Page 48 of Wasted

She nodded. "It's out in the shed."

I shook my head. "There's no way that old thing still works."

She shrugged as a grin spread across her face. "Only one way to find out." She jiggled the keys in front of my face.

My eyes met hers, and her smile was contagious. She looked like the girl I'd fallen in love with, and in that moment, I would have done anything to keep that smile on her face. "Let's do it." I snatched the keys out of her hand and pushed to my feet.

"You go see if it will start," she said, pointing in the direction of the shed. "I want to grab something."

She disappeared inside the house, and I strolled out to the old barn shed. It used to be bright red with white trim, but it barely had any color left. Most of the windows were broken out, and I was pretty sure the entire building had a slight left lean. It was sad to think that the new owners would destroy it.

I jerked open the old doors, and right up front was the rusty green and yellow open cab gator. I slid onto the seat and felt around for the keyhole before sliding it in. "Come on, baby," I whispered as I twisted the key, and the engine rumbled to life. I huffed out a disbelieving laugh.

"It works." Taylor chuckled, strolling up to the passenger side and tossing a bag into the back of the gator.

"What's that?"

"It wouldn't be a full moon without whiskey, the gator, and the lake."

My lips curled into a grin. "Talk dirty to me, baby." She laughed. "Get in." Before we were old enough to drink, we would grab a bottle of anything we could find, jump in the gator, and drive it down to the lake on my property. As we got older, wepreferred whiskey and skinny dipping, but the trip was still the same: a full moon and the gator.

She slid in, and we took off. The gator was too loud to try to have a conversation over, but I think both of us were content just being together. By the time I eased the gator to a stop in front of the dock and killed the engine, it was completely dark except for the full moon.

"Wow, didn't that ride bring back some memories?" She smiled.

I chuckled under my breath as I slid out of the gator. "Like the first time we came out here, and you drank way too much?"

"Yeah." She laughed, sliding out and strolling around the front, stopping in front of me. Her gaze lifted, meeting mine. "You had to keep stopping so I could puke off the side."

I stepped into her personal space. "And then you passed out, and I had to carry you to bed."

"And you stayed with me all night to make sure I was ok."

I cupped her face in my hands. With our eyes locked, I dragged my tongue across my bottom lip as my thumb tugged at her bottom lip. "I would have made any excuse to spend more time with you."

Her small hands closed over mine as her eyes closed, and she melted into my touch. "I know," she whispered. Her eyes eased open, meeting mine as a grin spread across her face. She jerked my hands down. "Last one in the water buys drinks tomorrow night." She laughed, and I smirked. That was a bet I would gladly lose just to be able to stand back and watch her undress.

Taylor walked backward toward the water, her eyes locked on mine as she reached for the hem of her tank top, a playful grin twitching on her lips. She pulled up her shirt agonizingly slow, teasing my senses. Every move she made was carefully perpetrated to tease. To torment. To drive me mad and make me fucking desperate for her. Teasing me was something she'dalways been good at. Swallowing hard, my eyes followed the hem until it was gone, and nothing was left but smooth skin and a black bra.

"Your turn." She nodded toward my shirt as she continued to walk backward, and I continued to walk forward. She was running out of ground.

I reached back and ripped off my shirt, tossing it to the ground. Her gaze dropped, sweeping over me for a long moment. Her eyes flicked up, meeting mine. Her hand moved to the button of her shorts, flicking it open. She stopped, and I did, too, as she shoved down her shorts and kicked them to the side.

My breath caught in my throat, and my hands twitched at my sides as my gaze raked over every curve of her perfect body and tiny black lacy thong, storing it in memory.

"Your turn."

Without taking my eyes off her, I flicked open the button to my jeans as I tripped over myself to kick off my boots, shoved down the zipper, and quickly worked myself out of my pants before tossing them to the grass.

I held my breath, wondering how far she'd go. If this was two years ago, we'd both be completely naked and in the water by now, but it wasn't, and we weren't.

I stepped forward, and she stepped back, her feet hitting the dock. She was running out of dock. She stopped at the edge, and I stepped into her space, my body mere inches from hers. A gust of wind blew a strand of loose hair in her face.

"You are even more beautiful now." I brushed the strand out of her face and slid it behind her ear. Her gaze dropped, and I brushed my thumb over her flushed cheeks. "I keep thinking maybe our time has passed, but when I look at you, I still feel exactly the same as I did then." Her gaze lifted, meeting mine as her chest rose and fell with deep, slow breaths. "I still want youjust as much now as I did then." And that was terrifying because we both knew our lives were on completely different paths.

Smiling, she turned, giving me her back, and my gaze fell as she pulled her hair over her shoulder. "Could you help me?"

Sucking in my bottom lip, I bit down hard. I wasn't sure how much self-control I had. I wasn't sure I could touch her and not keep her.

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