Chapter 44
Dakota
Micah’s mouth was on mine the second the door to his truck swung shut.
He tasted good, minty and clean. I grabbed at his shoulders, his neck, running my fingers through his hair as my lips parted for his tongue.
I couldn’t understand how he didn’t seem nervous we would get caught, but his confidence soothed most of my anxieties.
“Aren’t you worried we’ll get caught?” I panted against his mouth, half climbing onto his-lap to grind on his thigh. “You could lose your lab.”
He sighed, shaking his head as he pulled away from me. I frowned. “I wouldn’t lose the lab,” he started. “They’d expel you to keep me—but we’re not going to get caught.”
A cold chill slid down my spine, a harsh reminder of the way this would end differently for him than it would for me. I looked down at his chest, finger tracing a line of stitching on his collar.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Nobody is going to see you.”
He kissed me again, his hand gripping my throat to bring me closer.
I surrendered to the fuzzy feeling of blood loss in my head, melting into him, my tongue gliding against his, my thighs angling wider.
I felt like such a slut with him, like I’d let him do anything he wanted to me.
We’d fucked a few times since the first time, always in his truck, but I still got nervous about it. About him.
His hand slid up my thigh to my hip, palm dragging over the curve of my ass while he kneaded my flesh. We were parked at the back of the lot, shadows from the pine trees falling over the car and the branches brushing the roof when the wind blew.
“I want to take you somewhere,” he mumbled against my mouth, nipping with his teeth.
“Are we going on a field trip, Professor?”
“Do not start calling me that.” His hand came down hard on my ass and I yelped with the sting. He was grinning now. “You hear me?”
“I hear you. Where are we going?”
“Get in your seat. I’ll show you.”
I slid across the smooth leather of the bench seat over to my side of the cab, my eyes still lingering on his profile.
Obediently, I rested my hands in my lap, keeping them to myself.
Micah started reversing, the heel of his hand pushing on the steering wheel while he maneuvered the truck out of the parking spot.
I flipped down the visor to make sure my makeup wasn’t smudged in the little mirror, but writing on the vinyl caught my attention instead. It was very faded, probably old permanent marker.
A+K FUCK
“What is this?” I asked, pointing to the old writing.
Micah glanced over. “Oh. I got this truck used. I tried to scrub it off—as you can probably tell, but whatever. I don’t ever see it.” He leaned over, inspecting the writing better. “Yeah, I don’t know what it means. I honestly forgot it was there.”
“Alright.” I laughed nervously. “I worried it was your secret girlfriend who wrote it—but I guess your name starts with an M, so that doesn’t make sense anyway.”
“Yeah. Lay down,” Micah said, eyes narrowing on the few other faculty members shuffling towards their cars.
Butterflies dipped around in my stomach as I laid on my side, resting my cheek on his thigh. His quad was warm through his pants, adding to the heated blush staining my skin. He wrapped a possessive hand around my jaw, fingertips brushing my mouth.
I darted my tongue out to lick the tip of his finger, twisting my head so I could see his face when I bit down lightly. He didn’t seem to mind.
The most nerve-wracking part of Micah was how well he seemed to understand me—he wasn’t similar to me, but he knew my soul in a way. It was as if he already held all the keys to all my secrets, and could unlock them whenever he desired. He owned pieces of me I’d never even given names to.
And I felt sick with guilt whenever I thought about the fact that I’d texted Mason to pick me up right after having sex with Micah. I’d lied to him so I could run into the arms of a different man.
I turned my head back, rubbing my cheek on his pants, attempting to forget all the awful things I’d done.
When we finally rolled to a stop a while later, we were parked at a trailhead. It was only a few minutes from my favorite beach, and I considered telling Micah that, but I decided against it.
“It’s not a long hike. You’ll be fine in what you have on.” Micah motioned to my jeans and platform Docs as he helped me out of the truck. I looked down at myself, then back at him. “Or I’ll carry you. Let’s go.”
I stared at the entrance to the forest like it held all the answers. Tall evergreens towered over the trail, beckoning me, calling to me like a familiar place, even though I’d never been here.
The trees were damp with rain, clear droplets sliding off the tips of their branches and plummeting to the damp ground. Gray clouds filled the sky, hanging low and moving on the wind. A few birds took flight above our heads, wings flapping and feathers rustling, their caws piercing the air.
Micah and I walked past the boundary of the trees together.
Shadows pooled between springy ferns and fallen logs, and a few shafts of light broke through the canopy, muted and silvery, illuminating the moss-laden branches that hung low, dripping.
It’d rained this morning, and everything was quieter now because of it.
The air smelled like cedar and earth and wet stone.
Micah pulled me forward over soft pine needles that swallowed the sound of our footsteps until the path got muddy, then he hoisted me onto his back. I rested my cheek on his shoulder, swaying with his even steps, his steady breathing soothing me.
I could hear the ocean before I could see it, the waves crashing on the sand and rocks, the wind racing over its tumultuous surface, saltwater spray carrying on the breeze.
We reached a clearing where the trees broke apart for open sky, a sheer drop leading down to the ocean at the edge of the jutting piece of earth we stood on.
There was a large rock and Micah set me down on my feet, bringing me around to sit on the rock with him.
I flattened my hands on the rough surface, the wind tugging at my hair and clothes, smelling of salt. It was colder here.
I liked the contrast, the closeness of the forest pressing in and the sudden infinity of the sea.
“Is this what you wanted to show me?”
“Yes,” Micah confirmed.
“It’s pretty.”
“It represents something I’ll never be able to undo,” he said, staring out at the slate gray waves, flecked with foam. “It reminds me of all my past choices, and to be cautious with my future ones.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, but I didn’t say anything. My hands wrapped around his arm, my head leaning on his shoulder. If he wanted me to know, he’d tell me.
“I regretted it for a long time,” he continued after a minute of silence.
“And now?”
“Now I’m not sure.”
“Okay,” I whispered. “You can tell me—or you could say whatever you want. I wouldn’t care. You could say anything.”
He was quiet for a second, and a beat of embarrassment made heat rise in my throat. I felt suddenly very young. Very naive. He’s a full grown adult man, who doesn’t need me offering my ear.
“I appreciate that, Masters.” He turned his body, wrapping me in his big arms, his mouth tilting with a half-smile. “I don’t have much to say anymore, though. Why did you pick chemical engineering?” he asked, gazing down at me, fingers squeezing my shoulder.
“Honestly? For the money. Why did you?”
“For a distraction. Tough material doesn’t leave much space in the brain for other things, if you really want to avoid them.”
I can understand that.
“That apartment I took you to isn’t where you live, is it?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Where do you live?”
“In a shitty mobile home I got from my aunt at the beginning of my sophomore year,” I whispered, my voice hardly carrying above the wind.
“Did you grow up in one too?”
I looked away, past him, up at the sky, as I nodded.
Ribbons of wind wove themselves between the towering trees, curving their tops, moving them in a mass of shadowy green. The clouds were gray and dark, but not dark enough to rain yet. I didn’t really want to talk about my childhood.
“I want to see the cliff closer,” I said, not waiting for his response.
I slid off the rock, crawling over the mossy ground then laying down on my belly to look over the edge of the steep cliff.
The face was sheer, a few trees patched into the side of the mountain and rocks lining the base, jagged like teeth.
Fog obscured most of the bottom, but I knew it was a long way down. Not a fall I would survive.
Micah was laying over me after a handful of seconds, rolling me onto my back, kissing the breath from my lungs.
His eyes were low and dark, skimming over my face as he held it between his hands, thumbs running along my jaw.
He looked so handsome like this, with his dark blond hair messy and falling over his forehead, the clouds and trees moving behind him. Like he belonged in the profound nature we were surrounded by. His straight brows, strong jaw, piercing eyes with a dark ring around the edge of each iris.
“Do you trust me?” he asked, then kissed me again.
My eyes connected with his when he pulled away. I don’t think I should trust you, but you’re looking at me like you need me to say yes. I swallowed, heart rate quickening.
“Yes.”
He dragged me up a few inches, so my head was near the edge of the cliff. When I looked to the side, I could see the steep drop in my periphery, the edge of my face surrounded only by air. My pulse was climbing into my throat, wild and frantic.
“What are you doing?” I questioned. A desperate throb was building between my thighs, spurred on by the thrill.
“How much do you trust me?”
How far do you want to take this? What will you do if I trust you entirely? If I trust you with my life?
“More than this,” I said, a little scared. My breasts ached. I could feel every inch of my body against the ground.