Bray didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, but you heard him talking to Caleb. They sent Grace and Johanna back for a reason.”
“I know,” I said, but I knew she was right so it was all I said.
Thunder rumbled in the sky and the thick, dark clouds lit up in the distance, revealing what the tops of the trees looked like painted against the black backdrop that had shrouded them. The crawling branches that reached upward along the infinite dark looked ominous as the flash of light faded.
I felt a drop of rain. And then another.
“So much for a quiet walk together,” Bray said.
And just then, the sky opened up and it began to pour. Bray shrieked and tried to cover herself unsuccessfully with her arms and then the screaming turned into laughter. We were both drenched in under five seconds. The rain pounded down so fast and so hard that we had to shout over the noise to hear each other; each drop like a million nails being thrust into the dirt on the baseball field.
“It’s a long walk back!” I said.
Bray started spinning like a ballerina in the middle of the field. She laughed and raised her arms above her and turned her face upward toward the sky and just let the rain wash over her. She opened her mouth and spun around and around. I watched her for a moment, mesmerized by her innocence. I saw that little girl I met so long ago, running with me through that pasture without a worry in the world. Just seeing her like that, it made me smile, but deep down it also crushed me. I knew that she would never be that innocent again, that our life together would never be as carefree as it was when we were children.
“Dance with me!” she shouted.
“What?”
“Dance with me!”
I had heard her right the first time. I just didn’t understand why here, why now.
“There’s no music!” I said over the rain.
She grabbed my hand. “You don’t hear that?!” she said, motioning to the patter of rain and thunder around us.
She started spinning around me and I stood in the same spot following her until she grabbed both of my hands and pulled on them. Next thing I knew, we were spinning together, holding each other’s hands tightly and distributing equal weight on our arms. At first, I felt like an idiot and hoped Tate wasn’t spying, or worse, Caleb. But I was quickly lost in Bray’s laughter and her smile and her beautiful blue eyes. The thunder got louder, the lightning more intense. I was beginning to worry about us being out in the open like this, in the center of a baseball field just asking to be struck down by the finger of God. But soon, I didn’t care. We were those two innocent children again, living free and loving life. And not even lightning could ruin this moment. It wouldn’t dare.
We stopped spinning, and I twirled her around by her hands as I stood in place, and then I dipped her. Leaning over her body, I pressed my wet lips between her br**sts as her white shirt was weighted down by the endless rain. I planted kisses up the center of her throat until I found her plump lips, dotted by droplets of rain. Rain washed in heavy rivulets over our faces, into our parted mouths. I searched her eyes staring back into mine, and I longed to taste her. In every way. Every square inch of her body. But right now, just her lips.
I raised her body back up and gazed into her eyes, my hands secure at her back and still holding up her weight. She smiled at me, that same bright and beautiful smile that never failed to instigate my own. I watched adoringly as the rain clung to her eyelashes and streamed down her cheeks and glistened on her lips. I would’ve given up anything to stay with her forever in this moment, blocking out the world around us and forgetting what awaited us out there.
I lifted her from the ground with my arms wrapped around her lower back and I kissed her deeply, savoring the taste of her warm tongue against mine.
Perfect. Beautiful. She could never shatter my image of her, no matter what she did.
We finally tore our lips apart, gasping for breath. Before we even caught our breath, we ran straight to the house and dove into the office where we would be sleeping that night. I immediately started to strip off her clothes, peeling her wet shirt from her skin. I just couldn’t get her undressed fast enough. I hardly ever moved my lips from hers when I tried to undress myself.
I urged her onto her hands and knees onto the couch bed, and I immediately positioned myself behind her. I leaned over her, laying my chest across her back, and I searched for her lips with my own.
We were still out of breath from running and the effort it took us to get out of our wet clothes, so we were breathless when we spoke.
“Do you remember what you said?” I whispered hotly onto her mouth from the side. I pressed my hard c**k against her from behind and trailed my tongue down the back of her neck as I lay on top of her.
“What did I say?” she said breathily, her mouth constantly searching for mine.
I pressed myself against her again, and I felt her skin prickle with shivers underneath my naked body.
I bit her bottom lip. “That I could do anything to you I wanted.”
Just picturing it made my c**k throb painfully.
“Y-Yes.” she shuddered.
Her hand came up and she wound her fingers through my hair.
“Did you mean it?”
“Yes, I meant it.” She gasped when I pressed against her this time. She knew what I wanted to do to her, that I wanted to explore her in ways I’d never explored her before.
“Elias…,” she said softly, cautiously.
I kissed her collarbone. “Yeah, baby?” I replied just as softly.
She paused for a moment. “I… well, I’ve never done this before.”
It wouldn’t have mattered to me if she had. The moment with her would still have been special. But knowing that I was going to be her first excited and elated me.
“I’ll be gentle,” I said with a caring smile in my voice. “I promise.”
She nodded. “OK.” Her voice was sweet and willing.
I lifted my chest from her back and reached up around her head, pulling the pillow out from under her cheek. It was soaked with rainwater from her hair. I couldn’t stop looking at her ass, the smooth, round shape of her cheeks that I wanted to dig my fingers into and slap a few times just to make them sting. But I focused on her needs first and helped her position the pillow underneath her belly.
I took my time with her, loosening her up and keeping her wet so it would hurt less. She whimpered when I slipped the second finger inside and she tightened around them. I kissed her back upward and along her spine, creating a path to her ear.