His body shakes with his own release and I slump to the carpet.
I’m boneless.
Floating.
A woman reborn in skin that’s too thin and new.
But at the same time, I know unequivocally that I was made for this.
Sawyer leans over me, all dark satisfaction with a hint of concern as he reaches for the apple and helps work it out of my mouth. I start to rub my jaw, but he moves my hand away and does it for me.
“You okay?”
“Better than okay.”
He helps me up to standing. I’m sore and used and delicious, but I wouldn’t take it back.
Not for anything.
I reach for my underwear and leggings and tug them up. My phone is on the bed somehow, and when I grab it, I spot the half dozen messages.
“Shit. I’m so late.”
Sawyer straightens his clothes, chuckling.
He drags my face up to his and kisses me, long and deep.
“That’s for crashing my party.” Sawyer’s thumb brushes my lower lip, as if he’s tracing the path of his mouth. “I missed you tonight, too.”
My heart kicks in my chest, because the confession feels like so much more.
“You want to stay for a drink?”
“Just had one,” I say.
His mouth curves. “You know what I mean.”
But I can’t. We both know it.
I need to go back to my world and he needs to stay here in his.
He walks me downstairs and I take the telescope.
“We used to look at the stars with that,” Sawyer says.
My chest aches. “Really? I can’t—”
“Take it.” He pushes it into my grip, closes my hands around it. “Build something amazing.”
When I get back out to my team, Adam’s on his phone and Madison’s pacing.
“What the hell took so long?” Royce demands.
I cut a look at Madison, but she’s facing away—on purpose or by accident, I’m not sure.
“We found something else we needed.” Adam holds up a rake.
“Where’d you get that?”
“Across the street.”
I look over toward Daniel’s house. “That one?”
“Yup.”
Crap.
“Did he—they,” I amend, “see you?”
Adam smirks. “Nah, we’ve got mad skills, Liv.”
The front door opens, and Daniel’s there.
“What are you…”
He spots the rake in our hands.
Then pulls on shoes and comes after us.
“Do something!” Madison hisses.
“You do something!” I retort, because he’ll recognize me.
Madison flashes him.
I can’t believe it.
We’re laughing the entire way to my car.
“Thanks to you, we’re way behind,” Madison says, breathless, when she catches up. “We have an hour to get back to campus.”
The sixty minutes are a strange kind of bliss.
We drive around town, grabbing whatever we can, being young and alive.
It’s a different kind of freedom than I felt with Sawyer. With him, I still felt safe to explore because I knew he had me.
Here, it’s only us.
When I notice the time, I grab Madison’s arm. “We have fifteen minutes to get back!”
“We can’t get the last item.”
“Yes, we can.”
I run back to the car, and Adam’s in the driver’s seat.
“Get in,” he hollers.
We do, Madison and Royce piling into the back and me leaping into the passenger seat. I’m still grabbing for my seat belt when Adam peels out of our spot, racing down the street.
“Glad you came?” he demands.
“Only if we get back in time to build our tower.”
“Better than being yelled at about basketball.”
“By your coach or your dad?”
“Both. Coach wants more of my time. Dad wants me to quit.”
Empathy rises up, and I shift in my seat.
I kick something in the passenger side and bend to pick it up.
It’s a bottle of liquor.
Numbness washes over me. “Adam? What the fuck is this?”
“Slow down!” Madison yelps.
I brace against the glove compartment with one hand, still fishing for the seat belt with the other.
Two tiny glowing orbs light up the road in front of us.
A cat? A dog?
My throat tightens. “Adam! Look out!”
He swerves, his hands jerking on the wheel.
Too late.
Tires screech.
Lights blind me from my window.
The crunch of metal and plastic sounds like it’s coming from inside my head.
The world slams into me.
Everything goes black.
17
Sawyer
“They’re interested in putting in an offer,” the realtor murmurs at my back.
“A productive evening.”
The soft hand on my arm has me looking up from where I’m staring out the front window, watching the last of the people leave.
“You disappeared for a long time after you told me not to let anyone upstairs.”
“Had to attend to something.”
A young woman in black leggings sucking me off from her knees.
I made sure no one was going to interrupt us, but didn’t need Olivia to know that.
“Tonight doesn’t have to be over.” The realtor eyes me appreciatively.
“You’re clearly very good at your job, and you’re an attractive woman, but there’s someone in my life.”
“Is it serious?”
She made me promise no feelings.
Promises are made to be broken.
Especially after what went down an hour ago.
“Yeah.”
The realtor sighs. “I figured. It’s too bad she couldn’t come tonight.”
She did.
The other woman nods to the bowl of apples on the foyer table. “Can I take one for the road?”
“Help yourself.”
All I can think about is the girl who came in here tonight like a punk.
Until she arrived, it was a boring evening with boring people. I actually imagined her here with me more than once.
When she appeared, face flushed with guilt and longing, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I never got anything I wished for before.
I needed her to admit she couldn’t stay away from me, either.
She should’ve been at my side downstairs, making comments under her breath and straightening out-of-place decor and blushing every time she looked at those apples.
“So is she moving to New York with you when you go?”
The question throws me.
I never let myself hope for more, but now…
She’s not a kid. She’s an adult, and not only because of what we did upstairs.
Olivia helped me prepare for tonight. She’s mature enough to make her own choices.
My phone rings and I grab for it when I see the name on the screen. “Hello? Olivia?”
The realtor’s eyebrows rise.
“Sawyer.” Her voice is panting. “We were driving back to campus and it happened so fast.”
Every muscle in me tightens. “Are you hurt? What happened? Where are you?”