There isn’t a chance I’m missing out with Avery. The feeling in my stomach is taking on new levels, churning whenever she’s near, and I feel as if I can breathe a bit easier when she stares at me. I have been waking up every morning so excited to just see her. Even if all I get is a small glance each day, it feels like enough just to know she’s near.
I watch as the words hit her, surprise lining her features. Her lips form a small “O” shape, her hand going to her chest.
We make the short trek from the car to the place where I laid the blanket, the one I purchased just for this. I’m about to take back what I said when she finally speaks.
“I want that too,” she answers in a small voice. Almost as if she hopes the words get taken by the slight autumn breeze rolling through the park. The leaves have already started to fall, a sea of orange and red blanketing the ground. The rustling of them fills the silence as I absorb her words.
I can’t help the smile that breaks out on my face as I take a seat. My lips stretch wider than I’ve ever felt as a mirrored smile takes over her face. It transforms all of her features, leaving me awestruck as she stares down at me. Ihold my hand out to her, and she slips hers in mine, letting me pull her down to the blanket next to me.
The vivid fall background turns blurry as her blue eyes fill my field of vision, capturing me in their waves, as I imagine a siren lures in men. If I’m caught in her spell, I hope to never come out of it.
Her smile is radiating, her full lips stretched wide over her teeth. The breeze blows her hair back in her face, and before I can talk myself out of it, I reach over and push it back behind her ear. My fingers graze the shell of her ear as it glides through the chocolate strands, and a shiver runs through her, her breath hitching.
I lean in just slightly, checking to see if this is what she really wants. If I’m what she really wants.
When she tilts her face toward me, I don’t hesitate to capture her lips with mine. The kiss is featherlight at first, testing each other, until she presses into me a bit more. That’s all it takes for me to meld our lips together completely, so we’re unable to tell where I end and she begins.
My hand slips into her hair, flowing like silk through my fingers as I angle her head up to get better access. I slowly tease her lips with my tongue, until her mouth opens and her tongue meets mine. The fire that has been simmering in me starts raging like an inferno, and I match her stroke for stroke. I lose myself in her, in this feeling I never want to end.
Her hand grips my shirt, pulling me closer to her. The kiss is unrelenting, until I hear a bark in the distance, reminding me where we are. I pull back slightly, keeping my hand tangled in her hair.
When I take a look at her face, eyes cloudy and half lidded, lips red and slightly puffy, I can’t help but lean infor one more kiss. A quick meeting of our lips, nothing but tenderness. So vastly different from the passion that ignited with our first kiss, but incredible all the same.
I don’t want to stop, but I know I need to. She deserves a proper date, not me pulling her to the back seat of my car. So I pull back, resting my forehead against hers. My hand still holds the back of her head as we catch our breath. Her grip on my shirt loosens, but she doesn’t pull back further. Our breathing mingles in the air around us, until a light laugh breaks out of me.
“Wow,” is all I can say, still speechless as I stare at Avery. Her blue eyes shine, cheeks flushed red as she stares back at me. Her gaze roves over my face, as if she’s trying to catalogue my features—like I am with her.
As we sit there in silence just staring at each other, I’m hit with the sensation that there isn’t a thing this girl could ask for that I wouldn’t give her.
More dates? She doesn’t even have to ask.
Flowers every week? I’ll have them on special order.
A kidney? I’ll take mine out right now.
My heart? I think she already stole that.
Maybe it’s always been hers.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
kane
NOW
Caffeine – Max Drazen
Ipush my way through the door separating the back of the house from the bar, coming from the office where I’ve been helping with the payroll for the last couple of hours. The sounds that were muffled come at me in full force, a rowdy table of football-watching guys along the bar and ‘90s underground music playing softly over the game.
I nod to Seth, the bar’s owner, stationed at his usual spot behind the packed bar. I start a mental tally of what might be needed in back stock, then turn toward the table that’s been occupying all my thoughts—only to see Morgan quickly eating up the distance between us with a grim expression on her face. She ignores the lingering stares pinned to her ass in the cutoff denim shorts that I know are Avery’s by the little sunflower detail on the front pocket. A small grin fills my face remembering how many times she pricked her finger trying to sew that thing on one night.
“Kane, I need your help,” she rushes out when she gets close enough.
Alarms shoot through me, worried that something happened to Avery. I storm out from behind the counter without a second of hesitation, letting the bar top slam back down, causing the couple behind me to flinch.
I’m in too much of a panic to apologize, instead forcing my legs to take quicker steps as I ask, “What’s wrong?”
Morgan matches my stride. “Okay, so, Avery is drunk. I mean, really drunk. I don’t think I’ve seen her drink this much since spring break freshman year, when we got that all-inclusive drink package down in Mexico, and you had to hold her hair back for the next twelve hours.”
