Nocturne(100)

My lip involuntarily quivered as I took in the sincerity of his eyes. The truth. I opened my mouth to say something, but he stopped me.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your parents?”

“It’s not important. It’s not part of the deal here, Gregory. We don’t … share things like that.” I’d wanted to tell him. Badly. But relying on him for emotional support seemed risky given the rest of the summer was likely to fly by and I’d be left with open wounds he was unable to tend to.

“Sit,” Gregory commanded as he led me to the bed. I silently obeyed. He took my hands in his and continued. “It is important. You’re important. I know our time together is limited, but your thoughts and feelings still matter. They happen, and they matter. I want to know what’s going on with you.”

I sighed, and with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I looked him in the eyes. “You understand, though, why I might not want to discuss my parents’ marriage breaking up because of an affair?”

His lips parted but he had no words. What could he say? He just nodded and swallowed hard.

I grazed my thumb across his knuckles and tried to change the subject. “Who would say that stuff about me, then? Even if my mom did try to get me in, and believe me, we’ll have the discussion, who would say something to the magazine?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “But I can try to find out. I have my suspicions.”

“You’d do that for me?” I looked away from his strong hands and met his eyes. I knew there was no way he’d be able to find out, but his allegiance to me meant more. But then my mind ran to the question of his suspicions. Did he think Karin had something to do with this? And why hadn’t he talked about what happened when she flew out?

“Savannah,” he sighed, stroking his fingers down the side of my face. “You know I’d do absolutely anything for you. I’m so madly in l–”

“Don’t.” I stopped him by putting my finger over his lips. “Don’t say it.”

His lips opened again and, for a second, I thought he was going to argue with me. To say that he loved me. I would have come apart then. Demanded things I had no business demanding. Instead he closed them again around the tip of my finger and quickly traced it with the tip of his tongue. His eyes closed as he moaned softly.

I caught my breath at the intensity of the swift movement and brought my hand to his chest as I rested my forehead against his. His lips searched for mine immediately, as if whenever they were an inch apart they had to be together. Gregory’s bottom lip skimmed the hyperaware skin of my top lip. Normally I’d playfully tease him. Turn my head to the side or duck my chin in the cat-and-mouse game our mouths liked to play.

Not this time.

Clenching the cotton of his shirt I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth as he took in a sharp, quick breath. In one movement his mouth was open and our tongues were working together as feverishly as my hands worked to undress him. Gregory shifted up the bed and grabbed onto my hips as I straddled him, pulling off my shirt as he looked on approvingly.

Leaning forward with my hands on the bed, I let my hair skim across his chest and shoulders.

“I’d do anything for you, too, Gregory,” I whispered as I brushed my lips along his jawline. “Absolutely anything.”





Gregory


Savannah’s cheek rested on the hot skin of my chest, her warm breath circling my skin and making me feel like I was home. With one arm tucked under my head, I let the fingers on my other hand trail through her hair and down her back. Her hair had grown several more inches in the years since I’d last seen her. Lying here now, her blonde waves were scattered across my chest and over her shoulders, damp with the sweat we’d just worked up. She’d been quiet for almost two minutes before I spoke.

“Hey.” I kissed the top of her head as she lifted it to look at me. “I need some water. Do you want some?”

She nodded as she lifted her head and shoulders so I could unwrap myself from her. I hated doing that. Everything was colder when I wasn’t touching her. I quickly pulled two bottles of water from the mini-fridge and slid back into bed.

“Thanks,” she whispered, opening the bottle and taking a sip before screwing the cap back on and setting it on the bed next to her.

Sitting with my back against the headboard, I opened my arm so she could curl up against me again. As she lowered her head to my shoulder, she let out a slow sigh.

“You okay?”

She nodded, but didn’t look up. I’d have believed her if I didn’t feel the slight shrug of her shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” I pressed.

Still silent, she shook her head. I didn’t want to push, but I knew she had a lot of things that she needed to talk about. I wished she had told me about her parents’ divorce, and the look on her face when she told me why she felt she couldn’t say anything to me was devastating. She deserved better.

“Nathan knows something’s going on with me,” she finally blurted out. My muscles tensed as I tried to decipher what she meant by something. She must have felt it, because she continued speaking. “Not about us, I don’t think. But, something. He thought it was about the article. He knew about my parents’ divorce, and my mother’s relationship with Malcolm ... and he thought that the stuff about my admission to the conservatory was what was making me distant from everyone.”