Page 24 of The One Who Got Away
“What happened?”
“It was your birthday.”
Her breath caught.
“I was missing you.”
“You texted me out of the blue for the first time in forever.” She said softly.
“Yeah, it was the rum talking. I was an idiot. I didn’t check reports like I usually did. Riptides can be pretty intense where I was. I just wanted to dunk my damn head and stop thinking.”
“About me?”
“Yeah.”
She laid a hand on my face. “Since when?”
“Since always, El. I knew you weren’t meant to stick around here. You practically killed yourself to get into Northeastern. I knew you had a plan. I couldn’t hold you back.”
She pushed off me and I caught her before she could struggle out of the chair. “Don’t you think I should have been in on that plan? Why should you be the one to make the decisions?”
I dumped her back on top of me until she straddled me. I gripped her ass with both of my hands to hold her against me.“I had just as much going on. I wanted to see the world. I was a dumb kid.”
She kept struggling and I tried to focus around the fact that the woman I’d dreamed about all my life was sitting astride me.
I grabbed both her hands. “Would you quit it. I need to get this out and if you keep rubbing that perfect ass against me, I’m going to do anything but talk.”
“Who says I want that?”
The proud tilt of her head made me even harder. Was it any wonder she’d always been the one for me?
I snaked a hand under her sweatshirt to cup her breast, yanking the front down until I felt the soft skin and her tight nipple. I dragged my thumb across the tip until she trembled. “Because you melted into me like I always dreamed. When I kissed you, I knew.” I craned my neck until I could nip at her chin, then her lips. “I just didn’t want to hold you back.”
“Presumptuous of you, Angus Michael Murdock.”
I smiled against her mouth. “My full government name.” I dipped my tongue between her lips and she sighed into me. But having her skin to skin was dissolving my resolve. I gently tugged the tip of her breast once before replacing her bra and sliding my hand back down to cup her delicious ass. “Distracting.”
She sighed and pressed her forehead to mine. “Tell me the rest.”
“I got caught in a bloom of jellyfish. I probably could have swum along the riptide enough to get away from it, but the stings made for a perfect storm. I’d be dead on that damn beach or out to sea if a night surfer hadn’t spotted me.”
Her breath caught. “Gus.”
“I know. The riptide dragged me way down the beach. No phone, no ID and I ended up an unconscious John Doe in the hospital for nearly a week. The poison from the jellyfish waspretty intense and I slammed my head into the ocean floor.” I lifted up a hank of hair to show off my shiny scar.
She leaned to the side to get use of the firelight to see. “Good thing you have a hard head.”
I laughed. “Yeah. But I was thinking about you when I went under. When the water sucked me down.”
“Oh, Gus.”
“And I didn’t want to waste another minute without you.” I drew her down against me and tasted a few tears on her lips as I gently showed her just how much she meant to me.
I rocked the swing slowly as her sweet body echoed each slow sway. I pushed up her hoodie to get to her leggings. I needed to feel her. Just touch her until she broke for me.
At the very least, I needed that.
She hummed against my mouth.
