Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) (27 page)

Emily

OZ’S FINGERS BECOME
individual flames lapping against my skin and my whole body is on fire. Mom has warned me about boys like him. Boys who are dangerous. Boys who say pretty things. A voice in my head screams to run, but instead I lean into his touch.

“What’s going on between us?” I ask.

Oz shakes his head slowly. “I don’t know.”

“I like you,” I admit. More than like. Whenever I look at Oz it’s butterflies and tingles and it’s not just the fantasy of him kissing me that sends me into a tailspin. It’s the idea of him in general. I do like him. Enough that it feels an awful lot like I’m falling, too.

“I like you so much that I’m...” Terrified. Falling means scary things. Unknown things. And I don’t like scary or the unknown. “I’m not supposed to be falling for you.”

“Since the moment you walked into my life, I’ve wanted to crawl into your head and know what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling. You scare the hell out of me, and if your father knew how you constantly cross my mind, how badly I want to kiss you, he’d put a bullet in my brain.”

I shiver as Oz traces my lips. “Who are you referring to? Eli or my dad?”

Oz’s face lights up with his grin. “Both of them. I’ve seen Jeff around you and he looks capable of pulling the trigger. I’ve learned to never discount the ones wearing a tie. They’re the ones that scare the shit out of me.”

I laugh and Oz laughs with me. The bed shakes and the vibration shifts our bodies closer together. So much so that my breasts are flush against his chest, my toes nudge his and his thighs lie over mine. When the sound fades our eyes meet and the smiles vanish.

Our chests move in unison. My pulse thunders in my ears as it silently begs over and over again for Oz to kiss me, kiss me, kiss me.

Oz drops his hand from my face. I grab it, hating the cold left behind. “Don’t.”

“You’re tired,” he says. “And we’re playing a dangerous game.”

But it’s a game I don’t want to stop playing. A gust of wind hits the trailer and the walls surrounding us creak. I weave my fingers through his. “Please stay.”

There’s a quaver to my voice. Being this near Oz makes me nervous. The thought of his lips on mine, his hands on my body, a return to the rhythm we had so quickly found when we kissed weeks ago is enough to cause me to tremble.

That day, we had grown into an inferno with a good reason to dampen the flames. But here, we’re alone and there would be nothing to prevent us from going further, searching for the more my body desires. I care for Oz. Oz cares for me, but is that enough to cushion the fall I’ll take if we succumb to the heightening attraction?

“You’re tired, Emily, and I want to kiss you until you breathe out my name, but there’s nothing good that will come out of this.”

Oz is right. I’m so tired I’m fuzzy; so filled with a need to kiss him I’m light-headed. But that isn’t the only reason I want him to stay.

The wind hits the trailer again and the roar of the trees sends a chill down my spine. At least at Olivia’s there was a huge open space between the cabin and the forest. But here, we’re in the thick of it. The dark enclosing us like a casket. “Just stay.”

“Emily,” Oz warns, but he doesn’t leave. Instead, he releases my hand and rewraps his arm around my waist. “Eli will kill me and I’ll lose any chance at prospect.”

As if we’ve been extremely intimate before, as if we’ve been together forever, Oz extends an arm under my head. He then wastes no time inching up the material of my shirt until he can rest his palm against my skin. I melt under the heat from his hand.

He’s right, I’m being selfish, but I don’t push him away. Instead, I lick my lips. Oz settles his head on the pillow and our faces are close. Extremely close. So close that his exhalations move random pieces of my hair.

“You’re right. You should go,” I say.

“I will,” he responds.

“Okay.”

“All right.”

“Good night, Oz,” I whisper.

His fingers begin this slow brush along my stomach. Each goose bump–inducing glide edges farther up a centimeter and then down with each cycle. My breathing hitches when Oz skims the bottom seam of my bra.

“Good night,” he says against my mouth.

“Good night,” I repeat, and as I say it, my lips touch his. Energy builds between us and my legs become restless with this pent-up urge for more.

Oz takes in my lower lip and I’m overwhelmed with this sensation of awareness, this realization of each and every nerve ending I possess. Oz’s hand, which had trailed south, tightens on my hip.

His lips pause on mine. He’s waiting on me. I want this. No, I crave this. I brush my mouth against his and the movement is so slight he could miss it. So delicate because I’m afraid if I do too much then the two of us will explode.

My hand slides up his arm to his neck. A whisper of a touch as I let my fingers tease the ends of his hair. Oz sucks in a breath and my mouth turns up at the idea that I have this effect on him.

I’ve dreamed of this. Night after night. Woke up morning after morning to Oz sitting across the table from me acting as if he’s in total control. But as Oz curls me into him, his body informs me that he’s seconds away from shattering. And so am I.

Excitement unfurls within me with the expectation of what’s on the verge of happening. I allow the tip of my tongue to lick Oz’s lips and there’s an almost audible crack of electricity. Our mouths part and...fireworks. The beautiful kind. The loud kind. The type you lose yourself completely in. Reds and blues and an array of bright colors burst behind my closed lids.

My hands wander Oz’s back, pulling the material of his shirt up along the way. Oz rolls us and he uses his arms to balance his weight, creating the sweetest pressure of his body over mine. My legs hook around his and it’s easy to pick up Oz’s rhythm.

He leans up, yanks his shirt off and my heart goes completely still. Oz is gorgeous. His body hard and ripped. I stroke my fingers along the cut lines. In return, Oz circles my belly button and the caress sends pleasing waves throughout my body.

“Are you a virgin?” There’s no judgment in his voice. No tease. He says it in a way that indicates he already knows and is perfectly fine with the answer.

“Yes,” I tell him, unashamed.

There’s no doubt Oz is more experienced than me. Not just because of what people have said, but by how expertly he maneuvers. It doesn’t bother me to be more naive. My body is a gift, not something to be carelessly given away.

Violet was right. What’s important is accepting what type of girl I am and I’m the girl happy to share this with Oz, but I’m not willing to share too much. “I’d prefer to stay that way...for a while, but I’d also like to keep kissing you.”

“We can definitely do that.” His eyes grow dark as he watches his hand inch the material of my shirt up and over my bra, and I slightly tilt up to allow him to ease the shirt off my body.

Oz lowers his head and blows air across my stomach. My toes curl and I wiggle under the luscious sensation. He kisses a path along my stomach and my muscles dissolve to liquid.

Fingertips along my bra straps. One down and then another as Oz continues this divine assault. Wherever his hands touch, his lips soon follow and what started out as slow has increased in speed.

My fingers entwine in his hair and thanks to the clasp in the front, cold air nips across my breasts quickly followed by the warmth of Oz’s mouth. We blend into this seductive rhythm. A synchronized dance that makes me dizzy, that makes me ache in a very good way.

He reclaims my lips and we continue to escape from unnecessary clothes. We roll, we explore and we move. Move in a way that I don’t want to stop. Move in a way that causes me to hold on tighter to Oz. Move in a way that causes soft sounds to leave my throat and makes Oz moan as he nuzzles his head into the crook of my neck.

A rush of energy. A rush of power. A pure rush of adrenaline that causes us to fly faster and faster until the entire buildup deliciously shatters. My body arches at the same exact moment that Oz’s arms constrict around me and then we’re gasping for air.

Oz kisses my lips again and this time it’s lazy and sweet and the most beautiful kiss I’ve ever been given. His warm palms caress my face as if I’m glass and then he sweeps the stray strands of hair away from my face. “Thank you,” he whispers.

“For what?”

Oz shakes his head as if I should already know. “For this. For allowing me this. I don’t deserve it. You’re so damned beautiful.”

I’m a puddle and Oz adjusts so that he’s flat on the bed and I’m tucked into his side. He gathers me close and encourages me to mold my exhausted and sated body around his. My arm rests over his bare chest. My leg lies over his. I should care that the only piece of clothing I have on is my underwear. I should care that all he has on is his boxers, but I don’t.

Oz is into me and I’m into him. He cares and so do I and we shared this.
This
. I never knew I could be so intimate with someone and still be a virgin. He never pushed for more than I was willing to give and for that I kiss his chest before resting my head back on him. His fingers play with my hair again and the gentle massage causes me to drift near sleep, but as the wind rocks the trailer, my eyes flutter open.

Oz kisses the top of my head. “Go to sleep. I’ll stay up and chase your monsters away.”

I slowly inhale and contemplate his words. Even with Oz surrounding me, I can still sense the dark and the woods pressing in on me from outside. “I know it’s silly. Logically, there’s nothing to be scared of, but...”

“Trust me to protect you.”

Trust him. “It’s only until dawn. Then I’m not as scared of the woods.”

“I got you,” he says. “I promise, I got you.”

I cuddle into him, close my eyes and trust.

Oz

MY PHONE BUZZES
and I stretch. The scent of sand at the beach fills my senses as I inhale: Emily. I open my eyes and what we did this morning collides into me with the impact of a Mack truck.

Shit. I hooked up with Eli’s daughter.

Fuck. I poured out my soul to her.

Damn, I’m falling in love.

Emily’s pressed tight into my body with her back to me. My arm is slung over her, my fingers splayed over her flat stomach. A man of my word, I kept her monsters away and Emily slept deep. When daylight hit the window, I drifted off...cradling her in my arms...and I don’t do that. I’ve never slept with a girl.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply again. She smells so damn good and feels like heaven. There’s a shifting inside me. Emotions everywhere. Emily’s going to leave. She’s going to return home to Florida and leave me.

Emily sucks in air then peeks at me from over her shoulder. Big dark eyes. The type a guy can easily get lost in and I did. I got lost and now I’m screwed.

“Hi.” Emily’s eyes flicker between the bed and me. She’s awkward. Unsure. Possibly regretting what we did.

“Hey,” I respond.

“What time is it?”

I reach over Emily and grab my cell off the windowsill. With a swipe of my finger, it springs to life. “Four.”

The late-afternoon sunlight streams in from the cracks of the shade in my room and highlights the dust hanging in the air. We’ve slept the day away. Emily discreetly yanks at the blanket, covering one of my new favorite parts of her body I love to worship.

There’s one text from Olivia:

I want to see you and my granddaughter. Come back now. You can’t keep running from this. Life and death happen regardless of what you want.

A ripple of anger through my system. I didn’t run and I don’t care for reminders of the death sentence I can’t control.

Me: She’s waking up now. We’ll be there soon.

“Olivia wants to see you. I told her I’ll bring you back.”

“Okay.”

“Want to take a shower?”

Emily fingers the hem of the blanket that’s now tucked close to her neck. “I can wait.”

I caress her face. Fuck me. Just fuck me. I can’t do it. I can’t treat her as a hook-up, but where the hell do we go from here? I knew this. I knew the aftermath, but I couldn’t resist her last night. Kissing her, holding her, it was like being called home.

A squeak of hinges and my eyes snap to the living room through the cracked door of my bedroom. Adrenaline pushes into my veins as I grab for my knife on the floor.

“Oz?” Mom calls out. “Emily?”

“Shit.” I’m in motion, tossing another blanket over Emily as concerns for her modesty fly into my head. I roll to spring off the bed, but I’m not fast enough. Right as I plant a foot on the floor I glance up and meet the horrified expression of my mother.

“Tell me you didn’t have sex with some girl with Emily down the hall,” she whispers furiously as if Emily couldn’t hear. “Tell me I raised you with some decency. Eli will gut you open if he finds out about this.”

I sit up, aware of my movements so that I keep Emily’s face blocked. There’s no way out of this, but I can buy Emily a few minutes to compose herself. “Shut the door, Mom.”

Fire rages out of her eyes. “Oz—”

“Shut the door and I’ll be out in a second.”

Mom’s nostrils flare and, with pissed-off zeal, she slams the door to my room and the entire trailer vibrates. Great. Fucking great.

Emily eases up behind me while pinching the blankets to her body. Her mouth trembles and my heart is ripping into multiple pieces.

“I am so sorry,” she says.

I weigh my words carefully. “Mom’s not mad because a girl stayed overnight. She’s mad because she thinks I did it with you around. So if you feel bad about me being caught, don’t, but odds are she’s not going to be too happy when she finds out that you’re the one in my bed.”

Considering there’s only one way out of this trailer and Mom’s bent on talking to me, she’s going to discover that I was in here with Emily very soon.

Emily won’t look at me. “What’s going on between us?”

We should have thought of that before we made out. “I don’t know.”

She stares at the blanket as if maybe concentrating hard enough could help her disappear. “You care about me, right? I didn’t imagine that, because I know I told you that I care about you.”

“Hey.” I slide my arms underneath her legs to bring her onto my lap, blankets and all. “I care about you. You got that? This wasn’t a hook-up. I swear it. But what’s happening between us...you have to admit it’s complicated.”

“Like how I live in Florida and you live in Kentucky and how my mom used to be in love with Eli and for some reason she left, pissing off everyone you love?”

Evidently, I’m not the only one who has thought about this. “Yeah.”

“It doesn’t mean we can’t be together.” But the defeat’s clear in her tone.

“Are you going to call your parents and inform them you’re living here next year? You’re seventeen and have one more year of school and even if you didn’t, would you call Kentucky your home? Because, this—Snowflake—this is my home.”

Emily draws in a quavering breath. Jesus, she’s killing me. I position my fingers under her chin, forcing her to face me. “Forget what I just said, all right? We’ll figure it out. I promise.”

“No one will be happy about this. I mean, Eli and Cyrus won’t let you into the club if they find out we did this, will they?”

I shake my head no. I’ll be lucky if I walk out of this alive. If I do emerge still breathing, I can’t guarantee I’ll be mobile. “I’m going to talk to Mom. Ask her to keep this quiet. Take your time. Get dressed. And then come out when you’re comfortable.”

She lowers her face into her hands when I release her chin. “Then I don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave this room.”

I can’t help but chuckle as I pull her into my body. “You’re not the first person to be busted half-naked.”

“Well, it’s my first time.” My world rights itself when she lays her head on my shoulder.

I kiss the top of Emily’s head before easing her onto the bed. I stand then shrug on my jeans. “Welcome to Snowflake.”