“Take me to your room.” I pant against his mouth.
Without a word, he lifts me, my legs going around his waist as he turns and carries me up the stairs, taking two at a time as if I weigh no more than a child.
The reality of the situation doesn’t fully take hold until he’s lowering me onto his bed. Until the weight of him settles on top of me. Until I feel the hardness of him pressed into my lower belly.
It’s impossible to comprehend, to wrap my head around the fact that Penn peeled off my bathing suit cover. That he popped open the front clasp of my top, revealing my bare chest. That he dips his head and sucks one of my nipples into his mouth.
I arch my back, crying out at the overload of sensation that floods my body.
“Are you—” He lifts his head, starting to ask if I’m okay.
“Don’t stop.” I cut him off before he can finish the question.
“Oh, don’t worry, I have no intention of stopping.” He grins, his mouth moving to my other nipple.
He kisses, sucks, and bites his way across nearly every inch of my body, and I swear, when he finally settles between my thighs, I feel seconds away from bursting at the seams.
Every fiber in my body feels stretched and taxed and that feeling only increases when his thickness nudges at my entrance.
“I love you,” he breathes against my lips, and with all the gentleness he can muster, enters me fully.
“LONDON!” MY EYES SHOOTopen at the sound of my mom’s voice.
It takes several long moments for my sleep-riddled brain to clear and reality to sink back in.
Letting out a deep groan, I push myself up onto my elbows just as my mother enters the room.
“It’s Sunday, Mom.” I flop back down on the pillow, throwing an arm over my eyes when she tears open the curtain, the sun pouring into the room.
“Exactly. It’s Sunday. Which means you need to get ready for church.”
“Church?” I lift my head to give her a bewildered look.
“I asked you if you would come today, remember? Amber and Todd are doing their baby dedication ceremony.”
“That’s today?” I scrub my hands down my face, pretty certain that she told me it was next Sunday.
“Yes, it’s today. And if you don’t get up and get ready, we’re going to miss it.” She pats my shin. “Up. Up. Let’s go.” She starts to back out of the room. “And make sure you dress appropriately. No...”
“No pants. Yes, Mother. I remember,” I say, as if I could forget how traditional she is when it comes to church. I was raised to wear my Sunday best even though most of my friends would show up in jeans and T-shirts every week. Used to make me so mad when I was younger.
I blow out a loud sigh when she disappears from the room, closing the door behind her.
Throwing back the covers, I groggily climb out of bed. After sorting through my wardrobe for less than a minute, I pull out a soft blue dress that hangs below my knees—anything shorter and my mom would force me to change—and a white cardigan to wear over it, because if Wren Cove Baptist is anything like I remember, they keep the temperature comparable to an ice box during the warmer months.
Taking the fastest shower maybe of my life, in which I opt not to wash my hair because I wouldn’t have time to dry it, I dress quickly and then proceed to brush my teeth and throw on a little mascara before tying my hair into a loose French braid.
Less than twenty minutes after my mom woke me, I’m downstairs in the foyer, slipping on my sandals just as my parents emerge from the kitchen.
“Good enough?” I ask my mom, holding my arms out.
“You’re perfect,” my father answers, giving me a toothy smile.
The ride to church feels like I’ve just travelled back in time. I can’t remember the last time I sat in the back seat of my parents’ car, but it makes me feel weirdly young. Like I’m a kid all over again, in the back seat, on my way to church like I did so many Sundays growing up.
I try not to think about Penn on the way over, but with everything last night and then the dream... I find it pretty impossible to think of anything else.
I used to know exactly what Penn was thinking, what he was feeling. Now, I can’t pretend to understand anything about him.
