He nodded, rubbing his chin over the top of her head.
“Well, people always want to ask, but they chicken out.So no, I wasn’t put up for adoption because of my arm.My birth mom had already arranged it all with Sophie and Malachi.She wanted me to have them from day one.The arm was just fate being weird.It was never really a big deal.”
“Still hard though, I bet,” Cody said softly, nose brushing her temple.“People suck sometimes.”
“They do.”Fern tipped her head and caught his lips in a slow, lingering kiss that chased the chill away.“But it’s not the missing hand that’s hard.Like, tonight I’m not even wearing my prothesis, and it’s fine.It’s the constant fight to exist how I am.No explanations, no edits to make strangers comfortable.Just Fern.Every day, every minute.Some days I wish I could wake up, do the right thing, and never feel as if it’s a battle.”
“I think you do it brilliantly,” he murmured, his mouth sliding along her jaw.“You wake up and you’reyou.And you’re...Christ, you’re perfect, you know that?”
She snorted, pressing her forehead to his.“Flatterer.Now it’s your turn.Tell me a terrible teenage Cody story.”
“All right,” Cody said, a smile already tugging at his lips.“When I was thirteen, Chance was eighteen, and he’d just gotten his first real car.He told Mom and Dad he was heading out for a late movie at a classic drive-in with the guys, so I figured, perfect.I’ll sneak in the back and tag along.Didn’t want to ask ’cause I knew he’d say no.So I hid under an old blanket and waited him out like a little stalker.”
Fern was already snickering.“You did not.”
“Swear to God.I thought we were going to hit a drive-in, eat popcorn, maybe even hit a second show.Turned out his ‘guys’ were just him and a girl he’d been dying to impress.They pull up to the drive-in lot, I pop out all triumphant.Surprise!Third wheel right here!”
She laughed so hard she snorted, burying her face in his neck.
“Poor Chance,” Cody chuckled, nuzzling her hair.“He paid for my ticket, bought me a bucket of popcorn bigger than my head, and then had to watch Spider-Man with his little brother perched right behind him while his date glared knives at me for the rest of the night.He didn’t talk to me for a week.”
She doubled over laughing, half muffled against his shirt.“You little menace.”
“Only for him.Always for him.”Cody sighed contentedly, brushing her hair back.“We both got good families, huh?”
“The best.”She stretched up and kissed him again, deeper this time.Beneath them, a few new voices drifted near the bonfire outside, but Cody’s hand curved over her hip, grounding her.
It was time.
“Got something to show you,” she murmured, tugging him back into the shadows of the loft.There, tucked between hay bales, she’d spread a thick quilt and stashed two lantern-style flashlights.
“Fern?”There was a question in his eyes along with heat.
“I helped my sister set up food for the party and took advantage of the time to slip up here,” she whispered.“I want you.”
She’d thought he might hesitate, but he didn’t.Her breath caught as he guided her onto the blankets, covering her with his warmth.
“It’s cold,” she warned, even as she tugged at his shirt hem.
“I’ll keep you warm.”
She laughed, soft and wild.When he kissed her this time, she let the November chill be chased away, bit by heated bit.
She laughed into his mouth,soft and wicked, and the sound vibrated down every nerve in his body like a spark struck too close to dry grass.
Cody kissed her deeper, muffling her amusement, his hands already under her sweater, skating warm palms over bare skin that felt like satin gone molten under his fingertips.Outside, muffled music and laughter from the bonfire drifted up, but inside the hayloft, it was just them and the hush of winter wind.
He’d been content being patient, but he was glad the wait was over.
He tugged her sweater higher, groaning when she wriggled to help, and then her bra too, simple, soft cotton and lace, and her breath caught when the cool air licked over her flushed skin.
“God, look at you,” he rasped, brushing his thumbs over her tight peaks.Fern arched her back, pushing into his palms, and the sound she made nearly snapped every thread of restraint left in him.
She tugged at his shirt in retaliation, nails scraping across his ribs as she shoved the fabric up and off.They broke the kiss long enough to untangle sleeves and dump it on the quilt, then he was on her again, pinning her forearms above her head for a heartbeat just to watch her eyes flare wide with heat.
“Bossy,” she whispered.
“You like me bossy,” he shot back, dipping his mouth to her throat, then lower, dragging his tongue across the soft swell of her breast.
