Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
WILDFIRE KISSES
A s I rolled over in bed, I found the other side empty and cold. I slid my hand across the sheet as I peeled open my eyes and realized Oliver wasn’t there with me. Panic welled inside me and I sat up in a rush, my head swimming with the sudden movement. It was dark in the room with nothing but the soft glow of the TV illuminating parts of it.
I disconnected my vent and powered it off.
“Ollie?” I called out as I leaned over and flicked on the light. Tank lifted his head from where he was lying on the floor beside my bed. “Where is he, boy?” I murmured to my pony-sized dog like he would actually know.
As I climbed out of bed, I heard the click on the lock to our door. I froze in place, my heart hammering away in my chest. The door was pushed open and I glanced around looking for something I could use as a weapon. I spotted an oxygen tank on the floor and I quickly grabbed it, raising it above my head.
The door closed and footsteps came down the small hallway. Oliver appeared in the entryway of the room carrying a plastic bag that had containers inside. He paused, raising an eyebrow as he cocked his head to the side.
“What are you doing?”
Heat instantly flooded my cheeks, and I abruptly lowered the oxygen tank. I set it back where it originally was and cleared my throat. “I was, um—I was working out?”
I wanted to palm my forehead for the stupid response.
“Since when do you work out?” Oliver asked with a hint of amusement in his tone. “You were going to knock me out with that, weren’t you?”
My eyes widened. “Not you. The intruder or whoever was coming in who might not have been you.”
“You always find a way to surprise me, Luna.” Ollie chuckled and continued his walk through the room. He dropped down onto the couch and set the bag of food on the table. “Are you hungry?”
I glanced over at the clock, noting it was already seven o’clock in the evening. I slept for a solid five hours. The guilt instantly set in and I grimaced. My stomach, however, growled at the thought of food.
“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to nap that long. My body must have been more tired than I thought.”
Oliver patted the couch beside him, and Tank perked up as he looked over at him. “Not you, Tank,” he mumbled, shaking his head before he looked up at me. “Come eat, Luna. I can hear your stomach from here and you need something to give you energy.”
My footsteps were heavy with guilt as I walked over and dropped down onto the cushion beside him. Our bare knees brushed against one another and warmth spread like wildfire through my body. “I ruined the entire day.”
Oliver handed me one of the containers with a grin. “The day isn’t over yet.”
A smile spread across my lips as I looked inside and found shrimp tacos with rice and beans. I looked over at Ollie. “My favorite.”
He winked at me. “I told you, I know you, Luna Truly.”
We both began to eat as we watched some unfamiliar movie on TV. I took a few bites of my tacos and rice before I felt as if I couldn’t eat anymore. Even though my stomach had been growling, I didn’t have much of an appetite. It was probably from the sun earlier in the day and I’m sure I didn’t hydrate properly.
“Is something wrong with it?” Ollie asked as he set his container down.
I shook my head at him. “I’m just full. I’ll put it in the mini fridge and save it for later, though.”
He gave me a quizzical look but didn’t press the issue. Oliver always watched me like a hawk but he didn’t push unless he felt like he needed to. I was thankful in the moment that he didn’t because if he did I would have to lie to him. We were already heading home tomorrow, so I would worry about things then.
“What do you want to do tonight?” I asked him after putting my food in the fridge. “I don’t know what there really is to do so I wasn’t sure if you had anything in mind that you wanted to do.”
“I do have one idea,” he said with a mischievous smirk playing on his lips. “We didn’t get a chance to go swimming in the pool or the hot tub.”
“Is it still open?” I asked as I looked back over at the clock, noting it was now eight o’clock.
Oliver shrugged. “I say we get our bathing suits on and go check it out. If you’re up to it, of course,” he added quietly.
“Of course I am,” I told him, not sure if I really did feel up to it or not. If it was something Ollie wanted to do, we were going to do it. If I could help it, I wasn’t going to be holding him back anymore.
He hopped up like a little kid getting ready to run down the stairs on Christmas morning. “Do you want the bathroom to change or out here?”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” I told him as I slowly rose to my feet. Oliver gave me a look that said he needed me to make the decision. “I’ll take the bathroom.”
He nodded, and I grabbed my bathing suit and ducked into the other room, pulling the door shut behind me. As I slipped out of my clothes and into my suit, I found myself looking in the mirror. Underneath it all, I looked sickly. Thin, bones protruding. I didn’t have much fat or muscle in places most people would.
I had a pretty face, but that’s all I’d ever be. My body didn't compare. My breasts were smaller than most girls my age. Hell, I rarely ever got a period and if I did, it was short lived. I could thank my disease process for that one.
My friends claimed they were jealous I didn’t have to deal with it, but they didn’t look at the bigger picture. I would never be able to have kids and they would. Being a mother was something I never considered because I was told from a young age it would never happen. That was something I was jealous of.
I would have gladly had a period if it meant that some part of my life would physically be normal.
There was a soft knock on the other side of the door.
“Are you okay in there?” Oliver asked me.
I swallowed back my emotions and fixed my smile in place before heading out of the bathroom. I paused just by the door, grabbing one of the robes to cover my body before I finally went out. Oliver was already standing there, holding both of our towels and wearing just his swimming trunks. My mouth went dry as my gaze traveled across his perfectly chiseled torso and followed the V that disappeared beneath his waistband.
Ollie cleared his throat, and I blushed deeply as I looked back up at him. “Shall we?”
I nodded, and followed along with him. Maybe I would get lucky and drown in the pool so I wouldn’t have to keep dealing with this humiliation of getting caught every time I was checking out my best friend.
We took the elevator down to the first floor. There was an indoor pool on the top floor, but it was probably locked this late in the evening. Instead, we went out to the outdoor one, in hopes that no one would see us. The outdoor lights lit a path leading out to the beach so if you walked to the furthest corner of the pool, it was almost as if it were tucked away in the dark.
No one would ever see us over here.
Oliver set our towels down on the ground, tucking them under one of the chairs to try and hide them. He turned to face me as he held his hands out. I glanced down at his palms and back up to his face with a quizzical look.
“Your robe,” he murmured with a slow smile.
If he could see me in the dark, he would most definitely see how bright red my cheeks were at that moment. I pulled on the tie around my waist but I pulled the wrong way. Instead of untying it, I simply made a huge knot.
“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath as I tried to untie it in the darkness of the night. I couldn’t see it well enough and my fingers felt numb. The soft breeze that drifted from the ocean kept pushing my hair into my face.
Oliver took a step toward me and closed the distance between us. “Let me.”
My heart crawled into my throat and I dropped my hands away as he began to work at the knot. I must have pulled it tighter than I thought because it took him a minute to separate the straps. He finally got it untied and released them as the front of the robe fell open, exposing me in my bikini.
Oliver inhaled sharply and he didn’t bother being discreet as his eyes traveled across my body. It wasn’t his first time seeing me in a bikini but this was different. The moment was intimate as we stood in front of each other under the moonlight.
He took another step toward me until the fronts of our bodies were almost touching. His fingertips were warm as he slid them across my shoulders, pushing the robe down my arms as he removed it for me. I stood frozen in place—barely breathing—as he dropped the white fabric to the floor and reached up to tuck a stray hair behind my ear.
A shiver rippled down my spine and I wasn’t sure if it was from the chill in my bones or from the way Oliver was looking at me right now. His eyes were hooded and the flames flickered in his irises. He dropped his hand away from my face and slid it into mine before he led me toward the pool.
The water was warm around my ankles as we slowly eased in. I had been swimming before, but it was something I always had to be careful doing. If I were to get water into my trach, it could cause some serious problems because the fluid would go directly into my lungs.
Since it was just the two of us and Oliver knew, he moved with precision through the water, careful to not create too many ripples. He moved his hand from mine and dove into the water. I watched as he disappeared beneath the surface and the water lapped against my stomach. His movements were smooth enough that he barely created any waves.
I inched closer to the edge of the pool where there was a ledge to sit on. The water felt like silk against my skin. I was careful to keep my chest above the water so it didn't get my central line wet. It was already irritated and I was trying to make it a habit to not look at it any time I was near a mirror. Although, it was getting harder to ignore the pain and the way it was heating my skin around it.
Oliver’s head popped up and he lazily swam back toward me. He didn’t stop moving until his hands reached my knees. My heart picked up the pace and he moved his hands onto the ledge of the seat, caging me in. Water dripped from his wavy hair and landed on his forehead and cheeks.
“You don’t want to swim?” he questioned me with his eyebrows pulled together.
I looked at him for a moment as the truth weighed heavily on my shoulders. It was right there on the tip of my tongue. I could tell him what was going on, but then the entire trip would be ruined. As much as I didn’t want to lie to Oliver, I wasn’t ready for any of this to be over yet.
“I like watching you.” I smiled at him.
His gaze lingered on mine and the corners of his lips twitched. “Oh yeah?”
I nodded. I knew how to swim, but being able to do it was a completely different story. And swimming underwater was never an option for me. Watching Oliver was mesmerizing, the way his body slid through the water with nothing holding him back.
Oliver moved closer to me as he lifted his chest from the pool. His thighs brushed against mine and my legs instinctively parted as he gripped the concrete on either side of my head. He was surrounding me completely, and my heart pounded erratically in my chest as his eyes drifted from my lips and back up to my eyes.
“I like watching you too, Luna,” he breathed as his gaze dropped back down to my mouth. His tongue slipped from his mouth as he wet his own lips. “Can’t seem to keep my fucking eyes off of you.”
Folding my lips in between my teeth, I swallowed hard over the lump that was lodged in my throat. My heart had a mind of its own and if I weren’t so caught up in the moment, I'd be concerned for my health and whether or not it was going to burst inside my chest. My breathing was shallow and the water between us shifted.
Warmth spread through my body and I wanted to clench my thighs together, but I couldn’t. Oliver situated himself between my legs, yet the only parts of us touching were our thighs. It felt like he was completely consuming me but I wasn’t overwhelmed.
I wanted more.
“I like you watching me,” I murmured as a ragged breath escaped me. My hands were shaky and nervous as I lifted them to wrap my arms around his back. Even though I was nervous, I felt more confident touching him. There was power in being the first one to make a move and having it be reciprocated.
I watched the fire burn brighter in his eyes.
“Is that so?” he questioned me with a glimmer of mischief passing through his sage irises. “I could watch you all day, love. You’re the one thing in life I will never grow tired of. I’m addicted to you, Luna Truly. You run rampant through my veins, and my whole fucking my system. And I can’t seem to get enough of it.”
I applied pressure with my hands, urging him closer to me. His hips collided with mine and I could feel how hard he was as he pressed against my center. It was only our bathing suits separating us. The intimacy between us was growing with an intensity and I didn’t want it to stop.
Oliver’s jaw clenched and he pressed into me harder. His erection brushed against the most sensitive part of my body and a whimper escaped me. My eyes widened and Oliver’s grew hazy with need.
“Fuck it,” he breathed as he slid his hands through my hair to cup the back of my head before his lips crashed into mine. He was gentle, but there was an urgency with every movement. Oliver pressed me against the side of the pool and the water lapped around our bodies as he kissed me like he was starving for the oxygen in my lungs.
His fire spread through my body like wildfire.
And I wanted to burn in him.