When I got out of the shower and made it back to the room, she sat on the pale yellow blanket, with bed head and shy eyes.

“Hey.” She looked all apprehensive, like she thought I’d changed my mind since last night or something. I needed to reassure her, but also wanted to try and keep things light. Last night was heavy enough and it might be a news flash, but I wasn’t real into heavy.

“Who would have thought pillow hair could be so sexy? I don’t know if I want to kiss you, or hand you a brush!”

Her mouth tilted up into a smile. I couldn’t help but return it. “You’re such a nutcase.” She tossed a pillow at me, but I grabbed her hand when she swung, pulling her toward me.

“Definitely kiss you.”

Her hand snaked up between us, she grabbed my shirt. Yes! Then pushed me away. No!

“Gross. I probably have morning breath!” She covered her mouth with her hand and then ran from the room. Girls…

When I got downstairs to the kitchen, Jaden and Pris were both there. Pris fingered a necklace around her neck, that weird Jaden/Pris tension was thick in the air. “So, how’d the party go last night?” I asked, flopping down into a chair.

“Fine,” they both answered in unison. O-kay.

“Plans today?” I grabbed a piece of toast off Pris’s plate and popped a bite in my mouth. “Thanks.”

“You’re lucky I love you, Bastian, but I still have to warn you, you hurt her and you’re going down. That’s all I have to say.”

I sat forward and touched Pris’s arm. “Hey, I’m not going to hurt her. I think I’m in love with her.” Pris’s fork dropped, clinking against her plate. Jaden started choking on the other side of the table. Probably wasn’t real cool to tell Pris and Jay before I told Aspen, but I wanted Pris to know that I wouldn’t hurt Aspen. Yeah, I’m a wuss. I can’t help it.

“So, what are we doing today?” Aspen came around the corner and into the kitchen. I pulled my hand away from Pris.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, too.”

Chapter Twelve

“Are you sure about this, Sebastian?” Aspen asked as we stood on the edge of the dense forest. We’d done the town thing the day before. I didn’t want to tell her, but if I went into one more shop we wouldn’t make it out without me throwing a much bigger fit than Jaden had. Hence, my whole idea about exploring. Of course, I was no Grisly Adams. I didn’t plan to get myself lost, but I figured we could look around a little bit without ending up on the nightly news as one of those groups of people who wandered off and were never seen again.

Plus, there were trails. I made sure.

I pulled her close to me just because I could. “Aw, I’ll take care of you, baby. I promise.”

She got that cute pink on her cheeks and she gave me the biggest smile I’d ever seen. Made me feel like the man, knowing I could make her look like that. I put my lips to hers because I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of her. “I’ll be like your bodyguard or something. Me Tarzan. You Jane.”

“I think I’m going to puke,” Jaden mumbled. Pris pushed him before I had a chance to tell him he was just jealous.

“I wasn’t really thinking bodyguard. More like tour guide.” Aspen rolled her eyes playfully.

I grabbed her hand as we all headed down the trail. “That, too. I can do it all.” I winked at her.

It was actually pretty cool. I wasn’t really the type who got all “one with nature.” We usually left that stuff up to Mama and Daddy Peace, but it was chill out there. Pris and Jaden kept the arguing to a minimum, Aspen kept herself glued to my side, and there were birds and trees and rustling leaves and all that stuff. It felt like one of those long walk on the beach moments. Cheesy to think about, but actually cool when you really did it.

“Shh. Look,” Aspen whispered. My feet stopped dead on the brush covered ground, maybe slightly scared she saw a big bear or something, but I’d never admit it. Luckily it was just two little squirrels both trying to get the same pinecone. I exhaled. I could take a squirrel much easier than a bear if need be.

“Awww,” both girls sighed.

It made me laugh. All it took was Chip and Dale to get them acting all girly.

We did a little more exploring, even finding an old cave that I’m not afraid to admit freaked me out a little bit. Luckily, it was pretty open so we had enough light to peek around.

“Boo!” Jaden grabbed Pris’s waist and she screamed, then proceeded to kick his ass. While they were engaged in World War Five Hundred, I took advantage and snuck Aspen into a dark corner, hoping I didn’t get attacked by a killer bat or something.

My hands found their home on her hips and I pulled her toward me. “I think I’m addicted to you. Now that I know I can kiss you and touch you, I don’t want to stop.”

“I bet you tell all the girls that,” she teased.

“What girls? There aren’t any other girls, but you.”

Her arms wrapped around my neck. They felt good there. “You’re good at this.”

“I’m a natural.” I don’t know if she was going to reply, because I kissed her again. It was slow, and smooth. Not rushed, but definitely hot. I let my lips slide down her chin, to her neck. Her skin tasted so sweet that it pulled a groan from the back of my throat. Who would have known kissing someone you love was so much better than kissing other girls? Slowly, I slipped my fingers under the bottom of her shirt, brushing my thumb along the smooth skin of her side. I just liked touching her, savoring the little zing that I got from being skin to skin with her.

“Dude, if you guys wanted to get busy, all you had to do is ask for some privacy.” Now I understood why Aspen and Pris were always telling Jaden to shut up.

“I second that.”

I stepped away from Aspen. “Well at least we found something you two can agree on.” I gave both Pris and Jaden hard looks. “Let’s go get some lunch.”

After they started to walk away, I stopped Aspen. “It wasn’t a line.”

“I know. I trust you, Bastian.”

Her words made me stumble a little bit. That was a heavy burden, someone completely putting their trust in you. But I loved her and that would make everything okay. She could trust me. I’d find a way to make sure I earned it.

***

I lay in the bed with Aspen curled beside me wondering why the hell I’d ever made fun of guys who were whipped. Okay, so those guys who got whipped over every girl needed to get a life, but when it was the right girl, you’d have to be an idiot not get whipped. I mean, I had this great girl. She was funny, smart, hot, gave me shit and I could touch her, kiss her, hold her, and lay with her any time I wanted. She looked at me like I hung the friggin’ moon. It made me feel invincible. Like the luckiest seventeen year-old guy in the world. Why wouldn’t I want to do anything for her? Want to be with her all the time? Despite popular belief, I wasn’t stupid.

After lunch, we’d come back to the house. Jaden and Pris were off at separate ends of the house and I was cuddled up with my girl. If this was being whipped, chain me up, baby!

A couple hours later, I gently rubbed Aspen’s shoulder. She slept like the dead. I couldn’t do more than an hour nap even with her body against mine. I’d gone downstairs to hang out with Jaden and Pris for a while. When we got tired of waiting for her, so I offered to go upstairs and wake her up to go swimming. “Come on sleepy head. Time to get up. The beach is calling our names.”

I changed into my swimming shorts in our room while Aspen and Pris got changed in her room. I’d now been sitting downstairs with Jaden for thirty minutes and they still weren’t out yet. Don’t ask me why it took so long to put in a swimming suit, but we were both getting antsy so went ahead and headed out, figuring they’d find us easy enough. On the way out, I made sure to grab both mine and Aspen’s beach towels because I was sweet like that.

After laying them both out on the sand, fixing the corner so it was just right, I walked over to Jaden who was eyeing me like I had ten heads or something. “What?”

“Dude, you are so messed up.”

Okay, so I had two choices right now. I could just blow Jaden off because I knew he was wrong and it didn’t really matter what he thought. Or I could give it to him straight. I wasn’t really the quiet type. Sure, I knew he was just surprised to see me like this and that a few weeks ago, I would have been the same way if the situation was reversed, but…I guess you could say I’d been enlightened and I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t rub that in his face just a little. I’d expect the same thing out of him. We were guys and that’s just how guys roll.

So I told him what was up. “You went to bed alone last night, Jay. I held a girl all night. I’ll do it again tonight. She likes it when I kiss her, she kisses me and on top of that, she’s a seriously kickass girl. She doesn’t play games, isn’t out there making out with a different guy every weekend. Just me. If that’s messed up, I’m there, bro.”

Jaden threw his hat at me. “Still trying to figure out why she’d want to kiss your ugly mug.”

“Because I have skills. One day, I’ll pass that knowledge on to you.” I threw his hat down and ran out to the water. Jaden was right behind me. As soon as we were waist deep, he splashed my face, so I tackled him and tried to drown his ass. “Don’t start a fight you can’t win.”

“Please, I can take you!” We kept going after each other--we took our competitions seriously, even if they were just with water--until I heard a whistle from the beach.

“Will you guys ever grow up?” I turned toward Pris’s voice. My heart nearly stopped when I saw Aspen standing next to her.

“Hol-y shit.”

“You can say that again.” Jaden said from beside me.

That snapped me out of my visual pleasure for a minute. “Don’t look at my girl, asshole.”

“I’m not.”

“Have they worn bikinis every summer?” I asked.

“No clue, but I’m glad they are now.”

Pris and Aspen stood with their feet in the water. I took my eyes off Woodstock just for a second. Red, Pris wore a red bikini, but it was nothing compared to the turquoise gift from God that Aspen wore. The dark blue was a nice contrast to the creamy white of her skin. It looked like some kind of Hawaiian pattern with white flowers scattered on the blue material. It was the most I ever remembered seeing of her body. I liked the view: a nice stomach, curvy hips and legs, man the girl had nice legs. Humina, humina, humina.

I knew my eyes were probably bulging out of my head, but I didn’t care. My whole body, and I do mean whole body, came alive at the sight of her. She was gorgeous.

“Still think I’m messed up?” I asked Jaden as they started walking in the water toward us.

When he didn’t reply, I glanced at him. Jaden’s mouth was still hanging open. I laughed and headed toward Aspen, meeting her halfway.

Playing with Aspen in the water was way better than beating Jaden in a splash contest. We spent hours out there messing around. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t dunk her, because whipped or not, I still liked to have a little fun. She loved it though, splashing around and playing like she needed to be rescued after I’d pull her under the water. The rescuing was fun…

Then we floated together, riding the waves and holding onto each other, salt tinged her skin when I kissed her.

Hot.

***

“Building a fire should not be this difficult, guys.” Aspen laughed at Jaden and me as we messed around trying to get the fire pit going.

“It’s not me. Jaden keeps screwing it up.” I nudged my friend with my shoulder.

“Dude, I’m the one who said douse the thing with lighter fluid. That will get it going.” Jaden fell onto one of the blankets, obviously handing the reins over to me. Good. I’d get it done faster without him anyway. Once I had red flames popping and cracking in the pit, I smirked at Jaden, before joining Aspen on our pallet, pushing my guitar over to give me room to sit down.