“I don’t wanteven. I want a solution,” He growled and turned his whole body to face me. His eyes looked past me out the window as he licked his lips, in deep thought. The beanie had disappeared since I came back, and I wondered if it symbolized his mood. Every time he’d worn the beanie, it was only while he was upset, as if it hid him from the world or blanketed his worries.
“Alright, I have an idea.” His eyes met mine and a smile emerged from his gleaming lips. “You know how I always ask you to close your eyes?” I nodded. “When one of us has to part from the other, I’ll tell you to close your eyes. We imagine we’re kissing—and in your mind, I’m a fucking fantastic kisser, by the way—but we don’t say goodbye, and you count to ten before you open your eyes again so you won’t have to watch me walk away.”
The way his eyes lit up, I couldn’t say how ridiculous it sounded. “Okay.”
Ollie squeezed my thigh. “Close your eyes, Mia.”
Chapter Eighteen
“How do you do it, my love?
My haven is in yourheart and
my shelter is inyour arms.
When your eyesfind mine,
they give me refuge fromthe storm.
Did you know I’m homesick without you?”
—Oliver Masters
LATER THAT NIGHT, Ollie reached for my good hand to pull me up through the vent to go back to his room. I couldn’t wait for my hand to heal completely. Two more weeks.
“You ready?” Ollie asked as he propped himself up on his hands and knees in the vent. His hair was in chaos since he’d showered earlier; not an ounce of grease held it down. He wore his gray joggers and a black tee, but his perfect white smile was the best look on him.
I sat up, and he crawled over me until my back met the foundation. “I have to steal moments where I can,” he whispered, and after patiently waiting to be alone together, two pairs of longing lips touched in urgency from holding back for too long.
His mouth moved eagerly, seizing his moments and giving me life all at once. His tongue brushed mine greedily, yet savored the taste of me as he rushed then slowed his speed, unable to make a decision. He was fierce and calm concurrently. He tugged my bottom lip, sucked and kissed before crashing his tongue to mine once more as quiet moans came from his throat.
Ice and fire. Winter and summer. Ollie and Mia.
He brushed his nose against mine, and across my cheek until he found my neck.
“Okay, I think we’re ready now.” I giggled as he breathed into my hair.
“No. I don’t want to go back. Let’s hang out in your room.Fuck, I’ll stay right here all night. Who cares about them, anyway.”
Not me.Well, Jake had grown on me. “If we don’t show, they’ll know something is up.”
Ollie groaned into my neck before raising himself by his arms. “Our first night back together of not being together …” He hung his head before picking it back up to face me. “I know it will be really hard, but you have to keep your hands off me. And don’t tempt me, my love. I struggle to hold myself together around you as is.”
This made me laugh and blush all at once. “Oh, yeah?”
Ollie smiled. “Yeah, and if I come on strong, you have to push me away. You have to. You’re stronger than me.” I knew he was serious, but he couldn’t force away his smile even if he wanted to. “Or, we can always get drunk and blame it on the alcohol.”
He was happy—we were happy.
“This is the last night,” Ollie informed the room after helping me down through the hole. “I can’t have any of you showing up anymore.”
“What? Why?” Bria complained, wearing her notorious crop top and booty shorts.
Ollie glanced over to me as I leaned back against the wall beside Jake and passed over the liquor bottle without taking a sip. Isaac, Bria, and Alicia all watched Ollie, awaiting a reply.
“Because it’s not worth getting caught,” Ollie stated clearly. I peered up at him as he rested his hands over his hipbones. His hair was in disarray, his smile still burned, and his natural sun-kissed skin glowed against his tattoos.
Bria lifted a curious brow. “But you never cared before.”
