Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) (13 page)

I huff out a laugh and look over at Judd. He’s staring down at the clay-colored wall heater that we’ve been busy installing this morning. Reaching out my arm, I let the metal wire cutters fall from my hand to the floor with a thud. Still nothing; he doesn’t even flinch to look my way.

“You know, you’re just going to scuff up the paint job that Alyssa and I did this summer,” he says in a bland tone with his lips twitching to the side and that pathetic ugly ass pit in his cheek dipping in.

Why in the hell do girls find that so enticing?

“Not that I mind spending a few more hours laying down a fresh coat.” He finally glances up with a full on shit-ass smirk across his face. “As long as Alyssa can come help.”

I give in to his amusement and smile, shaking my head. “Geez, you’re a horny bastard…all of the time. You really need to consider thinking above the waist, just once in a while.”

Judd belts out a laugh and I join in, a bit of my anger and confusion over last night’s happenings melting away. We quickly get back to business hooking up and affixing the heater to the wall across from the shower stalls. After stripping off a portion of the color coded plastic insulation from around a couple of wires, I scoop up a wire nut and carefully twist together the two circuits. Keeping it clasped between my index finger and thumb, I grab up the black electrical tape and wrap it up before shoving all the capped wires back into the junction box.

“Ok, that should do it. Let’s mount this sucker and see how it works…” I swing my eyes over to Judd with a bit of skepticism in my tone. “…if it works.” I add with a smirk, knowing full well these units have a limited shelf life, yet still willing to give it a shot.

“You think?”

I laugh, shaking my head. “Who knows…I mean I could be wrong. They may last until I am happily settled or until you’re changing diapers. Either way, Grandpa said install them, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“From the way Skylar looks at you anymore, I’m thinking the happily settled may come sooner than me changing diapers and hey, I am not planning on having kids anytime soon, so you can just leave that out of your lame attempt of a metaphor.”

I bite back a laugh, keeping a serious expression. “Whoa, whoa…first off, Skylar and I are by no means getting settled. I like her, yeah, but I don’t think it’ll go any further, so me getting settled, my friend, is a far-far off occurrence. Second, you keep humping like you and Blondie have been and you’ll be sporting a baby swing beside your desk in no time…” I glance at him from the corner of my eyes. He snickers, but makes no attempt to correct me. My eyes go wide and I snap my head up to fully look at him. “Oh, hell…she isn’t knocked up already, is she?”

His head pops up faster than mine. “No!” he snaps, “No way. I told you, that’s a long way off. Besides, we’re not humping
all of the time
.”

Now that’s funny.
“Oh no, not at all. Come on, puh-leeze…” I press my lips together, holding back a tidal wave of laughter. Pressing the tip of my thumb to my chest, I go on, “I got a front row to you two crazy kids moaning and groaning nearly every damn night you were at the apartment…don’t try to tell me that you two don’t get it on like a pack of cats in heat all hopped up on catnip on a warm summer night.”

I pause and take in his slight grin as he stares back at me, probably about ready to slap me silly or yell out his infamous ‘Evan!’ in hopes to shut me up; it never works.
I love pestering the hell out of him. I assume this is the path I’d take if I had a younger brother, so why not.

“Come on dude, you even got another apartment so you could knock boots uninterrupted.” My lips twitch as I roll my eyes, trying to appear unimpressed with the lengths he’d go to for a little booty. He knows I’m happy for him, but I can still play that down and make him feel like a dog. “Go flip the breaker.”

“Oh, oh…yeah…I would like to have one night of sex where I don’t hear you yelling out…” his expression shifts to a painful grimace with his eyebrows drawn down and his forehead crinkled up like an old man. “’Please guys, just let me sleep’…’Just get it over with already’…’Are you guys done yet’…’Yes, yes, yes I want to sleep too’, and all the other comments you like to surprise us with in the midst of a moment that your voice does not belong in. The walls in the apartment are thin, man, and damn, some nights, I swore you were right in bed with us.” He holds his arm up, bent at the elbow with his fist gripped tight, then quickly starts to drop it. “Nothing shoots a guy down faster than hearing a deep baritone voice mixed with your girlfriend’s sexy noises. Wheeeeeew…” He whistles as his hand falls all the way down.

I drive in the last screw to mount the heater to the wall as he walks out the door. A sharp creak sounds from just outside joined by a quiet brushing noise, a loud crash, “Shit” and then a snap.

“Easy now…let’s not break everything.”

“Shut up, Evan,” his voice is muffled, but sarcasm rings through even with the thick shower house walls.

Laughter vibrates through my chest as he walks back in with paint on his boot. “What happened to you?”

“A damn paint can fell off one of the shelves. Breaker is on…try it.”

“Probably got your mind on other things, huh?” I mumble, flexing my brows jokingly as I turn the dial.

“Ha…Ha…Ha,” Judd groans.

Gritting my teeth as a crackling noise ignites, I place my hand above Grandpa’s auction find, then wait. A subtle warmth immediately seeps into the air, heating my skin and sending a wave of chills over me at the difference in temps.

“Well hell, what do you know.” I look over at Judd, pressing my lips together and pulsing my head in a quick genuinely shocked nod, ready for the shower house to be flooded with warmth.

Judd laughs and quickly starts gathering tools by the handful before shoving them into the tool box. I follow his lead, a sense of accomplishment oozing through me.
I still say they’ll go caput before winter is out.

After hoisting the tool box and other equipment up to the tool shed, Judd cleans up his paint mess, something I get the feeling he’d much rather invite Blondie over to help him with. Meanwhile, I step inside with a deep exhale, my mouth no longer emitting the usual white puff of smoke brought on by a winter chill. Grasping the fingertips of my left glove, I tug it off my hand and then repeat with the other.

“Hmmmm…” I widen my hand, letting the toasty air thaw my frozen limbs.

I’m blown away that this fifteen-year-old pile of metal works as well as it does. It has actually warmed this building in less than a half hour; unexpected. Unless, of course, the hunk of junk is on the verge of catching fire and burning down the entire place. I glance back to it, a subtle crackle and pop sounding every few minutes that has my nerves on edge.
That would be just perfect.

“Hey, I’m finished cleaning up the mess. Did you want…” The door smacks against the frame as he walks in and freezes. “What happened?”

“Huh?” I lower my brows, baffled by his question.

“Is something still bothering you? You kinda look pissed or worried. Ahhh…shit, did we hook something up wrong?”

I crack up over his line of questioning and lower my hands from my hips where they must have found themselves during my brief query of whether I was standing in the middle of a soon-to-be inferno. Sliding my arms out of my coat, I toss it towards the sink and look back at him ready to let him have it for walking right into that one.

“Ok airhead, it’s warm in here, so how do you figure something was hooked up wrong?” I snicker as he shakes his head, dismissing my comment or possibly agreeing with his dipshit observation. “…and no, nothing happened. I was just a little stunned to see that this contraption works so well. I was prepared to have to lug it all the way up to the dumpsters no sooner than we got the electrical work laid.”

“You win…stupid question, but I know something was bothering you earlier. You had that look on your face.”

I drop my mouth open on a breathy laugh. “What look? I have a look? I’m not a chick…I really doubt I had a look.” Flicking my gaze to the ground, I squint my eyes for a second;
great, I have a damn look.

“Whatever, you know what I’m talking about.” He stares at me, waiting.

I suck in a breath and hold it in.
What the hell; if I have a stupid ass look now, I better start talking.
My shoulders fall and I let out a monstrous breath. Walking towards the wall, I remain silent as my mind shuffles through a million memories of Piper, starting with our very first encounter all the way to the last day we spent together; a day that should have went in the record books for the top five best days, but instead, it ended in a disaster.

Bolting out of my camper like our asses just caught fire, we both turn our heads from one side to the other as if we were caught red handed; caught with our pants down, literally. My heart pounds at a ferocious rate as if I’ve been chased by a lion for the past hour. Geez…did that just happen? I look over to Piper, her hand gripped in mine and I see the same anxiety in her eyes.

“It’s ok…” I smile a freaking grin that says ‘Holy hell, that just happened’ and tighten my hold to assure her of my words.

With her best friend staying this week, my intrusive brother and his new best friend that I just can’t quite figure out, plus all the other campers, we had to work with a very small window of opportunity and work fast at that. Considering, I’ve never gone that far, the quick part was not a problem at all. It was all the scary shit that came before and during that had us breaking records for the longest first time ever.

I nudge her hand between us, to move her attention from wildly looking around to keeping her eyes pinned on me. “You ok?” A tinge of guilt settles back in my heart, even though she has told me over and over not to let it bother me. I don’t let on in front of her that I secretly would love to rip his arms off so he can never touch another person and I sure as hell don’t treat her like she has a broken wing, but every time a simple touch makes her flinch or she holds her breath, it rips my heart out.

“Mmmmhmmm…” she hums nervously, so I stop, grabbing her other hand and facing her.

“Hey, did we move too fast?” I say quietly with a lump in my throat. “I told you, we could stop. I didn’t hurt you in any way, did…”

“Evan, no.” She moves closer to me, slowly slipping her hand up to my jaw with the familiar gentleness that she has always exhibited towards me. “You could never hurt me. I trust you. Ok?”

I offer a quick nod before she goes on.

“I’m glad we did. It was amazing.” She smiles and just that tiny gesture sends my ego through the roof, my conscience brushing off its shoulders and my head passing out drinks in celebration of one more virginity lost in the world. “There is no one else that I will ever trust like that,” she sighs, and my heart grips at how hard such simple things are for her, thanks to that douchebag. “You just have to be patient. We leaped the hurdle, but it will still be hard. Just don’t give up on me.”

I stop her right there. What the hell, is she kidding? We just shared something like we did and she thinks I could skip town due to her panic induced meltdowns? Yeah, sure, some of them; all of them come at pretty precarious moments that leave me understanding the term blue balls right down to the last syllable, but I will not, cannot leave her. She’s stuck with me, no matter how annoying or pestering I can be, she’s stuck.

Crisscrossing my hand over hers so that my fingertips can softly hold the smooth contour of her chin, I open my mouth and unload it all.

“Piper, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’ll always be here. You can tell me to get lost when you get pissed off, because I have no doubt I will piss you off, but I’ll still be here. You breathe, I breathe…” I stare deep into her piercing eyes that hold the world for me. “…remember…breathe with me and we’ll get through it.”

She giggles and crushes her lips to mine. My arms fall around her like they have been molded to her and I close my eyes, my lips slightly opening with her. Her breath is warm, her mouth is moist and sweet and I really cannot get enough of it. Pushing away faster than I’d like, as she usually does, she plants her hands firmly on both of my cheeks. I laugh, looking into her eyes that sparkle in mischief and excitement.

“I love you.”

Whoa! She said that…

She really said that…

Holy crap. Do I say it back?

My lips twitch up at the corners, slowly rising to a laugh.

“I…” Not even thinking I begin to repeat it back to her.

“Hey, I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back. Will you wait for me?” she says, dropping her hands and already backing up to head towards the shower house.

I nod, stunned and dazed by the words she just said. She loves me.

“Ok, see you in a second.” She spins and darts off down the hill.

Stepping forward with a strange sense of urgency, I raise my hand and call out to her. “Hey, I’ll be right here. I have something to tell you when you get back too.” A goofy ass smile emerges on my face as she waves over her shoulder with a laugh. Well if that wasn’t plain as day Captain Obvious. I have something to tell you too? What the hell. Hmmmm, I wonder what he wants to tell me…could it possibly be ‘I love you’ since that is the very last thing I told him; yeah, I’m sure she’s even thinking that. Stupid! Why the hell didn’t I just yell it. I look at the shower house and see her disappearing behind the building. Shouting it out to her as she walks away would have been one of those lame knight in shining armor stunts that women eat up; damn, I should have done that.