Page 238 of Releasing 10
Fuck, I couldn’t hide it anymore.
“What’s that?” she asked then, clearly noticing my problem.
Jesus Christ, my mother wasright.
My heart loved this girl, but my body was definitelylustingfor her.
Aw, crap.
“We can touch when we’re a lot older than this,” I strangled out, desperately seeking out common sense and self-restraint in the haze of lust settling over me. “When we’re both in secondary school.”
“But you’ll be in secondary school for two years before I get there,” she protested. “What if you find some other girl to touch?”
“I won’t.”
“But what if you do?”
“Iwon’t, Liz,” I repeated, feeling my legs tremble. “I won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know it won’t happen.”
“But how do you know?”
“Because I only want to touch you.”
Her breath hitched. “You do?”
“Yeah,” I replied before quickly adding, “when we’reolder.”
“How much older?”
“I already told you when we’re in secondary school,” I replied, recapturing up her hand when it started to trail down my stomach again. “There’s no rush, Liz, and I’m not going to go off looking or touching any other girls when I start secondary school, okay?”
“Or kissing?”
“Or kissing,” I confirmed. “I won’t do any of those things, so all you need to do is have patience and trust me, because I’m not going to do anything that could hurt you.”
“Idotrust you, Hugh.”
“Good.” Rolling onto my side to face her, I pressed a hand to her cheek and smiled. “Because we have all the time in the world for that kind of thing.”
Sunken, pale-blue eyes peered back at me. “Okay.”
“I love you,” I whispered then, needing her to know. “No matter what.”
“I love you, too.” My words caused the light in her eyes to reappear. “No matter what.”
“Do you want to tell me about your nightmare?” I asked then, needing to steer the conversation back to something I could handle. “The one you thought you weren’t asleep in?”
Her body tensed up immediately. “I was in a room.”
“This room?”
She shook her head. “A different room.”
“Okay.” Keeping my tone gentle, I continued to stroke her cheek with my thumb. “What else was in the room?”
