Knowing that… I didn’t stop.
Julia straddled me as I sat up and took her shirt off.
Her hair fell all along her shoulders, chest, and back.
My right hand touched the top of her back.
My left hand gently brushed her hair away so I could plant a kiss to her chest. Her breasts pressed against her red bra. Something about Julia and something about that color…
My right hand twisted the clasp on her bra before I knew I was doing it.
It was instinct. Need. Desire. The hundreds of days that collected like boulders on my back and soul, telling me this would never happen again.
But it was.
My lips kissed down her chest, her soft skin leading me to her full nipple. I brushed my lips against her and she shivered. The tip of my nose nuzzled against her next. My left hand cupped her other breast, my thumb swiping across her nipple.
Julia’s nails sank into the back of my shoulders as her hips drove down against me. Her jeans to my jeans, but she was still able to feel what she did to me. There was no hiding it. There was no reason to hide it either.
As my mouth took her left breast, I placed both hands to her back and lifted up.
I guided her back to the bed, the tip of my tongue playfully flicking against and around her nipple, feeling her body coming alive in all the ways it used to.
I pulled away and moved to her other breast.
Julia grabbed the sheets on the bed and arched her back.
I kissed slowly and softly down her body.
My hands opened her jean shorts and I pulled them off her body like we had no time to spare.
Julia groaned as my hands touched her legs. Her knees touched together with a movement that made me smile. Almost like a reminder that I was the one who took her innocence once before. I was the one deemed bad for her. The one who was going to hurt her and break her.
But life twisted the script and it was the other way around.
I looked up and caught Julia staring down at me.
Completely unclothed, her cheeks flushed.
My hands slid up her body and I eased forward, letting my chest touch her legs.
My right hand moved over her belly button and then down. My thumb leading the way. Across smooth skin that could become dangerous.
Julia sucked in a breath and bit her lip, gently parting her legs.
My thumb moved against her slit with ease. As I curled my thumb, I pulled, making her body thrust as she gasped.
I repeated the same motion over and over, leaving Julia throwing her head back, her legs opening more for me.
I brought my hand down against her body, my pointer and middle fingers coming together, pressing against her perfect body.
When I put my lips to her thigh, both her legs jumped with surprise.
“Shh, sweetheart,” I whispered. “It’s okay. Forget everything, Julia. It’s just us…”
She groaned again as my fingers dipped into her core.
My lips kissed up her body, making a straight line until I reached her breasts.
I moved to her right breast for a second time, my mouth hungrier than the first time.
My fingers coaxed movements from her hips that haunted my dreams.
Julia lifted her head and her eyes burned as they smacked against mine.
“Now,” she ordered. “Right now.”
“You know where I am, sweetheart,” I said with a grin.
Julia kicked her legs to knock my hand from between her legs.
Which was torture to me.
My hand grabbed her hip and I pulled her close as I gritted my teeth.
She flirted with my jeans, her fingers dancing along the bulge that she had caused.
I threw my leg over her and eased over her body.
I brought my lips to hers but didn’t kiss.
I hovered.
And I knew she hated that.
She kissed me but I didn’t kiss back.
My left hand was against the bed, balancing me as I reached between us with my right hand to open my jeans.
I finally kissed her as I pushed my jeans down.
I paused and pressed my thickness between us.
“Oh, fuck,” Julia whispered into my mouth.
Oh, fuck is right, sweetheart…
I hurried to kick everything I was still wearing off.
My hands wrapped around Julia’s body and I scooped her up again, taking her on the bed the proper way. Putting her head down to the massive amount of pillows she had on the perfectly made bed.
Everything about her drove me crazy and made me fall in love all in the same second.
Just like when she wrapped her legs around me.
I fell in love even more.
And then I fell deep inside her.
* * *
We became a tangled mess in the best way possible.
Our bodies and the sheets, but also plenty of other things nobody could ever see. My hands followed the lines of her body down to her hips. I rested there for a moment, driving myself forward, feeling a comfortable warmth and familiar pushing against my own body.
As I pulled myself back, ready to concede that I needed a second to catch my breath, Julia put her hands to my lower back and dug against me, wanting more.
My lips slid down her lips to her chin.
I kissed as she groaned, putting her head back, leaving her neck wide open for me to taste.
I kissed down her throat and to the left side of her neck.
My teeth grazed her skin and I paused.
It was never anything close like this with anyone else.
I caught myself stopping.
Taking myself to the hilt, feeling every inch of her core wrapped around me, silently begging for me and for more.
I placed my hands to the bed and lifted myself up.
I stared down at her body.
Our legs were wrapped up, both of us knowing we didn’t want anything more or less to happen.
I gently pulled back, going impossibly slow, letting the memories of her body and pleasure rush back to me. Starting between my legs, rushing up to my heart, then to my mind. And it was a fucked up battle. My body wanted more. My heart was happy. My head knew this was trouble.
Julia put her right hand against my stomach.
She bit her lip.
There wasn’t space between us but there was a line.
I moved forward, just as slow.
She shut her eyes and swallowed hard.
There wasn’t enough shitty vodka in her kitchen to convince me that I wasn’t about to make love to her. And if I did that…
I slid my hands up the bed and hovered over Julia.
Our eyes locked tight as I eased my body out of her.
She let out a sigh and bit her lip.
My right hand moved without me looking.
I touched her hip and guided her to her left side.
Her right hand stayed attached to my stomach, fingers spread wide, nails gently digging into hard skin.
I bent my arms and lowered down.
She turned her head to meet me, kissing me.
“Yes,” she whispered into my mouth. “Like this… now…”
I took her from the side position, entering her again, thrusting with purpose.
Julia pulled a pillow to her mouth and let out a groan that didn’t need to be muffled. This was her house. And her bed. There wasn’t a worry about making noises.
I kept my left hand on the bed, allowing my other hand to move along the curve of her body. Over her hip. Down her side. Right back up again. Inching forward toward the swell of her breast. And then down. Really fast… down…
When two fingers touched her nub, her hips jerked forward and she groaned into the pillow. Her nails then dug into my skin with force.
And I didn’t stop moving.
Giving to her body. My fingers reminding her how delicately beautiful she was everywhere.
I gritted my teeth so hard I thought
they were going to shatter.
Feeling her building within the wave of her own pleasure.
Climaxing, turning her into the pillow, all the muscles in her beautiful body tightening as the rush of pleasure and relief attacked her.
I stayed with her, scowling when she needed me to slow. Her hand moved to my side, showing me the pace she wanted. Then her hand let go like she lost feeling in it. It fell to the bed, her fingers twitching as she grabbed for the sheets.
I thrust at her again with more force, leaving her groaning one more time.
Both of my hands were then flat against the bed.
As I hovered over her again, I moved with my own waves and movements. Like we were trapped in a storm. Except I knew how to end the storm and what it would feel like.
I lowered my lips to her soft shoulder and kissed.
Julia moved her right hand again and grabbed at my hair.
I opened my mouth and my tongue flickered against her shoulder.
I sucked in a hissing breath and held it.
I put my forehead to her shoulder and felt the last of the waves hitting me.
There was no holding back any longer.
And when I came, Julia let out a breathless sigh and she went with me.
I hurried to grab her hip with my left hand, driving her back down to her back, not missing a second of the shared pleasure.
My face was buried in her chest, her hands pulling at my hair.
I felt and heard her heart pounding behind her left breast.
I gently kissed her flesh, working down her breast to her nipple one last time.
One more kiss.
And then there was complete silence.
The only sounds were the wild rushes that happened in our own bodies.
I kissed up Julia’s chest to her neck then to her lips.
I stole more than my fair share of kisses from her.
When I eased myself from her, there was almost a sense of disappointment that attacked me. She was the only person who could make me feel that way after having what we just had. Because I craved more.
But I also wasn’t completely stupid.
She bit her lip again. And not in the way she did a few minutes ago.
It was because of something else.
I nodded and leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
I moved off the bed and found my jeans on the floor and walked to the doorway.
When I looked back to the bed, it was just the silhouette of her under the covers.
I could lick my lips and taste her.
I could shut my eyes and see her.
I could hold my breath and feel her.
But with the couch my bed tonight, the truth was there…
I would never really have her again.
Chapter 14
NOW
Julia
‘You don’t have to impress me!’ I call out.
Jett smokes a cigarette and walks into the water.
The thunder smacks its hands together out in the distance. Like a fighter ready to throw a punch.
And there’s Jett… never afraid of a punch.
A flash of lightning crawls across the sky, jumping cloud to cloud.
I gasp.
‘Jett!’
He stops and turns.
I put my hands together in prayer, begging him, saying please, needing him out of the water before something really bad happened.
He listens.
He runs from the water toward me.
There’s a smile on his face I don’t trust.
‘Jett…’
‘I’m fine, sweetheart,’ he says. ‘Just watch.’
He kisses me.
His mouth tastes like smoke. It should be ashy and gross. But it’s Jett. It’s the taste I love.
This time he runs into the water.
Without care.
And he keeps going.
He dives forward, into a big wave.
Another flash across the sky.
Another slam of thunder.
And Jett just keeps swimming.
Going and going and going.
‘What are you doing?’ I call out.
He finally stops and turns.
He’s almost like a little black dot out in the pissed off ocean.
He doesn’t need to prove anything to me.
I already know…
A wave builds behind him.
He looks at it.
He looks at me.
He waves.
Jett puts his head back and falls backward into the wave as it crushes him.
The wave hits louder than the thunder.
I scream but nobody is near me to hear.
And there’s no sign of Jett.
I run down to the water.
The storm is louder. And it’s closer.
‘Jett!’ I cry out.
There’s a tiny wave that creeps toward my toes.
And I see what’s left of Jett.
His cigarette, floating in the water, still somehow burning.
* * *
I opened my eyes and gasped for a breath.
I touched my face and chin, expecting water to be on me.
But I’m just in my bed.
I looked around.
My bed. My house.
I took a deep breath and looked down.
The covers slowly slid down, leaving me to gasp at the sight of my bare chest.
Heat raced to my cheeks as I remembered everything about the night.
Worst part of the entire thing was that it was not even an hour since Jett left my bedroom.
My eyes moved to the door.
He actually listened to me.
He left to go sleep on the couch.
I put my head back down on my pillow and shut my eyes. They popped open a second later. The dream got the best of me. Wondering if Jett had left. And if something happened. Or what the meaning of the dream meant. I always drove Jett crazy about stuff like that. I always looked up what dreams meant.
Another one of your goofy signs, sweetheart? Fuck, you’re so cute.
His words bounced around in my head.
I groaned as I kicked the sheets off my body.
I was completely naked.
My mouth made an o shape and I let out an ‘ooohhh’ sound as it all rushed back to me. Not to mention I still felt him. The places he touched. The places he kissed. The places he had been.
If Jett only knew how long it had been since…
I stood up and hurried across my room.
There was an oversized zip up hoodie with See B’s written on the left breast and the logo of the bakery on the back. A year ago I had gotten roped into trying to sell merchandise, which turned out to be really stupid. The double-XL hoodie was a reminder of that.
I put the hoodie on and zipped it up.
Then I found my panties and put those on too, blushing as I did so, like I was younger and trying to sneak out of a house I didn’t belong in.
Fucking Jett.
This was his fault making me feel like this.
Him and that stupid dream.
I looked out the window like a damn idiot, waiting to see a streak of lightning or hear a crack of thunder.
There was no storm out there.
My mind told me to just go back to bed.
Either Jett was on the couch asleep or he had gone home.
My heart guided me to the bedroom door and before I knew it I was in the living room.
Jett was on the couch.
I sighed with relief.
Just a dream.
Like it always was.
But there was a big difference between waking up from a dream and having Jett next to me versus having nobody. Or having… Kinney.
I shut my eyes.
‘What’s up, sweetheart? Another good one?’
‘A lion chased me, Jett.’
‘I’m glad it didn’t get you.’
‘What do you think it means?’
&
nbsp; ‘I don’t know. Want to look it up?’
‘Right now?’
‘I mean… what else would we be doing at two-forty-five in the morning on a Tuesday, right?’
I smile.
He gets it.
We look it up. We laugh. Then he holds me until I fall asleep again.
I opened my eyes and stared down at Jett.
On his back, head on the arm of the couch, no pillow. His right foot on the floor, left foot hanging over the other side of the couch.
Shirtless…
Ohgod… fucking shirtless.
Whoever made the decision that men like Jett would fill out with more muscle over time while women like me would fill out curves was a total asshole. The lean, cut, surfer guy that drove my young heart wild was now the tough man who reminded me that those old feelings were still there.
I swallowed hard.
I shut my eyes again.
‘I had a bad dream.’
‘What? What’s wrong? What happened?’
‘I had a bad dream, Kinney. There was this-’
‘A bad dream? Are you ten years old or something?’
‘What?’
‘Go to sleep, Julia. Please. You scared me. I thought something was wrong.’
Kinney rolls to the other side of the bed.
I can’t sleep.
I want to know what it means when a mountain lion is trying to get into your house.
I opened my eyes again.
I was just standing there.
Awkward.
Creeping.
Confused.
I bit my lip and leaned forward.
I grabbed for the blanket folded on the back of the couch.
When I felt Jett’s hand touch the back of my leg, I gasped.
I turned my head and his eyes were half open.
“Sweetheart?” his deep, almost sex laced voice asked.
The vibrations of his voice moved through his arm to his hand and to my leg.
My toes curled.
“Just getting you a blanket,” I whispered.
“Yeah, thanks,” he said.
He slowly sat up a couple inches, swinging his left foot to the floor. Then he sat up all the way.
But his hand didn’t move an inch.
I realized then I was between his legs.
My hand gripped the blanket tight but I didn’t open it or give it to him.
HIDDEN CREEK THEN: a hidden creek high novel Page 11