Finding June (18 page)

“What is your part of the deal?” I shifted in the bed, moving slightly closer to Reece.

“Who said I was a part of this?” Reece put his other hand under his head, sitting up a bit.

“Me.” There was no way this was going to be one sided. “So … what’s your part? You moved back home to live in the house you inherited. That’s pretty permanent. You have been all over, and maybe it’s your turn to figure out what you want to do. I won’t think about my future if you
do
think about yours. Deal?”

“You drive a hard bargain, Just June. But … I will do it. That, of course, doesn’t mean I will have a concrete answer by the end of the month, but maybe I can at least have a direction.” By now Reece was ever so slowly trailing his fingers lightly over my arm, giving me goose bumps. I was trying to focus on what we were talking about, but the feather of his touch made it difficult.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t be having panic attacks, but I will try as hard as I can to not think about it.” I hesitated as I said the next part, “What about us?” I focused again on his face, that beautiful face.

“A question you keep asking. I thought I told you not to think, silly girl.” He smiled at me as he stilled his warm hand and wrapped it around my back, pulling me closer to him as he nuzzled my neck.

“Is there an us? Or are we just friends … or do you go around giving tiny kisses to all the screwed up girls?” I said in a slight panic.

“June.” He moved his face so it was in front of me. His features softened as he brought his hand up to my cheek. “I only have eyes for you, and I have had only eyes for you for a while now. If anything, I want to be a constant in your life, like your job and Jolene. I don’t want you to be afraid of what we can be, or of me. Just be June, I’m not going anywhere.”

I took in his words and didn’t argue with him. How could you after the sweet words he had filled my head with? Instead, I said, “How do we make it official, this deal?”

His half-smile turned into a sly grin. “Easy, seal it with a kiss.”

Before I had time to answer, Reece leaned over and laid me on my back as he kissed me. He slipped his tongue into my mouth, exploring along with his hands. I tried to catch my breath from the intense kiss and as he pulled his mouth away and started to gently kiss my neck, little tiny kisses along my throat, and then a quick one on my collarbone.

“Go to sleep, June. You sure do know how to keep a guy up.”

He turned me around and put his arm around me, pulling me tight and letting me know exactly how
up
I had kept him.

The shining sun through the window woke me up earlier than normal. Somehow, during the night, I had turned toward Reece, his arm wrapped around me. I was able to carefully lift his arm, moving slightly away from him. He snuggled deeper into the blanket that was only covering half of him. It was adorable. There was something about men when they were sleeping or just waking up. It was one of the cutest things on the planet, like a sleeping puppy. Actually, if there was a sleeping puppy lying in the creases of his arms, the two of them sleeping soundly, that would be heaven.

Watching Reece was one thing, but ever since our kiss on the mountain, I felt like I couldn’t keep my hands off him. I tried not to over analyze each move, remembering the deal made the night before. Instead, I placed a kiss on his forehead like he had done to me so many times. I then kissed each of his closed eyes, moving down to the tip of his slightly crooked nose. He started to make very appreciative noises, as I finally kissed him softly on the lips. This finally woke him up and his eyes sleepily opened. Yep, this was perfection right here. I went in to kiss him again, and this time he was responsive as he kissed me back. We made out like teenagers hiding behind the bleachers, we couldn’t get enough of each other. His kisses were addictive and all I wanted to do was lie in this bed and make out all day. I didn’t even care about moving forward, this kissing was amazing. Reece shifted and suddenly I was underneath him, his hands running up my body.

Okay, maybe I
did
want to move forward.

His mouth moved to my neck, using his warm lips to lazily trail hot kisses from below my ear to my collarbone. His hands moved underneath my shirt and laid heavily on my waist as he claimed my mouth again. His hands and mouth were making me feel like there was this burning heat deep within me, coursing through my body, lighting me up and trying to find a way to shine, to release the built up energy. Our kisses were innocent in nature, but made me feel like I was drowning in desire, gasping for air and searching for the surface.

Suddenly I heard a Jolene say from below, “Incoming!” I tensed as I heard it, and then I felt something hard hit the bed. I gave a loud eek as Reece chuckled and moved away from me to find the object that had ruined the moment. Reece searched through the down comforter that was in a tangle of knots to find an orange.

Hooker was throwing fruit at me!

“Jo, what the fuck? Why are you throwing fruit at us?” I yelled as I reached for my glasses.

“Breakfast, come down and get it! Sounds like you guys need some fuel,” Jo stated.

I knew she was just trying to piss me off. I wasn’t making that much noise. Was I? Oh fuck, I probably was. As I swung my legs over the bed, Reece stopped me. “Wait, one for the road,” he said, leaning me back and kissing me.

I could get used to this.

I woke up the next day with an idea in my mind I couldn’t stop thinking of. Actually, a couple of ideas. It was reckless and totally out of character for me, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to get a tattoo. The idea had come to me when Reece and I were driving home. Josh Ritter’s “Bone of Song” was playing through the Jeep and the lyrics hit so hard, I knew they would replay in my mind over and over again.
Lucky are you who finds me in the wilderness …
It was perfect. I fell in love with the words as soon as they played. I had heard the song before, but for some reason, in that moment, it was like the song was made only for me, those lyrics were meant to be heard clearly, meant to take root within myself. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, even when I woke up the next morning.

The idea of getting a tattoo had been on my mind for a while, I was just never completely sure what to get. Owen was never on board for the idea, but newsflash, he never really was on board for much of anything I did. One of my regulars worked at a tattoo parlor a few blocks over and had told me on many different occasions he would be happy to ink me. I wanted to do this, a step in the direction of claiming my own self. I called my regular, Tank, and scheduled an appointment for the next day so I wouldn’t chicken out. At first I had wanted to go by myself, thinking that to be independent I should be able to do things on my own, but getting a tattoo was nothing to sneeze at. I called Jolene instead and she was quick to agree to join me. The next day she showed up at my apartment.

“You ready?” Jolene sat on my couch, knowing I wasn’t ready.

I popped out of the bedroom, throwing on the soft cardigan over the tank top I had on. I figured this would be best for my new addition. “Yes, I also am hoping you have time after to run another errand with me.” This was part of two of my crazy ideas.

Jolene had my laptop and was probably scrolling through my Facebook, stalking our friends, not paying attention. I sat next to her. “I want to get a puppy.” Her head turned toward me, her eyes wide and mouth open. Geez, she was looking at me like I told her I was going to buy a baby raccoon not a puppy.

“You want a puppy? Do you like dogs? Can you even have a dog here?”

“Yes, I want a puppy. Yes, I do like dogs, my parents never let me have one growing up. And if my neighbor has a cat, I can have a dog.”

This time she looked more suspicious, like she thought I was committing a crime. “What’s going on? Why are you calling me to get a tattoo and a puppy all in one day, which I will point out are both huge commitments, and all two days after whatever happened to you and Reece on the mountain?”

I guess looking in, this all did seem a bit crazy, reckless, but damn people, I was pretty sure Jolene had been all on the “do reckless things” train. I told her quickly about the deal we had, where I wasn’t thinking about things and only doing.

“Let me get this straight. Reece makes a deal about you being more carefree and not over analyzing the shit out of every move you do, and you decided to take this challenge on and to get a dog and a tattoo?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Shit, June, you’re taking this deal balls-deep. You’re not messing around. I think I’m impressed. I will, again, point out, tattoos and dogs …
large commitments
. Tattoos never, ever go away, and dogs are a lot to deal with. You sure about all this? And I know, no thinking, but please tell me this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to you freaking out over Reece.”

“I’ve always wanted a tattoo and there is nothing to stop me now. And puppies are adorable and I know a lot of work, but I think it’s a good time in my life for one. So, to recap,
mom,
I’m happy you’re concerned, but this is not a knee-jerk reaction to Reece. If anything, he is giving me the confidence to really take my life in control, to do what I want. I want a tattoo and a puppy. I will probably want lunch afterwards as well. You think you could be here for all of that? Puppies and tattoos and food?” I smiled and wrapped my arms around my Always Friend. She leaned in, our heads touching, returning my smile.

“Only if you buy me lunch and let me help you pick out the puppy.”

I laughed and pulled her off the couch. “Deal. Let’s go live my life, Jolene.”

It had been a long day, but I was hyped up after all the changes that happened today, so I couldn’t help but go over to Reece’s that night. There was a wiggly warm bundle of fur in my arms and my shoulder was pretty sore from the tattoo. I knocked on the door, and moments later Reece opened, surprised to see me on his doorstep.

“Hey?”

“Hey.” I pushed past him into his house, the little guy squirming in my arms. I turned around to see him facing me with his arms crossed.