Free Love Simmers by Jules Deplume

around him as he pushed deep inside of me,
our cries echoing in the night.
    “ Better than I
remember.” He started moving, his hard thrusts causing me to cry
out in pleasure.
    I groaned as I felt myself
climax in his arms.
    “ So good,” he
continued thrusting as we both came, his hands stroking my face and
hair as he spent himself inside of me.
    “ I love you,”
he collapsed beside me, pulling me tightly against his
chest.
    I snuggled into him, never
having felt closer to a person then in this moment. If this is what
it felt like to be in love, I’d deprived myself of something
incredible.
     

Chapter Thirteen
     
    “ You what?”
Maddie exclaimed over brunch the next day. Her face was drawn and
pale, her eyes tired. It had been a difficult week.
    “ I told him I
loved him,” I sighed, knowing I would be hearing about this for
years. That she had been right about Nate and I. I only hoped it
inspired her to finish her romance novel.
    “ That’s
beautiful. You’re a romantic deep down, aren’t you?” She clapped in
joy.
    “ So deep down I
don’t even know it.” I finished my French toast with a smile,
remembering the way Nate had kissed me goodbye as he’d left for the
restaurant as 5 am. It was opening night and he had a lot to
do.
    “ Well, I’m glad
you stopped being such a fool and admitted your feelings. Now you
and he can be happy.” She was genuinely pleased for me, her recent
heartbreak not dampening her opinion of love in the
least.
    “ We talked last
night. He thinks that after things settle in a few months time he
can start to spend a few days a week in Toronto with me.” I exhaled
a deep breath, as old fears on whether or not it would all work out
crossed my mind.
    “ You and Nate,
it’s perfect.”
    She looked down at her full
plate of food.
    “ You’ll find
perfect. And hopefully you’ll know better than to make him wait ten
years like I did.”
    I put a hand over hers, I had
feeling perfect wasn’t far away for her.
    “ Ollie’s a
little worried about you,” I dropped that little titbit slyly,
watching as her eyes widened and she blushed softly.
    “ There is no
way Ollie is interested in me. He dates gorgeous fun loving party
girls.” She started moving her food around her plate.
    “ Maybe what he
really wanted was taken,” I insinuated, wondering whether I should
quit cooking and go into matchmaking. I think I had a flair for
it.
    “ I’m a mess and
he doesn’t deserve to be the rebound guy.” I could tell she didn’t
want to talk about it any more.
    We left the cafe an hour later.
Sitting in her car, I turned to her seriously.
    “ You are coming
tonight, right?” I pushed, afraid she was going to back out and
miss this memorable night.
    She pulled up in front of
Sails.
    “ Of course. But
I’m sure you’ll be distracted,” she smiled knowingly.
    “ He’ll be
busy,” I said goodbye and headed into the restaurant. The staff was
frantically preparing and setting the place up. I glanced around in
amazement at how spectacular everything looked. There was no sign
of the damage caused a few nights ago.
    “ My little
brother’s done a good job,” a voice said behind me and I wanted to
scream. This was the last thing Nate needed to be reminded
of.
    “ Go away
Tommy!” I half whispered/half shouted as I turned around to face
Nate’s charming old brother who unfortunately happened to be my
ex.
    He looked at me in
confusion.
    “ Why?” He
whispered.
    “ Nate and I are
together. He’s just gotten over me dating you!” I grabbed his arm
and pulled him towards the door. He laughed warmly.
    “ When did you
two start dating?”
    “ Like,
yesterday,” I tried to drag his immoveable lump of a body but he
wouldn’t budge.
    “ That’s
cute.”
    He was looking around at the
restaurant, taking in the place his brother and mine had
created.
    “ I’m happy for
you. I always figured there was something special between the two
of you,” he said.
    “ Don’t make