More than Distance

11

I had no choice but to follow her. My heavy motorcycle boots were clunky in the sand, but I didn’t stop to take them off. She paused near the black waves, which crashed with a soft spray then lazily slid close to her toes before retreating again. I thought of the last time we were here, and how her mouth had pressed against mine, and how for a second I’d had everything. Before I’d pushed her away. Before I’d lost her forever.

I wondered if she was reliving the same memory.

* * *

“I’m going to grab another drink,” I told Daniel, who was sitting on the beach with Paula in his lap. He nodded and went right back to kissing her. Paula’s friend Maria gave me a hopeful look as I stood up, but I ignored it. She’d be more than happy to climb into my lap, but I wasn’t feeling it. What was the point when I was leaving tomorrow?

Besides, the girl I wanted to talk to was the one standing all alone at the edge of the party, just outside of the bonfire’s light. She was two years younger than everyone else here and wasn’t celebrating high school graduation like the rest of us. She was only at the party because Daniel and I had invited her.

“You okay?” I asked, as I approached her.

She turned toward me with a sad smile. “I’m fine. I just wanted to get away for a moment.”

I nodded. Carla had always been shy and this wasn’t her group of friends. She was probably counting the minutes until she could leave. “Need anything? A drink?”

“Can we go for a walk?” she asked, her dark eyes shining under the bright moonlight.

“Sure.” She looked hot tonight, in an off-the-shoulder sweater over tiny cutoff shorts. It was impossible to say no to her. Especially when I knew this was probably the last time I would see her in a while.

We strolled down the beach, leaving our friends and the bonfire behind us, while the waves strained to reach us but never quite made it to our feet. We walked close enough that sometimes our bare arms or fingertips would brush against each other. That slight, innocent touch of skin was enough to drive me crazy, to make me wish I wasn’t leaving for another state tomorrow. And that I hadn’t promised her brother I would never touch her.

In the past few months I’d started to notice Carla as more than my best friend’s little sister. Ever since she’d turned sixteen, she’d suddenly become a young woman with curves I couldn’t stop staring at and a mouth made for kissing. It was a good thing I was leaving, because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hide how badly I wanted her.

She sat on a patch of sand near a group of rocks that completely blocked the rest of my friends from view. I took the spot beside her and we stretched our legs in front of us. Hers were long and bare under her tiny shorts. I wanted so badly to slide my hands along them, to see if her skin felt as soft and smooth as it looked. Instead, I leaned back, planting my hands behind me in the sand.

She gazed across the beach at the water, where the moon lit up the night, casting the dark waves in silver. It was beautiful, but none of it captivated me the way she did.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow,” she said, with a soft sigh.

“Me neither.”

“And Daniel too. I’m losing my two favorite guys in the whole world at the same time. What am I going to do?”

“Hey, it won’t be so bad.” She sounded so miserable that I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her against me. She immediately leaned in like she belonged there. “We’ll both come back and visit you all the time. I promise.”

“Will you really though?”

“How else are we going to fight off all the boys who will be clamoring for your attention?”

“Ha. What boys?”

I swallowed the jealous lump in my throat. “A girl as beautiful as you who also fixes up cars? Guys will be lining up outside your door soon, I guarantee it.”

“I doubt that.” Her hands tugged on the end of her shorts, like she was nervous.

“It’s true. And Daniel and I won’t be around to protect you from them.” I slid a finger under her chin, tilting her face toward me, and heard her intake of breath. “Be careful, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I don’t want guys lining up at my door,” she whispered. “And I won’t get hurt.”

“No?” My hand had somehow slid from her chin to her cheek, like it had its own mind. I couldn’t help but stroke her, and yes, her skin was even smoother than I’d imagined. I never wanted to stop touching her.

She covered my hand with hers, pressing it to her cheek. “There’s only one guy I want and I know he would never hurt me.”

With those words, she touched her lips softly to mine. A quick brush of her mouth, so tentative and hopeful, as if she was searching for a response.

I gave her one, without a second thought.

I dragged her against me and found her mouth again with my own. She moaned softly as I slid my tongue across her lips, and then she opened for me, letting me take the kiss deeper. She was so sweet, so good, and kissing her was like tasting sunshine itself. Her body pressed against mine and her fingers dug into my shirt and I was lost, my control snapping as I finally gave in to the thing I’d been craving for months but never let myself have.

“Ryan,” she breathed, and there was nothing sexier than my name on her just-kissed lips.

But then the reality of what I was doing hit me like a truck. I was kissing Carla, my best friend’s little sister. Carla, who had always been off-limits. Carla, who I would be leaving tomorrow for four years.