Animate Me (33 page)

My breath catches. She didn’t just say that.

“You want me to woo you?”

“Yes, but for the record, I don’t want to meet any small relatives yet, and I’d like to take the ballroom dancing lesson with you. I don’t want you dancing with some middle aged woman in Lycra.”

I grin. She wants me to woo her. “So a week of woo…I think that can be arranged.”

“Good, and
woo week
starts now. I want just happy times—no heavy conversations. We can have those talks next week. Just fun for now, okay?”

I nod enthusiastically despite my anxiety of the looming Arnold and B-Girl reveal. This isn’t the time to worry about worst-case scenarios.

I reflect back over all she’s said and I can’t believe it…she wants to be with
me
.

“So to start, can you read this to me?” She has a coy smile as she reaches into her back pocket and pulls out something folded up. I watch her beautiful fingers pull the folds apart and press it out against the bedspread. When it’s as smooth as possible she hands it to me.

I hold it up in the dim light, and recognize my writing. It’s the note card I wrote and taped on the mirror, just after I called her this morning. It’s written in bold letters, all in caps.

TODAY IS THE DAY I WILL TELL BROOKE THAT I’M IN LOVE WITH HER

Oh, my. Here we go…

“Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me where you’ll never, never have to worry about grown up things again.” ~Peter Pan
^xix

M
y fingers are trembling, as though they’re trying to hold up the weight of all of the longing I’ve ever had for Brooke. “You took this off the bathroom mirror.” I observe quietly, full of apprehension.

“Yes, I did,” she admits, not looking the slightest bit guilty.

“I would’ve told you, you know,” I protest. “The day isn’t over yet.”

“Are you going to read it to me or not?” she teases.

“But I thought we weren’t going to talk about anything heavy.”

“This isn’t heavy. If you mean it, it’s full of light and happiness…the most beautiful feeling ever. It’s completely woo-worthy.” She says with her eyes closed and a dreamy smile.

“Oh, I mean it,” I affirm solemnly, trying to work up the courage to look her in the eyes.

“Then tell me; read it,” she encourages. “I want to hear you say it.”

I hold up the note card but I don’t need to read it. The sentiment is etched in my memory. “Today is the day I will tell Brooke that I’m in love with her.” I curl the card in my hand.

She grins happily, taking the note back and pressing it against her chest, right over her heart. “So are you going to tell me? I’m really ready to hear it.”

I look into her eyes and try to be brave. “I’m in love with you, Brooke,” I whisper so softly I’m not sure she’s heard the words.

“Like you mean it,” she pushes playfully.

I can’t help but laugh, she is so infuriatingly demanding. “I’m in love with you, Brooke,” I state with strength and confidence, “completely, utterly, overwhelmingly in love with you.”

She scoots closer and places her hand over my pounding heart.

“You’ve just made me so happy.” She is beaming brightly, all the earlier exhaustion gone.

“Can I ask you something?” I ask carefully.

“Okay, but remember, no heavy questions.”

“Just one…please?”

“Oh, okay.” She bites her lip and watches me.

“Do you think you could ever fall in love with me?”

She smiles, like she is holding a secret in her hands. “Yes, I do. Absolutely.

How do you know I haven’t already, Mr. Woo?”

My huge grin comes from the inside out. I take her hand in mine.
Oh wow, is this really happening?
I don’t want push to ask for more details. This is already so much more than I could have hoped for.

“Why don’t I show you how I feel about you?” she offers.

“Show not tell?”

She nods as she curves into me. “I want to make love to you.”

Good lord. This woman…what she does to me…

“But
I’m
supposed to woo you,” I point out. I think I remember the woo list saying I was supposed to take control. But my head’s spinning, so I’m not completely sure.

“It’s a two-way woo,” she whispers right before she settles against me and presses her lips to mine in the sweetest kiss. “You’ll make love to me too.”

Wow…who cares who’s in control…

“Make love,” I repeat smiling, noting how much better that sounds than sex or screwing. “Yeah, that sounds perfect to me.”

I study her, noting a subtle shift with everything about her. Layers are peeling back like pages fluttering in the wind. Her heart is opening; I just know it.

“I’ve never felt this way before, Nathan.” She says softly, as she starts to crawl over me.

“Never?” I ask, my heart soaring.

“No….so this is just you, and me, and this feeling. Let’s go slow. I want to feel everything,” she whispers in my ear before feathering kisses down my neck. She lifts herself up and straddles my hips right over where I’m already aroused for her. “Yes,” she whispers as she slowly rocks, her gaze tender yet hungry. “You want me.”

“I always want you, Brooke…always.” I breathe her scent, and feel her heat as the warmth radiates through me.

Brooke, don’t you know how you’ve turned my world upside down?

I watch her slowly unbutton my shirt. She is ceremonious; as each button pulls apart she leans down and kisses the skin that’s revealed. My hands rest on her thighs, slowly stroking, every touch fanning the fire. When she finishes the bottom button, she spreads the shirt open and runs her hands over my chest.

“I love touching you. I love how strong you are,” she says softly as she pushes the shirt off my shoulders. I can feel my neck and chest flush from the way she’s admiring me.

“Can we take off your shirt?” I ask. The way I’m lying under her, I need her help. “I want to see you too.”

As she starts to slowly lift it off, I run my hands up her sides. It’s better than sliding across silk because of the warmth and life just beneath my fingertips. She starts to lower one of her bra straps and I stop her.

“Slow,” I remind her. I pull her into my arms and kiss her slowly, letting my hands wander. “You’re so beautiful…so beautiful, and I can’t believe you’re here with me.”

“Well, where else would I be?” she teases as she steps off the bed, and pushes her jeans off. I watch her. Wearing only her very sheer bra and panties, she climbs back over me.

I’ve daydreamed this exact scene countless times. It’s my very own Victoria Secret catalog come to life—only Brooke’s body is much sexier than those women. I rest my hands on her soft hips, feeling so grateful that I’m the one she wants. “You know, I thought I’d lost you. I thought you had chosen to be with him. And now you’re here with me…and…well…I just can’t believe it.”

“Well then, I’m going to keep showing you how I feel until you believe everything.”

Her seductive smile really gets me going. I don’t know how much more of this slow stuff I can take.

I think Brooke’s aware I’m beyond excited. She smiles knowingly as she undoes my fly and starts to pull my jeans and my boxers down. Following the denim, she kisses another trail down my hips and thighs, only detouring to give my erection several long licks from base to tip. I shiver with pleasure.

“Brooke.” I moan as I watch her unhook her bra and pull until it falls away. My hands reach up to cup her breasts as we gaze at each other, having entire conversations with our eyes. It occurs to me that this is the least awkward I’ve ever felt. I just want to please her, to show her what we can be. Her nipples harden under my fingertips and the softest blush moves across her cheeks.

“Oh, Nathan, the way you look at me. What are you thinking?”

“That I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

“And why is that?” She knows, but I sense that she needs to hear it tonight as I hold her.

“Because I found the girl I’m meant to be with,” I say with certainty. “A girl so amazing that I couldn’t have conjured her in my wildest dreams. But you’re here, and you’re real…and you want me.”

“Yes, I do,” she says smiling. Her warm hand grasps me firmly, with gliding movements, fluid and smooth. The visual of her hand gripping me, her full breasts, wet lips and dreamy eyes, is just too much.

And with that, I roll so I am on top of her, pressing down hard. We move together, grabbing, rubbing and kissing like teenagers making out for the first time. But then she pulls her luscious thighs apart and asks for more.

And I want more too. She’s taught me that one does not need to supplicate to truly express devotion. I pull off her panties and settle between her legs so I can taste her again. My cheek grazes her inner thigh as I move in closer to kneel at the sacred altar of Brooke and prepare to worship. My lips hold the memory of every touch that drove her wild. So my tongue moves over her softness, as her hips roll in response. Her hands twist in my hair, pulling me closer, and she whispers my name over and over and over again.

When she cries out I press my palms inside her knees and gently push her open that much more. As she gasps for breath, I press one final kiss over her and look up into her eyes.

“Beautiful,” I whisper, feeling even more confident.

“Nathan, please,” she motions for me, her arms reaching. “I need you inside of me…
now
.”

Her need is my sexual call to arms, and I’m ready. Every sensation sparks as I breathlessly move over her. My need to take her is primal and raw like I’m a caveman getting ready to claim his woman. “Do you belong to me now, Brooke?” I surprise myself by asking, gasping as I grind against her.

She nods, the corners of her eyes twist with mirth, but I sense she likes caveman Nathan. “I’m only yours,” she says with satisfaction. “No one else.” Her eyes are hooded. This is really turning me on.

“Mine,” I kind of growl, playing it up as I loom over her. I can tell this is turning her on too.

“Is that what you want?” she asks, pulling me closer.

“It’s what I’ve always wanted,” I assure her. Meanwhile my arousal has taken on a life of it’s own, probing for heat sensors, searching for the happy place of love. My mind twists as every science fiction proclamation passes through my conscious…stuff about the
force being with me,
boarding the mothership
, and
boldly going where I’ve never gone before
. Making love is a science fiction-worthy, spiritual experience.

Brooke wants me.

Me.

With our eyes locked she takes me in her grasp and brings me to her. “I need this so much,” she gasps. “I need
you,
Nathan.”

A surge of pride and protectiveness moves through me. I want to take care of Brooke in every way. I want to give her what she needs.

I still for a moment and take her face in my hands.

“I need you too,” I admit without hesitation.

As I gaze at her I see tears pooling in the corners of her beautiful eyes. But they aren’t sad tears. I can tell.

“Nathan?”

“Yes?”

She pauses and takes a deep breath, as if she’s fighting to be brave.

Be brave, Brooke.

“I…”

I wait patiently, stroking her cheeks. I’m still anxious to be inside of her, but that can wait a moment. I sense this is very important.

“I love you,” she says gently, but with absolute certainty. She’s sweet and sincere, with adoration reflected in her eyes.

She really loves me.
For me, loving her was a given. For Brooke, who had closed her heart long ago, this is big…really big.

“You love me,” I whisper. She may as well have waved her magic wand at me, and chanted “lumos” for how I’ve lit up inside. I gaze at her and realize that she’s lit up too.

Our kiss is tender and raw as I pull her tightly into my arms. It’s time. With laser focus I position and push, slowly sliding myself home as she opens herself to me. She is all warmth and wetness as she arches up, moaning loud. Every part of her that presses, or wraps around me is an embrace. Our hips are moving, the push and pull of our bodies together. We are electrified with the sheer emotion of our hearts connecting.

I don’t know if I was prepared for how those three words would overcome me.

‘Cause I’m in love. Big love. Real love. The best love.

I’m overwhelmed with this fireball of passion. And Brooke holds on while I take her for our wild ride. It feels like we are soaring on Disneyland’s Space Mountain as I push into her, wide eyes as the stars blur past us in the thrilling darkness.

My hands grasp her curvy hips, pulling her closer as I fill her again and again. Her expression is sublime, a hungry gaze, pink cheeks and parted cherry lips. She is my wingless angel, my Red Hot love.

“Oh, Nathan,” she moans, as her legs wrap tighter around me. There is a current flowing through our heated kisses, each deeper and more passionate. I am fighting the urge to completely consume her as I lick and nip my way across her breasts and up her neck.

“Is this what you want, Brooke?” I ask, because I want to get the
making love
part of this right. My heart’s so full that I’m pretty sure this is exactly what it should be. I know for sure, it’s what I always needed.

“Yes.” She moans. “Yes…this is love,” she whispers. Her hands suddenly reach upwards, grasping up into the air. I feel her opening, every part of her body deliciously soft and spread. But then the trembling starts and I realize this is a different kind of climax. I hold her in my arms tightly as I push deeper and tell her that I love her over and over.

Something in the way she finally cries out, a soulful sound as her body arcs up, sends me over the edge too. And this time it’s Brooke, drawing me out with her words of love as I soar. I call out her name before I fall into the warm embrace of her open arms.

Wow

…
just wow.

She’s a part of me now, and I finally understand how true love feels.

• • •

The next morning, we both oversleep from the exhaustion of the roller coaster of the day before. Getting up is a rushed affair. She has an important phone conference at nine-thirty, and has to go home to shower and change so I heat up a Pop Tart for her while she pulls on her clothes. She accepts it with an arched brow, but I know she’s silently pleased. I mean, who doesn’t secretly love Pop Tarts?