Love's Destiny (Love Trilogy #2) (21 page)

He lay on me for a few minutes, our bodies still joined, both of us panting from the exertion. And then he rolled to his side and cradled me against his chest.

“Tyler?” I asked after a few minutes of silence, not sure if he’d fallen asleep.

“Hmm?” he replied sleepily

“I love you.”

I woke just before dawn, the grey light of early morning pouring through the windows. I looked down at Destiny sleeping in my arms and realized without a doubt that this was the happiest moment of my life. Last night all my dreams came true.

I had hesitated before going to her room, despite the intimate moments we shared upon first seeing each other I still wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if I could take her rejection again, not this time.

But she had said “I’ll see you later” not “goodnight”. That seemed like an invitation to come to her. She could be waiting for me. I couldn’t live the rest of my life wondering if she had, wondering if I’d missed my chance with her.

I decided it was worth the risk and after everyone else went to bed I crept to her room, something I had imagined doing many times when we had lived in this house together. And just like I’d always dreamed she met me at the door, welcomed me into her room and took me in her arms. But what we shared was beyond anything I had ever dreamed, anything I had ever experienced.

It was so much more than physical pleasure, it was a pouring out of emotions a merging of souls. We had forged an overwhelming everlasting connection, confirmed by the last words she’d whispered to me before drifting off to sleep. She had said she loved me.

I had waited years to hear those words, but realized now that the wait had been worth it. When we were younger we were not prepared to share ourselves in the way we could now. There had always been obstacles between us, but now we were both ready and there was nothing to stand in our way.

The grey light began to turn orange as the sun rose outside the windows and I realized that I needed to slip back to my room before the rest of the family woke. I tried to slide my arm from under Destiny but as I did she began to stir.

“Tyler?” she murmured reaching for me with her eyes still closed.

“I’m here.” I whispered settling back down beside her.

She smiled as she turned toward me slowly opening her eyes and reaching up to place her hand against my face.

“Good morning” she smiled and leaned forward to gently press a kiss to my lips.

I had meant to simply return a good morning kiss but was overcome with need at the feel of her lips against mine. I placed my hand against her lower back urging her body closer to me as I hardened the kiss parting her lips with my tongue. She opened to me just as she had done the night
before meeting my passion
and kissing me back with an intensity that took my breath away.

Then she brought her hands to my chest pushing me back and breaking our kiss. She pushed me down so that I lay flat on my back but before I could question her motives she was on top of me, straddling my waist as she brought her mouth back down to mine.

We were still naked and I could feel the wetness between her legs as she slid slowly back and forth against my erection rocking her hips slowly as she ran kisses down my neck, shoulders and chest.

She had nearly brought me to the edge when she finally reached between us and guided me inside her.

“Oh God Destiny I love you!” I cried as she took me deep inside of her.

“I love you too.” She said before bringing her mouth back down to mine and kissing me again.

I ran my fingers through her hair gripping it tightly as she rode faster, harder and tried to hold on as long as I could, but couldn’t help falling over the edge she’d already brought me to.

I quickly pulled her away and off of me before pouring into her and saw the look of shock on her face at my sudden halt.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t help…” I tried to explain. “I mean I know that last night I did, but I never have before…”

Her eye’s widened in shock.

“No I don’t mean I haven’t… of course I have… just not… not without protection.” I stumbled over the words not sure how to explain and not sure why I suddenly felt so embarrassed by what I was trying to say.

“Oh.” She relaxed “It’s ok. I’m on the pill” she assured me.

I felt a mixture of relief and confusion. I hadn’t even thought about protection last night and was relieved that she was prepared… but why was she prepared? Who else was she sleeping with? Did I have a right to ask?

I didn’t have the chance to ask. We heard a door open in the hall outside her room and both realized that her family must be waking up.

“That’s probably my mom.” She whispered. “She always wakes up early to make breakfast.”

I nodded and watched silently as Destiny got up from the bed and went to her dresser grabbing an oversized t-shirt to slip on before she moved to the door. She hesitated at the door pressing her ear against it to listen, and then slowly opened the door to peer into the hallway.

“Okay, I think she’s made it downstairs.” She whispered back to me and I realized that meant it was time for me to sneak back to my room.

I slipped on my pants and walked to the door where Destiny stood. She leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss me softly.

“See you at breakfast.” She whispered smiling seductively and I realized if I didn’t leave right then I would be tempted to take her again.

I quietly made my way out of her room and down the hall. I had just reached my bedroom door and had opened it when the door to her parent’s room just up the hall opened.

“Morning Ty, you’re up early.” I heard Mike’s voice behind me.

I spun around to face him hoping my face wasn’t betraying my nerves.

“Oh yeah I was just going to take a shower.” I replied quickly turning toward the hall bathroom and hoping it looked like I was just leaving my room and not just returning to it.

“Alright, see you downstairs.” He said easily and left me standing in the hall.

I decided a shower sounded good, retrieved some fresh clothes from my room and headed for the bathroom.

When I came downstairs I found Destiny in the kitchen with her parents. Destiny was helping her mom dice up veggies for omelets. Mike was sitting at the bar drinking coffee and reading the paper.

“Morning Ty, did you sleep well?” Katherine asked me as I entered the kitchen.

“Best night of my life.” I replied instantly.

Destiny dropped the knife she was using to chop peppers and it clanged loudly against the cutting board. We all looked toward her at the sound and she glanced up meeting my eyes quickly and smiling before looking back down at her work.

I thought I saw Mike and Katherine exchange a weird look but didn’t have time to consider it because Chance came bounding into the kitchen. I spent the rest of the morning answering Chance’s endless questions about the Marines and listening to his stories about his three favorite things; baseball, girls and school, in that order.

After breakfast Chance and I cleared the table and washed dishes just like we used to. Destiny left with her dad to go see his gallery and Katherine went into town to do some shopping.

After we’d cleaned the kitchen Chance and I spent a few hours in the batting cages, finally breaking for lunch. Destiny and Mike were back by then and we had another family meal together in the kitchen.

While I had longed for family time and had come home just for this sort of thing I found myself wishing I could be alone with Destiny. It was hard to keep my distance. I wanted to put my arm around her, to kiss her, to claim her as mine, but wasn’t sure how she would feel about that in front of her family and decided I needed to wait until we had a chance to talk about it and see how she felt.

Finally as the day drew to a close I found a moment alone with her while her parents prepared dinner in the kitchen and Chance left my side for the first time that day to take a phone call.

We had settled in the living room to watch TV, Chance sitting between Destiny and I on the couch. I could have kissed Katherine when she came to the door to tell Chance he had a call. He jumped up from the couch and raced to the other room to take the call and Katherine headed back for the kitchen, leaving Destiny and I alone for the first time that day.

I scooted closer to her on the couch suddenly unsure, but she alleviated my anxiety immediately by wrapping her arms around me and kissing me passionately the moment her family had left the room.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all day!” she exclaimed when we broke our kiss.

“You have no idea” I responded breathlessly and dragged her against me again for another kiss, not sure how long we’d have.

It wasn’t long enough, Chance was back in no time announcing that dinner was ready. Luckily his footsteps had been loud enough in the foyer that we’d been able to pull apart before being caught. I decided we definitely needed to talk about telling her family what was going on between us. Then I realized first we needed to talk about what exactly it was that was going on.

I anxiously poured over my fears all through dinner, wondering how she felt about what was happening between us. I knew she had one last semester of school and would be going back to New York after the holidays, and I was about to be deployed for who knew how long. Would she wait for me? I still had to tell her that I was leaving. But first I had to know how she felt. Was this just a holiday fling for her?

Surely not, she’d said she loved me. She knew I loved her. She must know that this was more than just a passing way to spend this short time together. She wanted more too, didn’t she? As nervous as I was to ask the questions, I knew I needed the answers.  “Is it alright if Tyler and I go out for a while?” Destiny asked as we cleared the table and I could have jumped for joy at the prospect.

“Of course.” Katherine said, “You go on ahead Chance can help me clean this up.”

Chance looked disappointed to be left behind but I couldn’t find it in me to feel sorry for him. I needed this time with Destiny.

“I thought we could go for a walk on the beach.” Destiny told me as we walked into the foyer together. “It’ll probably be cold, but…”

“Sounds perfect.” I assured her, “I’ll just run up and grab us a couple jackets.”

She was waiting for me downstairs by the door and I raced down the steps two at a time eager to finally have her to myself again.

“I grabbed a blanket too.” I told her as I helped her into her coat.

“Good idea. Let’s go!” she said taking my hand and pulling me toward the door.

It was a short walk to the beach. Her parent’s house was ocean front property and there were several paths leading down the cliffs to the shore below. We held hands as we climbed down to the beach in silence and then walked a little ways until the house was no longer in view.

After a few minutes we reached a stretch of quiet beach where all we could see were the cliffs behind us and the ocean in front. Destiny spread the blanket on the sand and then turned toward me wrapping her arms around my neck.

“I finally have you all to myself.” She laughed as she leaned up to kiss me.

“We wouldn’t have to hide like this if your parents knew about us.” I said reluctantly.

Part of me wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and kiss her senseless, but I knew there were things we needed to talk about. She let her arms drop to her sides and looked away from me. My heart sank.

“I love you Destiny.” I whispered

“I love you too.” My hopes lifted but she was still looking away.

“I know you have to go back to school soon, but it’s only one semester and then…”

“And then?” she asked finally meeting my eyes again.

“I don’t know, I mean, aren’t you coming back to California after you graduate?”

“I don’t know, maybe, I haven’t figured all that out yet.” She said

“But now, after everything that’s happened…” I trailed off, afraid to learn that last night had not meant to her what it had meant to me.

“After everything that’s happened… I have a lot to think about. This is all happening so fast Tyler. I hadn’t expected you to be here, I hadn’t expected any of this.”

“Destiny, I love you. I have loved you my whole life. Maybe this is happening fast for you, but I’ve been waiting for this moment for years.”

“I love you too Tyler. I do. And I want…”

“What? What do you want?” I asked grabbing her arms and pulling her up against me.

“You” she sighed and for the moment it was enough.

I crushed my mouth down to hers ready to feel the passion we’d ignited between us again. Ready to feel her in my arms and to remind her of what we had, what we could have.

I lowered her down to the blanket on the sand and came down on top of her supporting most of my weight on my arms braced on each side of her. I kissed her mouth, nibbling and sucking on her bottom lip. She ran her hands along my back pulling me against her as she spread her legs to cradle me between them.