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Chapter Twenty-Three
-Clay-
Before I had any time to react, Ophelia's lips were on mine. Her fingers were gripping my t-shirt and my entire weight was falling toward her. Her lips were exactly how I remembered them, soft and full of passion. Every part of me was already shaking with adrenaline, and this kiss added to it, the perfect kindling to the already blazing fire. I parted my lips ever so slightly, telling myself to stay calm the moment she accepted the deeper kiss. I slid my arm around her waist, wanting her body against mine completely, but it was then she pulled away, breaking the kiss and quickly turning away from me once again before I had any time to react.
She kept her back to me and her face down. Her shoulders were going up and down with every breath she took, and once Jeremy had her free, she bolted. Taking off down the road off the bridge and passing the bungee truck.
“I take it you weren't expecting that,” Jeremy laughed as he worked with the straps and hooks around me.
I shook my head. “No. . . no, I wasn’t.”
“Well, are you going to follow her?” he asked, nodding his head in her general direction. “She’s walking pretty fast.”
“Yeah, um. . .” I stammered. “Thanks.”
I took off in a jog, catching up to Ophelia faster than she expected.
“Phe, wait,” I shouted, coming up to her side.
“Donot”— she turned her body, a finger pointed at me—“call me Phe.”
I stopped jogging and took a deep breath. Her eyes were wide, and the finger that was aimed at me was shaking ever so slightly. She was still on a rush, and I could tell she wasn’t sure how to act. Something was going through her mind, something she needed to get out.
I took a deep breath. “I've been calling you Phe for—”
“Nope, not right now. I’ll allow it after we’re done here. Do you understand?” Her eyes were wide, and they pierced into me. I nodded. “You have a lot of explaining to do, Clayton.”
“What?” I asked, my voice shaking. I wasn’t sure if it was from the jump, from the kiss, from her calling me Clayton or a mixture of all three.
“You have explaining to do. A lot of it. First of all”—she spread her arms out and lifted her chin toward the sky—“what made you think that I’d ever,everwant to go bungee jumping!? You brought it up weeks ago as a joke! Ajoke! Not to be taken literally! Yet here we are!”
Her voice rose with every word. I wasn’t sure it could get any higher. And as it rose, my smile grew.
“But you had fun, right?”
“That's beside the point.”
“Thatwasthe point! I knew you and Maddy went to some bar to get some drinks to celebrate, but you need to unleash another way. By telling the world that you are Ophelia Fuller, and you did! Look at you, screaming to the heavens, Phe . .”
“Don’t.”
“Ophelia,” I corrected. “I am so incredibly proud of you. You deserve the world, and I wanted to give it to you in some way.”
“By bungee jumping?’
“You were flying,” I said softly.
She let out a loud groan and leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees, taking in a few deep breaths. “Okay fine,” she finally shouted. “That was thrilling, and I was tempted to jump again but”—she flung herself up again—“I still can’t believe you did that.”
I chuckled and took a few steps toward her, wanting so badly to reach out and touch her, pull her close again, and kiss her. “I knew if I told you, you would’ve said no.”
“How much did this even cost?”
I shrugged. “That doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does, Clay.” She took a step back. “When are you going to tell me?”
Well, shit.
