Page 104 of As a Last Resort
“It’s not typicallythatanimated.It’s usually more of a two-bottle-night adventure, not a six-bottle one.”
We walked up to his house and he stopped a few paces behind me.
“I’m sorry.”
I turned at the sound of his voice.
“About tonight and how I was acting.You haven’t done a single thing to warrant me acting like an emo lovestruck teenager toward you.”
“Lovestruck?”I questioned, raising my brows.
He blushed and shook his head, dismissing the comment.“You go on in and head to bed.I’m going to sit out here for a bit and clear my head.”He nodded toward his front patio swing.“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sam.”
I could have said good night and walked into his house and shut the door behind me.
I could have thought about the fact I was leaving in just under a week and had no intention of coming back.Ever.
I could have thought the right thing to do would be to let him eventually meet someone here, and not make things more complicated.
I could have.
But I didn’t.
I took a deep breath and stepped closer to him, within an inch of his face.His breath smelled of red wine and chocolate.He didn’t budge as I crept closer, his hands quarantined to his pockets.His eyes darkened and searched mine, like he was desperately trying to uncover and catalog every shade of brown in them.
And he waited.
He waited while my insides went on a hundred-foot roller-coaster vertical drop and every word I’ve learned since age two left my brain.His eyes wandered down to my mouth and my lips barely parted, a wordless command my traitorous body was happy to follow.
I took a deep breath.
“For once, I’m not trying to figure out everything ahead of time.I’m not asking questions, not dissecting every possible scenario to guarantee it all will work out in the end and I won’t get hurt.”
“Okay.”Flecks of gold swam around in his heavy eyes and his breath quickened.
“Coming home is really awful for me.And no one ever made this place less scary but you do.You make me think I may actually be able to survive my real life here.”
I inched closer.He tilted his head down, his nose brushing the side of mine.
The heat of his breath filled my mouth, warming my chest, and time seemed to check out for a moment.He was close enough that the worn cotton of his T-shirt teased my hands, and I wanted nothing more than to tug the fabric over his head, and sink my fingers into his skin.
“I’m not a one night kinda guy, Sam.”
I tilted my mouth up to almost reach his, closing the small distance that stood between us.His eyes didn’t leave mine.
“Take your hands out of your pockets.”
His eyes dropped to my mouth.“If I do, I won’t be able to keep them off you.”
My breathing was shallow, and his stopped, waiting for permission.
I leaned my hips into him and whispered into his lips.“That’s kinda what I was hoping for.”
In a split second, his hands gripped me and my back was up against the front door.The warmth of his fingers found their way to my waist, to the tiny sliver of skin that sat in between my shirt and the top of my jeans.
We stared at each other, everyalmostmoment replaying in my head.Then his lips crashed into mine, hot and desperate, as his teeth grazed across my bottom lip.His tongue coaxed my mouth open as he tilted my head gently, his fingers laced through my hair, deepening his reach.
My stomach plummeted, a soft groan coming from the pit of myneed into his mouth.His hum matched mine, the sound winding its way into my bloodstream.
