Page 68 of Beneath the Quiet

ME: Good morning to you, too.

I scoot up in my bed and tap my fingers on the phone display as I watch the text bubbles appear.

MAEVE: Good morning.

ME: Not that I don’t enjoy talking with my friends, but I get the feeling you need me for something very specific.

MAEVE: There is. I’m headed out for my morning walk. Can I stop by?

This is interesting. Odd, but interesting.

ME: Meet me at the stables in fifteen?

MAEVE: See you soon.

Frowning, I toss the duvet off and head into my ensuite bathroom. It has to be something extremely important that has Maeve sending me messages at the crack of dawn, but I push down the excitement in my gut and get ready to meet her.

Even though I don’t usually let Katie have a sleepover on a school night, I’m glad I caved this time when she asked to stay with her best friend last night. The moment I step outside my home, the optimistic early morning light has disappeared, giving way to grey clouds and a whirling wind that makes me shiver. I set off in a light jog and run towards the stables, trying to ignore that the incessant pounding in my chest has more to do with Maeve than the weather.

I’m resolved to push away the excitement, but her needing to see me has me more curious.

I promised her to be her friend, and that’s all I’m going to be.

Even if the sight of her waiting in the stables makes my cock grow hard in an instant, and I come to an abrupt stop.

Her back is to me, her long, wavy hair up in a high ponytail, and her profile turned halfway towards me. Her eyes are closed while her mouth moves in silence, as if she’s talking to herself. I scan her from head to toe while my lungs clog up. I shouldn’t get affected by what she’s wearing, but a shot of lust hits me, and it hits me so fucking hard that I ball my hands into fists.

It strikes me that this is the first time I’ve seen Maeve wear anything besides jeans, a shirt, and a knitted cardigan. The sight of her in a royal blue, one-piece running suit that clings to her delectable curves from the top of her thighs and up to the middle of her back, thin spaghetti straps on her strong shoulders holding the suit up, throws the wind right out of my lungs. Her revealing creamier skin than I’ve seen yet is enough to throw my earlier resolve out the window, swept away by the angry wind and forgotten. I lick my lips, suppressing the groan that I want to release. I wish her skin was mine to kiss, mine to taste, mine to possess. I hold myself back, yet all I want is to pull her to me and feel her heat all around me.

The curve of her slender neck and bare shoulders, a string of thin fabric the only thing hiding all of her from me, makes my mouth go dry. Her arms are bare, revealing pale, toned muscles that are covered in freckles, and I clench my teeth. I should say something to her instead of staying here, hidden away in the shadows. Watching her like a creep is not my kind of kink.

My eyes trail down her back, my cock throbbing as they land on her arse and the crack between her buttocks.

This is it. I’m gone. So fucking gone.

“Mae,” I call out low so as not to startle her.

She opens her eyes and turns around to face me.

But now I wish she hadn’t, because when she does, I get my first look of her breasts riding high behind her suit.

If I thought I was in trouble before, I was wrong. Because now, I’m absolutely going to have to fight hard to keep my hands off her.

Possibly the fight of my life.

“Hi.”

I swallow hard. “Hello.”

“Thank you for meeting me.” She shrugs. “I didn’t realise the time when I texted you. I hope I didn’t wake you.”

I shake my head. “You didn’t. I was awake already.”

She clasps her hands in front of her, and I examine her closely as the silence grows between us.

“You wanted me here,” I prompt. “Now, you have me.”

Her cheeks turn pink, and I realise the double meaning in my words, but it’s too late to take them back. A part of me doesn’t want to.