if he wasn’t saying anything out of the ordinary.

I couldn’t help myself as I pulled him in for another kiss. But this time, I wasn’t interested in soft and slow. I craved passion and heat, and the way my tongue slid into Sky’s mouth was hopefully enough for him to get the message.

He seemed to catch my drift as his tongue began to explore my mouth. He brought his hands down toward my thighs, spreading them apart with his palms. Then, rolling over, he moved from beside me and climbed on top of me.

Our kiss continued, even as Sky ran his hand down my side. I wanted to tell him to slide his hands beneath my shirt. I wanted to beg for him to touch me, skin to skin.

I was desperate for it. It was like I’d been lost in the desert, and Sky was my only source of water, source of life.

But it was hard for me to beg for anything, with the way his tongue was down my throat. I took short breaths between our kisses, not wanting to break it off, not wanting it to ever end. And eventually, I felt his hands slide beneath my shirt, his fingertips soon finding my sensitive nipples.

He rubbed his digits against the nubs, and I gasped in response.

“Does it feel good?” he asked, his fingers repeating the motion.

“Yes,” I whimpered.

“Did you touch yourself?” he whispered. “When we weren’t together?”

I shook my head as a no.

And Sky beamed before he lifted my shirt off my shoulders, pulling it away from my skin. “Good. That means this next part is going to be really hard for you.”

“What next part -- fuck!” I moaned as he answered my question with his hips, grinding them down against my own.

“You’re so pretty like that…” he murmured. “When you’re beneath me, with your mouth open, just like that…”

Sky bent down to place tender kisses all along my neck, his thrusts not letting up for even a moment. Every time he moved, it brought me closer to the edge, and I closed my eyes as I tried to concentrate on not coming for him while we both still had our pants on.

And just when I thought I had a handle on myself, Sky pushed against me even more roughly.

And I felt like I was ready to blow.

“Sky… fuck… I’m going to…” I warned.

“No.”

“No?” I panted. “You can’t… you can’t just say no…”

“I don’t want you to come yet. I can say no.” He smirked down at me. “Are you going to come even when I don’t want you to?”

“I don’t want to come if you don’t want me to, but if you keep going like that, how am I supposed to stop it... Sky!” I moaned his name as he sucked my nipple between his lips.

His tongue licked around the nub, and I started to tremble beneath him with a mixture of pleasure and absolute need.

How was I going to keep myself from coming?

I closed my eyes again as I tried to steady my breaths. I just needed to send my mind somewhere else. I just needed to think about work. I needed to think about the paperwork on my desk, the venue I’d yet to book, the cake, the decorations, whether I needed to find a DJ for the next wedding on my schedule--

“I love you,” Sky whispered, his hips still pressing against mine. “I love you so much, Raven.”

After that, I was a goner.

I trembled again as I started to come, my hands gripping Sky’s shoulders as my orgasm moved through me. When I was finished, I cracked an eye open at Sky, curious to see his reaction.

“You came.” He smiled. “You weren’t supposed to do that.”

“It’s not my fault! I was doing well with holding it in until you told me you loved me,” I explained. “If you say something like that in the middle of sex, of course, I’m going to come.”

“It’s okay. I don’t blame you for coming.” He sighed. “But since you came in your clothes, we’re going to need to get you out of those, aren’t we?”

Without having a chance to reply, I felt him shifting away from me, his hands going toward my pants. He pulled them down to my knees, along with my boxers, before taking off both items of clothing, entirely.

The next thing I knew, Sky was fucking me, rough. The pace of his thrusts was merciless, and yet, I loved every second of it.

This was what I wanted.

When Sky took me like this, when he looked me in the eye and smashed his mouth into mine, when our bodies were so intertwined that I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began, I never felt more like I belonged to him.

And I knew that I wanted to feel this way with Sky for the rest of my life.

When his thrusts came to an end, he groaned against my ear. I rested my hands on his chest as he came, loving the way his heart sped up while he throbbed inside me. When Sky was finished, he pulled out of me before rolling onto the other side of the bed.

“Good?” he asked, the word coming out breathless.

“Always good,” I replied, with a smile. “And Sky?”

“Yeah?”

“I think… I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?” He turned toward me with curious eyes.

“You know what? It’s bad timing,” I said, with a shake of my head. “Never mind. Maybe I’ll ask you in a year or two.”

“Hmm. Or maybe I’ll ask you in six months.” He chuckled. “What makes you think you get to do the asking, anyway? Just because you’re a wedding planner?”

“That kind of comes with the territory, doesn’t it?”

“No way.” He chuckled again. “And you better look out, Mr. Wedding Planner, because when I decide to pop the question, you’re never going to see it coming.”