I let the wind drift her back and forth, slowing her down. She’s so at peace that she doesn’t seem to notice. Doesn’t flutter open her eyes until I’m gripping the sides of the ropes and pulling the swing to a stop in front of me.
“All the time,” I whisper.
For the briefest second, we hover there, inches apart. Her studying me. Me wanting her.
Kiss me, Hailey, I silently dare.
Watch me, her eyes seem to say as she fists the front of my shirt and hauls my lips to hers.
I’ve seen passionate kisses in romantic movies before. Moments when the characters forget where they are and how to keep their hands to themselves.
But I’ve never experienced anything quite like it until right now.
A kiss where the line between want and need is so blurry I forget we’re outside for anyone to see. I simply give in to my desire to be closer to her. To find out if she tastes the same as the first time we did this. I groan when I’m met with the velvet flick of her tongue and briefly pause at the woosh of oars on the water as a canoe drifts by. Scooping her thighs from the seat, I have the wherewithal to carry her up the front porch steps to a place more private than this one.
The cabin walls echo with a thud when I kick the door open and press her back to it. Her pelvis grinds against my waist, and I see stars. So many stars. They’re flickering behind my eyes. Exploding into brilliant beams of light. It’s so bright now that all I can do isfeel. It’s too much and not enough all at once.
When I pull back, a war wages between our eyes.
You’re the superintendent’s daughter.An intoxicating distraction.
And I’m the guy who wasn’t supposed to fall again.
But she’s brushing her thumb across my swollen bottom lip and telling me where to take her with a whisper in my ear. And so my feet carry us there, to the second door on the left, as if there was no other choice.
The instant we’re through the door frame, I discover what a different person I am on the other side. Not confident butnervousnow. Her childhood bedroom blankets her in amber light, and I’m unraveling like her hair from the braid I just freed. I drop her back against the bed and watch the silky strands fan across her bedspread. She looks like a fallen angel waiting for me to make the next move.
I dip over the mattress, hands framing her shoulders. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” I say in a strangled whisper.
Simply being in her presence, it’s hard for me to concentrate on anything else. I study the way she swallows and shakes her head at my confession.
What a silly question. How would she know what she does to me? It’s not as if I’ve given her any indication. I’d have a hard time believing those words too if I was her. And even if she’s not saying them back, the want in her eyes conveys everything I need to know.
I fist the neckline of my shirt and pull it over my head. Her eyes roam my torso, wandering the trail of hair that disappears beneath my waistband. She grazes her fingertips there, and I shudder at her touch, fantasizing about the way it would feel to have her hands all over my skin. With a start, her gaze flicks to the window, and I have to lean away from her as she pushes onto her elbows.
“Is it too bright in here? Should I close the curtains?” she asks.
“Leave them,” I say, brushing her bangs from her eyes.
She sinks against the comforter. “Okay. Should I…” Her fingers fiddle with the hem of her top, and I smirk.
“Do I have to stare at the ceiling this time?” I ask.
“Do youwantto stare at this ceiling this time?”
She drags her shirt over her head and tosses it on the floor. The sight of her beneath me in a nude bra matching the milky color of her skin is enough to make my mouth run dry. I already know what’s waiting underneath that small scrap of fabric, but it’s different this time. She’s funneling her arm beneath her back instead of fleeing a men’s bathroom, and I’m anticipating the straps giving way instead of feeling like an intruder.
“Is that a trick question?” I ask as she slides the silky cups away from her body in a slow, sensual movement.
She shakes her head.
“I want to see all of you,” I say. I can’t stop looking at her.
A nervous smile tugs at her lips. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, right?”
It’s that same question she asked me at the barracks. She thinks I’ve done this a lot. I swallow and lie on the bed next to her. The corners of her hazel eyes pinch as she draws figure-eight patterns over my face.
“Reed?”
