Come Back To Me (24 page)

29/05/2014 15:30

COME BACK TO ME

and shakes his head. Oh God. My stomach contracts in

anticipation as I watch him lower his head and start to

kiss his way up my legs. My bones dissolve, every cell in

my body igniting in a chain reaction. My nerve endings

are frayed electrical wires. Every touch of his lips sends

up a spray of sparks that travels all the way to the tips of

my fingers and toes. I grip hold of the brand new covers

on the bed and hear myself moaning as Kit parts my legs

and keeps kissing me until my head spins.

He has me in the palm of his hand and the ache in my

core is a tight, sweet pull that quickly becomes a throb.

He trails another wave of kisses across my belly, and by

the time he reaches my neck and starts kissing the spot

just beneath my ear, I’m almost in tears I’m so frustrated,

aching for him to be inside me. My body is arched

painfully, taut as a bow, my breathing ragged.

‘Kit,’ I say.

He kisses my lips, silencing me, and then I hear him

reaching for something on the nightstand. I keep my eyes

closed as he rolls on a condom, and only when he settles

over me, resting his weight on his arms, do I open my

eyes. He’s watching me, waiting for me to give permis-

sion. I nod, and he presses slowly against me, guiding

himself in, the whole time watching me carefully. I inhale

sharply at the sudden pain and then again at the wave of

pleasure that follows quickly in its wake. He stops, and I

can tell he’s scared of hurting me. He knows I’m a virgin.

I wrap my legs around his waist and grip onto his shoul-

ders, urging him on. He pushes harder, easing fully into

me with a groan, and I let out a gasp as he fills me com-

pletely. I rake my hands down his back, not wanting him

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to stop. ‘You feel amazing,’ he whispers in my ear as he

slowly, gently builds up a rhythm that makes me gasp for

breath.

He kisses my neck, my lips, my breasts, and I run my

hands over his rock solid stomach and chest, and though

it stings for a moment, soon I forget everything except the

feel of him, his weight on top of me, the pure strength of

his body.

I feel like he owns me, like I own him, like I never want

to let him go. Within seconds, I start to feel a fire spread-

ing through my limbs, a crazy, intense spiralling of

pleasure that he stokes with every stroke, until I feel like

I’m going to burst. Kit moves faster and I raise my hips

and move against him, wanting more of him, all of him.

His eyes are half closed, and a trail of sweat snakes

down his chest.

‘I love you,’ I tell him, the words falling past my lips

just as everything builds to an exquisite point and I come.

I collapse backwards onto the bed, crying out, and Kit

collapses down on top of me, breathing hard.

Little sparks travel down my legs. I stroke my hands

through Kit’s hair and trail a hand down his spine feeling

deliciously languid and loose-limbed, loving the feel of

his body sinking into mine. I trace the muscles across his

shoulders and back and shiver as another wave of

pleasure rocks through me.

After a few moments he makes to roll off me, but I

hold him in place. I don’t want him to go anywhere. In -

stead he wraps his arms around me and rolls with me in

his arms so I’m lying on top of him, my head on his

shoulder, our limbs entwined. For several minutes we

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stay like that, neither of us speaking, our hearts slamming

into each other.

‘Fuck,’ Kit says, a laugh in his voice, ‘that was amaz-

ing.’ He kisses my forehead. ‘Are you OK? Did I hurt

you?’

I open my eyes, though it feels as though they’re made

of lead. ‘Are you kidding?’ I ask. ‘Now I know what all

the fuss is about. When can we go again?’

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Kit

We make love once more, this time slower – I’m aware

she must be sore, though she claims not to be – and then

once again in the small hours of the morning, both of us

drowsily breaking out of sleep and reaching for each

other. Each time is better than the last, even though each

time I’m pretty sure it couldn’t possibly get any better. I

get her to tell me exactly what she likes, how she wants to

be touched, and she does the same with me until it feels

like we know each other in ways no one else will ever or

could ever come close to knowing.

I wake in the morning when a slat of sunlight breaks

through a crack in the curtain. The first thing I become

aware of is the warmth of Jessa’s naked body pressed

against mine, and instantly I’m aroused. Oh man. At this

rate I’m going to be walking like John Wayne.

Jessa mumbles in her sleep and pushes back against

me. I take a deep breath, trying to imagine what it would

be like to wake up to her in my arms naked like this every

morning. I can’t believe we’ve only got two weeks left.

The chances of us getting to spend another night together

like this one are slim to none – Didi’s going on vacation

with her parents, so Jessa won’t be able to use the excuse

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of staying over at hers – so I close my eyes and revel in

the moment. This night is going to be what gets me

through the next year.

I press a kiss to Jessa’s shoulder and she rolls over so

she’s facing me, her eyes still closed. ‘Is it morning?’ she

asks with a smile on her lips.

I kiss her, all the while thinking
this girl loves me
. She

loves
me
. ‘Yes,’ I tell her.

She sighs and opens her eyes. Even though they’re

shadowed from lack of sleep they’re sparkling bright, and

I’m struck by the look in them. It’s as if she’s transformed

overnight − at my hands, I remind myself a little smugly

− into a total seductress without a trace of innocence left

about her. Her hair is in total disarray, her cheeks flushed.

She looks well and truly ravished. ‘I wish we could stay

in bed for the next two weeks,’ she says, pouting, ‘until

you have to go.’

‘I think if we did that, neither of us might ever walk

again,’ I say, laughing. ‘Are you hurting at all?’

She shakes her head and then pulls a face, biting her

bottom lip. ‘Maybe a little.’ Her hand, however, still

reaches under the covers for me. I push my head back

into the pillow. Oh man.

Later on, as we lie there, willing the clock to slow down,

Jessa rolls onto her side to face me, resting on her elbow.

‘You wouldn’t have slept with me, would you?’ she

asks, ‘if I’d said I didn’t want to date you beyond these

four weeks?’

I shake my head at her. So she figured it out. ‘No,’ I say.

‘Why?’

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‘Because it wouldn’t have been fair to you,’ I say. ‘And

then, selfishly, I knew that if I slept with you, then for the

whole of the next year on post I would never have been

able to get you out of my mind. I’d have just relived it

over and over every second of every day. Which is what

I’m going to be doing now anyway.’ I laugh ruefully at

how much I’m going to replay this night. ‘But I would

have been picturing some other lucky guy getting to have

you, getting to come back to you every night. I didn’t

want that. It would have been torture. To know you, to

make love to you, and then lose you. I couldn’t do it.’

Jessa watches me for a few moments and I stare back

at her. Then she leans down, her hair tickling my face.

‘You’re never going to lose me,’ she murmurs against my

lips.

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Jessa

Over the next few days, Kit and I steal every chance we

get to make love. I can’t get enough of him and it seems

he feels the same way, because we pretty much work

through every position known to man. When I’m not

with him I can still feel him, the lingering echo of his

weight pushing into me, the imprint of him on my skin.

Butterflies skirmish in my stomach just thinking about

him. My mom makes more comments about how happy

I look and I think she’s fishing for info. Didi begs for

details, but I just grin and tell her it’s even better than

they make it look in the movies.

I even manage to ignore my dad’s moods. They bounce

off me as though I’m wearing a suit of armour. The only

thing that ever threatens to derail my happiness is when I

think about how little time we have left. We’re on the

downhill slope. There are just twelve days to go before he

ships out.

I’m counting them off on my calendar when Riley

sticks his head around my bedroom door.

‘Hey,’ he says, ‘Kit just called. It’s his dad’s birthday

today and they’re having a party for him around at his

cousin’s. He wants to know if we want to go.’

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For a moment I stare at Riley blankly. I knew it was

Kit’s dad’s birthday, but I didn’t know they were having a

party.

‘If you don’t feel like it, I can tell him you’re busy or

something. He said his dad wanted to invite you,

though.’

His dad wanted to or Kit wanted to? I have to hide my

smile from Riley.

‘So, you want to go or not?’ Riley asks, his fingers

drumming the door. ‘It’ll be fun. We can tell Mom we’re

going to the beach or something.’ He pauses. ‘You know,

we haven’t had much chance to hang out together since I

got back.’

He noticed? Or did Kit have a word with him and sug-

gest he spend more time with me? He gives me a hopeful

smile crossed with an apologetic shrug and so I say, ‘Sure.

Yeah, sounds good,’ trying to keep my voice and my face

neutral.

Riley looks pleased. ‘OK. Ready to go in thirty min-

utes?’

I nod. I’d planned to sneak out the house and see Kit

later this afternoon – but now I get to spend the whole

day with him, and the fact that it’s not in private is made

up for by the fact that I also get to hang out with Riley.

And any extra time I get to spend with both of them is a

bonus, given how quickly the days are tripping past.

I grab my phone to check the time. There’s a message

flashing. It’s from Kit. ‘Coming?’ is all it asks.

I don’t answer. I’m going to keep him hanging.

*

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Forty-five minutes later Jo, Riley and I rock up at Kit’s

cousin’s house on the other side of town. There are stream-

ers and balloons outside and music floating through the

open windows along with the delectable smell of grilling

meat.

The door’s wide open and inside it’s heaving. At first

I’m overwhelmed by the noise: music, chatter, shrieking

children, laughter. If you were to create an atmosphere

that was the polar opposite of my own birthday party,

then this would be it.

Kit’s family are boisterous and loud − and, it strikes me

as I look around the room, happy. This is what a family

should be like, I think to myself sadly. Riley catches my

eye as we walk through the room and I know from the

smile he gives me that the same thought is passing

through his mind. He puts his hand on my shoulder and

squeezes, and I wonder if I should just tell him about Kit

and me. If he could see how happy Kit’s making me, how

being with him gives me a chance to be part of a family

like this, then surely he’d be OK with it?

Next thing I know, though, I’m swept up by Kit’s sister

Tessa, who I haven’t seen for over a year, since the last

send-off for Kit and Riley. She’s a smaller, prettier version

of Kit, with the same deep dimples that suggest mischief,

and piercing blue eyes which light up the moment she

sees me. She links her arm through mine and drags me

towards the kitchen.

‘So, a little bird tells me that you and Kit are a thing,’

she whispers in a stage voice that could match Didi’s for

subtlety.

Alarmed, I glance over my shoulder, scared that the

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whole room just heard her announcement, but Riley and

Jo are busy chatting with some of Kit’s cousins, and

thankfully the music is so loud it seems to have drowned

her out.

‘It’s OK,’ she says, seeing my anxiety, ‘your secret is

safe with me.’ She winks at me and points through the

kitchen window at Kit who’s busy manning the grill. ‘I’ve