Slow Twitch - Реинхардт Лиз. Страница 27

Brenna looked at me like she was unsure, and that was really weird. Usually Brenna knew exactly what she was doing. She didn’t need to ask me about anything. I wasn’t sure how to answer this unasked question. Going down to the lake was what they did, and mostly what I had done too, just because there was nothing else to do and no one else to do it with. Now that Brenna was here, I felt like the possibilities were open again. Her mother’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Brenna, Jake, you should go with the kids. Don’t worry about me.” Her smile was warm, bordering on toasted. Brenna smiled back, and I could tell that was exactly what had been bothering her all along. She got up, and I followed her.

She stopped to kiss her mother on the cheek, which I thought was nice, but I caught a couple of rolled eyes. The jealousy and judgment here was so thick it could practically choke you. They were all smiles to your face and big-ass daggers in your back.

“Come on, Bren,” I urged, and she took one look at her mother, laughing at some story someone had told before she followed me.

“It’s just weird,” she said once we were out in the cool night air.

“What’s that?” I took her hand in mine. I noticed she was wearing the gold posey ring I had given her this past Christmas. Man, I had agonized over that damn ring. I wanted to give her something nice that wasn’t clingy. I think I wound up just freaking her out, because she broke up with me a few days later. It had been a fairly shitty few weeks between us after that.

“It’s weird how the rules are all different all of a sudden.” She trailed her fingers over the high clumps of grass on either side of the path. “Like we’re allowed to do what we want here.”

I would have expected that kind of freedom to make her happy, but she just looked worried.

“This is like an alternate universe,” I said. She smiled nervously. “They do what they want. Whatever they want, whenever. It’s just a weird way to be.”

“So, you’re not feeling it? I mean, being here with your family hasn’t been what you expected?” She pulled her hair out of its ponytail and it all swished down her back in a long, shiny rush. I loved when it flowed long like that.

“I don’t think I really expected anything.” I tugged her close and kissed her neck, under all that soft hair. “I don’t like them. I think they’re mostly full of shit, and there won’t be any tears shed on my end when I finally leave here. I’m ready to go back to normal life, you know?” She smiled sadly. “I’m ready to go back to you and me and work and school. It was hard, but it’s who I am. All of this lounging around makes you spoiled, I guess.”

She swung my hand in hers. “You deserve a break.” A slow, sweet smile unfolded on her lips. “And maybe this whole thing doesn’t have to be a waste.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, and I couldn’t help grinning. I loved when her voice got like that, like she was going to tell me to break the rules and not be a baby about it.

“Let’s not go to the beach.” Her mouth was suddenly on mine, right there on the path.

I kissed her back and ran my hands down her arms, then pulled her to me. “I can’t do that yet, Brenna.” I pulled away with a lot of effort. A whole lot of effort.

“I didn’t say we should do anything in particular.” Her eyes blinked slowly and her voice rasped out, low and coaxing.

“There’s a little boat house,” I said after debating for about half a second, and led her by the hand.

The only light was from the nearly full moon. The boat house was just a huge garage, but the boats stored in it were fancy, decked-out boats. The kind that had cabins below deck. My family, and the others, were so rich that these were just the older spare boats. There were still a ton docked on the far side of the lake for everyday use.

Because everyone needs a garage full of emergency luxury boats, right?

Brenna was giggling, and she looked so cute, I was in on the plan without any regrets. I hoisted her up on the deck of one boat and climbed after her. I took her hand and led her down into the stale-smelling cabin. It was a pretty simple set up; a galley kitchen and dining room, a little sitting space and a room with a big bed, all compact.

“It’s like a tiny house,” she whispered, though no one could have heard us down there.

I took her hands. “If we stole this boat, we could live on it and go around the world.”

She looked around as if she were considering the plan. “Can you sail?”

“No,” I admitted. “But I can figure it out.”

“What if we get caught in a hurricane?” She dragged her fingers along my jaw slowly.

“I’ll keep you safe,” I said into her ear. And then I bit down on her earlobe because I knew she would suck her breath in fast, and I loved making her do that.

“What if we get attacked? By pirates?” She ran a trail of quick, light kisses up and down my neck.

I was already backing up and pulling her over to the bed, drawing her into the little secluded space that would only fit the two of us. I wanted to feel claustrophobic with her.

“I’ll fight them all. I’ll protect you,” I whispered and fell back onto the bed, yanking Brenna on top of me.

She kissed me, a soft rain of her lips on my mouth and skin. I was happy to have her, so happy I got sloppy. In my defense, it was only a tiny dress, one little piece of yellow fabric that came off so easily there almost didn’t have to be forethought before it was just gone without any real contemplation.

And the light blue fabric underneath got wiggled out of so easily, I swear it was just because our bodies were rubbing against each other and it happened.

And I was so busy appreciating Brenna, her beauty, her nearness, the smell of her, the way her skin tasted, and the feel of her breath on my neck when my hands and mouth made her sigh and gasp, that reason and logic and thought all bled away.

Her hands were fast and sure, so my clothes were strewn around the bed soon, and every place we touched was hot and good, because it was just my skin on hers and hers on mine.

It wasn’t even temptation; that would mean one of us had something like a thought in our heads. That would be a stretch. This was pure feeling, pure instinct, and it was leading us places that were really, deliriously good.

And really fucking scary.

Brenna rolled over and slid against me, her body one long, smooth, soft rub against mine. I felt a little bit like I had been punched square in the face, and when I closed my eyes, I could see stars bursting against my eyelids. We were right against each other, perfectly lined up, and with an easy adjustment or two, we’d be at a place we couldn’t come back from. Brenna pushed up and then back down, warm and wet and, I knew, ready.

For one insane minute I pulled my hips back and up and we were almost ready. Then I opened my eyes. There was Brenna’s face, her eyes bright and wide and completely trusting. Trusting me.

I wasn’t ready to be that guy. I wasn’t ready to hold all of that in my hands. I slid down along her body, my mouth a little hard and hungry on her, because I did feel regret, and in the back of my head I knew if we just pushed forward and did this, it would be done and we would wind up doing it a lot more and it would probably all be fine. But I wasn’t there yet. And she sure as hell didn’t need to be.

I could feel her body humming, with what, I didn’t know for sure. I could imagine she was disappointed that I hadn’t just gone for it. I also hoped that she wanted to do more with me, even if it wasn’t sex.

I kept kissing down along where her hips jutted out and down farther along the tops of her thighs. We had never really been like this, completely naked, completely alone together. I kissed down her thighs, moved my hand along the inside and slid my fingers into her. She was really wet, and I couldn’t say that I didn’t imagine how good it would have been if we had just done it. I thought about being inside of her while I kissed and touched her. Maybe I should have told her that I thought about that all the time. It was just a hard topic to bring up, and I was never great with words anyway.