In This Moment(67)

“Sure…” Sophie smiles knowingly. “Look, Cole, I actually have to go get ready for Aaron so I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Uh, okay.”

Aimee leans in, her chin pressing into my arm. “It was nice to meet you, Sophie. I can’t wait to hear about what you’re going to wear to the dance.”

Sophie’s smile is so wide that it takes up the whole screen. “You too, Aimee. I think I’m going to go shopping with my friend Kylie later this week.”

“Get a turtleneck! Long, thick wool pants,” I beg.

“Whatever.” Sophie rolls her eyes. “I love you, big bro. Stay fast.” She blows a kiss to the screen.

I pretend to catch the kiss. “Love you, little sis. Stay slow.”

We hang up and a moment later, Aimee says, “The protective big brother look is a nice one on you.”

I turn to her and laugh. “It is?”

She nods her head and crawls on top of me—long legs straddling my waist, arms on either side of my head like a cage. Her hair dangles down to gently tease my chest. She lifts one hand and tenderly rubs her thumb over my nose and down to my lips. “How did you get this?”

“How did I get what?”

She touches the bump in my nose with her mouth.

I spread my hands under her shirt to the little dimples above her ass. “I broke it in the fourth grade.”

“I figured that you broke it, but how?”

“A bird.”

She looks skeptical. “A bird attacked you?”

“Not quite.” I give a chagrined sigh. “A bird shit in my eye.”

She half-laughs. “Ew. Is that even possible?”

“Well, apparently it is. We were playing kickball and I just looked up at the exact moment that the fucker must have been overhead. It freaked me out so much that I tripped and fell over a bench and… Well, I think it was a one in a million chance.”

Aimee breaks into silent laughter. Her shoulders are shaking, tears are building in her eyes, and she’s clutching her ribcage. I raise my eyebrows and make a sound of disapproval, but I’m smiling. “So you think that’s funny? It was horrible—hot and wet bird shit right in my eye. Not to mention that my nose hurt like a bitch and I got made fun of for the rest of the year.”

She sucks air into her lungs and wipes at her eyes. “I-I’m sorry, but…” She laughs some more.

“It was awful.”

She gets herself under control and touches my face. “I’m sorry that I laughed, but...”

“But what?” I run my finger along the neckline of her shirt, pulling it down so that I can kiss the hollow of her neck.

Aimee gasps and a surge of sudden heat washes over me. “You just keep surprising me.”

I grip the backs of her knees and run my hands up her smooth thighs. She shivers and closes her eyes, tempting our bodies closer together as my fingers continue their journey towards her tender flesh. “I could say the same for you.” Holy shit. My voice is strained, needy.

She parts her lips and makes a low sound. I pull myself up so that I can kiss her mouth. Fuck. I can’t not kiss her.

“You know that in real life, you’re not anything like the cocky bastard that I first met.” Aimee murmurs against my lips as she rocks her hips into my groin.

I roll our bodies so that I’m over her, pinning her down with my weight. “I’m still a cocky bastard. You just bring out the best in me.”

“Mmmm…” She runs her fingers through my hair. It feels amazing.

“Hey, I’ve got to get something. I’ll be right back.”

Aimee lifts her head from the pillow and looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “What? Where are you going?”

Before she can work it out, I kiss my way down her neck and pull her panties down her bare legs.

“Oh,” she says in a very small voice and it is so fucking hot.

I laugh and spread my left hand on the inside of her thigh. “Oh.”

Each touch, each whisper urges me deeper inside her flesh and when I find the right spot, she grips my hair with shaking hands and swears under her breath and I laugh again.

I love this. The way that she sounds when she’s heaving for air. The way that she smells. The way that she’s moving her hips up to meet me.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN





Aimee



Every couple of days I have to remind myself that I’m really okay. And it’s not the pretend kind of okay. It’s the kind that you feel from the inside out. It’s the kind of okay that has me thinking about outfits and coffee first thing in the morning, and homework that’s due later this week, and that I need to call Jodi back, and what Cole’s abs look like when he flexes. It’s the kind of okay that makes life a zillion times more bearable and also has me waiting for the other shoe to drop.