“You know my name?”
“I do now.”
“How?”
“Does it matter? I found you.”
He squinted even deeper than normal, letting it be known he thought I was lying too, but like me, he didn’t want to push it either. “You aren’t the only one who was looking. Do you have any idea how many Graces live in LA that are on Snapchat?”
“Did you try Grace Note?”
His face dropped. “You better be fucking kidding me!”
“I am.” I laughed. “Anyway, let’s just agree that we both suffered, and move on from there.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “Although I feel like I suffered more.”
“It’s not a competition, Rory.”
He smiled, shaking his head as if still processing the change of both of our fortunes. “Can I hug you without you sending me back to the hospital?”
“You can.” I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him. “The question is, Rory, can I hug you without you taking me to the towel hut?”
He lips rode close to my ear. “That memory has gotten me through some rough nights.”
“Oh, me too.”
We stared at each other, the chemistry between us pulsating. Rory leaned in, so close our lips were only a kiss apart. I could feel his breath on me and shivered despite the warmth.
“How’d you find me, really?” he whispered into my parted lips.
“That information has to be earned.”
“How can I do that?” he asked, closing the tiny gap between us and ever so lightly brushing his lips over mine. So gentle. So sweet. I wasn’t nearly as compassionate. Sweeping my fingers into his hair, I pulled him to me and our lips crashed into one another like a head-on collision. His hands were in my hair now too, urgent and rough, the choirboy in him taking a seat.
The heat of his touch was a reminder of the cravings he’d awakened in me in the towel hut, and now they could never be suppressed. Sex had always been something the cool kids did and something I mildly feared. What if the boy didn’t find me attractive? What if I was awkward? Or if I embarrassed myself? But when Rory’s hands were on me, when he was kissing my lips and taunting me with the promise of things to come, my body warmed to his touch and I lost all inhibition. With him I wasn’t afraid because I knew he wanted me.
His fingers slid down over my ass, forcing a groan from somewhere deep in my throat, the desire he’d sparked in me seven months ago roaring back to life. I didn’t know what to do with myself, my hands, my legs. Everything tingled, and it felt like the tiniest touch would send me over the edge. Oh god, the edge. I’d never been over it until he’d brought me there at the water park, and I hadn’t been able to recreate it since. I wanted it. I wanted him. His lips left my mouth to pepper my bare neck with kisses. I felt his arm wrap around me and his hand on my lower back, pressing our bodies together.
“I miss the way you taste,” he rasped, his voice raw with desire.
“Do you have a room? In this building?” I wasn’t sure what I was asking or even if I could follow through with the proposal. I was running on pure lust.
“Not in this one. We have to walk. Do you want to go there?”
“We can’t stay here.”
He shook his head, untangling from me. “Fuck, Grace.”
That was it. His entire assessment of the situation we both found ourselves in. I giggled because I couldn’t put it into words any better. I just knew I’d never felt like this with anyone before, and I doubted I’d ever feel this way again.
Rory led me around the building and along a pathway that connected a series of buildings. I wondered at the change in him. The squirrely, nervous boy, his eyes darting every which way, had grown up. Or matured. Or… maybe the fight had just been beaten out of him. I squeezed his hand tighter. If that were the case, I’d need to work harder because I wasn’t going to ever let him go.
Arriving at a light-blue building, Rory took a look around before tapping his key to the pad and pushing the entry door open. I followed him up a set of stairs and down a hallway until we arrived at his room.
He let me into his studio apartment, and I scanned the open space.
“Look at you with your big boy place.”
