Strung(34)

His long hair covers us, his scent surrounding me each time I inhale, and I’ll forever remember Micah Beck’s taste and smell. It’s imbedded in my memory for life.

Each time he enters me he does it with meaning, and I find myself holding onto him as if I’ll fall off the bed if I let go.

I can’t think. I can’t breathe. All I can do is feel.

And ever since he told me he’s going to come inside of me, my skin has been on fire with need, because there’s nothing hotter to me than Micah filling me.

I want him inside of me. Every last drop.

When his thrusts become a little harder, a little needier, I dig my nails into his arms and tilt my head back with a moan.

He catches my moan with his mouth and moves inside of me as deeply as he can.

“I’m close to coming inside of you.” His breathy words hit my lips as he speaks. “I need you to come for me, baby. Right . . .”

He buries himself deep inside of me and my body obeys, unable to hold back any longer. Not even five seconds later Micah pulls my bottom lip into his mouth and holds it captive as he comes inside of me, filling me with his release.

“Shit . . . baby . . .” he breathes into my neck, before reaching up to cup my face. “You’re shaking.”

He’s right. My entire body is shaking and not just because of the orgasm he gave me. It’s because of what he gave me along with it.

“I can’t help it,” I whisper. “I just feel so . . . I don’t know, Micah. I’ve never felt this way before. Ever.”

He leans in and presses his lips over mine, kissing me gently, before he speaks. “That makes two of us.”

After we both take a few moments to catch our breath, Micah pulls out of me and cleans me up. I expected him to go back to his room, but instead he crawls back into my bed and wraps me up in his arms.

We lay here in silence for the longest time, just holding each other. He kisses me every once in a while to let me know that he’s still awake, until we both eventually fall asleep.

And it ends up being the best sleep of my life, because I know in this moment that Micah is truly mine . . .





I’M COMPLETELY ZONED IN ON writing the last couple hundred words needed to finish my book when I hear a tap on the wall, followed by my brother’s laughter.

“You all good in here, little sis?” I look over just as he’s stepping into my room, covered in sweat from his afternoon run. “I’ve been awake for a few hours now and haven’t seen you leave this room once. Have you even moved from that spot all afternoon?”

I smile up at him. “Nope!”

“Nope as in all isn’t good or nope to not moving?”

“To not moving. I’m so close to finishing this book that I don’t want to move until I type those two fabulous words: the end.”

“Oh yeah . . .” his words trail off as he takes a drink from his bottle of water. “How close are you? Close enough that you’ll be finished today?”

I nod.

“Good. Then you won’t mind taking a short break to hang with me on the beach until I leave for Vortex.” He motions for me to get up as if I have no choice. “Come on, before I tell Mom and Dad you won’t hang out with me.”

He gives me the same pathetic look I used to give him when we were kids before I tattled on him for not playing with me.

“Really, Xan?” I close my laptop and laugh. “You probably would tell on me just to get back at me for all those times I ruined your fun.”

He motions again for me to stand up. “Hell yes, I would. And I don’t think you want our parents flying out here to make sure you hang with your big brother, so get out of that damn chair before I call them.” He can barely keep a straight face, but tries anyway.

“You’re still a pain, you know that?”

He smiles over his bottle, before taking a quick drink while backing up. “I’m going to change really quick. Meet me out back.” He slaps the door and rushes off to his room.

It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been able to spend some alone time with Alexander, so of course I don’t mind taking a break for him, but I couldn’t resist giving my brother a hard time just to see what kind of mood he’s in first.

He appears to be in a good mood, which most likely means that he still has no clue that Micah and I have been spending every night in each other’s beds.

We’ve been enjoying our time in the sun for over an hour now and surprisingly he hasn’t had to rush off to work yet for anything and I’m thankful, but at the same time I feel as if I’m walking on eggshells around him, waiting for him to ask me about Micah.

It’s been just over a week since Micah put on his last performance at Vortex and Alexander had his little talk with me about staying away from him.

He hasn’t brought him up since and I can’t figure out why. It’s not like he doesn’t know that I’ve been spending a lot of my time helping Micah at Express. He just doesn’t know about all the extra activities.

“You don’t suck at Frisbee as much as you did when we were kids,” he teases, while reaching out to catch it. “You can at least get it to go further than your feet.”

“Ha. Aren’t we funny.” I flip him off and then take off running for the blue plastic when he throws it. I catch it and attempt to throw it back, but it barely makes it ten inches in front of me. “Don’t even think about laughing, Xan.”

“I stand corrected. You’re not better.”

I roll my eyes and run over to our towels to get a drink of water.

He follows, reaching for his too.

“So how do you like it here so far? It’s beautiful, right?” He tilts back his bottle, almost emptying it, before he continues. “I knew the moment I got here that there was no way in hell I was returning to Wisconsin. I miss you and our parents, don’t get me wrong, but I’m meant to be here, owning a bar on the beach. I’ve never been happier.”

I smile and grab the Frisbee from him. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to move back, Xan. I never have . . .” My words trail off as I make my way back over to my throwing spot. “It’s gorgeous here. And not to mention quiet and peaceful. I love Whitney, don’t get me wrong, but she’s the loudest person I’ve ever met. She wants to party practically every night and so do our friends. And when it’s not them dragging me away from my writing, it’s our parents needing me for something. I just need some time alone to think sometimes. The beach, the bar, and even the back patio . . .” I point toward the house, “are perfect places for me to escape for a while.”

“You don’t need that whole party scene every night either. You’ve got something great started with your books and I’m proud of you. As long as you can keep your head in them and not get distracted. Speaking of distractions . . .” He catches the Frisbee as I toss it to him. “Have you talked to Mom and Dad lately? They’ve called me a few times, but I haven’t had much free time to sit down and talk to them.”

“I’ve talked to Mom five times this week,” I grunt. “She’s still upset that I didn’t call much when I first got here and she won’t stop bringing it up.”

He laughs and tosses the Frisbee up, catching it as it comes down. “You know how Mom is. She doesn’t want to lose her baby girl yet. She’s spent most of our lives smothering us and she’s afraid of losing that soon with you too.”

When he doesn’t throw the Frisbee back I walk toward the water, getting my calves wet. Alexander follows, doing the same. Well, more like his ankles since he’s so tall. “Can I tell you the truth, Xan.”

He nods and looks down at me. “I love it here so much that I’m not sure I can keep the promise I made to our parents about waiting three more years. I want to move here.”

I can’t really read his facial expression as he stands there in silence and it’s making me nervous.

Please don’t mention Micah. Please . . .

“If you can promise me that it has everything to do with loving the beach and having some peace and quiet to work and not because of Micah, then I’ll talk to our parents for you and explain why being here is good for your writing.”

I swallow nervously and look down at the water, because I’m not sure if I can look my brother in the face and lie to him.

This lie has already been going on for three weeks too long and I’m not sure I can do it anymore.

I’ve completely fallen for Micah and keeping us a secret is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

There’s been so many times that I’ve wanted to run into Micah’s arms and kiss him when we’re at Vortex to show everyone that we’re together, but I have to stop myself every time.

It’s getting harder, because it’s obvious that Micah wants to spend his time with me just as much as I want to spend it with him.

If for some reason I don’t make it down to his bed by the time he’s ready to fall asleep he comes crawling into mine, as if he can’t sleep without me in his arms.

And truthfully, I’ve been finding it hard to sleep away from him also. But some nights, by the time my brother has gotten home I’m so exhausted from writing that I end up crashing before I can go down to Micah’s room.