People are strange… I mean, yeah it happened, but who just randomly makes that sort of shit up?
Belle moans. “That was torture.”
“Correction,” I say. “It was torture before you were there; now it’s almost like a reward seeing you by my side.”
“Huh?”
“I used to stare at the birds,” I admit.
She sits up. “Wait, what?”
“Outside.”
“Duh, because they live outside. What do you mean, though?”
I pull into my driveway and put the car in park. “I used to be jealous that they were outside, and I wasn’t.”
She frowns, her cute eyebrows causing a crease to form. “And now? Now, what are you jealous of?”
“The air,” I whisper. “It’s touching you.” I lean in. “I’m not.”
“I can’t decide if that’s cheesy or just really romantic.”
“And I can’t decide…” I tuck her hair behind her ear. “If I’m a lunatic for wanting to fuck you again or just really, really in love at first sight.”
“You think that’s possible?” she asks. “Love at first sight?”
“Do you?” I counter.
Her eyes dart from right to left and then land on my mouth. “I think that if it was, it would be proven already, don’t you think? From this morning?”
“Oh, that was stalking at first sight, but I can see how you’d be confused.”
She punches me in the shoulder. “I was tired and looking for a bathroom.”
“Like what you find, though?” I tease.
Her smile goes wide. “I did. I do.”
“Then the theory is proven, right?”
“Right.” She throws her head back in a laugh. “How can you be both such an asshole and such a gentleman? I don’t get it.”
“The world’s a confusing place, princess.” I reach for my door and open it. “Just as long as I’m both to you—I’m okay with the weirdness.”
“Both,” she repeats, getting out of the car and following me into the house like it’s normal that we live together and like it’s not tense as hell once we’re in the kitchen making snacks.
“So.” She finally breaks the ice. “When do your parents get home.”
I almost laugh before I point to the fridge. “They always leave a note.”
She reads it out loud. “Don’t wait up. Out for dinner tonight, order pizza.”
They don’t leave a twenty; they leave a hundred dollar bill as if we’re going to feed the town or at least more than two people.
Belle grabs it and waves it in front of my face. “Pizza, huh?”
I lift her onto the kitchen counter and kiss her mouth. “Can I have you first? Rewards.” I press a tender kiss to her lips. “Remember?”
She laughs. “Just how bored were you in school that you bird watched, and now you’re kissing me?”
When she says it like that, I sound like a complete loser, but she’s just… imperfect and doesn’t know my past.
Most don’t.
It’s like a fresh start.
One I needed.
One that will help me forget. Which is selfish as hell, but she has a light that was lost to me when I was a freshman, so it just feels like, finally, things are going right.
The family will always look perfect despite the fractures in the foundation; she doesn’t have to know the dirty details.
So yeah, maybe I want something just for me.
Is that so wrong?
“How are you so convincing?” she asks, giving me a little shove.
I laugh. “I was trained from a young age. They do that for rich kids, you know.”
“Oh, they do?”
“It’s a very elaborate training process; they even give you a silver spoon and shove it in your mouth when you’re done.”
She slaps me on the shoulder. “How difficult that must have been.”
“They made us eat peas.”
“I hate peas.”
“Same.”
“So pizza?” she asks, her mind seems to be constantly on food.
I nip her lips again. “Sure, sorry, I just saw something better, and they never teach self-control at rich kid school.”
“Shocker.”
“It’s downright criminal.”
“You know, you’re not totally hateful.”
“I can tell that came from deep down in your soul. Is this just because I gave you an orgasm or—“
She cups a hand over my mouth like someone’s going to hear us, then wraps her arms around my neck. “This is strange, isn’t it?”
“There is nothing strange about hugging in a kitchen before eating pizza.”
“I mean everything else. Us.”
“A day at a time.”
“Ah, more rich kid training?” She laughs.
I shake my head. “Nah, that’s just life stuff.”
She nods. “A day at a time then.”
“Just one, and then another, and another. Sound good?”
She nods, and I wonder how I got so lucky to get her dropped into our house. One that’s felt so lonely that I never even wanted to admit it. Dinners were for photo ops, and now, I’m eating pizza with a beautiful girl that I can even call a friend.
I wonder what this feeling is in my chest and suddenly realize it’s happiness.
Chapter Six
Mary-Belle
His tongue could change the world—literally, all I can think of when it’s inside me. In the back of my head, I realize that this probably isn’t the smartest thing, but… I’ve been so lonely, and he’s suddenly everything I see.
Is it insane that we’re doing this right now? Again?
Yes.
Do I care?
No.
Because I’ve lived my life in the dark, afraid, constantly putting my shields up, constantly waiting to crack or fall.
Right now, I want to live. I want to make a choice for myself, not some social worker telling me where I’m going to sleep at night or some creepy stranger telling me how pretty I am.
I feel alive in his arms.
My head lolls back as he spreads my thighs wider and starts to undo his pants, but he’s going too slow, so I tug at the belt and buttons, shove them down with my feet, and then lay back on the expensive countertop waiting for more.
The incredible pizza is long forgotten.
His first thrust hits me so deep I cry out, and then he’s pumping into me like a madman, and I’m screaming his name because I don’t want him to stop.
His hips roll, and mine follow, matching him hit for hit as we both start to sweat across the granite.
I remember staring at it and thinking about how expensive it was, and now I want him and me all over it.
I want him in the stupid pool house.
The game room.
Every single bathroom.
I want him everywhere.
And with the way he’s gripping my legs and kissing my mouth—I know he feels this inexplicable thing too.
He pulls out of me just when I’m ready to release.
“What the hell?” I whimper.
“C’mon.” He pulls me to a sitting position, then picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder. “You deserve a bed.”