“She loves you, too, Kitty Cat.” A smile curved my lips thinking of how close the two of them had gotten. “The daughter she always wanted.”
“I’m sorry,” Kitty said, dropping her head to my shoulder and putting her arm around my back. I returned her embrace, tightening my arm on her side. We were hip to hip and wrapped up in the blanket. It was a bittersweet moment, but there was nowhere else I would have rather been. Time passed as we watched the waves in comfortable silence. Just being together.
“What’sma puce?” Kitty asked.
I shrugged, hoping she didn’t feel the pulse of heat waft off my body. “Just a little name.”
She pondered that answer. “Do you call anyone else that?”
“Never. Just you,” I said seriously. “I can’t call you Kitty Cat all the time. I can’t believe that’s your real name.”
“It’s Kitty Gatto.”
“Which is Kitty Cat,” I teased.
“My parents are sadists.” She blew out a puff of air. “You know what’s weird? I don’t even like cats all that much.”
I laughed. Not what I was expecting Kitty to say after all the serious stuff we’d talked about.
“Okay, then, Kitty Cat. What’s your favorite animal?”
She sat, pensive. “I kinda like birds.”
My face warmed at her sweet and simple answer. “Kitty Bird. That sounds nice. I’ll call you Kitty Bird.”
“Or KB for short,” Kitty joked.
“Or Birdy,” I countered.
“Birdy’s nice.”
“Orma puce.”
“That works, too,” Kitty said. “What do you want me to call you? Guy-Guy Frenchie?”
“I like that one,” I said, booping her nose. Then I went more serious. “I like that you call me Guy when no one else does.”
“Then I’ll call you Guy.”
I sat watching her, my arm still around her waist. I wanted to kiss her, this girl who made me laugh, made me feel alive, and saw me for who I was.
I nuzzled her neck. She turned to face me then, letting me glide my hand along her cheek. I wanted to tell her just how much I felt for her, but words didn’t seem enough. My fingers slid into her hair as my lips hovered over hers. Our breaths mingled, eyes trained on each other’s mouths.
The space between us closed, her lips tasting faintly of her strawberry lip balm but mostly of her. Finally, I was getting to enjoy her the way I wanted to the first time I kissed her. Her hand clasped around my neck, thumb stroking the little bit of stubble on my jaw. My stomach tingled as her tongue met mine. Ideepened our kiss, devouring her. She let out a tiny whimper that awakened something primal in me. I pulled her so she was in my lap, and she arranged her legs to straddle me.
This was fucking heaven.
Our kiss didn’t break until I laid back in the sand. Kitty pulled the blanket up behind my head so I wasn’t just in the cold sand. That little action to take care of me meant so much. We hardly ever got to show each other that we cared. I held her waist as she looked down at me.
“You’re beautiful.”
“So are you,” she beamed. I reached up to kiss her again, pulling her down as her weight laid into me. My hand slipped under her sweatshirt, feeling the soft skin of her belly.
“Okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she whispered, starting our bruising kiss over again. She felt so good on top of me, just kissing while my hand explored under her shirt. She moaned as my palm found her soft cotton bra, and I couldn’t believe any of it was happening. Kitty Gatto, my best friend’s little sister, hisbeautifullittle sister,mybest friend, was letting me touch her in a way that felt so foreign and natural at the same time. Foreign because it was her, and natural because it had always been her for me.
My thumb dipped into her bra, carefully stroking over her hard nipple. She pulled out of our kiss and held her face over mine, eyes wild and panting.
