Sunshine Kisses

‘Minx,’ he grumbled, lips still pressed to her head. ‘Go get dressed. I’ll be out in a few minutes.’

‘I don’t get to watch?’

‘No.’ He was smirking. It was infuriating. And, unfortunately, sexy. ‘Be a good girl; go get ready for dinner, and I’ll make it worth your while later.’

It felt unbearably cliché for her to have a praise kink. The high-strung only child who thrived on academic validation and longed for her parents’ approval? It was practically textbook. But the words ‘good girl’ slipping so naturally off Erik’s tongue had every part of her body heating. And of course, he had clocked that instantly.

It was crazy how in sync they were. Always had been. Crazy how he always knew exactly what she needed to hear. The way he anticipated her every need. Her blood pounded at the thought of what that same attentiveness would look like during sex.

He was going to ruin her.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist, wrinkling the green satin slip she’d thrown hastily on when she’d heard the shower stop.

‘You always smell so good.’ She sighed, turning to melt into his arms. He looked outrageously gorgeous again, wearing deep blue trousers and a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Erik glanced down at her dress and froze. ‘Is that—’

Abby stepped back to give him a better view. She’d found the dress in a vintage store two months before their leaver’s ball. It had been two sizes too big for her, but she hadn’t been able to get it out of her head. Her mother had suggested that they simply have a replica of the dress made, but Abby had insisted. That was the one. She wanted whatever stories and magic and memories had been made in that dress to flow through her, too. So a seamstress had been roped in, cleverly tucking in darts of fabric in such a way that they could be taken out again, something Abby had been grateful for as her body changed over the following years. With the memories it held, she’d never been able to part with it.

Erik’s brows lowered, and she wondered if she’d made a mistake. Abby had been swept away by thoughts of romance and nostalgia, but maybe it symbolised something else to him. Perhaps it was a reminder of how badly that wonderful night had ended.

‘We should go,’ Erik croaked.

‘I can’t convince you to stay?’ Abby tried one last time, placing a gentle hand over his heart. It thudded under her fingers.

‘Two hours.’ His voice was like gravel. ‘We need to make it through two hours, and then I am going to spend the rest of the night lost in you.’

Seven years before

Teenage Dream – Stephen Dawes

E

very ounce of oxygen in Erik’s body evaporated as he watched Abby descend the stairs separating them.

She was always beautiful. But suddenly, that word felt weak and flimsy in comparison to the goddess in front of him.

Green satin flowed over her body, catching on every curve. Her blonde curls were smooth and shiny where they tumbled down her back. Smoky makeup littered with sparkling flecks of green brought out the colour of her eyes, making them shine brightly. And of course, her lips were the brick red that had become her signature in the past year.

As their parents tried to take photos of them, he was repeatedly scolded for not looking at the camera. But Abby was like a magnet, keeping his eyes locked on her.

And he was tired.

Tired of pretending she wasn’t the only thing he wanted to look at. Tired of pretending his whole body didn’t light up as soon as she was next to him.

Erik was used to wearing a mask, hiding his anxieties and overwhelm behind a calm, pleasant veneer that wouldn’t discomfit those around him. Abby had always been able to see through it though. Said she saw in his eyes even what that mask tried to hide. And tonight he was done trying, letting his feelings for her paint themselves clearly across his face. When she looked up at him through her thick, dark eyelashes, there was no chance she could miss everything he was carrying for her. And for the first time, he didn’t care.

Because for the first time, he thought he saw those feelings reflected back.

Erik took in her wide eyes and the soft smile tilting her perfect lips and before he could bend his head more than a few degrees towards her, the click of a camera reminded him that they had an audience. But the moment was enough to inspire a silent promise: before the night was over, before this final, symbolic end to their school days, he would find the perfect moment to kiss her.

They spent the night glued to each other.

Even when they stood to the side chatting to their friends, Abby wrapped her hands around Erik’s bicep and rested her head on his shoulder. When they sat for dinner, he slung his arm loosely around the back of her chair, fingers trailing lazily over the soft skin on her neck and shoulders. She’d shivered slightly when he grazed one of the delicate straps criss-crossing over her back, and he was embarrassingly pleased to have pulled that reaction from her. Erik was aware of the sets of eyes tracking their points of contact, but he was too focused on her to care. Abby’s carefree laughter as he spun her on the dancefloor was a drug he would never get enough of. The weight of her body colliding back into his after a twirl was the single greatest pleasure he had ever experienced. He wanted to take up oil painting so he could capture the glow of her skin where its light sheen caught under the lights.

Comments about their unusual relationship had never phased him. Mostly because he knew they were right, at least where he was concerned. But he sometimes wondered if it bothered Abby. If she realised he was likely the reason no one had ever asked her out. The reason she had spent her high school years single.

Attending their leaver’s ball together had felt like an inevitability. So much so that Erik had simply assumed it to be the case. Then he had heard her name muttered in the back of his biology class.