“What? Why? Did she—did you tell her about what happened in the closet?” Oh, shit. Shit. If possible, the guilt clutching at me squeezed even tighter in the pit of my stomach. How she must hate me.
“No. She left because she knew…” his voice trailed off. He looked away and squared his shoulders, as if afraid to go on.
“She knew what?” I said.
His eyes returned to mine. All his features, his coloring looked like shades of deep blue in the faint light of this mountain evening.
“That it was always you.” Those words seemed to trail out between his lips, mix with that phantom breath, coalesce into something otherworldly between us. My throat tightened and I swallowed.
“I…” I shook my head, unable to find the words to reply to that, muted by joy and terror at once.
He moved up to me again, this time placing one hand on each cheek. “Always. Since that first day I came over to play with your brother Doug in middle school and you wouldn’t leave us alone. Since that day I helped you when you scraped up your knees. When you failed your algebra test and tried to hide your tears when you asked me to tutor you. Since that day you helped me practice my graduation speech over and over again, listening for hours, helping me memorize it, cheering every single time I finished it. Since…”
“Since the beginning…” I said, my voice trembling.
He nodded. I leaned up on tiptoes to lock my hands around his neck and pulled him down to me. And since he’d started it last night between us—finally making that move—it was my turn tonight.
His mouth fell on mine and I tasted him, his warm, firm lips. I felt that kiss clear down to my toes. It zinged and sizzled through my body, every extremity. His lips opened and my tongue danced with his, communicating without words, only feelings—long bottled up by fear and uncertainty.
All those years in high school I’d nursed that crush, afraid he’d never feel the same way. And apparently he had. And we’d lost—what? Six years? Seven?
But now he kissed me, his lips toying with mine in that delicious way. My eyes fluttered closed, the heat in my chest building with each breath that he stole from me. I couldn’t help but be grateful for the years we’d had in between to grow up, to gain confidence, to find each other once again.
And finally, we had timing on our side too. I was free and so, now, was he.
When our mouths parted, steam escaped our lips and I could see that he was just now starting to shiver. I laughed.
“You look like you’re about to keel over from hypothermia.” I smiled.
A lazy grin stretched across his mouth. “Maybe I want to go inside for another reason altogether.”
“Well there is more than one way to…warm up…”
He reached down and grabbed my hand and enfolded it in his own, and we strode toward the illuminated cabin together. My head sank to his shoulder and my eyes closed momentarily even as my heartbeat sped up in anticipation.
It was finally happening. All my girlish fantasies were about to come true.
And maybe this would live up to those, or maybe it would be even better.
“Jeremy.” I paused on the porch before he opened the door.
He turned to look at me, a smile curving his lips, his eyebrows raised with the unasked question.
“For me, it was always you, too.”
And who knew at this early stage, this very beginning. But I had a very good feeling that from here on out, it would be only him. And for him, only me.
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed the short story “It Was Always You”. If you did, you might enjoy my full length Gaming The System novels. The first three books, At Any Price, At Any Turn, and At Any Moment are available now.
Releasing June 16th, the fourth book in the bestselling Gaming The System series For The Win
Millionaire bad boy Jordan Fawkes has problems. Big problems. That molten-hot intern he hooked up with at Comic-Con is now his assistant. No one can know they’re the stars of the cosplay sex tape that broke the Internet.
Business school hopeful April Weiss has drama. Big drama. Working under the CFO of Draco Multimedia should be the opportunity of a lifetime for her, but Jordan Fawkes is the boss from Hell—a sexier-than-sin boss from Hell who holds all the cards for her future career.
And then there’s the small problem of a certain video…
(Click here to purchase)
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Copyright copyright 2015 by Brenna Aubrey
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
20150521
ISBN 978-1-940951-10-2
Silver Griffon Associates
P.O. Box 7383
Orange, CA 92863
www.BrennaAubrey.net
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Table of Contents
Title
Chapter One Michaela
Chapter Two Jeremy
Chapter Three Michaela
Chapter Four Jeremy
Chapter Five Michaela
Afterword
Copyright
It Was Always You (Gaming the System) Page 4