Chapter 28
After dinner that night, West jumps up. “Mind if we take a rain check on coffee?”
With a nod, his dad waves us off.
West disappears into a back room, comes back with a guitar and a blanket, and nods to the front door. “Grab your hoodie. We’re going to the beach.”
“Um…” I give his family a look. “Thank you for everything. Dinner was great.”
Gramma winks. “Sure thing, hon.”
West flicks on a small flashlight as we walk down his dark street, across the coastal highway, and follow a path through the dunes down to the beach.
The moon sits high, glowing off the calm Atlantic.
For a moment, I simply take it in as I listen to the ocean softly lap to shore.
A boat way on the horizon twinkles with tiny lights.
A chilly November breeze stirs the dune’s stalks of grass.
Tugging the zipper up on my hoodie, I turn to West. “This is gorgeous. I can’t believe you grew up here.”
He spreads the blanket out, and smiling, opens the guitar case. “So, tell me about that music.”
“Music?”
“That piece you were strumming in Columbus.”
“The same day you gave me the stickers.” The same day we kissed.
“Yes.” He sits, motioning me to do the same.
Once I’m settled, he hands me the guitar.
“Well, I think it’s incredible, and I’m about to surprise you with something.
” He pulls his lyrics pad from the case, shining the flashlight on it to show me the words.
“I’ve been messing around with this song for the better part of a year and haven’t been able to put any notes to it.
Then I heard you play that song, and it’s like it clicked. They go perfectly together.”
“Um, I’m not a songwriter, West.”
“Trust me, okay?”
“Do you want me to just start playing?” I settle the guitar across my lap. “Is that how this works?”
“And I’ll come in with the words when I feel it’s right.” He flips off the flashlight, and we’re surrounded by the night, the moonlight, stars, and the ocean breeze.
I begin strumming my song as he starts to sing…
I didn’t know I was waiting
Till you walked through that door
Now every quiet moment
Feels fuller than before
You smiled like a sunrise
That melted all my doubt
And I knew in that heartbeat
What love is all about
Take all of my tomorrows
They're yours to have and hold
Every dream I’ve ever whispered
Every story left untold
I’ll stand through any weather
As long as I’m with you
Take all of my tomorrows—
My forever starts with you
I used to chase the silence
Afraid of getting close
But you see through the shadows
You know the me I don’t
You laugh like it’s magic
You cry and I feel too
There’s no life I imagine
That doesn’t start with you
I continue playing, soaking in the words as his smooth baritone voice flows around us, filling the night with peace and love. When West finishes, I still.
“Those words,” I whisper.
“It’s a work in progress.”
“That’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.”
Something shifts in the air, becoming even more intimate.
Taking the guitar, he puts it aside and comes toward me, gently pushing me onto my back and stretching out beside me.
His lips part, but he doesn’t close the gap to kiss me.
A gentle sigh moves through him as he looks down at me. “Damn, you’re beautiful.”
Oh, my God. This guy.
He lowers his lips, but still, he doesn’t kiss me, and instead hovers just a fraction above. “You’ve turned into my muse.”
I wet my lips. “I-I have?”
“Yes,” he whispers, closing that teeny tiny space to brush his mouth ever so slightly over mine. “Yes, you have.” He trails his lips over my chin and under to nuzzle there, and I shiver. Who knew a chin could be so sensitive?
“You smell like dryer sheets,” I tell him, immediately wishing I could take it back. Why am I telling him he smells like dryer sheets? First Dove soap and now this.
He shifts closer, not completely on top of me, but almost there. I’m fully aware—and hate the fact—that my back is stiff.
West trails his nose up my neck at the same time he snakes his arm under me and fits me even closer. I tense even more, waiting for him to encounter my scars.
“Have you thought about our kiss,” he asks, his breath brushing my ear.
I jerk a nod.
The arm that’s under me moves down away from my back and my scars, and I take in a soft relieved breath.
His fingers massage into the area where my butt meets my leg, and then he trails his hand along the back of my thigh, stopping to flex his fingers, and on down further to grip the underside of my knee.
Gently, he brings my leg up to wrap around him and slides completely on top of me.
I go from warm, to hot, to full-on fire. But still, I shiver.
West moves over to my other ear and takes a delicious nibble. “Cold?”
“No,” I croak.
His hand is on the move again—from the back of my knee to my hamstring and right back to my butt—where it stops. But this time he doesn’t massage, he trails his fingers under and brushes them against the seam of my jeans.
I catch my breath.
“Do you like that?” he asks.
“Yes,” I whisper as I pry my left hand from the blanket and latch onto his jacket to pull him toward me.
His lips meet mine in a teasing yet firm, tongue-circling kiss. Sliding my hands up his back, I pull him tighter to me, consumed with the need to feel his weight. He grips the back of my bent knee, widening it a little, and presses right into me, and I take in a sharp intense breath.
West tears his lips away from mine. “Are you okay?”
His weight is on top of me, his warmth surrounds me, and I feel nothing but safe, so I nod, and West covers my mouth for another deep kiss.
Everything aches for the release I gave myself in the bathroom a few days ago. But this time it’s stronger, more penetrating, and when that release comes, it’ll be ten times more powerful than what I gave myself.
Voices way in the distance trickle in. West pulls back. We both stare at each other for a dazed second. Then slowly, he rolls to his knees and scrubs his hands down his face before looking at me and letting out a disbelieving laugh. “I get so lost in you.”
The voices get louder, and we both look down the beach to see a group of people walking with flashlights.
“Geocaching,” West tells me as he gets to his feet. “We better go back. But this so isn’t over.”
I flush, equal parts embarrassed and turned on. I get so lost in him, too.
When we get back, Vianca’s waiting for him in their living room with the Twizzlers and round two of zombies.
“You can join us if you want,” West tells me, walking me to my bedroom.
“That’s okay. Go spend time with your sister. We’ll see each other tomorrow.”
He gives me a hard kiss. “We definitely will. Or maybe tonight. If I sneak into your bed.”