CHAPTER SIX #2
I wished I could eat like that. Of course, he was close to a foot taller than I was. And didn’t have to be at the top of his fitness levels for dance. Or look good in a leotard. I shouldn’t even eat the one cupcake I was allowing myself.
But they were so good. Siobhan made them from scratch, and the homemade chocolate frosting she put on them was one of my favorite things. So, I ate it and did my best not to think about staying perfectly thin for ballet.
“I’ll pack this up and we can go get ready to swim, if you want to.” I started putting empty containers back in the basket.
He said nothing, and I finally looked up at him. He was staring at me.
“Edward? Do you want to go swimming?”
He stared at my mouth. “You, um, have a little something…” he gestured to my mouth.
“Oh,” I wiped at the side of my mouth. “Did I get it?”
“No. Come here.”
I scooted over beside him on the quilt.
He leaned in and licked frosting off the side of my lip, and I sucked in a breath. His hands went to either side of my jaw, cupping my face and pulling me towards him.
Then his lips were on mine. They were gentle at first, then, as I kissed him back, he got bolder. One of his hands moved to the back of my neck as he deepened the kiss, his tongue exploring my mouth.
He pulled back for a moment but didn’t let go of me. “You taste like summer,” he whispered. “And cake,” he grinned.
I just stared into those crystal-blue eyes of his, too kiss drunk to say anything.
He dipped his head back down and kissed me like he meant business, his mouth moving over mine hungrily as we lost ourselves in each other.
I had never kissed a guy quite like this before.
Sure, I’d kissed a few, but they’d been quick, closed-mouth kisses that hadn’t been that exciting.
It hadn’t been until I’d kissed Edward the day he saved me from the goose attack that I’d experienced a kiss that had made my insides heat up and my knees go weak.
And these kisses? They felt like adult kisses.
Real kisses. The kind that led to a whole lot more.
In fact, Edward started leaning me back on the quilt, kissing me over and over, and I was ready to let him do just about whatever he wanted to do.
His hand moved under my shirt, over my abdomen, and up to cup my breast.
He groaned and kissed me harder. “God, you’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered, as his kisses grew even more passionate.
And that’s when Louisa and Liam found us.
“Here they are!” they screamed with glee as they burst through the long frond-like branches of the weeping willow tree.
I gasped and sat up, while Edward hurriedly sat back and tried to look innocent even though my lipstick was all over his mouth.
Louisa giggled when she saw him, but Liam cried out, “Ew, gross! They were kissing.” Then he burst back out of the confines of the tree screaming, “They were kissing, they were kissing,” to anyone who would listen.
“Oh my God.” Edward shook his head as he hurried to stand up. “Your parents…”
I put a hand on his shoulder. “Won’t be surprised at all. Don’t worry.”
He made a worried face anyway. “Your dad is kind of a scary dude.”
I laughed even though I knew he wasn’t wrong. Dad didn’t like the thought of me and Olivia growing up, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew Edward and I liked each other. And that Lufton was crazy about Livy.
“Come on.” I grabbed his hand. “I’ll take this stuff back to Orla and then go put on a swimsuit. Why don’t you get ready, and then I’ll meet you down at the lake.”
He looked hesitant, and I knew he was thinking about my dad and Hawthorne hanging out by the pool. Edward usually changed in the pool house, but I was guessing he didn’t want to since we could still hear Louisa and Liam screaming about how they’d found us kissing inside the ‘secret tree room’.
“If you’re that scared of my dad, just go get ready in Declan or Aidan’s room.”
He looked relieved. “I am definitely that scared.” He smiled, though, and pulled me close for one more kiss. “This has been a great start to the summer,” he whispered next to my ear.
It sure had.
And the rest of the summer continued on that way.
Edward and I spent as much time together as we could.
He had to work in his family’s orchard some, and I had signed up for two different ballet intensives for the summer.
One was a week with a company in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the other was for two weeks in Columbia, South Carolina.
But when we were together? It was dreamlike.
We spent a lot of time sneaking around after dark that summer.
I’d climb down the tree outside my window and meet him on the floating dock in the middle of the lake.
Sometimes we’d hang out with Declan, Aidan, Olivia, and Lufton and drink a little beer or wine we’d sneak from the stash our parents thought was a secret.
Other times it was just Edward and me. Those times were my favorite. We spent a lot of time talking, laughing, and making out under the stars.
That was the summer I learned how to kiss… and a few other things. But we always stopped short of actual sex. I wasn’t ready, and Edward respected that. Especially when I told him that when I was ready, it was him I wanted to be with.
The summer blew past in a series of long, sun-soaked days. Before we knew it, we were saying goodbye again. If I’d thought it had been hard to see him go the previous summers, it was nothing compared to this time.
The night before he had to leave, he’d asked me to be his girlfriend. I’d said yes, of course, and was so relieved that we were on the same page. We’d ended up falling asleep on the dock in each other’s arms, not waking until the very early morning.
“Oh, shit,” he’d whispered as he’d jumped to his feet. “Come on, Cara. We’ve got to go before someone sees us.”
“Will you come back over to say goodbye later?”
“Of course,” he’d held me in his arms a while longer before we’d gotten in one of the canoes tied to the dock and rowed to shore.
He gave me a quick kiss and then took off running back around the side of my house.
I knew Edward and Lufton parked their cars somewhere secret Declan had shown them for whenever they ‘left’ our house at night and then came back through the woods to continue hanging out with us.
He made good on his promise to come back and see me. He and Lufton ended up staying most of the day with us.
I cried when I hugged him goodbye, but then he whispered plans in my ear to see me during the school year.
And my tears had dried up enough I could wave him goodbye that last day of summer.