Chapter Twenty-Two
After a whole summer of getting to know Tyler Ferris when we first started dating, I thought I’d found all the things that made me fall in love with him.
But it turned out every new day was a surprise, a fresh discovery of something that made my heart flutter—and that particularly sweltering afternoon in July during our first year together was no different.
“God,” Tyler groaned dramatically, a deep, guttural sound that felt like it was twining around my insides as we stepped into my house and into the cool air.
I dropped my bag to the floor, so overheated that I didn’t even care about my planner slipping out of it and skittering under the table, resigned to its fate and internally promising that I’d pick it up later.
“I thought I’d never know what it felt like to be in a cold room ever again. ”
Tyler and I had picked up the earlier lunch shift at Suburban Slices that day so we could catch the release of the new superhero movie we were looking forward to later that night, but doing so meant we had to be out and about during the peak of the day, when the unforgiving sun was baking all of the little ant people living beneath it.
After an afternoon of sliding pies in and out of the oven in the sweltering kitchen for the lunch rush and then having to trek home in the heat wave with the AC broken in the Jeep, we were practically puddle people by the time we walked through my front door.
“Amen to that,” I echoed, closing my eyes in ecstasy as the cold air rushed against my sweaty skin. Tyler, always with more of a flair for the dramatic than me, sprawled out on the kitchen floor and pressed a cheek against the cool tile, moaning again.
Mom was out running errands (i.e., getting herself primped and pretty for her date later that night with Neil), leaving Tyler and me alone in the cold, empty house.
I was still in the process of slipping off my shoes when he darted a flushed palm out and gently wrapped it around my ankle, motioning for me to join him on the floor.
“C’mon, Ol,” he mumbled, eyes closed and nearly falling asleep at the immediate comfort of being cooled. “Lie with me.”
“On the floor?” I questioned his antics but still I obliged, stretching myself out on the tile and feeling the rush of chills up my legs and arms when my skin made contact with the cold floor.
As usual, Tyler was right, and now it was my turn to whimper as I snuggled into the crook of his arm, giggling at how ridiculous we probably looked, inhaling his scent—a mix of cologne, laundry detergent, and boy.
But as soon as the noise of pleasure left my mouth, Tyler’s spine stiffened.
I raised my head and looked at him curiously. “Everything okay?”
Tyler wasn’t meeting my eyes, looking off to the side at the cracked leg of one of our kitchen table chairs.
His voice sounded tight and scratchy when he spoke.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Even as he said it, I noticed his shorts, and it made me feel just as flushed and sweaty as I was ten seconds before coming into the house.
As if he could sense me watching him, Tyler turned his head and looked directly at me. But he didn’t look embarrassed—his dark eyes were inky, swirling with desire. We hadn’t had sex before, and it wasn’t lost on me how monumental this moment felt.
I didn’t even have to say what I was thinking, because it wasn’t like he didn’t already know. Tyler’s always been able to read me like a book, and this moment was no different. Wordlessly, I pressed my lips to his.
The kiss was delicate at first, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Tyler’s tongue explored my mouth curiously, in a way that he hadn’t ever done before. A way that sent electric currents zinging up my spine and into my fingertips, down to my toes.
“God, Olive,” Tyler whispered against me, both of us growing feverish.
“I love you so much. How did I land such a beautiful girl?” His words of praise sang through my heart and all its chambers, through my bloodstream, roaring in my ears.
And there was a dull ache in my chest that I couldn’t—and didn’t want to—ignore.
He loves me. Tyler Ferris said he loves me.
I didn’t think any sweeter words had ever existed in the history of all human language.
He broke our kiss to press his mouth up against the shell of my ear, his voice low and husky. “I’m ready if you are, Ol.” Then he ran his hands down my sides, making me shiver all over.
After that, it didn’t take long for us to scramble up from the floor and wind up on my bed, a blurry tangle of lips and fingers and discarded clothing and skin.
Tyler was in the middle of searching through his tossed-aside pants for his wallet when I reached under my mattress and presented him with a thin foil square of my own.
He gave me a cheeky grin, standing there beautiful and so very, very mine in a way that I thought was forever. “Typical Olive. I’m not sure why I expected any different. I’m shocked this wasn’t already penned into your planner.”
I waggled the foil at him. “You know I’m always prepared.
” And while it was the truth, and I really did feel prepared, it didn’t stop my spine from stiffening the moment right before it happened, with Tyler poised above me and looking down at me with such a tender look of concern that it felt like he squeezed my heart.
“What are you nervous about?” His voice was soft and concerned.
“I don’t know.” I buried my head in the crook of his shoulder to avoid looking at his face, even though I knew the last thing he’d do right now—or ever—was mock me for how I was feeling.
“I just hope it’s good. Not that, like, I’m worried about you being bad or anything, because you’re you, so I don’t really think it’s going to be an issue…
” I trailed off, sighing. “I hope I make you feel good enough, because I love you, too.”
I’d remember every second of that moment for the rest of my life, but what stuck with me and shone brighter than anything else was the gentle way the tip of his nose brushed mine, and the soft feathering of his breath on my lips as he moved, comforting me through every second.
“With us, Ol, it’ll always be good.”