Page 46 of When We Were Reckless
She looked so fucking pretty and so hopeful, I couldn’t stop myself from touching her. I wrapped a lock of her hair around my fingers and gave it a gentle tug before I released it. “Yeah, you. Because of what you said that night… about a life without dreams being too sad for words.”
“So this is your new dream?”
I shrugged one shoulder, my gaze on her face. She wasn’t my dream, but she looked like one with her skin bathed in the moonlight. She was glowing, a hazy halo of blonde hair framing her perfect face, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
“An old dream revived. I haven’t competed in FMX in a few years. Looking to get back into it.”
She nodded, taking a few moments to think about it before she asked, “Are you scared?”
“Scared of what?” I hedged.
“Everything.”
“Not everything, no.”
“What scares you most?”
“That I’ll fail,” I answered honestly. “That I’ll get injured again and suffer another setback. But mostly… I’m scared I’ll fail.”
In the past, I’d never thought about failing. That word hadn’t even been in my vocabulary. But now that I’d failed at fucking everything, it haunted me.
“You won’t fail. You’re going to soar so high you’ll touch the sun.”
There she went again, putting too much faith in me. “That’s what Icarus tried to do. And look what happened to him,” I joked.
“Moral of the story. Don’t make your wings out of wax.”
We were both laughing, and the tension in my body melted away, replaced by hope and possibility. So maybe that was why I wrapped my arm around her shoulders without giving it a second thought.
“Jesse,” she whispered.
“Hmm?” I turned my head to look at her.
She pointed to the sky. “I made a wish. Now it’s your turn.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jesse
Quinn was straddling me.How the hell had we gotten here? My brazen sunshine girl was a magician. So bold. So fucking ballsy that it made me question whether she truly was as innocent and naïve as I’d thought.
“What do you think you’re doing, Sunshine Girl?” I inhaled the scent of her hair. The scent ofher. Flowers and citrus.
“I don’t know. I just want… I need…” She grabbed my shoulders to steady herself.
“What do you want?”
She swallowed, her eyes searching mine as she lifted her hand to my face and tentatively traced my cheekbone and then my jaw with her fingertips. Her touch was light, gentle as a soft breeze, but it ignited something inside me. Made me burn for her.
My hands cupped her ass and squeezed. I didn’t know if it was a warning or permission to continue rocking against my erection, making me impossibly hard.
“It’s easier to be brave in the dark,” she said.
“Is it?”
“For me, it is. Do you want to kiss me, Jesse?” She swept her tongue across her lower lip. “Do you want to touch me?”
The answer wasFuck, yes. I wanted to touch her everywhere. Kiss her lips and her silky soft skin and the jagged ridges of her scars.
