Our Love Story

“You know you sound crazy, right?” She looks at me like I’m an idiot.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Noah, you just described pretty much the ideal life. Okay, so your parents didn’t spoil you rotten. They didn’t dip you in compliments. So, what? Everything you’re saying sounds like the kind of childhood I would have dreamed of. Your parents were around, for starters, and secondly, they wanted you.

“Sure, maybe they didn’t take you to Disneyland for your tenth birthday, but they did look after you. More than just look after you. I bet they drove you and your siblings to soccer practice and came to your home football games and gave you a card on graduation.”

I nod my head, my cheeks red, and hating myself. My perception of my parents is bitter—and for no good reason.

“You must think I’m some kind of a fucking asshole.”

She smirks, her hands are on my waist, mine around hers. “That’s about right.”

“Well, now you know my lame-ass truth. Probably always been a greedy motherfucker. I wanted to get out of that house first chance I got, so I did. That’s why I wanted to be a rock climber. Why I wanted to travel the world. I wanted something more than vanilla.”

“I get it. You were made for adventure, but maybe your regular childhood was a gift. It has empowered you to do crazy things now that you’re a man. Take risks. Leaps of faith.” She shrugs. “Taking a chance on me.”

“And the exact opposite is true for you?” I ask, looking at her.

“Yeah, it is. I’ve always been alone, I’ve never had anyone who I could rely on for anything. And forget Thanksgiving dinners and back-to-school clothes. I couldn’t count on anyone showing up my parent-teacher conferences. I could count on my hand the number birthday cards I got over the years. Because of that, I tend to be really afraid. Afraid of taking chances and taking risks, because if I fall no one is going to be there to catch me.”

Chloe twists her lips and I encourage her to keep talking. If she’s gotten this far, I need to hear the rest.

“I think you’re so comfortable taking risks,” she tell me. “You know, making jokes and making passes? Noah, I’d guess that it’s because you’ve never failed. And you know deep down even if you did, it would be okay. Someone would be there to pick you right back up. And sure, maybe your parents are not going to tell you you’re the most amazing kid ever, but if you ever needed to be bailed out, they would show up, and they would make sure you were okay.”

I swallow hard; no one has ever talked like this to me before. So damn straight.

“I’m honestly speechless. You’re right. I’ve maybe been too hard on my parents all these years.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Maybe?”

This girl wasn’t giving me a break at all, but maybe that’s exactly the kind of woman I need. A woman who pushes me to think beyond my limited ideas of what family is, and what love is, and what relationships are.

Pushes me in all the right ways.

“Okay, not maybe,” I concede. “Certainly. Maybe I never gave them the chance either, it’s a two-way street, right? I probably haven’t let them know that I love them, either.”

“I’m proud of you,” she tells me, putting her hands on both my cheeks and looking at me squarely in the eyes. “I’m proud of you for not pushing this conversation away right now. For not freaking out, and turning it into a joke. I don’t think you’re like any other man I’ve ever met. It’s like you’ve been waiting for me. Waiting for someone who could give it as well as you can dish it out.”

“Oh baby, I can dish it.” I grin as her hand runs over the outside of my shorts. My cock is so fucking hard. Hard for her. Her words. Her strength.

I want her, I want her for the woman she is, the woman I can see her becoming.

I want Chloe.

“My parents did take me to Disneyland for my tenth birthday,” I admit. “I had to tell you that or it would always weigh on my mind.”

“You are a jackass,” she says, laughing. And then she presses her hand harder against my shaft. I groan under her touch.

“So, does this mean you are giving me your ass when we have our not-orgy?” I ask.

She nods. “On one condition: You have to promise to take me to Disneyland one day.”

I smile at her sadly, seeing a wounded girl who never got a chance to be a kid. I want to make it up to her in some way, somehow. “I promise.”Chapter FourteenNoahWe walk the rest of the trail and by the time we reach the top of the waterfall, our faces are sweaty. Beads of it pool between Chloe’s beautiful breasts, and she pulls off her tank top wiping her brow, leaving her in nothing but a teeny tiny bikini top and a pair of cut-offs.