Scattered Colors (23 page)

“I love you.” I turned away from our initials to stare up at the boy who had given me back my colors. He gazed at me with wide, astounded eyes. “I love you. You’re so amazing and kind and wonderful, and you helped me more than you could ever imagine,” I rambled. “And I tried not to tell you. I was so scared you’d freak out, but I do. I love you, Parker. I—”

Before another word could tumble from my mouth, Parker’s lips crashed down on mine in the most emotionally charged kiss we’d ever experienced. As his lips danced across mine, that tantalizing ring of his driving me crazy, I felt every ounce of his love for me. However, it still didn’t come close to comparing to how wonderful it felt to hear the words out loud. “I love you, too, Freya,” he breathed against my mouth, his palms cupping my cheeks as he rested his forehead against mine. “I love you so damn much, baby.”

My chest swelled with warmth as my heart softened with his words. It was in that moment together, down on our beach with the brilliance of the sun sinking from the sky behind us, that I couldn’t even comprehend the thought of my life without him in it. Without me even realizing it was happening, Parker had become my world. I couldn’t imagine ever wanting someone as much and as deeply as I wanted him.

“I’m ready,” I whispered, wrapping my fingers around his wrists so I could pull his hands from my face. “I’m ready, Parker.” And I was. I had no doubts, no concerns or fears. I could look at him with one hundred percent certainty and
know
with every fiber of my being that I would never love another man as fiercely as I loved him.

“You’re sure?” The uncertainly in his gaze was drowned out by the passion that turned his chocolate orbs to near black.

“Without a doubt.”

As Freya calmly led me up the stairs to her bedroom, I tried my best to keep myself from throwing her over my shoulder and running the rest of the way. Every ounce of my blood pumped with my desire for her.

She loves me
.

It was almost unfathomable that this beautiful, perfect creature could ever find me worthy enough to love, but I must have done something right in another life because she did. For some unknown reason, I was the lucky bastard she fell for and I swore right then I was going to do everything in my power to protect her.

“Will your dad be home later?” I asked as we crossed the threshold into her room. God, I hoped he wasn’t about to walk through the door soon. After craving the girl in front of me for so long, I was afraid I’d break down in tears if we were interrupted.

“He’s at a conference,” she panted, trailing kisses up my neck and across the length of my jaw. Thinking was damn near impossible when she touched me like that. “He’ll be gone all weekend.”

In my mind, my fist pumped the air at the thought of having Freya all to myself. I wanted to take my time, go slow so as not to hurt her. I wanted her first time to be as special as possible, and I basked in the knowledge that I was granted the time to make that happen.

Oh so slowly, we undressed each other until there was nothing separating us, nothing but her soft, warm skin pressing against mine. As I laid her down on the bed, I couldn’t believe I was laying my eyes on something so beautiful. Every single inch of Freya was flawless.

“Parker,” she cried as I scattered kisses across her cheeks, her forehead, her eyelids, everything I could reach. I couldn’t get enough of her. God, I loved her.

“Shh, sweetheart. I know what you need. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Her eyes opened and focused on me. The brilliant cerulean color was shining so brightly, so beautifully that my heart momentarily stopped. I had done that. I brought back the light in her eyes.

“You could never hurt me.” Her voice held such reverence that I made a silent promise right then to always do my best to keep her faith in me. “I love you so much, Parker.”

“I love you, Freya. No one will ever love you as much as I do.”

No one will ever love you as much as I do.

His words resonated deep inside of me, filling my heart so full I was afraid it would burst. My small gasps filled the silence of my bedroom at the feel of Parker’s hard length pressing gently into me. The expression on his face was one of near pain as he moved ever so slowly, taking tremendous care not to hurt me. I knew it was impossible. I’d talked with my friends enough about it over the years to know there was no escaping the pain that came with losing your virginity but seeing Parker biting down on his bottom lip, fighting against every impulse in his body to prevent any discomfort, only made me love him even more.

“Are you okay?” he panted once he’d managed to push a few inches into me.

“Baby, just do it.” The stretching of him inside of me was beginning to hurt, causing me to clench my teeth against the burn, but I surmised it was like pulling off a Band-Aid. Once it was done, everything would be fine; a little initial pain and it would be over. “Just do it fast.”

He pushed up on his forearms to look down at me, his chest rising and falling with exertion. I never would have imagined it would take so much for a guy to
stay still
when it came to having sex. Parker was breathing like he’d just run a marathon. “Are you sure?”

I nodded quickly and gripped onto his biceps, my nails digging into his skin so hard I was sure I drew blood. With one hard shove, Parker buried himself inside me completely. The burning discomfort was so much more intense than I had imagined, startling a pained yelp from me as soon as he breached that thin barrier.

“Jesus, baby, are you okay?”

I clenched my eyes closed, focusing on breathing in and out deeply. He stayed perfectly still as the seconds dragged by, and finally the sensation gave way to something altogether different. “Move, Parker,
please
.” My hips lifted from the bed in an attempt to set some friction between us, dragging a guttural moan from deep within his chest. “I need you to move,” I whimpered. As if testing my limits, Parker pulled nearly all the way out before sliding back in on a slow, smooth thrust.

“
Freya.
” I’d never heard him say my name with so much reverence. “You feel so good, baby.” As if he was reading the cues of my body perfectly, his hips picked up the pace, sending fissions of pleasure through me with each single downward stroke. I’d never felt anything so extreme, so profound in all my life. “Say it…say you love me.”

“I love you,” I gasped as that feeling deep, deep down in my belly began to coil tighter.

“Again.”

“I love you, Parker.”

“Say you’re mine. No one else’s.”

His eyes darkened further with an acute need. Whether it was for my body or my reassurance of how I felt for him, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was I couldn’t deny him anything at that very moment. “I’m yours.”

“No one else’s. You have to say it, gorgeous.” His voice came off pleading as he began to thrust even harder. I could only assume from how tense his muscles had grown that he was as close as I was.

“No one, Parker. Only you. I love you.”

“God, Freya. You feel perfect. You were made for me.” At his words, something inside of me snapped. His name came out in a long, low moan as my body trembled and quaked beneath him. Parker’s movements grew jerky and uncoordinated as the very last shudder of bliss left my body. Just moments later, he growled out my name as he came to his own release before collapsing on top of me. I reveled in the feel of his warmth as every part of him blanketed every part of me, feeling deliciously achy and exhausted.

What felt like a lifetime later, he pushed up, straightening his arms so he could see my face, his own a mask of concern. “Are you all right, baby? Did I hurt you?”

A wide, blissed-out grin spread across my face as I pushed up to kiss the frown away from his lips, taking my time to toy with the ring in his lip before pulling away. “I’m perfect,” I sighed.

“You definitely are.” He chuckled as he grinned down at me with a look of self-assuredness on his face.

I gave his shoulder a playful slap as he rolled off me. I made a move for the edge of the bed in order to grab my clothes and re-dress. However, Parker had other ideas. My back hit the wall of his firm chest as he jerked me down, wrapping me in his arms like he never wanted to let go. “Let me just hold you like this, just for a little while.”

“Okay,” I whispered as I snuggled deeper into his chest, feeling more cherished than I had in all of my life.

“You have no idea how much I love you, Freya,” he mumbled in my ear as sleep slowly began to tug at my consciousness. “You’re my whole world.”

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months as the bond between Parker and me continued to grow. We grasped at every solitary second we could manage, never once taking for granted the opportunity to come together when we were alone. Even with people around, Parker still found reasons to continuously touch me: a brush of my hair here, a slide of his fingers down my arm there. Any and every chance he got, some part of his body was touching mine. It secretly thrilled me that he seemed to be just as addicted as I was. I never thought when I moved to Sommerspoint that I could be as happy as I was with the turn my life had taken. I had a great—albeit small—circle of friends with Stella and Michael, my relationship with my father was getting back on track, and I had the most wonderful, thoughtful, loving boyfriend a girl could ask for.