Page 69 of Apple of My Eye
–The pads of Nick’s fingers
–The stubble on Nick’s chin scraping against my inner thigh
–The feel of Nick’s lips pressed to my forehead
–The way his eyes light up with gold when he smiles
‘Yep. I, Eloise Anderson, want to declare a truce with you.’ I fidget where I’m standing, the two of us pinned up against an apple tree. He’s stooped ever so slightly to avoid hitting the branch above his head and to lean a little closer to me. Shari’s voice memo runs through my brain again and all I’m thinking about is how good it would feel to have some of her energy. I would explain it to Nick, but smelling his signature combination of cinnamon and mint is stealing all my concentration.
His eyebrows pull together. ‘This feels fishy.’
‘It’s not,’ I protest, hoping he doesn’t press. How am I supposed to explain that this is all I’ve thought about since the County Fair? I like him too much to ignore him completely. And I’m rationalizing it by needing to know how the Parkers are doing in U-Pick season. I would rather know sooner than later if my plan will be blown to smithereens. The anxiety of it is killing me.
‘OK.’ He looks at me, grinning. ‘I would really like that, then.’ He leans in slowly and I relax into the tree, letting my weight shift ever so slightly forward until our lips just barely touch. Just like before, the slightest graze of his lips sends electricity buzzing through me, but now there’s no one to interrupt us. Nick kisses me deeply, so deeply I feel it in my toes as they curl into my work boots.Has he somehow gottenbettersince the laundry room? God, how have I been living without this?My lips part of their own accord, inviting his tongue in. He’s greedy all of a sudden, one of his hands is on my lower back and the other is on the nape of my neck and God, he feels amazing. My back is scratching against the tree but I don’t even care, I can hardly even think about anything other thanthis kiss.
I reach around for his lower back, snaking one hand up the back of his shirt and sliding two fingers in between his pants and his skin, skimming the ridge of his underwear. He presses his hips into mine and I feel him getting hard. I gasp into his mouth and he sucks on my tongue, wetness gathering between my legs.
‘God, Eloise,’ Nick pants in between kisses.
My body feels so much like a live wire I can’t even form words.
Suddenly, Nick pulls away. ‘Maisy!’ he screams, sending us careening apart, my head slamming into the branch above me. Confused, I squint at Nick, who has already taken off running, so quickly that he’s almost run right into a tree across the way.
‘Nick!’ I yell, chasing after him. He thuds to a stop at the end of the row of trees and I crash into his back, sending us both skittering forward, finally coming to a stop right in front of a giant pink pig, who is nosing around in the roots of a tree.
‘We have to corner her,’ Nick whispers, ‘sometimes she gets out, but she’s too heavy to pick up, we have to corral her back into her pen.’
‘All the way into her pen?’ I exclaim.
Nick’s eyes widen, sheepish. ‘I don’t know how she got out.’
Working together, slowly, we stay on either side of Maisy, gently nudging her all the way back up over the hill, towards the Parkers’ barn. Every time she starts to stall, nosing at a tree or snorting at Nick, he talks to her softly, like she can understand him, asking her to please keep going. His earnest tone sends me into a fit of giggles every time. Halfway up the hill Nick reaches for my hand, intertwines his fingers with mine, and squeezes.
Clink.
I look up from the book I’m reading, confused. I cock my head at the door. Mom and Dad went to bed not long after me, I heard the usual rhythms of the house shutting down, their door closing, the creak of their footsteps across the floor.
Clink.
It’s coming from the window. My stained-glass window. My favorite window. I take a step towards it and pause, listening for the wind. Is it breaking? I take another step so I’m right up in front of it, just in time for a pebble to sail straight towards my face.
‘Shit!’ I exclaim, ducking as fast as I can.Clink.
Trying to stay as quiet as I can, I take the stairs two at a time until I’m easing the front door closed behind me.
‘Nick!’ I hiss into the darkness. ‘That better be you.’
‘Who else would it be?’ Nick appears, a shadow morphing into his strong stature as he gets closer.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘We didn’t get to finish what we started earlier. So .?.?.’ He thrusts his hands in his pockets and shrugs sheepishly.
‘So you thought I wanted more?’ I tease.
‘Well, you did declare a truce.’
‘Oh, come on.’ I reach for his hand and thread my fingers through his, pulling him towards me. ‘Be quiet. And no more throwing pebbles at my window. It’s stained glass! It’s fragile!’
