Where I Belong

The water is warm as it always is, but too cloudy for me to see her swimming ahead of me. Luke and Tessa have climbed up onto one of the floating piers and are talking closely, but Mia doesn’t seem to be headed for the pier. She’s headed for the cliffs. I know for a fact that she was always too scared to jump off of them when she was younger. I did it a lot, and it scared the shit out of me every time. It was high, really high, and I wasn’t about to let her do it alone.

I swim faster, pushing myself to get up next to her, and within a few strokes I succeed. We both reach the rock ledge at the same time, and she looks at me once she wipes her eyes. I smile at her and I swear I see the slightest twitch in those perfect lips of hers, but I can’t be sure. She struggles to pull herself up onto the rock, slipping every time and falling back into the water. My girl needs my help and I’m going to give it to her.

I quickly climb up onto the rock, staring down at her and offering my hands. “Come on, pretty girl. Let me help you up.”

“I don’t need your help.” She continues struggling, each attempt making her more exhausted. “There should be a freaking ladder here or something,” she scoffs under her breath and I have to resist the smile that’s tugging at my mouth.

“Do you want to jump off the cliffs or not?” She looks up at me and shrugs once. “Give me your hands. I promise I won’t bite.” I smirk at her and she catches it, rolling her eyes. “Unless you want me to.”

“Funny.” She grabs my one hand and I motion for her to grab my other. She does, but not before giving me an annoyed look, and I easily lift her out of the water and stand her up next to me. “Thank you.” Her hands leave mine instantly and she looks up into my eyes. And f*ck, I want to kiss her, right here. And I would if I didn’t think she’d cut my nuts off if I tried.

“You’re welcome.” I place my hand on her lower back, moving her toward the rocks ahead. We have a ways to climb to get to the top and she will definitely be making that trek in front of me. “Go on. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Try not to stare at my ass too much.”

Damn. Is she flirting with me? I catch the smile she is trying to hide from me and I decide to give her one better. “Oh, I don’t need to stare, baby. I memorized every inch of your body the other night.”

She flicks her head back and spots my grin, her hands braced on the rocks above her. “Where’s my birthmark?” she asks, challenging me. There’s zero playfulness to her tone. She’s testing my knowledge of her body and by the look on her face right now, she thinks she’s got me beat. But I f*cking own that body and know it better than she does.

“On the inside of your right thigh. It sort of looks like a peanut.”

She opens her mouth to speak but closes it before turning back around. “Lucky guess.”

I laugh and nudge her with a hand on her calf. She begins to move faster. “Luck has nothing to do with it. Fate, maybe. Putting us both in that bar the other night was more than some coincidence. But knowing that you like to watch me eat your p-ssy or that you have to be digging your nails into something when you’re coming has absolutely nothing to do with luck.” She glances over her shoulder at me with a staggered look. “I pay attention to every little thing about you.”

She doesn’t linger on my face, nor does she give me a response. But I think I may have impressed her. Maybe. Mia’s difficult to read lately. She’s definitely not sending me clear signals like she did the other night at the bar. She turns her attention back to the rocks above her and makes her way up the side of the cliff. I’m close behind her, keeping an eye on her footing in case she slips and I have to catch her.

We make it to the top and she moves to the edge, apprehensively glancing down. “Holy shit.” Her wide eyes blink rapidly and she turns them on me. “This is really high. It didn’t look that high from down there.”

I stand beside her, brushing my hand against hers. “It is high. I do this all the time and I still get nervous up here.” I run my finger down her arm, feeling her skin tingle against mine. She seems completely unaffected by it and keeps her focus on the water. How can she ignore that? How can she pretend her body doesn’t respond to my touch? “Want me to jump with you? It isn’t so scary if you do it with someone.” I try to grab her hand but she pulls it away from me.

“Jump, you pussies!” Tessa yells, standing on the pier and waving at us. Reed and Luke are watching in amusement and Mia laughs next to me. And it is f*cking beautiful. I’d give anything to hear that laugh every day for the rest of my life.

“I love that sound,” I say, completely unashamed of my infatuation.

She looks at me with confusion. “What sound?”

“Your laugh. Your voice. Hell, all your sounds.” Her lips part slightly, and a shaky hand comes up and tucks some hair behind her ear. “I can’t get them out of my head.”

She purses her lips, dropping her gaze to the water. “Stop it, Ben.” Her voice is an intense plea, like she can’t possibly handle another word coming out of my mouth. Which is too f*cking bad because I have a lot to say right now.

“Stop what?” I bridge the gap between us and grab her hips with such blunt force my fingertips ache. I know she likes it like that so I don’t let her stunned look slow me down. She gasps softly as I turn her toward me. Her body is tense, fearful even, but she doesn’t try and get out of my grasp. I hold her gaze, daring her to look away from me as I continue. “Stop telling you that I want you? Stop telling you that I’ve been going mad since you walked out of my bedroom?” I reach up and brush my thumb across her bottom lip, wanting more than anything for her to pull me into her mouth like she did the other night. I need some part of me inside her. She allows me to touch her without giving me an inch. I move closer, pulling our bodies together so that they’re perfectly aligned. “Stop telling you that you’re so incredibly beautiful, I’m having trouble remembering my own name when you’re around me?”

She shoves against my chest, hard, causing me to stumble back a bit. “Stop it! You can’t say things like that, Ben. Do you know what that does to me?”

“I know what being around you does to me.” I grab her hand and place it against my chest, my other hand reclaiming its spot on her hip. Her eyes dart from my face to where her hand is and I see her eyes react to the effect she has on me. “Do you feel that? That’s what you do to me. Every f*cking time I’m near you.” I can hear her heavy breathing while her eyes stay glued to her hand. I don’t say anything else. I just let her feel it. You own this part of me. Take it. The magnitude behind that admission doesn’t faze me. I don’t care how crazy it seems to be this obsessed with someone after one night together. I’ve never felt like this.

She seems hesitant but she stays right there with me, her breathing filling my ears and her fingers moving against my skin. Tentatively. Just the lightest brush of her fingertips but I swear to Christ she leaves burn marks on my chest. Scorching me. Branding me with her imprint. And then I see it, the very moment a memory of our past washes over her. Breaking our connection. She blinks several times, her face falling before yanking her hand away from me as if I’m the one burning her. She looks quickly from my worried face to the water and without a second glance at me, she jumps.