In A Holidaze - Christina Lauren Page 0,50
and push that flannel shirt off his shoulders.
“You look growly,” he says on his own growl.
I’ve never known this side of him, but it’s like being shown a glimmering, dimly lit hallway. Gemstones line the floor. Gold winks on the walls. Let’s see where this goes, a voice says. For just a breath, I panic that this isn’t the right path. That kissing Andrew in a closet isn’t what I’m supposed to do.
But then he bends, nipping at my jaw, and the hesitation dissolves.
“I feel growly,” I admit.
“Whoever thought Maelyn Jones would be totally fucking irresistible,” he muses to himself, kissing down my neck.
“Not me.”
His hand grips my hip and slides up over my waist, stopping painfully far from my breast. “For so long, you were just a kid,” he says. “And then a couple years ago, you weren’t.”
I’m out of words. Instead, I just reach forward, running a finger down his neck to his collarbone.
“I’d had a sex dream about you,” he says, and then breaks out laughing.
“You what!”
“In the bunk bed,” he admits. “Mortifying.”
“When we were all here?”
Andrew nods. “You know how when you have a dream like that, it just stays with you all morning?”
“Yeah.”
“After breakfast, you and Theo were wrestling on the floor, and you were screaming laughing. Having the best time. I just had to push the thought aside—of seeing you that way. I couldn’t give it any more space to breathe.”
Every word he says requires me to rewrite my mental history. “If I knew that back then, I would have happily reenacted the dream.”
Andrew laughs. “And now you told me you wanted me, and I remembered the tarot cards, and—I don’t believe any of that, or at least I didn’t think I believed it, but I just thought—‘What if all this time, she’s been right in front of me?’ It felt so obvious. When we were on the sled?” he says. “And you smelled like caramel and sweet shampoo?”
“Yeah?” I’m in an Andrew trance.
“I almost leaned forward and kissed your neck. Just like that. Just out of the blue.”
Without thinking, I make a gentle fist in the front of his shirt, pulling him closer. When he lets out a quiet grunt, his breath mixes with mine and suddenly I want to take this sunshine man and do very, very dirty things to him.
“I’ve had almost the identical thought,” I say. “Many . . .” He stretches but then diverts away from my lips. His open mouth lands on my neck, sucking, teeth sinking gently in. I can barely think. “. . . many times.”
Andrew’s hand slides down over my ass to the back of my thigh, and he pulls my leg over his hip, leaning in. A slow grind. I feel him, the heat of his hips against my legs, the solid weight—
Bright light slices across us, and a small body bolts into the closet.
Andrew drops my leg, jerking backward. I throw my hands up like I’m under arrest. We are both breathing so hard and fast we sound like we just did closet CrossFit.
“Found you!” Zachary whisper-screams giddily.
“Oh—hey!” Andrew takes a deep, steadying breath and reaches up, adjusting the neckline of his shirt. “Took you long enough, squirt.”
Even in the dim light I can see the flush on Andrew’s neck, the quick flicker of his pulse beneath the skin. I wouldn’t be surprised if I looked down and found that my skin was on fire.
“I thought you’d be in the Boathouse,” Zachary says.
Andrew guides him to sit between us and closes the door with a gentle click. “There’s nowhere to hide out in the Boathouse.”
Zachary sounds dejected. “That’s what Uncle Ricky said.”
“Where’s Kennedy?” I ask.
“Still looking.” Zachary’s dark eyes shine when he looks at me over his shoulder. “But don’t call her a loser, okay?”
“I would never,” I assure him.
Over the top of Zachary’s head, Andrew and I stare at each other. I feel hot and achy all over. Unsatisfied and jittery.
“To be continued?” he whispers.
Oh, without question.
chapter eighteen
Andrew pulls out a chair for me when we get to the table, and I have to do a mental double take, trying to figure out if this is normal behavior. Have we ever reached the table in unison before, and if so, has Andrew pulled out my chair for me? A restrained laugh is still shining in his eyes and I know he wants to give me so much crap for being patently uncool right now, but does he not still feel my mouth