Aloud I said, “Can we do the double feature afterward?”
“It can be arranged.”
“So tell me what you were like in high school.” I mostly wondered what he’d say, but I was also curious about his life before. Before Diana, before Sam. It was tough to picture Ty doing crazy shit; I’d seen him only grown-up and serious.
“I played basketball. Not well. But it’s a small town and the coach pestered the shit out of anyone over six feet.”
“So you grew up in Mount Albion?”
“Yep, born and raised. I didn’t intend to graduate from here, though. I was planning to earn some credits and then transfer to a college with a better architecture program.”
But Sam came along, and your plans changed.
“My friend Lauren and I applied to the same schools, and this was the only one where they offered both of us a scholarship.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” He kissed the top of my head.
“Tell me more about high school Ty.”
“Daniel,” he corrected quietly.
“Huh?”
“Nobody called me Ty back then. I’ve never been Dan...because that’s my dad, and Danny—with this hair? I’d never survive.”
“So what changed?” I didn’t realize it was a sensitive topic until his hand knotted in my hair, not hurting me, but sending an unmistakable message about his tension.
His voice was quiet when he answered. “Diana. When we met, I was Daniel, and... Are you sure you want to hear this story? It’s kind of stupid.”
“I’m interested, unless it bothers you.”
“Okay, so she read an article about how couples with alliterative names are more likely to stay together—I think I told you she was a scientist. So we met in freshman biology, and she goes, ‘Hello, Daniel. I’m Diana,’ like it was hugely significant. Her approach was really...awkward, and I thought she was shitting me until she explained the premise, and then I said what the hell and went out for coffee.”
“You must’ve had a good time.” If you fell in love with her.
“Yeah. Once I got past all the scientific terminology, she was so funny. Beautiful.” He sighed quietly, unknotting his fingers from my hair. “We had so many plans. I wish...I wish I could apologize. By the end, it got so ugly between us.”
Pain crimped my chest, listening to him talk, but I couldn’t blame Ty. I’d asked. Moments like this, my experience felt inadequate since nobody I knew had deep, dark relationships broken behind them. None of my friends had kids. Sometimes I wondered if he saw me as immature, but I didn’t really want to learn the answer. I made some kind of encouraging noise, as if I didn’t wish he’d stop talking about Diana.
He was practically whispering, like the words weren’t even for me, more of a message to the universe, to be carried to the girl who went away. “I hope she’s happy, you know? It feels like I took everything away from her.”
“She probably needed to start over,” I said weakly.
“Anyway, after she left, I couldn’t be Daniel. And a few of the guys from the b-ball team used to call me Ty, and it felt better, a clean slate for me, too.”
Jesus. How can I compete with that? He loved her so much that when she left, he had to change his name. And now, Ty was so messed up that he didn’t let anyone close. I had no sense of how much he cared about me—if we really were just friends with surprising sexual chemistry. But I’d agreed to this setup, and I couldn’t let doubts spoil our weekend.
I’m here. She’s not. The end.
“If it matters, I can’t picture you as Daniel. Maybe it’s because of Daniel Radcliffe, but for me, that’s a very serious, bespectacled name. Ty suits you. It’s tough and terse, but there’s another syllable hiding, if you care enough to look.”
His arms tightened on me, and he growled in my ear, “When you say ridiculous, adorable things like that, it makes me want to take you to bed.”
“What’s stopping you? We’ve rested for an hour after eating. We won’t get cramps.”
“I think that applies to swimming, not sex. But I’ll take you.” And then he did.
Ty swooped me into his arms and carried me to his room. He made a fair job of acting like I wasn’t heavy or ungainly, either, which I appreciated. As he lowered me gently to the bed, his eyes were soft, and the sunlight framed him, so he was all the warmth in the world, shades of amber, copper and gold. Beneath the anticipation thrummed a bittersweet yearning; I wanted so much more than this. But I craved the heat of his hands and the blind need of his lips, too.
“Every time I kiss you,” he whispered, “it’s a little better. Why is that?”
“I’m constantly upgrading the system, just to keep you on your toes.” His hair was somewhere between short and shaggy, perfect for tangling my fingers in.
“You seem to be wearing clothes. Didn’t I decree this was naked Saturday?”
“Nope.” I kissed the tip of his nose.
“Damn. I should have.”
With palpable impatience, Ty stripped away my clothes, and I sprawled nude on his navy comforter. Though I wasn’t used to posing like a calendar girl, I tried, stretching out my legs because he liked them. “I could get on board with that. Would this be a monthly event?”
“It could be. I think it needs to be.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” His gaze blazed down my body as he shucked his running shorts. “I planned on taking my time, you know that? I had it all planned out. Multi-orgasms for you, massive self-control for me.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
“It’s not. You said that sweet stuff about my name, and now you’re all gorgeous thighs, br**sts and sex hair. Which I gave you. My ideals have seriously outpaced my willpower.”
Stroking a hand down his cheek, I whispered, “I don’t really want you to be a f**k machine. It gets me hot when you can’t help it, when you cut loose—”
His mouth took mine. His hands were everywhere, like he couldn’t touch me fast enough, and the kisses blurred into a hot sparkle of pleasure: lips and teeth on my jaw, throat, shoulders and ni**les, lower, the curve of my hips and my inner thighs. Need slammed through me until I ached, so slick and hot, but Ty was merciless. I’d given him permission to lose control, and apparently, he wanted to drive me insane. I moaned as he nuzzled deeper, teeth sinking into the tender flesh of my inner thighs.