“You know, I think you may be the only person who’s ever called me out on that. Not many people can read my moods like you seem to be able to.”
I step up close to him and circle my arms loosely around his waist. The heat is radiating from underneath the soft worn cotton of his t-shirt and warms my wrists. I tilt back so I can see him more clearly.
“Yeah well, I’m not just anyone, and I know you. I know that when you’re upset you get a little crease right here above your nose.” I smile as I trace over the small indent before dropping my hand back to his waist. “I know that you drum your fingers on any available surface when you’re feeling anxious. You hum without realizing it when you’re relaxed, and I happen to know that if you smile genuinely, the dimple in your left check is deeper than the one in your right. I pay attention.”
“You pay attention, huh?”
“Of course I pay attention, I—” He silences me with a kiss. Fire dances behind the ice blue of his eyes, and he’s staring at me fiercely as his lips are pressed softly over mine. His intense expression is in complete contrast to the softness of his actions. The breeze chills the moisture on my lips. I shudder as he pulls away, and another chill races along my spine. I feel the ardor of his stare on my skin as his eyes map out every contour of my face, as if committing it to memory. Messy brown hair falls over his forehead, tickling my own as he moves forward again.
This time his eyes drift shut as he cradles my head in his hands and pulls me forward to meet his mouth. The warmth of his breath fans over my face and then his lips send electric pulses through mine as they move with a slow deliberation. I can feel my knees buckle, and I’m thankful he’s holding my face because I’m certain I’d sink like a boulder, and land in a mass of boneless skin at his feet. I’m completely lost, stumbling further into the abyss of my affection for him. He doesn’t even seem to know what he’s doing to me. I move my arms from his waist and slide them between us, running them up his stomach and chest, squeezing them amid our tightly packed bodies, and finally bringing them up to cup his face, the same way he’s holding mine.
He kisses me breathless, until I have no real conscious realization of where we are, or how long we’ve been standing here. Heat pools in the pit of my stomach as he pulls my bottom lip into his mouth and nips at it, dragging his teeth slowly over the flesh before releasing and placing tiny kisses over the bite. We finally break away, dizzied by the exchange, and he rests his chin on the top of my head, tucking me into his body like I’m an extension of him. It’s exactly where I belong.
I listen to the erratic rhythm of his breathing as he attempts to catch his breath, inhaling slow and deep. My face moves up and down as its rests over his heart, mirroring his breathing. The smell of soap and something that is uniquely Ethan infiltrates my senses; coupled with my dazed mood from our kisses, it makes for an overwhelmingly heady combination.
“You make it impossible for me to stop kissing you—you know that, right? I can feel my chest burn, and my lungs scream for me to stop and take a breath,” he smiles and I can hear it come across in his voice. “I know that I need to pull away, but I can't. I don’t want to, and I’m sure I’m about to suffocate, but I don’t care because it would be the sweetest way to die,” he whispers. I feel his words in every part of me; my toes curl, my fingertips tingle and if it’s possible for a person’s whole body to blush, I’m betting that’s what mine is doing right now.
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” I say sarcastically with a small grin.
He pulls away, pushing me back at arm’s length while holding onto my shoulders. The sereneness of his expression morphs to ferocious passion. The wind is blowing strands of my hair across my cheeks and slapping them against the lenses of my glasses. I can feel my arms break out in goosebumps and I’m sure they have nothing to do with the gusts of wind that are slowly starting to pick up and everything to do with the way Ethan’s looking at me right now.
“You are the first and last person I will ever breathe those words to, Blair.” The seriousness to his voice sends a shudder racing through my body. There isn’t a single ounce of doubt in his voice and my stomach tightens. I watch the calmness return as I respond in the only way I know how. I rise on to my tiptoes, place my cold cheek against the unshaved roughness of his, and tell him the only truth I’m certain of at this moment.
“I love you.”
We’ve been traveling for about an hour since stopping for gas. After the exchange at the campsite, Ethan’s acting more like himself, although the telltale crease above his nose is prominently visible, mocking me that there’s still something troubling him that he hasn’t chosen to confide in me. I have no right to know every little detail about him, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting them.