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Authors: Shelly Crane

Tags: #General Fiction

Independence (5 page)

BOOK: Independence
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"Nobody will mess with us, huh? Ever seen
The Hills Have Eyes
?
The Chainsaw Massacre
?
Psycho
!"

He laughed. "Yes, but I'll murder anyone who comes near you, do you hear me?"
I nodded with a smirk. "You trust me, don't you?"

"Of course."

He took the keys and got out, hopping into the back seat. He locked the doors and beckoned me to him by waggling his fingers. I climbed over the center console and almost made it before my Converse slipped on the leather. I fell, a giggling heap, into his lap.

He chuckled, all husky and amused, as he helped me up only to place me on his lap, one of my legs on either side of him. He smiled and reached over to remove my shoes one at a time. Slowly. He let them fall wi
th a thud to the SUV floorboard and never took his eyes off me as he pulled my socks off, too.

I stopped giggling at the intimate gesture.

That part of me that I had discovered earlier, the part that was all of a sudden so attuned to Caleb's body and every movement, was wide awake now. He pushed my hoodie down from my head. I understood why the store clerk had been so weird now. He probably thought I was going to rob him or something. Caleb smoothed my hair back and let his fingers barely graze my neck. I gulped.

"You all right to sleep here?" he asked, his voice low. "We can l
ie
down in the back if you want, but…"

"No," I said. I felt my eyes go wide at the rasping of my voice. He noticed, too, and sucked his lip into his mouth. I watched. "I want to stay right here."

"OK.
Whatever you want.
"

I laid
my head down in the dip of his shoulder and neck. I inhaled and exhaled harshly. He smelled amazing. The scent caused me physical problems.
My body was rethinking some things. It wanted Caleb in all ways and it was making it hard for me to keep my head on straight. Rationally, we were going to get married anyway, right? That was a fact, but I wanted to keep to the Ace's tradition. And I wanted to keep to
my
tradition.
It wasn't religion or old fashioned
-ness
or parents sheltering me or any other reason. It was just
my
decision.
But as I felt Caleb's fingers graze the top
of my hand, I shivered from that
small touch alone because I was so wound tight and attuned to him.

My heart hitched, my lungs beckoned me to take another whiff of him, my fingers curled into his shirt without even asking me first.

He leaned his head against mine. "Welcome to my world, Maggie."

I sighed. "I can't believe it's been like this for you the whole time."

"Believe it." He chuckled, the movement shaking his chest and me on it. "It's Heaven and Hell."

H
e turned the radio
on
and
Where I B
elong
by Switchfoot began to play.

I sat up a bit and looked into his face. "We're going to find them, right?"

He cupped my face and promised,
"We won't stop until we find them."

I licked my lips.
"Thank you for being so…you."

He smiled. No
t a
smirk, a smile that was real and full of the love that was my constant. He leaned forward to kiss me and pulled back after one small taste. He licked his bottom lip. "I know," I groaned. "I taste like honey buns."

"Baby," he told me, his eyes lidded and dark, "you always taste like honey buns."

And then he went in for the kill.

We both groaned at the same time
, and our mouths opened to each other's at the same time, and I gasped while he sucked in a quick breath. I put my arms around his neck while he pulled
me closer with his hands on my
hips.

And then they slowly moved away from my hips and he gripped my bottom to lift me to him even more.
I gasped in a good way and loved that he hadn't asked for permission.
This was a first. A
good
first.
I was Caleb's and he was mine. I didn't plan on asking for permission either, so when
I found that his breath caught every
time I lifted using my knees,
I kept doing that.

The windows began to shake and rattle a little as I felt my control slipping, but we ignored it.

Soon
,
he was pulling the too hot hoodie from my body and tossing it in the seat next to us. I was only wearing a white tank underneath and the suddenly cool air made me shiver with goose bumps. He took my hand and kissed the pads of my fingers
, a
nd
then the inside of my wrist, a
nd then the inside of my elbow.

I closed my eyes, my lips parted on their own.

He kept going and eventually made it to my bare shoulder. He pulled the thick strap down and kissed me there, too.
When he bit into the flesh there softly, I almost accused him
right there
of lying to me about me being his first girlfriend, because he was way too good at this. But then his imprinted body knew me inside and out. It knew exac
tly what to do to drive me insane for him
.

So I felt it out to see if I could do the same to him.

As if on instinct, I leaned forward to nibble under his chin. It was coarse and scratchy, but in a very good way. He leaned his head back on the seat and let out a smothered moan as his hands gripped me tighter.

"Hell, Maggie," he repeated his earlier sentiment.

Why was i
t so hot when he said it like that?

I moved my attention to the spot under his ear and he made a completely new noise I'd never hea
rd before. It fueled me, spurred
me on. So I took his earlobe into my mouth and bit down gently.

The noise had more than doubled by then. I felt powerful. For once in my life, I felt like I
was out of control in the most controlled way
,
and I smiled against his skin.

 

Chapter Four

Caleb

 

She was doing this thing with her tongue. I couldn’t handle another second of it. I was about to lose it in every way. I moved my face to connect with hers once more and then her tongue was mine. But that was worse. Oh, man, so much worse.

This was beyond making out, or kissing, or…whatever else you wanted to label it. And my body was singing for it. But she was upset about her friend, and her body had finally just gotten calmed down enough after all that drama to start feeling her need for me in full force. It wasn't right to let her do this.

It pained me, but I took one last long pull from her mouth and then released her. I still gripped her in my hands, but her mouth was free. I started immediately so she'd understand that this wasn't rejection. "Baby, there's a line. A very fine line, and we are straddling that line right now. If we cross it, I won't be able to go back. You feel so good. Your body, your lips, your skin…all of it. I'm drowning in you. So
, please, we've got to just hold on a minute
."

She hesitated and I barely breathed waiting for her words.
"What if I don't want to
stop
?" she asked breathlessly.

My heart skidded to the pace of a dead man. "Maggie…"

"
I know." She squeezed her eyes tight. The war waging in her was waging in me, too. I could practically taste it in the air. "I know I've always thought that I'd wait. And you said your kind waits until marriage, too. I just… I feel…
We're going to get married anyway, right? This isn't puppy love. I
know
I'm going to marry you, so I don't think it matters when we both…want to."
I stared. It was all my muddled brain would do. Then finally, "It's just too much for you right now. With your body…reacting to the imprint so strongly and your friend and all the stuff that happened in London. I just think we should wait. My number one issue with the scenario though is the fact that we're out in the mountains, looking for your lost friend, and we're in the backseat of my uncle's SUV.
I refuse to be a cliché teenager." I tried to smile, but she seemed deflated. "Baby, I don't want that for our first mem
ory together, do you
?"

"
No, I don't," she sighed. "
So the tyrant is
protecting me…from myself?" she asked softly.

"It looks that way," I chuck
led. I pressed my nose to hers and
exhaled. But i
f she was ready for more, so was I.
"But there's plenty we
can
do, lots of things that straddle the line." Her eager glazed eyes had me pulling her tighter once more.

"Show me," she demanded
eagerly
an
d kissed me again, her lips soft, but demanding
.

And so I did. My fingers dug into the
jeaned
flesh of her backside and thighs, and I showed her exactly what I meant.
I inched the innocent strap on her tank top a little lower on her arm
,
and a
s I melded our minds I realized how amazing our ease with each other was. Maggie trusted me with every inch and piece of her and that was a
very
satisfying thing.

A long
while later, she was snuggled into my chest, a satisfied
little purring kitten. I let my
fingers tangle in her hair and
rub
her scalp. I thought she'd go right to sleep…afterwards…but she was still wide awake. I started to get worried and went digging in her mind to make sure she wasn't upset, that she didn't think I'd gone too far. But when I found her replaying it all in her mind as a hazy, dreamy movie, I knew it wasn't that.

I had effectively taken her mind off Beck for a while, and that's what I had wanted.
Mission accomplished. I grinned smugly and satisfactorily.

The tap on our window made us both jump. Maggie covered her arms and chest though she was still wearing all of her clothes
, as she had been the whole time
.

I sighed and rolled down the windows when I saw the blue flashing lights.
"Officer?"
"Kid, you've got to know that parking and making out isn't allowed, especially this time of night."

"We're trying to sleep, not make out. We're on a road trip."
"Is t
hat so?
" he said slowly and tapped his flashlight to the window. "The fogged up windows beg to differ."

Maggie huffed barely. I looked at him and felt the chagrin on my face. "OK, there may have been some making out, but now, we're sleeping. We're heading into the valley tomorrow."
"What for?"

"Our friends came up here and are lost."

His brow drew together. "You mean the two they just called the search off for?"

"Yes, sir."

He grimaced. "I know it's sad to see something like that happen to your friends, but accidents happen sometimes. I won't stop you, but I think it's best if you go home and be with your families. You won't find those kids out here. We scoured every surface."

Maggie spoke up. "And I thank you for looking, but I'll always wonder if we don’t at least look once."

He nodded. "I'll be up and down this highway all night." He pointed. "Sleep. No more hanky panky."

"Yes, sir," I said and
chuckled silently at
Maggie's pink cheeks.

He left and I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped. She gave
me a pouty look and push
ed my chest playfully. "No
t
funny."

"Oh, it's hilarious."

"Oh,
my gosh," she whispered in a groan.
"
So embarrassing."

"Are you OK?" I asked, but smiled. "With everything."

BOOK: Independence
6.78Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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