A clearing of a throat sounded, and Mia broke away first to lift her head.
“Ollie,” she whispered, but I was still under the spell from her perpetual lips. She smacked my arm. “We’re in trouble.”
I snaked my arm around her back, sat up, and looked behind me.
Two police officers stood there. Behind them, a family of five.
“Stand up,” one of the men in blue said. “You two are coming with us.”
“STAY CALM, LOVE,” Ollie whispered from beside me. “They have nothing to hold us. We weren’t doing anything wrong.”
My arms crossed and uncrossed from around my chest, pacing the length of the cop car. “I can’t keep calm. I have court in a week. What if they arrest us for something stupid like open lewdness or destruction of nature.”
“Destruction of nature? I don’t know what you’re talking about. That kiss was beautiful.”
I snapped my head in his direction. “This is serious, Ollie.”
Ollie’s head was tilted back, facing the sky, and his eyes fell to the side until they met mine.
An unstoppable grin crept along his lips.
My arms crossed again, and my foot tapped on the pavement. “What’s so funny?”
Ollie lifted his shoulder, his smug grin glowing. “You remember when we couldn’t get you back through the vent, and I was terrified you’d get caught in my room? It was the first night after you returned from the looney bin. I was going mad, but you were shockingly calm. It seems like lifetimes ago.”
I smiled, the memory invading my brain and simultaneously turning my worry to ash. “It does.”
Ollie turned his body to face me and drummed his fingers over the top of the police car, his black cap secured back over his head. “It’s going to be fine, all right? Just let me do the talking.”
One of the two officers broke away from conversation off to the side and approached us. He looked to be almost fifty, but fit with salt and pepper hair. “Do you two know why you’re standing here right now?” he asked, pulling his aviators from his eyes and folding them into the pocket of his uniform shirt.
“No,” I said, as Ollie said, “Yes.”
Ollie nudged me in the arm.
The cop crossed his arms. “So, what were you two doing out there?”
“Nothing,” we said in unison, then exchanged glances. If I chanced a look again, Ollie would make me laugh, and this wasn’t funny. We could get arrested.
The cop’s eyes darted between the two of us. “Did you know that open lewdness was grounds for an arrest in the state of Pennsylvania?”
“Yes,” I said when Ollie said, “No.”
The officer laughed, amused by us, and I couldn’t understand why. “Are you two married or something?”
“Engaged,” we said in unison, and I rolled my eyes.
The cop lifted his brow. “Oh, this is great. You two have a long road ahead of you.” The cop lowered the volume of the radio secured to his belt. “Since you’re not from around here,” he pointed at Ollie, “I’m going to let you off with a warning. But next time, try to keep actions that belong in the bedroom, in the bedroom.”
“Thank you, sir.” Ollie exhaled and grabbed my hand. “So, we’re free to go?”
“Yeah, get out of here,” he said through a chuckle.
With our freedom intact, we drove around every curve, dip, incline, and drop on the road, Ollie more confident and braver than before driving on the opposite side of the car. I had no idea where he was taking me and said, don’t count on going back to my dad’s tonight. With the windows down, and cold wind tangling in my hair, Ollie grabbed my hand from the driver side as an Ed Sheeran song played in our ears, a haunting beat tapping my chest. The only thing on our minds was the kiss and what was to come. His lips brushed over my knuckles before he pulled my hand over his thigh.
I was exactly where I should be.
This past week had been a whirlwind. Hell, the past two years had been a whirlwind. When Ethan dropped me off at my dad’s, it stung at first. I’d thought I’d go back to the girl before Dolor and the last two years wouldn’t have counted. I thought, for some God-awful reason, Ethan was the answer after everyone had taken off and abandoned me. With Ethan, I could have kept the person I grew to be and Ollie’s memory alive because Ethan was attached to Dolor. But what I never expected, after all the misfortunes, heartache, and deceit, was Ollie showing up at my dad’s doorstep.
The morning after Ethan had dropped me off, I’d heard Ollie in the kitchen talking to Dad and freaked out, jumped out of my window, and ran. Confusion and heartache was a terrible concoction, and it motivated all actions over the past week.
But Ollie stayed. And each day, he showed. For an entire week, he chipped away the black paint suffocating my heart all over again. There was something to be said about a love like that. I just didn’t know the right words. Maybe I’d ask Ollie. He’d weave words together like an epic string of notes on an electric guitar.
Not to mention that kiss.
We’d kissed before, many places, under many different circumstances, but that kiss brought me to new places and new beginnings. It was the kind of kiss that shook you awake and walked you out onto a candlelit floor under a galaxy raining warmth, euphoria, and the promises that everything would be okay.
Ollie pulled into a parking lot, the sign out front reading “Old Mill Inn.” I’d remembered seeing the old churning mill up the hill off the main road, tucked away in a mountain. I’d passed by it numerous times before. My entire focus shifted to Ollie and the way he was trying so hard to hold back. The engine cut, and he forced his eyes in front of him. “You have three seconds to tell me no before I take you up to the room, Mia.”
I started counting in my head, wondering if my seconds were shorter than his.
One.
Two.
Nope, his were shorter.
Ollie got out of the car, and I followed suit. My heart beat so hard, the vibrations hummed in my ears to the tips of my fingers. I knew what was coming. Ollie wore his emotions and needs as if it was written all over his skin. Mia. Mia. Mia. Mia. Down the lengths of his arms, chest, stomach …
“Bud, Mia. Mia, Bud,” Ollie quickly introduced as he pulled me through the already opened door, Bud, I assumed, was holding with a sparkling smile painted on his face, dressed in a blue vest, blue slacks, and gray hairs branching in all directions. Ollie climbed each step of the narrow staircase in a hurry, desire emitting from his pores like a toxic poison, and I was already infected by it.
The red door before us had chipped paint with a number three inside a small frame above the peephole. Ollie released my hand only to shove his in his pocket to withdraw a key and fumbled with the lock. His hands shook from anticipation, and the silence screamed from desperately waiting for too long. Seconds ticked by, but it seemed like forever. This was happening.
As soon as we were both inside, my back hit the door, and mouths crashed. But this kiss wasn’t hurried.
His hands slipped under my layers and over my skin.
But his hands were slow.
His heart exploded against my chest, his lips grazing neck.
But his lips weren’t rushed.