Chasing Abby(62)

“Her pain doesn’t invalidate mine, Caleb. Nice try, though.”
“I’m not implying that her feelings make your feelings invalid. All I’m saying is that you’re both entitled to have those feelings.”
“Does that also mean she’s entitled to treat me like a hobo? Like I’m here because I have nowhere else to go?” She stops walking and rounds on me. “I have a home with parents who love me. I don’t have to be here! I can leave whenever I want.”
“Which is exactly what she wants.”
“Oh, please spare me the ‘if you leave, Jimi wins’ speech. I’m a little too old to fall for that. This isn’t a competition to see who wins.”
“Just because it’s not a competition to you, it doesn’t mean that’s not exactly how Jimi sees it.”
“Ugh.” She throws up her hands then spins around and continues traipsing through the damp sand, while the families on the beach look at her as if she’s crazy. “If she wants to play a game she’s guaranteed to win, she should just challenge me to some strenuous activity.”
She puts air quotes around strenuous activity and I realize it’s not just Jimi that’s getting to her. She’s also angry that Jimi interrupted us when we were about to have sex.
I grab her hand and dig my feet into the sand to stop her. “Abby, there will be plenty more times for us to do what we were about to do. It doesn’t have to happen now. It doesn’t have to happen this year. But it will happen, eventually. And when it happens,” I take her face in my hands and kiss the tip of her nose, “it will happen somewhere where no one can interrupt us. God damn it, Jimi. Hey, want to go back and plant a rubber snake under her pillow?”
She shakes her head at my attempt to make light of the situation. “Okay, fine. I get it. I’m not going to let her get to me anymore. And I’ll stay… on one condition.”
I swipe my thumb across her bottom lip as I admire how beautiful she looks with the sunlight in her hair. “What condition?”
She puckers her lips to kiss the pad of my thumb, then she flashes me a smile so seductive it’s practically indecent. “I want to have sex today.”
I chuckle. “You drive a hard bargain, Abby.” I kiss the corner of her mouth and she turns her face so she can kiss me on the lips, but I pull back a little. “Wait a minute. Where exactly do you plan on having sex? Jimi’s probably still at the house. And even if she’s gone, the rest of the family’s getting home soon.”
She smiles as she coils her arms around my neck and pulls me closer, her eyes glued to my mouth. “I was thinking we could do it right here.”
“Right here? On the sand? With all these people around us? Is that your idea of family entertainment?”
She tightens her hold on my neck, then she jumps up and I catch her as she wraps her legs around my hips. “Take me into the water.” She leans her forehead against mine and whispers, “I trust you.”

Chapter 25 - Abby


FOR ONCE, CALEB doesn’t ask me if I’m sure this is what I want. He can see the certainty in my eyes and hear it in my voice. He puts me down momentarily so he can peel off his shirt and throw it onto the sand. Then, he picks me up again and I lay my head on his shoulder as he wades into the small waves with me in his arms.
I have to keep reminding myself every few seconds to keep breathing. Once he’s a little higher than waist deep in the ocean, the water evens out. I tilt my head back to look at him, pressing my lips together to hide my enormous grin. He smiles back at me, but I’m pretty sure he’s just as nervous as I am.
“Obviously, I’ve never done this,” I begin, and this elicits a chuckle out of him. “But I’m thinking—”