Page 25

TWENTY-FIVE

cameron

Just like that, she’s mine.

I’ve had my share of women before, girls every guy I knew had a boner for, girls who played hard to get like their lives depended on it.

But nothing compares to Lenni.

When I pull up outside her building, she’s waiting for me on the steps, her legs looking a million miles long in a little pink sundress. I’ve never seen her in pink before, or in a dress. I wonder if she bought it just for me.

“Nice truck,” she says as she gets in.

“Am I seeing things or are you wearing a dress?” I ask, silently thanking god for unseasonably warm, sunny days. Her dress checks all the boxes: short, tight, and low-cut. And if I know anything about boobs, she’s not wearing a bra. She looks amazing. I don’t even mind the button-down shirt she’s wearing unbuttoned over top that looks like it came from the men’s department. It just reminds me how many inches of her skin no one gets to see but me.

“I do own such things, you know. I just never wanted to wear one until today.” She gives me a smile that’s ripe with meaning.

We take the highway south of town. She shoots me an occasional curious look but doesn’t ask any questions, and the quiet between us is easy. Finally, when the only thing on either side of the highway is trees, I exit and we drive through the center of a tiny town until I turn down a long, tree-lined driveway.

Lenni reads the old wooden sign posted in the grass. “An orchard?”

I nod and park in front of the dusty brick house at the end of the driveway.

“Cool. I don’t know if I’m dressed for harvesting fruit, but I’ll try.”

She’s so cute. “No harvesting today. Come on, let’s go.”

Outside the car, I take her hand and head down a dirt road that leads into the trees. Lenni looks around, her gaze darting back to me like she’s waiting for the punch line. “No one’s here. What is this place?”

“Willis Orchard. Goes back a few generations on my dad’s side.”

“This is your family’s orchard? That’s pretty cool. I never pictured you with a future in apples.”

“It’s not operational anymore, not since my grandparents died. We just have a couple groundskeepers so it doesn’t grow wild, but I love it here. It’s kind of been my escape since I was a little kid.”

“I would have thought this was paradise when I was a kid,” she says, peering between the rows of apple trees. “We never even had a yard. Indoor kid here.”

“Is that why you started writing?”

“I think so. The only real time I spent outside was at my grandparents’ house. My mom was a mess, so my grandparents did most of the parenting. They had a tiny house and a tiny yard with this little garden patch of vegetables, and I remember spending hours helping my Nana, picking and canning vegetables.”

“Man, my grandparents would have loved you. My work ethic was never quite up to their standards.”

She smiles like she’s trying not to. “I like to work, I guess. This is actually the first year since I was fourteen that I haven’t had a job; a real job, I mean. The library gig is work-study.”

“I don’t know how you’d have time with all the hours you spend at the paper.” I steer us onto a narrow grassy path between two rows of trees.

“Yeah, making editor is do-or-die this year.”

“And what if you don’t make it?”

She gives me a sharp look. “That’s not really an option.”

“But—”

“I need to help my family out. And money’s the only way I can do it, because there’s no way I’m moving back home after graduation.”

I think about the guys from her high school who hurt her, two nameless, faceless nobodies who have become my enemies overnight. Anger bubbles up inside me. “Because of those guys?” I strain to keep my voice even. I need to figure out how to channel this anger into something productive because it’s not going away, and it’s not helping anyone. But since she told me what happened, not an hour has passed where some fantasy hasn’t played through my head of making those dudes pay for what they did.

“Yeah. And there’s just nothing there for me.”

“Any high school friends?”

She looks over at the trees so I can’t see her eyes. “They mostly...faded away after what happened.”

“Shit friends,” I mutter.

Lenni is quiet for a minute. “Some were. Others I just let go of. I didn’t want anyone around.”

“You ever think about going back for a visit? Just to check it out? Might not have the same power over you anymore.”

“No,” she says too quickly. When I don’t say anything, she adds, “Maybe.”

I squeeze her hand, wishing I knew the right thing to say. But she squeezes back and I think this is one of the reasons I’m crazy for this girl: I’m enough for her, even when I can’t make it all better.

“So this was your childhood?” Lenni looks around in wonder. “It must feel good to be so deeply rooted in one place.”

“Eh.” I shrug. “There’s such a thing as being too rooted. I’d like to call another part of the world home for a while.”

“Wanderlust? Why didn’t you go away for college then? I’m sure you had your pick of schools.”

I want to tell her it’s complicated, but the truth is that one word sums it up: Minnie. “I guess I felt guilty leaving my mom when she was in such a bad place.” I probably sound like a total mama’s boy.

“That’s sweet.”

“Anyway, playing football at Shafer is a dream come true for any kid who grows up in this town.”

“Is it for you?” She watches me carefully.

“Of course.”

“Really? Because we journalists have a knack for knowing what people aren’t saying when they talk.” Her eyes dance, lively and knowing. “And you told me in our interview that football wasn’t your only dream.”

Damn her for being so easy to talk to. “Okay, it wasn’t my only dream as a kid. I also wanted to start a luxury hotel chain on Mars. I chose the path of least resistance.”

“I’m not talking about your dreams as a kid. What about now?”

I roll my neck, trying to ease out the tension. I hate talking about myself like this. “I’ve thought about a backup career, maybe as a PR agent for athletes or a sports organization. I don’t know, it’s something I’m interested in.”

The sun is low in the sky, and shafts of warm light cut between the trees as we walk. “I’m sure you’d be successful. You’d be successful at the Mars thing too, honestly.” Her smile brims with an admiration I don’t deserve. “You’re the man with the golden touch.”

“My GPA this semester would disagree with you.”

“You’re in some crazy honors courses. Madison’s brilliant, and even she’s struggling with that ethics class you’re in.”

Just the mention of ethics class gives me anxiety. “That one’s killer. I just found out this midterm essay we have in a few weeks is fifty percent of our grade. Cue me repeating Freedom of Expression and Communication Ethics in spring semester.”

“One essay won’t tank your PR career.”

“The PR thing is just an idea, anyway. I might do an internship next summer to check it out firsthand.” I say this as casually as possible. “Just trying to be realistic. I can’t bet my life on pro football.”

I wait for the questions. Why wouldn’t you make the pros? What would it take to get there? But there are no questions. Instead, she threads her fingers through mine and looks around, and something deep inside me settles down.

A breeze rolls through the trees and Lenni takes a deep whiff of the air. “This place is amazing. You’re a real romantic, aren’t you?” She raises an eyebrow like she’s just uncovered a secret about me.

“Hey, no need for name-calling. That’s a label I won’t stand for.”

“You are, Cameron Forrester. You so are.”

“Fooled you. I just hoped this place would be boring enough you’d ask to go home and get in bed with me.”

She laughs. “Nice try. I can tell this is your happy place.”

“It was,” I concede. “Of course, everywhere was my happy place if my parents weren’t around.”

“They fought a lot?”

“Hell no. Sometimes I wished they did. No, our house was always too quiet. My dad worked and traveled a lot, and when he was home, he and Mom didn’t have a whole lot to say to each other. And my mom isn’t a yeller. She’s got that passive-aggressive candy-coated way of getting her feelings across like southern ladies do so well.”

“Your mom sounds like an interesting woman.”

“She’s a fighter, all right.”

Lenni slows her pace. “What did he do to her?” she asks quietly. My mind flashes to a memory of my mom standing at the bottom of the staircase in her silk pajama set, her face stained with tears. “He cheated. A lot. I think she suspected it for a while, but she didn’t know for sure until after he died.”

“Ouch.”

“It wasn’t just random one-nighters, either. He had relationships with other women. Bought them expensive gifts, took them on vacations, told them he loved them. That’s what tore her apart.”

Lenni doesn’t look at me with pity the way most people would right now. She just holds on to my hand and looks ahead. “Seeing your mother hurting is just...there are no words.”

I nod. Bingo. “What gets me the most is that he loved her like crazy, and he still did that to her. I never understood why we weren’t enough for him.” I shake my head. “If you’re that screwed up, you don’t deserve love.”

“People mess up. Sometimes people who have it all just want more.”

She’s careful not to look at me. That’s when I realize she’s not talking about my dad anymore. It kills me to think Lenni worries I’d do something like that to her, but how do I promise her anything when I don’t know where we’re headed? Does she want to be my girlfriend? Are we just for now, or does she want to make this go the distance as much as I do?

Fuck it. I don’t need labels. I need her.

I stop and pull her close, but she’s grown shy and barely looks me in the eye. “Lenni.” I tilt her head up until she meets my eye. “I’m not a stereotype, and I’m not going to let myself become one. I won’t hurt you.”

Her gaze is unrelenting as my words settle over both of us. I hear them again in my head and a brief flare of doubt hits me: Can I be sure I’ll never let her down?

Then I think of Lenni hurting the way my mom’s been hurt, knowing Mom will never be the same, and the doubt disappears. I won’t be that kind of man.

“Say it again,” Lenni whispers.

“I won’t hurt you.”

She takes a deep, shuddering breath and I realize she’s been needing to hear this. “I don’t really know how to do this, Cameron.”

“Do what?”

“Be with someone. Trust someone. All of it.” She exhales. “But I have faith in you.”

I try not to let her see it, but her words hit me. Hard. I can’t screw this up.

She reaches for me and gives me a slow, experimental kiss. Whatever my lips tell her, she must like it because she kisses me with a sudden hunger. Her hand finds mine and she pulls me with her until she’s backed up against the wide trunk of a tree.

“Mmm.” I take in the sweet taste of her mouth. “I like when you get pushy.”

“Oh?” She looks up at me from under her eyelashes. “What else do you like?” She slides off her button-down, slowly wiggling her shoulders to ease it off her body and drawing my eyes directly to her tits. My body ignites like a match.

“These,” I say, running my thumb over her soft lips.

She tips her head back and kisses me. The taste of her ratchets every muscle inside me tighter. My hands move down her neck to cup her breasts.

“These,” I say against her lips.

Her nipples stiffen under my thumbs, making my cock strain against my jeans. I groan and Lenni lets out a soft laugh. She hooks her fingers under the straps of her dress, and I swallow hard, my eyes trained on her body when she tugs them down to reveal her naked breasts.

“Fuck,” I mutter.

Out here, totally exposed, her body is even sexier. Hunger gnaws at me as I take in the sight of her taut, pink nipples and the milky skin of her full breasts. I dip my head, ready to take her perfect tits in my mouth, when something occurs to me. I mumble a few cuss words. “I don’t have a condom.”

But she just shakes her head and slowly slides to her knees. “I had something else in mind.”

This girl fucking rocks.

I watch her push down my jeans and boxers. When my cock springs free, she hums appreciatively and takes me in her hand. I take a deep, ragged breath at the sight of her fingers wrapped around my shaft.

She looks up at me. “No one’s working here today, right?”

“Does it really matter?”

Doubt flashes in her eyes and is quickly replaced with a smile. “Not to me.”

But when I shift my hips toward her, I see her hesitation. “No one’s here, I promise.”

“It’s not that.” She presses her lips together. “I’m just...I haven’t done this in a long time.”

I look at her in surprise. “Oh. Well, we don’t have to do it here.” It takes all the strength I have, but I ease away from her and reach for my jeans. “Or at all if you’re not into it. It’s okay.”

She tugs on my jeans before I can pull them up. “No, I want to. I really want to. I’m just not all that skilled.”

“Just don’t draw blood and I swear you can’t go wrong.”

She laughs a little nervously, but she nods and her attention returns to my cock.

When she takes me in her mouth, her heat seeps into every muscle in my body. I groan and shift closer. She teases me at first, wetting my entire length with her tongue, stopping here and there to bathe my cock head with attention. I wonder dimly if I should stop her, make sure she really wants to do this.

But then she lets out this low, throaty hum that sets my nerves on fire and I think, stop her? Seriously? I’m powerless. My whole world consists of Lenni’s mouth on my cock. I want it to go on forever.

She’s tentative at first, alternating between sucking hard and shallow on my head and taking my length as far into her mouth as she can. No, it doesn’t feel like she’s done this a hundred times and yes, she’s driving me a little crazy, bringing me to the brink and easing me back probably without meaning to, but I love it. I vow to be the last guy she ever makes this crazy. It’s not the picture-perfect porn blow job and that makes it even better. Because she’s not doing it for the bragging rights or because she owes me; she’s doing it because she wants to.

I close my eyes and stroke a hand down her cheek, feeling her soft skin move around my cock. “You’re so good, honey,” I hear myself mutter. I reach for the tree to steady myself.

There’s no sound except the rhythm of my shallow breathing and the luscious, wet sounds of her mouth. That and the occasional soft sigh she lets out that must be designed solely to make me lose my mind.

I look down to watch my cock disappear between her perfect lips. Her gaze flicks up to meet mine, deep and intense, and it’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. My body strains. I’m overwhelmed with sudden need—words swim inside my head, all the things I feel for her that I haven’t found the nerve to say. But my body’s needs win out against my heart’s. I swallow back the words and give myself over to pure sensation. Pure fucking amazing sensation.

I think I say her name a couple times, but it might be in my head. She wraps her hand around the base of my cock and takes me faster. Everything is tight and wet. Perfection. I can’t stop myself from thrusting into her mouth, but she takes it like she wants more. And then I’m gone, a billion stars exploding behind my eyes as I release into her. She takes everything I have to give. And when the stars clear, all I see is Lenni.

I lean my head down and close my eyes. I’m sure it looks like I’m just recovering from the best head of my life—which I am—but it’s more than that. It’s the feelings rushing me.

I think I’m addicted to her. I know I’m in too deep. And I’m afraid because I just realized this is what it’s like to need someone.