Page 78 of Anchored

A loud voice interrupts from behind us. We all turn around to see Jess, my sister, dancing her way into the party. She’s got on leg warmers, short shorts, and a tube top that I quickly avert my gaze from. Jesus, that’s my sister with her oversized breastfeeding boobs bouncing around. Her husband, Stephen, trails behind her with the baby, shrugging apologetically like he has no control over his crazy wife. And it’s true. Jess marches to her own beat. Dad and Mom bring up the rear, dressed in ’80s power suits that I’m sure they just dug out of their closets.

“Jess!” Maple leaves my side to hug my sister, the two of them already so friendly I get a little scared. For years, Jess’s only pleasure in life was to torment me. I like to think we’ve grown out of it, but I think it’s more a case of her being too busy with her own husband and child to bother with me anymore.

I introduce Mom and Dad to Maple’s parents and leave the older generations to themselves. I manage to snag Maple’s wrist and tow her away from Jess and out onto the dance floor. Our arms wrap around each other like our bodies were made to fit.

“Can we get married next summer?” Maple asks out of the blue as we sway to the angsty ’80s ballad.

“Any time you want, moonbeam.” My palms slide lower on her waist, hovering just above the swell of her ass. I’m already inappropriately hard with her breasts smashed against my chest.

She tilts her head back, her long hair tickling the backs of my fingers. “Summer is a magical time for you and me. Feels like the right time to get married.”

I kiss her quickly. “What else do you want?”

Her eyes sparkle in the sunshine. “I want to be barefoot, in a simple dress. I don’t want fancy. And I want us to write our own vows like Grandma and Harold.”

“Consider it done.”

She tilts her head. “If I ask to ride up the aisle on a unicorn, are you going to give me that too?”

I spin her around, committing the feel of her in my arms to memory so when the sun hides behind the clouds this winter, I’ll remember the heat of her skin. The sheen of sweat on her upper lip. The way the sun turns her blonde hair into sheets of spun gold.

“Don’t you get it yet, Maple Thatcher? I’ll do anything for you. No ask is too much. No request too ridiculous. Together, absolutely nothing is out of our reach.”

Her eyes go soft and then her hands are tugging on my neck, bringing me down to plant a kiss on her lips. Ah. There it is.

My perfect summer kiss.

Mookie’s snoring softly in her doggie bed in the corner of our bedroom. I may have fed her a little extra tonight to ensure some quiet time with my fiancée. When we left the end-of-summer bash, our parents and grandparents were all dancing the night away. Even Jess had gotten her quiet husband to dance with her, the baby held between them. As the fireworks went off over Anchor Lake, signaling the official end of summer for tourists and locals alike, we ran to my Jeep and drove back to the cabin in a shower of colors falling from the sky.

Maple saunters out of the bathroom stark naked. From my perch on our bed, I wish I left the lights on, or at least lit some candles. The moonlight streaming through the window is just enough to make out her curvy body, the long lean length of her thighs, the bounce of her wavy hair tickling the tips of her breasts. She climbs into bed under the sheet, her body curling into mine. I know without a shadow of a doubt I have everything that matters in this life in my arms right now.

“Maple?” I say into the darkness.

She lifts her head from my chest, her warm breath fanning my skin.

“Sometimes I look at you and I don’t know how to contain all the love I feel for you. I don’t know if it’s my ADHD brain going on a bender, but I can’t seem to fathom a time when I don’t feel this much for you. When all these feelings aren’t pummeling my chest. I’ll be Grandpa’s age and still get choked up when you enter the room, I just know it.” I stop suddenly, my throat closing off the spill of words.

Maple doesn’t say a word. She just slides a leg over my hips and straddles me, sitting up a bit and cupping my face with her hands. She looks deeply into my eyes and strokes her fingertips up my cheeks, across my eyebrows, and over my lips. I’m already hard as a rock underneath her, the consequence of her simply being near me.

“I feel the same way,” she finally whispers. “Like there’s so much love it feels like it might split my ribs open.”

I slide my palms up her thighs to her hips. Her hips flex just the tiniest bit, a warm slide of her body against my cock that has me biting back a groan. “What are we going to do about this?”

Maple’s eyebrows rise. “I think there’s only one thing we can do.”

She shifts her hips again, more aggressively this time, stopping just shy of my cock entering her heat. My eyes roll back in my head, and I practically have to shout the anchoring word in my head to keep myself focused on the topic of discussion.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I manage between gritted teeth.

She lifts up and shifts backward, impaling herself on my dick. I shudder out my held breath. If this is a test to see if I can keep my brain focused on a single subject, I’m failing miserably. Shivers rack my body. Fuck, she feels like heaven.

“With all this love floating around…we have to…do something…with it.” She’s not exactly having an easy time keeping up with a conversation right now either, I notice.

I make a noncommittal sound, not trusting my brain to spit out anything that resembles words.

“We should make a baby.”

Maple’s words finally register and I squeeze my hands on her hips to still her undulations. “Wait. A baby?”

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