Page 53 of Teach Me Your Ways

“I hope so,” she said. “That would be my dream. I can’t wait to dive. I don’t care if I find a silly coin. It’s the history. The stories. Thinking about the men and handful of women that never made it to shore. My dad used to tell me all kinds of stories about lost ships and their brave captains. It was our thing.”

Once again, she let out a shaky breath. I could see her bottom lip quivering. She was trying not to cry, but even in the moonlight, I saw her eyes brimming with moisture. I felt like an asshole for making her sad.

I moved next to her, jerking my chair across the sandy concrete, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay,” I whispered. “Let it out.”

She shuddered and pressed her face to my chest, tears soaking through my shirt. I held her steady, heart aching for her. It might have been six years since she lost her dad, but I knew from first-hand experience that the pain never went away. Some days it was buried so deep it didn’t even cause a twitch. Other times, it left a person feeling like their nerves were raw and exposed.

I buried my nose in her hair and rubbed slow, comforting circles across her back. Her hand pressed against my chest before her fist clenched in the fabric. I did my best to offer comfort, but shit, I was only human.

She was pressed against me. It was intimate. The heat from her body and the smell of her vanilla shampoo or body wash or lotion was intoxicating. My cock twitched, pushing against my jeans. I tensed, trying to breathe around it but it was very uncomfortable.

She lifted her head and looked me in the eyes. I couldn’t tell if she noticed my body’s reaction but something shifted. There was a whole new kind of heat bubbling between us that had nothing to do with the humid air. Her gaze dropped to my mouth and then back to my eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was thinking about doing. I had a chance to stop it before it happened. I needed to stop it.

I should have pulled away. Should have reminded her of everything we’d just agreed on. Should have been the responsible adult in this situation. But I lost around fifty IQ points every time I looked into her eyes.

So instead, I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her to ease her pain.

The moment our lips touched, every rational thought I’d had in the last year evaporated. She melted against me with a soft sound that went straight to my cock, her hands fisting in my shirt like she was trying to anchor herself.

I meant for it to be gentle. A moment of weakness, nothing more. But then her tongue swept across my bottom lip and I was done for. I deepened the kiss, my hands tangling in her hair as she pressed closer. She kissed me back with a desperation that matched my own, all soft gasps and needy little sounds that made me want to merge our bodies together into one.

When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard. Her pupils were dilated, lips swollen from my mouth. She looked as wrecked as I felt.

“Fuck,” I breathed, resting my forehead against hers. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. We can’t⁠—”

“I know,” she whispered, but her hands were still twisted in my shirt, holding me close. “We just said we wouldn’t.”

“We agreed,” I said, even as my thumb traced along her jaw. “Boundaries.”

“Right. Boundaries.” But she leaned into my touch. “No fucking.”

I groaned. Every time she said that word it felt like her hand was directly on my cock gently stroking.