Page 98 of Between the Lines

Standing there, muscles still tense, all I can do is watch.

Thunder booms and she yelps, but it’s followed by another laugh. Then buckets of warm summer rain fall, drenching us in seconds.

Fia’s gray shirt clings to her slender frame, her hair soaking as she continues to spin in the muddy grass.

“What are you doing?” I yell over the deafening rain, blinking as droplets collect on my lashes.

Fia stops, staring at me through the dense sheets of rain, drowning out my thudding heart. “What does it look like! I’m dancing!” She lifts her arms above her head, elegant and long. “Get over here—don’t make me do this alone!“

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” I shout back.

She shakes her head.

Fia runs up to me with an arm extended. She’s close enough I can see the droplets of rain running down her cheeks, the spark in her emerald eyes.

“You’re wrong—I feel extraordinarily alive,” she says and I swallow, rendered speechless.

I have no resolve left as she pulls me into the yard and like a magnet I follow. Fia grabs my hands, trying to twirl us, but I squat down to pick her up by her thighs and hike her in the air above me.

Fia shrieks, a smile brighter than the sun on her face.

I spin her around, unable to contain my heart pounding through the wet bones of my rib cage.

Her body slips down against mine, warmth pooling everywhere our skin connects. Her wet shirt rides up, exposing the expanse of her tan stomach and lacy green bra. Fia’s smile is gone, replaced with something serious.

But then lightning strikes, and instincts kick in to protect her. With our fingers laced together, I pull her behind me until we’re under the slanted roof in front of the guesthouse door.

She pulls her hand from mine and knots the front of my soaked T-shirt in her fingers. My back barely shields her from the rain coming down sideways.

My gaze dips to her chest, rising up and down slowly. She leans back against the black door, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Caden,” she says, her voice throaty and low.

I snap my eyes to hers, drowning out the rest of the world. “Hmm?”

“Kiss me.”

Her chest continues to rise with every controlled breath, her green eyes searching my stormy ones. Dragging my hand through her wet hair, I hold the back of her neck and pull her close to me.

A tiny gasp escapes her lips before I capture them with my own. She rocks her hips against me, arms snaking down to my hips. She pauses, pulling back, locking me in her gaze. Fia reaches behind her, opening the guesthouse door.

I lift my lips into a crooked grin, and Fia’s eyes fill with lust.

We stumble inside together, shutting the storm out.

It’s quiet besides the sound of the rain tapping on the roof. Daisy is safely asleep in the room behind us.

Right now, it’s just us . . . my arms draped around Fia’s neck, pulling her into me, her mouth on mine, her tongue against my lips, her fingers fumbling with the zipper on my shorts. Water rolls off our bodies, puddling on the floor below, but I can’t focus on anything except the woman in front of me.

Fia pulls her mouth away, her lips pink and swollen, and holds a finger to her mouth, reminding me to be quiet, before she takes my hands and leads me down the short hall towards her bedroom.

It’s dim as we stumble in. Fia covers her mouth to stifle a laugh as she backs into the bed, falling onto it clumsily.

My eyes roam the small dim bedroom. The bed is messy and unmade; piles of clothes and books sit in the corner, and seashells are scattered across the dresser top.

This room is her.

It’s everything I love about her.