Always Summer by Criss Copp

brow with the cloth.
    “I’m
sorry... I’m sure you did the right thing.” I said.
    I leant
down and kissed her forehead.   She was
shaking.   I threw the washcloth over the
other side of the bed to the floor, and I held her to me, lying my body back
down alongside her.   The covers remained
between us.
    I kissed
her forehead again.   She was crying
again.
    “I’m
sorry... I’m really sorry... I’m such an asshole.” I said, kissing her temple.
    “I told you
I’m an asshole.   Please Summer, stop
crying... it’s okay.” I said, kissing her eyes.
    And then I
felt her shift... her hands came up to the front of my shirt and rested on my
chest.   She leant her face forward and
kissed me lightly on the neck, just behind my ear.   The butterflies that had until that moment
lay captive in the cage I so often put them, escaped... and dive bombed my
heart.   Who knew butterflies could be so
dangerous and savage.
    She didn’t
stop; she leant her face up and began kissing along my jaw line.   Oh. My. God!   I was going to explode...   or die
first from lack of oxygen!   I had stopped
breathing.
    Grabbing
control of myself, I reasoned for one second that I shouldn’t take advantage of
the situation, before I dismissed the thought completely.
    I noticed
my hands, which had somehow miraculously wound their way into her hair, behind
her head; that they were shaking.   I
tilted her face toward me, and I leant down and kissed the corner of her
mouth.   She let me, breathing in short
and sharp before releasing a ragged breath.
    I’d already
registered that my heart rate was through the roof... I’d also noted that I
hadn’t felt this way with any other girl – period; and I knew I’d never feel
like this with anyone else.
    I wanted to
be all soft and sweet right then, but I didn’t feel all cute and cuddly, I felt
like I was on fire... I wanted to devour her... but I reined it in as much as
possible.
    I slightly
levered across so that my lips were hovering over hers.   Our eyes met, but there wasn’t a smirk...
there was pain... and a connection through understanding.   Normally right about now, I’d have closed my
eyes, but I kept them on hers, taking her image in... noting that she was real, I wasn’t pretending with someone else.  
    Then I
began to kiss her lips, slightly sucking and releasing them, playing softly
with them between my tongue and top lip.   My hands had moved forward onto her face, cradling her jaw; my fingers
remained in her hair behind the delicate shells of her ears and my thumbs
traced lightly over her cheeks.   My left
shoulder was uncomfortable with the position, but it was just going to have to
suffer.  
    I was so
turned on; I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on to my hunger for her
by merely kissing her.
    She closed
her eyes, she touched my tongue with her own, and my body erupted in
inextinguishable desire.

 
    Summer.
    He was
washing my face when he confirmed my worst fear... he’d heard my admission to
Julie regarding the proposal.   I felt
deflated... but I answered his questions, and tried to return some semblance of
familiar banter, but I was heartbroken... I cried, because I didn’t feel the
same as Jordan did!
    He kissed
me on the forehead.   I stopped breathing,
but I still somehow managed to cry.
    He kissed
me on my temple... my breathing returned... shallow.
    He kissed
me on my eyes... oh, God, he was setting me on fire.   Jordan never set me on fire.   Why was
I thinking of him right now?
    I leant in
and kissed him on his throat.   I couldn’t
help it.   His cologne was incredible, and
mixed with the smell of him... delicious!   So good...!   I kissed along his
jaw line.   I could detect a change in his
breathing, in fact I thought perhaps for a moment he had stopped.
    I
continued...
    He shifted,
so that his hands in my hair pulled my face to his, and he kissed the corner of
my mouth.   My quick intake of breath
raggedly left me moments