Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 219(@200wpm)___ 175(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
I’m still grinning as I sit up, brushing old leaves that smell of autumn away from my face when they continue to flutter around me. Some undignified spluttering later in the leaves, and a hand appears before my eyes, a familiar, soft-looking hand.
Following up the length of her red coat, I find Kathleen fighting the laughter in her throat but failing as little bursts of giggles still escape her lips. She pulls me to my feet and helps me brush the leaves from my leather jacket and hair.
A completely frazzled mother pulls a red-faced child over to stand in front of us. She forces the little kid to apologize for knocking me over as he accidentally ran into me. He does, reluctantly, rolling his eyes at me.
“Yeah, that’s alright, little man,” I tell him, and I can feel Kathleen staring at me. “Just watch out there, huh? You don’t want to knock anyone else over, do you?”
The little boy shakes his head with a little smile. When the mother and child finally leave, Kathleen turns back to me, not quite looking at me though I can see a pleased smile on her plump, pink lips.
I find that I want more of that smile from her and of that laugh.
I’m happy to see that it’s because of me that she’s happy. I feel a sense of pride from that, and I want to keep making her happy for as long as I possibly can.
Her smile is like seeing the sun, and it warms me up.
I can see Stevie playing with the other kids close by, engrossed in his pumpkin picking. He’s not even glancing over at us at all; he’s having so much fun.
“He doesn’t get to do stuff like this often,” Kathleen says thoughtfully. “So thank you for this. Thank you for all of it, Eddie. It means so much more than you know.”
“It’s nothing,” I tell her, gulping hard. “It feels nice to make someone happy.”
"Oh hey, you dropped your phone,” Kathleen says as she bends to pick it up, with my heart in my throat. I don’t want her to see the front screen.
She makes to pass the phone back to me in an easy motion when the screen lights up under her touch, and her gaze goes to the light automatically.
Of course, the picture of us on the hayride, smiling big and bright, flares to life in her hand. Her green eyes are wide as she stares at the screen even after it’s gone completely dark once again. I can’t gauge her reaction.
After a moment, I suck in a hard breath, knowing full well that I’ve been caught, my feelings about her on full display. I move to take the phone back from her. Our fingers brush, and I can hear her breath as she sucks in, and those big eyes turn on me while the light pink of her cheeks deepens into a full-blown blush.
Suddenly, she’s right in front of me, looking up at me as if it’s the very first time she’s ever seen me. Her hand brushes up my side under my leather jacket.
I lean down, and Kathleen presses her lips to mine, giving me a deep kiss like there’s no one around. There are people around, though, and she pulls away after a moment.
“Stay here,” she tells me. “One of Stevie’s friends is over there. I’m going to ask her parents to look after him while we go try and find my glasses in the maze.”
“In the maze?” I wonder, thoroughly confused at what she just said. “You wear glasses now? And when did you go into the maze? We’ve been with you the whole time, Kat.”
At that, Kathleen just laughs, and when her hand brushes the crotch of my jeans when she passes, I suddenly understand. There are no glasses.
She snatches up my hand when she comes back, and she pulls me into the maze that’s made up of stacked hay bales and creepy-looking scarecrows.
As we go deeper into the maze, the fewer people we see, and when Kathleen yanks me into the shadows, I press her into the walls of hay bales, pushing my tongue into her mouth. I feel her body writhe against mine, warm and wanting me.
“Eddie,” she breathes against my mouth. Her hand squeezes the hardening front of my jeans, and I can’t help the gasp that escapes my lips.
I wait for a moment, making sure no one is going to sneak up on us as the sky darkens overhead. I can feel the shift in the air, like the shift between us two.
“It’s going to storm,” Kat says above me, breathless as I kneel at her feet, pulling her tights down her legs to get to what I need most.
“We have time enough,” I tell her, slipping a hand up her thigh and under her skirt.