Dare Me Forever (15 page)

“How does that feel?”

I couldn’t speak--it
felt so good and illicit. Somewhere in the rational part of my brain,
I was thinking how outrageous it was to use a priceless antique for
something like this, but my mind was totally clouded over with how
amazing it felt.

He put down the opener,
and replaced it with his tongue. I gasped as he began to suck my
clit.

I didn’t think it was
possible to become so aroused again, just after the most incredible
release I’d ever had. But the way Ryan handled my body, touching me
as if he was reading my mind, doing things to me I’d never even
dreamed about, blew me away.

Wrapping my legs around
his head, I slowly rocked to the rhythm of his strokes. Grabbing my
hips, he buried his face into me. I came so powerfully I shocked
myself.

Ryan trailed kisses up
my body and held me close. I relaxed into his arms, feeling totally
sated and secure.

Amy

Driving to the Fletcher
Cove to meet Hunter the next morning, I felt guilty. Why was I
spending time with him, when I’d just spent the night with Ryan?
Why did he have any pull on me, at all? Even with these regrets
running through my head, heading towards the beach brought up so many
hazy, happy memories. Jamie and her old boyfriend, Chris, used to
come with us and we’d all go swimming, listen to music, play with
Luke, who at that point was my semi-permanent side kick.

We’d bring a bunch of
food and just stay all day. By the time it was dark out, we all had
that too-much-sun tired and total relaxation feeling. It was a great
tonic to anything stressful.

I remembered one time
in particular. Luke must have been at a friend’s house, probably
Matt’s, and Hunter and I hadn’t invited anyone else to meet us.
We parked the car and ran like banshees towards the water, stripping
down to our bathing suits as we ran.

“Woohoo!” I’d
yelled, laughing and diving in the water first. I remember seeing
Hunter race after me. He swam up to me slowly, and the sexy look on
his face took my breath away. He’d kissed me so deeply, like I was
his reason for breathing.

Only a few weeks later,
Mrs. Morgan, with embarrassment in her eyes, had very politely asked
me to stop coming over so much, but not to tell Hunter. Just to make
him come to my house more. I had understood. I couldn’t fault her
for her reasoning, but it was a terrible loss for me. It really broke
my heart. She’d been such a support to me, and she couldn’t be
anymore.

Shaking off the old
memories, I arrived at the Cove.

A minute later Hunter
pulled up. He walked up to my car door just as I was about to get out
and opened it for me. As I stepped out, he took my hand, pulling me
playfully towards the shore.

“Remember when we
came here as kids?” he asked longingly.

“It was a magical
place,” I replied.

He glanced over at me
as he said, “It still is.”

We walked down towards
the water and sat near it. I knew Hunter had something he wanted to
say, and he kept opening his mouth to speak, but then pausing again
before he even got one word out. I couldn’t for the life of me
figure out what it was.

“Amy, you know how we
had it really good in high school--I mean when we were together?”

I nodded. I didn’t
know where this was going, and I didn’t really feel like helping
him along.

“I just wanted to say
I’m sorry. I know I ended things abruptly and was a real shit. And
I know this apology is like six years late, but I’m telling you I
feel like an asshole still. And I guess, well I want to start over.”
He looked at me uneasily. He was never very comfortable with
apologies. I guess no one likes to admit they were a total jerk.

What he was saying, it
was exactly what I’d wished to hear years ago. I wished I could go
back in time and tell my younger self, that this would happen. It
would have helped me. I’d still would have been devastated by what
Hunter did—leaving me with no real explanation, showing up with
another girl from our class the next day. But it would have helped me
heal faster. Now if felt good to hear it, but I still didn’t
understand what he wanted.

I decided to be honest.
What did I have to lose? “Thank you for saying that. But it doesn’t
erase all the pain I felt after we broke up, but it’s definitely
good to hear.” I frowned. “But what do you mean ‘start over?’
We can try to be friends.” I didn’t want him to think otherwise.
He gotten even more handsome, but attraction wasn’t everything,
especially when I felt such a connection to Ryan, not to mention that
I wanted to be with him and on him practically all the time.

“That is not what I
was thinking.” Hunter cleared his throat. “I was thinking we
could go out again. I’ve changed, and for the better, I hope. And I
want to try. You are a beautiful woman, smart, and complex and
everything I could hope for. Please consider us. Give me a chance.”

I felt like I’d been
doused in cold water. I was totally shocked. Even with our
conversation the other day in my store, I didn’t seriously think he
wanted me like this.

I paused, gathering my
thoughts. “You don’t know me anymore. I’ve changed. I’m not
sure it would work between us.” I tilted my chin up.

His eyes looked at me
beseechingly. “Amy, please.”

I didn’t want to
continue the conversation, it felt like it came completely out of
left field. Maybe the best way to stop it was to appease him.

“Ok, I’ll think
about it.” I just wanted to stop talking about it.

“Do you promise?”

I think he was trying
to be funny, I hoped so. This all felt like too little too late, no
matter how flattering his words, no matter our history. But I hated
to admit it, I couldn’t just erase it from my mind.

I didn’t want to run
back to my car and make it more awkward, but I also needed to get
going. After a few minutes, I spoke again.

“I need to get to the
store to open.”

He grabbed my hand.
“Ames, I know I was a total shit. I’m not that guy anymore.
Please give me another shot.” I nodded. At least I would think
about it.

Amy

Ever since seeing
Hunter, I’d had an annoying headache. I would try to think of what
he said, and to understand what he wanted, but my mind would just
come up blank. I decided I needed to stop thinking. It wasn’t
getting me anywhere, except totally irritated. I was working on
another really cool commission for a new clothing company called Rags
that was opening nearby. They were extremely opinionated about what
they wanted, but I liked that. It was a good challenge. We spoke the
same language about design and the person I was dealing with over at
Rags seemed like she could become a friend. It made me feel like I
was back in school, working on a group project.

And it was doubly
great, because not only was it a lot of money, but it took a lot of
concentration which helped take my mind off of Hunter’s behavior
and my Ryan obsession. I kept reminding myself, if I didn’t have
the history with Hunter, I wouldn’t be thinking of him at all. Ryan
would dominate my thoughts, hands down. But something about our
shared past kept me thinking of Hunter, even though I was pretty sure
I wouldn’t want to date him if we had only just met now. He had
grown a lot since high school, and he still had some kind of crazy
sexual energy, but he still seemed immature somehow.

I’d been working
non-stop for a few hours, and decided to treat myself to a coffee
across the street. I put the “back in 5 minutes” on the door, and
walked over to
Groundworks
. As I stepped through the door, the
smell of espresso wafting over me, I saw the back of Ryan, who was
also waiting in line.
Too bad he isn’t naked.
I slowly
walked over, and tapped him gently on the shoulder. He turned towards
me and gave me the most endearing smile I’ve ever seen.

“Amy, I was just
going to get you something and bring it into the store.”

“That’s super
sweet,” I said giving his bicep a squeeze. Man, he had amazing
arms. “I was thinking of going all out.” I pointed toward the
counter where an ice blended coffee awaited its owner.

“You got it. I reckon
you’ve earned it. All that exercise.” Ryan put his arm around my
waist and hugged me to him. Being near him made me regret seeing
Hunter that morning. I looked down at my feet.

Putting his nose into
my hair, he inhaled deeply. I was happy I’d washed my hair that
morning. “You smell so good. What is that? Vanilla?”

I loved the way
‘vanilla’ sounded coming out of his mouth. I don’t think I’d
ever get used to that accent. I needed to stay in the present and not
think about this morning at the Cove.

After our drinks were
ready, Ryan came over to the store, and after setting our drinks down
on the counter, I showed him what I was working on for Rags.

“Do you have time for
this?” I asked, glancing up from the cardstock spread out on the
table. I knew how busy he always was.

He smiled. “I
couldn’t get you off my mind, so I wasn’t really doing any work.
And everyone deserves a break once in a while. I’ve been having a
really frustrating morning. This is between us, but I’ve been going
through the financials on certain projects, and they aren’t making
sense.” He drew his fingers through his hair. “I just can’t
figure something out, but I know the numbers aren’t right. They
look
right, almost too right.” He was sort of talking to me,
but mostly to himself.

I leaned over and
kissed him. He seemed surprised, but pleased. “I’ll definitely
stop thinking about the tossers at work if you could do that again.”

I kissed him again. He
deepened our kiss, parting my lips with his own, putting his arms
around my waist to grab me towards him. I could feel my body heating
up, my nipples erect and excited. After a minute, I had to wrench
myself away. I didn’t want customers coming into the shop with me
getting busy on the floor. And if I hadn’t pulled away then, there
is no way I could have stopped it later.

Ryan laughed into my
mouth as I pulled away.

“Too much for you,
Amy?” he asked smiling.

“I’m definitely too
much for you,” I said in my sassiest tone of voice. “Now get back
to work. I have a shop to run.” I pretended to be huffy.

“Listen,
unfortunately I have work plans tonight, but let’s do something
tomorrow night? Of course I’d rather be in you.” Did he just say
what I thought he said? I stared into his eyes, at that new yet
familiar twinkle, and laughed.

I couldn’t wait to
see him the next night.

Amy

For some reason, I’d
agreed to have dinner with my mother. So instead of the usual lunch,
where I could be in and out within the hour, I’d signed myself up
for at least two hours, if I was lucky. And she wanted it to be “just
us girls” as she’d said on the phone, so I couldn’t even use
Luke as a buffer/commiserator.

As I applied some
mascara, and a touch of pale lipstick, I decided that in the worst
case scenario, I could just leave the dinner early. If she was being
a total bitch, as she was sometimes known to be, I didn’t need to
take it.

And all this time with
Hunter, has brought back the memory of what she had done. Not just
the abandonment or the insensitivity, but the very worst thing she
had ever done. I didn’t even want to think about it. At this point,
she was lucky I still saw her at all.

With that in mind, I
grabbed my purse, took one more look in the mirror, and hurried to my
car. We were meeting at the El Royal, this pretty glitzy hotel closer
to San Diego. It was all flash, where the in-crowd went, but my mom
always thinks that’s the kind of place that will make me happy.
Somehow she got it into her head that I’m easily bought.

I drove up, and was
pointed towards the valet as there was no self-parking. Handing my
keys to the parking attendant, I pulled down the bottom of my black
dress, smoothing out any wrinkles that had gathered while sitting
behind the wheel. Pushing my bangs behind my ear, so my mom wouldn’t
chastise me for having hair in my eyes, I walked quickly into the
lobby and up the stairs to the restaurant. The maître-d asked my
name, and told me my party was already waiting. Surprising, as my
mother was always fashionably late. As we approached the table, I
could see that she wasn’t sitting alone.

I’d thought this was
girl’s night out, but sitting next to her, with his back to me, was
some kind of businessman. He’d probably be a total bore. I should
have known—she isn’t one for intimate conversations, and doesn’t
think it’s worth getting dressed if not to impress some man.
Irritation stirred in my chest. Why did she have to change the plan
without telling me? I rolled my eyes as I approached the table. I
should be used to this sort of behavior by now—it was nothing new.

The host brought me
around to my side of the table, pulling out my chair. As I looked
across the table about to take my seat, Ryan looked up from his menu.

It felt like I had run
into a wall. I was suddenly unstable on my feet. If the host hadn’t
already pulled out the chair, I think I might have fallen over. I
locked eyes with Ryan as I lowered myself into my chair.

My mom, excuse me,
Miranda
, made the introductions.

“Ryan Anderson,
please meet my daughter, Amy Miller,” she said, flashing that
irritating I-only-have-eyes-for-you smile at Ryan. She was always
inappropriately flirty.

Ryan cleared his
throat. Before he could say a word about how we already knew each
other, I reached my hand across the table, to shake his. He held on
longer than necessary.

“It’s a pleasure to
meet you Mr. Anderson,” I said, grateful my voice didn’t catch in
my throat as I thought it would.