Chapter 34 #2
My heartbeat thumped against his chest, pounded in my neck, pumped through my lips.
I pushed one of my hands through his curly hair and belted my other arm around his body until there was no space between us.
It was exactly like how we were in the Jeep all those years ago.
It was the same overwhelming, intense desire for each other.
As we kissed, we clung to one another as if my arms were his and his arms were mine.
Our hold wasn’t close enough; it wasn’t tight enough.
We needed to breathe each other in more than we needed air.
His tongue plunged into my mouth, and we ruined each other once again, right there on the dance floor. I couldn’t hear our soft groans against the music, but I felt them against our sweaty skin.
We both stopped to take a breath and held each other’s hungry, desperate stare.
Rory was a drug to me. I craved him. He was my center of gravity, and my life had been pulling toward him since before I even knew him.
It was just like the first time I ever saw Rory Campbell.
A steady knock had been rattling inside me, waiting for something to be let in, and when Rory and I finally connected, the quiet knocking stopped.
I brought our lips together again, and he pressed his hands into my ass, lifting me like he owned me, like I was his to grab, like I was his to take. My legs wrapped around him, binding to his waist. He spun me around, moving us away from the dance floor, until my back landed against a wall.
His hands dragged up my rib cage, pulling on my sticky skin, pushing up my shirt. My back pressed into the wall as his one arm moved around my waist. He held me tightly while his other hand slipped beneath my bra. Our kissing was feverish.
His thumb grazed over my nipple, and he squeezed, pulling out from me an unexpected moan that reverberated against his mouth. He groaned back, still squeezing my breast, and started sucking roughly on my neck.
“Wait, Rory.” My heartbeat was thumping louder than the music, throbbing against the top of my head.
He pulled back, immediately stopping. “What? What’s wrong?”
“People can see us.” I couldn’t control my shock as I sat perched on his hips.
“I don’t care. Ellie, I don’t fucking care.
” He put his mouth back on me. His tongue pressed into my salty skin as he kissed me hard along the underside of my jaw.
He bit into my neck, marking me up just as he had once before.
His hand moved from my breast, down my side, and back to my ass, where he held me against the wall.
He brought me down his body, then thrust against me, hitting me perfectly between my legs.
“Oh my god,” I gasped. Thank the good Lord I was wearing pants, because had I been wearing a skirt or a dress, things could have gotten out of control. Although let’s face it, they already had.
Rory kissed me again, holding my face with one hand, only this time I could feel him tear through my reality. My body started to contract. My skin buzzed and burned, and our electricity pulsed through me as he pushed himself hard against me once more.
“Holy shit . . .” I started shaking, feeling every sensation pull toward my center. “Wait, baby. Wait.” Rory stilled, and my heart jolted up into my throat. “I can’t—I can’t just come in the back of a club. I . . . I . . .” My mind was spinning. “We can’t do this here.”
I must have been having a stroke. I had never done anything like this in my life, and there was simply no other excuse for my delirium.
Other than the fact that only Rory could eviscerate my self-control.
Only Rory could unravel me. Only Rory could both bring me back to life and then dismantle it entirely.
Rory’s forehead fell to my shoulder again. His curls stuck to the side of my face. “Okay. Christ. Okay. You’re right. I’m sorry.” He was out of breath. “I need a minute.”
I gathered all my willpower and untangled my legs, then slid them down his body until I was standing again.
I felt Rory’s labored breathing against my collarbone, his head still locked in place on my shoulder.
I closed my eyes and burrowed my face into his neck, then started quietly laughing.
“I’m so afraid to look at everyone. Do you think they saw us? ”
Rory’s solid body started to shake, matching my muffled laughter. “I hope not. I think I started humping you.”
I let out a loud laugh. He might have pulled out my boob as well, but I didn’t need to bring that to his attention. We kept our faces hidden in each other’s bodies as we continued to laugh and catch our breath.
“Okay, let’s look over at them at the same time,” Rory offered, and I nodded against his neck.
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
“Ready? Go.” Rory lifted and turned his head, never taking his hands off my waist. He looked back at the dance floor we had moved away from.
I tilted my head to the side to look over his shoulder and opened my eyes. All five of our friends were staring at us, motionless, mouths gaping. Rory snorted, puffed his cheeks out, and dropped his head back down to hide.
I threw my hand over my eyes, unintentionally slapping my own face. “Don’t make me look at them again!” I cried out with laughter.
Rory lifted his head. His eyes softened, and he peeled my hand from my face as he laced our fingers together. After a moment of just looking at each other, he said, “Do you realize you called me baby?”
I pressed my lips together, feeling my entire body heat and flush. “I . . . It just slipped out,” I said quietly.
A warm smile spread across his face. “No, it didn’t. We do that now.”
Somehow, I knew he was thinking the exact same thing as me, at the exact same time. We’re doing this now.
“Come on,” he said softly, tipping his head over to our friends. “We’ve got to face them.”
“Zoe’s gonna say something outrageous. I know it.”
“I can’t wait to hear it.” He laughed.
I dropped my head, then said under my breath, “Fuck me.”
“I’m going to.” Rory smiled as he walked backward, tugging me back to the dance floor, toward our friends.
My head shot up as my thumping heart dropped. “Rory!” I pulled on his hand, stopping him dead on the dance floor. It felt like I was malfunctioning. He wrapped his free hand around me, slipping his fingers beneath my waistband with a dangerous smile. “Is this crazy? Are we being crazy?”
“What do you mean?” He lifted my hand and kissed my palm.
“What is this?”
Rory looked peaceful, like his entire being had quieted. He slowly shook his head. “I’m not falling for it, Cains. You know what this is.” He kissed my palm again, with his eyes locked on mine.
I could feel my brain start to fog, so I decided to stick to the immediate future. “Okay, but right now, in this exact moment, are we going to go dance with everyone and try not to be perverts?”
“No promises.” Rory smiled devilishly, repeating my words from the night before at Topgolf.
I slammed my hand into my forehead, and Rory just laughed as he brought me over to our friends.
When we got to everyone, Zoe looked at us, wide-eyed. “I’ll be masturbating to what you two just did for the rest of my life.”
“Zoe!” I threw my hand up to cover my eyes again, truly mortified.
Rory moved behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me in so my back was pressed against him. It was the first time he’d ever held me this way, but it was like we had been comfortably living in each other’s personal space for years.
“And your tits? Perfection. You’re giving Maddy a run for her money.” Zoe dipped her cocktail napkin into her drink and dabbed her chest.
“Oh . . . my god.” Rory’s head fell to my shoulder, this time with a shuddering laugh. “I’m sorry.”
“All good,” I said, trying not to laugh with him. “I think that was happening at the same time as the humping.” Rory pressed his face into my neck to try to stifle his laughter, but I could feel him shaking behind me.
“Cameron dry-humped me against a wall once.” Kara jumped into the fold like a real contender. “In your house. Your games room.” Kara knocked her elbow against Hannah. “Those Campbell boys, am I right?”
“I literally don’t know what to say right now,” Hannah said.
I crossed my arms around my stomach and folded my fingers into Rory’s.
He kissed my shoulder softly, reminding me that we were in this together.
With his lips, I felt our lightning bolt pierce through me from my shoulder to my feet, rooting me to the ground.
My back fused into his chest, and we breathed together.
I wondered if we had always been in it together.
Did we still have moments, even while apart, when we thought the same thing at the same time?
Was the reason I could never let him go, no matter how hard I tried, because he was always “in it” with me?
“Cameron’s going to be so mad at me.” Orson laughed, covering his face with his hand, then scraping it over the top of his head.