Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) (23 page)

Her breathing slows and her eyes flutter shut as she slowly slumps forward. I pull her against me, her body melting in my arms as I slide her to my side to lay her down on the cot. Last thing I want to do is startle her, having her so close and in such an intimate way, but no way am I getting up.

After her head is planted on my pillow, I move to her side with one hand slightly above her waist and the other stroking her cheek. I keep my face near hers, knowing it may take a moment for her to register where she is, but I’ll stick with it. I know I can pull her out of this.

“Piper…” I whisper into her ear, my breath gently blowing her hair. “Can you wake up?” I stay level with her, shuffling barely against the hard bed so that I can be close enough for her to hear me.

She continues to breathe and even though her chest moving up and down is a clear sign that she is breathing, I still repeat the words that always worked before; the words that she said always brought her back.

“Breathe with me, ok baby…take a breath with me.”

A slight smile twitches over her lips and I crane my neck to the side, pushing myself onto my elbow slightly so I can be a bit above her. Her lips rise more, curving vaguely as her lashes faintly jostle and let me know she’s coming to. In a half asleep fashion, she stretches her eyes open little-by-little as I keep my fingertips and palm across her neck and jaw with my thumb busy etching a tender trail over the satiny skin of her cheek.

A soft warm touch eases over my forearm, causing me to look down. Piper’s delicate hand wraps around my arm, sending a surge of energy through me that has me bolting my eyes back to hers. Immediately, my gaze meets her somewhat vacant eyes.

“Piper, hey…you with me?” I whisper softly, still focused in on her touch.

She takes a gentle inhale of air, while out of habit I guzzle down a huge gulp and then slowly blow it out. I watch her do the same with me, because that was always our routine; I breathe, you breathe.

I smile. “That’s it…breathe with me, ok?”

Recognition finally dawns on her as the features of her face light up with her big brown eyes fully open and the edges of her mouth lifted into a smile.

“I’m ok,” she says in a content, soft tone. “I think I’m ok this time,” she follows up, assuring me or possibly even herself.

She doesn’t push me away or shift around uncomfortably like before. I shouldn’t question it, but I obviously don’t ever know when to keep my mouth shut.

“So…” I tread softly, skating around bringing up anything that may place us in a sticky conversation, especially one where I am the big-mouth that virtually killed what we had once. “You didn’t black out…” I ask it nearly as a question, wondering why she reacted differently to physical contact. My stomach turns a little thinking that someone else may have helped her through it, but I nip that in the bud, knowing that is exactly what she has always needed; help to get past it. I should be nothing short of happy for her. She sucks in a shaky breath and grips my arm harder, her nails like tiny teeth about to rip through my flesh.

“No…did I?”

Nodding slowly, I study her, having not the slightest clue where to go from here. I flick my eyes down the length of her body, nonchalantly, denying the instinct I would follow if this was any other girl. It’s ironic; she’s the girl I’ve always wanted above anyone else, the girl who still haunts my damn dreams periodically with that fiery, ice cold stare that she had given me that last day, yet with her, I won’t make a move if she does not tell me to first.

Looking back at her, I crinkle my brows, confused on what I want to say; or maybe ask.

“No, you didn’t black out like you usually do…” I pause, realizing I have no idea what is usual for her now. I’m sure that douchebag over at her cabin may know. “…or how you used to.” My voice fades as my heart clutches with an awkward tension of bringing it up. “You weren’t really here either?” Twitching my head to the side with a small grin, I go on, “Where’d you go?” I’m pretty confident by her lack of freak out, that she most definitely did not take a trip back to the night that caused this all.

She loosens her hold on me and pulls away a bit, moving her hand across her waist, below mine. For an instance I consider moving it, but the situation seems under control so I’m not backing away. It’s been a hell of a long time since I have been this close without her looking like she may pummel me across the room at any given second. I happen to like ‘nice’ Piper; I think I’ll work on keeping her this way.

“I didn’t go there…I know that much. I was just thinking.”

Her eyes move down and a bolt of delight runs through me as I take in the fact that she is looking at my lips; staring in fact, like they are a tempting dessert that she’s wanting to dive into.
Holy shit.
I literally want to high five myself.

I do a mental celebratory air grind as she goes on, “I was just remembering…” she stops, flipping her eyes from my lips to my eyes and back again as if she is carefully calculating her next move, or maybe mine.

Not thinking fast enough, I move my hand, sliding it over the wooly fabric of her sweater right below her breast when all of sudden the moment is broken.
Dammit.
She looks down quickly, her whole body tensing up beneath my touch and her breath coming in a short clip.

“Hey, hey…I’m sorry.”

I pull my hand away swiftly and her composure shifts with it, like a baby being soothed. This was always the frustrating part, and although, I loved every minute of how she depended on me and needed my strength and guidance, I still had bouts of selfishness when I didn’t understand why she couldn’t move past it. I just always hated seeing the torment in her eyes; nothing would cut me faster.

“No, I’m good…I am.”

To my utter shock, she jostles onto her side, facing me. Staying still and stiff as the bed, I lay hesitant as her fingertips slink over my hand, seizing it in her own and moving it back to her body. My brows shoot up and I suddenly have the excitement of a teenager going in for their first feel-up, but the smartass in me holds back from making any comments.

“I like…” She doesn’t look at me as she talks, rather looking towards the ceiling with such a low tone that I can barely catch onto every word. “I kinda like having you close…like this.”

As if my expression cannot bend anymore in pure shock, my mouth falls and all amusement is thrown aside.
Holy shit!
I seriously never thought I’d hear something like that from her mouth again.

“You do?” my voice cracks, but I quickly clear it away to move on past my thrill and back into the zone. “So how close should I get?” I’m half screwing with her, knowing Piper isn’t going to move this fast after years of being apart, but also trying to feel her out and get a grip on where this situation is going.

“Well…” She rests her hand over mine, allowing the pressure of my hand to sink into the thick sweater and feel a bit of her body heat merge with my own. “I liked how close we were a while ago.”

There’s no holding back now, my grin grows as I shift and move closer until our faces are only inches away from one another’s.

“Oh yeah. You liked that, huh?”

Her whole body shivers beneath my hand as she bites out a laugh. At this point, I may have to have my smile surgically removed, because it is plastered on.

Licking my lips, I look at hers, gauging the whole situation. I have one of my hands folded and resting beneath my head, the other is happily settled on her rib cage, then there is the way she’s looking at me expectantly as if silently saying ‘Lay it on me, baby’.

No more talking.

Leaning forward, I move inch-by-inch so that I can give her every chance to stop me if I’m misinterpreting this in any way, because the fact is, I am going to kiss her; I have to and she needs me to. I stop abruptly, only a millimeter away. Her breath whispers over me, hitting my skin at an elevated rate and meeting my ears. I pay attention to it all as I always had; reading the warning signs. Again, her entire body shudders, but if I had to guess, and that’s all I can do, I’d say this is a good reaction. A response she used to always have to my touch. Through curved up lips, I take a breath and go for it; all the way.

My mouth meets hers again and it’s not only felt in my lips; the spark shoots through my entire body, zapping every organ in me down to my core, intensifying and causing a pronounced reaction that may hurt later. I keep my hands still, only proceeding on her go.

The plump flesh of her lips lock with mine in a gentle, luscious pace of soft pecks mixed with a few nips until her mouth widens enough for me to ease into something deeper. I tilt my head and use my arm above my head to pull myself up higher so I can fully get into this as I dip my tongue barely in for a more intense kiss that I hope will make her toes tingle. I graze her tongue, thrilled as hell when she joins in, meeting each move I take to taste her. My insides vibrate with need and desire, but I shove it down; however other reactions aren’t as easy to get rid of.

She scoots closer and closer, and with each nudge, I pull my lower body back just enough to make sure I don’t surprise her with any unwanted ‘hello’s’. A small whine seeps out of her mouth and between our lips and that is all it takes; I may very well explode. I pull back, not having a choice. Breathing like I just ran a race, I drop my head back to my pillow, wanting to do a major smack down on my body for getting so worked up.

“What’s wrong?” Piper’s breathing sounds labored as well.

That only makes my situation worse until I have to pull my hand from her waist and use it as a shield to conceal my massive arousal.

She quickly notices my hand not so subtly sitting at my crotch like a waving neon flag to my dilemma.

“Ohhhh…” she breaths out, flicking her eyes down and back to me with a small smile.

“Yeah, well, you know…it’s bound to happen,” I point out, drawing my eyes wider and putting forth my best effort to joke, although my anatomy is screaming that it should be taking the train to hump-town by now. Shaking away thoughts of how close the necessary body parts are to putting this locomotion into gear, I continue in my efforts of warding off my hard on with humor. “It’s really like a dog with a bone. It gets just a taste and it’s all in, you know, and ready to devour it.”

I shut up fast, widening my eyes and dropping all traces of a smile. That did not help matters at all. My whole body lies lifeless on the cot in front of her, depleted of blood and energy since over half of it is rushing to limbs that aren’t going to find any sort of relief anytime soon.
Poor fella; sucks for you.
I have no doubt that in about two-point-five minutes he will more than let me know just how much it sucks with a mind cursing pain like someone is squeezing the hell out of my balls.
Whoo, can’t wait.

Piper remains amused with a smile and bright eyes that form little creases beneath them. She quickly draws her hand over her mouth and spits out a laugh as I scrunch up my face from the intensity of the moment that was lost. My body slowly responds with a gradual ache along with a bit more room in my sweats. I close my eyes and just pray there isn’t any sudden movement from her to get closer or even any unexpected moans from the next room.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I just don’t think I could…I mean I don’t think I’m ready for…”

I snap my eyes open and look up at her. “Oh, no…I didn’t expect anything. Hell, we were about to drown each other in the lake about a day or two ago, so yeah, it’s cool.”

“I know, but I just…well, I didn’t think we would end up…um…like this.”

Shit.
My face heats with embarrassment that I decided to move in earlier, but the wiseass in me decides to challenge that thought.

“So you’re saying, you weren’t checking me out like I was a piece of chocolate cake?”

Her lips twitch, but she simply shakes her head subtly; I call bullshit.

“Ok, and you weren’t staring at my lips and daydreaming about how good they’d feel.” I roll my eyes and snicker. “Fantasizing about me again, are ya?” I twirl my hand above my head dramatically, messing with her. “Maybe dreaming up the first time you kissed me, or some sappy thing we did together when we were younger?” I try to tone down my grin the more I say, because I know her thoughts more than likely didn’t venture there.

Piper looks at me with a slight smile, not near the one I’m hoping for after my teasing, but it is still a welcoming sight. Her eyes don’t leave mine and suddenly this cot seems much smaller and the cabin a whole lot less populated. Glancing down once again, I catch her checking out my lips and a bolt of satisfaction shoots through me, so I go on, pestering her as I always have.

“I mean, come on…after the look you took of me in the shower…” My grin grows and I widen my eyes to dramatize how she looked me up and down. “…I know you’ve got to be going crazy now.” I raise my voice a couple of octaves to mock an excited girl tone, “Oh.my.gosh…Evan has really grown…” I look at her with an over-the-top amazed look and press my hand across my cheek. “…up. I just can’t believe how huge…”

Piper bursts out laughing, slapping me across the chest. “Get over yourself, Evan,” she barely gets out before looking around. “Oh, ooops.”

I grin wider than I have in ages, but don’t bother to look and see if Jake has awakened; I really don’t care. My eyes don’t leave her as an impulse swarms my entire being and catapults me forward until my lips are crashing into hers…again.

Piper’s words are clipped on a muffled whine. I don’t bother closing my eyes as I let my lips linger on hers, and revel in the silky smooth texture. She closes her eyes as I gently and slowly ease my hand back to her side, feeling my way down her rib cage. Scooting a bit closer, I softly move my mouth in a sucking motion against hers. She responds with the same action, opening her mouth just enough for me to taste the sweet tang of fruit, as if she just ate cherries and pineapples straight off of a Christmas ham.

My body temp heightens on this and I sink fully against her, sliding my hand up her side. Every woven detail of her sweater is felt beneath my touch and if I wasn’t concentrating on keeping other things in check, I might very well be able to count every stitch in it. My body is in high gear and attuned to every movement, every breath and every noise she makes. I pay attention to it all, not wanting to push her to a point of panic or fear.