Page 148 of Bring You Back

“We never did have good timing, did we?”

That one question encompasses every chance we’ve had to be together, every moment we should’ve been together that was stained by life’s interruptions, or the balance being off, like it is right now. Timing has never been on our side, but—

“Fuck timing,” I say as I climb out of the Jeep, Camille following behind me. I want this—we both want this, and we’re tired of putting it off. We’ve fucked up, but that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to be happy.The One is always the one you want.Camille is the one I want. And we’ve been without each other long enough.

“Fuck timing,” she echoes when I meet her at the passenger side. I take her hand, and this time, neither of us freezes as I lace my fingers through hers. She does try to hide a smile, but I lift her chin, catching it just in time.

“No more hiding,” I say, finally letting my thumb slide over the scar on her lip. It’s slightly raised. Just as soft as the rest of her skin. Her lips under my touch makes me want them even more.

“I won’t if you won’t,” she says with a pointed look, shoving my hand away with impatience. “Now let’sgo.”

As much as I can say I like when she bosses me around, I don’t make her tell me twice.

We walk the pier, hand in hand, side by side—nothing like the last moment we were here together last summer. I found her then. I walked these planks toward her, meeting her at the end, and she started in on a rant about one of Caleb’s girlfriends who had cheated on him that did nothing but make me smile. Not about the situation, just her way. Who Camille is, what she says, how she speaks—it pulls. She pulls me and I happily want to collide into her every time.

It wasn’t planned to meet here. Or for me to kiss her here. The kiss then wasn’t in anyone’s plan being as it didn’t happen. But this is where it should’ve happened. I want our moment back. I want this pier. And this time, we’re heading the same direction, no one and nothing able to alter the course.

We reach the end of the pier, our spot, and she whips around to face me. “So, are we reenacting?” I hear the smart ass in her tone, see the tug of a smile. “Because I don’t exactly remember the script—”

“No.” My fingers slide through her hair, give a gentle tug at the nape that makes her lips part as she meets my eyes. “I want who we are now. I just wanted this, too. I can’t give you Caleb back. But I can give you this back.” She wraps her hands around my wrists, and I know she can feel the hammering of my heart against her fingertips as I complete my promise to give her the reason she’s here. “I can give you us back.”

She squeezes my wrists and now I know she can feel my pulse. It spikes as her face transforms to a smirk, a slow lift of her brow. “Thisbetter be worth it.”

“It will be,” I say around a smile, so sure of myself. Because I am. Because I have to be. I’ll crack through my sudden nerves if I’m not. As I’m leaning in, she jerks a stare to the people around us, and I jerk back with, “What?”

She shrugs, meeting my stare again with a playful gleam. “Just checking.” I chuckle as I realize she was making sure we wouldn’t be interrupted, knowing damn well I won’t let that happen again even if someone tries.

I pull her in. Her lips connect with mine on an inhale and we dive headfirst. My tongue sweeps against hers and she releases a moan that has me sighing into her, pulling her closer, kissing her deeper. The loss of each other, the months of waiting, of wanting are fueled in this kiss, the simmering burn between us now a flame. I don’t have to try to feel. I feel her everywhere—the racing, the fluttering I felt last year, before the kiss, takes over my body, now intensified, with an underlying ease at finally having her this way. Each sweep of her tongue sends a fresh wave of tingles down my spine—the kind I could get used to.

This is what I’ve been reaching for. This is what I’ve been trying to find.Thisis right.

She bites my lip as she pulls back, hers forming a smile. “I definitely would’ve stayed for that.”

I take her mouth one more time, one more slow sweep of my tongue. “Don’t tell me that.”

We’re tugging hands, breathy laughs, and we need off this pier. Now.

“Julian. . .” she begs, a warning through the want in her voice.

“Yeah,” I say as we start the race off the pier, back to my Jeep. Instead of climbing onto the passenger seat like I expect her to do, she aims for the back, and I practically skid to a stop. “Not here.”

“No one will see us,” she argues, breath still heavy, a pointed look to the trees surrounding the car. I did pick a good spot to park for this. And while I’m not exactly surprised Camille would want to fuck in my Jeep, we can’t. Don’t get me wrong; I love when a girl shows me what she wants. When the girl wants me? Great. When the girl who wants me is Camille? Even better.

But our first time together isn’t happening in this cramped backseat. Not to mention I’ve already had Reyna here more times than I can count. Camille wouldn’t care about that, and it was always supposed to be her, but no.

“I’m not fucking you in my Jeep.”

“I don’t need romance for this, Julian,” she argues, tired of my shit, and I can’t help but laugh. I know exactly what she wants and how she wants it. I’ve been there myself. But she’s going to have to get used tosomeromance. She hasn’t seen me in love. We still have healing to do, but it’s there, that burning for her. It took hold last year, but it felt like it had been there longer. A slow build that grasped me as soon as she slipped from my hands. Now that we’re here again, we’re us again. Together. On the road we always should’ve been on. She’s comforting still waters that calm all the churning inside me.

Maybe now I can be her calm, too.

“Just get in,” I say, matching her tone before adding, “I’ll make this worth it.” I emphasizethis, and she gives me a look I shoot back as I hurry to the driver side. “I promise.”

Back at the house, we rush through the front door after double checking that my mom’s gone to work, and Camille all but drags me down the hall. I let her lead until we reach my room where I have to make a pit stop and grab a condom.

And grab a few more. Just in case.

Inside the guest room, I kick the door shut behind us, twisting the lock this time. I’m tossing the condoms to the nightstand and she’s already trying to push my shirt over my head.

---