tree and my palm sliding down her thigh and her hands clawing at me, I dipped my head to taste the sweet spot on her neck and said, "I think everything of you."
"You think I'm an evil genius," she whispered as she drove her fingers through my hair. God, I loved that. "Somehow I've never heard that one before."
"Adorable evil genius," I said, punctuating each word with a kiss to her neck. "What if you've never heard it because not everyone can see it?"
I leaned back, watching as Zelda considered this. I couldn't explain the reasoning but I needed her to agree with me on this. I needed to be the one who saw her because she saw me too and it was both distressing and incredible.
She raked her fingernails over the nape of my neck and scalp as she stared at me, a glint in her eyes that appeared cautious. A moment loaded with all the things we didn't say passed before she ran her tongue over her top lip. Then, "I'm happy that family wasn't seated together. I'm happy I yelled at you too. And I wish you hadn't been injured but I liked being the person who took care of you. I'd do it all again."
I did the only reasonable thing and sealed my lips to Zelda's as I thrust my aching shaft against the heart of her. I hitched her knee to my waist and there was no confusion about my intentions. I wanted her—and I wanted that thought building between her legs until I got her behind closed doors again. It was the most brazen, shameless thing I'd done in this hideout—or anywhere—in at least twenty years.
"Promise me you won't freak out later," she whispered. She said this as she hitched her other knee on my waist and fought her way into my mouth with her tongue.
I heard one of her sandals hit the ground, then the other. With her ankles locked at the base of my spine, she urged me closer, squeezing out every bit of air and light until we were as connected as any two fully clothed people could be. This wasn't the first time we'd stolen all of each other's space and blanketed ourselves in vulnerability but this was the first time we did it while accompanied by an abundance of deep-dug truths. "I have no intention of freaking out later. Later involves taking you to bed and hoping to hell you make good on that threat to sleep naked. With me. While I kiss every inch of your adorable evil genius body, if you're amenable to that. Just promise me you won't make any more noise about leaving to stay with strangers on the other side of the city."
Zelda dropped her head back against the tree trunk and a downpour of winged maple seeds fell around us. "Be honest. It was the pancake sandwich that sold you."
I shook my head. It wasn't the pancake sandwich. Just as wars weren't launched in response to a single incident but a progressive mounting of tension and shows of aggression, neither was love. "Quiet now, love. Let me have you. Let me keep you."
15
Zelda
Following Ash out the back door and into the yard after overhearing that argument wasn't an option. I had to go and I didn't question whether he'd want my presence. Ducking out in the middle of a conversation with Diana and Magnolia about the ice cream sandwich bar planned for the wedding's after-party wasn't the best show of manners but I hoped they'd understand.
He'd been a walking pile of rubble, a man demolished, and for the first time since he'd curled up on my shoulder and slept, I believed he needed me rather than any warm body offering comfort.
I'd heard almost everything Ash and his father Carlo said and it nearly killed me to stay put in the kitchen. There was no way I could've allowed him to escape into the yard alone after that. I couldn't do that to him, not when I knew the dirty secrets he didn't want to share.
All along, I'd suspected he was proving himself to someone who'd convinced him he wasn't enough of something. Now I'd identified the who and the what.
Knowing Ash—because yeah, we did know each other in a thorough, inexplicable way—I didn't expect he'd take to kicking rocks or bloodying his knuckles on tree trunks or even screaming profanity into the woods. But I hadn't anticipated finding him so thoroughly lost, as