Lila and Ethan: Forever and Always: A Short Story Read Online Free Page A

just going to watch and write for a while.”
    He doesn’t speak, just shakes his head. His eyes are locked on mine and full of desire as he moves toward me. When he reaches me, he gives no warning, crashing his lips against mine and scooping me up in his arms. The sun hits my skin as I’m picked up out of the water and my legs fasten around his waist. He holds onto me with one hand as he feels my side and skims my breast with his other hand, kissing me until I can’t breathe. I clutch him as his fingers drift from my side, to my hip, to my thigh. Then bracing me in one arm, he slips a finger deep inside me.
    I gasp as I tangle my fingers through his hair and desperately try to grasp on to him. One of my legs slides back down into the water and I stand on my tiptoes, clutching onto his shoulders, with my other leg hitched around his hip. His fingers move inside me, driving me to the edge as he buries his head into the crook of my neck, his warm breath caressing my chilly skin. I groan. I plead. I beg for more and he gives it to me, slipping another finger into me, and I move my hips with his rhythm until he pushes me over the edge. I forget about everything. Nothing exists at this moment except for him and I and the connection we’ve shared since the moment we met over two years ago.
    It’s perfect until he pulls his fingers out of me and leans back a little, letting my other leg slide down back into the water. Then I just feel cold again.
    “I couldn’t resist,” he says, tucking a strand of my wet hair behind my ear. “You looked too tempting not to touch… God, I have such a hard time keeping my hands off you.”
    “But what about you?” I say, putting my hand on his lean chest.
    “You can pay me back later,” he says with a wink and a grin.
    I smile and then he kisses me before backing away to the shore, his shorts soaking wet and hanging at his hips. Beads of water drip down his chest and tattooed side as he makes his way back to the rocks, smiling at me like he’s so happy. Just like I should be. And I am. But every perfect moment could be our last one together and that makes me sad.
    After he climbs back up on the rocks, I start scrubbing my body down with water, while Ethan starts to write. I finish up quickly, then wade back to the shore and out of the water. The frigid air hits my body like a wall of snow and I scurry for the towel I hung up on a tree branch. I wrap it around me and wring my hair out before heading over to Ethan. He still has his shirt off, his wet shorts drying in the sunlight peeking through the tree branches above him. He’s got his head tipped down, his black hair falling into his eyes as he jots down words, losing touch with reality like he always does whenever he writes. I climb onto the rock beside him and sit down next to him, leaning over my shoulder to get a peek at what he’s writing, even though he never wants me to see.
    “What are you writing about today?” I ask, and he jumps, like he didn’t even realize I was up here.
    He hurries to finish what he’s writing and closes the journal. “Nothing important,” he says. “I was just thinking about stuff.… About going back home… returning to the city and life…” He gazes out at the pine trees to the side of us, looking really sad and lost. “We should probably get going if we want to make it back and have a little time to relax before we go back to normal life.”
    “Are you sure you want to go back?” I ask, leaning back to look him in the eyes. “You seem so sad about it.”
    He shrugs and when he meets my gaze, I can see his sadness deepen. “We kind of have to, don’t we?”
    “Unless we want to lose our jobs,” I reply sadly, because even though I can’t wait to get back and take a real shower, I’ll also really miss my time alone with him. “I mean, Denny was understanding and everything, but he’s going to flip if I call him up and ask him for more time off.” I actually lucked out with