Ronan
I wish I’d never have to leave this room, would never have to get out of this bed, ever. Nothing would make me happier than staying right here with Cat until the end of my days. God, I’ve been craving her. Physically, emotionally, in every way possible.
It took no time at all for me to absolutely lose my head, for my rational brain to power down and my instinctive need for her to take over. Holy shit, she’s everything. That perfect, beautiful, soft, tight body of hers. Her sexy voice and her stunning face. I wanted to take things slow, to savor her and our physical reunion, but that resolve went out the window the second I locked the door behind us. I obviously have no willpower when it comes to Cat. I never have.
I was frantic to touch her, feel her, and shit, to smell and taste her. It was a primal, almost animalistic need. I’ve fantasized about going down on her, have had dirty dreams about gliding my tongue over her warm, wet flesh, but fuck, she’s sweeter and more delicious than I could have ever imagined. I would’ve gladly spent hours lapping up every last drop of her.
I must admit, though, that nothing compares to what it feels like to thrust into her, to bury my throbbing cock deep inside her, for my body to meld with hers. Holding her like that, feeling the heat of her body seep into my skin, I finally feel alive again. She’s so perfect underneath me—soft, and hot, and tight—it’s fucking insane. I’m not new to sex by any means, but with Cat, it’s not just the physical act. It’s me wholly and completely giving myself to her. I’m willingly making myself vulnerable to someone for the first time in my life.
I have to constantly refocus, reminding myself to take it slow, take my time, make it last. But when Cat comes hard underneath me, her fingers on my back, lips on my mouth as she moans out her climax, I lose myself to her and fall into all-consuming pleasure. This, right here, is pure, unbridled bliss that wipes out everything around me. It’s just Cat and me. I love this girl more than life itself.
We lie in bed for a long while after I slip out of her, her front pressed to mine while she softly strokes my bare back with her fingers.
I’m not ready to get out of this bed yet, and neither is she, but I’m sure our extended absence won’t go unnoticed by our friends. I’m sure they’re already talking shit out there, especially if they heard us. Cat wasn’t exactly quiet.
I leisurely crawl over Cat’s naked body, hovering over her for a moment to kiss her and feel her breasts pressing against my chest before I finally stand and pull my boxers back on.
She giggles when I reach my hand out for her and pull her up and out of bed so we can both get ready to rejoin our friends on the deck.
We’re dressed in a matter of minutes, and I wait for Cat while she quickly disappears into the bathroom. “Let’s just run away together,” I say, only half joking, and pull her into my arms the second she returns to me.
“Where do you want to go?” she asks sweetly—her arms around my neck, fingers gently grazing my skin—as if she’d actually consider it.
“Anywhere you like. The mountains? The desert? Middle of nowhere? I don’t really care; I just want to be with you and not here.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
I chuckle. “Great. Your mom will be delighted and not pissed at me at all.”
“She’d have a heart attack for sure,” Cat says, joining in my laughter, “and then I’d remind her that she eloped with my dad right out of high school and got married at nineteen, and that your family has a similar predisposition to getting married young.”
“Huh,” I say, realizing she’s right. “I guess that means I need to start saving up for a ring.”
Her gorgeous hazel eyes get huge. “Don’t even joke like that!”
“Who says I’m joking?”
“!” she scolds me, making me laugh.
“Hypothetically, if I asked you to marry me one day, would you?” I’m not sure what the hell I’m trying to accomplish here. My heart squeezes uncomfortably at the thought of getting rejected by her.
She considers me, making the most adorable fucking face. “Hypothetically?”
I nod.
“Hypothetically, I think I would. Hypothetically, would you ask me?”
I grin. “Didn’t I just hypothetically ask you?”
“I guess so,” she says, and kisses me softly. “But before you hypothetically ask me anything this life-changing, let’s try to make it through these next few weeks and maybe graduate high school, okay?”
“If you insist,” I say, and kiss her back before interlacing our fingers and leading her back to the deck.
Sure enough, all eyes are immediately on us, knowing expressions on everyone’s faces.
“All better now?” Vada teases, wiggling her eyebrows.
I take my seat on the outdoor sofa and pull Cat back into my lap like this is exactly where she was always meant to be. “For now. May need a booster in an hour or so,” I say, and Cat wiggles in my lap, blushing. “Or sooner,” I groan, gritting my teeth. I move my hands to her hips to hold her in place and stop her butt from rubbing against my groin in a way that threatens to make me go hard again.
“Sorry,” she mouths and blushes.
I can’t help but smile at her. Life is so much easier when I’m with her.
Soon, our group eases back into a familiar dynamic, and I feel content sitting here, Cat near me. Occasionally she gets up to go into the house, but quickly returns and sits as close to me as possible, always maintaining physical contact like we’re trying to recharge each other’s batteries after the prolonged absence.
Shane broaches the subject of my return to Murphy’s, which leads to a discussion about school and graduation. Vada tries to contain her obvious excitement about her ascension to the number one rank in our graduating class and her valedictorian title. I assure her that she has every right to be happy.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you, why am I not seeing hundreds of people here to celebrate Summer’s birthday?” I ask Shane. I one hundred percent expected to find this place packed when I turned onto the private road leading to the house.
Shane shrugs.
“He hasn’t really been throwing parties, to be honest,” Tori says.
I narrow my eyes. “Why not?”
“It just wasn’t the same without you,” Shane says with a shrug. “I tried a couple times, but…”
“But what?” I ask.
“I don’t know. There were a lot of rumors going around about what happened to you, and… fuck, I just missed you. I wasn’t in the mood, and I don’t really think anyone else was either. We didn’t really feel like celebrating, you know?”
“Yeah, especially after what happened in February,” Vada says.
“Why? What happened in February?” I ask her.
I notice the stern looks both Steve and Cat are throwing at Vada, though Vada is oblivious.
“Well, Drew made a move on Cat. Just like followed her into the bathroom and—”
Vada doesn’t even finish her sentence before I’m up and off my seat, my entire body tense.
“What?” I growl and turn to Shane. “When were you going to fucking tell me about this?”
“God damn it, Vada,” Steve snarls, and both he and Shane stand.
“No, Ran, I—” Shane starts, moving toward me.
“Ran, it’s okay,” Cat says, standing up next to me, her hand on my forearm.
“Did he put his fucking hands on you?” I ask her with a frown.
“He kissed me, but—”
Deep, dark red.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I say against gritted teeth. I don’t know why, but nothing makes me see red more than the idea of some fucking asshole putting his hands on Cat without her permission.
Shane works to defuse my anger. “No, Ran, listen! Cat handled it. We weren’t going to tell you because Cat handled it,” he says, his arm stretched out, hand raised to calm me down.
“What do you mean?” My jaw is tight.
“Cat kicked his ass,” he says, then smiles at Cat.
“We kept an eye on her the entire time you were gone, Ran,” Steve says. “We obviously noticed Drew hovering and shit, and the night of Shane’s party, Cat was a little…”
“Drunk,” Cat says matter-of-factly, sliding her hand back into mine.
Steve nods. “She said something about needing to use the bathroom. Tori was like, stumbling around, drunk off her ass, too, and so Shane got distracted. And then we couldn’t find Cat, so we looked for her and we saw her and Drew in the bathroom from across the living room.”
“What did he do?” I ask Cat, trying to keep my voice steady even though unfiltered rage boils in my chest.
“I don’t even really remember,” Cat says with a shrug. “He was talking about liking me and that you were probably off hooking up with girls. He said he’d never do that to me, that he could make me happy…”
My chest feels tight.
“And then he just shoved his tongue into my mouth,” Cat says, her lips curling with disgust.
“What did you do?” I ask.
“Kneed him in the balls,” she says nonchalantly.
The pressure on my chest instantly eases.
“Steve and I just booked it to the bathroom, but before we could do anything at all, Cat punched him in the nose.” Shane laughs heartily. “God, he was bleeding all over the damn place.”
“You did?” I ask Cat.
She nods, smiling at me.
“She sure did,” Steve says. “You would have been so proud of her.”
“I am proud of her,” I say.
Cat’s smile gets even wider. “I learned how to do that from you,” she giggles. “Just a quick little one-two punch to catch him off guard and then finish it with the knee.”
“Oh, okay,” I chuckle at her, feeling relieved.
“Better not pick a fight with her,” Steve tells me with a laugh. “She’s a little streetfighter.”
“I’m pretty good at kicking ass, too,” Vada pipes up.
“Oh, yeah, definitely. Can’t forget about your little brawl,” Steve says.
I raise my eyebrows, waiting for further explanation. My friends begin to tell me about the gossip that’s been making the rounds, ever evolving since I was in the hospital last August. My heart constricts at the vicious nature of the rumors—that Cat was somehow responsible for me getting hurt, my leaving New York—and the name-calling she had to endure.
While I appreciate their efforts to keep my business as private as possible, I can’t help the guilt that claws at me.
“God, baby,” I say, pulling Cat into my arms. I feel like such shit for what everyone has had to go through these past seven months. “Why didn’t you tell me you were dealing with this?”
“Because you wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it, Ran,” Cat says sweetly. “You would have been stuck in Montana knowing what was going on at home, unable to change anything and I didn’t want to burden you with that. You already have so much on your shoulders.”
“So do you guys,” I sigh.
“But we had each other,” Shane says. “You didn’t really have anyone. We needed you to focus on getting better. There was no point in sharing this with you because we knew you’d get yourself all worked up without any way to change anything. So, we just handled shit. Cat handled shit. She might look all sweet and innocent, but this chick is actually pretty badass,” Shane chuckles.
“Yeah, I know,” I say wholeheartedly. “And so are you, Vada,” I add, grinning at Vada.
“I know,” she says, making us laugh.
***
Cat’s curfew turns out to be midnight, and I tell Vada right away that I have every intention of taking Cat home tonight.
“Oh, actually, I drove,” Cat says, her tone decidedly giddy.
“What?” I’m confused.
“Oh, Ran, you’ll be so excited,” Vada says with a hint of sarcasm. “Cat got her car back. Didn’t you see it in the driveway?”
“No.” I gently shift out of Cat’s hold and get up to walk to the railing. I peer down to the driveway and only now notice the unfamiliar car parked behind Zack’s Honda. How the heck did I miss it when I pulled into the driveway?
Cat arrives by my side, a happy smile on her face. “What do you think?” She bites her bottom lip.
“I guarantee you my Mustang is a better match for you with how damn sexy you are, but I’m glad you got your car back. I know how much you missed it.”
Cat beams at me so brightly, her perfection threatens to blind me.
“Oh god, you’re disgustingly in love,” Vada groans, shaking her head.
“No truer words,” I say. “So, that means I won’t get to drive you home, huh?” It’s a disappointing thought.
Cat’s face falls. “I guess so.”
Vada huffs noisily. “God, fine. I’ll drive Cat’s car back to her house and she can ride with you,” she says with a self-sacrificing eye roll.
Steve stands. “Yeah, and I’ll hitch a ride with Zack. You two enjoy your half hour alone.”