Just Can't Get Enough // Depeche Mode

Kyra

Pete's fingers travel across my waist and around to my back. His lips continue nipping against mine but it's not enough.

Having his arms around me is my literal teenage fantasy. I daydreamed about him doing exactly this anytime he was at the house with Jeff. I kept dark sunglasses on when we swam in the pool so I could sneak looks over at Pete, his abs on display wet and glistening in the sunlight. I imagined he'd look over at me, not be able to hold himself back, and rush over to take me in his arms.

By the time I kissed him in this cabin, on this very couch, I'd built him up to be the ultimate dream-come-true. And it was better than my daydreams. Nothing could compare. Here we are, now, back where it all started, and I have no interest in holding back. I've held back long enough.

I press my mouth harder against his. My fingers thread into his hair and pull. I guess I pull harder than I intend to because Pete flinches.

"Sorry." I manage to get the apology out even as I grip the back of his head, manhandling him.

"Baby," he mutters. I only barely register that he's speaking to me rather than making a declaration of passion. But it doesn't stop me. He's still kissing me. I've got the back of his head in one hand. My other wraps around his bicep trying to move it around my back in a tighter hold. But Pete is stubborn and reaches up to grip my shoulders, pushing me away.

"Ky, wait."

He gets my attention with this rejection. I lean back, panting. Disappointed. I avert my eyes, looking at the rise and fall of his chest. He's panting too. It couldn't have been that bad.

"Look at me."

I shake my head. "I can't."

"I didn't reject you."

"You literally did. You pushed me away and told me to stop."

"No, I said wait, not stop." He tips my chin up with his finger. "I only wanted to beg you to let me take you upstairs so we can lock the door. Just in case everyone comes back. This crew has a tendency to walk in on couples in the act."

I wince. "Oh, right." I'm as embarrassed about misreading him as I was when I thought he was rejecting my advances. But I do recall all of us walking into the cabin when Micah and his girlfriend, Charlie–short for Charlotte–first got together. Also up here in Salt Creek.

"I just realized how many of us got together up here. There must be something in the Salt Creek water." I laugh.

"You're just realizing that now? I was petrified to make another trip up here knowing the legends. Every time I'm up here some new couple gets together."

"You were afraid to get together with me?" I admit I'm pouting, but his admission stings. I was afraid to see him thinking he wouldn't want to be with me and I'd be hurt all over again.

"No, baby. I was scared to death you'd be up here with some guy and I'd have to watch you take a turn at falling in love."

I soften at his vulnerable admission. "Same. I wouldn't have been able to handle you up here with a girl. Or watching you meet some floozy for a mountain fling."

He rubs a hand along my cheek. "No one else could ever compare to you. You win. There's no
other competition, Ky."

I lean in to kiss him. We get caught up in each other again but before I'm able to shove Pete against the couch and take things further, he pulls back, grunts something unintelligible and slides me off his lap. I don't have time to say a word before he's on his feet and tossing me over his shoulder. Pete hauls me up the stairs and to his room at the end of the hall where he deposits me on the bed with a gentle toss. I bounce on the mattress with a giggle as he throws himself on top of me.

"Did you lock the door?" I ask as I start to pull his shirt off by the hem.

"Shoot," he says, hopping off the bed and back to the door, closing it, locking it, and rushing back to me. Before he climbs back over me, I watch in awe as he reaches behind his head, grabbing his shirt by the neck and pulls it off, his eyes never leaving mine.

"Hot." I declare.

"Yeah, you are," Pete smirks. Then he climbs back over me, caging me in with his arms. He dips down to kiss me tenderly, a juxtaposition to the heat burning between us. I run my fingers along the hard ridges and planes of his muscular frame, the six-pack under my fingers driving me wild. Pete groans and drops his forehead to rest against mine.

"Damn, baby. Having you touch me..." he rolls his head against mine as we're still touching. "It's unreal. It's a dream. I can't believe you're in my arms. I don't want to let you go."

"You don't have to. I don't want you to."

The intense eye-contact that I always read about in romance novels kicks in. His eyes tell a story, one of longing and need. One of years spent wishing but not believing it could ever be. A story of new possibilities and dreams made real.

"I'm yours," I say, a confession more than anything else. I've always been his, even when I would have denied it. Even when I let him go.

Pete's eyes flutter closed. He breathes in a sigh, one that he's held for years. I feel it to the depth of my soul. It heals both of us.

"You're mine," he kisses me while slowly peeling away my clothes. This should feel rushed, it's only been a day since we've been back in the same orbit, but it doesn't. It feels like a long time coming. It feels like the very cells in my body were just waiting for this day. A predetermined event.

Our legs intertwine as we become a tangle of limbs and lips, fingers and whispered words. He touches me gently, exploring new territory before becoming deliberate and focused on one goal; making me weak with need. He achieves his goal because I cry out for more as he pushes me to the peak.

Done and dusted, as the saying goes. I'm limp.

But not for long.

***

Pete

How did I get here? When did this become my life?

Kyra is a puddle beneath me. I can't help the hum of satisfaction I let loose observing her panting and glistening with a light sheen of sweat.

I did that.

"You're pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?" She laughs weakly. It's going to take a few minutes for her to gear back up. I'll wait. I'm patient.

The last four years have taught me that.

"I am. But I'm not done with you, yet. Stay right where you are."

I hop up to open a window, let in the fresh air of spring from the mountainside. The sound of the rushing creek below pairs with the breeze, a hypnotic effect. As I return to Ky's side, stretching out next to her and letting my fingers graze her body, I sigh.

Complete contentment.

"Why the window?" she asks. "You too hot now?" There's a teasing in her tone that makes me smile.

"I've always been too hot to handle."

Ky groans. "You had to be a funny guy, didn't you. I don't remember this side of you." She rolls to her side and props up on an elbow. "You were always so broody. But I guess I liked it."

I mirror Ky's pose so that we're eye to eye. "I was broody because I didn't think I could have what I wanted." I lean over, capturing her lips in a quick kiss. "I was in denial about how much I wanted to be with you. I was too wrapped up in disappointing Jeff, and yet I'm the one who pulled away from him."

She reaches over to caress my cheek. "It's been a long road to get here, but we got here. That's what matters." I turn my head to kiss her palm.

"True. I'm just glad we didn't hold back until we were forty. I'm so fucking happy to have a future to look forward to with you."

"A future?" She smirks at me with a side-eye. "Are you getting ahead of yourself, Mister?"

I pull her over on top of me, laying us both out on the bed.

"I'm stating facts. This is a neutral conversation about logistics. Your futures are now my futures, fact one. I'm part of your life now, fact two." I kiss her, because I need to. I lived too long without her. "And you're mine."

"You said that already."

"It's worth repeating."

"Anything else you want to say again?" Ky lays her head against my chest as I play with her hair.

"Well, nothing I want to say. But there's a few things I'd like to do one more time."

"Only one?" Kyra says it with a laugh.

"For now," I run my fingers up and down her back in lazy circles, blown away that I actually can. "We're expected in the dining room soon. But I'll be back for more, trust me."

We start to kiss, still slow and lazy after expending years of pent up need. But too soon, a door slams downstairs followed by deep voices and loud footsteps.

"Who's rooming with you?" Kyra asks. "I need a heads up about which guy is about to give me hell for locking him out of his room."

"No one. I lucked out that no one wanted the room furthest from the kitchen."

"That is lucky."

"I'm a very lucky guy."

The confession is only partly a joke to go along with our banter. It's mostly the truth. I'm fucking lucky that Kyra still looked my way after all this time, that she hadn't lost any feelings for me over the years.

And I'm not wasting one more minute without her.

It's a bit shorter but I hope it packed some heat for you! I've struggled with how to label my typical spice level but I think I've landed on "low spice." It's essentially fade to black, I guess, but I never thought of it that way. I do usually intend to make the spice a bit spicier before I write those scenes, but I guess I'm just not that girl because its never all that spicy.

Anyhoooo, there's ONE MORE CHAPTER, and then I'll be starting the next book in the Hollywood Series! I'll give you all a sneaky peek of that one next week! I can't wait to write this one. I've got lots of scene ideas , character notes and a general plot formed (but if you know me you know that means zip. I'll go rogue soon enough). But what I DON'T have is music! If you have any recs, send them my way. I'm looking for broody and playful inspo but I'll listen to anything you've got.

Can I tell you the middle school dance flashbacks I get whenever I hear this song??? Like I just traveled back in time, seriously. I can even picture my powder blue satin off the shoulder ruffled dress. YIKES!!

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Thanks for reading and for your continued support!! I can't tell you how much it means to me.