her way out.
Edging forward, I waited at the bottom of the slide.
She lowered herself, gave a little shove, and slid down. I stopped her descent at the bottom, her back pressed into the metal. I grasped the sides, holding myself up, my nose an inch from hers as I hovered in her space. Her eyes were doing that wild thing again, a raging sea that churned with all that shyness, but flamed with bold strikes of courage, a storm that didn’t know which way to turn.
“Anyone ever kiss you before, Samantha?” I murmured low, letting my nose do a little exploring along her jaw.
She shook her head no.
“Didn’t think so,” I whispered, before I took a chance I was pretty damned sure was worth taking, and brushed my mouth against hers. And was I ever right. She tasted like sugar and all things sweet, like a spoonful of pure honey. A remedy.
Her kiss was every kind of timid, cautious in her inexperience, but it didn’t take a whole lot to convince me that this kind of kiss was my favorite.
I let her get accustomed to me, to the way my lips pressed and pulled, opened then closed over hers, just savoring this second. When a little moan rumbled up her throat, I let my tongue graze along the rim of her bottom lip. In a blink, her hands were in my hair, desperate to draw me nearer, and she was suddenly kissing me like that storm had taken an abrupt turn and hit land.
I kissed her back, going for soft and sincere, but I was unable to hold back the quick lashes of my tongue against hers.
I wanted to eat her whole.
My hands cinched down on the metal. It cut into my skin, but there wasn’t a chance I was letting go because there was no way I was pushing her, and I was pretty sure if my hands got free they were gonna have a mind of their own. No way would I let my actions even skate in the direction of affirming the fears that had been keeping her back.
The bad news was I was gonna have a case of near-fatal blue balls for days. But there wasn’t a chance in this godforsaken world that I’d go looking for a cure for this growing issue in someone like Jasmine. Not anymore. Not ever again.
Turned out my mom was right, after all, encouraging me to hold out even when I might not want to, because there was going to be a day I wished I had.
Today was that day.
And I knew it down deep. It didn’t matter at all that we were nothing but kids. Didn’t matter that she was scared and I was stupid.
Nothing else mattered except for the way this felt.
Finally I pulled back. Samantha licked her swollen lips, then let go of a lazy smile and traced her fingers down my face.
“So that might have won me over, crazy boy.”
I coughed out a laugh.
Yeah.
Crazy.
All kinds of crazy for her.
EIGHT
Samantha
I knocked lightly at the door, cracking it open at the same time. “Stewart?” I called quietly.
I peeked inside to find my little brother asleep in the middle of his small bed, on his side and facing away. At the sound of my voice, he slowly stirred, groaning as he rolled over. He blinked incoherently before he sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes. When he dropped his hands, he quirked up the most radiant smile. “Samantha.”
It didn’t matter how terrible I was feeling inside, there was no stopping my smile, which spread out to match his. Stewart was my happy place.
I pushed his door open the rest of the way and stepped inside and set the bags of three different kinds of fast food down on his messy desk. I’d made a mad dash, doing rounds through the drive-throughs of all his old favorite places.
Taking the four steps to bring me to the side of his bed, I dropped a swift kiss to his temple, ran my hand over the top of his bald head. “Hey there, Stew. Sorry to wake you.”
He didn’t hesitate to lean into me, hugging me fiercely around the waist, or as fiercely as Stewart could in his weakened state. I wrapped my arms around his frail shoulders. I was both swept away in sadness and bolstered in spirit.
My little brother
Edging forward, I waited at the bottom of the slide.
She lowered herself, gave a little shove, and slid down. I stopped her descent at the bottom, her back pressed into the metal. I grasped the sides, holding myself up, my nose an inch from hers as I hovered in her space. Her eyes were doing that wild thing again, a raging sea that churned with all that shyness, but flamed with bold strikes of courage, a storm that didn’t know which way to turn.
“Anyone ever kiss you before, Samantha?” I murmured low, letting my nose do a little exploring along her jaw.
She shook her head no.
“Didn’t think so,” I whispered, before I took a chance I was pretty damned sure was worth taking, and brushed my mouth against hers. And was I ever right. She tasted like sugar and all things sweet, like a spoonful of pure honey. A remedy.
Her kiss was every kind of timid, cautious in her inexperience, but it didn’t take a whole lot to convince me that this kind of kiss was my favorite.
I let her get accustomed to me, to the way my lips pressed and pulled, opened then closed over hers, just savoring this second. When a little moan rumbled up her throat, I let my tongue graze along the rim of her bottom lip. In a blink, her hands were in my hair, desperate to draw me nearer, and she was suddenly kissing me like that storm had taken an abrupt turn and hit land.
I kissed her back, going for soft and sincere, but I was unable to hold back the quick lashes of my tongue against hers.
I wanted to eat her whole.
My hands cinched down on the metal. It cut into my skin, but there wasn’t a chance I was letting go because there was no way I was pushing her, and I was pretty sure if my hands got free they were gonna have a mind of their own. No way would I let my actions even skate in the direction of affirming the fears that had been keeping her back.
The bad news was I was gonna have a case of near-fatal blue balls for days. But there wasn’t a chance in this godforsaken world that I’d go looking for a cure for this growing issue in someone like Jasmine. Not anymore. Not ever again.
Turned out my mom was right, after all, encouraging me to hold out even when I might not want to, because there was going to be a day I wished I had.
Today was that day.
And I knew it down deep. It didn’t matter at all that we were nothing but kids. Didn’t matter that she was scared and I was stupid.
Nothing else mattered except for the way this felt.
Finally I pulled back. Samantha licked her swollen lips, then let go of a lazy smile and traced her fingers down my face.
“So that might have won me over, crazy boy.”
I coughed out a laugh.
Yeah.
Crazy.
All kinds of crazy for her.
EIGHT
Samantha
I knocked lightly at the door, cracking it open at the same time. “Stewart?” I called quietly.
I peeked inside to find my little brother asleep in the middle of his small bed, on his side and facing away. At the sound of my voice, he slowly stirred, groaning as he rolled over. He blinked incoherently before he sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes. When he dropped his hands, he quirked up the most radiant smile. “Samantha.”
It didn’t matter how terrible I was feeling inside, there was no stopping my smile, which spread out to match his. Stewart was my happy place.
I pushed his door open the rest of the way and stepped inside and set the bags of three different kinds of fast food down on his messy desk. I’d made a mad dash, doing rounds through the drive-throughs of all his old favorite places.
Taking the four steps to bring me to the side of his bed, I dropped a swift kiss to his temple, ran my hand over the top of his bald head. “Hey there, Stew. Sorry to wake you.”
He didn’t hesitate to lean into me, hugging me fiercely around the waist, or as fiercely as Stewart could in his weakened state. I wrapped my arms around his frail shoulders. I was both swept away in sadness and bolstered in spirit.
My little brother
Similar Books
