“Well, I actually have some news.”
“Does that mean good or bad news? Like…I’m about to be happier? Or less happy?”
He laughed. “Happier I hope.”
“Okay. Hit me with it.”
“Remember that batch of cookies you made last week?”
“Mhm.”
“I took a dozen of them into the restaurant. The owner was so impressed that she wants to hire you to do all our desserts. The current dessert menu was very limited. So you can pretty much make whatever you want.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. You can make everything here. And then just sell them to her.”
“That’s amazing!”
“Yeah?”
“Of course!” I placed a big kiss against his lips.
“I was a little worried that you were unhappy when we were talking about you getting a job over the summer a few weeks ago. I thought this could be a compromise.”
It was true. We’d had a little tiff about that. But he was right. It was safer the less I left home. And he’d gotten a raise a couple months ago. We were doing okay. I was a little restless with the idea of having the whole summer off though. I’d ended up taking online classes instead of going right for my GED. It wasn’t exactly a normal high school experience. But it was as normal as I could get. And I didn’t want to miss out on normal things just because I’d chosen an abnormal path.
School took up a lot of my time during the winter and spring. But now I was a little bored. I’d started a garden out back but apparently I was bad with plants. I’d read online that you could sing to them and Miller had made fun of me on more than one occasion when he caught me singing to the dying tomato plants.
“This is going to be perfect,” I said. “I can bake whatever I want all day? That sounds like my dream job.”
He smiled at me. “It’s definitely a dream for me. I love your cookies.”
I kissed the tip of his nose. “I love you.”
His hands slid to my ass. “I love you.”
“This is perfect. You’re perfect.” I leaned forward and rested my head on his shoulder.
For a long time we just stood in the water like that. Wrapped up in each other. The sun beating down on my shoulders made the chill from the water disappear. Miller’s hot breath on the side of my neck helped too.
“You know,” Miller said. “There is one good thing about these hideous swim trunks.”
“Just one good thing? You know you shouldn’t say such hateful things about a gift.”
“I’m trying to tell you the benefits.”
I laughed. “And what are the benefits?”
“They have pockets.”
“Oh, very nice.” I made a mental note that Miller was a fan of pockets. I learned something new about him every day. I smiled down at him.
“It’s more what’s in the pocket that’s nice.”
I laughed as I reached down and put my hand in his pocket. Oh my. “There is something very hard in your pocket, good sir.”
He laughed. “Other pocket.”
“I kind of like this one.” I wrapped my hand around his length. I really liked the surprise in this pocket.
“Other pocket,” he whispered into my ear.
I reluctantly reached into the pocket on his left side instead. “There’s nothing in there,” I whispered back.
He laughed. “Sorry, the other pocket.”
“Geez, how many pockets are there?”
“I told you these swim trunks were ridiculous.”
I laughed.
“But I meant my back pocket.”
“Miller are you trying to make me grab your butt? All you had to do was ask.” I slid my hand into his back pocket and felt the foil packet. Oh. I pulled it out. “You thought ahead. I was just thinking about how much more fun this would be if you were inside of me.”
“Were you?”
“Always.”
He put his hand on the side of my face. “You’re insatiable.”
“No. Just a bored housewife.” As soon as the words left my mouth I flushed. “I mean…house person. Just like a person who stays in a house. A woman in a house.”
“Right.” The corner of his mouth ticked up.
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Internally laughing at me.” I unwound my legs from around his waist and tried to swim away.
But he caught my ankle, pulling me back. My head dipped under water. When I broke the water’s surface I dunked him back.
And then somehow we started a splashing fight. I was totally winning until he cheated and dunked me again. I tried to swim away again but he caught me around the waist. “Miller!” I screamed.
He pulled me to his chest.
I was completely out of breath. And so was he, his chest rising and falling. And suddenly all I could think about was him fucking me. I buried my fingers into his long hair and kissed him.
He kissed me back, frantically pushing down my bikini bottoms.
He didn’t warm me up. But he also knew I didn’t need him to. I had a bad habit of being soaked as soon as he kissed me. He thrust inside of me hard.
Fuck. I gripped the back of his neck.
He reached up, pushing the fabric of my bikini top out of the way as he palmed my breast. And somehow pulled me closer still, guiding my hips up and down his length.
The water splashed around us as he thrust into me harder. Faster.
God.
His fingers dug into the skin of my ass. “I loved the sound of that,” he groaned.
For a second I didn’t know what he was talking about. The splashing water? The birds cawing in the distance? But I had a feeling he meant the housewife thing. My heart started racing even faster. I didn’t know how that made me feel. Mostly because I couldn’t think straight when he…oh God.
“One day I’ll make you my wife,” Miller said.
I came at his words. I knew they were full of love. But they were also so damn hot. Because to me…they were forbidden. My stomach twisted into knots as I came down from my high.
I’d promised someone else my hand. It was one of those moments that hit me like a ton of bricks. I pulled Miller closer, burying my face in the side of his neck. My stomach twisted further into knots. Because I wanted to tell him I liked the sound of it too. Because I did like the sound of it.
But then I heard Matt’s words echoing around me. “Liar.”
“I love you,” I whispered against Miller’s wet skin. “I love you so much that sometimes it feels like it hurts.”
He just held me. I think we both knew what I was thinking. Miller was always there to hold me when I was sad. Or happy. He was always there. He was my person. Why did happiness have to be so painful?
I heard Matt’s words again. “Liar.”
Chapter 38
1 Year Later - Sunday
I opened up the back door. “Miller, Miller come here!” The screen door banged shut as I ran back down the stairs.
“Is everything okay?” he called.
I felt bad about the alarm in his voice. I hadn’t meant to scare him. But this was a very momentous occasion.
“Look!” I pointed to the first cherry tomato in my garden. It was green and tiny and barely really anything at all yet. But it was there. I’d done tons of research over the winter. I’d finally done it. I dropped to my knees in front of the elevated planter Miller had built me and squinted at the little tomato plant. “Look.” I pointed to it.