“I — I remember that conversation, but it wasn’t withyou,” I said, even as I started to doubt it.
“It was. And …” He paused, jaw working. “And that was the reason I was such a dick to you when you started. You didn’t remember me and I was … bitter about it.”
“I —” I looked down at the letters, at how worn the paper was. He’d gotten these letters back andkeptthem. Brought them move to move, kept them all throughout school and college and his adult life. Kept them until they were back in Florida, only an hour drive from the address listed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, the tears returning, letters shaking in my hands. I wish I had it in me to be mad at Kean — at Olli for keeping this from me. Because our relationship would besodifferent if he’d said something. We could have hadfuninstead of me struggling to understand him. We could have reunited, become friends again.
“I told you, I was bitter. I …” He wiped the tears away, both hands now cradling my face, his body inching closer. “I thought you completely forgot me and that hurt. So to save myself the pain of confirming that, I said nothing.”
“Kean, I —” I set the letters aside on the couch and brought my hands to his jaw, sliding my fingers into his hair. “Olli, are you really not drunk? Like not even a little bit?”
“No. I’m a big guy, a few shots won’t get me drunk. I just wanted to … steady my nerves.”
I could see the child version of him in his eyes now as they softened. I could see it in his commitment to the sport, his stubbornness, the quiet way he cares about others.
Kean was my Ollie. Olli.
He was my Olli and there were a good handful of reasons I shouldn’t kiss him right now. And it’s not that I couldn’t remember them. A part of me repeated the list over and over again in the back of my mind.
I just didn’t care about any of those things anymore.
All I cared about was getting Olli’s lips back on mine.
So I tightened my grip in his hair and got what I wanted.
A Melting Point
Olli
I’d imagined telling Kodi I was her childhood friend at least a dozen times. A lot of those scenarios ended with a kiss, but none of them involved her crying. The way grief paled her face as she sorted through the letters made a hole open up in my stomach. When I’d realized she’d forgotten about me, I felt unimportant. But that clearly wasn’t the case. She cared. Shemissedme. Missed all the things we could’ve had if I’d just gotten her address right.
And while a part of me wanted to talk to her, apologize, reconnect, tell each other all the things we’d missed, the way Kodi kissed me made that completely impossible.
In the garden, I kissed her like I was trying to sear the memory of me into her mind, her heart. I wanted her to be consumed with thoughts of me. I wanted to prove I couldn’t stop thinkingabout her. And now Kodi was kissing me like she was making up for lost time. Like shewantedto take everything I had to give.
And then her hands went from my hair to cross behind my back and once again, she pulled herself up and wrapped her legs around me and all sense was lost.
“Kodi, if you don’t want to be in my bed in the next ten seconds, you —”
“Yes,” she gasped, pulling back to look me in the eyes, the brown glistening. “Yes, take me, fuck me. I want — I don’t know, I want so much right now and those suspenders have been killing me all night.”
“Ha,” I huffed, situating so her weight was on my arms and she didn’thaveto cling so tightly to me. Though her grip didn’t loosen as I turned us towards the bedroom. “You think you haven’t been killing me this whole time? The sports bras, this dress, you’ve killed me in so many different styles and I’d happily die again to see more.”
Kodi pulled herself closer, a smile curving her lips as she kissed my neck. “Is that why you told me to change that first day?”
“I didn’t tell you to change,” I grunted, body shaking at the feel of her lips on me. “You asked if your outfit was bothering me and I told the truth.”
“No,” she said through a breathy laugh. “The truth was you wanted me.” She tightened her legs to grind against my cock hardening, the friction igniting an inferno inside me.
“Yes,” I hissed, stopping in the middle of the hall to pin her against the wall so I could return the favor, rubbing my erection against her hot cunt. Kodi’s head fell back, thunking against the wall, and I dragged my tongue up her neck then nipped at her earlobe.
“Fuck, Kean,” she said, body shaking in my arms. And knowing that was just a preview to how she’d respond toallI wanted to do to her tonight made me snap.
“No. No more calling me Kean. You say my name from now on, okay?” I pulled back to look her in the eyes, but kept my weight on her, let her feel every hard inch of me, feel how much Ineededher.
Kodi’s face softened, the heat in her eyes turning to warmth as she brought a hand to my face, stroking her thumb over my beard.
“Olli,” she said, voice just above a whisper. “Are your tests clear and up to date? Because if you get me any hotter without fulfilling the promise offillingme, I’m gonna fucking combust.”
