Derailed (Clayton Falls #1)(40)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Please, I don’t even want to get into that now.”

“All right. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to go back to bed, so let’s go over to your house.”

“My house?” I asked.

“I know exactly what you need.”

“What?”

Grinning, he got out of bed and pulled on his t-shirt and jeans from the floor. “You can’t guess?”

“A night swim?”

“How does that sound?”

“Perfect.” I fished my bra off the floor—leaving fully dressed this time.

***

The water was still cool, but it didn’t bother me that night. If anything, it helped wash away the grief. Ben barely gave me time to strip down to my underwear before throwing me in. I loved how he never worried about breaking me. He knew, despite my breakdown, that I was still strong.

He teased me for a moment, standing in just his boxers on the dock like he wasn’t going to join me. “How’s the water?”

“Nice, but not as nice as the view.”

He laughed. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

“Well, you should have thought of that before you threw me in. You can’t stare at me while I’m in here.”

He jumped in, swimming right over to me.

“That was fast.”

“Yeah, I figured the only thing better than looking at you is touching you.”

I tried to swim away, but he caught up with me pretty quickly. He was always the stronger swimmer. “No more leaving me, remember?”

“I remember. I remember everything.”

“Everything?”

“Uh huh.”

“Like?” he asked.

“Like our first kiss right over there on the dock.” Treading water, I nodded toward it.

“I remember that too. I remember what you said afterward.”

“Yeah?” I leaned back and floated.

“You told me I kissed like a musician. I never got that, but I assumed it was a compliment.”

I laughed. “I just meant you made it an art form. If you didn’t understand, why didn’t you ask?”

“There was no way I was messing up that moment. The girl I’d been crushing on for years had finally let me kiss her.”

I went back to treading water. “When did you first realize you liked me?”

“Sixth grade. At Katie Oschner’s pool party.”

“Really? I thought you were into Dara then.” I reached out to him, starting to get cold.

“I thought she was okay, but then something clicked that day. You had your hair in those cute pigtails you used to wear, and you nailed Jake in the head with a volleyball.”

“That wasn’t intentional, you know.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Absolutely. Don’t get me wrong, he probably deserved it, but I wasn’t aiming for him.”

Ben chuckled. “He razzed me so bad when he found out I had a thing for you.”

“I bet.”

“Are you cold? Let’s get out.”

“We probably should.”

We swam back to the dock, and we both hung onto the ladder.

“When did you realize you liked me?” Ben asked.

“Eighth grade when we were assigned as partners for those manners lessons.”

“So I won you over with my gentlemanly charm?”

“Not exactly. Probably the opposite. You kept making these crude jokes, and it kind of thrilled me that a guy would talk to me that way.”

“What? You fell for me because I make sexual jokes?” he said incredulously.

“Yeah. I mean, come on, my dad wouldn’t even let me watch MTV. It was all pretty exciting.”

“Had I known you were into me that early, I wouldn’t have waited.”

“You asked me out on my fifteenth birthday. You called me at exactly midnight.” I remembered how my chest tightened when I’d seen his number flash across my screen. Kelly had overheard him talking to his friends about his plan, so I’d waited up for the call.

“I had to follow your dad’s rules. My mom insisted on it.”

“Was I worth the wait?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“No.”

“You were well worth it, both times.”

“Both times… so hmm, I guess we had both of our first kisses in the same spot.”

“I guess we did.” Ben got out first, waiting with a towel in his hands as I followed.

“It’s going to be so weird when Mom finally sells this place.”

“I know. So many memories.” He wrapped me in a towel, starting to dry me before stopping suddenly. “We should probably wash off the salt water.” He bent down to pick up our clothes.

The glint in his eyes gave him away. “I’m guessing you are hinting at the outside shower?”

“Uh huh.” He took my hand, leading me back to the side of the house. He stopped in front of the covered shower, reaching in to turn on the water. “Looks like it still works.”

He stepped into the shower, bringing me with him, positioning us under the warm spray. I pulled back from him for a moment, enjoying the way the water felt on my body, but he quickly reclaimed my attention as his lips first attacked my neck and then moved down.

I moaned as he discarded my bra. His lips continued their journey. He finally returned to my lips, and my arms went around his neck, pulling him to me. As the water flowed over us, I knew this was the start of something new. Neither of us were holding back, and we weren’t kids anymore. We were ready for something real.

The water turned cold before Ben turned it off. He wrapped me back up in the towel, taking another one for himself. I watched him dry off before picking up our discarded clothing.

“I know your bed is tiny, but I think we should stay here tonight.”

“Well if you insist on cuddling like you did earlier, it won’t be a problem.”

He smiled. “Hey, I like having you close.”

“I like being close.”

Chapter Eighteen

The sound of the front door opening woke me up around ten the next morning. Ben had left at six to get ready to take out a fishing boat, but he’d insisted I stay in bed and catch up on sleep. I was so comfortable that I didn’t need much persuasion.

“Molly? You up there?”

I sat up in bed, surprised to hear my sister’s voice. “Shayna?” I rubbed my eyes, trying to finish waking up.

Shayna stood in the doorway with a huge grin. “Surprise!” She sat down next to me on the bed, swooping me into a hug.