The Wreck by Marie Force

door.
    Brian groaned. “This is insane. We can’t .”
    Returning to him, she backed him up to
the bed and tugged the shirt over his head.
    “Oh God,” he said. “Are we really going
to make love in a bed ?”
    Carly smiled as she nodded. They’d had
that luxury only one other time, when they’d gone to Michigan to tour the
campus and find a place to live. With just one night to spend in a hotel,
they’d made the most of it.
    He brought her down on top of him and
untied her halter. Cupping her breasts, he said, “I love you, Carly. I love you
forever and ever.”
    Carly wanted so badly to tell him she
loved him just as much.
    “I know, honey,” he whispered. “I can see
it in your eyes.”
    When she bent to capture his bottom lip
between her teeth, he gasped.
    He got rid of their shorts and held her
tightly to him. “Are you still taking the pill?”
    She nodded.
    “Were you hoping we’d be together like
this again?”
    Her eyes shimmered as she nodded again.
    Easing her legs apart, he slid into her.
“No, don’t close your eyes, Carly. I need you to look at me.” He held her eyes
for several long minutes before he dipped his head to graze his tongue over her
nipple.
    She came apart under him, silent even in the
throes of passion.
    He managed to hold on to his control long
enough to urge her up and over again. This time he joined her.
    “Carly,” he gasped against her ear,
sending a shiver through her. “You have no idea how often I’ve thought about
that last time under the willow.” He lifted his head so he could see her face.
“You, too?”
    She nodded and reached out to bring him
back to her. With a soft, sweet kiss, she tried desperately to tell him
everything she wished she could say. When he trembled, she knew he understood.
She had forgotten how his body felt on top of hers, how it felt to take him
inside of her, how his chest hair felt against her breasts, and the way the
muscles in his back rippled under her hands when he loved her. He shifted to
move onto his side, but she stopped him.
    He raised a questioning eyebrow. “Again?”
    She smiled in agreement.
     
    “At
some point we need to figure out where we’re going from here,” he said as they
lay facing each other. “I mean, we’re still engaged, right?”
    With a finger to his lips, she told him
this wasn’t the time for serious business.
    “We only have a month before freshman
orientation starts,” he reminded her.
    Like she didn’t know exactly how many
weeks, days, and hours they had left. Soon enough she would have to tell him that
she had written to Michigan to request a one-year deferment on her scholarship.
She wouldn’t be ready to move halfway across the country in just over a month,
even if he would be right by her side every step of the way.
    Somehow she had to find a way to tell
him. And then she would have to find a way to get through the lonely weeks
without him until he came home for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. But that
was a conversation for another day. Today she just wanted to enjoy being with
him after two long weeks of wondering if she would ever see him again.
    “I forgot to tell you earlier I had lunch
at Miss Molly’s the other day. Mrs. Hanson asked me to pass along the message
that you can come back to work whenever you’re ready. She said you’ll always have
a job there. Nice, huh?”
    With her head resting on his chest, Carly
nodded.
    Off in the distance they could hear the
boom of the fireworks and waited until the rapid-fire finale had ended before
they got up to get dressed.
    As they were leaving her room, he stopped
her. “Thank you for this. I’ve been so lost without you, Carly.”
    She reached up to bring him down for
another kiss.
    By the time their parents returned, they
were back on the porch swing.
     
    They
fell into a routine after the holiday. He worked every day at the law firm in
town and spent the evenings and weekends with her. Sometimes they “talked”
using the pad and