Summer Burns (18 page)

"
Why is that?
"

"
You have enough on your plate. I
'
m just passing through.
"

"
Doesn
'
t mean I shouldn
'
t care.
"

"
Two weeks ago, you hadn
'
t given me a thought.
"

"
So? Maybe I
'
ve been busy.
"

"
Exactly my point.
"
He needed to leave. He didn
'
t want to fight with her. He stood.
"
You have enough without me stirring the pot.
"

"
What if I need you to stir the pot?
"
She stood as well.

"
What do you mean?
"
She didn
'
t need him.

She waved her arm, gesturing to the house.
"
I live with my mom and my sister, and up until you came around, I was fine with the status quo.
"

"
Exactly why I need to go--upsetting your world.
"

"
I need it. I need my world rocked again. I should have known you
'
d be the one to do it.
"

"
Me?
"
What did she mean? Again? He
'
d done nothing before.
"
How?
"

"
Jake never had to fight before you came along on the wrestling team.
"

"
How
'
d that rock your world?
"

"
Like throwing a wrench in the works--a reminder that what
'
s worth having is worth working for.
"
She put her hand on his arm.
"
You remind me that I can
'
t be stagnant.
"

"
Are you?
"

"
Getting pizza with my daughter is the highlight of my week--until you.
"

"
There
'
s nothing wrong with being a parent.
"

"
Not as long as I don
'
t forget to be a girl too.
"
She didn
'
t quite look at him as she spoke, her cheeks pink.

"
Not a girl. A woman.
"
He touched her chin, so their gazes met.
"
And you
'
re a damn fine woman, Summer.
"

This time, when their lips met, it wasn
'
t simple, it wasn
'
t chaste kissing.

This was a real kiss--mouths moving, tongues touching, desire pulsing. He wanted her. Plain and simple. He wanted her very badly.

She reached for him, and this time, when she moaned, it didn
'
t have anything to do with the steak.

He slipped his hand underneath the bandana she had wrapped around her hair and tugged it off. Her hair pooled in his hands, and he tangled his fingers in it as they kissed.

She broke the kiss.
"
This isn
'
t working for me.
"

Ready to ask what wasn
'
t working for her, he opened his mouth, but she answered the question by pushing him into his chair and straddling him.

"
Uh,
"
he said, both surprised over her move, and very turned on. Her hips rested right against his, in just
that way
, and he went rock hard.

She put her hands on his face.
"
Better.
"
She leaned down and resumed their kiss. Tongues danced as he put his hands on her back, pressing her to him. Her curves smashed against all the right places, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He couldn
'
t stop touching her. He needed to feel her everywhere. His hands ran over her back, her hips--he brushed where her shorts stopped and her soft skin started, and savored the feel. She rocked her hips into his, and he moved higher, fingertips grazing the edged of her shirt as he felt every curve of her side and ribs.

When he reached the edge of her breasts, he hesitated, unsure if he should continue.

Summer, however, answered that quandary by grabbing his hand and guiding it to her breast.

She shuddered in his arms and arched her back, breaking their kiss. He instead moved to her neck and chest, every little bit he could get to where her skin was exposed. She purred, which only made him harder as he caressed her breasts, feeling them through the shirt.

His other hand found the edge of her top and the sliver of skin exposed because of her position, and he stroked the bottom of her stomach.

She moaned, and when her gaze met his, her eyelids were heavy, and the rapture on her face was nothing like the one she
'
d had at dinner over the steak.

This was better.

So much better.

"
Summer, I was wonder--Oh!
"
Winter
'
s voice broke through the night between them.

Summer sort of sat up, and glared at her.
"
Seriously?
"

"
Sorry!
"
Winter said and darted back inside.

She brought her gaze back.
"
I
'
m sorry, it
'
s so hard to find privacy around here.
"

"
We need some.
"

She nodded.
"
Got any ideas?
"

"
Oh yeah.
"

"
Then what are we doing here?
"

Chapter Thirteen

My hands were shaking.

Seriously.

Heck, my whole body trembled as Matthew led me into his apartment. Which seemed weird, because didn
'
t guys usually stay on the base for training?

"
Why do you have an apartment?
"
I heard myself asking. It was out of anxiety, I knew that.

Oh wow, was I ever nervous. Which totally stunk, because I wasn
'
t at all back at my house where people were everywhere, but now, here, being alone with him, with no buffer that might interrupt us, well, that was nerve-wracking.

Because I hadn
'
t been with anyone since Jake. And I knew, coming here, that I was going to be with Matthew.

It
'
s not that I considered Matthew the same as Jake or anything, because I didn
'
t. Not even a little. They were far too different in so many ways.

But still, I was super nervous.

This was like me saying
"
Hey, I
'
m moving on now.
"

And that kind of freaked me out. In good ways and in bad ones. I couldn
'
t figure out which way my emotions were leaning, since they were jumping all over the place.

He flipped on a little table lamp that looked roughly as old as I was.
"
The barracks are being renovated, so I opted for this.
"
He gestured around the furnished apartment. It was clean, and the furniture looked new-ish.
"
The complex caters to short term residents. It
'
s not ideal, but it will work.
"

I nodded. I
'
d driven by this apartment complex a dozen times--it wasn
'
t that far from the base, or the salon for that matter.

Guess I never paid attention.

He took my hand and led me to the couch that didn
'
t seem as old as the lamp.
"
Are you all right, Summer?
"

It was so strange how he liked to say my name.

Though it also felt really cool when he did say it. Like saying it meant that his words were meant just for me.

It was stupid. I knew it was, but it made me feel important or something. Like saying my name emphasized that he meant me, and it couldn
'
t possibly be no one else.

"
I
'
m fine,
"
I heard myself say. And I walked away, clenching my trembling hands.

He put his hand on my arm.
"
You
'
re shaking.
"

"
I
'
m nervous.
"
I took his hand. He wasn
'
t shaking, but maybe holding his hand would make mine stop trembling. Part of me wanted to toss back my nerves and try to be super brave and suave like guys liked, but it felt weird even considering it. I mean, I
'
d climbed on his lap in the chair before, because, well...

Well, why did I do that?

I don
'
t know. But I did it, because I wanted to. It seemed right in the moment.

Now, though, I was terrified.

But as I felt his hand, while he wasn
'
t shaking, he was obviously tense. Worried, maybe?

And what could I say to that?

"
Are you nervous?
"
I asked.

He nodded.
"
Probably the same reason you are.
"

"
Now that I doubt.
"

"
Why not?
"

"
Because I
'
m nervous that I
'
m not ready to move on yet.
"

This did make him smile.
"
I guess then we
'
re not exactly nervous for the same reasons.
"

"
So why are you?
"
I asked.

"
Because I would hate to disappoint you.
"

I rolled my eyes.
"
Dude, I can already tell you
'
re, uh, well equipped. Unless your machinery is broke, I can
'
t imagine you disappointing me.
"
Because I had felt his
gear
back at my house. Nope, unless the thing had a really quick trigger, I can
'
t imagine him disappointing me that way. Besides, if everyone gets equal enjoyment, who cares about trigger speed?

He looked down, and was it me, or did his ears turn pink?

"
My machinery works fine,
"
he said. This time when his eyes met mine, mirth was there, and, well, frankly it made me feel better seeing it.

"
I do kinda feel like a high school kid, though.
"
I said.

"
How do you mean?
"
he asked.

"
Well, when you
'
re in school, you
'
re sneaking around, half the fun is trying to see what you can get away with while everyone
'
s just in the other room. When you do get some true alone time, it
'
s like, uh, what do we do now?
"
I plopped on the couch.

He laughed.
"
Yes, it feels that way. Like we have the time, so what do we do with it?
"
He joined me, and did the guy-arm-stretch thing, putting his arm across the back of the couch.

I shrugged.
"
Exactly.
"
I leaned into him. We relaxed on the couch and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"
How strange that we
'
d cross paths again now, so long after high school,
"
I said.