Every Breath (12 page)

The rough fingers sliding up my bare back send shivers up my spine. I open my eyes, but my room is still completely cloaked in darkness. I’ve only gotten a few hours of sleep, but this is a nice way to wake up. I untangle my legs from the sheet and turn over to him, pressing my bare chest to his and throwing my leg over his firm hip. The downy sprinkling of hair on his solid stomach tickles mine before I close the chasm between us. The desire to get closer to him is unbearable, and I may not be fully awake, but I don’t have it in me to fight it anymore.

His strong hand grasps my knee and glides up to the top of my thigh, stopping to grip my hipbone and pulling me closer home. Impossibly close. The luscious heat and desire pool into the lowest part of my belly, and I suddenly don’t care at all about my boundaries. With one arm circled around his shoulders, I bury my face into the warmth of his neck, breathing in a hint of cologne and soap, while my other arm finds its way around his side to his back.

I feel him tense beside me when I exhale and my breath escapes to caress his neck. But he’s not entirely amused when I giggle. He nudges me back until my own neck is exposed, and he shows me exactly why it’s not funny. Ever so lightly, he drags his satiny lips from my collarbone to my jawline, leaving blistering heat behind in its path and only his soft breath to slightly cool the euphoric heat. I feel him smile against my neck when I gasp.

Oh. Definitely
not
funny.

He continues weaving his merciless spell by sweeping his tongue over the same path and gently drawing my skin into his mouth, tenderly sucking and nipping along the way. I feel myself slipping into a carnal kind of darkness with only one way out. A sweet oblivion that I’m determined to find.

His breath hitches in his chest when my fingernails graze his back, tracing his spine, and he becomes a little more frantic. His kisses somehow feel hotter on my already boiling skin, and his hand on my hip clutches me tighter, his fingers stretching and kneading into my delicate flesh.

Impatience takes over, and I untangle my arms from him, sinking my fingers into his disheveled hair and pushing him away from me. I want to feel his lips on mine, and I can’t wait another second. It’s already been a lifetime without them.

Just before I guide his mouth to mine, I open my eyes to steal a fleeting glance, praying for only a glimmer of light to see his face as it approaches mine.

And there is . . . reflecting in those amber honey eyes.

When my eyes jolt open, I scramble out of the blankets and shoot out of the bed so quickly that I don’t realize my feet are still tangled in my sheets. Before I can stop myself, I smack the cool wood floor . . . with my face.

Ouch.

I kick my feet to free them and crawl along the side of the bed, stretching my neck up only slightly to peer over the edge of the mattress. There isn’t much light, but there is no visible body in my bed.

Thank. God. It was only a dream. An exceptionally vivid dream.

I slump down to the floor, leaning my back against the side of my bed. What the hell was that about? For starters, I never have
those
kinds of dreams; although, now that I’ve experienced it, I’m certainly not opposed. I have to remember what I ate last night to make that happen. And I’ve come to expect the dreams about Shane, and that’s what I thought that was for a while, but those eyes . . .

I’ve only seen that golden brown color once before, and Sawyer is definitely the person I saw in that dream. I just wish I had some idea of what all of that meant. Who knows? Maybe when Drew kissed my neck last night—er, this morning—he awoke this sleeping carnal beast inside me. And I did have an intimate moment with Sawyer, too. Telling him all about Shane has made me feel connected to him in a way that I haven’t felt in such a long time.

Deep in the recesses of my subconscious, the two incidents must have woven themselves together into one. Interestingly enough, though, I’m glad my subconscious chose to star Sawyer in that dream, instead of Drew.

Huh. Go figure.

Even though it’s a little earlier than normal, I decide to go ahead and get ready for work, taking my time to find something acceptable to wear to meet Drew’s parents tonight. He’s picking me up after school, so I won’t be able to come home to change. Here’s hoping that I manage to stay remotely clean today.

I opt for a nicely-fitted sheath dress, the deep plum color shouldn’t show any dirt I happen to pick up from any of the forty-six grimy hands I come into contact with today. And my black pumps won’t be very comfortable, but it won’t be the first time I’ve kicked them off and walked around my classroom barefoot.

Curling my long brunette hair is more of a chore than I usually care to take on, but today is important. I know that me meeting his parents means so much to Drew, so I want to make a good impression. Even if it takes a whole hour to curl my hair and put on a little extra makeup. Callie will probably freak when she sees me because she’s always begging me to dress up more.

Oh, yeah. No, she probably won’t since she’s not talking to me. God, I already miss her annoying the hell out of me.

Darcy keeps pacing back and forth down the hallway, glaring into the bathroom as she passes. She’s more accustomed to my ten minute routine, which is immediately followed by breakfast, so my extra primping is seriously disrupting her eating schedule. And as always, she has no problem making me aware of it.

I finally get her, and myself, some breakfast, and I even have enough time to drink an extra cup of coffee. Maybe I should start out every morning like this. An insanely sexy dream waking me up a little early, but in a good mood. Extra time to make myself feel pretty. And time for more than one cup of coffee. It’s going to be a perfect day. I can feel it.

And it is.

The day flies by. My class comes back from the weekend with a renewed excitement to learn, and they hit it hard all day. They never cease to amaze me. We even get a few minutes to use a computer in the library to video chat with Sawyer this afternoon, which always makes our day fun. The kids adore him, and I know he enjoys his time with them. They never fail to make him laugh, so he always signs off with a bigger smile than what he started with. Knowing that makes me happy.

I was worried about him being so upset last night, but today he seemed more relaxed, lighter. We didn’t have time to talk alone, but I did promise that we would talk tonight. I just hope that Drew doesn’t keep me out too late. My extremely late night and early morning is catching up to me quickly, and my constant infusion of coffee is doing little to keep me energized.

“Whoa. Who are you, and what did you do with my girlfriend?”

I whip my head around to the door and smile, raising my eyebrows. “Girlfriend?”

“Mmm hmm.” Drew takes the few steps to my desk and pulls me up from my chair, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Damn,” he whispers. “You’re beautiful every day, but today . . . breathtaking.”

“You’re not so bad either.” He smells like he just got out of the shower, and his tousled hair is even still slightly damp. “You’re early, you know. I still have some papers to grade. Doesn’t the team still have to work out this afternoon?”

“Nope. I had some stuff to do, so I cancelled it. My parents require a lot of attention.”

“Don’t they all?” I giggle.

Drew pulls at the end of a curl falling over my shoulder, causing it to spring. “They’re dying to meet you. Can you wait to do the grading tomorrow?” He barely suppresses a grin when he pokes out his bottom lip. He can be irresistibly cute when he wants to be.

I think I’d rather grade all night than meet his parents, but I’m fairly certain he’d never let that happen. I know he’s excited, so I might as well pretend to be, too. “I’m pretty sure those language tests will still be here tomorrow if I don’t grade them tonight. Let’s go.”

Except he doesn’t move and doesn’t let me go. “It means a lot to me that you’re doing this. Taking this next step with me tells me that you’re closer to taking another. And I look forward to every single one of them. I-I’m in love with you, Makenna.”

I have a sudden need to swallow. Hard. How the hell do I respond to that?

But before I can even make an attempt, Drew places a single finger over my lips. “Don’t say a word. I’m not looking for you to say it back just yet. I just want you to know how I feel about you, so you understand exactly how invested I am in this relationship. My day begins and ends with thinking of you. I’m consumed by you, body and soul, and I couldn’t bear to be with you another second without telling you that.”

Oh
.

Well, to say that I don’t feel the same would be a serious understatement, but I can’t help but feel pleased with his admission. Maybe I can do this. Just maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

Instead of removing his finger, though, he traces the outside of my slightly parted lips with his fingertip. Even though I feel panic brewing just below the surface and my breath catches in my throat, my eyes betray me by falling closed, allowing me to only concentrate on the sensual touch. My mind immediately takes me back to this morning’s delicious dream . . . and the man that was in it.

And almost just like in my dream, I feel a broad hand flatten against the small of my back, pressing me closer to the smoldering wall of muscle in front of me, and I instinctively snake my arms around his back. Before I can stop it, the image of those amber honey eyes descending upon me floods my thoughts, and I feel my whole body tense and relax at the same time. A low growl rumbles in my ear just before I feel the whisper of two soft lips just under my earlobe, kissing lightly once before grazing lazily along my jawbone and up to the corner of my mouth.

Just like my dream, I am tired of fighting it. I want to feel Sawyer’s lips on mine—er, I mean, Drew’s lips. No. Not Drew’s . . . definitely Sawyer’s.

Damn it all to hell.

“Ahem.” The voice at the door sends me scrambling back from Sawyer’s, I mean Drew’s arms. Well, shit.

“Callie?” I’m shocked to see her darkening my doorway since she’s avoided me like the plague all day long. She hasn’t said a single word to me since our fight on Saturday. But the look on her face tells me that she’s not here to apologize.

“I need my books back. The ones you borrowed last week.” Her words come out choppy. Impatient and annoyed.

I step around Drew to pull them off the shelf and walk toward her. “Here. Thanks for letting me borrow them.”

“Uh huh.” She yanks them from my hands, sends a terse nod in Drew’s direction, and walks out.

He steps up behind me, resting those big hands on my hips. “She’ll get over it, baby. Just give her some time. I promise.” Leaning down, he plants the softest kiss on my temple. “Let’s go see what my parents are up to, aside from calling me every five minutes.”

On the ride to his house, I think about that moment Drew and I just had in my classroom. I need to get real with myself. That dream I had about Sawyer has totally thrown me off, and I need to forget about it before I get myself into trouble. I came so close to kissing Drew just then, while I was imagining it was Sawyer. What the hell is wrong with me? I clearly need to get some quality sleep before I completely lose what little bit of the mind I have left.

I’m with Drew. Apparently, according to him today, I’m his girlfriend. Sawyer isn’t interested in me, and he’s just my friend. Although, after he made some cryptic admissions last night, I’m beginning to wonder exactly how friendly we’re getting. But whatever. I have to stop this nonsense before someone gets hurt. Most likely me.

“You ready for this?” Drew asks, reaching across the console to squeeze my hand.

Not really. “I think so. Why? Should I be worried?”

He smiles so wide that his eyes crinkle at the corners. Damn, that smile. “No, not at all. I have already been talking about you for weeks, so I’m pretty sure they already love you as much as I do. They’re just going to be excited to finally put that beautiful face of yours to your equally beautiful name.”

“Hmm. Well, I hope so.”

He pulls into the drive behind a glossy black Escalade and turns toward me. “I have to ask you something before we go inside. Are you upset with me for what just happened in your classroom?”

“I’m not mad at you. Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been a little more quiet than normal, so I just want to be sure we’re okay. I didn’t mean to freak you out by telling you that I love you, but I just couldn’t wait anymore. And I know all about your boundaries with kissing, but you didn’t seem to tense up like you normally do. If Callie hadn’t come into the room, I wouldn’t have stopped that time. Was I way off base?”

Was he? I honestly don’t know. That stupid dream has me so confused. Clearly, my body is on a different path than my head because it has a mind of its own lately. My hormones have shifted into overdrive. But this is about overcoming my hesitation in our relationship, right? I told myself I was going to push myself out of my comfort zone and really give it a shot with Drew, so that’s what I’m doing. I just didn’t realize my libido would snatch the reins from me so quickly.

“Everything is great, Drew. I’m just trying not to overanalyze everything because I really want to take the next step without my subconscious taking over and shoving the constant stream of doubt down my throat. And, no, you weren’t completely off base. In that moment, I’m not completely sure I would’ve stopped you either. But the right moment will come again.” I just wish I could put my finger on whatever it is that has me so open to the idea all of a sudden. The word “hypocrite” keeps coming to mind.

“Any time you decide that moment has made its way around again and I don’t notice, please promise you’ll tell me. I don’t want to miss that for anything in the world.”

I nod at him. “I’m sorry that everything with me is so complicated, Drew. I honestly don’t know how I got lucky enough to end up with someone as patient and understanding as you.”

“You’re worth it. It’s me that’s the lucky one, I promise you.”

I forget that his parents are waiting for us until I notice movement at the front of the house. The front door swings wide open before two silhouettes appear in the frame. “Oh, God.”

“Thought you weren’t nervous, sweetheart,” he laughs, pressing a swift kiss to my knuckles. “Makenna?”

I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly before looking at him. “Huh?”

“I love you, no matter what they think. So stop clenching your jaw and relax. I’m going to be with you every second.”

I didn’t even realize it was clenched. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

As soon as he comes around to open my door, his mom steps off the porch. “Well, Drew, I was wondering if we were going to have to get in the truck with you to meet her.”

“As much as I would love to keep her all to myself, Mom, that won’t be necessary.” He holds out his hand to assist me in climbing down. “Makenna, this is my mother, Nina Pierce. Mom, Makenna Madison.”

I’m awestruck when I look at the petite woman in front of me. I’ve never seen a woman so perfect in all my life. Her chin-length copper hair is expertly curled, not a single lock dares to move out of place. And there’s not even a slight crease in her tailored trousers or rose cashmere cardigan. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Pierce.”

She takes my outstretched hand. “It is lovely to finally meet you. Drew has been talking about you for so long, I was beginning to wonder if you were merely a figment of his imagination.”

Drew takes my elbow and guides me up to the porch. “This guy standing in the doorway so he can covertly watch the game is my dad, Andrew Pierce.”