Chapter Seventeen #2
“I don’t want friends with benefits,” she blurted out.
Miles had a history of dating for a short time.
She wanted more than casual hookups. But given their past, if she pushed too far, he’d close the door, so she backtracked.
“We already had a summer fling and honestly, we were terrible at it. What about you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I don’t want friends with benefits. I don’t know why I brought that up. And you’re right.” He let out a nervous laugh. “Turning that summer from something real into a fling is my biggest failure. You’re all I want. I’m never lonely when I’m with you.”
A tear formed in her eye at how she often forgot how much time Miles spent alone. She touched his cheek.
“Whether or not we’re together, I never want you to be lonely.”
“I know.” His voice cracked. “I don’t want to screw this up. Last week, I tried to come up with ways to make you feel special, and I couldn’t find the perfect way to do that.”
“While you were stressing about that, I plowed ahead in time. You’ve probably noticed when I get anxious, I plan.” She motioned across the lake. “Way into the future.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” He laughed. “Truth is, I love our everyday lives. Or what they are becoming. There’s no place I’d rather be than right here, with you.”
“Same.” She pecked his cheek. “Thank you for talking about us so openly. My mind has been working overtime trying to convince me you didn’t want a relationship beyond, well, you know.”
He cupped her cheek and made sure their gazes met in the dim light.
“What part of ‘I spent the last decade hoping I’d see you’ didn’t sink in?
I was full on pining for ten years. For you.
Of course I want a relationship. But I want you to want it too.
” The corner of his mouth lifted and a second later, he gently kissed her.
“No end of summer goodbyes in parking lots. No ghosting. I have no desire to find a bag of my clothing in my passenger’s seat.
This new us, I want it to last way beyond summer.
We’ll figure out the fall when we get there. Together.”
Avery’s stomach filled with fireflies in anticipation of them becoming the truest, most honest relationship she’d known. Her head relaxed into the nook below his shoulder, and she gazed up at the sky with renewed hope. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen so many stars.
“So, tomorrow we’re water-skiing,” he said. “Any chance I could get your help with a home upgrade? Maybe we could go furniture shopping in Portland one day.”
Avery grabbed Miles’s thighs and shook them. “Let’s do it. I love furniture shopping. How about the day after tomorrow? We can squeeze it in before Bright and Early comes.”
“I like your enthusiasm.” He kissed her ear and whispered, “I’ll buy you a lobster lunch.”
“It’s a date and this time, I’ll wear the bib.” She giggled and shimmied her shoulders. Lying in his arms felt like floating on a star.
As if reading her mind, Miles picked up a flashlight off the seat beside him. Avery smiled to herself. He must’ve planned this night for them.
“I brought you out here to see stars,” he said. “Tell me what you see.”
In her college astronomy class, it had been hard to locate the constellations during the rooftop nighttime exam. The teaching assistant grading her took pity and passed her.
Her finger rose into the air. “Orion’s belt, the Big Dipper, and the Milky Way. I only remember the basics.”
“So follow my light up the Milky Way”—he switched on the flashlight and swept it up the galaxy—“to right there.”
The light stopped near a very bright star.
“That’s Vega, the second brightest star in the sky after Polaris.”
Miles made it so easy to find the stars, he almost plucked them out of the sky for her.
“So Vega is part of the Summer Triangle with Deneb, down there, and Altair, across the Milky Way.”
Avery followed as he aimed the flashlight’s beam at Vega and then Altair.
“Vega was a goddess and Altair a mortal. They fell in love, and Vega promised he’d join her in the heavens one day.
But the gods forbade love between a mortal and a goddess.
” He turned off the flashlight and put it down, wrapping his arm around her.
“When Vega’s father found out, he granted Vega’s wish and hoisted Altair into the heavens, but he placed them on opposite shores of the great Celestial River, the Milky Way as punishment.
They’re stuck on either side, with no way to cross. ”
Avery stared at the sky. “Wait, that’s so sad.”
“Ayuh.” His hand slid under her shirt and rested on her hip. “Every year on the seventh day of the seventh moon, July seventh, magpies fly into the heavens and form a bridge over the Milky Way so Vega and Altair can cross and reunite for one day.”
Safe in his arms, Avery compared the fate of Vega and Altair to the decade she and Miles had spent apart.
“I couldn’t bear an eternity of seeing you one day a year,” she said. “Waiting ten years to have you every day was worth it.”
He quietly circled his thumb over her hipbone. “I’m not doing that again. That’d be torture.”
She felt a rush at his description of not seeing her as torture.
Miles’s breathing steadied as they stared at the vast sky. The boat swayed a little.
“Does your boat have a name?” she asked.
“Pole Position. It’s already painted on the back.”
Avery sat up and pivoted to face him. “That is not its name.”
“What? It’s the best position to start from in the mile. Or any race.” Due to the crescent moon, she couldn’t get a good look at his face to figure out if he was joking.
“So you don’t like the name?” He sounded serious, but as an avid reader and all-around brainiac, Miles had to understand double entendre.
“I hate to break it to you but”—she giggled—“that name has more than one meaning. Or was that intentional?”
“Oh, you’re cute.” He pulled her face to his and kissed her forehead.
“I think you knew what you were doing,” she murmured, kissing the dip in his clavicle. “Tell everyone whatever you want, but I know the truth.”
Avery shifted off to his side and rolled onto her back, staring up at the sky. Miles pushed himself up and straddled her, hovering over her on all fours.
“You’re the one who thought of it. What’s on your mind, Pepper? Is there something you want tonight?” His hand trailed the length of her inner thigh, each pass moving inward, upward. He licked his lips. Avery’s lips buzzed in anticipation of tasting him again.
“We’re here to stargaze.” She rested a hand on his hip and tugged his waistband. “Except you aren’t looking at the sky.”
In the dim light, she could make out a faint smile. Moonlight suited Miles.
“I don’t need to. You’re the only star in my sky.”
Avery wrapped one hand around his back and cupped his cheek with the other.
“Miles,” she said in a delighted haze. “I’m so happy right now.”
He kissed her softly, and she nibbled at his lower lip. At some point his mouth worked its way to the spot below her ear.
“Help me solve the mystery of your undefinable, unmistakable floral scent,” he murmured, goosebumps blooming on her skin under his breath.
“It’s some kind of flower,” he said into her clavicle. “But I don’t know which one.”
“Magnolia,” she said. “Their flowers can be almost the size of a dinner plate. Their massive blooms sweeten the hot, humid air on summer evenings back home. There was a tree full of them by Mimi’s pool. I used to float in the water at night, ponder the stars, and lose myself in the scent.”
“It’s intoxicating.” He stopped kissing her and ran his thumb up to the band of her bralette.
She shivered into the buzz humming through her. Out on the lake, a loon called.
“We didn’t have loons, but it was a lot like this.”
“Lucky me. I’m getting the best of both worlds.” His thumb slipped under her bralette and slowly traced the curve of her breast. “I’ve waited a long few days and all I want to do is make you see more stars.”
“How about we both see stars? At the same time.”
Out on the lake, Avery savored every inch of Miles’s heavenly body, taking her time, giving him little bits of pleasure until he begged for all of her.
Afterward, she lay in that nook below his shoulder, the heady scent warm pine after an August rain filling her head. His long fingers stroked the length of her spine over and over. The boat swayed, as if still in their rhythm.
“The boat’s not done” She laughed.
“Give her a break.” He kissed the top of her head. “ She just got christened, and I’d say she lived up to her name.”
“So you do understand double entendre,” she said.
“In more ways than one.” He chuckled. “By the way, I didn’t name my boat Pole Position.”
“What?” She covered her face with her hands. “Ugh. I can’t believe I fell for that.”
“Hook, line and sinker.” He arced his hand in the air and plunked it down as if it were a cast fishing line sinking into the water. Miles’s shoulders shook as his laughter grew. “But the way it inspired you? I’m here for it.”
Avery smacked his chest and grinned. “What did you name it?”
“Another Summer,” he said, wiping a happy tear before kissing her forehead. “Because that’s always been the dream.”
“Perfect.” Avery pulled the blanket over them. Their breathing mingled, combined, and became steady. He kissed her forehead and left his lips there as they drifted off to sleep.