Thundering Luv (9 page)

“At least someone is kissing.” Megs pouted. “All I get is a nod hello from Jake. I don’t understand him, first he’s all over me, then I tell him I want more and he goes cold fish on me. I didn’t ask to be his girlfriend when summer was over, I just wanted him to be my summer boyfriend.”

Jewel put her arm around Megs. “I see him looking at you when he doesn’t think you’re paying attention to him. Especially, when you flirt at his friends. So I think maybe he’s playing hard to get.”

Megs smiled. “He is? Well I don’t flirt with them on purpose, I want to entertain myself. I really would like to spend time with Jake though. But now that summer’s over, our paths won’t cross again.”

“No? Why not? He’s friends with Colin and I hope to still be with Colin when we go back to school. And…you are my cousin. Or…a chaperone to keep me out of trouble.” Jewel winked at her.

Megs shook her head. “Nope. I won’t talk to Jake when we get back home and all the competition rolls in. I mean he’s a jock. Those guys don’t even look my way during the school year. I’m not a hottie. I’m more of an intellectual who stays in the library. Besides, I don’t show off this awesome body in the cold winters.”

“You never know.” Amy smiled. “Chad asked me to be his girlfriend. He wants to date exclusively when we get back home.”

Jewel and Megs squealed and jumped up and down before hugging Amy. Jewel refused to feel jealous, because the reason Colin wasn’t her boyfriend was because of her own stupid choices. Now seeing that Amy and Chad were willing to take their relationship further, Jewel knew now that she wanted that with Colin.

Megs tossed a broken shell into the sea. “At least one of us is leaving with a boyfriend.” She turned towards Jewel. “Maybe you should ask Colin to be your boyfriend.”

Jewel put her hand to her chest. “Me? Ask a boy? Oh, I don’t know Megs.”

Could she? Should she? Jewel gulped, she was willing to take the risk to keep Colin in her life, especially after she hurt him by turning him down.

“Why not? He really likes you. I’m shocked he hasn’t asked you by now. Most guys usually ask the first day of meeting you. I mean first, Colin’s on your payback list, then you can’t stop thinking about him, and now you and him are together all the time.” She hugged Jewel. “This time, with him, you look so happy.”

“I am. I can’t wait to see him in the morning or to hear his voice at night. Going home is going to suck if we’re not together.” Jewel crossed her arms.

“Well, don’t turn around, but he’s here now,” Megs grinned at her.

Jewel ignored Megs teasing and ran to meet Colin who was jogging towards them. He opened his arms wide and she jumped into them, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Colin kissed her, holding her close to him. “I’ve missed you babe.” His hands sank in her unruly waves.

“Missed you too.” She slid down into the sand and the shells fell out of her pocket.

“What are you girls doing?” Colin helped her pick up some shells. He fingered a few of them before placing them in his palm.

“Collecting shells to make necklaces. It’s supposed to be a souvenir from our trip.” Jewel glanced around and noticed that Megs and Amy had left her to collect more shells further down the beach.

“Let me help. If you give the shells to me, I’ll make you a necklace.” He smiled at her, hugging her again, then kissing her neck.

Jewel giggled. It was always so hard to keep a straight face when he kissed that spot. “Oh, that’ll be great. I’m not that good at making jewelry or anything artsy, but Megs seems to think it’s not that hard.” Jewel handed him the shells she’d collected, which seemed small in his large hands. “I tried to get shells with interesting colors and no cracks.”

“Hmmm, you picked some good ones. We can mix them with some of the rocks.” Colin sat and grasped her hand to pull her on his lap. “But first, I really need to kiss you.”

Jewel’s heart swelled. She tilted her chin up and touched her lips to his.
 I’m in love with you.
Closing her eyes, she repeated it to herself, trying to work up the courage to tell him.

Colin ended the kiss. “Guess we better get to work, huh?”

“Sure. But Colin…I want to tell you something.” Jewel frowned.

“Don’t tell me you’re angry with me.” Colin used his thumb to smooth out her crinkled eyebrow.

“No. But it’s serious,” she swallowed, “it’s about us.”

“There’s an us?” He smiled, giving her a teasing poke to her stomach, then flattening his palm over her belly-button ring.

“I want there to be,” she whispered. “I think of you all the time. I’m happy with you, more than I’ve been in a long time. I didn’t mean to hurt you when you asked me to be your girlfriend. I wanted to say yes, but,” she shook her head, “all the other boys, they moved too fast. I didn’t want to do that with you. I wanted to be sure, because…because, breaking up with you would hurt me so much.”

“Shhhh.” He put a finger to her lips. “It would hurt me too.”

“That’s why I didn’t say yes to you then. But what I’m trying to say is,” Jewel stuttered, the fear that Colin would reject her like she’d rejected him had her heart racing in her chest, but looking at him and the way he gazed back at her, gave her the courage. “W-Would you like to be my boyfriend?”

Colin blinked several times, his eyes watering a little, then he composed himself. “Are you sure you want to do that? If you want things to stay the way they are, I don’t mind. I’ll take any part of you that you’re willing to give.” He kissed her.

She sighed, deepening the kiss. “I’m ready,” she whispered in between small kisses.

Colin held her face between his hands, his eyes met hers, revealing hunger and desire within. “Then, Jewel Dupree, would you like to be my girlfriend?”

“Yes.” She kissed him. “And yes,” she kissed him deeper, “yes.”

“I lo—” Colin stopped himself.

“Me too,” Jewel answered between kisses, then pulled away, wondering if what he said was what her heart wanted him to say, or if her mind was playing tricks on her. “What’d you say?”

Colin cleared his throat, studying her face a moment, and seemed to make up his mind about something. “I’m in real deep like with you.”

Jewel’s heart ached, because she didn’t just like Colin, she knew without any doubt that she was in love with him. “Kiss me again,” Jewel whispered, closing her eyes to hide her tears.

Colin was playing with the necklaces he made for them. He slouched back on the oversized chair and glanced at the text from Jewel.

He’d matched the necklaces in their design, even cut the shells, decorating them in such a way that when the necklaces were placed together, the shells were whole. One for his
Jewel
and one for him. He frowned. He should be happy, but he felt so guilty he couldn’t even finish cleaning up the place for her. They were leaving for home in the morning. He knew then things would change. But the last two weeks—they only made him hunger for more, much more.

His cousin was a spoiled snot. At home, his aunt and uncle barely tolerated his presence, and he was working as hard as possible to be out of their house when he graduated this coming school year. But he wanted Jewel to be a part of it. He knew it sounded lame, but he just wanted what his parents had. They’d been together since high school and he saw the love they had for each other. He wanted that, he wanted someone who would be his center, his friend. For a while he’d thought that was Summer, but he didn’t feel as complete with her as he did with Jewel.

Colin only hoped Jewel felt for him as deeply as he for her, and that she could find it in her heart to forgive him for not being completely honest with her. There was a knock on the door; he took a deep breath and went to open it.

Jewel was smiling up at him. “Hi!” She wrapped her arms around his waist.

Colin leaned down and kissed her, lifting her in his arms and carrying her into the living room, his lips never leaving hers.

Jewel ended the kiss. “Are you packed?” Sounding breathless, she slid out of his hands to sit on the couch.

Colin sat next to her and pulled her onto his lap, gazing at her, with his eyelids slightly closed. Kissing Jewel again, Colin admitted he didn’t want them to talk, because when they did he had to come clean about all the things on his mind. Colin owed her that, but the last few weeks had been the best he could remember in a long time.

Jewel laid her head on his shoulder and kissed him softly on his neck. “I don’t want to go home. I wish this summer would never end.”

“Me too.” And Colin meant it. He didn’t ever want to go back to reality where he had to risk Jewel leaving him.

“Colin?” She trailed her finger down his neck to the V in his shirt. “I love you,” she whispered.

Colin swallowed, he was in shock. She’d uttered the words so lightly he almost didn’t hear her. “I’m in love with you too.”

“Really?” She appeared doubtful. “You mean it? You’re not saying it just because I said it first?”

“I’ve been in love with you since I carried you to your room after Jake hit you with the ball. I never told you because I didn’t want to rush things. And I didn’t want you to hurt me. Uh, and I was afraid to admit it to myself.” Colin grasped the necklace he’d left on the table. “I made these for us.”

She smiled and snuggled deeper in his lap. “Their more beautiful than anything I’ve seen before. How’d you get the colors?” Jewel lifted the bottom of the necklace up. “The shells are beautiful and the beads—are they made from the rocks we found?”

“Yeah, I sanded them down real smooth.” His heart beat rapidly in his chest and felt like it swelled at her praise. “I also added some rocks I got in the morning before you met me to run.”

“This is…I don’t know what to say except that I love them.” Jewel kissed him, her eyes teary.

“Jewel.” Colin exhaled, he had to get this out of the way or things would be worst once they were home. “Remember when I told you a few weeks back that we needed to talk?”

She frowned. “Oh, when I came over to the movie party.” Jewel’s eyes got stormy. “And you were kissing Taylor.”

Colin scratched at the nape of his neck, feeling uncomfortable about the past digression. “Yeah. I wanted to be honest with you about something I found out. Something that was happening at school.” His arms wrapped around her, almost as though he was holding onto her for dear life.

Sighing, Jewel ran her finger down the necklace. “I don’t want to talk about going home, or about school.”

Neither did Colin, so he gazed into her eyes and said, “Jewel Dupree, will you take this necklace, be my girlfriend and promise you’ll never take it off? Trust me to take care of your heart and to love you always?”

Her face lit up with a smile. “I do,” and she took the necklace meant for him, “Colin Davies, will you take this necklace as a token of my love for you and trust that you will take my love and heart, keeping it safe in your hands?” Jewel clasped the necklace around his neck, and leaned in to kiss him.

Colin stopped her, his hands at her waist, as guilt drummed through his blood. “I can’t. Not until I tell you this.” He yanked a hand through his hair. “Tank, and all the jocks at the school have a bet going. They have been doing it for years,” he swallowed, “the bet is to see who’s the first guy to have sex with the newest cheerleader on the team. You’ve been the only one none of them have been able to break. So all the guys on all the teams have been putting big money in the pot to see who will win. And when they lose, everyone on the team gets to haze them.” It was why he found out his cousin Tank was so upset when Jewel broke up with him, since he was going to be beat up or pranked by his team members by losing the bet.

Jewel’s smile drooped, her eyes watered, and tears flowed. Yet she was silent as her bottom lip trembled. She attempted to get off his lap.

Colin held her there while she pushed against him and within moments Jewel started slapping his hands away, but he still held her. “I’m sorry. So sorry, babe.”

Jewel took several staggered breaths. Tears fell unchecked from her eyes. “I’m not your babe. I’m nothing to you.” She sniffed. “So, you’re playing with me too? You knew this and didn’t tell me? First, you act like you can’t stand to look at me, then you act as if I’m some freaky slut who moved through all the guys at school.” Her hand lifted and she smacked him. “You waited till I told you I was in love with you and asked you to be m-my boyfriend.” Tears continued to fall. “Let-go-of me now! I feel so stupid. You won huh, you broke the Ice Queen.”