“Totally.”
“Big fat hairy ass,” Olive continues.
“Ew, Olive,” I say with a giggle.
She squints one eye and looks up at the ceiling. “Big fat hairy ass with moles and hemorrhoids.”
I shake my head at her. “Gross. I’m hanging up now.”
“Big fat hai?—”
“Bye Oliiiiive! Love you!”
“Big—love you too—fat hairy?—”
And then the line goes dead, and I can’t help but let out a laugh over her ridiculousness.
Hands snake around my waist,and I shriek. The water I have cupped in my hands splashes into the sink, and I squint through the soap over my eyes, immediately seeing Colson’s reflection in the mirror in front of me. “Jesus. You couldn’t have announced your presence?”
He smirks and the sting of soap spreads at the corner of my eye. I lean down, cup more water in my hands, and rinse it over my face. “Sorry, got distracted.” His hands squeeze my sides and like usual, a kaleidoscope of butterflies fill my stomach.
My voice is muffled as I use the hand towel to pat dry my face. “Distracted by what?”
“Do you really need to ask?” he questions, cupping my ass. “I wasn’t fucking around when I told you how much I like this.” He gives it a jiggle and wetness rushes to the space between my legs.
I twist in his hold, drying my hands on the towel between us. While his voice is light, his face is pulled tight between his brows. “You’re late. Who let you in, anyway?”
“Everleigh, and I’m sorry. Aunt Bess came to visit earlier in the week and since then I’ve been dealing with some shit because of it.”
“Everything okay?”
His teeth pull on the corner of his lip. “Yes and no.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
His Adam’s apple bobs with a swallow, and I can tell he’s uncomfortable. Still, he doesn’t take his hands off me. I take that as a reassuring sign. He’s not retreating into himself but considering how much he wants to tell me. “Can we talk in your room?”
“Of course.” I hang the towel back up and grab his hand, pulling him with me to the privacy of my room. The door shuts, and he sits on the edge of the bed before nodding for me to crowd his space.
His palms glide up the backside of my legs as mine find his shoulders, and I wonder how long it’ll take for him to find out that I’m not wearing panties under these cotton shorts. That I did it on purpose for him.
“I missed you,” he murmurs, moving a hand to lift my shirt and press a kiss to my stomach. “Is that weird? That I’m starting to miss you like fucking crazy when I’m away from you?”
“No.”
Because I’ve missed you all day, too.
“I need to hear something good that happened today,” he purrs, sucking my skin into his mouth and releasing it a beat later.
My eyes flutter shut. I don’t understand how one person can make me feel so lost and found at the same time. I don’t see the point in questioning it, when all I want is to crawl into his lap and give him everything he’s ever desired. His teeth nip at my skin. His tongue teases its way along the band of my bottoms. “Sorry, what did you say?”
He grins against my skin. I pinch his earlobe between my fingers. “Something good, Vi. Tell me something good before I rip these flimsy shorts off and take you until we’re both too tired to talk.”
The conversation with my sister is the first thing I think of and so I blurt it out. “Olive.”
“Olive?”
I realize that while she’s come up in passing, we’ve never really discussed her or how close we are. “My sister. I video chatted with her earlier. She’s feeling overwhelmed with herclasses but seems to be doing okay. It was nice to catch up with her.”
