JACE
Willow’s thigh is pressed against mine and the searing heat of her close proximity has my body feeling like it’s about to combust. And dare I say, I want to burn with this desire.
“This is the one,” Willow says, her voice soft, filling the silence that had plagued this drive. Her upper arm brushes against mine as she points to the left.
My breath catches in my throat and the contact alone is enough to have my heart knocking erratically against my ribcage. Having her this close and not being able to touch her the way I’d like to—my god—it’s a torture I never knew I’d be subjected to.
Willow’s body shifts away from mine as I take the turn into Mia’s driveway. As my tires roll over the gravel drive and I straighten the truck out, Willow’s thigh presses back into mine. I pull up directly in front of Mia’s house, slowing the truck to a stop before I put it in park.
Mia turns to look at Willow, pulling her in for a hug. I miss her warmth the moment it’s gone. “I’m so glad we finally got to hangout. I love you so much and we need to get together again soon.”
“I love you more,” Willow says, hugging her back before they pull away from one another.
Mia looks past Willow to me. “Thanks for the ride. Do me a favor and keep an eye on her for me?”
“I will,” I assure with a quick nod.
Fortunately for all parties involved, it seems like I only have eyes for her lately anyway.
Willow lets out a quiet laugh, shaking her head at her friend. “I can take care of myself, thank you.”
Mia simply shakes her head, chuckling to herself as she climbs out of the truck. “Goodnight! Let me know that you get home safely then, okay?”
“Always,” Willow promises her, leaning forward in her seat as Mia shuts the door and starts walking up to the house. She looks a little less drunk than she did when I got to the bar but I don’t leave until she’s safely inside the house.
Willow sits back against the seat and her arm brushes against mine. I half expect her to shift into the other seat now that there aren’t three of us crammed into the small truck cab, but she doesn’t. She stays right there in the center with her arm and thigh pressing into mine.
Fuck.
We reach the end of Mia's street and I stop the truck. My foot presses hard on the brake pedal, keeping it plastered to the floor as I glance at Willow out of the corner of my eye. There’s only two ways we can go right now, with one taking her back toward town where my house is, and the other leads down along the river, back to her family’s farm.
Willow turns her head to look at me, her face only a few inches from mine. “I don’t want to go home yet.”
My breath catches in my throat. “Okay,” I say, my palms sweating against the steering wheel and my heart beating so loud I worry she can hear it. “Where to, Will?”
She tilts her head slightly to the side. “I don’t care,” she says, her voice soft as a tender smile lifts the corners of her lips. “I’m just not ready to go back yet.”
I stare at her for a moment. There are still faint freckles peppered across the bridge of her nose. They’re one of the cutest things about her that has persisted all these years. And I love when she doesn’t hide them under make-up. Some are so perfectly aligned that they almost look like little constellations. When we were younger, Willow used to love to stargaze. She loved to watch the night sky in hopes that she’d see a shooting star.
A smile lifts my own lips, much similar to hers. “I think I know of just the place.”
There’s a meadow along the base of the mountain, far enough from town that the view isn’t polluted by any lights. Out there, the only thing you can see are hundreds of twinkling stars lighting up the bluish-black midnight sky.
One night when we were teenagers, the four of us, including her brothers, all laid in the soft grass, staring up at the sky, talking about our dreams for the years to come. Noah and Finn didn’t really care much for coming to look at the stars, but after that, Willow wanted to come for every meteor shower.
Sometimes she and I would lie in silence, and other times, we’d talk about the possibilities of what might be out there and whatever else our brains could conjure up at the time.
But I was always the one who brought her here.
Willow’s movements are slow as she blinks and lets out a soft breath. “I knew you would,” she murmurs as she tips her head to the side and rests the weight of it against my shoulder.
A warmth washes over me, settling deep inside the marrow of my bones as I revel in the way she feels against me. She’s under my skin, but then again, she always has been. It’ssomething I tried to ignore for years and I’m not so sure I can do it anymore.
I’m not so sure I want to.
Willow was always off-limits because of her brothers. With her being younger than me, I didn’t dare to take the time to truly notice the way she’d matured until after she was of legal age and even then, I was already committed to hockey.
I can’t help but feel like time is never on our side. Here we are, both single, both back in town, but both with new commitments and obligations.
