Page 87 of The Time It Takes
Not being able to stop myself, I lifted my head and found his lips with mine. He groaned into the kiss just before I broke it.
“I think I’ve wanted to do that all my life,” I said softly.
He touched his nose to mine in a butterfly kiss. “Yeah?”
I nodded and grabbed his wrist, slowly lowering his palm. I felt the heat of his hand trailing down the skin of my neck. I flattened it over my chest, and I heard his breath catch as he felt it. “It always beats like this for you. Every time you look at me.” My heart pounded against his palm. It was hard to breathe normally at this point, so I didn’t even try to manage it.
“Can I tell you something?”
I nodded.
“I remember the first time I wanted to kiss you. I mean, like actually feeling the need to pull you into my arms and kiss the hell out of you,” he told me, and I found myself listening more intently to him than I had to anyone before. “We were fifteen.” I watched him smile at the memory. “I was in the middle of surfing a wave and out of the corner of my eye this brunette caught my attention. She was jumping up and down in this ridiculously hot red bikini.”
I chuckled. “You mean my lifeguard uniform?” I asked, lifting a brow.
He leaned down and bit my shoulder. “Let me finish,” he murmured against my skin. Chills shot down my body this time and went straight to my toes. I let out something along the lines of a moan and a gasp. I only realized after it had escaped me. He kissed the same spot before lifting to look over me again, tilting his head.
“Interesting,” he observed, and I pressed my lips together. He shook his head, and I did my best to ignore the hardness pressing into my thigh. “Anyway, this girl,” he stated, giving me a pointed look.
I dipped my chin. “Mhmm. Right.” I replied eagerly. This only seemed to please him more.
“You see, from a distance she had no face. All I knew was that she was cheering someone on. There were twenty of us out on the water that day, so I didn’t know who she was looking at. She seemed so proud. Before I even knew it was you, it made me want to look for you. I decided I was done for the day, and I wanted to see you right then and there.” He smiled softly, almost remorsefully. “Then as I paddled closer to shore, I saw you standing there with a huge ass smile on your face, looking right at me. You were the only thing that ever made me want to leave the sea behind and rush to the shore. I knew that I’d surf a thousand waves just to keep getting that reaction out of you. I knew I had to kiss you then. I didn’t know how it would happen, but if not then, I knew that someday it had to.”
I’d found the fireflies I hadn’t seen in years. They were in my stomach.
“You’re the kind of girl a guy looks at and thinksher. That’s the one I could spend hours kissing in the rain. I didn’t know when or how it would happen, but I didn’t care, Willow, because I knew it would. And I’d do it all ten times over and still know for certain that you belong to me just as much as I belong to you.”
His words were sparks of fire and a raging storm in my heart. I thought I’d always known it too, but I could never admit it to myself as easily.
“I would have kissed you back then.” My voice was a hoarse whisper. “I mean, if you would have laid one on me right then and there, I wouldn’t have pulled away.” The truth was I’d wanted him since I learned boys had cooties. I still wanted all of his.
He frowned slightly at my words. “I wish I did. I honestly do.”
I cupped his face with both hands. “You can make up for it now,” I suggested easily, the fear brushing right off my chest. This was right. Nothing had ever been as right as this—as right asus. “We both can.”
That was all it took for his mouth to find mine again. His lips were warm and inviting. It started soft and delicate but quickly turned hungrier. He was kissing me like I was breakfast. A hand glided down to my stomach and the heat of his touch turned my body molten. I was burning up and I only wanted more of him. I wondered if it’d ever be enough. If this yearning would ever seize.
His hand squeezed my waist and my hips naturally arched into him. He groaned into my mouth as the kiss turned heavy and I was pressed beneath his body. My hands were up and down his back and in his hair. I thought I might have even been pulling it. I needed to be closer to him. I wrapped my legs around him, and I was forgetting how to breathe.
I didn’t need to. Not if he kept doing this. I needed him to touch me like this for the rest of my life. It was decided with certainty that this was a forever thing I could count on. I didn’t want to screw it up by moving too fast. I mean, I only had my first kiss hours ago.
I pulled back slightly, my chest heaving. “A moment—I need a moment to catch my breath.”
His only response was a smile that I could feel against my lips.
Chapter Sixteen
Present
We’rebothquietwhilewe eat. I’m glad he decided to come back. I barely had an appetite, but Oliver told me to eat anyway and so I am.
We’re sitting at the kitchen counter when Oliver’s phone buzzes for the eleventh time.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble as I take another bite of meat lover’s pizza.
He shakes his head as he wipes his hands off with a napkin.
I swivel in the barstool to face him. “I didn’t want this to happen.”
