Page 4 of Trip
“We?” I ask, suddenly worried there’s a romantic partner she hasn’t mentioned. She doesn’t seem the type who would fool around behind someone’s back, but you can never tell.
“Yeah, I had to get my sisters out of our hometown. After some…things that happened… we just couldn’t stay there.”
Her expression is pained, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize that this is a sore spot for her. So, even though I don’t ever open up, I decide I’m going to try for her. I’m desperate in a way I can’t explain to form a connection with Julia, and it seems like my walls just don’t exist when I’m around her.
There’s something just beneath the surface that’s haunting her. Maybe if I tear down the fortress I’ve constructed around myself, she’ll tear down hers. Even if she doesn’t, I want to tell her everything about myself in a way I’ve never been compelled to before.
“I take it your sisters are younger than you,” I murmur, waiting for her to nod before I continue. “I was actually raised by my sister. My parents… they weren’t really around. It was just me and her.”
“She sounds kind,” Julia says, and I reach out to take her hand, needing to be closer to her. “I’d love to meet her someday.”
My blood runs a little cold. How do I tell this woman that I’ve just met that my sister, the person who stepped up when my parents didn’t, is dead. Opening up to her is one thing, unloading the most traumatic thing that’s ever happened to me is another.
I decide to play it safe by saying, “She’s not really around anymore.”
“Oh,” she murmurs, fixing me with a gaze that bulldozes right through the reservations I had.
Before Julia can ask any further questions, the words are spilling from my mouth before I can stop them, and I find I don’t care. “I’d love for you to meet her. She was just… she passed away. It happened a long time ago, but I still don’t really talk about it.”
Her gaze softens and there’s a kind of recognition there that I think only comes from deeper understanding. We hold the eye contact, an intense connection starting to form between the two of us. I decide right then and there that I have to have her. I have to make this girl mine. I want to know everything about her, and god dammit, for the first time in my life, I want someone to know everything about me.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, the weight of her words only confirming to me that she gets it more than she’s letting on.
There’s no point in holding back my desires anymore. Still holding onto her hand, I reach across her to grab onto her waist. Then, I pull her toward me, looking out for any signs of hesitation. When I find none, I connect our lips, reveling in the pleased sound she makes in response to the contact.
As I deepen the kiss slightly and she responds with fervor, her movements are a little unpracticed. I either took her completely by surprise or she’s never done this before. Either way, just one taste and I’m already addicted to Julia.
Chapter 3
Julia
Sothisis what everyone means when they say that kisses leave you breathless.
It’s both everything that I’ve heard it would be and nothing like it at all. There are fireworks, but they aren’t behind my eyelids. They’re in my chest, in my fingertips. I feel like I’m soaring, but also like I’ve never been more firmly planted in the moment.
Ever since my parents were killed, nothing has felt real. It’s like I’ve been navigating through a bad dream, the worst dream I’ve ever had. Trip feels real. He’s solid and human, and that makes me feel like a person again.
After a few minutes of what feels like intense kissing, Trip licks into my mouth. I’m very quickly reminded of my inexperience. This is so different from what was happening a few seconds ago.
I love it. Is it possible to get addicted to kissing? Because I think that’s happening. I’m going to be chasing this high for the rest of my life. But I don’t want to kiss anyone but Trip.
God, what is happening to me? Where did a man like this even come from? I didn’t know they made them so… irresistible.
As I open up to him, further following his lead, a soft noise escapes the back of my throat without my permission. I feel my cheeks heat up with embarrassment, but when he moves in even closer, kissing me even harder, I find that I don’t care.In fact, I let myself relax even further into this. If he likes the sounds he seems to coax out of me without any effort, he can have them.
I struggle to keep up with his pace. It’s obvious that he’s done this before, but I don’t want to think about that. I’ll only make myself jealous. Instead, I try my best to follow his lead, my free hand gripping his shoulder as something warm starts to coil in my gut. It’s a kind of desire that burns low, like the first spark that starts a wildfire.
If something were to happen to the two of us right now, if a meteor were to fall from the sky and wipe us out, I could die happy.
Before that train of thought moves too far, Trip’s hand slides from where it’s resting on my hip to my abdomen, drifting down lower. Abruptly, I pull away, my chest heaving and my face flaming. I can barely meet his eyes, but I can’t let this go any further without him knowing.
“I’ve, uh–” I start, swallowing hard and clearing my throat. My voice sounds wrecked, and I don’t fully understand why.
“Is everything okay?” he asks, his voice dripping with concern as he shifts the hand on my abdomen back to the safety of my hip.
I can’t believe how badly I miss the contact.
“Everything’s fine!” I squeak quickly. Then, I shake my head and put on a shaky smile. “It’s just that I’ve never… done anything like this before.”
