Chapter 2

But there’s a glare of a flashlight and a tap on the side window glass, and Kaitlin and I sit upright with a start.

“Park’s closed, kids. Time to go home.” It’s a man’s voice, who I can only assume is the park ranger, thinking he’s interrupted some horny teenagers.

I giggle. “Busted,” I say.

Kaitlin’s grin stretches a mile wide as she turns the key to fire up the noisy engine.

“Ice cream?” she says.

I nod and lean back into my seat.

We sit at one of the little sidewalk tables for two, under a string of bare bulb patio lights, staring at each other over little dishes of rapidly melting ice cream. I’ve got chocolate, and she’s dragging her spoon through some strange creation called lobster tracks. I still can’t believe that this girl I’ve been fawning over for weeks is sitting here with me, and that we just made out in her car after watching the sunset. Well, technically Cap’n Dave’s car, but still.

“What are you grinning about?” she says.

“Nothing. Just thinking about getting busted by the park ranger.”

“Kinda fun, wasn’t it.” Kaitlin is smirking around a spoonful of ice cream. Her eyes twinkle with the string of lights overhead.

I nod, and she reaches across the table to cover my hand with hers.

“Listen, I’ve got to sneak Cap’n Dave’s car back, but if you want to stick around, I know the best little place to have breakfast while we watch the sun rise.”

“Oh yeah, where’s that?”

I’m half expecting her to say something cheeky, like my Aunt Harriet’s diner, but she just extends her index finger and points into the air above.

I shrug. “The clouds? On the moon?”

“My apartment. It’s right above the ice cream shop. It looks out over the bay, and it really does have the best view of the sunrise—”

“You’re asking me to spend the night?”

“If you want to.” She’s not grinning this time, and she’s not really looking me in the eye anymore. “We’re both young, attractive—”

“And you’re trying to be more spontaneous.”

“I don’t know if I can. I—I mean I like you, you’re fun…”

“I know,” she says. “But you’ve got scars.”

I pull my hand back. My chest tightens, and for a moment I find it hard to breathe. Did my sleeve slip at some point this evening so that she could see?

“Deep emotional scars,” she continues, “from your last relationship. That’s always the way it is. All the cute ones are either taken, or somebody’s made them afraid—”

“This doesn’t have to be a thing, you know,” she says, reaching my hand again. “It can just be two people sharing a night.”

Kaitlin extends her other hand now and wraps mine between hers while putting on the cutest little pout. I fixate on her lips, not knowing if her expression is manufactured or not, but I’m finding it hard to resist either way.

“It’s up to you,” she says, “but I wasn’t kidding about the Eggs Benedict.”

Oh God, what do I do here? I decide to take the direct approach. “There’s something you need to see first,” I say, and drop her one hand to begin pulling up the sleeve of my shirt. Even in the dim light, the three parallel pink lines on my forearm are visible.

“Okay…?” she says.

“It wasn’t an accident,” I say.

“Well, they say if you’re serious, you go lengthwise.” She lays her hand gently on my wrist. “I’ve had my own little incident with sleeping pills. I’m not judging.”

Seriously? That’s it? That’s all the reaction I’m going to get? That’s what’s running through my mind, but I say nothing.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” she says, “but if you’d feel less self-conscious by leaving your shirt on, that’s fine. As long as your pants land on my floor within the next hour and stay there.”

I burst out with a wholly unattractive snort of a laugh. “Where’ve you been all my life?”

“In your Aunt Clara’s restaurant, working up my courage while getting fat on her seafood chowder.”

“Aunt Sarah,” I say, smiling. “And I seriously doubt that.”

“You needing to work up any courage.”

“I told you, I’m trying to be more spontaneous.”

I nod vigorously. “Let’s finish up this ice cream and go be spontaneous together.”

“Sweet,” she says, tightening her hold on my hand, “but I really should sneak Cap’n Dave’s car back before he realizes it’s gone.”

I slowly shake my head and grin. She’s a mad woman.

We’re standing in the alley, Kaitlin and me. Both front doors of Cap’n Dave’s Subaru are wide open, and we’re bracing ourselves against the door frames. The engine is off, sparing us the usual noise.

“Just give it a shove, and then jump in,” Kaitlin says. “It’s all down hill from here.”

It takes a bit to get the car rolling from a dead stop, but once it’s going I’m finding it hard to keep up.

“Jump in!” Kaitlin hollers, and we both pile in, slamming the doors behind us, laughing like idiots.

“Shh,” Kaitlin says, biting her lip.

Without the laughter, all I can hear is the pounding of my own heart and the crunch of gravel under the tires, as Kaitlin expertly steers us down the modest hill and into the back parking area of Cap’n Dave’s Whale Watching Tours. With a slight squeak of the brakes, the roller coaster ride is over.

“Oh, my God,” I say.

“Shh,” is all I get in return. That, and Kaitlin urging me out of the car, toward the sidewalk in front.

“Just act casual,” she says. “I’m going to put the keys back.”

I raise my hand to cover my mouth. Just in time, too, as I snort another laugh. Act casual. Right. I pace for a good thirty seconds, trying to figure out how I’m going to pull that off before Kaitlin’s back, grabbing my hand and pulling me along with her. She tears headlong down the sidewalk, our feet pound on the concrete as I struggle to keep up.

“That was not very casual,” I say, as we stop in front of the ice cream shop again, both of us bent forward, huffing and grinning like idiots.

“I know,” she says, holding her side, “we should have done our sprinting before the ice cream.”

“You gonna make it?” I tease.

“I’m fine,” she says before straightening up and taking my hand again. “You?”

I nod, and she leads us over to a covered stairway to the side and behind the little ice cream shop. I follow her upstairs on wobbly legs. The night so far has been like a dream come true. I only hope it continues that way.

“Mmph,” I mumble into Kaitlin’s mouth, as her tongue continues exploring. I trail my fingers over her short cropped hair and try to maintain my composure. If her mouth never left mine until the morning, it would be enough to make me happy. Just Kaitlin and me, sprawled over her couch, lips locked together.

But Kaitlin’s got other things in mind. Just like she told me, she really is trying to get my pants on the floor. I reach down to help her pop the button, as I feel the butterflies doing cartwheels in my tummy. And, if I’m being honest, there’s another group doing cartwheels a little lower, too. I start to shiver.

“You okay?” she asks.

I nod, and pull at the back of her head to mash our lips together once again. And true to her word, Kaitlin is tugging at my waistband. With a little help from me, my pants hit the floor, the keys in my pocket jangling as they do. I’m left with nothing but a long-sleeved t-shirt, a pair of soaking panties, and a grin a mile wide.

I feel her fingers grazing lightly over my thigh, just like earlier in the car, except this time there’s nothing in between as her skin brushes against mine. I arch my back and let out a slow shuddering sigh. Also true to her word, she has never tried to coax me out of my shirt, and I feel that I’m able to let myself go just a little more, trusting this woman who has me in such a state.

“Where are you going?” I say. Kaitlin is sliding off of me, and I’m afraid I may have done something to send her crashing to the floor.

“Shh,” she says, nuzzling her cheek against the inside of my thigh. “You’ll see. Sit up a little for me, okay?”

It’s not until I feel her tugging at my panties with her teeth, that I understand what’s happening. After that, I let myself slump down in the seat of the couch, with my butt nearly hanging over the edge, as Kaitlin slips my underwear off to toss aside with my jeans.

“Oh, God,” spouts from my lips in a shuddering breath.

Kaitlin’s mouth is on my inner thigh now. The same place her fingers were playing before, is now hosting her lips and her tongue. I feel a twinge deep down inside as Kaitlin coaxes my knees apart to expose me further.

This causes a little giggle from Kaitlin, and a playful nip of my tender skin. Never once do her hands try to wander beyond the level of my hips, as she seems perfectly content to tease me mercilessly with her tongue.

“You smell like you’re almost ready,” she says.

What’s that supposed to mean, I start thinking, and then I feel it. I feel her finger lying across my entrance, gently pressing at the warm, wet flesh there, parting me ever so slightly.

And then it stops. The wonderful sensations stop.

I look down through half-lidded eyes, just in time to see Kaitlin pop her finger in her mouth and noisily slurp every bit of moisture she had collected from me. I shudder. And when she smiles up at me when she’s done, I nearly fall off the couch.

Kaitlin catches me, though. She has her hands cupping my ass, lifting me back into the position where she wanted me in the first place. When she’s satisfied I’m not going to slide off, Kaitlin pauses, just long enough for me to gaze down at her. When I do, she leans forward and extending her tongue, takes a long, slow, agonizing lick almost over the entire length of my flushed and wet folds. My thighs quiver during her entire journey.

But when she gets to the top, she pauses again. Her tongue is still dancing over my sensitive flesh, but she isn’t going any higher.

“Mmm,” I moan, in a vain attempt to convince her to move on from where she seems to be stuck. It doesn’t work.

Instead, Kaitlin begins drawing lazy circles and figure-eights all over my dripping folds with the tip of her tongue, while her fingertips dance over the length of my legs. My thighs are shaking constantly now and my head feels so light, I honestly think I might pass out.

“Shh,” she whispers from between my legs. I have no idea why. And then I feel her filling me. Kaitlin presses her finger inside. She’s right, I am ready for her, and she glides easily until the tip of that finger is pressed up against a wonderful, magical bundle of nerve endings. She moves her tongue up just a little bit at the same time.

The effect is my entire body going rigid and then shuddering, with Kaitlin settling her other hand over my pubic bone, probably to avoid getting her teeth knocked out. Soon I’m bucking and singing her praises. I quickly loose any concept of time, but it seems as if she instantly pushes me just short of climax and holds me there until my heels are pounding on the floor and I am quite sure I’m going to die.