his long fingers down
the inside of my knee.
"Um. No, but you said something when you woke up." I shifted so we were facing each
other. Connor dropped his hand onto the sheet and sighed deeply.
"Was it kinky?" he asked with a playful expression.
I swatted at his thigh and laughed. "No! I said you were having a nightmare."
"Oh yeah. Okay. Well, what did I say?" He smiled sleepily at me.
"You said not to leave you and asked if I was…yours." I watched the corners of his
mouth tighten and his eyes fell from my gaze.
"Huh. What did you say?" he asked.
He wasn't looking at me, so I lifted my hand to his face and rubbed his lower lip
with my thumb. That got his attention. His bright blue eyes lit up with desire as
I continued to caress his mouth with my finger.
"What do you think I said? That I was, of course."
Our mouths met with a sense of urgency. Connor kissed my breath away, not letting
go of me until we were both panting. Clothes were ripped off and tossed to the floor,
hands groped madly and mouths sucked on supple flesh until our bodies molded together
as one. I pushed away all memories from the night before as Connor slid inside me
and roughly pulled my hips against his repeatedly until my legs shook in anticipation
of what was to come. We needed each other. Completely.
***
This was it; he knew it was. The last time Connor would hold Riley in his arms before
everything changed. She wanted to leave so he had no choice but to go with her. Something
in his gut told him that this trip to lower Los Angeles was a mistake. He would never
say it out loud to the others, but Mariah wasn't worth it… nothing was worth losing Riley.
CHAPTER five
The bedroom door flew open with such force that both Connor and I jumped from the
mattress with our eyes still closed. Kris bounded into the room and squealed, covering
her face with both hands.
"Oh my GOD! I did NOT have to see that!"
"What? What's wrong?" I rubbed at my eyes briskly.
"You're naked, both of you!" she screamed through her fingers.
I glanced down at my body and looked over at Connor, who stood at the foot of the
bed, groggy and confused. We didn't have a stitch of clothing on.
After snatching the top sheet from the bed and wrapping it around my body, I gestured
for Connor to put something on, and before he pulled his jeans up and over his thighs,
he winked at me. I was mortified. And he thought it was funny. Men.
"Sorry, Kris," Connor said as he closed the top button of his pants.
"Hurry up! You have to see this!" she mumbled, refusing to take her hands from her
face.
"See what? What's wrong?" I asked again.
"You can take your hands down now, Kris. We aren't naked anymore," Connor said with
a chuckle.
She peered at me first, and sighed heavily when she saw me wrapped in only the sheet.
"No, like, you have to get dressed, you know - in clothes. Meet me downstairs! And
hurry!"
I watched her back as she rushed out of the room and listened to her sneakered feet
running down the stairs.
"What's that all about?" Connor asked as he tugged a shirt off the chair beside the
bed.
"No idea," I mumbled, picking up my outfit from the night before.
We were dressed but still tugging on our shoes as we took the stairs down to the main
level. Zoey rushed me, nudging my knees with her snout. "Good morning to you too,
girl." The kitchen smelled faintly of oranges and oatmeal. We missed breakfast.
"Come on, come on!" Kris hissed from the front door. She was standing with her fingers
curled around the knob, excitement hitching her voice up an octave.
"What is it, Kris?"
She only smiled at me and opened the door, leading us out into the fresh mountain
air. Connor and I had fallen back to sleep after our early morning escapades. It was
mid-day already. The sun stretched out across the sky, high above our heads, warming
my head and shoulders instantly.
After we were outside, Kris shut the cabin door,