by Hughes, Maya
“Thank you.” Our lips were a hairsbreadth away. My body tingled in anticipation of everything he was ready to serve up.
All those nights I read and reread his words. The way my fingers tingled when I slipped another note into his mailbox and grabbed one of his. But this wasn’t pen and paper anymore. This was everything we’d written about in our letters. All the promises he made and the months of fantasy-making. I’d figured that was where they’d always live, but miracle of miracles, he was here with me now—leaning in closer for a kiss. He was here with me. He wanted me.
He smiled with a glitter in his eyes and then they closed. With one swift motion the distance between our lips evaporated.
There was the slightest brush of his against mine. Needing more, I rocked onto my tiptoes.
The entire room exploded in bright, brilliant light. A lightning strike shook the windows and thunderclap roared so loudly my ears rang. We shot apart. He stared back at me with wide eyes and a face painted with shock.
We turned and looked outside at the smoking, charred remains of a stone bench on the other side of the glass, only illuminated by the intense lightning streaking across the sky, throwing the landscape around us from night to day in split second chunks.
With wide eyes, we both looked up at the glass and metal structure currently protecting us, and I don’t think either of us wanted to test whether the floor would insulate us from a direct hit or the adage about lightning never striking twice.
Bolting toward the main house, we ran all the way back to the room. Our room. As in the room I’d be sharing with him for the next two nights. Sleeping feet away from him with that almost-kiss lingering and leaving me rattled like a ghost with his chains.
“I’m going to change.” Not waiting for his reply, I grabbed my bag, which had thankfully been set on the luggage rack outside the closet door, and ducked into the bathroom. Inside, I shimmied out of my dress. It sank to the floor with a drenched, tinkling thud. My face was a mess of washed away mascara and hints of long gone eyeshadow. Good thing he hadn’t seen me in full light, or he’d have probably run right over those lightning struck hills.
I scrubbed my face and slipped on my comfy pajamas. They were slouchy and worn in, just how I liked them. I threw my hair up into a ponytail and brushed my teeth. I even flossed. Yes, I was hiding. Trying to keep my dignity for a few more minutes.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the bathroom door. My stomach was an absolute mess like I’d been doing keg stands since dawn. My one and only keg stand had ended with beer soaked hair and me praying to the porcelain gods to smite me for my transgression.
The room was so quiet, I thought maybe he’d left. My gaze swept over the room. But his large form was folded into one of the wingback chairs in the corner. His head rested against the top of the smooth leather back.
Walking over, I nudged his shoulder. “Berk, the bathroom’s free.”
He mumbled.
I reached out and shook both shoulders. “You’re going to hate me in the morning, if I let you sleep like this.” I brought my hands up to his neck and rotated them.
His head shot up and his arms whipped out around me, tugging me onto his lap. His fingers tightened painfully on my hips and I braced my hands on his chest.
I yelped and his gaze focused on me.
The alarm in his eyes melted away as he took in our surroundings and embarrassment took its place, turning his cheeks ruddy under his five o’clock shadow. His grip loosened immediately.
I had no idea what the hell had just happened, but he’d looked so scared for a second, like someone shaking him awake was a nightmare come to life.
“Sorry, Jules. I forgot where I was.” He shook his head and released me completely, which still left me on his lap.
“You passed out while I was in the bathroom.”
He yawned into his shoulder. “Someone was taking an incredibly long time to just duck in and change.”
“Sorry.”
He smiled. “No need to be sorry. Thanks for waking me up.”
My cheeks burned and I was lucky the only light in the room was the one behind me from the bathroom. “No problem.” And then it sunk in that I was still sitting on his lap. All of me, without any bracing or keeping my feet on the ground and I shot up.
He headed into the bathroom and I sank under the covers. The day that felt like it had dragged on for months was finally ending. And my blood thrummed in my veins.
Berk opened the bathroom door and the light from inside cast him in shadow. Outlining every ripple and bulge of his muscles framed in the doorway.
“There are some extra blankets in the closet.”
“You don’t have to sleep on the couch. It’s a big bed. After the day you’ve had, I can take the couch if you don’t want to share. You came right from practice.” I pushed the covers down and swung my legs off the edge.
“Don’t. That would make me feel like shit if you did. You sure you’re okay with sharing a bed with me?” There was an uneasiness to his stance. Like the confident goofball had given way to someone less self-assured. Someone like me.
“I’m good.” I got back under the blankets and locked my arms in at my sides.
He went around the bed and sat on the edge. “About the greenhouse…”
I jumped in front of whatever he was going to say, throwing myself in front of the Mack truck of him letting me down gently. “Don’t worry about that. I don’t want you to feel awkward or anything. You were trying to make me feel better. We were caught up in the moment, no big deal.” It came out in a rush, all in one breath.
I turned my head to the side.
He swung his legs up onto the bed and settled on his back, staring straight up at the ceiling.
And now I’d officially decided that inviting Berk wasn’t a bad idea at all. It was the worst idea.
Because I couldn’t stop thinking about that almost-kiss. We’d almost kissed. The way his strong hands had cupped my face so gently as he was a hairsbreadth away from my lips. It was like the lead up to one of the kisses he’d promised me. Like one that had been scrawled across every single one of his letters. The kind that made me touch myself under the covers until I moaned his name just like he promised me I would.
Damn you, lightning!
He was the perfect gentleman, taking me for walks and sharing his contraband ear buds with me that night as we lay side by side in the bed. Then, once the song he’d wanted to share with me was finished, he’d rolled onto the floor, even though I’d told him the bed was big enough for the two of us. Maybe the almost-kiss had only been to lift my spirits. Snap me out of my teary state he’d already seen once today.
With lips like those, I was sure he’d found they were the perfect distraction to nearly any woman. A small streak of jealousy shot through me at all the women he’d probably kissed because he wanted to, not because he’d felt like it was the nice thing to do. My fingers itched to write him a new note, but I couldn’t. I’d closed the door on The Letter Girl. But those letters were the closest I was going to get to having him. Berkley Vaughn wasn’t interested.
13
Berk
I’d rolled off the bed onto the floor, taking a pillow with me. I grunted as my not-so-friendly erection jammed into the floor. I certainly wasn’t sporting boners around LJ, Keyton, or Marisa. But listening to Ed Sheeran with Jules, memorizing every freckle on her face and the way her full lips mouthed the words to the chorus by the end of it had my dick throbbing.
As she peered down at me over the edge of the bed, a curtain of her hair swung down. She tucked it behind her ears. “Crap, are you okay?”
“Yup, I’m fine.” I grimaced, clutching the pillow to my slowly, but not slowly enough deflating cock. “The bed’s too soft, so I think I’ll hang out down here for the night.”
Jules’ eyes widened and she let the hair fall back over her face. “Oh.” She snapped back from the edge of the bed and I flatted onto the floor in relief.
“Are you sure? I can take the floor. I don’t mind.”
She was too much of a temptation. And I wanted to taste her lips so badly I’d almost rolled on top of her and taken that kiss Mother Nature had stolen from us by trying to murder us in the greenhouse.
“At least take a couple more pillows and the blanket.” She shoved a wall of white, insanely high thread count linens onto me.
Her eyes reminded me of the milk chocolate chip cookies she’d made a couple months ago. They had wafers of chocolate in them instead of regular chocolate chips. And they were soft and delicious and I knew she’d taste the exact same way. So I’d banished myself to the floor before I lost my cool and did something I couldn’t take back. Namely, wrap her bed head curls around my fist, hold her chin between my thumb and forefinger, and see if those lips were everything I’d been thinking about for the past few days.
The night on the floor wasn’t all that bad. I’d slept in far worse places and the pillows and blankets made it easy to sleep through until morning, which didn’t happen often. I still couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep in that chair the night before, but I could believe I’d woken up like someone was going to rob me. The look of fear on Jules’ face had soured my gut and I’d immediately let her go. A hazard I’d come to expect. If I fell asleep somewhere quiet, I was almost always on edge when someone woke me up.
But even on the floor in this new room, I wasn’t on edge anymore. Jules was here. The bathroom door creaked open slowly and her not so quiet rustling let me know she was trying to make sure she didn’t wake me up.
I cracked open an eye. She was crouched down by the edge of the bed, tying her shoes.
“Where you going?”
She jumped and fell back onto her ass, clutching her chest.
“You scared the shit out of me.” Her whisper-yell made me smile.
“Where are you going?”
Her lips pinched, and she pushed herself off the floor and finished tying her shoes. The mumbled words barely made it out of her mouth.
“Where?” I cupped my hand around my ear.
She let out an exasperated sigh. “For a run. I’m going to go for a run, okay.” There was a challenge in her eyes like she’d told me she was going to go up onto the roof to flap her wings.
“Cool, give me three minutes and I’ll come with you.”
Her deer-in-headlights look was back. “No, you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to come with me.”
I pushed up from the floor and grabbed some sweats and a t-shirt out of my backpack. “Of course I don’t have to, but I want to. The season’s right around the corner and with the workout from yesterday, I’ll be stiff if I don’t get my ass up and do some physical activity.” I closed the bathroom door behind me, not one hundred percent sure she’d be there when I opened the door.
Brushing my teeth to banish the gremlins that had had a party in my mouth last night, I went out at least smelling like I hadn’t been eating bulbs of garlic.
“You really don’t need to join me.”
I held up my hand. “Julienne Fries, when will you learn? I don’t do anything I don’t want to, especially not going for a run at—” I picked up my phone and my eyes bulged at the time. “It’s not even seven am.”
“See!” She took my moan as confirmation that I hadn’t actually wanted to go.
“Doesn’t matter, we’re going.” I grabbed her elbow and ushered her out of the room.
There were people bustling around, setting up for whatever festivities were planned for the day. I didn’t give a crap as long as I wouldn’t have to wear that tux again. I didn’t think rain water and expensive clothes went together.
“There’s a gravel path leading down toward the stables. And a loop back up to the house.”
“Sounds good to me.” I looked over at Jules; she was in a long sleeve t-shirt and sweatpants.
“Aren’t you hot as balls in that?”
She shrugged. “No.”
“Lead the way.” I pushed open the front door and held out my arm. The early morning haziness wasn’t at its full last-vestiges-of-summer peak. The downpour from yesterday had taken most of the humidity out of the air.
She walked through the doorway, banging her shoulder on the doorjamb opposite me, like she was trying to stay as far away as possible, but stopped halfway out. “You really don’t—”
“Zip it, Julienne Fries. I’m running with you, even if I have to toss you over my shoulders and do the run that way. So let’s run this thing.” I lifted my hand and froze inches from her ass.
No, don’t go anywhere near that. I’d only seen it silhouetted in clothes, but I knew with one touch I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from dragging her off somewhere and claiming that kiss that had been stolen from us last night.
Her glare was adorable as she stepped outside. “Fine.”
We set out on our run—more of a jog, but I wasn’t complaining. I hated running. My number one punishment after a fuck up during practice was laps. My job was to keep my QB from getting demolished. Not sprinting down the field for fifty-yard passes. My position lived in a twenty-yard zone of comfort, and running sucked. But if I got to spend a little time with a certain baker, I’d suck it up and do some of the conditioning work I’d been avoiding.
Jules pointed out more places she loved about this place and had hung out growing up. But then the pace picked up and I kept up with her pace. Our talking got bumped down from a few words every so often to nothing but a steady exhale and the crunch of our feet on the ground.
After we made it to another small rolling hill with Jules’ gaze fixed on the horizon, I was ready to crawl back to the house. My legs were on fire, screaming for me to stop. How long had we been running? Thirty minutes? An hour?
Jules was charging along like a cross-country runner just hitting her stride.
“Mercy. I’m calling it.” I braced my hands on my knees, stopping in the center of the path. “You’re worse than Coach.”
She skidded to a stop a few paces in front of me. “Oh thank god.” She flung herself on the grassy slope beside us. “I was trying to keep up with you.” Her arms were draped over her face, smooshing her fogged up glasses.
“I’m about twenty seconds from my heart bursting out of my chest. Jesus, I felt like you could’ve gone on forever.”
She glanced at me, glistening with strands of hair and bits of grass stuck to her face, and laughed. It was a delirious kind of laugh that infected the air around her. And I was right beside her in the soggy hillside, trying to catch my breath. The rise and fall of her chest made me think of other ways we could be exerting ourselves. Much more enjoyable ways than our torture run, and I was sure I could get her extra sweaty.
“I was already leading us back to the house. They’ll be starting the festivities of the day soon. We’ll have to get ready.”
I groaned. “Only if you protect me and promise not to abandon me this time.”
She wrapped her arms around her legs. “I promise.”
Those words reached deep down inside, like my joking had revealed something about myself that only she could see. And her promise to do something that other people would laugh off was as strong as any.
We walked back to the house, both a little soggy, muddy, and sweaty, but with something new between us that even the almost-kiss hadn’t created.
I snagged a muffin from the breakfast food they were bringing out and chugged a gallon of water.
“Where’s the real food?” I had my emergency stash in my backpack like always, but I was sure I could sweet talk someone into bringing me some scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon.
Jules grabbed a plate and filled it with pineapple, kiwi, and a croissant. “They’ll do a sit-down breakfast at nine. Don’t worry. They have your cheesy scrambled eggs and bacon.”
I stopped midway through a bite of my blueberry muffin with real blueberries. “How’d you know that’s what I wanted?”
She shoved half a co
rnucopia of food into her mouth and covered it with her hand, shrugging her shoulders. “Seemed like something a hungry football player would eat.”
“Julia.”
Jules once again went stock-straight.
Her mom walked across the room with a big smile and an outfit that I’d be afraid would stain if I breathed on it.
“Getting in a little early morning exercise?” Her mom looked from me to Jules.
“Jules was up early and I decided to tag along.”
“That’s so wonderful that you joined her, Berkley. I hope she didn’t slow you down too much.”
Jules had her head down, staring at her cantaloupe like she could levitate it into her mouth.
“Nah, she was kicking my butt out there.”
Ms. Kelland let out a trilling laugh like I’d said something hilarious. “Such a gentleman.”
“Not sure how admitting Jules nearly left me in the dust back there was gentlemanly, but I’ll take it.”
She tilted her head and patted me on the shoulder. “You two should go get cleaned up before breakfast. Julia, a moment.”
“Go ahead, Berk. I’ll meet you in the room.” Jules sounded like she was getting her last rites.
“I’ll hurry up and shower, so you can have the whole bathroom to yourself.”
“So kind of you.” Her mom beamed. She wasn’t the warm and fuzzy type of mom. The pale pink pants and off white top screamed ‘children go wash your hands before you touch anything,’ but she damn well knew how to throw a party. And she hadn’t taken one look at me with Jules and called security to boot me out.
It didn’t make sense why Jules hadn’t wanted to come this weekend. Her sister’s friends were asshole-ish. Her sister and mom were… interesting, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Maybe Jules was one of those people who didn’t know how lucky they were to have a parent around. But Jules had never been a diva or ever talked badly about anyone, not even her asshole landlord who’d nearly turned her house into a deathtrap.