It was never like it is with Tegan: this unfamiliar tangle jumble of hope and emotion and passion. I feel out of my depth, like a virgin kid working up the nerve to ask the most popular girl in school to prom. Except I never went to prom. I snagged a six-pack and took my date out to the old lighthouse and partied until dawn.
Realization dawns. Shit, I’m in trouble.
“Don’t panic.” Brit speaks up, watching me. “This is simple.”
“It is?”
She beams. “Trust me. She’ll be putty in your hands by the time I’m through.”
“Brit…” I say with a warning note. “I don’t want anything crazy. This is the first time we’re going to hang out without any drama getting in the way. I just want her to be able to relax and have fun.”
“Chill, big brother.” Brit hops down and pulls out her cellphone. “I’ve got this. You just go get ready. Starting with a shower. A long one,” she adds with a grimace, eyeing my sweaty work clothes. “You stink.”
“No, you stink.” I grab her, smearing motor oil on her arms. She shoves me back, protesting with a shriek.
“Eww, get off!”
“No, wait, you’ve got some right…here.” I smudge more dirt across her face, laughing. Brit struggles, complaining until finally she jams an elbow in my ribs and breaks away.
“I hate you,” she laughs.
“Missed you too,” I grin back, still laughing.
And I did. I never realized how important my family was until I was a thousand miles away from them. Not my parents, with all their careless, fucked up flaws, but the people who really matter to me. Emerson. Brit.
My home.
“Hey.” I toss Brit a clean rag. “Were you serious about planning something for tonight?”
“Duh.”
“Then maybe you can help. I’ve got an idea…”
I pull up outside the beach house at six p.m. sharp. Damn, I’m nervous. My sister got in my head with all her talk about making memories and having this be special, and even though I would do anything with Tegan and have it be the best damn night of my life, I want this to be perfect.
She deserves a night she’ll never forget.I wipe my hands on my jeans and head to the front door, but Tegan opens it before I have a chance to ring the bell.
“Hi,” she says, sounding breathless. She gives me a shy smile. “You’re here.”
She’s so jaw-droppingly beautiful, I forget how to speak.
There are no words. She’s wearing a simple black dress with her hair down, a glossy dark tumble around her pale, heart-shaped face. Her eyes are shining with excitement, her lips stained cherry pink. Everything about her is radiant, pure and strong. The kind of beauty that makes men fall to their knees. The kind of beauty that makes the past melt away and everything become real simple.
This is the one.
“Uh, hi,” I manage at last, still lost in the midnight sky of her dark eyes. There’s a beat, electricity sparking in the air between us. “You look…stunning,” I add.
Her lips curl in a grin. “Thank you,” she blushes, and then I can’t hold back a second longer. Gravity pulls me towards her, an elemental force that’s deeper than anything as I tilt lower and find those perfect lips with my own.
I kiss her, and fuck, every broken piece of the world falls right back into place again.
Tegan exhales with a breathy sigh and melts into me. Her body is soft, small, fitting perfectly in my arms, but her mouth is hot and hungry against mine. She deepens the kiss, pulling me tight against her, bracing herself in the doorway as her body arches up in an eager curve.
Damn.
Her touch is wildfire to the desire that’s been burning, ever since I first laid eyes on her. Now, there’s nothing holding me back. I growl, pushing her back against solid concrete, lust crashing through me in a sharp, demanding tide. The taste of her is a rush, sharp and hot in my veins. I kiss her hard, sliding my hands possessively over her body, nudging her thighs apart with my knee. Tegan lets out a mewl, and then she’s bucking up against my hardness, making me lose my mind with the pressure of her body, the slide of her soft hands creeping up under my shirt.
I pull back with a groan. She blinks, dazed, her lips flushed, her eyes dilated. “What’s wrong?” she gasps.
“Nothing, baby.” I stroke her cheek, leaning in to murmur in her ear. “But if I don’t get you out of this door and into your car in the next five seconds, we’re both going to be naked on that floor.”
I feel her shiver. “Would that be such a bad thing?” Tegan replies, teasing small kisses along the curve of my jaw.
The whisper of her lips on me goes straight to my cock.
Damn, I deserve a medal for this.
“Later,” I vow. I step back, and reluctantly hitch a strap up her bare shoulder that has fallen loose. I gulp a deep breath of the cool night air, and try like hell to calm the fire raging in my blood. “You ready to go?”
“Sure,” Tegan grins, grabbing her purse from just inside the door. The she pauses. “Wait, did you say, my car?”
I laugh. “What if I did?”
Tegan shrieks. “Oh my god!” She tugs me aside and takes in the sight of her beloved Mustang parked in the driveway, polished to a sheen. She claps her hands together and races down the steps, piling into the driver’s seat. She turns the ignition, and listens to the engine purr. “I can’t believe you fixed her. Listen, she sounds like new!”