Remember Me

Chapter 21

Flashback Continued

*Mature Content Warning*

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him in nothing but his boxers and he’s seen me in a lot less than what I’m in now, like the bikini I was wearing at the beach. But it is the first time I’ve seen him exactly like this, chest and incoming abs still glistening from his shower. When he finally makes his way to my eyes, he clears his throat, seeming to gather himself.  

“Do you feel like pizza? I can order delivery. Or whatever you’re in the mood for. We could watch a movie and eat. By the time we’re done, your clothes will probably be dry to where you can wear them home.” 

“It’s whatever you want to do. It’s your birthday,” I answer. 

“When is your mom expecting you back?” 

“Not until late. She’s not waiting up. She has to leave for work early in the morning,” I lie, not wanting to tell him the truth just yet. I just hope that, for once, he buys into it instead of knowing right away like he always does. 

He raises his eyebrows at me. Of course, I couldn’t be lucky enough for him to buy into even one lie from me. “What are you not telling me, Nat? Why are you lying?” 

I roll my eyes and sigh at him. “Okay, she’s not expecting me at all. I texted her while I was in the bathroom and told her I’m spending the night with a girlfriend so that I could stay here with you and not have to let you spend the night of your birthday alone in this big empty house.” 

He smiles at me from ear to ear. Nothing but love and happiness shining in his beautiful ocean eyes. He throws the towel that's around his neck into the laundry basket in his bathroom then stretches himself out on his bed with both of his arms crossed behind his head. I go to sit next to him on the edge of his bed, my heart pounding over the thoughts going through my mind.  

I reach under his bed and grab the box that I had snuck under there after he had left the room to take a shower and hand it to him. His face scrunches up in confusion as he takes it and starts to open it.  

“Don’t tell me you actually thought I had forgotten to get you a present,” I tell him, a smirk on my face.  

“I could never,” he answers, smiling back at me.  

He pulls out the first gift, a wallet with a scene of our beach and cave engraved into it. Then he reaches in a pulls out the last gift. An animated picture frame that switches from picture to picture and starts over from the beginning once the last picture is shown. The first picture is of us 10 years ago on our swing and proceeds to show us growing up more and more as the pictures progress. For the second time today, I watch as his eyes turn glassy with unshed tears.  

“What’s wrong? Why do you keep almost crying?” I ask, worried that I made a mistake with today and his presents. Worried that he doesn’t like them and I've just been upsetting him.  

He sits up and cups my cheek, turning my gaze from the floor to meet his. “I love it. I loved today and I love the presents. More than you could ever imagine.”  

“Then why the unshed tears so much today?”  

“Because I’m so overwhelmed by how lucky I managed to get by having you. You love me more than anyone in this world, and so unconditionally. You’re so amazing, perfect, and unbelievably beautiful. I’ll never know what I did to deserve you. And I have to say, I love seeing you in my shirt,” he tells me, his eyes once again roaming over my body before landing back on my face, a smirk on his face.  

I stand up, nerves twisting my stomach into knots, and take the presents from his hands then set them on his bedside table. He watches me, curiosity displayed on his face. I climb into his lap and straddle him.  

“I’ve been thinking about the deal we made a few years ago,” I nervously start and watch his eyes light up in recognition. 

He gulps and looks at me, his eyes burning with intensity.  

“I was thinking that maybe that doesn’t have to be your only present...” I stumble on awkwardly and nervously, waiting to see his reaction.  

The words are barely out of my mouth before his hands grab my face and bring me into a kiss. I meet his tongue stroke for stroke. Suddenly he stops and looks at me, his eyebrows furrowed and his expression serious.  

“You’re completely sure about this? I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this because of a deal we made a few years ago,” he tells me, looking worried.  

“Wait, have you already done this?” I ask, shocked and a little hurt.  

His eyes widen at my words. “No! I just want to make sure that this is something you actually want and that you’re not doing it because of a deal, or out of feeling an obligation. I would never. I meant it when I told you that I wanted it to be you for everything. I always will,” he reassures me, his tone serious and gentle as he strokes my cheek.  

I lean in and give him a long, lingering kiss and smile into it. “I’m completely sure that this is what I want. Not for any other reason than the fact that I’m ready and I want it to be you. We love each other, always will. I couldn’t dream of a better person to share this with,” I tell him in a low, soft voice, pushing his hair to the side and getting it out of his eyes if only for a brief moment since it constantly falls back into place.  

He smiles at me and his eyes fill with adoration and love as he looks me over before pulling my face back to his, kissing me even more fervently. He starts trailing kisses along my jaw and to my ear while I reach down and trail my hands up his arms, to his chest, and down to his hard abs. I can only imagine how much more amazing they finish coming in. He groans in my ear and takes my earlobe into his mouth.

He sucks then grazes his teeth over it before moving to my neck and doing the same thing there, making a gasp slip from between my lips. His hands travel to the bottom of my shirt and he stops kissing my neck when he grips it, looking at me hesitantly and waiting to see if there is any doubt showing on my face. I give him a soft smile and put my hands on his. Slowly, we pull his shirt off of me together, leaving my completely bare other than my shorts and bikini bottoms.  

I try to shove the nerves that are increasingly building up inside of me down. He’s never seen me like this. No one has. What if he hates what my body looks like? What if this makes things weird between us? I watch his eyes take in my body, and everything that's visible to him, in. The look in his eyes and on his face dissipate any worries that were running through my head. His eyes are still filled with adoration, love, and a softness. He brings his lips back to mine and kisses me slowly and gently while he strokes my cheek with his thumb before turning us over until I’m lying underneath him.  

His thumb hooks into his boxers and he pulls them down enough to kick them off and onto the floor. My heart begins to pound so hard that I’m scared it’ll pound straight out of my chest. My eyes take in all of him and I have to start trying to push the fear back out of my mind all over again. I've never seen a guy like this before. So, I'm clueless about what people consider big or small.But I don't think he's small, just not huge. Which I'm kind of grateful for at the moment since even that much is making me scared and worried.

His hands hook into the hem of my shorts and bikini bottoms but stop there. He meets my eyes again.“If at any point you decide you’re not ready for this or don’t want this anymore, just say the word and we can stop,” he tells me, making me relax more and my ridiculous fear goes away completely.

I nod and bite my lip as I lift my hips up enough for him to pull my shorts and bikini bottoms off then toss them away. We’re both completely bare in front of each other now. The only things we had left that the other didn’t know, and hadn’t seen, now gone.