AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I thought about it, and knew exactly what I wanted to say next, but embarrassment stopped me. My cheeks felt warm in a way that had nothing to do with the sun.
Law stopped searching his backpack when I didn’t immediately respond and crinkled his brow at me. “What is it? C’mon, tell me.”
“Please don’t laugh, but I always wanted a sister so I think it’d be cool to have a girl’s room and a boy’s room with built-in bunk beds that I could fill with my own kids someday.”
I couldn’t read the look on his face, and I quickly gave up trying. Whatever he thought about my idea, it took him a long time to come up with something to say. I heard him resume digging through his bag. “I brought lunch. Turkey and cheese.” He handed me a bulky ball of tinfoil.
I bit my lip to keep from smiling as I took it and unwrapped his handiwork. “Thanks.”
He tore off a chunk of his own sandwich and swallowed. “I like that idea. It’d feel almost like a year-round summer camp for them. Built-in bunk beds it is.”
A smile spread across my face so quickly I dropped my chin to my chest and aimed it at my knees to hide how happy his words made me. So maybe we were teenagers and talking about a future that would never happen. It still made stomach tingle to hear he wanted the same things I did.
Lunch was consumed in a comfortable silence, and after, we laid beneath the waterfall and talked. Our sophomore year was upon us, which meant learning to drive and formal dances. Law was excited for football to begin, to continue his reign of the youngest starting varsity player in 73 years. High school sports didn’t mean much to many people, but in a small town, football was everything. If something meant a lot to him, it meant a lot to me, too. I hadn’t missed a single game last year and didn’t intend to this year either.
“I could fall asleep,” I sighed. My eyes were closed, and the sun had moved so it now warmed my face.
“Me, too.”
I rolled my head to the side and took in his peaceful face. He looked like he was already asleep with his messy hair fanned over his forehead and his long dark lashes resting on his cheeks.
“You’re staring.”
“I am not.” I couldn’t keep the smile from my tone.
“You are, too. Ugh,” he groaned, suddenly sitting up. “We should get going. It’ll be a long hike back, and I need to be home for dinner.”
“I’m coming on one condition.”
Law shoved wrappers and empty cans in his backpack when he looked up at me. “What’s that?”
Something about the way the light hit his face made my heart beat faster. Which made me amend my statement.
“I lied, two conditions. One, we have to come back as often as we can.”
He squinted at me. “What’s the other one?”
I bit my lip and shifted my gaze away from his. Taking a deep breath, I sat up on my knees and looked him in the eye. “You can’t bring anyone here but me.”
Law pushed up on his knees across from me and closed the space between us. He reached for my hand and toyed with my fingers, his gaze trained on where we touched. I let him have his silence, but every second that ticked past ratcheted up my nerves.
Then, he trailed his fingertips up my arm to my shoulder, and moved the wayward strands of hair down my back. He moved his hand into the hair at the base of my neck and cupped the back of my head.
“Please don’t hate me for this.”
His words jammed my heart into my throat. Oh, no.
“H-hate you for what?”
“For this.”
Law held my head steady and kissed me. He hadn’t kissed me since the first time, and I had almost forgotten what it was like. A second of his mouth on mine was all it took to remember.
My stomach pitched like an ocean wave, and my hand shook at my sides. I wanted more of him, so I gripped the sides of his tee shirt and pulled. He fell into me, and we both went tumbling back down to the blanket on our sides. One of his hands stayed beneath my head while the other rested on my waist.
When he pulled back, his eyes were soft and warm. He dropped his eyes back to my mouth and went in for another kiss. “We have to go,” he whispered, and rested his forehead against mine. “I really don’t want to, but we have to.”
All I could do was nod. “Okay.”
