It’s cozy and homey and exactly the vibe I want for my time with Izzy.
“God, it’s been…years since we’ve been up here.” I throw myself down on the mound of blankets. “Mom will come here every once in a while to wash the blankets, but…”
I shake my head, at a loss for words. Honestly, I don’t know why we stopped climbing up here. Maybe we thought we were too cool to enjoy something as childish as a tree house? Whatever the reason, I find that I miss this place.
Miss the late-night chats with my brother.
At some point, probably when we turned into surly pre-teens, we moved to the basement of our house, which also serves as a makeshift game room. Then we got too old for even that.
But things are changing between the two of us, and Izzy’s the leading cause of that.
“So you don’t bring all the girls up here?” Izzy asks teasingly, though there’s a note of hesitation in her voice. Unease. Trepidation.
I realize with a start that she’s not as confident in this relationship as she may appear.
“Only you,” I tell her seriously.
Only ever you.
Yeah, I may have acted flirty and confident at school, but that was only ever a front. Ethan was known as the smart twin, so I had to develop an identity for myself to separate from him. Thus, the “flirty twin” came to fruition.
But that’s not who I am, not who I want to be.
Bolstering my courage, I grab Izzy’s hands in both of mine. “Look, I’m not good at talking about feelings and all that crap, but it has to be pretty obvious by now that I like you. A lot.”
Fuck, I need to get this all out before I lose my courage, before I swallow the words back down, lock them away, and refuse to let them see the light of day again.
“And I know you’re with Ethan and Reid and that vampire, Grayson. I also see the way you look at Ansel. What I’m saying is… Fuck, why is this so hard?” I scrub a hand down my face, my mind whirling, the familiar claws of panic raking down my chest.
What if she rejects me?
Sends me away?
I don’t think she will, but…
“I like you too, Em.” Izzy’s words vanquish the tempest in my head. “I don’t know what this all means yet, and I’m fucking terrified, but I like you. I really, really like you.”
“You mean it?” I smile widely, scarcely able to believe it.
It’s everything I’ve ever wanted but didn’t know how to ask for.
She leans closer, and my heart thunders at her proximity. She’s so fucking beautiful that it isn’t fair. She has to know what her mere presence does to me and my brain, which turns to mush at every touch, every word, every coy glance.
I struggle to speak. “Look, you don’t have to…you know…if you don’t want to. I mean, you can, if you want, but you don’t, and I wouldn’t expect you to, and?—”
“Em?”
“Yes?” I blink at her, dumbstruck.
“Just kiss me already.” She grabs at my shirt and tugs, forcing my lips to hers.
Ho-ly fuck.
I never imagined in my wildest dreams that it would be like this.
She pries my lips apart with hers, and her tongue darts in, tangling with mine. I moan low in my throat as she shifts to straddle me.
My cock strains against my jeans, and it takes every ounce of self-control I possess not to rock against her. Fuck, she just feels so damn good in my arms, and with her smell surrounding me…
