Free Everything in Between by Crystal Hubbard

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    Reluctantly, Chip withdrew from her and lay beside her. “Are you all right?” he asked, curling an arm around her.
    “I’m a little sore, but I’m fine. You?”
    “Never better.” He chuckled.
    Zae traced lazy patterns in his golden chest hair with her fingertip. “I wonder what Cinder and Gian are doing right now.”
    “I hope they’re doing half as good as we are.” Chip laughed. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought you and I would end up together.”
    “I didn’t plan this.” She walked her fingers down his midline, pausing to circle his navel.
    “Maybe that’s for the best.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Ever notice how the best surprises are the unexpected ones?” he said.
    She nodded against his shoulder. “Is that what I am to you? An unexpected surprise?”
    “That and more.”
    “I wish this night would last longer,” she sighed. “The sun will be up soon.”
    “So? Are you gonna up and turn to dust on me?”
    “No, but I’ll have to leave.”
    Chip stopped her hand, which was inching steadily lower. “No, you don’t. I heard you tell Cinder earlier that you cleared your whole weekend for the wedding.”
    “I promised Cinder that I’d help her with some things today,” Zae said.
    “Is that the only reason you want to leave?”
    “No.”
    “Having regrets already?”
    She shook off his hand and cupped him between his legs, stroking his softened flesh. “No. Not now, not ever.”
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “Who said I had a problem?”
    “Zae, you’re talking in riddles. Just tell me—”
    She stopped him with a kiss, then slid down his body, taking the bedclothes with her. He lay in the semidarkness wearing nothing but Zae, who settled between his thighs. “Would you mind terribly if I used my mouth for something other than talking, soldier?”
    She took him, returning him to ardent life once more. “No,” he gasped, clutching the sides of her bobbing head. “I don’t mind at all, professor.”
    * * *
     
    Heaven and earth, dream and reality, now and later…Chip and Zae reveled in those in between places, learning each other’s tastes, textures and rhythms. Time seemed to elongate in the moments they spent talking only to rapidly contract when they reached the intense heights of passion. They left Chip’s bed once, to retrieve the complimentary fruit and wine basket the receptionist had sent to Chip—along with her personal cell phone number, which Zae dropped in a waste can with their grape stems and banana peels. Rehydrated and nourished, they greeted the earliest rays of the sun in rapture. Weakened by their marathon exertions, Zae had fallen asleep with her head on Chip’s chest, one of her legs resting upon his.
    Chip lay awake long after the sun’s brightness tried to penetrate his drawn curtains. He stroked his upper lip with a lock of Zae’s hair. He inhaled its scent, which reminded him of fresh ocean rain. Every part of Zae had a unique aroma, each of which he’d done his best to commit to memory.
    When damp with sweat, the crease where her thigh joined her pelvis issued an aroma akin to honey and citrus, a weaker version of the sweet musk he’d aroused between her thighs. From the valley separating her breasts came the scent of something sugary and earthy, something he couldn’t quite name. His scents mingled with hers and still hung faint in the air, stirring his desires all over again.
    He stared at the ceiling, wondering exactly how he’d ended up in this moment. In all the years he had known Zae, she’d given no indication that she was at all interested in him as more than a friend. He couldn’t remember the last time she had dated anyone, if she had, since her husband’s death.
    Thinking about Colin Richardson, he tightened his embrace, nestling Zae closer as if Colin could reach beyond the grave to reclaim her. For more than a year, he and Zae had been developing a deeper friendship, ever since Cinder had begun