Page 42 of Never Always
“What if I want it to count?” I say, my voice echoing the large, empty room. “It counts for me.” My tone is defiant. I kick my fins to stay above water, but my legs are getting tired.
Giving in to the exertion, I swim under the water, kicking toward Grange and when I emerge, he’s watching me, a thoughtful expression playing on his face. I grab on the wall with one arm and tug on my ear with the other.
“You can’t kiss me and pretend you didn’t kiss me.”
He cocks his head to the side and doesn’t say anything. I’m about to yell at him to say something, but he finally says my name just once.
“What?”
He grabs my hand and pulls me against his body. His warm skin feels hot in this water. He trails his hand down my arm, over my breasts, and then between my legs. I jerk away, but he holds me in place. One finger teases my clit and I give in, closing my eyes.
“Are we doing this here?” I ask, complacent to give him whatever he wants if he gives me this orgasm. “Right now?”
He licks my neck and bites my earlobe as he rubs against me harder.
Right before I’m about to come, he raises his head from my neck and whispers, “No.” He pulls away his hand and holds me up by my waist. “We have to clean up all the glow sticks in this pool and then we can go to your place.” His grin is wide and disarming. “Will you help?” he adds. “What’s more romantic than cleaning up a mess I made?”
“How about the orgasm you almost gave me?”
Grange bites his lip. “Won’t it feel better if I’m inside you? Bare?”
I hold up my free hand. “I’ll clean up if it means you won’t start in with your terminology.”
He goes under the water, pressing a languid kiss on my belly button, then lower, on my still exposed clit and disappears into the dark water. I’m catching my breath from the intimacy of his touch when I see him swim by, his American flag ass lit by a few glow sticks.
Smiling, I set a goal to clean up this water as quick as possible.
When we’re finished cleaning up, I tuck one of the glow sticks in my bikini top as a souvenir, because when this night feels like my wildest dream, I’ll have something concrete to prove it’s true. I dress as Grange puts away the few things he took out and he drives me to my car which is parked outside of the base and then we take separate cars to my house.
I call Maeve and start screaming about what just happened. About the bathing suit. About how much I love her for being my friend. And about how much I love Corrick Granger. I’m in deep. A kind of deep that doesn’t have light. It’s a blind, stumbling, darkness where you pray that when you reach out, the something that you touch, is good and noble, not terrifying and life-shattering.
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Grange is waiting, leaning on the wall next to the elevator when I haul my body filled with nerves toward him. Gaze dire, and stance wide, he looks like a bodyguard. “I can’t stop thinking about that pool,” I confess when I’m close enough for him to hear in the expanse of the parking garage.
He pushes the up button and peers down at me. “It was pretty awesome, wasn’t it?”
“The kiss,” I prompt, finger tracing my mouth where his lips were pressed against mine. “Are we mixing politics tonight?”
His neck works as he swallows and his stance changes, shoulders dropping. “Ah, aren’t we doing enough firsts tonight?”
Don’t press him, Tennyson. I remind myself.Don’t be that woman.“You’re right. It just felt good. Amazing. Kind of better than a kiss has ever felt.” I pinch my lips together. Why would I say that?
The elevator pings open and we get in. Grange looks satisfied with himself like I’m just coming to a realization he’s known all along. “Now is the time where you tell me you felt it too. Give me something, here. Especially if you’re making me play by your rules.”
“Seems I’ve already given enough, hasn’t it?”
“Grange. Seriously.” I watch the numbers light as we rise to my floor and I think about Ariel. Then I think about Grange kissingherand the festering annoyance grows. “You can fuck me bareback, no saddle or whatever the hell it’s called, but you won’t kiss me.” The elevator opens on my floor and someone is waiting to get on to go down. My face is beet red and Grange is laughing. “Ugh.” Puckering my lips in annoyance, I rush out with a brisk greeting to my neighbor and make my way to the door and unlock it. Corrick is behind me and lays a hand on mine before I unlock the door.
“Some things are better left saved for when there’s something to be proved.”
I roll my eyes. “Cryptic. Like usual.” He doesn’t let go, doesn’t let me open the door. “Let’s go in and get this over with.”
“Are you mad at me?” His voice is incredulous.
Blowing out a long breath, I meet his gaze. It’s a mistake. His face is a soft mask of adoration. I deflate. “No. Just annoyed.”
“Fire, you’re it for me. Kisses will come. Do you really want toget this over with?”
