She tasted like sugar and sunshine, like she took in the best of everything around her and made it her own. It was like sipping nectar and Hardy was certain he could never get enough.
When her tongue touched his, Hardy felt his body become rock hard. She was tentative at first, her tongue tangling with his, running slowly along its length. She was tasting him as he was tasting her and the knowledge made him ache—ache to feel her weight on him as she explored his body, ache to roll her onto her back and lick every inch of her satin skin, ache to make her his and never share her with another.
When Hardy felt her fingers slide into his hair, he was lost. He moved his hands down her back to her tiny waist and he lifted until she was practically sitting in his lap. His hands roamed up and down her leg, caressing her thigh and the curve of her hip. In all his years, as hormonal as teenage boys could be, he had never wanted someone so much. He was sure of it. And he wanted her in every way, not just physically. He wanted to hold her and protect her, to make her smile and to dry her tears. He wanted to comfort her and please her, to make her feel safe and loved. And, of course, he wanted to make love to her for hours, to know her body as well as he knew his own.
But not like this. Not in the front seat of a car.
Reluctantly moving his hands up to either side of her face, Hardy held Miracle still while he leaned back, breaking the contact. He felt the loss immediately, poignantly, and he nearly started kissing her again. But he didn’t. Instead, he leaned his forehead against hers while they both caught their breath.
Hardy’s head was reeling. His first coherent thought was of how soft Miracle’s skin was. He was absently rubbing his thumbs back and forth over her cheekbones. When he leaned back to look into her eyes, he didn’t care that he might be wearing his heart on his sleeve. He wasn’t sure he cared about anything in the world as much as he cared about the girl in his lap.
Miracle looked up into his eyes, the green like drops of liquid emerald that begged for him to get lost in their depths, and then she smiled. It was a slow, tentative curve of her lips that ended in a brilliant display of happiness. It shined from her face like a thousand watt bulb. And it took his breath away.
“What are you doing to me?” he asked softly, touching his lips to hers for the briefest, sweetest of kisses.
“The same thing you’re doing to me,” she answered, equally softly, reaching forward to run her index finger along his lower lip.
Hardy could’ve held her like that for days and he thought she might have let him, but they were interrupted in the worst possible way.
The prolonged blaring of a horn caused both Hardy and Miracle to look out the driver’s side window. There, stopped on the road that ran in front of the tire place, was Elise with Cheyenne in her little red convertible. They were both flipping Hardy and Miracle the bird. They laughed boisterously as Cheyenne punched the gas to speed away. The words Suck it! drifted on the wind back to Hardy and Miracle.
“I guess that’s a little much to be considered coincidence, huh?” Miracle asked, pushing away from his chest to slip back into her seat.
“There was no doubt in my mind.”
“Well, I was thinking it was possible that I ran over—”
“No,” Hardy interrupted. “It’s not. I know she did this and I’m so sorry.”
Miracle shrugged. “Don’t be. It’s no skin off my nose.”
Hardy let his temple fall against the head rest as he watched Miracle. “My god, you really are amazing.”
Miracle said nothing, but Hardy saw a flush of pink suffuse her cheeks. He couldn’t help but smile.
“No, not really. While my tires are getting fixed, I got to make out with a hot guy. What do I have to complain about?”
Hardy laughed. “You did?” Miracle nodded, a mischievous grin curving her lips. “With a hot guy, huh?” Again she nodded. “Anyone I know?”
“You might recognize him. He has short brown hair and the most amazing stormy blue-gray eyes I’ve ever seen. His smile is addictive and his arms are strong. And he’s one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. Does any of that sound familiar?”
Hardy wrinkled his brow and rolled his eyes upward as if in thought. “Um, not really.”
“No? Well, he’s also an incredibly talented football player. He’s smart and he’s got a great artistic eye,” she continued. “Oh and did I mention he rocks a killer six pack?”
At that, Hardy threw back his head and laughed.
“Now, don’t be a hater,” she playfully chastised. “I mean, he’s pretty frickin’ awesome. He’s even an amazing kisser. That’s a lot to compete with.”
“Yeah, it is. Does he leap tall buildings in a single bound?”
“I don’t think so. And I sure hope he doesn’t have x-ray vision,” Miracle teased, holding her hands over her chest.
Hardy laughed again, not able to remember the last time someone had so thoroughly captivated him.
“Wow,” he said, feeling the warmth of her charm and presence spreading through his entire body. “Just…wow!”
Miracle giggled enchantingly and then changed the subject. “So, what should we do while the tires are getting patched?”
“Hmm.” Hardy knew better than to mention what he wanted to do, so instead he went with a viable option. “We could always go develop some of our pictures in the dark room at the school.”
“Um, won’t it be closed?”
“Yes, but I have a key,” Hardy said, waggling his eyebrows.
“Are you serious? Did you steal it?” Miracle asked in an irreverent whisper, clearly surprised by that kind of crazy bravado.
“No,” Hardy snorted. “If I was gonna steal something from the school, it definitely wouldn’t be the key to the dark room.”
“What would it be then? What would be worth stealing?”
“I don’t know,” he said, frowning in his pensiveness before he grinned wickedly. “Maybe the heart of the school’s most beautiful damsel. Or at the very least, her virtue.”
Miracle blushed furiously then proceeded to blatantly ignore his comment. “Then how did you get the key?”
His thoughts returning to a more serious nature, Hardy sighed and rolled his eyes. “My dad is sort of a big deal to some people, which makes them treat me a little differently.”
“A big deal?”
Hardy shrugged. “Yeah, he’s on the Board at the hospital and he’s on the Town Council. He donates to the Sheriff’s Department and the State Police. Florida State University, too. If there’s an important ass to kiss somewhere, he’s kissing it.”
“So you’re saying you could get away with murder and no one would say a word?”
“Pretty much. Why? Are you thinking of murdering someone?”
Miracle laughed, a delicate tinkling that made Hardy inordinately proud to have said something to trigger it. He got the distinct impression that Miracle hadn’t had many reasons to laugh.
“No, but I always like to keep my options open.” She winked at Hardy and his smile was instant.
“Smart girl.”
“Not really. You’re just used to the all-beauty, no-brains type,” she teased.
“Ouch!” Hardy kidded in return. “While that might have been the case, you can’t find fault with my ‘type’ now. You’ve got beauty and brains. The perfect girl.”
Miracle blushed again and they fell into a comfortable silence. Finally, Hardy turned the key to start the engine. “So, to the school then? Show me your mad skills?”
“You’re on, Bradford. Lead the way.”
With that, Hardy shifted into drive and guided his car out of the parking lot and back through town toward the school.
********
An hour later, Hardy and Miracle were both working diligently to develop the pictures they’d taken. Hardy learned that Miracle preferred black and white photos in most cases, which worked out perfectly.
Hardy was hyper aware of Miracle as she moved about the tiny room, expertly handling both paper and solutions. He wondered if she could feel the electricity of their attraction crackling in the air between them like he could. He felt it on his skin. It prickled with awareness of her, with the desire to feel her body pressed to his again. As distracted as he was by her presence, Hardy was genuinely surprised that he didn’t screw something up.
When they were finished with the first two rolls, Hardy leaned back against the wall and looked out at the rows and rows of their photos hanging from the lines stretched across the room. Miracle moved to do the same, crossing her arms over her chest in a mirror image of his pose.
She looked up at him and grinned impishly. He clenched his fingers into tight fists to keep from reaching for her.
Purposely turning his attention away from Miracle, Hardy looked at the row of her pictures. At first, he simply noted that she’d taken photographs of many of the same scenes and people he had. He reasoned that it was no doubt due to their close proximity, the limited number of places they’d gone and similar things they’d observed.
But then he really started to look at them.
Pushing himself away from the wall, Hardy crossed to the string of images and more closely examined them.
“Miracle, these are amazing,” he said, surprised at finding himself in awe of her work.
Hardy stopped first in front of the image of a woman walking her dog. Hardy’s picture had shown a great use of light, as he’d snapped the shot when the wind had blown a tree and dappled her face with the shadow of the leaves. His photo was visually stimulating and balanced.
But Miracle’s picture, it was amazing. She’d caught the woman when the sun was full and bright on her face. It shone in the black of her hair and in the glitter of her lip gloss, and was every bit as visually stimulating as Hardy’s, just in a different way. But Miracle’s image told a story. Hardy hadn’t even noticed how melancholy and distracted the woman seemed. Not until now, as he saw her through Miracle’s eyes.
Her head was slightly bent and a small frown creased the skin of her forehead. Her eyes were in shadow, but her mouth said it all. There was a sadness that hovered around it that Miracle had managed to capture in such a way that it actually tugged at Hardy’s heart.
And that wasn’t the only one. Every picture Hardy looked at, he recognized from the park, but he hadn’t really seen any of the people Miracle had seen, not in the way she had. She captured perfectly the awe on a little girl’s face when a butterfly lit on her outstretched finger. She had captured the absolute tranquility of an older man doing yoga on a mat in the shade. She had captured the unfettered glee of a couple that had just made a promise to spend the rest of their lives together. She’d taken shots of his visage as he looked up from his knees into the face of the woman he loved, asking her for her hand. She’d taken shots of her face as she laughed and cried her answer. And she’d taken shots of their exuberant embrace after they’d sealed the deal with a kiss. Hardy could practically feel their excitement.
When he turned back to her, the words he’d intended to say died on his lips. Miracle was looking past him, studying one of her pictures, an intensely bereft expression on her face. She raised her eyes to his and he felt his heart lurch in his chest.
“What? What is it?” he asked, crossing back to her and taking her face in his hands. He found himself desperate to fix whatever had put that look on her face.
For several long seconds, Miracle stared up into Hardy’s face, her luminous eyes glistening with the whisper of unshed tears. When she finally spoke, Hardy had to strain to hear her small voice.
“I don’t want to die.”
Hardy’s heart split wide open. “What?” He felt like his entire world had stopped and was completely focused on her words. She was dying?
“I don’t want to die,” she repeated, her voice trembling. “I want to live. I want to live life with all its emotions, all its experiences. I don’t want to miss anything. But I feel like I will. I feel like I’m living on borrowed time.”
“Why would you even say that?” Hardy’s pulse pounded painfully in his throat, thumping loudly in his ears. He had no idea why, but he felt in a near panic just talking about Miracle’s death.
“I’ve had cancer. And now I only have one kidney. Do you know how the future looks for someone like me?”
Hardy had no idea what to say. All he knew was that he would do anything in his power to keep that from happening. He had no idea what that could be; he just knew he’d do anything. But now, right this minute, he desperately needed to make her smile, to take away her sadness and worry.
“You’re not gonna die. I won’t let you.”
“You won’t?”
“Nope. I forbid it and that’s that.”
Miracle chuckled, giving him a watery smile. “You can control things like that, huh?”
Hardy smiled, but then the seriousness of what she was saying and what he was feeling wiped it from his face. “I know we just met and I know this is gonna sound crazy, but if I could fix it, I would. I’d do anything to never have to see you sad or worried again.”
“Then maybe you should run. Fast!”
Hardy dipped his head the slightest bit to look straight into her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Miracle searched Hardy’s eyes, looking for some evidence that he was exaggerating or just feeding her some kind of line, but she found nothing but sincerity. And something else, something deeper.
Reaching up, she wound the fingers of both hands around his wrists. “Why do I believe you?” she whispered.