dark striations in her coffee-colored eyes, the perfect dip of her cupid’s bow, and the small beauty mark on her left cheek, barely as large as the tip of a pen.
My breath came shorter, body reacting to the soft press of her skin and the way she clung to me. A curl sprung free and hit me in the eye, making me squint and laugh in sudden surprise. “This hair,” I said, bringing one hand up and attempting unsuccessfully to tuck it behind her ear, “is a wonder.”
“It’s a curse,” she murmured. I attempted another ear tuck, the curl obeying this time, but likely not for long. I allowed my fingers to caress the side of her silken cheek. Her eyes flared, and I saw the same heat in hers that must be in my own. I could feel her heart beating against my chest and I noticed when her breath hitched. “It came from my dad I suppose because my mom’s hair was as straight as could be,” she said, glancing away, “though that could have been any number of men. My mom never really did pin it down.”
My hand paused briefly in its journey down her cheek, the statement catching me off guard. She was watching me closely as though waiting for my reaction. When I met her stare without flinching, she released a breath, shook her head, and lowered her eyes. “Sorry,” she said, “I’m a little nervous out here.”
“Don’t be. I’m not going to let you go.”
Her shoulders dropped and she relaxed completely in my arms, her body becoming pliant. She trusts me. It felt like a deep and sacred honor. Amazing. Undeserved even when trust was part of my daily life. This town trusted me. But Haven’s trust was different altogether. For a few moments we were quiet, her breath evening, my arms holding her steadily as we both looked toward the setting sun. The world felt beautiful and peaceful. All the worries, all the questions with no answers, all the complications, and the potential pain of the world, none of it existed in this watery refuge under the dipping sun with this beautiful girl in my arms. Nothing could touch us out here. It was only us.
This time the kiss began slowly, Haven’s eyes meeting mine, our mouths touching gently, the barest brush of our lips. It wasn’t clear who’d initiated it, maybe me, maybe her. But it seemed more likely that we’d both moved together simultaneously. For long moments I gloried in the feel of her body against mine, the cool undulations of the current drawing her away and then pressing her near. It was breathless, and it was sweet. I felt a shift. Me. The world. The order of things I could not name, or maybe had misunderstood in the first place. Assumptions long held all suddenly proven wrong.
I drew in a shuddery breath as I moved my tongue languidly over the seam of her lips and she opened for me. The kiss went deeper, yet the pace remained the same. Leisurely. Dreamy. As though to rush things would dishonor this moment.
The kiss was as natural as the lift and fall of the water around us, as essential as the sky above, as searing as the fiery sun.
Our tongues tangled, danced, parried slowly, her mouth angled over mine so that I could taste every inch of her sweetness.
Our breath mingled, and Haven brought her hands from around my neck, holding my face as her legs circled my waist. I gasped out a ragged moan as her core pressed against my erection and for a moment, I thought I might come in my shorts like a teenage boy feeling a female body for the very first time. She fit so perfectly against me. I used one arm to hold her steadily around the waist, and the other dipped, first to the round curve of her ass, down to the silky smoothness of the back of her thigh, pulling her closer yet, torturing myself.
“What are we doing, Travis?” she breathed, slowing the kiss once more, her lips trailing over mine, her hands weaving into my hair, even as she drew her body away from mine so very slightly.
I don’t know. I have no idea. “Enjoying ourselves,” I murmured, trailing my lips down her throat as she leaned her head back to give me better access. I darted my tongue out, licking the spot where her pulse fluttered under my mouth. I felt an odd