Chapter 18 Rain
I lean back in the camping chair, looking up at the cloudy sky. I can feel him already looking at me. Our arms touch softly because our chairs are so close together. I keep my neck rolled back, looking over at him. He’s watching me with so much adoration in his eyes, I almost don’t know what to do with myself.
“You’re stunning, Anneliese.”
“Why do you call me that?”
“Because it’s your name.” He says like it’s the obvious answer.
“But everyone calls me Anna, I’ve told you that multiple times.”
He shrugs. “I like being the only one to call you your name.”
I pull my neck back to its normal position, keeping my head turned to look at him.
“But I don’t have something special to call you.” I sound whiny, but it makes him frantically attempt to come up with an answer.
“I don’t really have any nicknames that I can think of.”
I pout, making him grab my hand into his. Something I still don’t fully understand is how his touch alone makes such a fire in me.
“What about Al? Or Ec?”
He gives me a disturbed look.
“Ok, those were bad.” I laugh loudly, making him laugh too.
I go back to looking at the cloudy sky in hopes that it would tell me a nickname for him. We’ve just been sitting in his backyard, enjoying the stormy weather before it actually gets the chance to unleash a storm. He had texted me to meet him here, and of course, I dropped anything and everything to get here.
“What about babe?” I look over to him, wanting to see if he’s asking what I think he is.
He’s looking into the distance, not wanting to make eye contact. If I could guess anything from knowing him for how long I have, I know he’s scared I’m going to reject him.
“Alec, are you asking me out?” I squeeze his hand, ensuring his attention.
He looks at me. “Anneliese, will you be my girlfriend?”
The smile on my face is permanent. “I thought you’d never ask." I stand up, pulling him up from our joined hands. “I’d love to be your girlfriend.”
I let go of his hand, standing on my toes to reach his face, resting my hands softly on either side of his smooth face. He allows me to pull him down to kiss me. His lips are smooth against mine, and the kiss is everything I could have guessed. Fireworks explode in my brain and body at his touch. His hands come to rest respectfully on my lower back, pulling me softly to him. One of my hands goes to his neck, pulling him closer to my lips, unable to get enough.
I think I could kiss him forever. But Mother Nature has other plans: a loud thunder crackles through the sky, followed by rain seconds later. This pulls us apart from each other, looking up at the sky, the rain starts pouring down on us. We look at each other and make our moves into his house. I’ve never been inside it, wanting to respect his space and not push the boundaries, but I know he would never force me to stay outside, which is why I push the door open and go inside before him. He follows after me, shutting the door and locking it behind us. It’s cozy in here, as I expected, given the size.
The kitchen is decently sized with enough space for multiple people to be in here at once. I can see into the dining room, with the living room being adjacent to the kitchen. It’s a very open concept with the living room only being partially walled off. Taking a few steps forward, I can see a stairwell leading upstairs from the living room with several rooms down the hall from it. It’s much bigger inside than I would have guessed.
“Sorry, I didn’t think about cleaning before you came.” He rushes around me to push things into piles on the dining table before moving to the living room.
It’s not messy at all, really; it just looks like someone lives here, but he’s still moving around quickly.
“My friends love to stay here and trash the place as they please.” He grumbles, grabbing a few cups from the coffee table.
“Do they live here with you?” I ask to come into the dining room to see him better.
“Sometimes I guess they kind of do, but it’s not like a permanent thing, not with all of them at least. Only one lives here down the hall.” He gestures to the hall with several doors, which I’m guessing are a bedroom or two and a bathroom.
“That must be nice having a friend live with you and others staying periodically.” I offer to make him scoff dramatically.
He dumps the dishes into the sink, turning to look at me as his body rests against the counter. I must say he looks absolutely delicious standing before me in his wet clothes like that. His shirt clings desperately to his ripped body, making it hard not yearn for him.
“It’s nice to not be alone, but sometimes when they make a mess, it’s annoying, and I hate it. But Noah isn’t here all the time, so I still get privacy.”
I nod, although my brain isn’t fully processing what he is saying. Besides, Noah not here and privacy. I take steps closer to him, which makes him lock into my movements immediately. He’s always so focused on every little thing I do. I stop in front of him, running my hand up his arm softly, then over his shoulder, down his chest, stopping on his sculpted stomach. His breaths are coming out quickly as he anticipates my next movement.
I try to surprise him by leaning into his body, bringing my lips to his in a slow, soft kiss. He gratefully accepts it, bringing his hand to my wet, tangled hair. His mouth moves at the speed mine sets, only getting faster when I lean into him more bring one hand to his neck, leaving the other on his stomach.
Our kisses become open, hard, and fast. He bites my lip, making me groan into him, allowing his tongue entry into my mouth. He doesn’t waste a second, his tongue wrapping around mine. He tastes so good it’s addicting. His other hand goes to my back, hovering barely above my butt as it pulls me onto his body harder. My hand at his neck goes into his hair, pulling softly, eliciting a deep groan from his throat, and I know at that moment we would’ve ended up with some clothes gone if someone didn’t walk through the door yelling about the rain.