Felix held her balloon bouquet while Ella leaned into his other arm as he wrapped it around her and they headed to the exit. She’d always imagined that visiting Disneyland would be a magical experience, but never in a million years did she think it would be for this reason.

~~~

“We should’ve gotten you a Sleepy T-shirt,” Felix said, walking in the room and carrying a bowl and a big bottle of water.

Ella sat up on his bed, holding the sheet over herself and feeling a little embarrassed that she’d knocked out again. “How long was I out for?”

“Not very long.” He smiled, handing her the bowl, and she saw now that it was a bowl of cherries. “About an hour. I ordered Chinese, but I thought you might want a snack in the meantime.”

“You remembered,” she said, reaching for a cherry.

She bit it, smiling, as he scooted in bed next to her. He nuzzled against her cheek then kissed it. “Will this hold you over until the food gets here?”

“Yes, I’m not starving or anything, so this is fine.” She hated to ask, but she knew it was inevitable. “How long will you be gone?”

He sighed, obviously not thrilled about this subject either. “Since I’ve been training already, it shouldn’t be as long as it normally is to jumpstart the hard-core stuff. Noah said about a week maybe week and a half.”

She pouted, and he immediately kissed her, making her smile. “Well, at least I’ll be gone those three days on the cruise this week, so it should make the week go by faster.”

“Cold Duck, huh?” He reached for a cherry and bit off the stem. “Jack was into them.”

“Jack?”

He started to explain about the late 5th Street founder, and Ella instantly felt bad. She knew this. She’d read about it and seen all the photos at the gym, including the huge memorial plaque near the entrance.

“Yes, yes,” she said. “Jack. He was like a father figure to all of you guys. The one who left you all in charge of the gym.”

“That would be him.”

They munched on the cherries for a while as Felix told her more about Jack and how Felix owed all his success to the man who took him under his wing and taught him everything he knew about boxing. “To this day, Noah and Gio train everyone using Jack’s tried and true methods of training.”

She hadn’t even noticed that he’d stopped talking and was staring at her now. “What?” she asked, snapping out of it and feeling her face warm that she’d zoned out like that.

“What are you thinking?”

As embarrassing as it was to admit, she had no choice but to just be honest. She glanced away.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

It was only then that Ella realized she was shaking her head. She turned back to see the concern on his face, the same expression he wore too often when addressing her. She reached for his face and caressed it. “How could you possibly think something is wrong?”

He continued to search in her eyes. “You seemed . . . I don’t know.”

She leaned in and kissed him. “I was just thinking about how unbelievable this still feels to me and that I must be the luckiest girl in the world. If it’s true that you’re in love with me—”

“Of course it’s true—”

Ella kissed him before he could continue. She didn’t want to upset him. “Then I truly am the luckiest girl in the world.”

“You feel lucky?” he asked, his eyes widening, and seeing the concern in them replaced with a sudden joy made her smile. “When I woke up this morning with you in my arms, I didn’t wanna move. I was afraid I might really still be asleep and I’d wake up and you’d be gone.”

Ella picked up the bowl and put it on the nightstand. “You know what else I was thinking?”

He eyed her as his smile grew slowly. “What?”

“That the more we make love the less sore I feel afterward, and I can hardly wait until we do again.”

Felix groaned, pulling her into his arms and falling back onto the bed. His big arms and hands were immediately all over her naked body. Ella loved the feel of his hard body against hers. She giggled as he sucked her neck then pulled back suddenly and looked at her. “Are you still a little sore now?”

“Just a little.”

No way was she admitting she was more than just a little sore and have him pull back now. She already knew the discomfort would only be momentary but the utter ecstasy that followed immediately after was absolutely worth it.

“Then I know what might fix that.”

To her dismay, he pulled away and got off the bed. Before she could ask where he was going, his hands were on her legs and his smoldering eyes stared into hers as he slid her to the edge of the bed. Ella’s body trembled in reaction because she suddenly knew where this was going.

In the next second, he dropped to his knees and spread her. He kissed the insides of her thighs softly, torturing her as he moved his way up. She gasped then moaned, arching her back as his tongue licked and his mouth sucked her.

Last night was the first time she’d ever been pleasured this way, and she’d cried out then as she’d never cried out during sex. Already her eyes watered and her body squirmed from the extreme sensation of it.

As her climax began to build and she began to moan unabashed, all she could think was how could this beautiful sculpture of a man who was about to make her cry out again not believe that she was the luckiest girl alive!