Serenity Falls(77)

I shake my head vigorously, afraid to say anything. I don’t want to bring it up, but then again, I do. My emotions on this impending topic are all over the place. I know we need to have this discussion. I need to know what will happen when I have to leave, because I will have to leave. My body slides between him and the couch as he rolls over to look at my face. When he cups my cheeks, the gesture is so tender that I can’t help but look at him. Two, single tears glide effortlessly down my cheeks as I take in this amazing man. Tall, sexy, sweet, sincere, genuine, and loving. “I love you. You know that, right?” My voice strains as I whisper the words. I turn into his hand to kiss his palm.

His eyebrows furrow, and I watch as his eyes search mine. Love and fear shine back at me. I don’t want to be the one to put fear in his eyes, only love. That’s all I need to see reflecting back at me. “I love you, too, but talk to me. I know there’s something wrong. I can see it.”

I take a deep breath and ask on a slow exhale, “What’s going to happen to us when the summer’s over?”

A grin tugs at the corners of his lips; the fear that I just saw in his eyes now shine with relief. “Is that what has you so worked up?”

I nod, feeling like a fool. Obviously he has enough faith in us that he’s doesn’t seem to be concerned at all. “I care for you so much. I’ve fallen in love with you, Wes. I’m just scared of what the end of the summer signifies for us. You are the first good thing that’s happened to me in a long time, and I don’t want to lose that.”

“You won’t lose me. I’m here, Kenleigh, right here.” He lifts my hand and places it over his beating heart. “We still have a few weeks left. Why don’t we take it day by day? Believe me, you’re the last thing I want to lose, too. But, I don’t want to spend the rest of the summer with us worrying about what’s to come. Okay?”

“I get what you’re sayin’. I do. Eventually though, we will have to discuss this.” I lean up on my elbow to kiss him.

“I know,” he murmurs around my lips, “but just not tonight. I do not want there to be a scared feeling between us, like we’re trying to savor each other because we are terrified of what’s to come. Let’s just be us. Kenleigh and Wes. Two people who love each other.”

“Okay.” I agree with him grudgingly. Deep down, there is a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that’s telling me that when we do have this discussion, it’s not going to turn out like I plan.

“Do you wanna pick the movie while I set everything up?” he asks as he kisses my cheek while sitting up.

Still lying on the couch, my eyes roam over his body as he stands and stretches. With his arms above his head and his back slightly arched, I watch, fascinated by the muscles that cover his stomach as they constrict beneath his black fitted T-shirt. My eyes roam over the rippling contours that peek at me through the space between his jeans and shirt. I can’t believe he’s mine, and I hope that when the summer draws to an end, it’ll still be that way. Suddenly, desire takes over the dread that lays like a rock in the pit of my stomach. I clear my throat, not trusting myself to speak, because the way I’m looking at Wes right now, my voice can’t be trusted. “What do you feel like watching?” I ask huskily. Damn it! My voice betrayed me anyhow.

A devilish grin splays across his lips as he looks down on me. I shrug my shoulders and feign innocence. “What?”

“Were you checking me out?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?” He leans over me and braces himself with one arm on the back of the couch, the other on the cushion next to my head.

I nod, smiling back at him as he moves in closer. His lips only a fraction away from mine, he asks again, “Maybe?”

A giggle escapes as I answer, “Yes! Okay. I was checking you out. You’re hot. What can I say?”

He kisses me and mumbles against my lips, “And you’re sexy. Now pick out the movie and meet me outside in about twenty minutes.” Wes pushes himself up from the couch; he walks away as if nothing just happened.

“Why outside?” I yell out just as he shoves the screen door open.

“Just do it!” he shouts, walking out of the house.



Twenty minutes later, I walk outside, movie in hand, and stop short of the first porch step when I see what Wes had in mind for a movie.

He has his truck pulled up on the side of the barn. The tailgate faces the wood panels of the structure. As I walk closer, I see a white sheet, loosely, secured into the shingles on the roof. It hangs down in front of the closed stall windows, almost touching the ground. My fingers skim against the soft, cotton material as the gentle breeze causes it to ripple in the wind. I’m startled when a bright white light shines onto the fabric. “Sorry about that,” Wes says from behind me.