“DO you ever wonder what the stars look like in other places in the world?”
Cade and I lie on his mom’s nice blanket, both of our faces turned to the stars. I don’t know how long we’ve been here. Long enough for my breathing to go completely calm from stillness. Cade’s fingers brush through my hair, combing through the waves as we sometimes talk and sometimes sit in silence as we take in the beauty of the stars above us.
Cade shifts from underneath me, his fingers skirting along my hairline. “Not really. I don’t think there’s anywhere else in this world that has a better view than I do right now.”
I push off him so I can look him in the eye. My eyes narrow. “Surely you think there’s somewhere else, anywhere else, that has a better view than here in Sutten.”
He shakes his head, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “I’ve never wanted to leave. I don’t care about the other views.” His eyes rake over me in a way that has shivers running down my spine. “Not when I have this one.”
His words strike something deep in me. My throat feels clogged while my body hums with desire. My head and heart are at war. I’ve always envisioned leaving this town and seeing what else the world has to offer. But Cade is convincing. Maybe I’ve been wanting to get out of this town for so long that I haven’t appreciated it for what it is. It’s home. And maybe sometimes home has the best view of them all.
Right now, I can’t imagine anything being better than the view of him lying next to me. The sky could be the clearest it’s ever been, reflecting over the ocean or desert or some other mountain far away from here, and I don’t know if the stars would seem as beautiful as they do right now.
His thumb brushes tenderly over my cheekbone. I lean into his touch. Sadness settles deep in my bones at the thought of leaving him after I’ve finally got him like this. “What about you?” His voice is deep and gravelly. Almost like it pained him to even get the words out.
“I don’t know,” I whisper, wanting to keep this moment between us forever. “I’ve always imagined that anywhere would be better than here. But now…”
“Now?”
I lean closer to him until my hair creates a barrier around us. “Now I can’t imagine myself being anywhere else but here…with you.”
His lips twitch, hinting at a smile. “Prove it.”
I don’t waste another second without feeling his lips pressed against mine. I want to memorize the way he kisses, I never want to forget how he lets me feel like I’m in the lead right before he tilts my head and takes what he wants from me.
Before I know it, I’m straddling him, my hands clinging to different parts of him to get him as close to me as possible. I rock against him, desperate to feel as much as I can with the kiss.
His hands are warm as they drift underneath my T-shirt. It’s the first time I’ve felt his skin against mine like this. The touch sets my entire body on fire.
Cade takes his time running his hands along my skin, as if he’s memorizing the way I feel against his fingertips. They dig into my tender skin as he rips his mouth from mine, his broad shoulders rising and falling in deep breaths. “This is too much,” he says against my neck.
“No such thing,” I beg, rocking myself against him. I’ve never done anything with anyone else. I’ve never had the desire to. Every fantasy of mine has always been filled with him and only him.
But now, I’m ready to find out what it feels like when Cade touches me in places I’ve only touched myself. I’ve waited so long for it. Now I’m ready to know what it feels like to come apart underneath his touch.
His breath is hot against my chest and he lets out a groan. “I don’t want to move this fast with you, Goldie,” he counters, meeting my eyes. There’s so much vulnerability in them. They say everything his mouth isn’t.
“I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for this,” I argue, cupping his face between my hands. “How could that be too fast?”
“I don’t want you to think I took you out here to just…”
I press my fingertips to his lips. “That isn’t what I think at all.”
His hands press into the skin above my hips. I don’t know if he’s about to push me off him or bring me closer. I hope it’s the latter.
“I just don’t want to rush things,” he answers softly. His eyes focus on my lips for a moment. “I feel like I just got you.”
I laugh, shaking my head at him. “You’ve always had me. You just weren’t paying attention.”
He swallows. Somehow the air becomes even more electrified around us. “I am now.”
With three words, I fall even more in love with him. I didn’t know it was possible. I thought after all these years of loving him, that I couldn’t love him more. I was so wrong.
I smile, stealing a kiss from him. “About time.”
He playfully nips at the finger I run over his bottom lip. “I know it’s technically past your birthday, but I still want you to make a wish.”
Cade reaches between us, his knuckles brushing against my inner thigh as he reaches into his pocket. He brings out the same lighter from a few years ago. “It’s not a proper birthday unless you make a wish and blow out the candles.”
“I made a wish earlier. You were there. The cupcakes, remember?”
He’d been busy sulking in a corner, pinning me with an angry glare as I’d made a wish for my heart to get over him. What a silly thought. My heart has always been Cade’s. One simple little birthday wish wasn’t going to change that.
“It doesn’t count.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because it wasn’t just us when you made it.”
I’d always wondered what my birthday celebrations meant to Cade. Since my sixteenth birthday, they’d meant everything to me, but I couldn’t help but wonder if they meant anything to him. Part of me wondered if he was just doing it to be nice.
Now, I know they did mean something to him.
“Do you have your wish?”
I nod. It’s the same thing I’ve wished before on the flame of his lighter. I’ll wish for him, to keep whatever has started tonight. Even after I go off to college in a few months, I want to find a way to keep this up.
Maybe I just won’t leave at all. Maybe I should wish to find something to do here. Books can be written from anywhere, right?
A flame lights between us, the reflection of it dancing against his amber colored eyes. “Make sure you make it a good one.”
I smile, closing my eyes right before I make my wish.
I wish that Cade and I can figure this out together. I wish for this to be the best summer of my life. My biggest wish is that I get to keep him once this summer ends.
