“Yeah, we probably should.”
Because if I go to sleep, maybe the suffocating ache and the never-ending temptation will finally stop.
SUMMER
* * *
I’ve never beenin this position where doing the right thing feels wrong.
One time, when I was six years old, I thought about stealing candy from one of those buckets at the candy store. I really wanted that watermelon hard candy, so choosing the right in that situation felt wrong.
But tonight is different. Choosing Caleb feels wrong, and yet I’m tiptoeing to his bunk and climbing under his covers, scooting next to his body. He stirs, and even through the darkness, I know his eyes are on me.
He doesn’t hesitate.
His body turns into mine, and his hand runs through my hair, dragging my mouth to his.
There’s a small satisfaction in knowing he wants this as much as I do.
His kiss is like all my favorite Christmases combined into one. He tastes like peppermint candy, and the ridges of his arm muscles feel like an icicle, minus the cold part.
The kiss moves and shifts, taking me back to Justin’s kitchen and the way Caleb held me there with strong hands pressed against my back, keeping my body close to his.
Now I’m a falling snowflake, fluttering through the sky, dancing and drifting through the air with every passing second of this kiss until the snowflake lands on our lips and the heat between us turns into flames.
Flames? Really?
Like our mouths are on fire?
That’s weird.
But I like it.
I like it a lot.
This kiss is so hot our mouths are on fire.
Everything deepens, and I’m feeling more and more passion.
“Summer?”
We don’t break apart.
“Summer? How could you do this to me?”
Justin’s tortured face is all I see.
“How could you?”
His chest opens, and his heart splits down the middle, but instead of blood, eggnog pours out of his open wound.
Eggnog tears stream down his face as he repeats again, “How could you?”
I jolt upright, banging my head on the bunk bed above me. “Ow!” I immediately grab my forehead, checking for blood—not eggnog,thankfully.
Caleb is instantly by my side, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Summer, are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah.” I scoot back from him, a good idea given the circumstances that woke me. “I just had a bad dream.”
