Blinking my eyes open, I look up to see Ava pacing back and forth next to my hospital bed and I can’t help but smile.

“He’s going to be just fine. The important thing is that you got him here in time. As soon as we make sure he doesn’t have any adverse reaction to the epinephrine we gave him, you can take him home and he’ll be good as new.”

I watch the doctor pat Ava on the back and give her a sympathetic look before leaving the room. She turns to look at me, her face lighting up when she sees that I’m awake.

“Tyler! Oh, thank f**k you’re awake!” she exclaims, rushing to my side and placing her hands on either side of my face. “I’m so sorry. I swear I wasn’t trying to kill you.”

Laughing at her worry for me, I grab her arm and pull her closer until she’s leaning over top of me. “Ava, it’s fine. You had no way of knowing that I’m allergic to pine nuts.”

She reaches up and runs her fingers through my hair and I have to fight really hard not to purr like a f**king cat.

“It’s all Molly’s fault. I had her help me make the lasagna and she had to be all fancy and shit with her sauce instead of just using something out of a jar,” she says with a roll of her eyes.

I hate that Ava is so upset over this and I feel like shit for ruining the evening she planned. I knew as soon as I walked into the dining room and saw the table set with good china and lit candles that she put a lot of effort into making the dinner special and romantic. It’s not her or Molly’s fault that two bites of the delicious lasagna had me breaking out in hives and gasping for air as my throat closed up. Normally, I carry an EpiPen on me at all times because of this stupid allergy, but I was too worried about the gift I got her and trying to figure out a way to tell her that I love her to worry about a f**king nut allergy.

“Seriously, don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s not like I go around advertising the fact that eating pine nuts might kill me. Also, I’m really sorry about puking on your shoes in the parking lot,” I tell her sheepishly.

She just shrugs and rests her head on my chest as she slides her body onto the small hospital bed next to me. “I don’t care about the shoes, I’m just glad you’re okay.”

It’s so quiet in the room you can hear a pin drop. Ava saying she cares more about me than a pair of fancy shoes is the equivalent of her telling me she loves me. I know it, and I’m pretty sure she knows it by the way she refuses to raise her head and look up at me. This is epic, like seriously mother f**king epic, and I really want to pull the curtain closed around us and strip her na**d.

“So anyway,” she finally says, ignoring the puke-stained shoes in the room. “The doctor said you’ll be discharged within the hour, as soon as the I.V. bag of saline empties and you’re feeling okay.”

I clasp my hands together against her back and kiss the top of her head. I want to tell her I love her, but doing it in a hospital bed so soon after she had to see my body covered in red hives while I clutched at my throat gasping for breath doesn’t seem appropriate.

“When we get out of here, we should take a shower,” I tell her as she snuggles closer to me.

“Someone’s obviously feeling better,” she replies with a laugh. “If you’re talking kinky, I think you’ll be just fine.”

Resting my head back on the pillow while I hold her close, I contemplate the perfect way to tell her I love her.

“Kinky is definitely good, but…you smell a little like puke. We should probably take care of that first.”

“So, what’s it going to be tonight? Do I need to get out the lube or lay a drop cloth down?” Ava asks with a laugh.

After I was discharged from the emergency room with a reminder to avoid pine nuts in the future, we came back to Ava’s parents’ house and took a quick shower to wash away the smell of vomit. As hard as it was, I wouldn’t let myself touch Ava in the shower no matter how much I wanted to. Shower sex is good and all, but not what I had in mind for tonight. Even though I ruined dinner by yacking all over her new shoes, I still want this night to end on a special note.

Resting my hands behind my head as I lay on her bed completely na**d, I watch as Ava walks into the room with a towel wrapped around her. She rummages through the top drawer of her dresser and I lift up on my elbows to see what she’s looking for.

“There’s no point putting clothes on since I plan on ripping them right off in about five seconds,” I laugh.

She steps into a pair of underwear and slides them up her thighs and under the towel. “Well, too bad. I bought new underwear for tonight so you’re just going to have to suck it up.”

I lick my lips as she reaches up and takes the clip out of her hair from the shower, her long hair tumbling down around her shoulders.

“Jesus, you are so f**king beautiful,” I mutter as she runs her fingers through her hair.

She smiles at me, the tips of her fingers tracing over the cl**vage peeking out of the top of the towel.

Anything else I might have said to her dies in my throat when she pulls the towel off and drops it to the floor.

I swallow thickly as she walks to the end of the bed in nothing but a black lace thong. She climbs up the end of the bed on her hands and knees, crawling over my body until she’s straddling my thighs.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she says softly, leaning over me to rest her arms on either side of my head. “Ball gag, rubber body suit, Star Wars light saber dildo? What shall it be tonight?”

Her long hair falls around our faces like a curtain as I stare up at her. Removing my hands from behind my head, I grab onto her h*ps and roll us over without saying a word.

She gasps in surprise as I settle myself between her legs, shifting my h*ps so my c**k slides right against the lacy material of her underwear.

“No toys tonight. Nothing weird, nothing kinky… just us,” I tell her softly, holding myself above her.

Her brow furrows as she stares up at me. Reaching down, I slide one hand down the outer side of her thigh and pull it up over my hip. She places her hands on either side of my face, pulling me down to her lips. This kiss is unlike any kiss we’ve ever shared before and it suddenly occurs to me that maybe it’s not that big of a deal if I don’t have the words to tell her I love her. Actions speak louder and all that shit. Her tongue gently slides against my own and she tastes so f**king amazing that I groan and deepen the kiss.

Letting go of her thigh, I bring my hand between us, sliding my fingers through the edge of her thong at the juncture of her thighs and pulling it to the side. I thrust my h*ps slowly and slide my c**k against her until I’m completely coated in her wetness and want to cry like a f**king baby at how good it feels.

Ava lifts her h*ps as she gently sucks my tongue into her mouth, forcing the tip of my c**k to slide into her. I freeze, holding completely still and pulling my mouth away from hers.

“Condom, we need a condom,” I gasp as she moves her h*ps again, pushing me a little deeper inside of her.

Her hands slide up into my hair and grasps onto chunks of it.

“In a minute. This feels really good. You feel really good,” she whispers, pulling me back down to her mouth.

Making sure to keep myself still so I don’t accidentally slam all of the way inside of her without protection, I kiss her again. Ava isn’t having any of that, though, and she starts to move her h*ps frantically against me, trying to pull me in deeper, whimpering against my mouth.

“Fucking hell, Ava… your pu**y feels so Goddamn good,” I mutter, locking down every f**king muscle I have to hold still while she continues to lift her h*ps and the tip of my c**k slides in and out of her.

“Say it again, fuck, say it again,” she demands, raising her h*ps higher so my dick disappears a little further inside of her.

It’s my turn to whimper as I feel more of her heat wrap around me. There’s no f**king way I’m going to be able to move away from her body now. No f**king way.

“I love the way you feel. I don’t want to stop,” I tell her honestly.

She quickly moves her hands down to my ass and grabs on. I can’t take the torture anymore and immediately relax.

“Then don’t stop, it’s okay, I’m on the pill and I trust you.”

Her quietly whispered words and the way she’s looking up at me is my complete undoing. I let out a shaky breath and slowly push my way inside of her.

We both groan when our h*ps meet and it takes me a minute to get used to the feel of being completely bare and completely inside of her. I’ve never felt anything this amazing in my life and I don’t know how I’m going to last long enough to make this any good for her.

I bury my head in the side of her neck and breathe in the clean scent of her skin, pulling myself out of her and then sliding right back in. She runs her hands up my back and I shiver when I feel her nails lightly graze my skin. There’s no way I can hold back at this point and I whisper words of apology to her as I start thrusting my hips. I should probably slow down long enough to remove the lace thong she put on for me, but I can’t even be bothered with that. Now that I’m inside of her, I’m never leaving.

“Goddamn, baby,” I whisper against her ear. This experience is so surreal that I just want to mumble and curse and call her every sweet name I can think of.

Ava wraps her arms around my back and locks her ankles together against my ass, using her heels to push me deeper inside of her as she lifts her h*ps to meet my thrusts.

I never thought vanilla sex would be something I’d like. I’ve always gotten off on crazy shit and scoffed at the simple stuff. I should have known sex with Ava, no matter what kind it is, would be anything but vanilla or simple. Listening to her chant my name as her orgasm approaches and dropping all of our barriers, the latex kind and the emotional kind, makes this the best f**king kind of sex in the entire world.

As I move faster and harder against her, she lifts her hands above her head, grabbing tightly to the wooden posts of the headboard. She tilts her head back and tightens her legs around me as she comes. Feeling her pulsing around my dick throws me right over the f**king edge. Smacking my hand down on the bed and clutching tightly to the sheet, I push myself as deep as I can go and lose myself inside of the woman I love.

This night could have turned to complete shit after everything that happened. As I collapse on top of Ava and we breathe heavily against one another, I smile, happy about the fact that some throw-up and a mild case of hives didn’t ruin our first date.

If we can handle that, we can handle damn near anything.

Chapter 23 – I Made a Poopy!

“This was the worst proposal idea in the history of the world,” I complain, kicking my boot through a pile of snow as we trudge through the back yard.

“Whose idea was this anyway?” Tyler grumbles, walking next to me.

“Aren’t you glad your parents went on that swingers cruise and you got to spend Christmas with us instead?” I ask with a laugh.

“Do NOT remind me of all the disgusting things my parents are most likely doing out at sea,” he complains.

“Gives new meaning to the words ‘wet discharge’ doesn’t it?” Uncle Drew shouts.

We both stop and stare over at the edge of the lawn where a clump of bushes hides him.

“That’s the name of my future boat, by the way,” he adds.

Tyler and I both shake our heads in disgust and continue pacing around the yard.

After much consideration with the family, Gavin decided the perfect idea for proposing to Charlotte would be to buy her a puppy and tie the ring on a red ribbon around the puppy’s neck. Super sweet idea until you realize that puppies are stupid and will eat anything. The trial run Gavin did resulted in the puppy eating the entire red ribbon and the fake, plastic ring he attached to it for practice.

Gavin promptly took the puppy back to the pet store and got a refund, failing to mention to the owner that there could be a shit surprise for him the next morning.

He decided to go with plan B, which sounded like a much better idea at the time. Unfortunately, no one passed that memo along to Uncle Drew.

“How long does it take you to shit, old man?” Tyler yells in the direction of the bushes.

I stare at him, trying to give myself an extra boost of courage to tell him that I love him.

It’s not that hard, Ava, just f**king say it!

After what happened between us the other night after the trip to the emergency room, this should be the easiest thing in the world. I really thought life would Tyler would be all about the crazy, weird shit we’d do in the bedroom. He can definitely f**k like a boss when he gets kinky, but I feared it would get a little old, especially if I had to Google half the stuff he wanted to do. Knowing he can also make the sweetest love in the history of the world, as well as pull off the best dirty talk I’ve ever heard, solidified my feelings for him. If I didn’t think it was completely cliché to tell him I love him during our post-coital glow, I would have done it then. I should have done it then. Having a few days to think about it and plan it out has just f**ked with my nerves.

“A proper shit takes time, my friend. You just slow your roll and go grab me a magazine or something,” Uncle Drew yells back, the branches of the shrubs rustle as he does God knows what back there.

Aunt Claire came up with the idea that Gavin should bake Charlotte cupcakes and hide the ring in one of them. Again, super sweet idea, until Uncle Drew saw them sitting on the counter and ate every single one. Whole. Just shoveled each one in his mouth until Gavin walked into the kitchen and started screaming. Tyler and I had to calm him down and get both him and Uncle Drew out of the house before Charlotte figured out what was going on.