Eighteen
Brody
She was perfect.
The way she fit beneath me like she was made just for me.
Her soft breaths tickling my skin.
Her fingers digging into my back as I pushed my hips into hers.
Over and over.
The way her back arched, her eyes fluttered closed.
The way she moaned my name.
How she looked at me as if I was everything.
Perfect.
“You’re crying,” I whispered, my eyebrows pulled together as I brushed a strand of hair out of her face, kissing away the tears, hesitating, not wanting to move, in case. “Did I hurt you?”
The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt her. Had we rushed things? If she wanted more time, I’d give it to her. I’d give her whatever she wanted.
She shook her head and sniffed, threading her fingers through my hair in the way I’d come to love, and pulled my mouth down to meet hers in a searing kiss.
I dropped my forehead to hers. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” she breathed, biting my lip. “It’s good.”
“Yeah?”
“Really good.” She moved her hips, and I dove in for another kiss.
“I take it back,” Audrey said breathlessly, after we’d finished.
“What?” I rolled onto my side and traced a finger along her hip bone, smiling as she shivered from my touch.
“S’mores are not better than sex.” She grinned at me.
I collapsed onto the pillow beside her and laughed. “That good, huh?”
“Better.” Her mouth twisted into a wry smile.
“I don’t like that look.”
“You will,” she said and rolled on top of me.
I groaned and tilted my head back. Having her naked body pressed against mine did all sorts of things to my imagination.
“Audrey,” I warned, wrapping my arms around her waist.
“I want to do it again.” She pushed herself up and looked down at me, her lower lip pulled between her teeth as her fingers trailed across my chest and her hips rocked gently against me.
I was powerless. Held captive by the look in her eyes, the feel of her hands on my skin. And by the confidence she suddenly exuded. I pulled her back down to me and kissed her before rolling her under me again.
***
I woke in the morning to Audrey’s head on my chest and her legs twisted through mine. I couldn’t help but smile. But lying there in the silence, the doubt crept in. Not about my feelings for her, because there was no doubt about them, but what our family and friends would say. I didn’t want to disappoint Leanne and Steve, and I suddenly felt like I was betraying them, which was the last thing I wanted to do.
They were openminded and pretty laid-back. They didn’t bat an eye when Linc and Indie got together. In fact, Leanne had been waiting for it forever, apparently. It seemed everybody, including Blind Freddy, knew that Linc and Indie were in love with each other except those two. They let their fear of disappointing Nate and his parents get in their way. And it was all for nothing. Leanne and Steve were totally okay with Linc and Indie. They adored him like a son.
I knew they’d be happy for Audrey if she told them she was seeing someone, just like I knew they’d be happy for me. I just wasn’t sure how they’d react if they knew we were seeing each other. The age difference, while not huge, was still substantial, given Audrey’s age. But she didn’t act, talk, think, or behave like a teenager. With everything she’d been through, she had to grow up fast, and that was one of the things that attracted me to her in the first place. Her determination. Her strength. Her willpower.
She stirred in my arms, lifting her head to look at me. “Hi,” she said softly.
“Morning.” My voice was thick with sleep. “How are you?”
“Great.” She smiled shyly.
“Me too.”
Audrey stretched, lifting her arms above her head as she yawned, her still very naked body pressing into mine. I groaned and gently rolled her off me so I could get out of the bed.
“What?” She sat up and frowned, the covers slipping to her waist.
“You need to…” I waved my arms at her, “put a shirt on.”
She frowned and pulled the covers up over her chest, her eyes clouded over, and she nodded once. “Okay.”
Crap. I knew what she was thinking.
“No.” I leaned down and pinched her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “Not because of that, okay?”
“Sure, whatever.” Her voice was sad, and I hated hearing the defeat in it. She had nothing to be self-conscious about. I loved every single fucking scar on her body, and I’d make it my mission to remind her of that. Every. Single. Day.
“Because now I need to go and have a really cold shower, otherwise we’re not leaving this tent all day.” I pressed my lips to hers, smiling as she melted under my touch before I left her to go and cool down.
After my shower, I dressed and came back out to find Audrey gone. I called for her but didn’t get a response. My skin prickled in fear, but I tried not to overreact. She could have been anywhere.
I walked outside and spotted her down on the sand by the water. I stood back and watched her for a while. Standing there in her shorts and swimsuit, she was almost a different person than the girl she had been two months ago. I was so proud of her, and completely in awe of the way she had handled these last few months. They couldn’t have been easy, but she pulled through because she was a fighter, and I’d never met anyone stronger.
I walked across the sand and stopped behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. I placed a kiss to the top of her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Is it wrong if I admit I don’t want to go back?”
“Not at all. I don’t want to either.”
“Promise me something.” She turned in my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Anything.”
“We’ll come back here again.”
“Every birthday, if you want.”
She smiled and nodded. “Can we sit for a while?”
“Of course.” I sat in the sand and pulled Audrey down to sit between my legs, and we watched the waves crash against the shore in silence, until the sound of kids laughing broke it.
“Guess that’s our cue to leave.” She sighed.
“Yeah, we should be heading back.”
I didn’t want to go back. I wanted to stay right there on the beach, wrapped in our own bubble, where we were untouchable, unbreakable, and completely free to be ourselves and do whatever we wanted. But life didn’t work that way.
Audrey had school the next day. I had work, and Leanne and Steve were expecting us back in a couple of hours.
Audrey stood and dusted off her shorts, then put her hand in mine and didn’t let it go until we pulled up to the house a few hours later.
With one last, lingering kiss—because who knew how long it would be before I got the chance to kiss her or hold her again—we unpacked the car and walked inside.
Leanne jumped on us the moment we closed the front door, wanting all the details about the weekend. Did we have fun? Did we go exploring the caves? Hiking? What was the tent like? We answered as many questions as we could without flat-out lying to her until Steve dragged her away, telling her we were probably exhausted and needed to get some rest. He wasn’t wrong. We were exhausted, but it wasn’t really from any of the reasons he was probably thinking.
I carried Audrey’s bags to her room and set them down on the floor.
She turned and gave me a half smile, the one she gave when she was unsure or nervous, and I knew exactly what was worrying her.
Looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was hanging around, I shut the door behind me and crossed the room to Audrey. Grasping her shoulders lightly, I bent my knees to look her in the eyes. “Don’t think like that.”
She wrinkled her nose and looked away. “Like what?”
“Like you’re overthinking things. I can see the cogs in your brain turning.”
“But—?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“You don’t even know—”
“I do. You’re worried about this.” I gestured between us before pulling her to me and wrapping my arms around her back. Her body fit perfectly against mine, soft and warm in all the right places. “And what it all means and what happens now.”
“How did you know?” She angled her head and looked up at me.
“Because I know you.” I dropped my forehead to hers.
She smiled.
“Don’t worry. Okay?” I whispered against her lips. “Last night changed everything, and I’m not going back to the way things were. I can’t. It’s me and you. Always,” I said before lowering my mouth to hers and kissing her like she was my air, because now that I’d had a taste, I couldn’t get enough of her.