Page 108 of Trusting You
27
Carter
Reddish gold sunlight hits the side of Locke’s body, sending the hairs on his arms sparkling. I want to run my hand down, collect some of that golden dust, but I’m enjoying the quiet, watching his chest rise and fall. The black crescents of his lashes are still—he’s having a peaceful sleep.
I’m used to waking up early, and I mean super early, because of Lily. Yet, I’ve even beat her this morning, and while I have one ear directed to hear her cries, I’m tangled in Locke’s sheets, his warmth mixing with mine, and I couldn’t be happier.
Oh, I’m going to be so sorry for this.
But not yet. Not now. I burrow deeper into the pillow as I lay on my side, enjoying the view.
Locke grunts and flops onto his back. After a startled snore, his eyes blink open.
Nerves tighten my belly. We haven’t spoken since, well, since. I don’t know how he’s going to react, but memories of the woman I first met him with, Tara, and how she was so seamlessly booted from his bedroom without so much as a see ya later…Locke may not want me here. He’s famous for one-night stands. When it comes to more than that, two-night stands even, nobody knows. It’s a rarity for him—if it exists at all.
Yet here I am, waiting for him to turn, notice me, and see the oh, shit in his expression.
His head tilts, and I brace.
“Hey,” Locke says, throaty with morning dew. He smiles.
I mirror a tentative one back. “Hey.”
On a grunt, he turns to face me, swinging an arm around and hooking me closer. Locke kisses my forehead before I nestle into the curve of his neck and chin.
This isn’t what I expected, but it’s everything my heart wants.
“You okay?” he asks above me.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Because I can feel you blinking nonstop down there. Your eyelashes are tickling the shit out of me.”
I laugh, push away slightly. Guilty. “I was just thinking.”
“You think too much. Get back here.” Locke scoots me against him. “Jeez, you’re stiff.”
“I—crap. I do think too much, I’m so aware of it, and I’m trying—”
“Lily’s middle name. Is it James because of you?”
His strokes haven’t differed, his light grip on my body indicating no pressure in every sense of the words. I know what he’s doing, but I respond. “Yeah. Part of my last name.”
“You must’ve meant a lot to Paige for her to give Lily your name.”
“We were all each other had,” I say honestly, and I’m content to be speaking to his chest instead of his eyes. I don’t feel as much guilt down here, on how much he missed out on. “We bonded over green Skittles.”
Locke lifts his head from the pillows. “Say again?”
“We stress-organize. I thought I was the only one. But in freshman year, while studying in the library for finals, we were at the same table. Someone brought a family pack of Skittles. I kept my attention on my textbook, but out of habit, I started separating the candy into color-coded piles. Then eating the green ones because that’s the only flavor I like.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been on a strict athletic diet most of my life, but don’t they all taste the same?”
I gasp like he’d just flung a dead rat at me. “No, Locke. They do not taste the same.”
Locke darts his chin back. “I stand corrected.”
“And I look up from my book,” I continue, “and Paige is doing the exact darned thing. And…” I laugh at the memory of us, mirroring shock. “That’s how we first bonded.”