The Perfect First (Fulton U, #1)(43)

My arms tightened around her, running small circles along her back with my thumbs, the same skin I’d felt under the pads of my fingers that morning in my room.

“No biggie. It’s like being out in my swim trunks.”

“Thanks for coming out with me.” She stared into my eyes like I’d hung the moon and stars by getting a drink with her.

“You never have to thank me.” Her lips glistened under the lights shining from behind the bar. More people moved onto the dance floor, and I used that as an excuse to hold her tighter.

“Even when I lose your clothes.”

“Especially then. Think of the epic stories I’ll be able to tell about that time Seph went up against pool sharks and I got hustled out of my clothes.” I smiled and swallowed. My Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. I’d never wanted to kiss someone more than I did right then, standing in the middle of a crowded dance floor in nothing but my Pikachu boxers, dancing with a woman who was unlike anyone I’d ever met. She’d gotten so fully and completely under my skin, I didn’t know how I’d existed before I met her.

Her lips parted. My heart slammed into my chest like fists on a punching bag, every thud bridging the gap between us.

“Reece?”

“Yeah.”

In a flash, her lips were on mine. I tightened my hands around her waist and ran one up her back, pressing her harder against my chest. She tasted like her Tequila Sunrise and a sweetness that made my head swim. Her mouth opened, lips parted, and I was never one to leave an opportunity unexplored.

Every part of me wanted to wrap around her, wanted to make this a special kiss, make every touch one she’d crave, because I was slowly becoming an addict and I didn’t want to be the only one. A few weeks earlier, I would have been able to resist her. Stepping back hadn’t been a herculean effort, but now I couldn’t do it. Not this time. I wasn’t that strong.

Her hands were in my hair, pulling me even closer, exploring my mouth with her tongue as I lifted her off her feet. The music changed again and more people crowded the small dance floor.

I set her down, and we broke apart. Panting with my pulse pounding in my veins, I looked into her eyes. She looked back into mine, shell-shocked like I’d just dropped a bomb in the center of the dance floor.

“I think I should go.”





16





Reece





“Usually you want to come out early in the morning, but it’s too damn cold for that.” I let out my line and there was a gentle plunk when the fishing lure hit the water. The kiss had been all I could think about since that night. She’d avoided me for the past week, or had I been avoiding her? Not talking to each other for so long felt weird and awkward after getting into an easy rhythm of seeing or talking to each other every day.

I’d missed her off-the-wall questions that often had the guys doubled over with laughter, and how she lit up whenever she tried something new. I’d missed seeing her. I’d missed her. Making the call under the guise of another first had been my in to test the waters, to see if I’d fucked things up permanently or if they could be repaired.

Her feet kicked back and forth on the small bridge not too far from my parents’ house, and she fiddled with the reel before letting it loose it out like I’d shown her. She’d watched every move I made and had me repeat it about fifteen times to make sure she’d get it right.

With her line cast, she rubbed her chin against her shoulder. “I didn’t think you’d call me after our pool hall adventure.”

The kiss. The kiss that had somehow blown away every other kiss I’d ever had and made me forget every pair of lips other than hers? Was that the adventure she was talking about?

Gravel crunched as a car rumbled down the road. Saved by the car—or so I thought. My face dropped when the telltale plate crested over the edge of the little hill before the bridge. Glancing to the creek bank about ten feet below us and my car ten feet away, I knew there was no hiding. I threw the hood up on my sweatshirt and prayed for a miracle, like maybe the driver having temporary blindness.

“Is someone coming? Are we going to get arrested?” Seph’s voice shot up so high there were probably dogs howling in the distance. Dropping the rod, she braced herself on the edge of the bridge ledge.

“Worse.”

I grabbed Seph’s hands, which tightened against the railing like she was about to go all Fugitive on me and make the leap into the creek, then run through the water like there were dogs after her.

The truck stopped right in the middle of the bridge. “Did you really think that hood was going to keep me from knowing it was you?” That voice I knew oh so well came through the open passenger side window.

“I hoped.” Pushing my hood back, I swung my legs over the other side of the railing. The tiny ball of dread in my stomach grew. I was in deep shit. Looking at Seph, I jerked my head toward the truck.

Her face dropped like I was walking her to the gallows.

“You’re lucky it was me driving by and not your dad. How’d you get the rods out of the shed without anyone seeing you?”

“I have my ways.” I held my arm out and pressed it against the small of Seph’s back to steady her as she stepped up to the side of the truck.

My mom put the vehicle in park and leaned over the passenger seat, sticking her hand out the window. “I’m Mary, Reece’s mom. And you are?”