“But…God, I can’t even remember when I started calling you that. First grade? Second?”
“Mm-hmm, something like that. It was yours all along and no one could touch it.” Her eyes lock on mine.
“Birdy…” I whisper, the name carrying a whole other meaning now. I’ve always loved it. Always thought it fit her so much better than Julie. But now? Now I know it’s mine. Just mine.
Like she is.
I lean in, cradling her face and take her lips in a kiss, gently wrapping mine around hers. Tasting her instead of devouring. Julie’s hand covers mine as she holds onto me and deepens the kiss.
It’s still soft but also heavy. Raw for a whole different meaning than lust.
“Aww, that’s so romantic,” Hope coos quietly from the side, and Julie pulls away from me. Her eyes slowly opening.
The conversation around us returns to whatever shenanigans Alec and Jacob take it, humming with laughter, sarcastic remarks, and all the rest of the usual but over here, in our small bubble we are brimming with tension.
With unresolved heat.
Julie brushes her lips against my jaw. “You wanna go take a swim with me?”
“Swim?” I scan the beach around us, it was well after sundown that we watched while eating our dinner here. The water lying still like a blanket of darkness.
“Mm-hmm, I think we need to cool down.” And before I can protest, she jumps up, the blanket around us dropping to the sand as she tugs me along.
“Julie,” I growl. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” She looks over her shoulder, mischief dancing across her every delicate feature and freckle.
We make it quite a few feet away from the bonfire. Far enough that I doubt any of them can see us and she knows it too. Julie stops, locks her eyes with me, and like the evil little fairy she is, starts removing her clothes tantalizingly slowly, torturing me by slipping one strap off her dress and then the other, but not hard enough for it to fall off right away. No, she knows what she’s doing, and it’s working too, because with each second my cock hardened more and more.
Still,I am notgoing to have another public display of our sex life.
“Birdy, please put your clothes back on.”
“How will I swim then?”
“Litte J, if you keep that up”—I motion to her undressing game—“I won’t be liable for what happens next and just to be clear it would not involve swimming, and I don’t think we should be doing it out here. Anyone can see us.”
Julie shrugs, rolling her lips that were hiding a smirk. “They all think we are exhibitionists anyway. What’s the harm now?” And with that, her dress drops to the sand, pooling around her feet.
“Fucking hell…” I let out a pained groan, my teeth sinking into my closed fist as I’m trying really hard to stop my thoughts from flying wayward all too soon. But that was such a futile mission.
One of the worst I’ve ever planned because as soon as her dainty fingers skimmed along her tiny thong, my T-shirt is off. Along with my shorts and she’s in my arms the next second as I charge us into the water.
Julie’s laughing and squealing with excitement and then she’s crying out for a whole other reason.
28
Julie
“My ability to turn good news into anxiety is rivaled only by my ability to turn anxiety into chin acne.” – Tina Fey, Bossypants
“Hi, honey.” Mom’s cheery voice greets me as soon as I open and shut the front door to my childhood home as fast as I can, trying to push the smell from the front porch out.
“Hi, Mom.” I try to inject as much lightness into mine but clearly fail because Mom flies out of the kitchen, a towel tucked into her apron as usual—today it’s with water lilies on it.
“Julie? What’s wrong?” She cradles my face, tilting it up this way and that, concern lacing hers.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think it’s anything horrible, I’ve just gotten this food poisoning that won’t go away.” Speak of the devil, my stomach churns right that second and I stop, taking a deep breath that doesn’t help in the slightest because the scent of the mint she has growing on the front porch had clearly dug its little green, fuzzy paws into every freaking corner of this home.