“My birthday,” I replied in a gruff tone, instantly hard. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about the way my body reacted to hers, and I’d long since stopped worrying about it. My body responded to hers. It was basic human biology.
My girlfriend’s eyes blazed with heat as she slowly lowered herself onto my lap. “Really?”
Nodding slowly, I watched her carefully. “Only if you’re ready. I don’t want to do anything you don’t want or aren’t ready for.”
“Hugh.” Liz gave me a pointed look. “I’ve been ready, waiting, and wanting you for a long time now.” She rolled her hips and slid her hands under the hem of my T-shirt. “You can have me now if you want,” she teased. “Hmm?”
“My birthday,” I replied in a thick voice, hands moving to her hips of their own accord. “We can hold on until then.”
“Can we?” she breathed.
I knew she was going to kiss me; I’d felt her mouth on mine a million times before tonight, but when she covered my lips with hers, my heart still reacted like it was the very first time.
She was on top, grinding her hips against mine, and for a moment, I panicked because I was too excited. My body was overreacting to the point where I was losing control.
Christ, I couldn’t explain what happened to my body when the wordsyou can have meescaped her lips. It wasn’t the first time Liz had told me that, but every time, it seemed to awaken an intense, virile part of my subconscious.
Relaxing against the pillows at my back, I welcomed the feel of her mouth on mine, her hands on my skin, and her tight, little body rocking on top of me. It was a feeling like no other, and for the first time in my life, I could relate to the lads that ended up as teen fathers.
Because I couldn’t deny the primal urge inside of me to claim her, body and soul. The raw desire I had to put a ring on her finger and fill her up with babies was potent. It wasn’t rational and I wouldn’t act on it—not until we were much older—but fuck was it there.
There wasn’t another person on this planet I could give myself to like I had given myself to her. She could do whatever she wanted to me, and I would lie down and take it.
Because I was stuck on her like glue.
SUMMER, SAUNAS, AND SHIVERS
Lizzie
AUGUST 30, 2003
IWAS IN A PICKLE.
Torn between wanting summer 2003 to stretch on forever, while wishing the new school year would hurry up and arrive.
On the one hand, I didn’t want the summer to end because I was having the time of my life with Hugh. On the other, returning to school meant we would see each other almost every day.
I was drowning so deep in my feelings for this boy that I wanted to press the fast-forward button on my life and skip five years into the future.
We had a detailed plan carved out, one that consisted of us both attending Trinity, with Hugh studying medicine, while I worked on an undergrad in English Studies.
We would rent a small apartment on the outskirts of the city and survive on beans on toast until we established ourselves in our chosen careers.
Money would be tight for the first few years, with me taking on the role of primary breadwinner until my boyfriend attained residency and the real money started to roll in. From there, Hugh would take on the role of provider, while I concentrated on writing my first novel.
While I wasn’t privy to when Hugh would ask me to marry him, we both agreed to have the first of two children before thirty. Because we both wanted to be homeowners before wehad a family, and with Hugh’s insistence on being married beforehand, I predicted the ring would arrive somewhere between my twenty-third and twenty-fifth birthday.
“Are you coming?” Hugh called out, and I quickly dragged myself from my daydream to see him lingering near the door of the sauna with a smirk on his face.
Hell yeah I was coming.
Climbing out of the swimming pool in record time, slip-sliding across the tiles in my rush to get to him.
Grinning, Hugh opened the door of the sauna and pulled me inside. The moment I stepped inside, the smell of eucalyptus filled my nose. “Oh God, this smells amazing.”
“You know what smells even more amazing?” He sank down on the wooden bench and pulled me onto his lap. “My girlfriend.”
My smile widened. “Is that so?”
