If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have left her side after school today. But Tim and Rebecca already had the day and evening booked with birthday plans, so instead, I caught up to Cory and checked on Henry.
The door swings open. Blue strolls in, looking down at her phone, wearing a sweet smile and a turquoise bead headband. She stops when she sees me, her face lighting up even more.
I swear, that smile’s gonna be my undoing.
“Hey, grumpy,” she teases, shutting the door behind her and setting down her tote bag. “I was just texting Mom about you.”
The corners of my lips twitch, and she takes a step forward.
“What are you doing here?”
“I brought you something ... for your birthday.” I scratch the back of my head and glance behind me, at her desk. “Right next to your, ah ... grass?”
She follows my gaze to the braided plant thing draped across a shell on her desk, and she laughs. “Sweetgrass. You light one end, and it can help clear out negative energy.”
I’m about to ask what she’s talking about when she moves closer to the desk, her mouth hanging open. She picks up one of the ceramic pots I bought, eyeing the white flower inside.
“You got this for me?”
I shrug, but relief rolls through me that she might actually like it.
“Mmm.” She leans forward and sniffs. “Gorgeous.”
“That one’s your mom.”
She raises an eyebrow, flicking her gaze to mine.
“Tulip. It’s one of the flowers for Aries.” I nod toward the other two on her desk, hoping Google was accurate when I looked up the astrology signs this afternoon. “That’s your dad—iris, for Cancer. And the jasmine beside it is you.”
She stares down at the budding flowers, her lips parting but no sound coming out. Every second she doesn’t speak makes me more uneasy. What do I know about gifts anyway? Or about her?
The physical stuff is like breathing to me; it’s the rest I don’t have a damn clue about. For Blue, though, I’m willing to make a fool out of myself until I figure it out.
“I, uh—” I release a breath and run a hand through my hair. “I see how close you and your mom are, and now, with everything between you and your dad ... I guess I thought it could be kinda symbolic or something. Hell, I don’t know. It’s probably stupid—”
Her lips skim mine, buttery soft. I don’t know when she set the pot down and moved so close, but I immediately wrap my arms around her waist so she can’t get away.
Her eyes close, and she whispers against my mouth, “I really like you, Joshua. So, so much.”
A dizzy feeling plows through my chest, like I’m rolling down a hill headfirst. It’s a steep fucking slope, and I’m plummeting so fast and hard I’m sure I passedlikebefore I ever saw it coming.
I push her lips open with my tongue, sucking andtaking, just like I warned her I would. And she lets me, just like she said she would.
Her delicate hand curls around my neck, the other one slipping the beads off her hair. “Joshua ...”
I groan or grunt in response—can’t tell which as I deepen the kiss and pull her flush against me. Fuck, she tastes so good it’s frustrating, like I won’t ever get enough no matter how hard I try.
“I—Joshua—”
My pulse thunders, drowning out her broken words, and my hands slide under her shirt like they have a mind of their own. Maybe if I grip her hard enough, she won’t slip through my tainted fingers.
Panting, she presses her palms against my chest, breaking the kiss, and drags those green eyes up to meet mine. “Can I ... can you ... will you stay with me tonight?”
My fingers dig into her, chest rising and falling, and I shut my eyes.
“What?” I croak so quietly I’m not sure the word makes it past my throat. Is she asking what I think she’s asking?
Her gaze roams my face for the longest damn second of my life. All I can do is stare back, frozen on a tightrope between starvation and uncertainty.
