Authors: Kirsty Moseley
“Well, do you think I’m saying that I just can’t be without
you anymore?” I asked, reaching out one hand and placing it over his heart. I
could feel the steady drumming under my palm, and I smiled at how precious it
felt to me.
“That’s what I pray you’re saying, baby,” he whispered,
leaning in closer to me and touching my cheek, brushing his fingers there
softly. He leant forward, placing his forehead against mine as his breathing
became more ragged. His other hand gripped my side tightly. “Please. Please,
Maisie,” he begged.
Emotion was threatening to boil over as happiness hit me in
waves. I knew then that this was the right thing to do. Screw everything and
everyone else. Luke Hannigan made me happy, and I just couldn’t
not
be
with him anymore.
“Tell me you love me.” I slid my hands up to his neck,
pushing one into the back of his hair and weaving my fingers into the soft
silky strands.
He gulped loudly. His eyes danced with excitement, his whole
body seemed to go rigid. “I lov-” I crashed my lips to his before he could
finish saying it. I didn’t need him to say it. I already knew.
As soon as his lips were on mine, everything else seemed to
evaporate and all that was important was him and me and that his lips belonged
on mine. He made a small startled moan in the back of his throat but kissed me
back immediately, pushing against me, trapping me between the hardness of his
body and the cool metal of his car. The passion that went into the kiss almost
knocked me sideways as his tongue met mine. His taste exploded against my taste
buds as I fisted my hand into his hair, squeezing myself to him tighter,
wanting to melt inside him and never get out again.
Everything about the way he kissed me, the feel of his hands
as they gripped my waist, the way he pinned me tightly against the car as he
kissed me like I had never been kissed before in my life, all of it was
beautiful. It was familiar, incredible, passionate, but most importantly, it
was right. My whole body seemed to come alive with a hunger that he always
seemed to evoke in me. I pulled my mouth away from his, desperate for air,
gasping as my knees went weak with longing. My love for him was overwhelming,
almost too much to cope with as everything built inside me like a raging
inferno. I needed to release this passion before it made me explode. I fumbled
behind me, grabbing the back door handle, pushing him away from me for a second
so I could move to the side and force the door open.
When I looked up at him I knew that he felt exactly the same
as me in that moment - desperate and needy. My skin seemed to prickle all over
as I whimpered. Grabbing his shirt and yanking him towards me, I sat on the
back seat, hooking my legs either side of his and trapping him against me. “Luke,”
I whined, not having the words to describe what I needed from him.
He flicked his eyes behind him, a little bewildered as he
gasped for breath too. “Here? Seriously?” he croaked, his voice all husky and
thick with lust.
I didn’t answer, just leant forward and pressed my mouth to
his again, capturing his bottom lip between my teeth and biting roughly. He
grunted, and that seemed to be all the encouragement he needed as he moved
forward, forcing me onto my back as he leant on top of me, wriggling and fumbling
behind him, slamming the door closed, trapping us in the back of his car.
Almost instantly the temperature in the car seemed to spike as he looked down
at me with eyes that were so ecstatic that it made my heart ache.
Reaching out, I snagged his hoodie and T-shirt, yanking them
both over his head in one easy movement. His phone slid out of his pocket and
thumped to the floor, but neither of us paid any attention as he leant down,
brushing his lips against mine softly, just once. My fingers dug into the bare
skin of his back, just marvelling over the weight of his body on top of me
again.
“Tell me you love me,” he whispered, tracing my nose with
his.
My legs moved, wrapping around his waist, pinning him to me.
“I love y-” but just like I hadn’t let him finish, he didn’t let me finish. I
felt him smile against my lips as I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck,
happier than I had been in weeks. While I was with Luke like this, everything
was right in the world and nothing else mattered.
As sleep ebbed away, the first thing I noticed was how
comfortable I was. The soft sheets were pulled up to my chin, and the hard,
warm thing I was cuddled up to felt like luxurious satin against my bare skin.
A lazy pattern was being drawn on the small of my back with a fingertip. My
first thought was: heaven. Blissful, beautiful heaven I was waking up in. I
already knew what I would see when I opened my eyes.
Blinking against the sunlight that was filtering in through
the blood red drapes, I looked up into Luke’s warm brown eyes. He was already
awake, just lying there silently, watching me sleep as he traced his fingers
over my back. His other arm was wrapped loosely around me, holding me against
his chest.
Happiness seemed to radiate through every cell in my body at
once, warming my skin and making my heart stutter. I raised a hand, tracing the
line of his jaw, just wanting to check to make sure he was definitely here, and
that this was definitely happening. It almost felt like a dream. It had been so
long since I’d woken up with him like this, like part of a couple, that it
didn’t feel real. His night’s growth of hair scratched against my fingertip and
I let out a little contented sigh.
A smile twitched at the corners of his mouth, his eyes
glittered with elation as his arm tightened around me. “Hi,” he whispered.
I chewed on my lip, fighting with my hormones that were
currently raging and would soon burn everything in their wake. “Hi,” I croaked,
hating that my voice was thick with sleep and not in the sexy way that some
girls had.
His boyish smile grew into an outright grin as I snuggled
closer to him, wanting to feel every part of his skin on mine. As I moved, I
realised that my body ached in delicious ways that it hadn’t ached for in
weeks. My muscles felt tight and overused because of what we’d gotten up to
last night in the back of his car, and after in the front hallway downstairs,
and then again in his bed. My body was out of practice with all this physical
exertion, but I would get used to it again pretty quickly, that much I was sure
of.
“How are you this morning?” he asked, his eyes searching my
face, almost as if he was trying to ascertain the answer without me even
speaking.
I felt the heat flood my face. Silly little girl in love
Maisie was back again. “My body aches. I think I have sex muscle syndrome,” I
answered, giggling and looping my arm around his neck.
He laughed at my answer and rolled gently so I was half
under him. “You do? Want me to give you a massage?” he offered, bending his
head and tracing his nose across my cheek before breathing in lungful’s of my
hair as his hand instantly started massaging my outer thigh.
I closed my eyes, overcome by sensation as my fingers dug
into his shoulders. “No,” I croaked. “How about we just stretch them out
again?” I offered, gasping as he kissed the sensitive spot on side of my neck,
just below my ear.
He didn’t immediately jump on me like I was expecting.
Instead, he pulled back, his eyes tight, seeming slightly worried. “Baby, this
isn’t just a sex thing is it? This thing that’s happened, this is us getting
back together again, right? Not just us sleeping together.” His eyes searched
mine and his hand stilled on my thigh as he seemed to hold his breath in
anticipation.
My heart melted because he just looked so hopeful and so
pleading. He wanted me back so badly that it made my insides tremble. In that
moment, my love for him was overwhelming, and I knew that he felt the same as
me, that we belonged together. Even after everything that had happened, I was
destined to be with Luke Hannigan forever, I knew it deep down in my heart.
“This is us getting back together again,” I confirmed,
fisting my hand into the back of his hair.
His whole body seemed to relax as he closed his eyes and
gulped. “Thank you,” he whispered. His eyes opened, glistening in the dim light
of his bedroom as he smiled down at me. “Thank you. I promise I won’t ever do
that again, not ever. You’re my life, Maisie, and I almost lost you. I won’t
ever do anything to jeopardise that again. I’m so sorry.” His voice was earnest
and full of emotion as he spoke.
I nodded. “I know you are.” That was the truth, I knew he
was sorry, and I knew how important I was to him.
“I’ll spend my life making it up to you, I promise.” He bent
and kissed my cheek, and I felt everything fall back into place, just like it
was before all of this happened.
“How about you start right now?” I suggested, raising one
eyebrow suggestively as I hitched my leg over his hip and pulled his body
closer to mine.
He sucked in a breath through his teeth and let it out as a
low groan as his mouth headed towards mine. I smiled against his lips and
melted into his embrace, giving myself over entirely, body, mind and spirit.
Two hours later and we had only just dragged ourselves out
of his bed. For ages I’d just laid there in his arms while we talked about
random stuff, with the TV showing nothing in particular in the background. In
my eyes, it couldn’t get any more perfect than that. I’d wanted to stay in that
moment forever, never moving forward or back, just frozen in time with him.
Unfortunately, being an eating machine, his body had something else to say
about my staying in bed forever plan.
“There’s nothing much in here,” I muttered, frowning into
his half empty fridge. I picked up the remaining two eggs and the packet of
suspicious looking ham. “I guess we could make a ham omelette?” I offered,
turning my nose up at the prospect. The ham looked like it had been open for a
while, the edges curling in a stomach wrenching way.
His arms wrapped around me, his bare chest pressing against
my back as he pulled me away from the fridge gently. “I have a great idea,” he
said into my ear before kissing the back of my neck softly and playing with the
edge of his T-shirt that I was wearing.
I tipped my head to the side, smiling now. “I thought you
were hungry,” I teased.
He chuckled, taking the eggs and ham out of my hands and
placing them onto the counter top. “I am hungry. Which is why I was going to
suggest that we get dressed and take a drive over to that little café that you
like, the one that makes those muffins with the cranberries?”
I gasped, my eyes widening with excitement as I turned in
his arms and grinned up at him. “Yeah?” I chirped. “I love that idea!” The café
he was talking about was a quaint little old fashioned tea room that we had
found once when we were camping. It was about an hour drive from here, but the
muffins and pastries were to die for. Luke and I had made a point at stopping
there whenever we went that way to camp.
He grinned, tracing my lips with his index finger. “I
thought you might. Come on then, let’s get dressed and go. It’ll be like a
date.”
I grinned ecstatically. If he was going to be making this
much of an effort to make it up to me then I was a seriously lucky girl. “Race
ya,” I joked, shoving myself out of his arms and dashing for the stairs. He
chuckled darkly, and I heard his heavy footsteps behind me. He caught up with me
before I even made it half way up the stairs. I gasped as he swept my legs out
from under me, pulling me into his arms and crashing his lips down to mine. I
giggled against his lips, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him back
instantly. Of course I’d known that the running away from him action would
bring out his playful side, so no doubt the trip to the café would be put on
hold, at least for a while anyway.
The café was just as lovely and romantic as I remembered. We
had been the only ones in there, sitting in the corner, feeding each other iced
pastries and muffins while the early afternoon sunshine shone in through the
window. The lady even recognised us and gave us a free refill on our coffees.
It had been perfect; every single second of the day with him had been
spectacular, and I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want to have to share him
with other people again when we went back to school.
“I can’t wait to go to college,” I mused as he threw money
down on the table to cover our meal.
He looked up at me and grinned. “Me either, it’s going to be
great. Just me and you, away from everyone and everything that’s happened here.
It’ll be like a fresh start for both of us,” he replied, holding out his hand
to me.
I placed my hand in his, letting him help me out of the
booth. I smiled at his words. That was exactly what I felt too. With us going
away to college together and moving to another town hours away, there would be
nothing there to remind either of us of the bad things that had occurred recently.
“Sounds great.” His arm slipped around my shoulder as he guided me out of the
little café, both of us waving to the owner on the way out. I climbed in his Jeep,
watching as he walked around to the driver’s side. The little smile on his face
made my heart melt.
As he got in and started the engine I suddenly realised I
didn’t actually want to go home. I liked being out here with him, with no one
to bother us, and no need to worry about some psycho that wanted to hurt me. A
sigh of disappointment left my lips as I scooted down into the seat, trying not
to let my feelings show on my face. I didn’t want to ruin this happy day, but I
couldn’t get my mind off of the fact that everything would be different once we
got home.
“What’s up, baby?” Luke asked as he backed the car out and
headed in the direction of home.