Page 78 of Let the Light Shine Through

“Let’s get this party started.”

“I thought you were the party,” Roz says from above, standing in his truck’s bed, and I laugh, telling him, “Exactly.”

A good time for a short time.

Roz

The first day in the cabin was mayhem, pure mayhem. Anyone with a half-functioning liver started taking shots around lunch, resulting in everyone being hammered well before dinnertime came around. Some people took off on foot to a nearby bar to eat while the rest of us stuck around and ordered pizza. After complaining through two slices, Gia passed out, so I enlisted Rowdy’s help finding a private room I could claim as mine and Gia’s. My plan was to talk to him a little more, see if I could get some information out of him, but as soon as I stood from tucking Gia in, he disappeared quicker than slush in May.

I didn’t feel like going back out to socialize without Gia, or just in general, so after putting a bottle of water on the nightstand for her, I called it a night myself and climbed in next to her. Now as I blink sleep from my eyes, glancing around the rustically decorated room—sans water and Gia—I find myself wondering why I even bothered sticking around at all. The last time I was here was mayhem too, but in a completely different way with a completely different crowd. Some of these people snowboard in jeans. I know because they fucking bragged about it. Bragged. Like that’s something to be proud of.

The door swings open, and Gia hops up onto the mattress, making the blankets I’d shoved to the foot of the bed fall to the floor with a quiet thump.

She’s why I’m still here. One more day, one more hour, one more minute in her presence is worth it all. To get a little more time with Gia, I’d walk through fire. Yeah, even in jeans.

Her feet frame my hips as she jumps, and a smile tugs at the corner of my lips as my body bounces around. Her long, dark hair is loose around her face, moving freely with the rest of her body. A baggy white tee sits over a pair of riding pants I’d love to see her in some other time with nothing else on.

“How you feelin’?” she asks, using her hands on the ceiling to avoid hitting her head while maintaining eye contact through the repeated up and down motion.

“All right. You?”

“I feel great.” Her words come out staggered as she jumps.

I run a hand up my stomach, letting my short nails scratch over the rippled abs. Gia stops suddenly, her brown eyes following along and making my smile grow.

“What’s going on down there?”

I glance down at the tent in my boxer briefs.

“It’s morning…and you are bouncing on top of me.” What does she expect? Either of those would do it, but both…fuck yeah, I’m hard as a rock.

Taking advantage of her stunned state, I sit up quickly, yanking her hips down until she’s straddling mine. She lands with a surprised laugh that I wish I could’ve kissed straight from her mouth.

“How’d I end up being cuddled by you?”

“You mean how’d you end up cuddling with me?” Gia cuddles, too. She can talk all the shit she wants, but she’s a cuddler. “I put you here.” We never discussed sleeping arrangements, but I didn’t think we needed to. She’s out of her fucking mind if she actually thinks I’d let her sleep in anyone else’s bed but mine.

“I said—”

“You said I was a shitty listener.” I wait for her to finish her eye roll before adding, “And I listened to that.”

Groaning, she says, “There are plenty of girls here that would kill to be in your bed doing more than G-rated cuddling.”

“PG, maybe even PG-13. Your hands…they roam while you sleep.” It’s one of the best things about sleeping with Gia, but also the worst, because then I wake up fucking starved for her only to have her run off before I even get to satisfy my appetite.

Gia completely ignores me, saying, “Promise you won’t do that again tonight.”

My smile slips. “I thought you don’t do promises.”

She doesn’t answer right away, avoiding my gaze to stare at my mouth.

“I don’t know what to do,” she admits quietly, then raises her eyes to mine.

“I wish you did,” I tell her, bringing her body in until we’re pressed tightly together. “It’d make this a hell of a lot easier.” As hard as I try, I don’t understand why Gia, the most caring person I’ve ever met, seems to have the emotional maturity of a clam when it comes to relationships—specifically any involving me.

With our chests touching, I can feel her heart beating and it’s going as fast as mine sounds in my ears. Having her in my arms again…I don’t want to let her go.

“And what exactly is this?” she whispers.