Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 114368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“Awful.”
“We’re going to regret this.”
“Totally.”
“So we should stop it.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “But…”
“But?”
“We won’t.”
“We won’t?”
He shook his head and reached his hand across the table. “Do you know why?”
“Do tell.”
“Because it feels too good being bad with you.”
I smiled even though I shouldn’t have because he was right.
We were the greatest mistake that felt so right.
“We’re going to crash.” I laughed, shaking my head at how irresponsible we were becoming. Whitney would’ve been shocked by the girl I’d been over the past day.
“And burn, maybe,” Milo agreed. “But no regrets.”
I bit my bottom lip. “Promise?”
“Yes.” He held his pinky out toward me, and I wrapped my finger around his. “Promise,” he said. “Now, let’s eat our dinner so I can eat my dessert later tonight.”
“I like how you do that,” I confessed.
“Do what?”
“Dirty talk. When we’re hooking up…” I felt my cheeks heating up as shyness crept up on me. “I wish I could do it, too.”
He arched his eyebrow. “You’re more than allowed to join in,” he swore.
“I know, but I get shy. I can’t just do it randomly. I’ll feel too silly.”
“What if I close my eyes while you’re doing it?”
I laughed. “Still too shy.”
“We can start with phone sex. Then you won’t see me, and I won’t see you.”
“I doubt we’ll find a time to have phone sex.”
Milo leaned in toward me. “Trust me. I’ll make time to have you whisper dirty things to me through the phone receiver, Star.”
I didn’t doubt that at all.
We’d laughed so much that night that my cheeks hurt from all the smiling. At one point, after our laughter, Milo sat back in his chair and shook his head in disbelief.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I just didn’t think I’d be able to feel happy again.”
And just like that, my heart slowly began to become his.
We talked more about our moms and our dads. I told him about the pink bike with yellow daisies painted all over it that my mom built for me, with a white wicker basket and purple handlebars. “It was amazing. It fell apart a few years back, but man, I used to ride that thing everywhere.”
“I could imagine little Starlet riding that bike around town.”
“I had a matching helmet, too.” I beamed with joy.
We talked about the heavy things, too.
“What are the hardest days for you?” Milo asked me.
“There’s only one, really. My mom’s birthday used to be hard, but now it’s just a celebration. My dad and I always get together and make her favorite cake. The hardest one for me is Mother’s Day. It’s like a constant reminder each year of what I don’t physically have anymore.”
“Yeah, that’s a hard one for me, too. They are all still hard for me.”
“Some will get easier, and that’s okay. Some might not, and that’s okay, too.”
After an incredible meal, we walked outside and stared at the stars that littered the darkened sky. Milo wrapped his arms around my waist, and I looked up in amazement.
“Look at the constellations!” I remarked, pointing up at the sky.
“I don’t see them,” he said.
I laughed slightly. “You’re joking, right?”
He shook his head. “Not seeing them.”
For a moment, I thought he was pulling my chain and trying to tease me. Yet when I saw the serious look on his face, I grew a bit confused. I pointed once more. “Right there. There are dozens of stars.”
Still nothing from Milo.
I turned around to face him, placed my hands against his chest, and stood on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. “I think you need glasses, Mr. Corti.”
His lips turned into a smirk. “I think I need you more right now.” With his finger, he traced the outline of my lips. “And trust me when I say I don’t need glasses to explore you.”
“Then by all means…” My cheeks flushed a little before I took his hands in mine. “Explore.”
Everything felt a little different that night compared to the previous times we’d hooked up. The first time at the party was void of emotional connections. The second time, in the back of the car, was quick and packed with so much adrenaline that it happened so wildly.
That night, though, we took our time. A part of us knew we were moving closer and closer to the end of whatever it was we’d been doing with one another, far away from our reality. When we returned to our town, we wouldn’t be able to find ourselves intertwined as we’d been for the past twenty-four hours.
I knew I should’ve been worried about what we’d be when we went home, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I allowed myself to live in the moment. To be there with Milo and not worry about the tomorrows that would soon ruin our awakened dreams.
Milo undressed me slowly, taking off my clothes to reveal my black bra and panties. His mouth found mine as his hands moved to the back of my bra and unhooked it with two flicks of his fingers. It fell to the floor within seconds. I moved to begin taking off his clothes, but he stopped me.