We held hands in the truck on the way home and made small talk about what we had been up to in our time apart. I was glad to hear that she was pretty much doing the same things I was and that she was handling the situation with Gabe in a professional and no nonsense matter. She was amazing and I was truly lucky to have her as mine.

When I let her into the apartment I was ready to just drag her to the bedroom and have my way with her but she kicked off her sexy heels and padded to the kitchen to grab us a couple drinks. I was anxious and aroused but I didn’t want to push her so I followed her to the couch and took the beer she handed me. She sat facing me and reached out to put her hands in my hair. It felt nice but there were plenty of other places I wanted her hands so I asked her, “Why are you always playing with my hair?”

“Because you change it so much and it always feels different. This is the first time it’s all natural and I can’t believe how soft it is.”

“I thought you liked the hawk?”

“I do. I like it however it is but when it’s normal like this it makes you look more approachable.”

She seemed nervous which was weird. This was an area we had never had any issues with before so I wasn’t sure what to do to put her at ease. I clicked the neck of my beer against hers and gave her a lopsided grin. “Happy birthday to me.”

She smiled back and shifted so that her hair slid forward. “So I need to tell you something before you get your present.”

Her tone was pretty serious so my mind immediately went to all the worst possibilities, there had been someone else while we were apart, Gabe had hurt her worse than anyone knew and she wasn’t ready for intimacy yet, she didn’t really want to be in a relationship with me, she was moving to Peru and it took every single ounce of self-control I had not to freak out and ruin whatever progress we made today.

“Alrighty hit me with it.”

“It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Shaw I’m dying here. Just talk to me.” She put her beer down and scooted closer to me on the couch which pulled the hem of her dress tantalizingly up her pale thighs. If she didn’t spit it out soon I was taking her to bed regardless and we could just hash it out in the morning. She put a hand on either side of my face and pulled me down so that we were literally eye to eye.

“All that stuff about being nice and trying to be someone different to make being together easier applies to the bedroom too, right?”

I felt my eyebrows shoot up and I tugged on her tiny waist until she was straddling my lap. “What are you getting at Casper? Just spit it out.”

She made a face and I saw her skin heat to a pretty shade of hot pink. “Nice Rule, the Rule that goes with this hair is boring in bed, I don’t like him. I just want normal Rule back and everything that comes with him. It’s been awhile so I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page.”

I barked out a laugh and gave her a squeeze while working my hands up under the material of her dress to get a handful of her very bitable ass. “I can’t decide if I should be thrilled or insulted.”

She leaned forward so that our mouths were almost touching. “I just want you.”

I grunted in response and decided the time for talk was over. She gave a squeal of surprise when I climbed to my feet with her still in my arms. She shifted her legs so she was wrapped around my waist and twined her arms around my neck in a loose hold.

“The present giving can take place in the bedroom I assume.” She didn’t answer but instead started to kiss all along the side of my neck. It made my blood thunder in my ears and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the bed when her sharp little teeth clamped down on my ear and she started whispering every dirty thing I ever wanted to hear into my ear. I kicked the door shut with the heel of my boot and kissed her all the way down to the black comforter on my bed. Her legs parted and I found myself cradled in the only place I wanted to be ever again. I hooked a finger in her very tiny panties and striped them off. Had I known how little she was wearing under that short dress I wouldn’t have made it even half way through the party. We both groaned at the first press of skin on skin as she grabbed the back of my t-shirt and pulled it off over my head. We still had enough clothes that I could kiss her and kiss her, and rub against her with delicious friction while winding us both up to the point we were panting and straining against each other in the most enjoyable way. I was glad she didn’t want it soft and gentle, glad she could take whatever I threw at her because it had been too long and I felt like the top of my head was going to come off. I made a guttural noise of protest when she maneuvered free and pushed me over onto my back. Knowing she was naked under her dress had me itching to get my hands on everything that was damp and achy but she had other ideas.

She was messing with my belt buckle and telling me to take my boots off but apparently I was too slow to comply because she had it all handled and I was spread out below her in nothing but my birthday suit in no time flat. She turned her back to me and asked me to undo the zipper that ran from her shoulder blades to the base of her spine. I was eager to oblige her especially when all the black material covering her satiny skin puddled in a pool on the floor at her ankles. I ran my fingers along the pronounced ridge of her spine and was pleased to watch a trail of goose bumps follow in the wake. She looked over her shoulder at me and I felt my heart turnover at the mischief in her gaze.

“So I actually got your present a while ago, before we started having problems which was lucky I guess because now they’re healed and you can actually touch them.” She pulled her long hair up in one hand and turned to face me as my curiosity peaked because she had her arm across her naked chest which made her climb back up on the bed so that she was straddling my waist interesting and fun to watch and had my erection sticking up like a led pipe between the two of us. She dropped her arm and my eyes snapped as wide as they could. I was pretty sure I was drooling because while Shaw was the most beautiful woman in the world to me, Shaw sporting nipple rings, naked and on top of me was enough to make my brain short circuit and all remaining blood in my body shoot right between my legs.

“Oh man that is so fucking hot.”

She laughed a little which turned to a whimper when I circled the cool metal with a finger. “That’s my birthstone.” The jewel in the center of the ring was a shiny, pretty bluish-green aquamarine, delicate and pretty just like her.

She hissed out a breath when I tugged on the ring softly and I saw her eyes droop a little in pure unadulterated desire. I knew better than anyone how much intimate piercings could enhance a sexual experience and I would make it my personal mission in life to show Shaw everything I had ever learned. She bent down for a kiss.

“Happy birthday Rule, I’m giving you me for now and forever and if you want to give me back I’m not going.”

I flipped us back over and kissed her like it was the end of the world, kissed her like we would never get to kiss again, kissed her like, well like I loved her and was never going to let her go. The slide of tongues and press of my lip ring imprinted on her how much I missed her. The bite of teeth left marks that let the world know we were claimed, the press of nails into tender skin had both of us breathing hard and by the time I got my hands between her legs and my mouth on that pretty jewelry decorating even prettier nipples we were both a wild tangle of grasping need and less than tender groping. I felt her nails break skin on the curve above my ass as I worked her into a frenzy with my hands and mouth but I wasn’t nearly done. We had been apart too long and the weeks before I was trying so hard to be something I wasn’t that I had tainted something that was amazing between us and I wanted to erase all of that, only my girl had other ideas.

“Rule,” She had one hand pulling on my hair and the other reaching between us in search of my cock that was throbbing insistently between our stomachs. “While I appreciate the foreplay and the fact that nice Rule is clearly gone if you don’t fuck me in the next two seconds I’m going to scream. It’s been too long.”

Her eyes were bright and shiny and while I would have liked to get her off at least once before unleashing all my pent up sexual frustration on her it didn’t look like she was going to give me a choice in the matter. I grunted because her fingers curled around my dick and slid across the skin stretched tight by the barbells and my rampant erection. She wasn’t playing fair so I lifted myself up in a vertical push up so that I was poised at her burning hot entrance and let her guide me home. We both went still at the initial contact, the absolute perfection of the two of us together like this was just a lot to take in and we had to give it a minute to sink in. She hitched her hips up and I slid all the way in until both of us let out a different swear word. It wasn’t slow and sweet, more like frantic and wild but it was wonderful and so damn hot I thought we were going to burn each other up. The brush of the metal in her tight nipples made me growl every time they brushed against my chest and I could feel it every time the top ball on the head of my cock hit her clit because her body bowed up and her breathing got choppy and wild. It was the kind of sex I could only have with her and when I felt her come apart around me I realized I might not really know what love was on my end, but I could recognize it so clearly shining out of her when she looked at me that I couldn’t help but feel she had to see the same thing when I looked at her. I picked up the pace felt her run her hands up and down my back and grab onto my ass and then shattered into a brilliant mess that I didn’t want to ever put back together.

She turned her head and kissed me on the temple. “Love you.”

I pressed my face into the curve where her neck met her shoulder and sucked the skin between my teeth. “I’m going to love you Shaw.”

Her eyes crinkled at the sides. “You already do.”

I didn’t have to say anything because I figured she was probably right. Me and this girl and spent too much time trying to be too many different things for too many wrong reasons for too many other people now it was just up to us to be ourselves for each other and love each other for all the right reasons. As she curled up next to me and threw her leg across my waist I knew that somewhere, somehow this is how it was always supposed to be and maybe just maybe this was a gift I could share with Remy because I was happy, Shaw was happy and ultimately that’s all he would have wanted for either of us.

Epilogue

8ish months later

“If you don’t lay still and quit wiggling around I’m going to stop.”

“But it hurts.”

“You always say that. We do this enough that you know exactly what you’re getting into. I’m almost done so stop complaining.”

“You could be gentler.”

“You don’t like it when I’m gentle. Seriously Casper you are the worst client ever which is a shame because all this white skin takes ink like a dream.” I glared at Rowdy as he peered over the short wall again and leveled him with a death glare. “If you don’t stop trying to get a look at my girlfriend’s ass you’re going to need to find a new job because I’m going to break all your fingers.” Shaw giggled and turned her head where it was resting on her crossed arms propped up on the she was laid out on the table before me. The current piece I was working on for her covered her entire right side from the base of her armpit to the bottom curve where her sweet ass met her thigh and everything in between. It was huge and graphic and arched all long her delicate rib cage. I still had about three hours of color and shading to add to it but since the canvas practically lived at my apartment I wasn’t worried about finding time to finish it up. But while I was working on it now she was practically naked, covered only by my hoodie and a very tiny pair of shorts. I knew the guys in the shop were digging the view, they always did when I worked on her, but it was hard to concentrate and keep the lurkers at bay at the same time.