“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 naked.

“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 naked, 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 cle**age 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 hips and roll us over without saying a word.

She gasps in surprise as I settle myself between her legs, shifting my hips 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 hips 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 hips 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 hips 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 hips frantically against me, trying to pull me in deeper, whimpering against my mouth.