“Yeah, baby?”
I circled her mouth with my tongue, taking the sweetness off her face and then slowly dipped to nibble at her ear.
“Thank you.”
I peered down at her in confusion.
“For what?”
“For coming here, for being . . . you. I’ve missed you.”
“I’m always me.”
Taylor’s eyes filled. “I think you know that’s not true anymore.” Before that day, I’d only seen Taylor cry once. And the sight of it had damned near killed me the first time. She was the strongest girl I’d ever met. Her tears weren’t even for herself when she shared them with me. They were for her sister. Her mother had gotten rough on her with a broom handle and Taylor had taken it so hard she didn’t speak for days.
She had so much love for her little sister; it hurt to watch it all happen. My parents weren’t much better in the way of provision. I, more often than not, had to fend for myself, but I had it better in the way that I didn’t have to defend myself. They never once raised a hand to me.
I looked down at the girl who had stolen my heart and told her the words again to make myself clear because I had done a shit job of proving it.
“I love you.”
She paused. The words were so clearly returned in her eyes but still fell mute on her lips.
“Laz.”
“Tell me. Just tell me. I want to hear it.” She smiled and lifted to press her lips to mine. “You’re drunk.”
I lifted the bottle and brought it to her lips. Lifting to her elbows, she took a guarded drink and then coughed it down. “That’s awful, what is that?”
“Whiskey. We do live in the state of Tennessee.”
“Not forever.”
“No, baby, not forever,” I said, capping the bottle and laying it next to her. She had on a blue sundress and her fiery hair cascaded over her shoulder and onto the blanket I brought. Her lips were swollen from my kiss. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I wanted so much to take it further. Every touch, every slide of her tongue against mine brought me closer to being inside her. But I knew one day soon she’d ask, and though my dick was raging, my heart refused to press her. It was just a matter of time. And
we were getting creative enough to keep me satisfied. Still, I needed reassurance. I needed to know she was mine, though I felt it deep. “But when we leave, no matter where we land, no matter how far we end up away from this shithole, you belong to me.”
“Of course,” she promised as she snaked her arms around my neck and brought me down to her lips for a slow kiss. When I pulled away, I felt the static start as her breathing picked up.
“Promise me you belong to me, Taylor.”
“You know I do,” she replied breathlessly.
“I’m your always.”
Sincere eyes penetrated mine as she twisted us so she straddled me. “You know you are.”
She rubbed her panty-covered middle along my jean-covered cock and lifted a brow.
I grinned up at her. “You feelin’ playful?”
“I’m feeling something.” She lifted the bottle and took a hearty sip.
“Take it easy,” I warned before I gripped the bottle and capped it.
“I can handle it.”
Twenty minutes later, I held her hair as she sprayed the lawn with strawberries. When she recovered, we took a dip in the pond and then she slept it off in my arms. Her last mumbled words were “Always, Laz.”