Page 32 of Between Us

The candy store Gumdrops & Giggles is like something out of Willy Wonka. There are rows and rows of jars full of gummies, licorice, taffies, suckers, and anything else you can think of. There’s a small ‘Build Your Own Brownie’ station that reminds me of a giant Easy Bake Oven. On another wall there are hundreds of options of lollipops. Not to mention the small counter in the back that looks like it’s set up for different pop-ups to come through. Today, there’s an ice cream stand.

As soon as we made our way to the back of the store and Blake saw it, she grabbed my hand and pulled me toward it. Apparently, it’s ‘exactlywhat she needed.’ You know, after the coffee, lunch, and five other things that have been fed to us since we started to walk around.

I’m really just impressed that she can put down so much food in only a few hours. It’s weirdly endearing to watch too.

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” She licks her spoon clean then uses it to point to my cup of butter pecan with caramel and green apple slices. “That’s for old people,” Blake teases.

“You got pistachio. How is that any better?”

“Yeah, with chocolate chips, whipped cream, andsprinkles.That’s fun, dude.”

“And I got salted caramel,” I shrug and take another bite.

“Yeah, withgreenapples.” She subconsciously reaches up and brushes her thumb along my lower lip. If that wasn’t enough to make my brain shut down, she follows up by slowly sucking the caramel off of her thumb, making my dick twitch in response. Without missing a beat, she continues, “Objectively the worst fruit in the world.”

When I don’t respond after a few seconds, she turns around to find me frozen in place. My brain is still trying to catch up with my body.

Considering that most of the blood instantly moved south, that might be why I’m mentally lagging.

As if she realizes what she just did, her mouth falls open and she stares at me with those sweet doe eyes. “Oh—I—I didn’t…” She shakes her head. “I’msorry,” she blurts out.

Cocking my head, I take a step toward her and gently slip my hand around her waist. “Was it good?” My voice is huskier than I mean for it to be, but I don’twantto hide what she’s doing to me either. I think it’s important that Blake realizes the effect she has on people… on men… onme. I only care that she sees what she does to me.And how fucking badly I want more.

“It was good.” It’s a breathless whisper, pink tinting her cheeks and her stormy eyes growing darker but also more uncertain. “I like caramel well enough.”

“At least it wasn’t a waste then,” I smirk. Glancing down to her cup, I take a slow step forward, seeing if she’s going to run. When she doesn’t, I lean down. “You tried mine, now I wanna try yours.” She sucks in a sharp breath.

“I think the saying is ‘youshowedme yours.’” I raise my eyebrow and give her an irreverent shrug that says something along the lines of,if you insist.“Oh shut up,” she mutters. Refusing to look me in the eye, she lifts her spoon and holds it out for me. Keeping one hand firmly on her waist and the other in my pocket, I ignore the handle and wrap my lips around the curved end. Slowly, she pulls the spoon from my mouth, and I can feel her chest rising and falling in a shallow rhythm as she watches me clean the spoon then my lips.

“Mmmm,” I nod in acknowledgment. “Not bad.”

“Um, you liked it?” She’s flustered and I’m half hard.

“Yeah, Storm Cloud, I liked it.” Slipping my arm from her waist to her shoulders, I tuck her under my arm and whisper in her ear, “I like everything you give me.”

Her lean tilts back as she looks up at me, falling into step beside me. “Oh.”

“Yeah,oh.” I grab her spoon and lift it to my mouth again, stealing another bite. “Now let’s go check on your tires.”

Chapter Sixteen

Blake

OfeverythingI’velearnedabout Adrian, the thing that surprises me the most is he listens to alotof Rihanna. I’m not judging nor am I complaining. It’s just… endearing to see this gorgeous, always-cool-always-collected man sing along toOnly Girl (In The World). I’m talking about choreographed hand movements here.

We’re heading back to the clinic after we finished our ice cream and picked up my tires, making it my third car ride with him. Yesterday, when he took me home, I noticed a few classics playing quietly. I mean, I may not be as big of a fan as him, but no one can just skip over the intro toTake Carewithout at least subtle lip-syncing along. It wasn’t until this afternoon that we got stuck in traffic that I noticed he might bereallyinto her.

Umbrellaplayed, followed byRude BoyandBirthday Cake. That’s when the lightbulb went off. I mean, he knowseveryword. It’s impressive. We’re listening to the sensual words ofSkinas we turn down the street of the clinic. He’s quietly singing along, bobbing his head as we roll to a stop. I’m watching from the corner of my eye, hoping he doesn’t notice how hard I’m blushing just from the lyrics of this fucking song.

I mean, obviously I’ve heard it before. But I’m usually alone.

No, I’malwaysalone. So I can’t think of a single time that I’ve been in a situation where I had to sit through a dirty song or graphic movie scene with anyone. Well, other than Margo and Meera; they hardly count in this case.

It’s just a song. Adrian clearly knows that. Rationally, I know that. So I’m trying to pretend like I’ve spent the last couple minutes thinking aboutanythingother than whathisskin would feel like on mine. All I have to imagine from real-life experience is mediocre hook-ups at best. And I can only hope—no, scratch that, Iknow—Adrian would be better than that.

No hate for the few boys I’ve been with. We were just teenagers. None of us knew what we were doing. But I can truthfully say there was effort on their parts. What more can a teenager hope for?

It’s not like I’ve never orgasmed, just not with someone else. I know enough about my body to know how I can get myself off with my own hands, and sometimes the help of a small bullet vibrator. I don’t love full length romance novels—or books in general—and porn almost always grosses me out.Butsome of the erotic short stories that female-centered sites have, get the job done well enough. There are even some ‘series’ I follow.

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