In This Moment(98)

I’m on my stomach and he’s next to me, propped with two pillows behind his back. He’s holding my right hand in front of his body, drawing lazy circles in the valley between each finger. “What?

“The one that you quoted to me earlier.”

Cole shifts and the sheet falls so that the top of it cuts a line right through that vee in between his hips. God. “As Good as it Gets,” he says.

I pull my hand away and starting just above the edge of the sheet, I slowly crawl my fingers up his chest like a spider. “Haven’t seen it.”

He chuckles and I watch my hand move with his body. “It’s basically about this OCD guy who meets a woman and gets his life turned completely upside down.”

“Oh, so do you think that’s true?”

Cole grins and pulls me fully on top of him so that he can see my face. “Is what true?”

“That this is as good as it gets?”

He thinks about it. “Honestly, Aimee? I’m not sure that my body can handle much better than this.” He touches his hot mouth to my neck and I shiver.

I scoot a little lower so that my face is level with his navel. I run my tongue over his smooth skin and he moans.

“I’m not done,” I whisper, pulling away to trace the words into his thigh. Our words. This is real.

“You know,” I continue. “I think you can handle better. You’re young. You’re an athlete. I’ve heard that runners have great stamina.”

Cole’s breath is coming fast now. He’s struggling to keep his eyes open and trained on me. “Huh,” he manages. “Why don’t we prove that?”

So we do.





EPILOGUE





“A Feast for Cows. It’s a book about different factions of warring bovine, each one intent on seizing control of the pasture.”

She tucks her face into the crook of his neck and laughs softly. He feels the moisture of her mouth against his skin and instinctively tilts his jaw into her. The pilot’s voice comes from overhead and they both pull apart and look forward to where the flight attendants are doing the safety spiel at the front of the cabin.

Cole makes himself take a breath. Unfortunately, the lady jammed up next to him prescribes to the idea that full-on bathing in perfume is perfectly acceptable. He chokes, sputters, looks at his girlfriend with wide eyes and flared nostrils.

She rolls her eyes and peeks over his shoulder at the older woman in the twill brown pants and loud orange-patterned blouse. The plane is packed. It’s just before the holidays so he guesses that people are making visits to loved ones, going home. Home. That’s where he and Aimee are headed. Home to Nebraska. Home to his dad and sister. Babs. His mom. The unknown.

Nervous energy churns deep inside of him, but at least he’s not running and at least he’s got Aimee with him. He picks up her hand and turns it over so that he can trace the lines etched into her palm.

First they’ve got two stops. One in Atlanta and then one in Dallas, so realistically they won’t make it to his house until nearly midnight, and that’s counting on all the flights being on time. But his dad is footing the cost of the tickets for both of them so Cole’s not going to start complaining about the flight plan now. He’s not going to whine about having to spend more time with Aimee, even if it means being stuffed in a shiny metal tube and sent hurtling through the sky. No fucking way.

“Back to the game. I’ve also got Harry Otter.” He taps his head with his free hand. “Now you’re two behind me.”

Aimee lets her eyes slide to the top of the plane cabin and back to Cole’s face. “Okay, wiseass. How about… Fight Cub.”

The engine whines beneath them as the plane punches down the runway. He feels the slight pressure of her fingers tightening around his. “Uh-uh-uh. That’s a movie.”

“No… it was a book first.”

“Huh.”

The look on her face can only be described as smug. “So, you don’t know everything after all?”

He seeks out her eyes and smiles. “Apparently not.”

“Well, wonders never cease.” She leans back into her seat and grips his hand to her chest as they pitch upward. “You know, we could play the game with movies too. Let’s see… Aging Bull, The Fat and the Furious, and… Finding Emo. That one’s about two guys who both fall in love with an emo chick. They band together to find her when she goes missing and an unlikely bromance develops.”

The dimples deepen. He can feel them cutting into his cheeks. “This could go on forever, yeah?”

The world slips away beneath them. The greens and browns are replaced by a blue so complete and true that it almost steals his breath.