by Amy Sparling
“Like the kind of crazy hot guy girls check out from afar.”
His head inclines toward me. “Why from afar?”
I shrug. “Because they’d be intimidated to talk to you.”
“But you aren’t?”
His words are an invitation into something deeper. I’ve all but declared how sexy I think he is, and now he’s calling me on it. It’d be easy to turn and run away and pretend this never happened, but it’s my birthday, dammit. I’m going to have some fun. I put both hands on the railing and lean up on my toes, looking down at the ocean. It’s at least twenty feet below us, maybe more.
“I’m on an adventure,” I say. “New places, new people, new experiences. And I guess that includes talking to you.”
“I haven’t really given you much of a choice,” Theo says.
“No you have not.” The wind is harsh out here over the water, and it whips the coiffed perfection right out of his hair. Somehow, this makes him more attractive.
“I apologize for following you around all night.” He turns, leaning on the railing while he faces me. “But it’s kind of your fault.” He reaches out and sweeps the hair off my face in one quick movement. My breath catches in my throat, surprise over the gentle gesture freezing me in place.
“Why is it my fault?” I say once the feeling returns to my face.
“You’ve mesmerized me.” His hand lingers in the air a second, and then he must change his mind about what he just did because he shoves both hands in his pockets. “I can’t seem to leave.”
I swallow. “If you still have that problem when this places closes for the night, you might be in trouble.”
“Do you always joke about serious things?”
I’m about to smart off with another sarcastic comment, but his question makes me stop and consider it. “No,” I admit after a moment. My gaze turns to the ocean. “I’m not usually sarcastic at all.”
“So why now?”
I shrug. “It’s a night of firsts.”
What I really want to say is that my jokes are coming from a place of insecurity. Because there’s no way he’s flirting with me, there’s just no way. Even though all evidence would suggest that he is, I know I can’t believe it. I’m simply not worth this guy’s attention.
“So why are you here alone?” I ask. As it turns out, I’m not quite ready to leave, either.
“Business trip.” He turns slightly, so that his back is against the railing. I’m still leaning my elbows over it, looking out at the ocean. “I had a few hours to kill before tomorrow, and I was drawn to all the sparkly lights and fair food.”
“Fair food is the best,” I agree. Wind pushes my hair in my face again and I leave it there a minute, hoping Theo will be compelled to brush it away. When he doesn’t, I just feel silly, and push it behind my ears myself. A silence settles over us, and all it does is make me imagine what it’d be like to take a step forward, wrap my arms around his waist and lean into him, my lips brushing against his.
Whoa.
“A business trip?” I stammer. The silence is broken, but Theo’s gaze on me is not.
“Yes.”
“In Sterling? This place is kind of a…dump,” I say with a laugh.
“That’s um, exactly why we do business here, actually.”
“Where are you from?”
He turns to me, the shadows on his face giving him a mysterious and slightly frightening look. “Everywhere.”
“But not here,” I say softly.
“But not here.”
Something changes in the air between us. It’s as if we both have the same thought at the same time. I am not a bold person. I don’t take risks and I never volunteer to be the first to do something. But something beyond my realm of understanding takes over me. I step forward, my fingers and toes tingling as I do exactly what I’d been imagining for the last few minutes. My feet slip into the space between his, white flipflops between black Converse. His arms extend, hands taking my hips. His touch sends a warm shiver down to my toes.
It all happens so fast and so slowly at the same time. My hands slide inside his jacket, fingers moving over the ridges of his abs, stopping on his chest. His heartbeat is steady beneath his shirt. I experience everything in slow motion. Warm hands pulling me a little closer. A scruffy jaw dipping down…Theo’s lips pressing on mine.
I close my eyes, reeling in the scent of his cologne, the feel of his lips on mine, softly moving to deepen the kiss. I don’t think I’m breathing, I don’t think my heart is beating. I am wrapped in his strong embrace, warmed to the core by the heat between us. His lips part and his tongue slides across my bottom lip in an experienced way that tells me Theo is not like the guys I messed around with in high school.
I gasp for a breath, then lean up on my toes and press myself closer to him, my hands sliding up around his neck. His fingers make a strong grip on my sides, not willing to let me go, even though the very idea of stepping away from him is pure agony.
I kiss him back with everything I have. A soft groan escapes his lips and I run my tongue across them. His breath tastes like Cherry Coke. Suddenly I can’t think of a single better taste in the world. Theo tightens his embrace and my feet lift off the concrete.
He is definitely not like the guys from high school.
I don’t know how much time passes, but by the time his lips pull away from mine, I am a puddle of ecstasy. My breathing is labored, my lips swollen in the best way.
He smirks, slowly setting me back on my feet. A chill fills the space where our bodies had been pressed up against each other. My stomach twists with a newfound ache. He’s only a few inches away but it feels like miles.
His thumbs hook into the belt loops in my shorts, and he stands there holding me in place. We’re still too far apart in my opinion, but the look he gives me says he’s just as enamored as I am, and for some reason, I’m too high on his kiss to even allow myself to think otherwise. Theo is totally into me, and I am totally into him. I don’t even understand it, but there’s a connection here.
“Happy birthday to me,” I whisper.
“You are so beautiful,” he says back.
I’d probably blush if I weren’t already flushed from head to toe. “I’m nothing special.”
He shakes his head. His left thumb unhooks from my shorts and he brushes his knuckles across my cheek, never taking his eyes off mine. “You’re one of the special ones.”
“Special ones?” I ask, tilting my head.
He nods slowly. “Very few people in this world deserve everything it has to offer. You are one of them.”
A sudden buzzing sound appears to the left. It’s a black box with a screen and a little blinking red light at the bottom. It buzzes and floats through the air. And it’s coming straight at me faster than any seagull could fly.
I shriek, throwing up my arms to block my face. Theo pushes me to the side, putting himself between me and the thing. At the corner of the pier, two teenage boys are laughing, one of them holding a controller with a long antenna.
I realize it’s a drone, and they’ve been filming our very private moment. The drone swoops around Theo and hovers in front of my chest. I turn and scramble around the pier, trying to get away from the stupid thing.
My foot runs straight into the leg of a concrete bench next to the railing. Sharp pain soars up my ankle. I cry out in pain as I watch Theo grab the thing right out of the air and throw it over the pier into the ocean below.
“Get the fuck out of here,” he says to the kids with the controller. His voice is a low growl, the most frightening thing I’ve ever heard. Chills prickle across my arms. The boys run away.
When Theo turns back to me, all of the rage in his expression is gone. I reach for the railing to lean on, since my ankle is hurting worse by the second, but an evening dew has settled on the metal and my hand slips off. I fall to the right, and my hurt ankle gives out, making me tumble straight on top of the bench.
Sharp concrete edges collide with flesh
. My cheek hits the ground. Pain radiates everywhere.
“Cara.” Theo kneels over me, his hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter, wincing from the pain in my ankle, hands, knees—everywhere.
Theo’s concerned expression turns quizzical. “You’re sorry?”
“We were having a perfect moment and I ruined it,” I explain. I am in far too much pain right now to even allow myself to be embarrassed. But I’m sure that’ll come later when I relive this moment for the rest of eternity.
“It’s far from ruined,” he says, a coy grin tugging at his lips. “You’ve just set me up to be a hero.” With gentle movements, Theo scoops his arms underneath me and picks me up. He places a soft kiss on my forehead. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 6
I’m pretty sure I didn’t hit my head during my fall, but I feel like I’m in a daze as I’m carried across the carnival and toward the hotel in the center of the pier. It’s a small building in comparison to the vast carnival out here, and I’d forgotten there were hotel rooms here. When the pier was renovated a few years back, they remodeled the old indoors conference rooms and included twenty hotel rooms. They’re so popular it usually takes months in advance to book one.
“Where exactly are we going?” I ask as Theo carries me across the hotel lobby and toward the elevator.
“I’m going to use my magical powers to heal you,” he says without a hint of joking in his voice.
“You’re what…?”
He gives me this devilish grin. “I am taking you to a first aid kit.”
I smile even though I’m still in pain. Theo doesn’t let me down until we’re standing in front of room 301.
“How’s the ankle?” he asks, taking out a key card from the inside of his leather jacket.
I put some weight on it, holding onto the wall for support. “Not so bad anymore.”
“Good. You and Riley walked here, right?”
My heart stops. The hotel room door clicks open softly. Chills prickle over my arms. “How did you know that?”
Theo runs a hand through his hair, the first sign of weakness he’s shown all night. “I saw you walk up,” he says, a little bashfully. “I was eating nachos near the Ferris wheel and saw you and Riley walking up the boardwalk. You just had this unique excitement in your eyes and I thought it was sweet.”
He steps into the room, turning to see if I’ll follow him in.
“That’s…” I say, not sure what to think.
“Creepy?” he says with a chuckle. He puts a hand on his heart. “I wasn’t stalking you.”
“That sounds like something a stalker would say.” But I can’t help the smile that stretches across my face. Margret always said I had the best intuition, and it was because of my keen instincts that she made me go everywhere with Riley, who doesn’t exactly have the same reservations when it comes to making good choices. Of course, here I am alone in a hotel with a hot stranger from out of town, so maybe Margret doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about.
I swallow and study Theo’s features. My intuition isn’t telling me anything bad right now. I step into the hotel room and his expression softens. The room is small, but elaborate. The king sized bed is so tall and plush, I’d probably have to jump to get on it. There’s the biggest TV I’ve ever seen on the wall, a small bar with black granite counter tops, and a beautiful balcony view of the ocean. The place is spotless and it smells like Theo.
I clutch my elephant to my chest, hoping he’ll take away some of the pain. Shorts and a tank top are probably the worst clothing choices when you’re going to take a spill into a concrete bench. My knees are skinned, my elbows raw and bloody. There’s bruises up my legs and my left toenail is broken from bashing it into that bench leg. I ache all over, but luckily nothing is broken or otherwise permanently hurt, except of course, for my pride.
Theo uses the hotel room’s first aid kit to clean all my wounds, but he says they shouldn’t be bandaged for now because they aren’t too bad. Instead, he smooths some antibacterial ointment across the scrapes, then leans in and blows softly until the stinging sensation goes away. Watching a guy blow on your knee shouldn’t be erotic, but damn if my mind isn’t taking that image of his lips and going places with it.
“Doesn’t look like your ankle is sprained,” Theo says, his fingers holding onto my foot.
Good. I can still walk home with Riley.
“Shit,” I say, as I reach for my phone from my pocket. “I haven’t talked to Riley in forever.”
She’s only sent me one text in the last hour I’ve been alone with Theo.
Having fun? :-)
Heat rises through my belly when I think of exactly how much fun I had been having before that stupid drone. I send her a quick reply.
Where are you? Sorry I’ve been gone so long. And yes, yes I am. ;)
I’m biting the inside of my lip while I send the text. I only realize it when I put the phone down and see Theo staring at me. I’m sitting in a chair and he’s kneeling on the floor, first aid kit at his feet. From here, we’re eye level.
“Everything okay?” he asks, referring to my text.
I nod. He is so handsome it takes my breath away. My throat is dry, my hands clammy. It doesn’t even make sense. We were making out earlier and I was fine with that, but now that he’s gently cleaned my wounds, I’m more nervous around him than I’ve ever been.
“You’re one of the good guys,” I say, my voice soft.
Something dark flits across his features. He reaches for my hand, running his thumb across my knuckles. “Thank you for tonight.”
As I gaze into his eyes, I’m overcome with the desire to be back in his arms. “The night’s not over,” I whisper.
Leaning forward, I take hold of his shoulders and pull him toward me. Our lips find each other like they’ve been doing it forever. Soon I’m lifted out of the chair, my legs wrapping around Theo’s waist. He carries me over to the bed, sets me down gently.
His eyes roam my body, sending a shiver down my spine. And then he lowers himself on top me, his hands tangling in my hair, his lips kissing me with more passion than I’d thought possible.
My heart pounds with delight. What a wonderfully perfect eighteenth birthday. I thought I’d be bored and miserable thinking about my future tonight, but instead I’m spending it with the most amazing guy I’ve ever met.
And then it hits me.
Like a freight train of reality, I’m hit with clarity. This is stupid. It’s wrong, and pointless, and will only lead to me getting hurt in the end.
I push Theo’s hard chest, urging him to get off me. He backs away, concern knitting his brows.
“We’re not going to see each other again, are we?” I ask.
He runs his hand down his face, leaning back on his knees. “No.”
Tears sting my eyes. As much I want to pull him back down and slide into his arms and slip into a fantasy world for just a little longer, I know I can’t.
“I have to go,” I say, scrambling off the king sized bed.
“Cara,” Theo calls.
I grab my phone and purse off the table and shove my elephant under my elbow even though I kind of want to leave it here. Tears sting my eyes at the same time my cuts and bruises cry out in pain from walking.
I reach the door and pull it open, wishing I had the willpower to walk right out of here, not looking back. But I can’t, and I turn around, finding myself face to face with him again.
“Thank you for tonight,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.
“Thank you,” he says, brushing his fingers down my cheek. I lean into his touch and my skin tingles when his fingers fall away. “You’ve reminded me what I should be fighting for.”
I’m not sure what that means. But I can’t stick around to find out. I have to go. I need to put as much distance as possible between me and this night because this kind of thing will never happen again.
My flipflops splat across the concrete of
the pier as I rush around, meandering through the carnival games, past the food stands. I call Riley, and press the phone to my ear, desperate to hear her voice.
“Hello?” she says after a few rings.
“Where are you?”
“Enjoying some cotton candy. This stuff is amazing when it’s freshly made. Where are you?”
I gaze around and find the cotton candy stand. There’s Riley, picking off a piece of pink cotton candy, her phone tucked between her ear and shoulder.
I hang up and rush over to her. “Can we go home now?”
Her eyes widen. “Are you okay? Did that asshole do something to you?”
I shake my head, willing the tears away even though they’re trying to break through. “No. He was great. But he’s from out of town and he’s leaving tomorrow and there’s just really no reason for me to get carried away talking to some guy.”
She frowns and leans her head against my arm. “I’m sorry, Cara. We can go if you want to.”
“Yes,” I say. “Please.”
“Hey, you’re the birthday girl,” Riley says, a smile forming on her lips. “Your wish is my command.”
We make the walk back to my uncle’s house in silence. Riley’s the kind of best friend who knows when to talk and when to just be there for me. Eventually I will tell her more about the mysteriously wonderful guy I met, but it’s too raw to talk about now.
My key is barely in the lock of Uncle Will’s front door when I hear it. The sounds of lovemaking. I turn to Riley.
“Ew!” she whispers.
Rachael’s blue Mazda is parked in the driveway, but it’s only nine at night and I figured they’d still be watching a movie or something.
But as clear as day, I can hear the moans and gasps of two people getting it on in the other room. I take a step back and pull the front door closed.
“I refuse to go inside that house right now,” I say, twisting the lock back.
Riley giggles. “I mean… good for him, I guess? He’s found love and all that…”
We share a laugh. “We can go back to Good Grace,” Riley offers. Technically lights out is at ten, when all the residents of the group home have to be back and in bed. It’s a two mile walk from my house, but we could make it.