Page 94 of Under Her Skin
Her mouth is hot, and she kisses me like I have the air she needs to live. My hair is tangled into her fingers and she presses her small body into mine. I pull my head back and look ather.
I push her dark hair back. “Say the word, baby and I’ll come to you. The minute you ask.Understand?”
Her eyes search mine. “Really?”
I nod and press my lips to hers again, backing her up until she hits the wall and I pull her ass up as she runs her legs around my waist. I grind into her and wish like hell she’d change hermind.
Her chest heaves with her ragged breaths. “I have togo.”
And with those words, I let her go and pray she decides to let me go to her, and sooner rather thanlater.
Part 2 LuckyInvestments
Blake
Out the window I gaze as I talk to Rachelle on the phone. The full moon fills the last pane of glass and I press my hand to it. The same moon hangs over her sweet head right now. It’s where I want to be sodesperately.
“So, finals, huh?” I ask,despondently.
“Yeah, tomorrow is the last one,” she says. “But it always takes me a few days to unwind from the stress I put myself through to pass them all. Want to know what recipe I’m making for my baking class in themorning?”
“Is it the one I got from Mom’s cookbook of French recipes?” I ask as I run my finger over the glass, tracing it around the roundedmoon.
“It is,” she says. “Only I’m adding a little extra French vanilla and instead of lady fingers, I’m using graham crackers and homemade whipped cream. Instead of calling it Tiramisu, I’m calling it Taramisu. In honor of your mother, Tara Chandler. I’m also dedicating the recipe to her in my writtenrecipe.”
My heart pounds at how sweet she is. “She’d love that, baby. She wasn’t a good cook, but God knows she tried hard. You should let me come to celebrate the end of finals with you. I could take you out or we could stay in or something. Whatever youwant.”
“That’s nice and I know most people would really love that, Blake. I just want time alone though. I hope you can understand. It’s been a ton of pressure.” She pauses and I can hear a long sigh. “Oh, and for my class where I’m learning to cook different types of proteins, I picked to make a ham. Wanna knowwhy?”
“I do,” I take in a deep breath and wonder how long she’s going to keep me away. She’s let me in a lot. Told me so many things over the phone I doubt I would ever get to know if we were face to face. “Please tell me,baby.”
“I picked a ham so I could call my recipe Cam Ham. In honor of your dad, sweetie. I’m putting an injection of a jalapeno, cream cheese mixture all throughout it. What do you think about that? Oh! I’m dedicating the written recipe to him aswell.”
Her voice is so high, and she’s so excited. “I think you’re the sweetest, most compassionate and sentimental woman I’ve everknown.”
“Nah! There’s much better women than me. Anyway, it’s cool too because the college makes a cookbook that sells all over the world and your parents’ names will be in it. That’s the real reason I did it. So you would have a cook book with their names in it. You said your mom had tons ofcookbooks.”
The woman is too great. “That’s amazing you even thought to do that, Rachelle. You seem to be more than able to do things for me. Let me do something for you,baby.”
“It’s nothing, really. It was fun for me to think about. I’ve made recipes for my grandparents too. No big deal. Anyway,” she says and her voice goes soft and a lot quieter. “Do you missme?”
“So damn much it’s not fair.” I chuckle. “Tell me how you did that to me. One night with you and you consume my thoughts. I kinda ache to hold you in my armsagain.”
“You ache?” A long pause she makes then she sighs. “Metoo.”
The fact we could be together if she wasn’t so afraid of being left by me haunts me. I feel mad sometimes then remember her mother left her at a children’s home full of strangers when she was only three yearsold.
How afraid she must’ve been. It makes my heart ache with the thought, but she never seems to want to talk about how she felt. She merely maintains she has no memory of thattime.
“So, how’s that noisy neighbor?” I ask as she’s complained about some young man who plays video games allnight.
“He’s gone I guess. I didn’t hear anything last night, and it’s nearly nine tonight so he must’ve went somewhere,” shesays.
“Or got a girlfriend to occupy his time. Lexi’s brother, Josh, my next door neighbor, has asked me several mornings as we pick up our newspapers out of our driveways if I’ve been picked up by a spaceship or something as my house is much quieter than it’s everbeen.”
“Why’s that?” sheasks.
“Because instead of nights full of playing video games and making all the noise that goes with that. I’ve been watching movies in my bedroom. Love stories, mostly.” I wait to see what she says aboutthat.
