With Every Breath

by Everhart, Allie

  She sighs. "Okay. Go ahead." She circles her hips over my already hard cock, making it even harder, begging to be inside her again.

  Rolling her onto her back, I kiss her as I position myself over her. "I'm going to be so freaking late."

  "Then go," she says in a teasing tone.

  "No way in hell I can go now." I kiss her again, and take her, claiming her soft beautiful body like she's all mine, even though we still haven't defined what this relationship is or where we go from here. That's something we can talk about later. Right now, she's mine. Her body is mine to pleasure, my hands caressing every inch of her as I make love to her.

  When it's over I want to stay with her, in her bed, holding her and feeling her body against mine. But my phone dings with my appointment reminder and I'm forced to get up.

  "I wish I could stay," I say as I put on my jeans.

  "What if I went with you?" she asks, getting out of bed.

  "You don't work today."

  "But I could." She reaches up and gives me a kiss. "Would you mind?"

  "I'd love having you there. I just thought you'd want a day off to catch up on school work or do whatever else you had planned."

  "I didn't have any plans." She walks away, showing off her bare ass. "But if you want me to stay here, that's fine."

  Coming up behind her, I grab her and lean down to kiss her. "Just heard from your boss. He wants you at the shop today. And he might need you to go upstairs on his break."

  "Why would he need me upstairs?" she asks, turning toward me with a smile.

  I glance down at her naked body, those curvy hips, those full beautiful breasts. "Shit, this is gonna be difficult."

  "What?" she asks.

  "Working with you now that we've..." I rub my hand over my scruffy jaw, my eyes lingering on her body. My phone beeps again and I force myself to look away. "Damn, I gotta go. I'm so freaking late."

  "Go ahead. I'll clean up and be there in an hour."

  "You sure about this?" I ask, grabbing my shirt from the floor. "You'd really be helping me out but I want you to have a day off."

  "I get tomorrow off. And I don't feel like being here today. I'd rather be with you."

  I smile. "I want to be with you too." I walk over and give her a kiss. "See you soon."

  "Bye." She smiles as I leave.

  Driving back, I'm feeling really good. I think this thing with Skye might actually go somewhere. We definitely have chemistry and the sex is unbelievable, but more than that, we understand each other. We've been to hell and back this past year and that's brought us closer than we'd ever be with anyone else.

  Back at the shop, I shower and throw on some clothes and am downstairs to unlock the door just as my first appointment arrives. Luckily, he's five minutes late. And it's Mr. Danes, a regular who knew my dad so he doesn't mind that I'm running a little behind.

  "Sleeping in today?" he asks with a chuckle as he sees me racing around the waiting area. I'm so used to having Skye here on Saturday I'm out of practice opening the place up. She always takes care of getting the blinds open, the coffee made, and the TV turned on, along with a dozen other things I'm probably forgetting.

  "Been a busy week," I tell him. "Slept through my alarm."

  I smile as images of Skye fill my head. Her naked body. The sight of her under me as we made love. Then holding her in my arms. It was worth being late for that.

  "How's your dad doing? Mr. Danes asks as he sits on one of the chairs.

  "He has good days and bad."

  I go around the counter and unlock the drawers. I used to handle all this myself. The front area and the garage. Now I don't know how I did it all. But we weren't as busy back then. Some days we didn't even have anyone waiting out here. I'd only have a few appointments a day and customers would drop off their cars and leave. Now I'm getting people walking in without appointments, most wanting to stay and wait. The uptick in business is good but it's almost getting too much for me to handle, even with Danny.

  "How often do you see him?" Mr. Danes asks.

  "A few times a week. And I have a friend who works there. She keeps me up to date on how he's doing."

  Shana left me a message this morning about my dad. I listened to it on the way here. She said he had a bad night. I'm not sure what that means but I don't want to call and find out. I'm still on a high from being with Skye and I'm not ready to come down from it just yet.

  "I need to get the garage opened up," I say. "Today's paper is probably here if you want to check."

  Just then, Skye walks through the door holding the paper. The sun is behind her, putting a soft glow around her face, making her look like an angel. There's a big smile on her heart-shaped face and her eyes look brighter than usual.

  She's happy. Happier than I've ever seen her.

  "Hey," I say to her, trying to sound casual, like I'm just a boss greeting his employee. "I'm running a little behind so I don't have everything set up yet."

  "Don't worry about it," she says. "I'll take over. You go ahead to the garage." She walks up to Mr. Danes. "Good morning, Mr. Danes. Would you like the paper?"

  "I would." He takes it from her. "Thank you."

  "How about some coffee?" she asks.

  "That would be great!" He opens the paper and starts reading as I watch Skye walk over to the coffee machine. She bends down to get the filters, then reaches up to grab the can of coffee. I can't stop looking at her. It's going to be hard to work together after what we did last night, and this morning. It was distracting enough when I liked her from afar, but now? Having acted on our feelings? It's going to be nearly impossible to get anything done.

  "Would you like some?" She smiles at me in a flirty way and all I can think about is being with her again. "I'll just bring you a cup when it's ready," she says when I don't respond.

  Coffee. She was talking about coffee. Right. I need to get my head on straight so I can work.

  Going in the garage, I open the door and see Danny standing there. I almost forgot he was working today. He's only here until noon.

  "Hey, boss," he says with a nod. "Want me to move it in?" He points to Mr. Danes’ car, which is parked just outside the door.

  "Yeah, if you could, that'd be great."

  I'm guessing Skye hasn't cancelled her date with him yet, which is confirmed when she walks in, holding my coffee.

  "Tonight at six?" he asks her.

  "Um, can we talk a minute?" she says, setting my coffee down.

  "Aw, shit," he says, shaking his head. "You're not going out with me, are you? Was it my car?"

  She hurries over to him. "It's not about the car. Let's go talk in the office."

  They're in there a couple minutes and when they come out, Danny seems fine. He's even smiling.

  "So you'll call her?" he asks.

  "I'll text her," Skye says. "I'll do it right now."

  Skye leaves and I walk up to Danny. "What's going on?"

  "Skye's setting me up with some girl from her class. She's going to call her and see if she wants to go out tonight."

  "I thought you were going out with Skye," I say, playing dumb. I don't want him knowing I'm dating Skye. Not yet.

  He shrugs. "We had a good time on our date but she's not really my type."

  I nod, wondering what he means by a 'good time'. It better not have been too good a time. I feel sick thinking of her with him, or anyone else.

  Ten minutes later, Skye returns, walking up to Danny. "All set."

  "No shit?" he says, a big grin on his face. "She says she'll go?"

  "Yeah. She said she'll meet you there at six." Skye stops next to Danny. "If you screw this up, I'm never setting you up again. I told her you're a good guy so you better not make me look bad. Open doors for her and be a gentleman. And don't swear. It's a turn off."

  I chuckle at her little speech. She sounds like a mom, lecturing her teenage son. She'd make a good mom. She's so good with the kids here at the shop. I'm assuming she wants kids someda
y, although she's never mentioned it. I hope she does, because I want at least two.

  Why am I even thinking about this? Kids with Skye? We just started dating. I'm not even sure if that's what we're doing. Maybe last night was just sex. Maybe that's all she wants from this relationship. She's told me more than once she doesn't want to date. But she went out with Danny, and she agreed to go out with me tonight, so she must've changed her mind about dating.

  "Skye, can I speak with you a moment?" I ask, motioning her to the back office.

  We go in there and I gather her in my arms and kiss her.

  She laughs a little. "At the office? Aren't we going to get in trouble?"

  "I promise not to tell the boss." I look at her, keeping her in my arms. "So who's this girl you're setting up with Danny?"

  "It's a girl in my drawing class. She used to date a guy who kind of looked like Danny so I figured he's her type."

  "He must be your type too since you went out with him."

  "Danny's not my type. I'm not really into blondes."

  "Then why'd you go out with him?"

  "Because he asked. And I thought it'd be good if I didn't spend another Friday night in my room."

  "I would've gone out with you."

  "But you didn't ask. You snooze you lose," she says with a laugh.

  "I'll never make that mistake again." I kiss her. "We better get out of here before something happens." I let her go and open the door. "So yeah, go ahead and file the invoices," I say in case Danny hears us. He's just a few feet away. "Laney will get them processed when she's back on Monday."

  Danny doesn't even notice us. He's in work mode now, all his attention on the car. He's a good worker. I just don't want him dating Skye, or even looking at her like he wants to.

  When did I become so jealous? I've never been that way over a girl. But Skye isn't just any girl. I knew it the moment I met her on the bridge. It was odd that I found her that night. I never go that way and I wasn't going to take that route but something made me do it. Just as I was about to go my usual way home, I turned and took the road by the bridge. Good thing I did or Skye might still be driving around in a car with bad brakes.

  It's like fate wanted me there that night. Like it wanted us together.

  18

  Skye

  It's been three weeks since I started dating Travis, or more than that if you count the Friday night he showed up at my apartment as our first date. I do, but Travis doesn't. He says the next night, which was Saturday, was our first date, even though we'd slept together the night before.

  Either way, it's been three weeks of being together and we can't seem to get enough of each other. I see him every day at work and then we go out at night. Or sometimes we stay in and make dinner, then watch a movie. I've spent almost every night at his place. It's almost like I live there. Travis would love it if I did. He's already asked me to move in with him and offered to get us a real apartment instead of the one above the garage but I told him I'm not ready for that. I tell him it's too soon but that's not the real reason.

  The reason I'm not ready is because I haven't been completely honest with him. I haven't told him how I still struggle with the guilt, the pain, the shame of what I did the night Amy died. The role I played in her death. It's such a huge part of who I am but I can't bring myself to tell him. I told myself I'd never tell anyone what really happened that night but now I feel like it's this huge secret that's holding back my relationship with Travis.

  "Hey, beautiful," he says, giving me a kiss. "Ready to go?"

  "Yeah. Just need to grab my coat." I take it from the hook on the wall. He added it so I wouldn't have to keep throwing my coat on the couch. His closet is tiny and can barely hold the few clothes he has but he cleared it out and tossed his stuff in a box so I could hang my clothes up when I stay here.

  He's such a great boyfriend, which makes me feel even guiltier for not being completely open with him. If we're a couple, we need to share things with each other—the good and the bad—but I'm not ready to and I'm not sure when I will be.

  When we're in his truck, he starts the engine then turns to me. "Before we go to dinner, would you mind if we stopped somewhere?"

  "Where do you want to stop?" I ask, putting my seatbelt on.

  "To see my dad."

  "Your dad?" I ask, surprised because that seems like a big step. So far, he's kept that side of his life separate from his life with me. He tells me about his dad but he visits him on his own. He's never even brought up the idea of me meeting him.

  "If you don't want to that's fine. We can just—"

  "No." I reach over, putting my hand on his arm. "I want to meet him. I really do. I just thought you weren't ready for that yet."

  He takes my hand and holds it. "I've wanted you to meet him for weeks now. I just wasn't sure you wanted to."

  "Why wouldn't I?"

  "I've told you how he can be. He's unpredictable. Sometimes he's quiet and doesn't say much and other times he has outbursts. I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable being around him."

  "Travis, he's your dad. I want to meet him no matter what."

  "I'm just warning you, I never know how he's going to act. Sometimes he starts yelling and it can get out of hand. If it does, we'll get out of there. I promise."

  "Travis, it's okay. Stop worrying about it. I'm more worried about you than how your dad's going to act."

  "Why me?"

  "Because I know it's really hard on you. Seeing him this way."

  He looks down, rubbing his thumb over my hand. "I love you, Skye."

  "What?" I ask, thinking I must've heard him wrong.

  His eyes move slowly back to mine. "I love you."

  I'm too stunned to speak, to move, to do anything other than sit here staring at him.

  "Shit." His head drops and he shakes it side to side. "I shouldn't have said it. I didn't mean to. It just...it was in my head and..." He blows out a breath and lets go of my hand, turning to face forward. He shifts into drive.

  "Travis, wait." I put my hand on his. "Don't go yet."

  "Skye, I don't want to talk about this. I shouldn't have said it. I know it's soon. Let's just go."

  "No, wait." I take off my seatbelt, knowing he won't drive if I'm not wearing it.

  Sure enough, he notices and puts the truck into park. "What?"

  I swallow as I muster up the courage to say this. "You're right. It seems too soon to say it, or even think it. I've known you for what? Five weeks? Dated you for three? If anyone told me they were in love that soon I'd think they're crazy." I pause and look down at the seat. "That's what I thought when Amy told me."

  "Amy was in love?”

  I nod. "She told me the night she died. She said she was in love with some guy she'd only known for a few weeks. She moved into the sorority house mid-August so I'm guessing she met him that week but she didn't tell me until that night. When she said she loved him I thought she was crazy. I didn't believe her. I didn't think it was possible to love someone that fast." I look up at Travis. "Until now."

  He gazes at me. "Skye, I'm not sure what you're telling me here."

  "I'm telling you I love you. I just haven't been able to say it before now because I kept doubting it, telling myself it wasn't possible."

  "Why wouldn't it be possible?"

  "Because it happened so fast. Even before our first date I felt like I loved you but I told myself it was just feelings I was having because of all the time we spent together and because of all the long talks we had. All those hours we spent on the phone after we met...they made me feel closer to you. Before I knew it I was falling for you. You're the first person I've met who ever understood me." I pause. "Other than Amy." I blink away the tears I feel forming. "I never thought I'd meet anyone that understood me like that again but then I met you and it's almost like she arranged it. Like Amy sent me someone who would understand me the way she did." I laugh a little. "It'd be just like her to make sure this someone was a really hot g
uy who happens to be single and around my age." My eyes lift back to his. "She would've really liked you. She would've said you're perfect for me."

  "Seth would've said the same thing about you. He would've known I was in love before even I did. He would've called me on it and I would've told him to shut the hell up, saying he didn't know what he was talking about."

  "Did Seth have a girlfriend?"

  "In the past, yeah. Not when he died. But Seth was a romantic. He'd buy a girl flowers. Write her poems. If anyone was going to fall in love within weeks I would've guessed it'd be him and not me."

  "So what happened?"

  "You," he says, his eyes locked on mine. "You happened." He leans over and gives me a kiss. "You made me love you."

  "Made you?" I kid. "Sounds like I forced you to."

  "You didn't force me but you didn't give me a choice. There was just something about you. I was falling for you before I knew it was happening. And by the time I realized it, it was too late. I already loved you."

  "So now what?" I tease. "You're stuck with me?"

  "I hope so." He smiles. "You're stuck with me too, which is why you should meet the rest of the family. Ready to meet my dad?"

  "Yeah, let's go."

  He holds my hand as he drives, looking over at me now and then with a huge smile on his face. I'm smiling too, more than I thought was even possible. After losing Amy I never thought I'd smile again, but with Travis I find myself doing it all the time.

  We arrive at the nursing home just after six. The nurse tells us Travis' dad has already had dinner and is back in his room, watching TV.

  Travis goes in first while I stand at the door. "Hey, Dad, I want you to meet someone."

  His dad remains focused on the TV, which has a commercial playing and is really loud.

  Travis picks up the remote and turns off the TV. "Dad. It's me."

  His dad turns and looks at Travis. "What are you doing here, Seth? You should be at the shop."

  Travis glances at me, then leans down to his dad. "It's Travis. And the shop is closed now. It's Saturday night."