Page 19 of Savage for You

“Six. Fall in love with someone who loves me back wholeheartedly.”

“Seven. Find my mom's college best friend.”

“Eight. Kiss someone in a bar. Wow, Killer. This is quite the list. I’ll help you with these, if you want?” he says with a smirk on his face.

“Oh my god, kill me now. Where are the Men in Black when you need them to erase someone’s memory?” I groan. I’m totally mortified, hiding my face in between my hands.

He pulls my hands away from my face and lifts my chin, so he is looking in my eyes and says, “Baby, you have nothing to be ashamed of. If I have it my way, every one of these things will be done with me.”

If I could turn as red as a tomato, I would. He brings out this whole new side of me. Something Dylan never did.

We’re staring into each other’s eyes. He is so damn sexy. And then he says something I’m not expecting.

“Fuck it.”

Suddenly his lips crash onto mine, and he kisses me like a man possessed. His lips are so soft, and I taste his mint ChapStick. When he swipes his tongue along my bottom lip, I give him access we both so desperately want. He’s kissing me like I have never been kissed before. The kiss is frantic like I’ll disappear at the drop of a hat. But then it turns passionate like his lips have always meant to be on mine.

He grabs my ass, and I moan into his mouth. I clench my thighs together because I want more, no I need that friction because it's been so damn long.

I pull away, remembering his sister and my cousin are in the other room.

“That was—” he starts to say.

“Amazing,” I finish his sentence and then mumble, “So much for going slow.”

“More than amazing, I want to keep kissing you, but I know you’re having a sleepover.” He smiles down at me while rubbing my bottom lip with his thumb.

“Montana! The food you ordered is here.” I hear Talon yell, breaking us out of our daze.

“Well, I better get going and leave you and my sister to it, even though I’d rather stay,” he says, looking at me all cute and shit with that boyish grin.

“Nope. It’s girls’ night. Maybe if you play your cards right, we can have our own one of these days. Maybe,” I say as I walk away, knowing if I don’t walk away now, I’ll never leave this room.

I put a little more sway in my hips and look back at him over my shoulder, tossing a wink at him. He smacks my butt groaning in the process. My god, I thought reading about the groan was sexier than actually hearing it but let me tell you…it’s not. It made me wet, well, more than I already was.

Autumn is one badass woman. She’s been through some shit that I can definitely relate to. Our conversation moved to why she suffers from body dysmorphia. I can understand what she’s saying because I know how it feels to hate your own skin.

She loves baking like me and wants to own her own bakery. She showed me some of her cake and cupcake designs and they are beautiful. She's taking business classes so she can start her own business. I’m so excited to see what she does with her baking. I know it’ll be a hit and I can't wait to be her taste tester.

I started talking to my therapist again, and he’s really helped me in a lot of ways. Losing my parents in the middle of college didn’t help me either. I have always been a bigger girl, but I had gotten into working out with Dylan when we were in high school, and I became the Montana I wanted to be.

I lost myself this last year, and now, I want to work harder to be better for myself and be the daughter my parents would have been proud of. That starts with not dwelling on people who don’t deserve to sit with me at my table. I know I deserve better than someone who doesn’t love me, who would rip your heart out and not even give a fuck.

“So, you and Talon are close?” she asks while picking at her Pad Thai.

“Yeah, he’s like a little big brother to me. He doesn’t have any siblings, so it was me and him mostly,” I reply.

“He’s very handsome and seems sweet. I bet he has so many girls all over him,” she says with a sigh.

“Actually, he isn’t as much of a fuckboy as he looks.”

“Hmm.”

“Autumn, what’s on your mind?”

She sighs. “Well, honestly, I want to lose a little bit more weight, not for anything or anyone else, but as a goal I made for myself. But I want to do it by my twenty-first birthday.”

“When is your birthday?”