Page 29 of Until Forever

I considered inviting Lana over to Derek’s for dinner, but I knew she’d turn me down. Maybe if I gave her a little space on all the social invites, she’d let her guard down with me some.

“Have a good night, Lana,” I offered instead, flashing a smile before I turned and walked out into the evening air.

12

LANA

As I headed home that night, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with Keith. Or the better question was…what was wrong with me, and why did I even care?

If he expected me to believe he had miraculously changed in the short time I had been in town, I wasn’t falling for it. He thought I was a joke in high school, and now that I was grown up and rich, he had been trying to get in my pants ever since we almost kissed by the lake. But I knew just as soon as I stepped foot down that road, he’d lose all interest. Running the marina with him would become a nightmare for me, and he probably wouldn’t have a care in the world about me or the whole situation. He only wanted one thing, and once he got it—I’d become just as inconsequential to him now as I had been when we were teenagers.

That didn’t keep the nagging “buts” from floating around my head, though. He did refuse Vera after all, so maybe there was something to this sudden change of his. Plus, he said all of those things about settling down and what he wanted in a woman, which was surprisingly more than someone who was hot and also worshiped him.

I managed to put it all out of my mind enough to enjoy a nice dinner with Claire. Chris was working late once again, so I helped her take a bath. That was one task she was still a ways off from tackling on her own. Getting in and out of the tub was too tricky and dangerous.

We ate ice cream and enjoyed our usual trash TV until we both fell asleep. I woke her up long enough to help her to bed, then turned in myself. I fell asleep fast, but was haunted all night by dreams about the fish decor from the marina floating around Keith and Vera as they flirted up a storm right in front of me.

The next morning, I could feel the heat radiating from outside before I even stepped foot out of bed. It was officially summer now, which meant along with the heat came thick, unbearable humidity. It was nothing like the cool breeze and sunshine I had grown so used to in California.

I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes, staring out the window with the dread of knowing I’d have to work in that heat all day. It inspired me to fire off a message to Kyle, letting him know I missed him and the rest of the guys and gals at the shop. I told them to catch a wave or two for me, then reluctantly got out of bed and started getting dressed.

I managed to survive the heat that day, only to be hit with a relentless wave of more every day that week. The one good thing about it was how it inspired a new kind of comradery with me, Keith, and the crew. I thought the intense heat would make us all so miserable and moody that we’d be snapping at each other left and right, but surprisingly, Keith and I were getting along better than ever. I did my best to stop being so snippy with him, and he stopped questioning every decision I made about the marina. I figured since we were all stuck working out there in the southern summer together, we might as well be kind to one another.

But by Thursday afternoon, I felt like I was melting. The main room was fully painted, and the back rooms were coming along. We had made good progress for the day, and I knew I needed to take a break, or else I would faint.

“Enough of this,” I announced.

I didn’t even care that Keith was watching me as I stopped right there in the middle of the room and stripped down to my sports bra and underwear.

“What the hell are you doing!?” he admonished.

I was puzzled by how upset he looked. “Going for a swim,” I said with a shrug. “Got a problem with that?”

“Yeah, I do, actually,” he barked.

“Well, too bad,” I shot back with a scoffing laugh. “You could fry an egg out there in the parking lot, and it feels like you probably could in here, too. The air conditioning isn’t getting installed until next week, so the next best thing is the lake. I don’t know what’s wrong with you.”

“It’s not the lake or you getting in it that I have a problem with,” he griped, flustered and befuddled in a way I had never seen him before. “It’s that you stripped down to your underwear to do it.”

“What, are you the modesty police now? I don’t want to get my clothes wet, and this covers just as much as any bathing suit would.”

“But it’s not a bathing suit! You can’t just randomly start stripping right in front of me in the middle of the day!” He waved his arms and paced as he ranted. “Just put your clothes back on, will ya? Or at least hurry up and go jump in so you’re not torturing me with the sight of you in nothing but your bra and panties. And while you’re at it, stop chewing on your pens when you’re thinking and flipping your hair around the way that you do. And really, all the sexy stuff you walk around doing all day, every day. The heat on its own is enough to drive anyone crazy, but you’re dead set on keeping my brain in the gutter, apparently, and it’s pushing me over the edge.”

I stared back at him with my mouth gaping. I couldn’t believe he had blown up on me like that, but even more so—I couldn’t believe his reason. I was right. He had been thinking about me in that way. But he was smart enough to know I wasn’t going to fall for his usual tricks, and apparently, every unintentionally sexy thing I did was driving him insane with need. This was too good not to take advantage of.

“What do you mean?” I asked innocently, teasing him. I knew exactly what he meant. “Are you saying if I were to come closer to you, in nothing but this bra and these panties,” I swirled my hands over my body. “That you’d…what?”

His eyes moved over me, and he looked like he was in pain as he drank in every detail of my body. I shouldn’t have wanted him to stare at me like that, and it certainly shouldn’t have delighted me so much to see him suffering over how badly he wanted me. But wasn’t that exactly how I felt about him every single day of high school? I decided a little revenge was healthy and in order, and pranced even closer to drive the knife in deeper.

I noticed his fists clenching as his chest heaved up and down with labored breaths. A new layer of sweat was dripping from his brow, and his eyes seemed to become incapable of focusing on any part of me above my breasts. He shifted as a wave of something washed over him. Suddenly, he didn’t look like he was going to bother fighting it anymore.

“You know what?” he croaked. “You can deny it all you want, but I know you were this close…” he pinched a tiny sliver of air with his fingers. “…to letting me kiss you the other day by the lake. I don’t know why you pulled away or why you’re tormenting me with your half-naked body right now, but you’ve crossed a line.”

I let out a nervous laugh. What was that supposed to mean? But before I could fully react, he lunged forward with a stern look of resolve. I don’t know why I didn’t pull away. I let his body crash into mine. His lips pressed firmly to mine, and his sweaty, rough hands rounded over the small of my back down to my hips. His thumbs teased the hem of my panties as his tongue rolled over mine.

What was happening? Why was I letting it happen? Keith was kissing me. And oh, what a kiss it was. His lips were every bit as soft and plump and kissable as they looked, and his velvet tongue sent shock waves of burning need through my body with every sweep. I felt my knees give in from the intensity of it.

He felt me weaken against him and was quick to wrap one arm around me tightly to keep our kiss from breaking. His other hand swept up to my neck, then my cheek. I moaned against his lips, overwhelmed with disbelief that this was actually happening. Keith Mullins was kissing me! The same man who had once been the star of all of my biggest sexual and romantic fantasies, with his muscular body and deep brown eyes. That voice, so deep and full of southern charm. He might have turned into one of my biggest tormentors later on, but that didn’t stop the high school girl in me from melting into a puddle on the floor. It felt just as amazing as I always dreamed it would.

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