Page 53 of Indigo

“Stop,” he commands, moving his thumbs to brush away the tears now escaping my eyes. Leaning forward, he places a kiss on each cheek. “I will tell you every day that you’re beautiful.” Another kiss. “Smart.” Kiss. “Driven.” Kiss. “So fucking incredible.” He runs his nose along mine and kisses my lips so tenderly that if I wasn’t sitting on the edge of his desk, I’d have a hard time keeping myself upright. “I will remind you for as long as it takes for that doubt to leave your mind, Blue. I’ve got nothing but time.” I let out a content sigh and lean my forehead against his as he says, “That voice in your head is lying to you, baby. I promise.”

-18-

INDIGO

“WHY WOULD YOU MAKEme do this? I thought we were friends,” I whine at Paisley as I trip on another rock and drop my purple water bottle by my feet.

When she suggested going for a walk, I thought it'd be a relaxing stroll along the beach, not a hike up the biggest hill known to man. There’s a reason I avoided this trail growing up. I don’t do steep inclines.

“You’re a baby, we're not even halfway yet,” she calls over her shoulder, looking back at me with a smirk.

Nah, fuck that.

I'm dripping in sweat, and this bitch is powder dry.

I stop dead in my tracks, pick up my bottle, and cross my arms like a stubborn toddler. For dramatic effect, I stomp my foot before saying, “Paisley. No. Not even halfway?”

She looks back again and stops when she sees I'm no longer moving. “Seriously? You're sulking right now?”

“Yep.”

She rolls her eyes playfully and walks back down to where I'm standing. “Fine. We’ll take a break.”

Yeah, okay. A permanent break. She’s delusional if she thinks she’s getting my ass the rest of the way up that damn hill.

I drop to the floor immediately, making her laugh as she sits down beside me.

“You’re being dramatic,” she says teasingly.

I scoff, even though I know she’s right. Resting back on my palms, I take in the cool breeze and the sound of birds chirping as the sun warms my skin, and Paisley pulls her phone out of the hidden pocket in her leggings.

“Josh?” I ask, taking a guess.

As I unscrew the lid to my bottle and take a sip, she turns her screen toward me, and I almost choke as I inhale the water.

JOSH:I’m so fucking hard imagining you all hot and sweaty, walking that sexy ass up that hill.

JOSH:You coming by tonight?

JOSH:Fuck. I sound super creepy, don’t I?

I cough, patting my chest dramatically and laugh. “Jesus. Give a girl a little warning.”

She shakes her head and quickly slides the phone back into her pocket. “Sorry,” she says with a wink, grabbing her own bottle from beside her and finishing half of it before coming up for air.

“So, how’s work?” she asks, looking out at the incredible view we have from our position.

From this high up, it looks as though the ocean is never ending. The grass sways in the wind and the sound of the waves hitting the shore is just loud enough for us to hear.

“Good. Really good. Learned more about cars than I ever planned to, and the customers have all been lovely, bar like three of them.”

Paisley rolls her eyes. “Old men and their misogynistic tendencies, I assume?”

“Oh, yeah.”

She looks at me from the corner of her eye, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lip. “And Pax? How’s that going?”

I grin, the dirty memories running through my head. “Mmmm.”

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