Page 92 of Break Your Fall

“Can I drive you home?”

His hand slips into mine as I nod my answer, our fingers twining as we head to his car.

We’re quiet on the drive to my house. We’re quiet as Tommy walks me to the outside door of my bedroom. It’s the kind of quiet that accompanies death, forcing the living into silent reflection as you feel, as your lungs fill with air and your heart pumps inside your chest, your life going on as someone else’s has faded away.

I walk in, the two of us being alone again in my bedroom causing me to speak. “I can’t even imagine how they’re all feeling. And Tiffany. . .” I trail off and spin around, noticing Tommy has stalled in the doorway, leaning his shoulder against the frame. “Do you think her and Brent will break up now?” I’m half surprised and a little ashamed at the concern in my voice for their relationship.

“I mean … nothing would change if they did,” Tommy says with a sigh. “They can’t take back what happened. And they really need to be there for each other during this.”

There’s a lilt of sadness to his words, and I think about his parents who have gone against each other through their problems and now there are too many scars to heal them.

Couples break up over the loss of a child. They can’t help but blame each other. And Tommy’s right. Things wouldn’t just fall back into place, be the way they used to be, and they shouldn’t. Whether this makes Brent and Tiffany stronger or tears them apart, they can’t come back from what happened.

“I hope Julian will be okay,” I murmur aloud, recalling the way he gripped me, the anguish in his apology, the sorrow I felt from his body to mine.

“Yeah,” Tommy says with a small smile as he stares off, referencing Julian’s departure with Banks for beers. “He’ll just take a night to forget.”

“Then fall into bed with one of his best friends,” I add with a tease, laughing at the truth of it. “It’s funny how that’s still accurate.”

Tommy chuckles, his eyes soft as they hold mine before a thought lights him up. “How’d it go with your dad?”

My dad.

“It was … good. I really like him,” I say with a slow smile, feeling almost bashful at my next divulge. “He’s excited to see my artwork.”

“Of course he is,” Tommy says with aduhface, like my artwork is brilliant, and it’s my father, so he should be proud.

I purse my lips at him, my excitement over my new family ramping up as I add, “And Jessa has this incredible loft that I wish I lived in.”

“Well … maybe you’ll spend a lot of time there.” His words are a subtle question dipped in encouragement.

“Yeah,” I say, hopeful and imagining the memories my sister and I could make there before acknowledging that Tommy has yet to come inside. “Are you gonna come in or stay in the doorway?”

“I wanna come in,” he says through a nod, the words slow, his face shrouded in the same longing and hesitation I’d seen when I asked him to stay the night with me. “I wanna stay with you.” His eyes drift toward my bed before coming back to mine.

In the next breath, he pushes off the door frame and swings the door closed, taking the few steps to me, then tugging me closer at the waist, unafraid to touch me in a way that speeds my pulse and has my own hands gliding to his chest and fingering his dark T-shirt. “But I need to know what you want from me. Whatever it is, Reyna, I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you everything I have.”

This declaration pulls at a building ache that makes me crave him. “I want you to kiss me again.” I say what I want from him through a confident, yet shaky voice he picks up on.

“For how long?” he asks to make sure, studying me with furrowed brows, needing me to give more—a wish and a concern and a challenge in one.

“Hours,” I breathe, tugging him closer, his lips hovering just above mine now, the smile forming on his face a slow build. “Hours sound good.”

“Hours sound great,” he breathes back, then he kisses me. And this kiss is different from the first. This kiss makes the first seem like a testing of the waters, while this one is a sure thing. There’s more passion, with an urgency that makes me want him to never stop. Tommy kisses me like he’s been waiting to kiss me for so long and he finally can.

My body is tingling. I’ve heard about that happening, but I never felt it until him. Goosebumps spread along my skin every time his tongue touches mine.

We keep our connection as Tommy lifts me and takes me to the bed, settling down next to me, our bodies as flush as he can make them without being between my legs. We’ll have to think about tomorrow, what we’re doing and what this means, but for this moment, our bodies do the talking for us, and I have to stop myself multiple times from directing his mouth to other areas of my body.

He hikes my leg over his hip and I feel how hard he is as he presses himself against me, his fingers running down my bare thigh under my dress. I moan into his mouth as his slight shift in movement rubs me in just the right spot, and I’m practically panting as his kisses move to my neck.

But before we can get carried away, he gathers himself and brings his lips back to mine, slows the pace. While I’m going to need another long shower after this, I’m not disappointed. I know this is as far as we can go tonight. And with the way he pulls back to hold my gaze, to look at my lips before moving back in to taste them again and again, I hope he hears my silent plea to never stop.

Tommy is a guy who loves to kiss, and as a girl who loves to be kissed, I know with absolute certainty that I’ve never been worshiped in such a way before this, and I only ever want to be worshiped by him.

27

Take the Risk

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