Inhale, Exhale - By Sarah M. Ross Page 0,9
milk. “Dinner almost ready, Ma? I’m famished!”
“In about an hour. Why don’t you go take Jillian here on a nice, romantic walk? The sunset is beautiful tonight.”
I hopped off my stool and rinsed out my milk glass, placing it in the strainer. “Actually, I need to get going. My mom expected me a half hour ago. We’re going to my grandma’s tonight to help her pack up some things since she’s movin’ over to Savannah in a few weeks, and I want to spend as much time with her as possible before then.” I turned to Christian, grabbing his hand in mine. “Walk me to my car?”
“Sure.”
We linked our fingers together, swinging our arms slightly as we walked. Neither of us spoke until we reached the car.
“Hey,” Christian stepped closer, pinning me to the car and nuzzling my neck. “Wanna ditch work with me tomorrow and take a drive out to our spot?”
I closed my eyes, trying to ignite the same passion with Christian I had felt in my dream from the other night. I tilted my head back to give him more access to my neck, and he eagerly began to kiss his way down while his hands quickly slid under my shirt. I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment, but all I felt was annoyance that his jagged fingernails were scratching into my skin.
“You know I can’t ditch work. I just started today.” I pulled his hands out from under my shirt and placed them around my neck, but he pulled back.
“Come on, we haven’t had a whole day alone to ourselves in weeks.” He pressed up against me, his hot breath against my cheek. “I’m tired of sneaking a few hours here and there. I miss you, baby.”
“I was here two nights ago,” I reminded him, barely resisting the urge to roll my eyes. I could smell in his hair that he’d been smoking up and getting high again, and it made me a little queasy. I leaned against his chest, irritated. “And maybe if you spent more time with me than your so-called band, it wouldn’t be an issue.”
Christian took a few steps backward and threw up his hands. “Oh great, here we go again.”
“And you’re smoking pot again? After everything you went through when your mom found that dime bag and threatened to kick you out?”
“It was one joint with the guys. One. I needed my mind to relax so I could write. I’m not going to start up again.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’ve had a really bad day, and I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and opened the car door. “I’m going to go home. After I come back from Gamma’s, I’m going take a long bath and go to bed. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Christian shook his head, closing the car door. “How about we go camping next weekend? Just you and me—alone for seventy-two hours?”
I hated camping—the bugs and sore back from sleeping in a tent—but with the way his eyes were lit up with hope, I couldn’t say no.
“Yeah, sure. Sounds fun.”
Laying in the bathtub three hours later, I tried to lose myself in the memories of when I first started dating Christian: the way he made me shiver with just one glance of his crooked smile, or the way my body ignited when his lips were on mine. But every time I closed my eyes, my thoughts drifted to the dream, and my heartbeat picked up its pace.
Maybe I’ll go to sleep early, see if I have any more dreams.
CHAPTER FIVE
Seventeen hours. That’s how long I’d been staring at this damn computer screen. My ass was numb, my eyes burned, begging me to take my contacts out, my stomach was screaming at me to eat something, and my blood was pumping so much caffeine I might as well have inserted an IV directly into the vein. I stood and stretched. My weary sigh was the only sound this hour of the night besides the hum of the server in the next room.
Every other employee had gone home to live their lives and be with their families hours ago. I was the single putz who remained. JT had gone home at ten, claiming his mom needed help. It was bullshit, and he was probably somewhere getting laid right now, but I couldn’t hold it against him.