“Okay, maybe three. And a half.” My body was supposed to heal fast. Why was I even still in pain?
Yes, he was big, but-
“When you get to zero, you let me know.” And then he walked back to the kitchen, pulled a bread basket from a cupboard, and poured out the flaky pastries that smelled like warmed butter and spicy cinnamon. My stomach clenched and let out an embarrassingly loud rumble.
“Someone’s hungry,” he said, smiling.
“Ravenous.” Still mummified in the cover, I shuffled over to the island. “Aren’t you?”
He ran his palm over the wood that had absorbed the waves of my pleasure. “Oh, I’m starving.”
Sandwiching my face between two hot irons would probably have scorched my cheeks less.
“Did I just make you blush?” he asked, smirking.
I broke off a piece from the cinnamon roll and lobbed it at him.
“How very mature, Dimples. I thought you were a real woman, now.”
“Shut up,” I muttered, breaking off another piece of the sweet pastry, but this time to eat it.
August came around the island and sat on the stool beside mine. Still laughing, he leaned over and kissed me. It started out as a peck but escalated quickly.
“Two,” I whispered against his mouth.
“What?” he asked, voice all raspy.
“On a scale of one to ten, I’m down to a two. Kiss me again, and I might get to zero faster.”
He sucked in a ragged breath before clearing his throat. “Your body needs to heal.”
“My body needs yours.”
“It’s all yours.”
“But you’re leaving in a couple hours.”
His eyes, which encompassed every color of the forest beyond these walls, turned very serious. “Ness, I’m not going anywhere.”
“You canceled your trip?”
“Dad’s gonna go.”
The silliest relief filled me. Even though I’d rather have gnawed off my own leg than let him go into River territory, I said, “If you need to go with him, you can.”
“The only place I need to be is here with you.”
And here I’d up and gone on my trip without considering how my absence would make him feel. “I don’t deserve you.”
“What are you talking about?”
My eyes heated. Oh my God, was I about to cry? Again? What was wrong with me? Was I getting my period?
“Hey, hey, hey.” He kissed my lids.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” I whispered. “I’ve never been like this.”
“Like what?”
“So needy.”
He stroked the edge of my face.
Had we somehow consolidated the bond, and now I couldn’t physically be away from him? “You think the condom broke?” It would explain-
“The condom didn’t break.”
Then how come I felt like I couldn’t breathe if he wasn’t around?
How come I wanted to duct-tape my body to his?
“You look a little pale,” he said.
I lifted my hair and twisted it into a rope. “However clingy I get, don’t run from me, okay?”
He leaned over again and gripped the back of my neck. “Why would I run from the one thing I want?”
As he kissed me, the tether between us solidified into a thick and shiny rope, which I itched to pluck but still feared to touch. In the end, I set the temptation aside for another time, a time when August would be so certain of my feelings for him that he wouldn’t worry if I couldn’t move his body with my mind.
I was glad it was Saturday. At least none of August’s employees would witness my walk of shame.
August flicked his gaze toward me as we ambled hand-in-hand toward my car. “I know some very capable house painters who work weekends.”
I powered open my car doors. “I’m sure you do.”
“Let me call-”
I kissed his still moving mouth, then pulled away and said, “I like painting walls.”
“If memory serves me, you also like what I did to you last night . . .”
Heat smacked my cheeks. “I did also like that.”
“And swimming in lakes.” He gestured to the sky. “I mean, look at this weather. It’s perfect for what I had planned.”
Maybe I could let Jeb-No. I needed to help out. Especially if we wanted to move in tomorrow.
“You know what I also really like?” I asked. “Sunset swims. Less people around.”