KEPT: A Small Town Second Chance Romance Novella (Reckless Falls Book 0) Page 15

  She nodded.

  I took a deep breath. “This is going to sound bad.”

  “Can’t be worse than what the lawyer just left on my voicemail.”

  “I think I do.”

  “You do what?”

  “Remember you.”

  “You think?” The slump to her shoulders was barely perceptible, but I saw it just the same.

  “Aria,” I said. “I’m an alcoholic.”

  “No you’re not.”

  “I am.”

  “You just liked to party.”

  “Yes, I did. But I also needed to as well. What you saw? That was me falling apart slowly, piece by piece. I remember you. Yeah. Little flashes of the prettiest girl in school. But I was too busy drinking myself to death to say hi. I missed out on the chance to know you. ” I reached over and took her hand. She looked at me startled, and then down at her hand with the kind of private smile I wanted to see over and over again. “But I really want to get to know you now.“

  She took a deep breath, her cheeks coloring prettily. “Then it’s a pretty good thing we’re going on a hike together, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” I nodded. “A very good thing.”

  “No one else around.”

  “I fucking hope not,” I growled.

  “Just you and me…getting to know each other.”

  Just listening to her made my cock stiffening. The thought of getting Aria Jane alone, in the woods, seeing the way the sunlight would play on her naked skin, the sound of her moans echoing off the cliff walls, louder than the Falls themselves….

  “We’re here,” I said, taking the turn too sharply. I clenched my fist and forced myself to think of math class, Mrs. Collis, that one long hair that stuck out of Mr. Green’s nose…

  Some of the blood flowed back into my brain and I could think again.

  I shut my door and hurried over to the passenger side. “You don’t have to open the door for me,” Aria complained as she slid from the seat.

  Then she shivered dramatically. “Holy crap it got colder.”

  “You going to be warm enough?” I asked, offering my jacket.”

  She looked at it and back up at me. “Is it a hard hike?”

  “We can take the long way around through the woods, rather than going up through the falls.”

  “Through?” She raised her eyebrows. “I’m impressed. Mountain man.”

  I draped my jacket over her shoulders. “Come on,” I said. “You need to see this.”

  She followed me into the woods.

  The trail was well marked with bright yellow blazes on the tree trunks. Afternoon sunlight filtered down through the tops of the trees, casting a golden light on the forest floor. I could hear Aria’s breath coming faster as we started the sharp ascent upward. I reached behind me and closed my hand around hers, helping her hop from rock to rock. She moved like a dancer, weaving lightly on the balls of her feet, but as sure-footed as a mountain goat. It was clear she was in incredible shape, and more than once I had to look away as my thoughts traveled to what her body looked like under those clothes. The way her jeans hugged her thighs already had me crazy, but there was also the strength in her shoulders and the pretty little sway of her ass.

  “You’re staring,” she said casually as I held a branch out of the way for her.

  “I’m appreciating the view.”

  “There’s no view yet.”

  “Says who?”

  She grinned. “You’re pretty smooth. For being a creepy, secretive hermit and all.”

  “I’m feeling particularly inspired.”

  “I’m feeling particularly flattered.”

  “Good.”

  “Flattery will get you everywhere, you know,” she said, licking her lips boldly.

  The rush of desire hit me so hard that it almost nailed me to the forest floor. I was consumed with the fucking wanting that heralded the absolute worst kind of craving inside of me. I turned away, breathing hard. I could feel the confusion coming off of her in waves, but she said nothing as I struggled to get my heart rate back down under control.

  The sound of falling water was growing louder with each step. The forest thinned out. “Through here,” I said, gesturing for her to come off the trail before it wound us away from the banks of the creek.

  “We’re going near the water?”

  “How else are we going to see the view? Isn’t that what we came up here for?”

  I heard her hesitate and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was thinking. The view was not at all what I had come up here for. But what I’d come for was something I was fairly certain I didn’t deserve.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Aria Jane

  Derek stood on the slab of rock that jutted into the creek and immediately bent to take his boots off.

  “Are you…you’re going in?” I babbled.

  The roar of the falls made it difficult to hear him reply. “Of course.”

  I went to the edge. Reckless Creek was wide and shallow up here, unable to cut through the hard, dense rock. I remembered some vague lesson about local geology back in school, about how the glaciers came through here, willy-nilly rearranging the landscape, scraping up piles of dirt from one place and depositing it elsewhere, like some sort of geological interior designer. The glacier had carved right down to the impenetrable limestone and shale, but there it had stopped. What a mighty glacier couldn’t carve up, a babbling creek didn’t have a prayer of budging.

  So instead of carving deep, the creek spread out wide. Derek stood poised at the edge. “Are you coming?” he asked.

  There had been a moment, back there in the forest, where he’d gotten so close I’d been sure he was about to kiss me. And now, the only thing I could think of was getting that close again.

  The autumn air nipped around my ankles the second I peeled off my boots. “It’s going to be freezing,” I lamented.

  Derek was already at the edge of the river. “Water’s probably warmer than the air,” he said.

  I wrinkled my nose at him. “Liar,” I said. “You think I don’t remember how cold the river is? It’s the lake that stays warm into autumn. Running water versus still water.”

  “Can’t fool you,” Derek smiled.

  I lifted my chin at him. “No,” I told him. “You can’t.

  That first dip of my toe into the ice cold water was so cold that it burned. “Jesus!” I gritted my teeth. “Did this just melt yesterday?”

  “It’s not so bad once you get in.”

  “Yeah. That’s because you go numb.”

  “Probably. Come on, don’t be a pussy.”

  “You know I’m not a pussy.”

  “You’re not being very convincing right now.”

  Stubbornness and nothing else was what propelled me all the way into the water. My toes sank down, trying to find traction in the slick silt that coated the river bottom. The water was moving swiftly, but was only ankle deep at the banks. I could feel it swirling angrily around me, like it was trying to pull me out to the center where it was deeper so it could knock me over and send me hurtling over the falls.

  “Come on,” Derek urged. He was shin deep by now, standing stock still, as immovable as a boulder in the middle of the rushing water. Sunlight danced in the ripples that swirled around his legs, sending glints upward to catch the bits of honey that hid in the strands of his hair.

  “I’m afraid to move,” I said, and it was true, though my fear has as much to do with getting closer to him as it did with falling over.

  “Do you need a hand?”

  “No!” I fairly shouted. The idea of him putting his hand on me, anywhere on me, even just closing it around my own hand, was filling up my mind and I needed to expend all of my concentration on keeping myself upright. “It’s just slippery,” I relented. “Why is it so slippery?”

  “Silt gets collected over there because the current’s moving slowly.”

  “Bullshit it’s moving slowly.”

>   He grinned and ignored me. “Out here the current’s faster, but it’s washed the silt away so you can get a better grip with your toes.”

  “I can’t feel my toes. I have no idea if they’re gripping or not.”

  “Here, come on. Just reach for my hand. There you go. One step. Take your foot all the way out of the water so it doesn’t get swept out from under you.”

  I did what he said. Water crossed over the top of my foot, and the swirled around my ankle. The ceaseless motion of the river was strangely calming, with the far-off rush of the falls drowning out all other noise except my own breathing. Somewhere out in the forest, birds were calling and animals were scurrying, but the only thing I could hear out here in the river was myself.

  And Derek.

  “That’s it,” he urged. He looked genuinely, happily proud of me.

  That’s the problem with giving me praise. I start to show off.

  The next step I took too quickly, not bothering to lift my foot all the way out of the water. The river was running faster out here, Derek was right, but there was still enough silt on the river bottom. As the current took hold of my foot, the silt slid out from my other one.

  “Shit!” I hissed, wind-milling my arms in a circle.

  I didn’t fall. But I was moving. Hunched over and frozen with fear of falling over, I was helpless as the current started pushing me, inch by slow inch and then faster. “Uh?” I called out. “Derek? Help?”

  I thought he was going to tease me for asking for help. After all, I’d been insisting all along that I could do everything by myself. But instead, he took a big step forward, putting himself directly in my path.

  The river carried me to him in slow motion, sliding by degrees. My outstretched hand met his first, and his thick fingers, gripping like iron, closed around my wrist. I slid closer so slowly, slow enough to feel the heat of his skin before I brushed against the soft cotton of his T-shirt.

  I turned and the river forced me right up against his chest and he caught me in his arms.

  This was what I was looking for. This was why I’d agreed to this silly hike in the first place. To feel his arms around me. To forget myself in a rush of animal passion. I expected it. I welcomed it.

  But I wasn’t expecting the trail of goosebumps that prickled along my arm as he brushed his fingers across my skin. I wasn’t expecting a snake of heat to coil around and nestle deep in my belly. I wasn’t expecting the deep, throbbing ache to start pulsing low in my core.

  I tilted my chin up and looked at him. His gaze seared across my skin, burning like wildfire and warming me down all the way to my toes. My frozen, numbed toes.

  “Got you,” he murmured.

  “Thanks,” I breathed.

  His lips were only inches from mine. I only needed to crane my neck, to lift up on my tiptoes to close the difference. But the slightest movement sent me sliding again. I couldn’t move a muscle. He’d have to make the first move.

  He made the first move.

  He bent his head slightly and pressed his lips - not to my mouth as I’d been expecting - but to the soft place under my jaw where my pulse beat as rapidly as hummingbird wings. Then he pulled back. "Can you make it over to the shore?" he asked.

  I had to swallow back the lump of desperate wanting that had lodged in my throat. I seemed to have lost the power of speech and over what? A chaste kiss on the not-quite-cheek?

  What the hell was going on with me?

  I cleared my throat and lifted my foot, trying to play cool. It hung there like a dead white thing at the end of my leg. "I can't feel my foot," I observed.

  He chuckled. "Okay, well hold my hands then."

  He said it so casually, that I just did what he said without thinking. It wasn't until my hand laced with his that I remembered to be nervous or awkward. And since the moment had passed, there was no reason to pull back. There was no reason not to let him lead me carefully to the shore, pointing out all the rocks to look out for so I would stub my dead toes and regret it later. "Okay, careful now, that's it, you did a really good you know, I wouldn't be able to tell that you had trouble walking at all."

  "I'm a performer through and through,” I deadpanned.

  He looked at me, and his eyes softened around the edges. Little crinkles of a smile. "Yeah, you are," he deadpanned right back.

  My pulse fluttered where he’d kissed it, the shape of his lips still fresh on my skin. I held his gaze for a moment, then started following closely, shuffling along like a little old lady until suddenly I slipped on the silt that gathered beside the river bank. "Oh, shit! " I called, teetering dangerously. Once more my stupid weak ankles were betraying me.

  "Oh, I've got you.” Without thinking or even hesitating, Derek shot his arm out, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me to him. It was the second time in five minutes that I found myself pressed against him, but this time I twisted my body to press against his. This time I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on because he was strong enough to carry us both onto the shore.

  He set me down gently and knelt down next to me. ”Your feet okay?" he asked. There was genuine concern on his face.

  I reached down and rubbed my toes. My entire foot from the ankle down was as red as a lobster as the blood flowed back. “Ugh,” I complained, rubbing my skin. “Ah shit, here comes the tingling." I gritted my teeth and exhaled. Then I looked at him as he watched me. “How come you aren’t all messed up?" I wondered.

  He shrugged.

  "Oh wait, it's because you don't feel the cold isn't it?" I teased.

  "It's not cold,” he said. He looked up at the sky. "It's a nice sunny day."

  "It's a nice sunny forty degree day, sure."

  "What do you expect, it's almost October.”

  "You realize this is the only place in the world that where that would be a fair question?" I teased.

  He smiled. "I'm used to it." He lifted his head and closed his eyes. “Gotta soak it up when you can," he said, smiling into the sunlight. "They say it’s gonna be an early winter this year.”

  "Already?"

  "Oh come on. How many Halloweens have you spent trick-or-treating in snowstorms?" he asked.

  I thought for a moment. "Three," I finally said. “My mom would always make me wear my jacket over my costume and no one knew who I was. That always bothered me."

  "I always tried to incorporate a puffy jacket into my costume," Derek said. "So there were a lot of costumes like ‘fat guy,’ or ‘Michelin tire man,’ or ‘snowman.’”

  I looked at him. "That's actually pretty smart," I said.

  He shrugged again. "I have my moments." He paused for a second and then turned his face to the sun, so I closed my eyes and did the same.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Derek

  She closed her eyes too, mimicking me. I let out a breath didn’t know I was holding.

  With her eyes closed as I was free to finally look at her. The whole time we’d been here, I’d been afraid to take her in fully. Looking at her fucking sidelong, the way you can't look directly at an eclipse. Looking directly at her face would be like looking into the face of the sun.

  It was funny the way her face was resolving for me, like a photograph developing over time. That first time I’d seen her again, storming across the lawn to accost me in those boots, my mind had just registered “pretty girl.” But the longer I looked at her, the more depth she took on and the more the woman in my present aligned with the girl in my past.

  It was hitting me, over and over again. I fucking knew her. Jane, Aria, whoever she was pretending to be at the moment, it didn’t matter. Why hadn’t I remembered all those moments, those stolen glances in the hallways of Reckless Falls High, the way she’d blatantly stare at me, putting herself in my path. I hadn’t remembered any of it.

  Because I was a fucking drunk back then.

  Now, with the sober life I was leading, one glance at her face would be seared into my memory for eternity. I would see her eve
n when I closed my eyes. There was no way I wouldn’t remember a face…and a body…like that.

  But before I got sober, I could spend whole weeks in a blackout and remember nothing. I had so few memories from back then, and the ones I did have were hazy and indistinct.

  The thing about memory is that you can't trust it even on a good day. And when you've deliberately spent the majority of your life punching holes in it, deliberately flooding your brain with drink until portions of it were washed away, leaving holes like Swiss cheese in its wake, well then you really couldn't trust your memory.

  I’d been dimly aware of the talented freshman singing in show choir. The upstart young thing who'd stolen the lead in the school musical from the seniors who thought it rightfully belonged to them. I’d heard of Aria, I was realizing. Of course I had. She was a meteor aimed straight for our small town. Poised to blow it to smithereens.

  I took another look at her now, with her face turned up to the sun and this time I allowed myself to really drink her in. Lying there, she looked like some kind of warrior goddess in repose. She had a face that painters would fall over themselves to re-create. I found myself wishing I paid attention in English class, because if there was ever a time for poetry, it was right now as I watched her in the rays of the poolside.

  Her eyelids fluttered a bit and she took a deep breath, like something very important had just resolved itself in her mind.

  “I’m staying here,” she announced.

  It took several tries before my voice would work again. “You are,” I said. It was not a question.

  “I am,” she repeated, nodding once. She rolled over onto her side and looked at me. “I’m staying here, and I’m not going to hide anymore. This is my fucking home, right?”

  I nodded dumbly. Every cell in my body wanted to break out in a fucking Hallelujah chorus. I hadn’t realized until right now just how badly I wanted to keep her here, and now she was and…

  “So, like, I don’t have a problem with it if you want to stay in your place…” she sat up straighter and smoothed an imaginary wrinkle out of her jeans. “Because it’s your home now too, right?” She cleared her throat and looked away as I stared at her, dumbfounded.