“We’ll figure it out, right?”
“Neither of us can visit the other. We can call, text, email, all that, but…” I let the word ring out like a shot between us.
“But?” Ty presses.
“But you’ll get bored of that eventually. I can’t.” I shake my head and step back. I know myself well enough to know that if he begs for contact now and then ghosts me… I’ll act all tough and like it doesn’t bother me, but I’ll die a little inside. I can’t let him prove to me that he’s just like every other guy. Not when I want him to prove to me so badly that he’s not. That he’s different enough to justify this pull we have.
“I won’t, Roxie.” He pulls me in again, his rough warm hand holding my neck and keeping me close. His dark eyes are locked onto mine and his breathing catches.
“You can’t promise me that.”Please hear me, I have to protect myself,I don’t say the words out loud, but I wish he heard them.
Ty pulls back quickly, cupping my cheek and tilting my head up so I’m forced to look into his eyes.
“I can,cariño,I can promise that to you.” He says the words so desperately, so ready to promise me what he can from his world that a tear falls from my eye.
“You can’t,” I whisper, the words breaking me.
“Goddamnit, Roxie, believe me!” he snaps, rushing forward and giving me my first kiss. It’s hot and needy, awkward and perfect, all at the same time. My arms wrap around his waist as he holds the back of my head against his like he doesn’t want to let me move for a moment.
I give into the kiss, self-conscious at first because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, but when I let him lead me… It’s amazing.
Ty must feel the way I give in, because his hand moves to thread his fingers through my tangled hair. He opens his mouth slightly, pressing his lips against mine harder as he tilts his head to the side more.Oh god, what do I do?
Ty brings my body flush against his, holding me close while taking my first kiss like a gift.
Giving me something to remember him by.
“Do you believe me now?” he asks roughly as he pulls back. My mind is dizzy, hazy and fuzzy with emotion and realization and all those other annoying little things that I don’t have time for right now, because Iwant to do that again.
“I believe that you think thatnow,” I whisper, slipping my arms up to his neck as his drop to my waist. “That was my first kiss.”
“Mine too,” he confesses.
“I’m glad it was you.”
“I’m glad it wasyou,”he says softly, leaning down to kiss me again.
This kiss is deeper, we know what we’re doing now. He pushes forward, walking me back towards the boulder before pinning me against it. It’s going to go no further than this, I’mnotready for that next step, not in any way, but being wanted like this is addicting.
“Stay here, with me,” he whispers against my lips, and I’m not sure if he means in Haven or in this moment, but I say yes anyway. The smile on his face lights up the dark. The moonlight has nothing on him in this moment.
Ty sits down, holding his arm out for me to join him.
“We have tonight, I’m not going to waste it.”
“I’m…not ready,” I say shyly, but I’m not going to be pressured into doing something I don’t want to do. Even if something in the back of my mind is whispering I might want to.
“I wasn’t meaning that,” Ty says quickly, very quickly. “I swear, not that. I just meant to hang out with me. Rest with me. Let us use these hours before we don’t have them anymore.”
I reach around him to move my backpack to the side as I sit down next to him, cuddling under the arm he’s holding out for me.
“Why do you have your stuff?” he asks, noticing the heavy bag at my feet. Moving forward, I open it up to show him what’s inside.
“It’s my treasures. Stuff I’d be devastated if it got thrown out. Bare minimum of what I’d need to be clothed for a few days.”
“Smart.” He nods.
“Learned experience. It makes me feel safer,” I say before I can stop myself.
