Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
RYDER - AGE SEVENTEEN
“ G o long!” Travis’s voice yells out as I run down the beach to await the throw. He reaches his arm back and spirals the ball to me. It’s coming straight at me, and I grin, knowing it’s going to be the perfect catch. Right before the football lands in my hands, Miles comes out of nowhere and tries to intercept. He fumbles, and the ball goes flying toward a couple of girls sunbathing on a towel.
“Head’s up!” I yell seconds before the football bounces between them. I jog over to apologize and retrieve the football.
“I’m sorry about that. My stupid ass brother knocked it out of my hand.” I grin at the pretty blonde who stands up to hand it back to me. I glance at her friend, who already has her nose back in a book, before returning my attention back to the blonde.
“It’s no problem. We luckily dodged it.” I feel her eyes on me as she roams my body, and I grin wider.
“I’m Ryder, by the way.”
“I’m Brooklyn, and this is my friend, Eve.”
I glance back at her friend, and blue eyes, the color of the ocean, stare back at me. Time seems to stand still. I take the time to really look at her and notice how the sun makes her long hair shine with different shades of gold and auburn. It’s like the perfect sunset woven together. I get so lost in her eyes as I stand there, unable to form a single thought.
“Hi,” she says. Her voice is soft and sweet as honey, and for a second, I wonder what my name would sound like coming from those full pink lips.
“I think my brother means to say hi back.” Miles comes up behind me and puts his arm around my shoulder, bringing me out of my daze. I shake my head to clear it and find my voice.
“Hi, Eve.” She bites back a smile, and a dimple appears on her cheek, causing butterflies to form in my stomach.
“I’m Miles, Ryder’s brother and obviously the more talkative and attractive one.” I tear my gaze away from Eve and grin at my brother before shoving him away, causing him to laugh.
“You wish. We both know who got the better genes.”
“I think you both got the best genes possible.” Brooklyn eyes Miles next to me causing him to immediately draw his attention to her.
“Ryder and I are going to a bonfire later tonight on the beach. You two should stop by.” He eyes Brooklyn, and she practically melts under his gaze.
I glance over at Eve, and she quickly looks away and blushes. I stop myself from grinning like an idiot, knowing she was checking me out. From the blush on her cheeks, she liked what she saw. Joy surges through me at the thought she could possibly be feeling something.
“I think we can do that. Eve?” She looks at her friend, and I hold my breath as Eve quickly looks my way before turning back to Brooklyn.
“I guess we could do that.” She works her bottom lip between her teeth, and all I want to do is free it with mine.
“Don’t worry about your parents. You’re spending the night with me anyway. They won’t know a thing.” I frown at her worried look and immediately want to take it away.
“I don’t want you to get in trouble.” She meets my eyes again when I speak, and I can see the worry in the depths of her blues.
“No, it’s okay. I’m staying at Brooklyn’s, so it will be fine.”
“Perfect. We’ll be there at eight.” Miles gives Brooklyn the directions while I study Eve. She’s fidgeting with the book in her hand, and I can tell she’s nervous.
“Are you sure?” I ask her quietly.
She nods her head and smiles for the first time, and I feel sucker punched in the gut. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful sight.
“I’m sure. I want to go.”
“You ready, brother? Travis and Jake are waiting on us.” I glance down the beach and see them waving us over. I nod at Miles before looking at Eve one last time.
“I guess I’ll see you later then.” I smile at her before Miles throws his arm over my shoulders again and starts to drag me away.
“I’ll be there.”
I watch her until Miles starts laughing. I break my gaze and focus on my brother. “What?”
“You’re real smooth, Romeo. If you were a cartoon, you would have big heart eyes on your face. Way to play it cool.”
“I can’t help it,” I grin back at him. “Did you see how beautiful she was?” I look back again, but my view of her is blocked now by other people on the beach.
“She’s young too, so be careful. They can’t be more than sixteen.”
“That’s only one year younger than us, and you were the one who invited them.”
“I did that for your benefit. I can tell, though, that Brooklyn is way more experienced than your innocent, shy one. Just watch yourself. You don’t want to do anything you’ll regret later.”
“I’ll be careful. Do you really think she’s never been with a guy?” I’ve never hung around someone younger than me. It’s usually my age or older. I don’t look seventeen, so even some of Jake’s friends have come on to me. “I mean, surely she’s kissed a guy.”
“I don’t know, man. She seemed pretty nervous around us.”
The thought of possibly being the only one to kiss those lips has me smiling before I can stop it. Miles catches on to what I’m thinking and starts laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Jake asks as we approach them.
“Ryder here is in love with a younger woman and wants to be her first.”
“I did not say that.” I scowl at Miles, causing him to laugh harder.
“Which one is she?” Travis peers down the beach, trying to find her.
“She’s way down there. You can’t see her from here.” There’s no way I’m pointing her out so my older brothers can embarrass me. Thank God our bonfire party tonight is our age group, so I only have to deal with Miles. “Let’s get back to our game. Travis and I were kicking your asses before Miles interrupted our play.”
“Which led you to meet your dream girl, so you owe me.” Miles throws the ball in the air before catching it.
“I guess I do,” I grin at him before catching the ball mid-air and tossing it to Travis. “Got to be quicker than that.” I laugh at his annoyed face as I get in position to finish the game. My thoughts keep going back to Eve and if she’ll back out tonight. I really wish I had gotten her number, just in case. Hopefully, her friend Brooklyn will get her there tonight because I have to get to know the girl who’s already captured a piece of my heart.
I look around for the millionth time, hoping to catch a glimpse of her auburn hair. Miles and I got here about thirty minutes ago, and I’ve been on edge ever since. We live in a small town, and I’ve never seen her around. I would have remembered. What if she doesn’t show up, and I never see her again? Fear has me gripping my beer tightly.
“Relax, Ryder. You’re going to crush that can in your hands. She’ll be here.” Miles chuckles softly.
“How do you know? She was already worried about her parents finding out. She may decide it’s not worth the risk.”
“Look at me?” He waves his arms down his body and smirks. “Her friend wants me. She’ll get her here.”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “If it depends on your looks to get them both here, then I might as well face the fact that I’ll never see her again.” Just saying the words causes a pain deep in my heart.
“Have a little faith, why don’t you? I’m going to go talk to our friends over there. You coming?” Miles gestures to a group standing by the fire.
“No, I’m going to hang out here for a little bit. I’ll be over soon.” He nods his head and walks away. I’m not in the mood to be thrown into conversations right now. I take a sip of my drink when I see her. The liquid has a hard time going down as I swallow hard.
She’s wearing a light blue sundress that makes her beautiful eyes stand out even more. Her hair is loose and down her back in soft curls. Every piece of me wants to dive my hands into it to see if it’s as soft as it looks. She nervously looks around as if she doesn’t know if she should be here.
She finally spots me, and I don’t even pretend I wasn’t looking at her the whole time. I couldn’t look away if my life depended on it. A shy smile plays on her lips as I hold her gaze. My feet automatically gravitate toward her like an unseen force is pushing me from behind.
I stop in front of her and smile. A light strawberry scent hits me, and I force myself not to breathe deeply so that I can fill my lungs with her.
“Hi, I’m glad you came. I was afraid you had changed your mind.”
“Hi,” she says softly. “I almost did. I don’t usually go out to parties.” She gives a small laugh, and I immediately want to hear it again.
“It took a lot of convincing, but I finally got her butt out the door.” I turn to look at her friend Brooklyn.
“Then, I guess I should be thanking you.” I glance back to Eve and see her cheeks redden again. God, that does something to me. I notice she has cute freckles across her nose, and my finger itches to trace them.
Her friend softly chuckles beside her. “I see Miles over there. I’m going to say hi. Are you coming or staying with lover boy?” Eve’s gaze never leaves mine as her friend talks. I wait for her to answer as she searches my eyes. I know I’m not doing a good job hiding my feelings, but I don’t give a damn if she knows how much I like her. I want the whole fucking world to know. I just hope it doesn’t scare her away. I have a feeling I need to go real slow with her. She’s worth the wait, though.
She must be feeling something, too, because I hear her say, “I’ll stay here for a bit and meet you over there.”
“Come get me if you need anything.” I feel her friend's eyes on me, but I keep my focus on the girl in front of me. Eve nods as Brooklyn walks away in search of my brother.
Blinking my eyes, I try to snap out of it so I don’t waste this time getting to know her.
“Do you want something to drink? They have beer, or I’m sure they have some mixed drinks around here somewhere that I could find.” I look around for the coolers.
“I’m good. I don’t drink much. I guess that’s a lie,” she laughs nervously. “I’ve never actually been to a party before, so I’ve never drank at all.”
“You’ve never been to a party before? Like ever?” I ask, surprised. There’s literally one every weekend around here.
“Nope,” she smiles. “My parents are super strict and barely let me out of the house unless it’s to see Brooklyn or something school-related.” It’s starting to make sense why I’ve never seen her around before. “Do you do this every weekend?” She looks around and takes in all the people drinking and partying.
“Miles drags me along when I’m free, but I prefer to be under a car most days. I help Jimmy restore cars in town at his garage.”
“I think I know the place. We just moved here this summer, so I don’t know my way around very well yet.”
“Will you be going to Blue Haven High?” The thought of seeing her every day has me excited about school for the first time in my life.
“I am. My parents wanted to put me in this strict private school, but since Brooklyn’s dad works with mine, he convinced him to let me go with his daughter. She’s the only person I know, and the thought of starting my sophomore year all alone terrifies me, so I finally talked them into it.”
“Well, now you know two people at school. I’ll be a junior there this year. I’ll have to make sure the guys leave you alone. You’re beautiful and new, a deadly combination in this small town.”
She blushes at my compliment and looks nervously down at her feet. Does she not know how gorgeous she is? Were all the guys blind where she came from?
“Hey, who’s the hottie, Ryder? You’ve been holding out on us. It’s not nice not to share.” Jonathon comes up, and I can tell he’s already had too much to drink. I’ve never really liked the guy. He can be a complete ass most of the time, but I’ve never felt the need to punch him until now.
“What’s your name, beautiful? I haven’t seen you around here before.” He gets a little too close to her, and she backs away, looking uncomfortable.
“She’s with me, Jonathon, so back off. We were just about to go for a walk.” I hold out my hand, and she hesitates briefly before taking it. Her touch sends bolts of electricity through my body. Her eyes get wide as she looks up at me, letting me know she feels it, too.
“Geez, calm down, Ry.” He sways a bit and spills his drink. “No need to cause any trouble.”
“Just stay away from her, and we shouldn’t have any.” I throw my beer in one of the trash cans set up. Keeping my fingers intertwined with hers, I lead her away from the party and down by the water.
“Sorry about that. He’s pretty harmless but can be a real dick when he wants to be, which is usually most of the time,” I laugh.
We start walking down the beach, and I tighten my hold on her hand, hoping she will keep it there. I relax when it stays in mine as we walk the shoreline.
The moon is full tonight, casting a beautiful light on the water as the waves gently crash on the shore. The sounds of the party slowly drift away, leaving us in our own secluded world. I have so many questions to ask her. I want to know everything about her. What’s her favorite food? What does she like to do for fun? Has she ever had a boyfriend? Does she feel this connection between us like it’s hard to breathe when were not together?
“You scare me.” She says it so softly that I almost think I imagine it. I stop so I’m facing her.
“Why? I would never do anything to hurt you. You know that, right? We can go back to the party if you want. I didn’t mean to scare you by dragging you away. I swear to you, I just wanted to go on a walk and talk.”
“I’m not scared to be alone with you. I’m…” I can tell she’s nervous to continue.
“You can tell me anything. I want you to be able to trust me with whatever you are feeling.”
Her eyes search mine, and she must see the truth in them. “I’m scared of how you make me feel. I’ve never had a boyfriend before. I mean, I know you’re not my boyfriend…obviously. We just met. This is coming out all wrong,” she nervously laughs.
“I know what you meant,” I smile at her and wait for her to continue.
“I didn’t know I could feel so much so fast. I don’t know if it’s like that for everybody or…”
“No,” I say, cutting her off. “It’s not that way for everybody. I’m feeling the exact same way about you, and it’s something I’ve never felt before. I’m new to this feeling, too, so we can take this as slow as you need to. I just want to get to know you…be around you. I promise you are safe with me. I won’t ever hurt you.” Unable to stop myself, I reach out and touch her hair. It’s as soft as I imagined as I run my fingers through it.
Her breath catches at my touch. “I’ve never kissed a guy either,” she whispers. A deep satisfaction rolls through me that no one has ever had her lips on them. I run my thumb along her bottom lip, and it parts slightly. God, this girl is going to wreck me.
“Do you want me to kiss you?” I search her eyes, and all I see is longing, but I know the fear is there as well. I’m surprised when I see her head nod.
“Yes,” she softly says. “I want to feel what it’s like. If you want to,” she quickly adds.
“I definitely want to. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more in my life.” I step closer and let go of her hand, capturing the sides of her face with my hands. Her skin is soft and perfect beneath my fingers. “I’m going to kiss you now.” I look into those blues, knowing I’ll never be the same after this.
She slightly nods her head before my lips touch hers. The spark I feel when we connect takes me off guard. I just want to dive in and never come up for air again. I make sure to go slow at first, not wanting to scare her off. When I feel her tongue hesitantly come out to have a taste, a moan escapes me before I can stop it as I dive deep into pure heaven.
I feel her hands fist my shirt as our tongues dance together. I’ve kissed a lot of girls, and nothing has ever felt like this. It’s like everything all at once, and I never want it to end. When I step closer, I hear her gasp at the contact. I know she just felt how hard I am right now. I break the kiss, not wanting to scare her too much all at once.
We both are breathing hard as I rub my thumb over her swollen lips. “I’m sorry if that was too much. I tried to hold back but I seem to lose all control around you. I hope I didn’t ruin your first kiss.”
“It was perfect.” She blushes, and I can’t help but run my finger along the redness.
“You are so beautiful,” I whisper. She blushes even more, and I feel my body respond. I’m going to have to figure out a way to keep myself under control. That kiss alone makes me want to drop to my knees and beg her to never leave. She has no clue, as I stare into those innocent blue eyes, that she owns me. Every single fucking piece of me is hers to love or destroy.