Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 22710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
"Katey?" I ask, not realizing this is an issue. "It’s the first time I’ve seen her in over five months. We had classes with each other last semester."
"I don’t know her name," she says. "I know she was about yay high." She motions with her free hand to her head. "Blonde hair, touched your chest." I try not to smile when she adds that part. "You leaned down and said something in her ear, and then she looked up at you like you hung all the stars in the sky and knew where Santa lived."
I can’t help but laugh out loud when she says that. "I can tell you right now that I have nothing going on with anyone," I state, my stomach rising as if it’s doing the wave. "I haven’t for a while but especially not since I met you." She looks down, and I can see her try to hide her smile. She stops walking and beams up at me.
"This is me." She points over her shoulder at the house behind her.
I think about how I hate that this night is ending so soon. My heart speeds up in my chest. "What about you? Anyone back home that you are attached to?" I take the leap and ask her the big question.
She looks at me, her eyebrows pinching together, confused by my question. "You can’t be serious? One, I wouldn’t do that because I hate long-distance relationships, and two I wouldn’t be trying to you know…" She just looks at me. In the darkness of the night, her eyes are a touch darker.
"You are not only beautiful but you are also kind and generous and…"
"Yes to all of that." Her smile fills her face, and she tilts her head back to look up at me, and my hand lets go of hers. I reach up with both my hands to hold her face in my palms. Her hands go to my hips, and here in the middle of the quiet street, I lean down and do what I’ve been dying to do since I bumped into her the first day I met her.
I kiss her softly, her eyes closing, and I’m about to let her go when she pushes herself against me, and her arms go around my neck. "Not so fast there," she says and tilts her head to the side, coming back with another kiss, but this one isn’t as soft as the first one. This one, she kisses me, and then her tongue comes out. My hands move from her face into her hair as my tongue slides in with hers and I taste the whiskey on her. Her hands slide into the back of my hair as the kiss deepens. She makes me lose my mind completely with just a kiss. I kiss her lips softly as her eyes flutter open. "I should get going," I say, leaning in for just one more second and taking another kiss.
"Or you can stay over, and we can…" She puts her hand on my stomach, and my mouth waters to taste her again.
"Or I can go, and we can talk tomorrow," I say. When I have her for the first time, I don’t want her to be tipsy. My hand slips into hers. "And then maybe we can."
"We can do that right now." She gets up on her tippy-toes and kisses under my chin. "Walk up those steps and…" She nips my neck.
I pull her close to me, not ready to say goodbye without one more kiss. "Go upstairs." I kiss her one more time, and then she turns and walks up the steps.
"If you want to come back," she says over her shoulder, "it’s the second floor." She opens the door. "First room has my name on the door."
"You have your name on your door?" I ask.
"Lydia brought home a friend once, and he thought my room was hers and came in trying to do the helicopter with his penis." I can’t help but laugh. "I threw my shoe at him, and he will never try that again." She lifts her hand. "But I won’t say no if you try it."
"Good night, Harlow," I say, putting my hands in my back pockets to stop from going to her.
"Good night, Travis," she says and turns into the house. I wait a minute when I see a light come on. I don’t move until the light goes back off and then turn to walk to my house. The whole time, I really fucking hope she remembers this kiss in the morning.
seven
Harlow
"Good night, Harlow." I hear his voice, and my eyes flutter open. I take a second to blink the sleep away from my eyes before reaching over and grabbing my phone off the bedside table. "Eight forty-seven," I groan as I turn over to my other side, facing the wall and then looking at my phone as I open my Instagram app. My tongue feels like it’s got little cotton balls on it.