“Yeah, Wills. I’m afraid of that.”
“You’ve never felt anything like that before?” I take a step toward him.
He lifts his head, eyes blazing. “I’ve never felt anything even close.”
“You’ve never been in love? Not even a crush?”
His lips part, and he looks me up and down before his mouth snaps shut. He shakes his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever known someone well enough to want them like that. I don’t think I’ve ever felt safe enough to feel anything at all.”
Nodding, I say, “I can understand that. I’m not sure I could’ve a few months ago, but I understand it now.” I feel his stare in every atom of my body when I ask, “So you’ve never... daydreamed about someone? Fantasized? Even when you...” My eyes drop to his hips of their own accord.
He laughs softly, and my gaze snaps back to his face. “Uh, no. Not really. I don’t think my brain works like that. I don’t see anything or anybody when I’m...” He chews the inside of his cheek, crossing his arms. “I think even inside my own mind, I have to feel like I know someone. I have to feel some kind of connection.”
I tilt my head. “Do you feel like you know me?”
His breath hitches, eyes sparking. “Yeah, Wills.” Weston’s voice is low. Rough. Fervent. “I feel like I know you.”
“Do you feel safe with me?” Allowing the heat inside my core to radiate with every word, I ask, “Connected to me?”
He doesn’t answer, but I don’t miss the way his fingers flex where they rest on his bicep, like he wishes he were gripping me instead. We’re close enough now that the heat of his exhale lands on my skin. His pupils dilate when I reach behind my neck and slowly untie my bathing suit.
“Because I do. I feel safe. Connected,” I whisper, drawing the string until the knot pops and it untangles. I catch the fabric, placing my palms over my breasts before they become exposed. “I’m going to take a shower.”
I step back, keeping my eyes on him a moment longer before I spin and walk toward the back door.
“Willow,” he rasps, the sound so anguished it sears my flesh. “I need you to tell me what you want from me right now. I can’t be guessing with you. I can’t risk getting it wrong.”
My chest floods with liquid warmth—a rush of blood my heart only pumps at his command.
I keep my back turned to him as I whisper, “I want you to follow me, Weston—but only if you want that too.”
That warmth spreads when I hear the sound of his footsteps moving in my direction.
I exit and round the side of the garage, heading toward the shower stall built against it on the farthest end of my parents’ property. I nudge the swinging door open with my hip, stepping inside the changing area. I spin around in time to watch Weston enter, closing the door behind him. He leans back against it, keeping space between us.
I cover my chest with one hand as I reach behind my back, tugging the string of my bikini, unraveling the top entirely. I drop my arms as it falls away, baring myself to him. My nipples tighten against the sea breeze and his stare.
Weston’s eyes are fixed on my breasts, lips parted, breath heavy. I slip my thumbs under the hem of the bottoms on each side of my hips before pushing them over my thighs. They drop past my knees, hitting the ground as I step out and kick them aside.
His gaze drags down my body, slow and purposeful, as if memorizing every inch of exposed skin.
When he reaches the apex of my thighs, a noise crawls from his throat, some kind of whimper. His eyes glaze over, half-lidded and swimming with passion. Utter devastation.
All that desire I’d thought I’d lost comes barreling back when Weston’s gaze is locked on me like this. Even without his touch, without his words, I feel him all over me.
I turn, offering him a view of my backside as I step into the shower.
A shuddered breath and a tortured, “Fuck,” follows me inside.
I turn the handle, and water cascades around me. Weston remains at the edge of the small stall, watching me with thatsame tormented and beguiled expression as I drench myself, spinning around to tilt my face toward the stream and push my hair behind my head.
“You’re so beautiful, Willow,” he whispers brokenly. “I’ve struggled to find beauty in most things for most of my life, but you...” The words trail off, like he’s lost them, and when I open my eyes through the hazy steam, he’s shaking his head and rubbing his jaw, looking at me like all those lost words are written on my skin.
My body screams with need.Touch. Feel. Savor.Heat coils tightly in my core as my ribs ache and expand, like my heart is outgrowing the space they confine it in.
“I won’t touch you unless you ask me to. Even then, I... I’m no good at any of this.”
I step out of the water, just enough to see him clearly, but it still beats at my back.
