Puddle Jumping(18)

“It’s perfect,” I whispered and turned to look back over at the picture. “You made me look really pretty.” The words were hard to say but they were true. He’d captured something with his brush I’d never seen in myself through the reflection of a mirror.

“I believe I got the symmetry correct this time.” His feet shuffled a little on the carpet.

After a moment, I turned back to him and offered a smile, unsure why there were tears in my eyes. But he noticed them and looked a little caught off guard.

“Did it upset you?”

“No.” I wiped the ridiculous tears away and shook my head.

“Is there something I should do?” It was that question that made my heart crack down the middle and I started crying for real, just overwhelmed with all the feelings I was experiencing and not quite sure of them myself. “Lilly?”

I had finally gotten up the nerve to ask the question I wanted the answer to “Am I your girlfriend?”

“Of course.” Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

His answer made my heart soar and I just sort of stepped forward and blinked up at him . . . and asked him to kiss me.





That little shy smile of his pulled up one of his cheeks and he met me halfway, dipping his face to plant a kiss on my lips. Once. Twice. And the third time, I got brave and pulled on the back of his neck and opened my mouth to . . . ya know . . . slip him a little tongue.

I was in the moment and wasn’t thinking clearly, so it hadn’t occurred to me he might think it was gross or whatnot, but he’d pulled back a little and frowned, making me feel weird and self-conscious.

“I’m sorry. Was that gross?” I asked, wanting to melt into the floor and just die.

He shook his head slowly and then looked at me for a second. “I’d like to try this after you’ve brushed your teeth.”

Oh my God. So embarrassing.

Now, if he were any other guy, I would have probably hit him. Somewhere. Face. Arm. Nuts. But he was Colton and he was brutally honest about everything and had no filter to stop it, so my only reaction was to laugh and step back, assuring him I would brush my teeth next time.

Then he caught me off-guard again. “My mother keeps extra toothbrushes in the guest bathroom for my grandparents when they visit.”

I couldn’t get down the hall fast enough. His parents were still downstairs and they’d never had a reason to come up to the room before, so I wasn’t worried about Mrs. Neely catching me freshening up. What I didn’t account for was Colton coming to watch me from the doorway.

“Are you checking to see if I brushed correctly?” I joked and then realized he actually was when he intently watched me rinse. I felt like maybe I needed one of those little white mirrors on a stick the dentist uses so he could count my fillings.

I smiled and pointed at my teeth. “All clean. Will you kiss me now?” He just stared at my mouth and I felt dumb asking, but it was getting claustrophobic being in that little space. He took a step into the bathroom, making me take a step back to settle against the sink. I’d invited him in, so I’m not sure why it shocked me as much as it did. I guess it was just the way he was coming at me.

I was used to him holding his hands by his sides or gripping onto the belt loops of my jeans. But this time he held my cheeks in his palms, firm and rough while he moved in to kiss me again. I had no qualms about slipping my hands up into his hair to fist it because I knew he liked being touched a little harder than most.

My tongue flicked out again and his snuck out a little to touch it and somehow, somewhere in the universe, a switch got flipped on because he was really into it within seconds. My whole body reacted and I angled into him to hold on for dear life as he attacked me with his mouth, over and over again in unrelenting sweet torture.

Then it happened.

His hands weren’t on my face anymore. They were on my chest and he was groping me so roughly I had to pull back and I’m pretty sure I said, “ow,” because he was immediately off me with his back against the wall looking as if he had done something wrong.

“Did I hurt you?”

I shook my head and then nodded once. “It was a little too hard.” My mouth almost felt bruised and I faintly tasted blood. “But it’s okay.” I wanted to assure him so he wouldn’t be scared to try it again. “Come here,” I motioned for him and he stepped forward so I could shut the door behind him.

“Are you aroused? I am.”

I did actually laugh at that because he was so blunt sometimes I had no other choice but to do so.

“Yes.” I pulled him closer and took his right hand in my left, squeezing it to let him feel safer. “Very.” I was a ball of excited girl and he was my boyfriend and, yes, we were in the bathroom at his house . . . but it didn’t matter.

I stepped up on my tiptoes and kissed him firmly again, his hand still in mine. His eyes closed and he stiffly kissed me back.

“Relax, Colton,” I whispered between kisses. It took a moment before he did and once he had loosened up and gotten into the rhythm of kissing again, I parted my lips inviting him in for the next step.

We concentrated there for a good minute until I could feel him getting warmed up again and hesitantly, I pressed his open palm to my chest.

I knew him. I wanted him.

It felt really, really good.