Page 92 of Anywhere with You
“Yes, but I can sleep another hour.”
“Ah, the rock star life. I can stop by the store after school, if you want.”
“Yes, please. Hey, Cara?”
She turned to me, brush in hand.
“Maybe you should keep a few more outfits here, just in case.”
She grinned. “Well, if you think it’s a good idea…”
I stood up from my floor mattress and went to her, putting my hands in her wet hair and kissing her clean skin and slipping my hand underneath the strap of her soft dress, caressing her shoulder, her collarbone, the side of her breast.
My teeth teased her earlobe, and somehow, her back was against my bedroom wall, my body pressed against hers. Just the feel of her shape made me breathless. I nibbled down her neck, pushing her other shoulder strap aside.
She made my favorite sound, gasping and unthinking, only existing and feeling and luxuriating in this moment.
The dress caught at her hips, and my fingers slid between the fabric and her skin, loosening buttons slowly. I left it where it fell, lowering my head to kiss the outline of her bra, until she tore it off in frustration.
I kissed the space beside each nipple delicately until she growled and gripped my hair, forcing my mouth where she wanted it. I laughed, then made my tongue soft and caressed her nipples until her body shook.
I ran my hands over her soft skin, trailing my fingers under the waistband of her…wait—
“Did you steal my panties?”
Cara’s eyes were dark, her breath trembling. “You want to discuss this now?”
“Yes. I’m about to steal them back.”
She laughed, pulling my mouth up to kiss me while I took what was mine.
I didn’t break the kiss when she was free of clothes. My hands wandered down over every curve, brushing ever so gently against her stomach, her hips, the insides of her thighs with infinite gentleness, feeling her hot skin with the soft pads of my fingers, patiently exploring her textures.
She moaned against my mouth. “I’m going to be so late for work.”
“I can stop,” I whispered, moving my fingers infinitesimally. “I can help you get dressed. We can wait until tonight or tomorrow or the weekend…if that’s what you want.”
Cara kissed me hard, pressing herself against my fingers, then pulled back to look into my eyes. She was breathing heavily, her hairmussed, her lips swollen, her eyes full of passion and happiness and love.
“I think we both know what I want,” she said.
“Right,” I said. “I’ll go warm up the popcorn popper.”
She laughed and pulled me close.
Epilogue
Two years later
“Disgusting,” I said, holding my phone up for Cara.
She looked up from her favorite spot on the soft, squishy couch in our apartment and said, “Ew.”
Bridget’s Mesmio reels showed her and Lorenzo kissing sloppily at the altar of a wedding chapel. Even the priest looked grossed out. I didn’t wait until it started over. I closed out of the app and left my phone on the counter.
I picked up the long, thin envelope I’d hidden behind the juicer we bought last summer and never used. I was so excited I was afraid that I would crinkle the paper. I set it down, then picked it up again. I’d been waiting until Saturday because Cara would want to start making plans, and it wasn’t fair to send her to work distracted. But the three-day wait had been excruciating.
From where I stood, I could see into our bedroom. Cara had a picture on her bedside table of the day I’d met her mom and had eaten the best Cajun food of my life. I had a picture on my side of us together at White Sands, me laughing with my mouth wide open, her rolling her eyes at me, neither of us realizing how much we would feel for the other. Not yet.
