The Moment of Letting Go

“Yeah,” I say. “I can’t imagine not being able to see you.”


He raises my hand to his mouth and kisses the tops of my fingers. “Me either,” he says, kissing another finger. “We do have a lot of fun together, don’t we?” His warm lips brush across my knuckles and the top of my hand—I suddenly feel incredibly lightheaded, and my skin tingles from the nape of my neck down into my knees.

“Yeah … we do … have a lot of fun,” I say in a quiet, unfocused voice.

I feel his lips move downward near my ear, and the heat of his breath trails along the side of my neck. “So … what do you wanna do the rest of the day?” he whispers as his free hand slips beneath the elastic of my shorts and into my panties.

“Umm …” I gasp when his fingers find me. “I, uhh …”

“Don’t think about what I’m doing to you,” he says as his hand pushes my legs apart. “Just answer the question.”

Is he kidding? No, I don’t think he’s kidding …

A series of shivers runs up my thighs, and my mouth parts, sucking in the warm, salty air.

“We could go swimming,” he says softly, his fingers moving in and out of me; our legs are tangled in the hammock, my left leg fallen to the side to give him access. His free hand combs through my hair. “Or maybe go on a hike. What do you think?”

“Well, umm”—oh my God, I can’t fucking breathe—“I-I uh—”

I can’t. I just can’t.

“Sienna?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Do you want me to stop?” His voice is so calm, so quiet, so deliciously irresistible.

“No,” I say quickly. “I-I don’t want you to stop.”

I gasp when he pulls one finger out and moves it around in a circular motion against me.

“Then answer the question, babe.” He kisses my head again, his lips lingering within my hair.

My whole body shivers from the inside out.

“OK … um, maybe we could go hiking …” Inhale, exhale. “I-I think that’d be fun.”

“Then what?”

I swallow hard. My legs are trembling.

Silence.

“Sienna?”

“N-no … umm, let me think.” I can’t think of anything else right now!

I get really quiet. His hand stops.

“Luke … seriously, I-I don’t want to think about that stuff right now.”

“What do you want to think about, then?” he whispers, two of his fingers now pressing firmly against me, moving a little faster in a circular motion.

I gasp, my back arcing a little, my chest heaving.

“I want to think about what you’re doing to me right now,” I say breathily. Oh my God …

“Don’t close your legs, baby,” he whispers. I didn’t even notice I had tried.

“OK …” He doesn’t have to tell me twice.

He pushes my leg over the side of the hammock, where it hangs at the bend of my knee.

Every muscle in my body begins to tense. I feel like I need to raise my arms above me and grab on to something, but we’re too tangled, lying in the hammock, closely compacted together, preventing much movement.

My mouth falls open and my breath comes out in a shudder. “Oh my God … Luke … seriously.”

He manages somehow to get his mouth near mine and his tongue touches the corner of my lips. I try to roll to the side to kiss him, but it’s nearly impossible. My chest rises and falls with a deep, unsteady breath.

“What would you do if I stopped right now?”

“I’d cry.”

“You’d cry?”

I gasp and moan, digging the tips of my fingers into his abs. “Yes, I’d probably cry—please don’t stop.”

“But what if I stopped and took you inside,” he says with his mouth still near mine and his fingers still moving below, “and I laid you out on my bed and stripped off all your clothes and spread you open and finished you off with my tongue?”

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