Page 5 of Forever My Boy

I turn on my bedside lamp and get out of bed to rummage through a stack of books until I find an atlas. Grabbing a notepad, I flip to Texas, find where Liam is and write down the number of miles from there to here, and then calculate his speed. I’ve never known Liam to drive the speed limit and figure he’ll be here sometime tomorrow night.

Back in bed, I lie there staring at the ceiling and replaying his words over and over in my mind. None of them make sense and he didn’t give me enough time to ask him to elaborate. And then, I start thinking the worst and wonder if he’s cheated on me and he’s coming to break up with me. Surely, he’d just do that on the phone and not say it to my face.

It’s simple. I won’t give him a chance to say those things to me. I’ll have to remind him of why we’re together and how in love we are with each other.

In the morning, I look like death. I didn’t sleep a wink, tossing and turning, imagining the worst of the worst. Half the night, I stared at my phone and willed it to ring, hoping Liam would call just to check in.

He didn’t.

Still, I should be excited to go shopping and buy new clothes even if it’s with my mom. I hope she lets me pick out what I want to wear and not what she deems appropriate for an eighteen-year-old going off to college. If she had her way, I’d be head to toe in burlap. This is comical since for the last four years I wore a very short skirt to school almost every day. She never told mewhat she thought about me cheering and I’m surprised she has some of my photos up.

“Josephine,” my mom calls my name from the hallway. I grab my purse and sling it over my shoulder. When I come around the corner, she’s standing there, watching me. For a moment, I expect her to say something about me wearing Liam’s sweatshirt, but she doesn’t.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she says, nodding. “Let’s go before your dad gets home and finds out I took his credit card.”

Nothing makes me hustle faster to the car than those words.

chapter 3

. . .

Ihear him open my window and squeeze my eyes shut tighter. It takes everything in me not to giggle or shift in my bed.

Liam’s quiet as he climbs through the now-open window. He’s done this a time or two and has mastered the art of sounding like a mouse versus an elephant. Which is a feat because Liam’s kind of a big guy, and moving stealthily isn’t exactly his forte.

I smell him before my bed dips. His cologne is faint, but it still lingers on his skin. It’s a good thing I know it’s him or I’d be in trouble.

“Josie,” he whispers against my skin. He nuzzles my neck and cheek, getting dangerously close to my lips. It’s like he knows where my switch is—the one that turns me on so deeply—he’s the master at controlling it.

“Are you pretending to be asleep, my girl?”

His girl.

I can’t hold my laughter in anymore and giggle as I wrap my arms around him, loving the fact he’s already shed his clothes except his boxers. He’s saving those for me. We can talk later. Right now, I want to feel him, taste him, and bask in his presence. It’s been the longest six weeks of my life, and Ihonestly don’t know how I’m going to make it to the holidays without seeing him.

My lips press to his, and then our tongues meet. There isn’t anything I can think of that compares to the sheer joy I feel when kissing Liam. He’s my everything. My sun, moon, a cute fluffy cloud in the sky. He’s the cherry on top of my favorite sundae and a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Liam’s the air I breathe and the tears I cry when he’s not here.

I don’t care that we’ve just graduated from high school. He’s it for me. The love of my life, now, tomorrow, and every day after. No one will ever compare to him.

My fingers trail down his face and into the scruff on his jaw. It’s longer than he’s ever had it before. I’m not sure if I like it, but none of that matters right now because my guy is here, in my room. He drove a godawful long way to come see me because I’m what he needed.

I hope he knows I need him just as much, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.

“What’s all this?” My fingers continue to brush along his facial hair. I’m not sure I’d call it a beard, but it’s definitely something.

“Some tradition,” he says in between kisses. “I’ll shave as soon as we win.”

“Well, you won’t if you’re not QB1.”

Liam says nothing and presses his lips against mine again. I’m fine if he doesn’t want to talk right now. Neither do I. I don’t know how much time he has and there are a couple other things I’d like to do before we are forced to face reality and he has to go back to Texas.

He settles between my legs and kisses a blazing path down my torso, and already my toes curl in anticipation. Liam lifts my tank top, and I know he can see my tan line, thanks to the moonlight from outside. Katelyn teases me that I glow in thedark. When both your boyfriends are gone, there isn’t anything to do except lie by the pool all day.

Liam kisses my belly, pushing my shirt up as he moves back toward my mouth. My hands roam over the planes of his abs, his shoulders, and down his arms, and then to his ass, giving it a good squeeze. He pulls my tank top until I’m sitting up, and then he slowly brings it over my head.

We stare at each other as if this is the last time we’re going to see each other.

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