Lovely (26 page)

She runs her tongue back and forth slowly over her full lips. “What about it?”

I graze the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip, tugging it down gently. “I love how soft it is …”

Her tongue darts out to lick my finger. “Hmmm.”

“And how warm it is …”

“Hmmm.”

“And how wet it is …”

She leans in, a breathless whisper causing a shudder to course through me. “I’ve got a secret to tell you … my mouth isn’t the only thing that’s wet right now.”

“Raarrrrrr,” I respond and crash my lips to hers.

She takes my hand and guides it to the edge of her black yoga pants, helping me inside.

I suck in a breath when I reach her core. “Fuck, Cara, you’re so wet.”

She pushes up against me. “Only for you.”

Sliding my finger in and out of her, I kiss her mouth and feel the vibrations leaving her chest. The lock clicks on the front door and we both scramble to get up, falling onto the floor and laughing hysterically.

“What’s going on?” Mom asks from the doorway.

Somehow my mind manages to recover and sends a message to my mouth to speak. “Nothing, Mom, we were just going to watch a movie.” It’s times like this when I kick myself for not getting my own place.

Mom gives me the eye. She’s not stupid—she can tell we were about to go at it all over her couch.

“Where are Colt and Delilah?” I ask, still laughing.

“I dropped them off at the movies with Stacy. She’s going to bring them home. My appointment at the salon canceled so I got out of there earlier than I expected. Anyway,” she lets out a wide yawn, “I’m going to call it a night. Goodnight, Cara.”

“Goodnight, Mrs. Taylor,” Cara says, trying to keep a straight face.

Mom makes her way to the stairs, turning back around with a sly grin. “Be good.”

As soon as she’s out of sight, Cara and I crack up. “Oh my God,” Cara giggles, “She almost caught us, Ash.”

“Come here,” I whisper, wanting her as close to me as possible.

She tucks her head under my chin and snuggles into my side as I run my fingers through her silky hair.

“Have I told you today how crazy I am about you?” I sigh into her hair. “Because I’m crazy about you, beautiful.”

She lifts her head, a sparkle in the sea of her eyes. “I’m insanely crazy about you,” she says. Her lips touch mine and life is really good.

I bombard her with kisses, making sure my lips have touched every spot on her face … twice. “You know, we have a big date Friday night.”

“I know,” she responds, and I feel her smile against my neck. “I need you to know something, though.”

“What?” I ask, continuing to suck on her skin.

She pulls at my t-shirt. “Well, I’m kind of a terrible dancer.”

Bullshit—I
know
she can dance. She’s already danced her way into my heart.

I kiss down her jaw, smiling against her neck. “Kind of? You either are or you aren’t.”

“Okay, then I aren’t.” She lets out a giggle that coats my heart with sunshine, dropping her head back so I can nibble on her throat.

I stop kissing her, my expression turning serious. “That’s okay. You just hold onto me. I’ll lead you wherever you need to go.”

She studies me, her eyes lazily roving my features until they lock with mine. “You already have.”

I smooth her hair away from her face, continuing to get lost in her eyes. “Stay with me tonight, please.”

She looks toward the staircase and back to me. “Ash, your mom’s here.”

I rub my nose against hers and whisper against her lips. “Stay with me.”

“You know I find it impossible to say no to you,” she teases.

Cara doesn’t know it yet, but I actually have an ulterior motive for getting her up to my room. I have a gift for her and I’ve been waiting for the perfect moment, but have come to realize there are no perfect moments; just moments you have to make perfect.

We tiptoe quietly up to my room and close and lock the door. I take a seat on the bed and pat the spot next to me. “Come here.”

She joins me on the bed without a clue as to what comes next. I love that I can surprise her.

“So … I have something for you.” I’m hoping she likes my gift as much as I enjoyed picking it out for her.

“You do?” she bubbles.

I pucker my lips and make a popping sound. “Yup.” Reaching under the bed, I pull out a square box wrapped in blue paper and tied with a lavender bow.

“Ash, you didn’t have to get …”

I put my finger to her lips. “Shhh … don’t talk, just open.”

Cara’s eyes crinkle at the corners with excitement as she unties the bow. She’s so adorable. She looks just like a little kid opening the biggest box under the tree on Christmas morning.

She pulls the lid off the box, her mouth falling open and her eyes widening as she stares at the Canon SLR camera. She trails her finger over the lens, the body, and the viewfinder before setting it back down in the box and meeting my gaze. “You remembered,” she says quietly, her eyes wet with tears.

“Of course I remembered, Cara. There’s not a single detail I don’t remember about you.”

She picks up the small card attached to the camera and reads it aloud. “
You’ve already captured my heart, now go out and capture life. Love, Ash
.” She scoots forward, cupping my cheek with her soft palm, lightly skimming the stubble along my jaw and meeting my eyes. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before. I love it. Thank you.”

I melt against her and ease forward so I can reach her mouth and kiss her lips. It’s not hurried or rushed, but slow and sensual. It’s a kiss filled with emotion and longing … and love.

We quietly undress and slide under the covers, facing one another, arms tucked under our pillows. Cara’s fingernail strokes up and down my arm. “A moment can change everything,” she says.

“What?” I respond, my heart speeding up as confusion and worry set in.

She looks at me, and I mean
really
looks at me, like she sees inside my soul, her brown eyes blazing and passionate.

“A moment can change everything

And everything changed for me

The moment he walked into my life

A whirlwind of confidence

Bravado

Charm

A beautiful spirit

A heart

Reaching out to me

I tried to fight

The way he made me smile

The way he made me laugh

The way he made me feel

But it was a losing battle

A battle I willingly gave up

Because happiness found me

He found me

And I couldn’t be happier

Because my life changed in that moment

He changed my life

He is my catalyst

He is my hope

He is my heart

He is my love”

I feel like I’m in someone else’s body right now. I’m trembling, shivers traveling up and down my spine … but not because I’m cold and not because I’m scared … because I’m happy. This amazing, beautiful girl makes me happy. A happiness I thought was unattainable. But here it is. Here
she
is. And in this moment where all I can hear is the sound of our breathing, there is only one word to describe what I’m feeling, what I’ve been too afraid to say out loud, afraid of it being ripped away from me before I had a chance to experience it.
Love.
But I’m not afraid anymore … because loving her is the only thing that matters. I love her. My hearts wants to hold on to this feeling and never let it go. Never let
her
go.

“Cara,” I murmur quietly, and that’s all I say, because I have no words, only feelings now. My heart is thundering, my pulse racing, and just when I think I might be able to form some words, she silences me with her own.

“I wrote that for you because … I love you.”

There’s a raw honesty in the depth of her eyes.
She loves me
. And I love her.

I lift her chin and cradle her beautiful face in my hands, caressing her cheeks with my thumbs, with my eyes, with my heart. “I love you so damn much, Cara.”

Her eyes brim with tears of joy as I capture her mouth, my tongue darting out to caress her bottom lip before slipping inside to reach for her tongue with my own. She sighs into my mouth, her minty breath mingling with mine, arousing me, our tongues moving together in perfect harmony. I break the kiss, trying to calm my erratic heartbeat, pressing my nose to her cheek.

There’s a peace that follows, neither of us saying anything. Cara finally turns over, her back to my front. I wrap my arms around her belly and trace circles with my fingers, eliciting happy sighs to flow from her lips.

“Ash,” she says softly, her cheek resting against mine.

“Yeah, beauty?”

She lets her head roll back on my shoulder. “I’m afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” I ask, my fingers continuing their stroll over her skin.

“That this is all a dream.”

My lips float above her ear. “This is a dream, Cara … This is a dream come true.”

But as the words leave my mouth, I realize that this scares the shit out of me. Because that’s the thing about dreams, eventually you wake up from them only to discover that they’re not real.

Delilah and Cara are huddled together in the corner talking when I enter the library today.
Those two are in cahoots now?
As I move closer and they both see me, they lower their voices and start whispering, shooting me the occasional sideways glance.

I eye them suspiciously, trying to figure out what they could possibly be conspiring about. My facial muscles twitch and I raise a cocky eyebrow, eliciting laughter from both of them. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” they both say at the same time, giggling in unison, too.

“Yeah, okay.” Like I believe that. What the hell are they plotting?

“Alright, sweets, I’ll see you later!” Delilah calls out to Cara. “Bye, Ash.”

A bewildered look crosses my face. “Sweets? What was that about?”

“Nothing,” Cara replies innocently, flipping her hair around her finger.

“Hmph … nothing sounds like trouble to me.” Leaning over the counter and several books, I whisper, “good morning, lovely,” and kiss her incredibly soft lips. “Have I told you today how adorable you are?”

She rubs my nose with hers. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, you are.”

“Hmmm …”

Her tongue pokes out against my lips. I clear my throat and pull back. “Excuse me, but we’re in the library … at
school
, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember, smartass.” She giggles and taps my chin.

“Do you feel like meeting under our tree today after classes? I was thinking to myself this morning that it’s been a while since my beautiful girl read me poetry.”

She smiles shyly, a subtle shade of red blossoming on her face. “Yes, I’d like that.”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, we have another poetry assignment for Travinski.”

“What is it?”

“We have to write a poem that pulls out a deep feeling in us.” I stick my tongue out at her. “Something other than pizza.”

She smiles. “Well, surely you can do that.”

She’s right, I
can
do it now.

Cara’s leaning against my side under the shade of the oak tree, her hair dangling over my stomach, her legs spread out in front of her. “I want
you
to read to me,” she requests.

I reach out and play with one of her curls. “It’s just not as poetic when I read it. Come on, one more.”

She shakes her read, resigned. “Alright, but that’s it.” She flips through the pages until she seems satisfied. “This one is called ‘The Road Not Taken.’”

“I’ve actually heard of that one,” I say, proudly.

“I’m impressed,” she teases, kicking her sandals off and revealing her hot pink toes.

I reach up and tug her hair, pulling her down to me for a quick kiss before she begins.

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood