The Trouble with Kissing Connor

Chapter 37 - Connor

I watched as Sadie crested the hill. The light was bad, but there was just enough for me to see that she was wet and smeared from top to bottom with a large green grass strain. Brown muddy hand marks were on her top, where she'd no doubt tried to wipe the soil away. A muddy swipe ran across her forehead and a tuft of her hair was sticking up, as if the mud was acting as gel.... God she looked so beautiful!

I don't think I'd ever seen her looking better. A total sight for my seven-day sore eyes. It felt longer than seven days, though. I drank her in and my heart felt like a balloon being blown up to bursting capacity. Or something corny like that.

I'd thought long and hard about what to do for the final leg of the 'grand romantic gesture'. I'd Googled it, but they all seemed to end with candles, champagne, red rose petals and soft music.

Not Sadie. At all.

So I'd gotten a picnic blanket and stuffed it full of junk: Donuts of various shapes and flavours and a truckload of chocolate.

"Hey," I called out to her.

She gave me a tiny wave and I was relieved to see the small, coy smile playing on her face.

"Hey!"—God, I'd missed that voice so much.

"Your meal awaits you," I said, gesturing to the picnic basket like a butler at a fancy restaurant. This caused her smile to widen and the hope I was still holding onto for us grew. She walked over to me and I had to fight the urge – so damn hard- not to just run up to her and kiss her.

She sat down on the blanket, opened the basket and looked inside. Her eyes twinkled as she looked up to me with a smile. "Good choice." She grabbed the most sugar laden, chocolate drenched donut there was and started shovelings it into her mouth.

"Where've you been," I asked, watching intrigued as she finished it in a three bites and moved onto another one.

"At the lake house. My dad took us there for a week."

"I was worried. I couldn't get hold of you." I sat down next to her, not sure what the parameters were or how close I could get. Could I reach out and touch her shoulder? What was wrong with me?

Screw parameters!

"I fucking missed you," I blurted out, no longer holding back. I wrapped an arm around her, pulled her closer and put my head on her shoulder. She dropped the donut and reciprocated.

We grabbed each other and held on for dear life. My weight was more than hers, so, like a see-saw tipping to one side, she fell back and I landed on top of her. This was the first time we'd ever been like this.

Sadie lay on her back and my body pressed into hers. Her face was centimetres from mine and I took the opportunity to look at her. In that light, her eyes were almost a deep green. Her nose was sprinkled with freckles. I looked from her eyes, to her nose and then to her lips. She bit her lip just a tiny bit. I'd never wanted to kiss anyone more in my entire life.

So I did.

Her lips tasted muddy and sweet at the same time. I rubbed my lips against hers softly. I wanted to take my time. I wanted to remember this moment forever. I didn't want it to be a rushed kiss in the dark. I wanted to treat it like the first time we'd ever kissed. She ran her hand through my hair and it came to rest on the back on my neck. My skin came alive with goosebumps. Not just on my neck, but everywhere.

I lifted by hand and let my fingertips gently trace her cheek. She shivered and her mouth opened a little wider. I kissed her all along her bottom lip until if felt like we could both no longer take it. I held her face and she held onto the back of my neck and the kiss deepened and intensified. I poured all my feeling into it. I wanted her to know how much I felt for her so that she would never, ever, doubt it again.

Then I stopped and pulled back for a second. I managed a whisper. "I love you,"

"I've always loved you," she replied in an equally soft whisper and I kissed her again.

When the kiss finally stopped, we held onto each other for ages. I felt moisture on my face and pulled away to look at her. She was crying softly. Her eyes were misty and tears were running down her cheeks.

"Sadie, what's wrong?"