Chasing Sunshine | JJ Maybank

32 // Parcel Nine

"Holy shit."

I giggled at his breathless words when need for oxygen forced us to split apart. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he mumbled against my mouth, refusing to move his face more than a few centimeters from mine. I snaked my arms from his shirt to around his neck, drunk on adrenaline and growing bolder on the high.

"Then why are you stopping?" I questioned innocently, pulling him back down to me.

He smiled excitedly, reconnecting our lips but instead of holding me to the spot, he stepped in which made me move backwards. We continued this dance until I felt my back hit something rough and solid: the trunk of a nearby palm. I was caged in from all sides and normally the trapped feeling would have me running but my pulse only quickened with anticipation. When I gazed up at him, that familiar smirk graced his features but an unsaid question was evident in the way he looked down at me hungrily. You good?

I answered by deepening the kiss and the air around seemed to increase ten degrees as his tongue darted out to trace at my bottom lip. Goosebumps erupted over my body when I felt the calloused pads of his fingertips slip just underneath the hemline of my shirt. But it was only when his hands moved upwards to tease at the underside of my swimsuit top, that I froze and suddenly whispered, "Wait."

Immediately withdrawing from underneath my tank, he stepped away quickly and I found myself already missing the proximity. "I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have..." he muttered as blush flew to his face.

"No!" I stopped him which only seemed to make him more confused. "N-no that was uh, that was...good. I just...what are we doing? Is this-I mean, what are you thinking this-" I said, gesturing between us, "-is? Because I don't want to rush into something stupid."

"No, I don't want that either," he replied with a fervent shake of his head.

"Well, then what do you want?"

"I want you."

The answer was so bluntly honest that I couldn't help but smile like a dumb-happy fool. "So what?" I responded. "Like you want to go out? Like dating?"

"Is that what you want?" He chuckled nervously, "Cuz I'll be real, that sounds pretty good to me."

I bit my lip and tried to stifle a grin; I couldn't have his ego inflating too much in one day. "Yeah, I think I'd like that," I replied. His smile broadened as he moved in again, cupping my face into another kiss. "I have one condition," I mumbled against his mouth, making him fall against my shoulder with a teasing groan. I giggled and smacked his shoulder. "Stop! I'm serious."

"Okay Miss Terms-and-Conditions-May-Apply, let me hear it," he requested.

I rolled my eyes but let the nickname slide. "I don't want to tell the others yet," I admitted quietly.

He looked instantly apprehensive. "Are you sure that's such a good-"

"We will eventually. I just...I want to figure this out for the two of us before we drag in everyone else," I argued and the reason seemed to satisfy him for now.

"Okay, deal. I just wouldn't put it off for too long, you know how Kiara gets about secrets," he warned, wagging a playful finger in my face.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can handle Kie. Now come, they'll start wondering we disappeared to," I said, grabbing his hand to start making the journey back down to the beach but twisted when he refused to move with me. "What are you doing?"

He twirled his finger as indication that I should turn back around with a smirk. "Nuh-uh. Go on, you're my girl now. I don't have to pretend I'm not checking out your ass when you leave anymore."