Her cheeks were pink and flushed. “We shouldn’t do that,” she said.
“You’re right. We probably shouldn’t.”
“I bet you’d get in trouble.”
“I know I would.”
She chewed on her lip. “Then why risk it?”
I touched her cheek again. “You know why.”
We stayed there on the sidewalk and I wanted more from her, wanted every inch of her, but I knew that had to wait. She was barely ready to kiss me, let alone undress for me. She stepped back and turned, and our hands touched, our fingers trailing. She pulled away and walked up the steps, then disappeared inside.
I watched her go with a smile on my face.
Fucking hell. I’d had a few good kisses in my time, but that one took them all by far.
Maybe it was the chase I liked, or the fact that she acted like she hated me when she really wanted me as bad as I wanted her, or maybe it was just her, pure and simple. I wasn’t sure, but I felt like my lips tingled and as I followed her inside, I knew I wasn’t going to stop until I got more, so much more.
6
Amber
Kissing Ren was a very, very bad idea.
But I loved every second of it.
He drove me crazy. Somehow, he managed to make me laugh one second, then ask about the one thing I never wanted to talk about. He made me feel almost sorry for him by talking about his messed-up past, but then seemed to revel in stealing from people. He represented everything I hated, all those guys I’d grown up with that fawned all over me because of my father and were total bastards, and yet it didn’t seem to matter. As much as I wanted to hate him, I couldn’t quite do it.
For a few days after that, I spent most of my time up in the attic, daydreaming about him. I’d alternate between having these insanely detailed and hyper-specific sexual fantasies about him and painting calming landscapes to the sound of Bob Ross’s voice, and for a little while all my pent-up sexual energy and frustration got mixed up with that voice, and I couldn’t look at his afro without having the sudden urge to take off all my clothes.
It was a weird few days.
One afternoon, I lounged on a nest of blankets I’d taken up into the attic, when I heard Ren’s voice from down below. “You busy up there?”
“Not too busy,” I said, moving over to peer down through the hatch.
He stared up at me. “I’m bored. Paint me something nice.”
“Paint you something?”
“Sure, how about you start with a nude? I’ll pose, if you want.”
“I don’t have any canvas small enough for that.”
He laughed. “Please, princess. I think you’d love to get a peek.”
He was right. I would never admit that though.
“No thanks.”
“How about some mountains? You’re getting good at mountains.”
I stared at him. “You’ve been coming up here and looking at my paintings.”
“Of course. I’m bored.”
“Ren. You can’t do that.”
“Explain to me why not.”
“Because they’re private.”
“And yet you don’t lock the hatch.”
“Like that would stop you.”
He laughed and held out his hands. “Fair enough. Come on, princess. Draw me some mountains.”
I let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine, you can have some mountains. But they won’t be big.”
“Make them big.” He grinned at me. “Make them huge.”
I rolled my eyes and shut the hatch before shuffling over to my easel again. I planned on painting something silly and stupid, like a snowman parched on the side of a hill or something like that, but as soon as I picked up my brushes, I fell into that trance I’d been getting, a calming sort of zone where nothing else in the world existed or mattered except for the painting.
It took me a few hours. Time slipped past when I got into the zone. I could ride that feeling forever if I wanted, but eventually I had to leave to tend to my body’s needs. Still, in the moment, as I made my brush strokes and tried to remember what Bob Ross said about making the peaks and using different colors, and also trying not to feel weirdly sexually aroused, because all of this had gotten very mixed up and confused in my head when really I wanted Ren to come up here and strip me down and fuck me rough against the rafter, to fuck me deep and hard and make me scream so loud the neighbors could hear, but I wasn’t going to give in to that temptation, so instead I painted mountains and felt confused.
The mountains came out great. When I finished, I shuffled back and stared at the easel, letting out a breath of excitement. For the first time in a while, I felt like I had something good.
I was smiling when I pulled up the hatch. “Ren!” I yelled. “Come over here. I have something for you.” I lowered down the ladder and waited for him to come over.