Page 78 of Dove
“Come on,” I urged, shrugging my shoulders to nudge her where she was slowly falling asleep against me. “Up you get.”
She moaned quietly and her arms wrapped tighter around me, causing me to still. All I could hear were those damn crickets and our deep breathing. Her chest rose and fell against mine.
“Sometimes I wish,” she mumbled into the side of my neck, her lips skimming across my skin. Goosebumps rippled across my body at the touch.
“Wish for what, little dove?” I asked hoarsely. The nickname just slipped out; I couldn’t help it. The shape of her felt wonderful in my arms, even if she wasn’t there for the best reasons.
She gave a brief shake of her head.
“I was hoping to get my first kiss today,” Dove confided instead, pouting dejectedly.
I glanced down at her. She was wide awake, her eyes bright and alert, gazing up at me.
“You already had your first kiss,” I reminded her, trying to keep the agitation out of my voice. Finding her with that farm hand had riled me up something fierce. She was worth more than a romp in a barn.
“Firstsecondkiss,” she amended, sounding more sober than she had a moment ago. She shifted in my arms, straightening soshe could look up at me properly. “Would you be my first second kiss, Josh?”
Everywhere we touched sparked hot, like twin coals in a fire. It had to be the alcohol talking—right? But when she pressed herself tighter against me and whispered a breathy, “please,” I lost it.
I walked her backward until her lower back hit the railing, her lips shiny and inviting in the low light. I groaned, pulling her closer.
When I leaned in, the alcohol was obvious on her breath, and there was an unmistakable, unfocused look to her eyes. The reality hit me like a freight train—Dove didn’t want this. Didn’t wantme.
Not like I wanted her.
She was drunk and eighteen and high on celebrating a huge milestone in her life.
I ran my thumb over her bottom lip, the closest I would ever come to it, then pushed myself away from her gently.
“Let’s get you up to bed.”
She looked ready to protest but I silenced her.
“We can talk about it later,” I lied. “But you need to sleep this off first.”
She nodded in acquiescence, leaning into me again, her face nuzzling into the crook of my neck.
“Okay, Josh,” she agreed sleepily.
Just like that, crisis averted.
Yet I remained caught in the tendrils of her sweet scent and the almost-taste of her kiss, something nuclear happening within me.
When Dove was safely deposited in her bed, conked out and snoring, I made my way back downstairs.
There was no way I was going to sleep any time soon, not when the faint smell of strawberries lingered on my vibrating skin.
One by one I turned the lights off downstairs until the only light remaining was the one on outside. I stepped back out onto the porch, taking a deep breath of fresh air—only to catch the faintest whiff of strawberries.
My dick twitched in interest as a shiver ran through me, and I plopped down heavily onto the porch swing, taking up my vigil once more, at least now with the knowledge Dove was upstairs sleeping safely.
But with about a hundred more worries than I’d had before.
Would she remember?
My teeth gnawed at my bottom lip. Would she wake up with hazy memories or clear ones? Would she look at me in disgust or confusion? Would she?—
The door creaking open to my right had my head turning.
