Page 171 of Something Rad
I shake my head.Finish the damn sentence, Cooper.
“Say it,” I breathe. “Say it and it’s yours.” I suddenly feel like a caged animal, desperate to break free, and Cooper’s the only one with the key to the lock. I can tell the words are right there on the tip of her tongue, but something’s holding her back. Before I know what I’m doing, my cheek is against hers and I’m whispering into her ear, my voice barely audible. “Ask me, and I’myours.”
Cooper pulls back slowly, leaving just enough distance between us for her to tilt her head up to look up at me. When her eyes meet mine, I can see it. I watch as she lets every last fear and apprehension she has slowly melt away. I witness the moment, the one where she finally allows herself to give in to what she wants. What she really wants.
“Kiss me, Robbie.”
thirty-five
SARA
Robbie doesn’t take a spare second. The moment the words leave my lips, his fingers are winding tighter into my hair and his mouth is sinking down onto mine.
My body responds immediately, my back arching and my chest pressing up against him. A surge of warmth rushes from everywhere we touch, enveloping the two of us in a dreamy haze consisting of only us, the brisk night breeze, andPurple Rain. It’s like something out of only the most ridiculous, cheesy, andabsolute bestmovies.
I don’t know what I expected to happen when I asked Robbie to kiss me. I don’t know if I simply anticipated an encore of the show we put on back at Denise’s party. But, if that was the case, I’d be shocked to learn that Robbie had an entirely new performance up his sleeve. One meant for an audience of exactly two and not recommended for the faint of heart or weak in the knees.
No, this is so completely, unbelievably, overwhelminglydifferent.
Before, it was rushed, haphazard,frenzied. Like we had an impossibly short time limit to complete a never ending task. Like there was a ticking time bomb strapped to both of our chests and the only instructions to defuse it were hidden deep within each other. Like we were a swarm of bees and a bear fighting for the rights to a beehive, the result being a messy explosion of sweet honey between us that we each were too blinded by the battle to enjoy. It was a necessary release of frustration and a finally bursting dam of months’ worth of tension. What happened between us at the party… It was sudden and fast and catastrophic, burning hot, full of fury, and completely taking the both of us over. It was like a raging fire.
Butthis…what’s happening between us now, it’s not fire at all. Not in the traditional way. Sure, it’s hot.Searing, even. It’s an all-consuming, transformative feeling, scorching us from the inside out and setting the air around us ablaze. But, still, it’s not fire. No, a better way to describe it–the only comparison I can even think to make– would be…lava. What’s happening between Robbie and me now…it’s languid, taking its time, fully absorbing the moment. Instead of trying to destroy each other, we are melting together and becoming one.
Robbie’s kissing me like we’re the last two people on earth and like he has all the time in the world savor every last inch of me. And I have to say…it may just be the greatest feeling in the world.
I push up onto my tiptoes, desperately wanting to be closer to him. It never occurred to me just how much taller than me he was until now. As much as I secretly enjoy the thought, it’s frustrating at this moment when all I want to do is be at eye level with him. But the screaming of my straining calf muscles and the grinding of the toes of my Keds into the asphalt is completely worth it with every heated slide of Robbie’s lips against mine.
Seeming to read my mind, Robbie’s hands slowly untwist from my hair, sliding down to rest on my hips. “Let me help you out,” he mutters against my mouth. Then, before I can blink, his hands are on the backs of my thighs and he’s hiking me up against the car. I let out a yelp of surprise, but my body is ahead of my brain, my legs automatically wrapping around Robbie’s waist as he settles me at eye-level with him.
“This okay, Cooper?” he asks, looking at me from under heavy lids.
“Just what I needed,” I nod.
Robbie’s teeth sink into his lower lip as he watches me, his head shaking. Then he leans down and latches his lips onto my neck. I let out a breathy sigh, tilting my head to the side to give him better access. Goosebumps prickle across my skin and shivers are sent down my spine with every hot press of his mouth, settling low in my belly and forming a ball of what feels like crackling electricity.
“I must admit,” I murmur between heavy breaths, “I like this tree much better.”
Robbie pauses his movements, and my eyes peel open just slightly. Just as regret begins to swarm my mind over the genius idea to bring up Paul right now, and I start to fear that I’ve entirely ruined the moment, Robbie surprises me with a sharp bite of his teeth into my shoulder. I let out some type of mixture of a gasp and a moan at the pleasantly painful sensation and the odd rush of warmth it sends through me.
“Damn right you do,” Robbie mutters into my shoulder before tracing over the sensitive spot he just bit into with his tongue, pressing a kiss to it after and continuing his trail up the side of my neck.
“You said you like the way I feel?” he asks between kisses.
“Yes,” I barely whisper.
Robbie’s right at my ear as he asks, “Want to feel some more?”
I’m nodding before he even has the question out.
“I need to hear you say the words, Cooper.”
“Yes,” I croak out. “Please.”
Robbie pulls back, his heated gaze meeting mine for a brief moment before he stands to his full height, hitching me up higher with him. Before my next breath is out, Robbie’s pushing me harder up against the car and gently forcing my thighs apart just enough for him to fully settle between them. When it feels like he can’t get any closer, he catches me by surprise and presses into me. A sound I’ve never heard myself make before escapes my lips when I feel the hard press of him against my center. My head automatically falls back as another pathetic whimper comes out of me. I can’t help it. Between the way my hands are frantically grappling at Robbie’s chest for purchase and the wet heat quickly soaking the spot between my thighs, I feel completely out of control of my body.
It only gets worse–yetso much better–as Robbie grinds himself against me. I send out a silentthank youto the universe that we live in a small town where ninety-nine percent of the population is off the roads by eight o’clock at night, because I know the scene that we’re creating on the side of the street right now is unholy. I know my hair is a tangled mess and that my fair skin is coated with red patches and a sheen of sweat. My skirt is pushed so far up my thighs that it’s basically useless. Only my cotton underwear are there to protect me from the rough rub of the full length of Robbie in his Levi’s.
He lays into me so hard now that I see stars entirely different from those currently present in the night sky. I shudder, letting out a moan.
