Page 426 of Small Town Firsts
I rubbed my thumb over her lower lip. “I wanted to say this in sunlight. It seemed important somehow. But the moon is important for us too.” I glanced up at the crescent just visible through the clouds. “The moon brought you to me.”
“Preston…” She swallowed hard enough for me to hear.
“I love you. I don’t care if it’s too fast. If it doesn’t make sense to people who aren’t us.” I gripped her hand and brought it to my chest, holding it there where my heart beat out of control for her.
And would always.
“I meant it when I said I’d wait for you. I will. I won’t rush you. I’ll give you your space.”
Tears gathered on her lashes, so silently that I couldn’t even hear her breathing. But her fingers curled into mine.
“You can take a year or a lifetime to love me back. What’s time, right? Since a week can be forever.” I caught one of her tears on my thumb. “But I’m not promising I won’t ever prod or push. I’ll wait, but I’m impatient to live my life with you. So, maybe you can pick up the pace just this once?—”
She grabbed my face in her hands and kissed me hard, feeding me her tears and her laughter and her need in equal measure.
Tangled with them all, I felt her love. She didn’t say it. She didn’t have to.
When she moved back, her eyes as bright as the light of the moon, I felt something else too.
I lifted my hand to the back of my head with a wince, and she shut her eyes. “Whoops.”
“Will you still love me if I have a bald spot?”
She giggled and fisted her hands. “I’m wicked with a pair of clippers.”
“Then again, it might have just been a mosquito.” I slapped the side of my neck. “Damn summer. It’s hot as balls out here.”
“Try sleeping in the camper. I had to take off my bra and—” She noticed the gleam in my eyes and propped her hands on her hips. “Watch yourself or I’ll measure you while you’re sleeping for your Christmas gift.”
I yanked her against me once more. “Maybe it’s better if you give me room to…grow.”
She laughed helplessly. “I have so much to tell you, and now I’m thinking about your dick.”
Lightly, I rubbed against her. “I can assure you the admiration is mutual.”
“It’s about my art. I’ve been working on this comic.” She grinned. “And it’s kinda exciting.”
All at once, I forgot my libido. “Tell me. Now.”
She dragged me forward a few feet and glanced at the Airstream where her mother and a man I assumed to be Brock were now quite enthusiastically making out in the wide front seats. “Let me just get my stuff. Really, really fast.”
“You’re honestly ready to come home?”
“Dude, so much. Besides, I have to yell at you for scaring me senseless. I’m way overdue.”
Grinning, I smacked her perfect ass as she turned back toward the Airstream. “Yes, you’re egregiously late for that, Miss Moon.”
FIRST CLOSING ARGUMENT
I broughtmy tea mug with me to look out at the endless green of Preston’s property. I couldn’t say it was a hardship for the nights I stayed over—which, to be honest, was most nights.
PMS was very persuasive when it came to finding ways to get me out of my dresses each evening. And yoga pants. And my favorite boxer shorts I’d started stealing.
Non-worn ones, thanks. I didn’t need man funk on my lady parts. There was a distinct difference between getting wild and naked and borrowing someone’s underwear.
However, in his very Preston way, he had backup packs in his handy dandy accessory panel. You know, the kind that only rich people had. I was a sucker for hidden spaces of any kind and when I’d been snooping—sue me—I’d found his boxer stash.
Nowmystash.
