Tilting my head so that I could kiss the pad of his thumb, I answered truthfully. “Because I had to.”
He rubbed his knuckles over my cheek, the slight contact somehow warming my whole body. “Can I do that? Kiss you?”
As much as I wanted to feel his lips, I shook my head. “Not if it means I lose you.”
He rested his nose against mine, our foreheads touching. “Do you think you could ever really lose me?”
I chuckled, rubbing my cheek against his stubble. “I’ve tried. It does seem kind of impossible.”
He nodded against me. “It’s absolutely impossible.” When his lips touched my cheek, I twisted toward him so that our bodies were flush. “What if we made a pact?” he murmured against my ear.
“Go on…” The words came out in a sigh. I fidgeted in his arms, our contact like a quiet explosion waiting to be unleashed. I only needed him to say something to make it right.
“Maybe while we’re here…” When his gaze met mine again, there was a fire in his eyes. The wonder I’d seen earlier had turned into the lust I’d seen that night in his apartment.
I squirmed against the tree, reading his mind. “Then when we go back, it’s back to normal?” As I touched his shoulders under his coat, I knew I needed to be with Josh any way I could, and if a spring break fling was all we could manage, I’d take it.
He nodded slowly, deliberately. His eyes searched my face, waiting for an answer, as if there was a way I could say no to that arrangement. I’d get to have him, all of him, then we’d go back—be ourselves, graduate, and move on.
My brain attempted to override my raging desire. “Things might get complicated.”
Leaning closer, he pressed his lips to the side of my neck. “Only if we let them. When we get back, I promise not to be weird.” He trailed his tongue in a circle under my ear and tangled his fingers in my hair, and my entire body tingled. “Please?”
How could I say no?
In fact, with his lips on me as he tugged my hair, I didn’t want to say anything. I wanted him to take me right there, against the tree. But I knew he’d be in control until he heard my consent. That’s just who he was.
Nudging him off of me, I held his face as I looked into his eyes. “Yes. I’d really, really like that.”
Chapter Fourteen
Josh
Once Vi gave me the go ahead, I kissed her again, and I didn’t want to let her go. Her lips were like a fire in the middle of winter. Even under her coat, her body was made to be in my arms, perfect and sexy as my hands searched for skin under her layers. I wanted to stay out there, in the silence of the trees, and spend the rest of our time in Virginia in the fantasy of us together.
But soon Elmo found us, and Sierra’s voice echoed through the woods, calling for us.
Reluctantly, I pulled away from Violet, worried that by doing so I’d never feel her lips on mine again. As we caught our breath, she laughed.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, keeping her trapped between me and the tree.
With a hand covering her mouth, she spat out another laugh and ducked under my arm. “It’s just…you’re…”
When she didn’t continue, I followed her toward the house. “I’m what?”
“Ridiculous.”
I took two leaps and caught up with her, tapping her butt with my palm before I jumped in front of her and turned to walk backward. “Ridiculous? Again with that?”
“You are ridiculously…amazing.”
I could handle that. “Amazingly ridiculous good kisser?”
She nodded, enthusiastically. “Oh yeah. How do you…” She looked me up and down. “Like are you even…” She waved her arms. “There are no word to describe you besides ridiculous.”
“I know one.” I took her hand as we climbed the porch. “Hunkarama.”
She laughed again. “You’re starting to dig that nickname, aren’t you?”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t, but I enjoyed playing around with her. She looked so cute—flirty and happy—with her red cheeks and sparkly eyes. Was that because of me? I pulled her hand so that she took the step to my side and threw an arm around her. Leaning down, I whispered in her ear. “You are just as ridiculous. Kissing you, Pix, is my new favorite thing to do. And I have four more days to do it.”
“You really want to?” she asked, her voice quivering.
Did she not know how awesome she was? Did stupid Ollie never tell her? “You are ridiculously beautiful and sexy. Your lips are like candy and your body like fire. And fuck, Violet, would I love to get you naked.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh.”
I smirked. “‘Oh’ is right. Whatever you want, whatever you need from me this week, I am all yours.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but Sierra popped her head out of the front door. “When you two are done sucking face, can you please join us? Grannie made soup, and it’s getting cold.” Then Sierra rolled her eyes and went back inside, slamming the door behind her.
“We better go in,” Vi said. “But maybe later?”
I’d have loved for her to finish that sentence with “we can try the naked thing,” but I wasn’t going to push her. “Later is your surprise. But after…”
She nodded. “After.”
I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it. “After. I can’t wait for after.”
* * *
After slurping down Grannie’s soup, Violet and I stood on the porch, alternatively talking and kissing, until my phone alarm reminded me that we were going out with Amelia and Dominic. If it weren’t for the fact that we were going to a symphony, and that Vi would love it, I’d have canceled because holding her in my arms was basically the best thing I could imagine ever doing.
I tapped off the alarm and shoved the phone back in my pocket. “I could stand here and kiss you all night.”
“Hmm.” She pressed her lips to mine, murmuring against them. “Okay.”
With one last taste of her, I pulled away. “We have to get ready.”
“For what?” she whined. “Is this the surprise you mentioned at the diner?”
“It is. We have an engagement with my sister and her fiancé tonight, and I’m your arm candy.”
She kissed me again. “So in Rambling, we’re dating?”
“I get you for the week. Those are the new rules.” I ran my hands over her ass. The entire exercise of kissing her was really one of restraint since all I wanted to do was lift her up and lay her flat under me, porch and all. “You know, we could ditch them and make out all night instead.”
She pulled away from me and straightened her coat. “Oh, but Honeybear would be so disappointed. Seems like he’s really making an effort to get on your good side.”
Had to hand it to Dom. The tickets were a good move. “Whatever. I’m only going because I’m hoping you’ll be inspired.”
“Inspired? Tell me more.”
“Secret.” As much as I hated to share her with my pain in the ass family again, I held the front door open for her. “Hey, Vi?”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here with me. I’d probably be yelling and screaming at everyone for five days straight.”
She laughed. “You? Yell and scream? No, say it isn’t so.”
Her teasing tone made me smirk. “Am I that bad?”
She squeezed my hand without answering. “Go easy on Dominic tonight. Maybe if you see him with your sister, you’ll feel better about everything.”
I shrugged. “I hope you’re right.”
* * *
An hour later, I stood in my bedroom, dressed in khakis and a button-down. I smelled good, was clean shaven, and was unwrinkled for the first time in a week. Violet’s phone buzzed from my dresser while she was in the shower.
I debated whether or not to look at it, then did, in case it was her mother calling about her dad. A picture of a violin filled the screen and the name “Dr. Goodson” flashed with each ring. Her advisor. Eventu
ally, it stopped buzzing, and a notification came up that Dr. Goodson had left a voicemail.
Violet was going to have to get on the ball about her final grade. After our so-called “date” tonight, I vowed to give her a push to get moving with her composition.
When she walked back into my room, she was wrapped in Amelia’s robe and dripping wet. I sighed, the lovesick idiot in me remembering the towel episode back at school a few weeks earlier. How far we’d come. “I love that look on you,” I said, scanning her from head to toe.
She looked me over too. “You clean up nice for a country boy.”
I scoffed. “My body might be clean, but my thoughts are dirty.”
She walked to me and ran a hand over my shirt, down my chest. “Want to share them with me?”
Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I thought about our arrangement. I didn’t want to push it, and I didn’t want to lose her. I couldn’t be trusted to make the decisions. If she wanted me, she’d have to be the one to make the moves. “Let me put it this way. Whatever you want, Violet. I’m all yours.” I always have been.
A tap on the door interrupted our conversation, but it was the best interruption. Charlie. She wasn’t looking for me though. Focusing on Violet, she asked, “Ready?”
“Ready for what?” I asked.
“Charlie’s going to blow my hair straight,” Violet answered, turning to Charlie.
“Yes. You have to leave,” Charlie said to me. In twelve years, she had never ushered me away. My heart crushed a little at her demand. She must have seen it on my face because she hugged my waist. “Violet and I need girl time.”
I looked to Vi, who shrugged. “You heard the lady.”
“Okay, I’m going.” I held my hands up in surrender as Charlie pushed me to the door. “But Vi, your phone rang before. I checked it in case it was your mom. It was Dr. Goodson.”
“Oh,” she said flatly. “I’ll call her back after my hair appointment here.”
I hoped this night at the symphony would light that musical spark in her. If it did, I’d give Honeybear a kiss myself. Squatting, I put an arm around Charlie’s waist. “You’re the best one. Don’t tell the others.”
“They’ll get jealous,” she answered. We’d had the same routine since she was born.
I kissed Charlie on the top of her head and winked at Vi. “It’s going to be hard to make Violet any prettier than she already is. You can’t improve on perfection.”
Charlie giggled.
Vi scrunched her face. “Aw,” she said. “You are so absolutely ridiculous right now.”
“After?” I asked, trying my best to convey a suggestive tone.
“After.” She blew me a kiss as I left the room.
Chapter Fifteen
Violet
The Charlamagne Symphony Orchestra was absolutely perfect, and as soon as we left the building, I wanted to grab my violin and play. Especially considering the phone conversation I’d had with Dr. Goodson a few hours before.
Josh and I walked out of the music hall, coupled off behind Dom and Amelia. Her arm was weaved through his, her body close. They smiled at each other as if they were the only two people in the universe.
I nudged Josh’s shoulder. “Look how sweet Honeybear is with Amelia.”
“Meh,” he said. “I’d rather look at you.” Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he pulled me to his side and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You are beautiful, but never more beautiful than when you are around your music. Watching you at the symphony is like watching an animal in her natural habitat.”
“Um.” I stifled a laugh. “I’m not sure the animal analogy is working for me.”
“Charlie’s been obsessed with penguins lately, and I’ve been watching too many documentaries.”
“She’s attached to you.”
“Yeah, but I think you and me need alone time.” He looked up at the sky for a second, then pulled out his phone. “You know, being here in Charlamagne gives me an idea on how we could get it.”
The thought of alone time with Josh put my hormones into overdrive. “Are you going to let me in on your idea?”
“Nope. It’s another secret. I have lots of them.”
“Really? Well start spilling, Hunkarama.”
He tilted his head from side to side, like he was pondering my request. Finally, he held up a finger. “How about this secret? I have an interview tomorrow.”
“You do? Back at NJU? We have to go back?” The thought made my heart sink. I didn’t want to go back, not when we’d just gotten started there together. The promise of more kisses and alone time was too fresh on my mind.
“No, it’s here. I didn’t tell the girls. My mom knows, but not my sisters. Especially that one.” He nodded toward Amelia. “It’s for Charlamagne’s Parks and Recs Department. Don’t want Dom influencing his daddy, the mayor.”
I’d had no idea that Josh would be coming home after graduation. It made total sense, but still made me feel unsettled and reminded me that in a few months, I’d lose him.
Prior to Dom picking us up from the house, I’d returned Dr. Goodson’s call. She’d managed to get me an audition for the Vienna orchestral academy summer program, where I’d studied for the fall abroad program during the first semester. She’d sent them my CV and recordings, but in order to make the live audition, I was expected to be on a plane to Austria the following weekend. If I made the summer program, my chances of making the orchestral symphony long-term rose exponentially.
Starting my post-college career in Europe, surrounded by music in the most beautiful city in the world, was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Until Josh had appeared in the doorway while I was taking the call, the picture of perfection—from the look in his eyes to the hand that had reached out to me, like it seemed to automatically do whenever I was around him.
I’d decided then and there that I’d ask Josh to come with me. If I got through the audition and got the slot in the summer program, I’d beg him to join me after graduation, whether as friends, lovers, or whatever. I couldn’t do it without him. Or so I’d thought. Now though, he’d declared his intent to stay in Virginia, and there was no way I’d drag him across the ocean.
“What would you be doing?” I asked, trying to control the shake in my voice.
“Running the summer camps and after-school programs. I’d be the Assistant Director, to the woman who works under Dom’s dad.”
“Wow.” I grinned up at him. “That’s great. I guess you’re pretty set on staying here then.”
Arm still slung around my shoulders, he squeezed me tighter to his side. “I need to be here. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” I choked out a fake laugh. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
As I stuttered and focused on the back of Amelia’s head, he kissed the top of mine. “I could play this cool, but since we’re having a special kind of week here, I’ll be honest. I’m going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too.” Gulping, I focused on Dom and Amelia strolling a few yards ahead of us, unsure of what to say, how to feel. “At least you’ll have Dom to hang out with.” I shoved my shoulder into his side.
“Ha. Not quite the same. Especially with his affinity for Long Island Iced Teas.”
I ignored his joke. “I’m glad you’ll be back here after graduation. For you. For them. When will you hear about the job?”
“Hopefully soon after the interview. I feel good about it. Sounds perfect for me, and it would be nice to have something set so I can skate through the rest of the year.”
“Yep, sure.” My fake enthusiasm didn’t even fool me.
“What about you?” he asked. “Where do you see yourself after graduation?”
I should have told him about Vienna, but instead, I shrugged. “No idea where my story will end. But I’ll tell you one thing.”
“What’s that?”
When he stopped moving and turned to me, I put my arms around his waist, afraid to make eye conta
ct. Digging the top of my head into his chest, I looked at the ground. “I’m glad our story brought us here, right now. To this moment. Together.”
“Look at me, Pix,” he breathed.
Reluctantly, I met his gaze.
“You know you’re never going to lose me, right? We established that it would be impossible for you to shake me.”
He’d said that, but he didn’t know that I’d be leaving. That there was no way for us to work this out. Sure, we’d follow each other on social media, maybe text or call, but we’d drift apart. It was bound to happen, especially with me being away, and thinking about it soured my whole mood.
It didn’t help my mood when later that night, Josh’s mom had insisted that Dom stay over in Josh’s room, that Josh sleep on the couch, and that I sleep with Amelia. We only had four remaining nights together and spending even one apart only showed me that this…relationship, friendship with benefits, special rule arrangement, whatever…had been doomed from the start.
Sometime during the night, a finger tapped me.
“Shh,” Josh whispered. “Don’t wake Amelia.”
“What’s wrong?” I whispered, groggy, rubbing my eyes.
He moved closer and kissed my lips. “It’s after.”
* * *
Three minutes later, I was outside in the freezing cold darkness, Josh gripping one hand and the other holding his comforter. He led me down the path he’d shoveled earlier, holding a flashlight and a sleeping bag as our boots sloshed over the muddy ground.
When he had urged me to get dressed, I’d been a little freaked out. It was cold, and people weren’t supposed to go out at this hour of the morning. “This is the country,” he’d said. “We do what we want.” And I had to admit, I was curious.
After a quick stop to the bathroom, I’d followed him outside, down the creaky porch. Elmo escorted us to the edge of the yard, until Josh commanded him to go back inside. With a whimper, he did so, his tail drooping as he slid back through the doggy door.
Making the Move: Mill Street Series #2 Page 14