Where the Road Takes Me
Page 60

   It was close to two in the morning when the party died down and people started to leave.
   Chase stood up and dramatically pointed at Jasmine. “Hungry. Feed me, woman,” he bellowed.
   Everyone laughed.
   “Diner?” she asked him.
   Everyone got up and started to pack their stuff.
   “You guys coming?” Chase asked us.
   Chloe turned to me. “Can we?” she asked shyly.
   “Of course, babe.”
 
   Time flew as we all ate and talked shit. By the time conversation had slowed down, Chloe was in my jacket, snoring lightly under my arm. “She’s out,” Chase said, motioning to her.
   Jasmine giggled. “She looks so peaceful when she’s asleep.”
   “I know,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “It’s one of my favorite things about her—when she’s sleeping.”
   Chase chuckled. “Because she’s not talking?”
   I laughed but then turned serious when I glanced down at her sleeping form. “No, because it’s the only time she doesn’t carry the weight of the world.”
   Silence descended on the table, but they didn’t ask questions. Jasmine sighed. “The sun will be up soon,” she mumbled.
   I looked at the time. “Shit. We gotta go.”
 
   Chase pulled me aside as Chloe was saying her good-byes. He gave me his number and told me to call him if I ever needed advice about my Duke vs. army dilemma. I thanked him and told him that I’d like to keep in touch either way.
 
   I told her that we’d be a while and that she could sleep in the limo. She was too tired to question me. She just lay across the seat with her head on my lap and slept the entire forty-five-minute drive to the field.
   I woke her when we got there, and told her to look out the window.
   “We’re not at the hotel?”
   I shook my head, my eyes never leaving her. Then she gasped so loud, it made me laugh. “Blake!”
   Our driver opened the door, and I stepped out, hand out to help her do the same. We walked hand in hand over to the hot air balloon. Well, I walked. She skipped.
   “You did this?” she asked, her eyes wide with excitement. “Why?”
   “Because prom should be a night you’ll never forget, and I wanted to make sure this was memorable for you.”
 
   She stood in front of me with her head against my chest as we watched the sun rise from almost two thousand feet in the air. “This is so beautiful, Blake,” she said, and I could hear her holding back her sob. She inhaled deeply and tilted her face up, soaking in the morning light, her eyes closed.
   “It reminds me of the day we met.”
   She smiled, but kept her eyes closed.
   “I remember you doing the same thing. Do you remember what you said?”
   She nodded. “I said it was perfect, and you agreed.”
   “Yeah. But I wasn’t looking at the sun rise, Chloe, I was looking at you.”
   Her eyes snapped open. “Liar,” she whispered.
   I shook my head. “It’s the truth.”
   Tears instantly welled in her eyes.
   She blinked.
   They fell.
   I wiped them away and inhaled a shaky breath. Then I let out the words I’d been holding on to for weeks. “I’ve fallen so hard in love with you, Chloe.”
   She gasped, her eyes wide.
   I continued, “And I don’t know how to express it. I don’t know what to do to show you how much I’ve come to love you.”
   “You’re already doing it.”
   She didn’t tell me she loved me back. But she kissed me in a way that reminded me that she didn’t need to say in words how she felt. I already knew.
   After a while, she pulled back from the kiss, her tears still flowing.
   “You okay?” I asked.
   She laughed once, but it was sad. “It’s just moments like this—you make me not want to miss out on anything. You make me want to live forever, Blake.”
 
   I’d walked her to her hotel room door and told her that I’d booked the room next door for the night. When she’d pouted and asked why, I’d told her that I hadn’t wanted to be presumptuous in believing that we’d spend the night together, considering it was kind of our first date. She’d laughed but she hadn’t argued.
   That was a half hour ago.
   I opened the bathroom door after showering and heard a knock on the door. It was only eight in the morning, too early for housekeeping.
   I smiled when I opened up and she was on the other side, her hair wet from her own shower. She wore the white Duke jersey, which reached midthigh. “I don’t like sleeping without you.” She exaggerated a pout.
   I laughed and opened the door wider for her.
   She waited until I was settled in bed before scooting in next to me and resting her head in the crook of my arm. “Thank you, Blake.”
   “What for?”
   “For giving me this night. For giving me this memory.”
   Chloe
   I leaned up on my elbow so I could look down on him.
   He sighed and looked me right in the eyes. “Thank you for giving me you, Chloe.”
   I moved in and kissed him, softly, gently, the way he always did with me. He moaned and positioned me until I was on top of him, straddling his waist. His hand flattened on my back as he sat us up, and drew me closer to him. Then his hands skimmed up my thighs, shifting my shirt up, and rested on my waist a moment before moving higher and higher. His kisses travelled lower and lower, down my collarbone and to my chest. The heat of his mouth warmed my skin. My hips pushed forward; my body arched, ready, waiting.
   His hands drifted under my shirt and up my sides. He turned me onto my back and lifted my top over my head, all in one swift move. Leaning on his elbows and hovering above me, his eyes roamed my face and down to my chest. Then he descended, his mouth open against my nipple. My hands reached up, gripping his hair, holding him tighter against me. His palms flattened on my thighs, spreading my legs for him. We let out simultaneous moans when his hardness pressed into my center. His lips moved up again, tasting my mouth. His hand gripped my thigh, bringing it up and around him so he could get closer.
   He started moving down my body again, his mouth now on my stomach as his fingers curled around the material of my sleep shorts and panties. His mouth moved lower, as did his hands, pulling both items of clothing down my legs and off my feet.