“I could live with that.”
I looked up to see laughter in Ward’s eyes, but I wasn’t letting him laugh this off. He’d asked me for one more day. The least I could do was give him something he wanted. Whatever it was.
“I’m happy to move on to torture,” I said, slipping cold fingers under his sweater to touch the delicate skin at the small of his back and earning myself a tiny hiss.
“Or bribery,” I offered instead, tucking the tip of my thumb into the waistband of his underwear and toying with it.
“I remember when you used to bribe me with candy,” Ward said, holding up like a champ.
If I had to, I’d take him apart right here to get him to tell me what he wanted. Maybe he hadn’t realized that yet.
To make it clear that I wasn’t kidding, I pressed a kiss in the sensitive spot between his neck and jaw, smiling at the cut-off whimper that got out of him.
“Haven’t got any candy on me, but there are other things you like now,” I said, running the tip of my nose along his neck as I slid the hand on his back down to squeeze his butt, making him grunt.
“There is something I want from you later,” Ward said, flushing from collarbones to hairline all at once, almost as badly as I would have. “A sex thing.”
I looked up at him again, eyes wide and eager to hear more. I’d loved every moment of being in bed—or against the wall, or in the shower, or on the couch—with Ward, but if there was something he’d missed out on, I wanted to do that for him, too. I couldn’t imagine saying no to anything Ward wanted.
“For the record, I will absolutely do the sex thing.”
Ward’s blush darkened, and I grinned up at him.
“Tell me what you want,” I said. “Don’t you ever wonder if, while you’re taking care of everyone else, someone might wanna take care of you?”
“You’ve always taken care of me. I know you don’t see it, you’ve never seen what a good person you are. Not… notunderall this,” he said, gesturing at me. “Right on top of it, out there on the surface. You helped Seth out without a pause and you spent our whole lives defending me when I wouldn’t stand up for myself without a second thought. You don’t see it because you’re not trying, you’re not putting in an effort. You’re just like that.”
“I’m a bitch,” I joked.
Ward shook his head. “No. You’re a sweetheart. And I—”
I love you, Ward didn’t say. He didn’t have to, it was written in big neon letters in his eyes.
I love you too,I didn’t respond.So much, always.
He knew anyway. I could see that on his face.
“I just wanna spend the day with you. Like we used to,” Ward said. “I don’t care what we do as long as it’s together.”
My heart melted. Yeah. Yeah, that was what I wanted, too. One last day of living the fantasy before the real world came crashing down on us.
“Then I’m all yours,” I promised, tugging him with me as I backed up toward the walking path.
“Shame there’s no back seats in the truck, we could have made out like teenagers,” I said.
“The driver’s seat reclines pretty far,” Ward offered, a flicker of hope flashing over his face.
I grinned again, determined to shove any other thoughts but having fun with Ward aside. “I’m up for a challenge.”
22
Ward
“You sure about this?”Ryder murmured in my ear, voice already a little strained.
The mattress creaked under me as I nodded, hips propped up on one pillow and face buried in another, knees threatening to slip out from under me on too-smooth sheets.
I’d never done this before, but I wanted Ryder to be my first.NeededRyder to be my first.
