“What?”
“You.”
If this was what it felt like to be lost in a moment, I never wanted to be found.
I smiled and shook my head at him as I carefully undid the buttons on his shirt, pushing the delicate fabric off his broad shoulders and tossing it into the pile with my dress. He wrapped his arm around my torso, and in one swift motion flipped us both over so my back was pressed into the mattress with his knees straddling my waist. His mouth continued to explore my bare skin, trailing down my neck to my collarbone to my shoulder.
“Brooklyn.” His name left my mouth in a wistful sigh, and I felt him smile against my skin as he continued to dot kisses down my bare stomach.
“Sounds good whenyousay it.” He lifted his head and grinned at me.
I scoffed. “Oh shush. I like your name.”
Lust rippled through me in waves as he ran his hands up my thighs, his fingers finding the waistband of my thong. He paused for a moment to pull away and look at me, his eyes glowing even in the dim light.
“You okay?” He sat up, his legs still straddling my hips, and gently brushed his fingers down my stomach. My whole body buzzed under his touch, like I’d swallowed a hornet’s nest.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” I nodded. “I haven’t done this in a long time.”
“Me either,” he admitted softly.
“What a pair we are, huh?” I chuckled.
“Like we’re made for each other or something.” He leaned back down and swept me into a deep kiss. We clawed at the last of each other’s clothes, kissing and kissing and kissing like we were truly made for each other.
Sixteen
A persistent buzzing woke me from the deepest sleep I’d had in a long time. A warm breeze washed over me as my eyes struggled to adjust to the sudden light. I glanced over at the other side of my room to see that my window had been left open all night, bringing blinding morning sunlight and salty air pouring into the room.
The buzzing continued, but I ignored it. The boy lying next to me kept me preoccupied. His chest slowly rose and fell with each gentle breath he took. Even though I was still in a haze, I felt a sense of peace watching him sleep. His mouth hung open slightly but his breath was calm and steady. My stomach clenched as the events of last night rushed back to me in a fury. I still tasted vanilla on my lips. Vanilla and him.
I fumbled around the sheets to find the source of the buzzing, which I realized was Brooklyn’s phone, not mine. When I went to silence it, a text message from a random number popped up on the screen.
Unknown:still owe me for those two shirts. elliot is on my ass man
“What time is it?” Brooklyn mumbled, his voice still heavy with sleep. I dropped his phone onto the mattress and shifted myself underneath the covers. It felt weird going through someone else’s phone, and even though it was an accident, a knot in my stomach told me I should not have seen that message. I feigned a yawn.
“It’s early,” I mumbled. “Your phone has been going off.”
“Oh.” Brooklyn furrowed his brows, suddenly very awake as he patted around the sheets for the device. I watched his fingers dart across the screen, and his wide, hazy eyes following along as he typed a response.
He rolled over to face me and reached out to gently run his fingers down my cheek. “I have to get going, okay?” His voice was so soft it rolled over me like a gentle breeze, barely registering until he shimmied out of bed and began collecting his clothes from last night.
“Everything all right?” I asked as I sat up. Brooklyn looked over at me and gave me a tired smile.
“Everything’s fine,” he said as he slipped his shirt on. “I’d rather not start shit with my mom this early. I didn’t exactly tell her I was spending the night.”
“Right, well, I guess we didn’t really plan that, did we? I don’t want you getting into any trouble.”
Brooklyn’s tired smile grew into that charming, boyish grin that he knew I adored. He leaned over and gently placed a kiss on my forehead.
“Last night was worth all the trouble in the world. I’ll call you later.”
I squeezed his hand as he stepped away, and part of me thought that might have been enough to get him to stay, but he didn’t.
There wasn’t really a point in trying to go back to sleep, but I lay in bed, replaying last night over and over again in my head as a familiar warmth rolled through me. For a fleeting moment I wondered if it was real, but then I inhaled, and my pillow still smelled like him, all fresh and clean and very real.
Of course, as reality began to really set in, so did the bad thoughts buzzing around my head like pesky little gnats, reminding me I was still in an emotional standoff with my sister. Normally I was above saying I told you so, but she’d crossed a line last night that I couldn’t ignore.
