Runaway Girl

by Bailey, Tessa

  “You didn’t have me here to look out for you and Nat. For a long time. Didn’t make it my concern.” A warm breeze picks up my words and carries them around the driveway. “Does that make you skeptical now that I care as much as I say I do?”

  “Yeah,” she says without hesitating.

  “That’s fair.” I clear my crowded throat into the silent morning. “It’s easy to get caught up in the belief that you’re a superhero. Especially when you’re twenty-odd years old and you’ve been recruited for a specific purpose. Because you were noticed, picked ahead of everyone else. You’re avenging mankind, fighting on behalf of the greater good.” I’m saying things as they occur to me and time seems to slow. “But there’s more than one kind of greater good. It doesn’t have to be a whole country or even a town. Sometimes it’s just a house.” I swallow as she leans into my side. “Or my sister. In that case, she’s greater than good.”

  “Thanks.” I can’t see her face, but I sense she’s not smiling. “Do you think you’ll forget about the other greater goods when you leave?”

  That jolt is back again, but this time it burns. Naomi’s butterfly-painted body and look of wonder dances through my head, along with the moving image of Birdie slow dancing. “No. I won’t forget this time.”

  “Good.” Her side leaves mine as she stands, swirling the remains of her coffee inside the mug. “So…are you going to tell me what happened when you found Naomi last night?”

  “Nope.”

  She laughs. “Oh shit. Good or bad?”

  I press my tongue to the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. “Not answering.”

  “Give me something!” Her eyebrows waggled. “Was she naked?”

  “There were some strategic butterflies.”

  Birdie stumbles in a circle, holding her sides and giggling. “Did you flip out?”

  “No,” I say quietly. “It almost came to that, but…she needed to parade naked down the street in body paint. I didn’t want to ruin it.”

  After a few beats of silence pass, I look up to find my sister watching me. “You’re starting to realize you don’t hold the controls to the universe.”

  “Maybe.”

  I don’t realize Birdie has gone back inside until the screen door whaps off the house again, but I’m still thinking about what she said. What we spoke about. I can’t dictate how everyone lives their life. I couldn’t even dictate the rescue or loss of life when I was a superhero with a weapon at the ready. Not every single time. There are forces outside the control of normal human capabilities. God, do I really have such an inflated ego that I’m struggling to admit that I’m human?

  It’s impossible to resist another check of my watch. Almost eleven o’clock now. It’s not just Naomi’s safety that has me sitting here, though, is it? I want my answer. I need to know if she’s willing to be with me…for now. More than anything, I want her to pull up in her Rover, step out and run to me. Fuck. I’ve never wanted a romantic entanglement before. Never in my life. I’ve wanted to remain free of them. I want Naomi to tangle me the hell up, though. Messy, ill-advised, potentially ruinous. None of that matters when it’s weighed against touching her, the end of my stay in purgatory. The end of us stopping conversations before they become too much. I want to push for more. Want her to push me for more.

  I meant what I said last night. I want to wake up beside Naomi, give her my cock before she’s rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Smear her scent on my body, my sheets, my mouth. Immortalize it. I want to stop resenting her adventure because it brings her closer and closer to leaving. I want to help her revel in it, whether this time together comes to an end or not.

  Do I already feel myself preparing to rage against that ending?

  Yes.

  Will my potential loss of that fight prevent me from giving in to this insanity?

  No. Nothing will. I need her. I want to fucking drown in her.

  I almost think it’s my imagination when her car turns the corner at the end of the block and slowly pulls to a stop along the sidewalk. Relief hits me first, a cool river that puts out the fires my concern started. Then this wild anticipation pounds inside me like fists on a drum. Want to see her. I’m craving the sight of her face. Her chin that’s somehow graceful and stubborn at the same time. That freckle perched on her cleavage. Those eyebrows that arch when I say something inappropriate. At least they used to. She’s grown accustomed to me.

  That realization makes my chest heavy as Naomi steps out of the vehicle, her flip-flop dangling from her right foot a little before it touches down. God, she’s sexy this morning in a long dress. One that ties at the back of her neck. I’m looking everywhere but her face, because I can already sense she hasn’t made a decision yet. That reality blew over my skin as soon as she pulled up.

  Help her. She’s here for something bigger than you.

  “Hi.” Her keys jangle nervously in her hand as she approaches, blue eyes vulnerable. “Have you been sitting here all night?”

  I step forward trying to catch some of her body heat, barely avoiding a groan when it hits me. “Just about stopped myself.”

  Naomi closes her eyes, her fingers itching in the material of her dress. “Oh.”

  We’re being awkward. My arms are aching to wrap around her and confirm she’s really safe and standing in front of me, my mouth wants to press up against her ear. To tell her she looks like she needs a good lick from my tongue. Another one. I don’t have the green light to do any of that, though, so I move past her and collect the bag from the back seat.

  A little sandal keychain with Daytona Beach splashed on the bottom in pink script hangs from the zipper. She’s going to collect memories and have adventures with or without me. Do I want to help her make positive memories or not?

  “Thought I’d take you out for a dive today,” I say, turning back around. “Since you couldn’t make it yesterday.”

  She wets her lips. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” The sun catches an extra blonde strand of her hair. “I went to Daytona for the parade, because…it was getting to be too much here. Even before. Before…”

  “Before we went at each other like animals.”

  The soft skin of her cheeks flames. “Yes.”

  “And you’re not sure being alone with me is a good idea.” I hitch the bag over my shoulder and stop in front of her, letting my interest wander to her mouth, still slightly swollen from sucking my cock. “Because you know next time we’re alone, we’re not going to stop until I’m bucking inside you. It’s going to be impossible now.”

  Her breath catches. “It didn’t seem impossible on the ride home.”

  “Naomi, let me bring you out on the ocean.” I lean in and exhale near her temple. “Let me give you something. I need to give you something. And fuck it, I’m greedy and I want to see you outlined in blue. As if you could get more beautiful.”

  “This is impossible,” she breathes, voice awed. I drop the bag, prepared to haul her up against me and show her how not impossible it would be to give in to the gravity gnawing on my bones. But she steps back out of my reach. “Jason, we’re not in the alley anymore.”

  “I’m going to be that guy from the alley in the daylight or the shade, beauty queen.” I take her hand and bring it to my mouth, razing her delicate inner wrist with my teeth. “A couple of weeks, Naomi. Give them to me. Give yourself to me.”

  I trail my tongue down the inside of her forearm and she pitches forward, catching herself on my chest. Immediately, I hook an arm around the small of her back, drawing her forward so she can feel my erection.

  “Say yes to the dive,” I rasp against her tipped back chin. “Let me show you what I do.”

  “Fine. Yes.”

  For just the briefest of seconds, her nails curl into my chest, sending shockwaves through me. My growl is left hanging in the air as she picks up her bag and climbs the stairs to the apartment. She pauses at the door, looking down at where I still stand in the driveway hungry enough t
o fight an army for the taste of her mouth. We don’t break eye contact until she passes through the doorframe and I’m already counting the minutes until we’re alone again. There’s a voice in the back of my head whispering, make it count.

  Make it count.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  ReadtheComments.com

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  Go Naomi, it’s your birthday.

  We gonna party like someone finally took my combustion theory seriously.

  Naomi

  I know as soon as Jason’s eyes roam over my bathing suit-clad body that coming on this boat was a mistake—and I’m going to pay. My dress shivers to the floor of the vessel, leaving me in the white bikini I purchased to wear on my honeymoon. It’s a brief amount of material for me, giving my breasts the barest coverage, the waistband riding low toward my sex. Instead of material ties, the sides are held together by silver and gold beads, which bite ever so slightly into my hips.

  The boat rocks under our feet, groaning. The movement of the water beneath us is a blatant simulation of sex, like the ocean is urging us on. Do it. Give in. And he’s in no hurry to look away, either. He tosses the wet suit in his hand over the covered engine, rubbing his hand across his bearded jaw. Lord, he’s tall enough to seem like a fixture of the sky, his wide shoulders blocking out the sun, leaving me in the shade but far from cool. Quite the opposite, actually. When his tongue glides along his full lower lip, I’m remembering the way his head felt between my thighs. How invincible he looked from my knees.

  Playing dirty using my name. I love you saying it so bad.

  It’s probably too late to hide the effect his attention is having on my body. My nipples are gathering in a rush of euphoria, my libido probably thinking it’s going to get relief like last night. Is it? God knows I need it. I’ve never needed sex. Not like this. Not like I might not have a choice but to go get it. Receive it.

  Mouth dry, I reach for the wetsuit Jason indicates with a slow chin jerk, bending forward to step inside and tug it up my legs. On my way up, I can’t help but notice the distinct bulge inside his wet suit and he makes no move to hide it. When I finally make it into the ocean, it’s going to rise in temperature. Scientists will be baffled.

  My manners prod me to fill the silence. “When did you know you wanted to be a diver?”

  To his credit, he doesn’t so much as smirk at my threadbare voice. “When I was sixteen, I went on a school field trip. Snorkeling, not diving. But it was the first time I…”

  “What?”

  He scrubs at the back of his neck. “First time I heard the silence under the surface,” he says, as if he’s never said the words out loud. “I was never big on school. The classrooms made me feel confined, but it was the same at home. I didn’t know how to grab hold of my own thoughts. I loved Birdie and Nat, but they were younger and loud.” The corners of his eyes wrinkle in response to my quiet laugh. “Snorkeling blocked out every sound for a while and I just felt this new type of ease. Once I started taking diving classes, I felt less confined in school. I could be more…present at home.”

  “You needed your own place.”

  Jason nods. “It’s not my only place now. I’ve got running.” His eyes roam over me lazily. “Better yet, I’ve got a beauty queen who tell me stories in the middle of the night.”

  I’m incapable of doing anything but basking in the glow he leaves on my skin. My tongue is too tied to respond, though—what would I say?—and he eventually has mercy on me.

  “Number one rule is to check your gear, make sure it’s functioning properly. I’ve already done that, but for the future…” Jason’s voice is thick as it resumes, contrasting with the white fluffy clouds. He disappears into the front of the boat for a moment and I use the opportunity to quickly jiggle myself in an undignified fashion into the remainder of the suit, zipping it up to my collarbone. Jason emerges with a life jacket in one hand, an oxygen tank in the other. He sets down the tank on its side next to me, slowly stepping into my space, now blocking out the whole sky. “This is a buoyancy control device. It looks like a life jacket, but the difference is, you can control the amount of air inside. You want more on the surface than you do underwater.”

  I almost moan as he leans in to wrap the vest around my back, sending sea salt, male and pungent cigar smoke drifting over me. It occurs to me that I’m about to do something completely outside my comfort zone, but I’ve never felt safer in my entire life.

  “We’re in shallow water, so you can take it nice and easy,” he continues gruffly, inches from my ear. “A slow descent is important. Drop too fast and you’ll get decompression sickness. Your body has to handle the depth in degrees.” His mouth brushes my ear. “One inch at a time, beauty queen.” I’m left swaying as he circles around behind me, securing the tank to the back of my jacket and connecting a series of lines. He’s saying words like regulator set and I should almost certainly be listening and asking questions, but I’m too aware of the hammering of my pulse, the liquid weight rushing to my loins. “I’ll be right beside you, making sure you’re moving at the right pace.”

  “Um.” I clear the hoarseness from my voice. “What are we going to see down there?”

  “This shallow? Sand. Rocks.” He moves in front of me in time to wink, reminding me of a sea captain I read about once when I stole a paperback romance novel from my grandmother’s library. “Might bump into some grouper or mullet.”

  “That would be lovely.”

  Hearing the simpering belle quality to my voice, I order myself to pull it together. Easier said than done when he’s got that wolfish expression. I’ve been living across the driveway from this man for over a month and yes, there’s been an often unbearable attraction…but I’ve been getting by lucky. He’s actually trying to seduce me now and at this rate it’s going to work. If he brings that mouth around my ear one more time, I’m going to reach such a temperature that this wetsuit will melt and harden right onto my body. And then no one will be having sex because I’ll be mummified.

  “Naomi.”

  “Yes?”

  “I already have a hard enough time deciphering your thoughts. Get your finger off the fast forward button.”

  A laugh puffs out of me. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Besides what I’ve been thinking about non-stop since last night?”

  “Yes,” I croak.

  “Diving safety.” An edge of his mouth ticks up. “Don’t trip over all the excitement.”

  More tummy flips. He’s flirting with me. I…like the way it feels. Like the way he enjoys me, seems to savor and look for layers in everything I say. There are layers. There’s more than what’s visible on the surface. I’m not sure I believed that before coming to St. Augustine. “I do think it’s exciting, actually,” I rasp, sounding like a fallen woman. “This is what you love.”

  “Yeah.” His jaw ticks as he looks at me. “What I love.”

  I tip my head to one side and let the sunshine bathe my neck. “Scuba diving. Thousands of people do it only once. Out of that thousand, you were the one who it drew back. Your purpose found you.” His fingers run over my vest, inspecting it, but his touch seeps through and warms me, tickles my nipples. “It doesn’t do that for everyone.”

  “Pageant coaching found you, didn’t it?”

  “In a way. I looked for the job at the exact time you needed me. O-or someone like me,” I rush to add, and our eyes clash. “I wouldn’t call it my purpose, though.”

  “Do you love it?”

  “I…love Birdie.”

  His fingers pause on my vest and it takes him a moment to respond. “I love the ocean. Scuba is just a means of getting there.” Finished inspecting, his hand lifts, hesitates, and cups my cheek. “Maybe it can be about the contestants for you and not the…”

  “Frippery?”

  “Ceremony,” he returns, eyebrow raised.

  “Nice save.”

  We stand there for a moment, rocking on t
he water, our bodies separated by nothing more than a few reaching rays of sunshine. “You can do anything, Naomi.” I’m going to kiss him. I’m going to kiss—but he clears his throat and steps back, hoisting on his own vest, complete with tank. “Speaking of the exciting world of safety. Do not hold your breath. That will be your instinct at the beginning, but you need to trust the equipment to do its job. Trust me. We’re going to work on it here, before we dive.”

  I nod and we get started, applying defogger to our masks and putting them on. Jason is right—I definitely would have held my breath, thinking the water would steal it. Learning to breathe through the mouthpiece feels unnatural. But after a few minutes, I get used to relying on the tube to feed me oxygen. There’s a steady whoosh sound effect that stops being foreign and turns comforting, reminding me to continue the in and out pace. That and Jason’s unreadable eyes, shaded even in the sunshine. They hold mine, daring me to look away. Asking me not to. By the time Jason leads me to the panel attached to the back of the boat, I’m breathing a little faster than I was in the beginning, but he waits, giving me grounding instructions as we poise ourselves to step off into the blue.

  The boat sways underneath me and the water seems to rise, beckoning. Dry snowflakes whip through my arms and legs, twirling around my bones. I’m doing this. Am I really doing this?

  His hand encompasses mine, small in big and he squeezes, lifting it to his bristled cheek, since his mouth is occupied by a mouthpiece. That simple gesture settles the riot inside me, dropping the snowflakes into a haphazard pile. I won’t let anything happen to you. He doesn’t have to say it out loud. The sentiment is there in every line of his hard body, barely contained in the shiny black of his wetsuit. Outlined by the sun, he looks like something that rose out of the water holding a trident and my God, my God I’ve never been more attracted to anything in my life. My blood sings toward him, even as my mind tells me I’ve got to conquer the blue in front of me.