Breathe With Me (The Breathe Series Book 3) (25 page)

A GENTLE TOUCH LIKE FINGER
tips down my arm along with a soft feathery light tickle over my face begins to wake me. My breath steams over my face and I instantly peel my eyes open. The room appears dark with a hint of light bleeding through the fibers of a blanket that is pulled over my face.

“Hey,” Evan’s voice whispers out beside me and although I know it is him, my whole body tenses with the deep baritone sound that seems so close. I fist my hands and hold my breath, staying deadly still. “It’s me…you ok?” his voice comes out tender and cautious, and for a minute, I expect everything to fade out. “Hey…”

The touch over my arm stills, coming to a pause at my wrist, but remaining there. I suck in a breath, knowing it’s him;
Relax…breathe.

As soon as the voice that usually fills my mind begins to speak up, another thought pushes it away and I gasp.
The letter; the letter from Trent.
I didn’t even tell Evan about it. How can I? He was furious when I finally told him about what happened; when I finally let the entire story unfold. The pain of it all was mirrored in his eyes, showing me a side of him I had never seen. He was always so gentle and fun-loving towards me, but that day I saw vengeance and rage as if he could physically hurt someone. It was a look I am sure that I had carried for years; an expression and demeanor that invaded every fragment of my being and transformed me into someone else.

Releasing my pinned up breath that was threatening to turn my face blue, I turn my head at the sound of his voice and allow my body to soften.

The filtered light illuminates his face, and I immediately see it light up.

“We’re going to smother under here,” I push out, trying my best to hide all my reservations in waking up so close to anyone, even though I’ve woke up next to him a million times in my life.

He snickers and I melt a bit more, relaxing.

“Nahhh. Besides, it got a little cool in here last night so I figured it was either the blanket over our head or a little more body heat.”

I giggle at his subtle suggestion, knowing good and well if I could see his face better, he’d be wearing his signature goofy ass smile with his brows drawn up like a clown and a twinkle of playfulness in his eyes.

“You scared me for a second. Thought I was going to have to break out a little charm. You going to stick with me?”

I smile at his easy, yet frisky way of asking me if I plan on blacking out from a storm of horrific emotions that knock me down like a bulldozer.

“No, you got me,” I chuckle out, my chest vibrating with impending laughter and excitement from the heat of his fingers, which gently move back up my arm. “I’m not going anywhere. I think we can bypass the reminder today…not that I mind.”

“Me either,” he whispers before moving closer until his lips are on mine; sweet and warm, sending tingles down my spine, up my thighs and swirling around in my stomach.

Puckering my lips to his, I give him a slow peck then push my head back into the pillow. I laugh, not sure why I am; nerves, maybe happiness.
I can’t believe I’m here with him.
I really had no intention of staying, but it felt so good being here last night. I had forgotten how easy it was being with him; how he could make me laugh no matter what was on my mind.

“What? My breath that bad this morning?”

My belly shakes as I hold in a bubble of laughter before speaking. “No.” I barely open my mouth to reply, now aware that I more than likely have morning breath. “What time is it?”

“I don’t know. I assume early morning. It’s barely light, but I haven’t checked my phone yet. I didn’t want to wake you.”

Shoot…morning already! Holy crap! It’s Christmas morning and I have a ton to do.

Panic pulses through me.

“Oh my gosh…I really need to go. I have so much to do today. I need to get the turkey in the oven and start throwing together the casseroles and pumpkin pie and….”

“Whoa! You’re making me hungry.”

Tossing the blanket from our faces, I sit up and look around, not able to make out the time over the sink in the kitchen, but automatically noticing the spray of sunshine beginning to drift into the room. The bright sunrise barely peaks through the window as it slowly rises in the distance over the opposite side of the lake. The cabin remains silent, not so much as a creak from a mattress or floor board to greet my ears and this makes me happy. I could only imagine the rumors that would fly if I was caught in Evan’s bed. That unsettling thought makes me uncomfortable, and a bit of regret rises within me over the fact that I stayed here.

“I really better go,” I whisper, flinging the blanket off of my legs.

“Hey, hold up…” Evan’s hands close in around my waist.

I twist and look down, right as the full force of his grasp pulls me down on top of him. For an instant, panic explodes in my chest and I gulp down a monstrous breath before his quiet chuckles catch my attention.

“You’re not going anywhere just yet.”

“Evan,” my tone is laced in annoyance, yet I can barely hold back the giggles that tickle the back of my throat. “You’re going to be eating a raw turkey and starchy, hard potatoes today if I can’t get things ready.”

“You stress too much. It’ll cook itself, I’m sure of it.” He stops tugging at my body as I come to a rest on his chest, clasping his sweatshirt in my hands and staring down into his soft hazel green eyes. “So how can I manage to make you relax?”

I tilt my head back and plaster a genuine grin across my face at his vivacious attempt of always deterring my thoughts and making me feel at ease. An unusual happiness spreads through me and I laugh quietly, completely aware that I need to make an exit before anyone wakes. A gentle, tender touch falls onto the center of my neck, immediately causing a surge of heat to spark through my body. Evan’s lips linger against my skin in one place before moving just a fraction of an inch to the left for another soft kiss. I exhale a little louder than I mean to, letting a muffled whimper out with it. He makes my body come alive like no one has ever been able to; with him I feel safe.

“Ahhhhhh,” I breathe out, closing my eyes with a heaviness and a relaxation over me that makes me feel like a slab of butter, sizzling in a frying pan and slowly dissolving. “Evan, I really have to go,” I mumble, half hoping he doesn’t even hear.

“Really.” The heat of his breath moves over my neck, then his lips are back on me, torturing me with more nibbles and pecks. “Fine.”

A loud obnoxious noise hits my ears as he blows against my skin like I am a five-year-old. The abruptness startles me and has me squirming to get away, but he doesn’t let up, keeping his hand clasped around my waist at my back. I can’t hold my composure any longer. I crack up, moving side to side on him like he is a balance beam and I can no longer keep any sense of stability.

I don’t even have to look at his face to know he has a smile that could match my own.

“You gonna stay?” he murmurs before huffing out a huge breath of air that squeezes out the sides of his mouth and making a very unpleasant sound that I am sure will be the next thing he starts bringing up. No doubt he’ll point a finger at me and accuse me of it.
He’s still just a big kid.

“Evan,” I sputter, unable to catch my breath.

“You can agree to stay a little longer or admit that you came over here to get another look at all I have to offer.” Back he goes, blowing and blasting a roar of laughter from me.

“Ok, ok…”

His lips move away and I take this opportunity to look down at him. The sparkle in his green eyes makes my heart pound.

“Ok what? You came to check me out? Go ahead admit it…I know you’re dying to tell me.”

My stomach aches and tightens as if I’ve been doing ab exercises with Abby all morning. I stop moving and look at him, remembering the exact moment that I last felt this sort of overwhelming emotion and joy.

“Merry Christmas, Piper,” his voice hitches as he says this in the most serious and sincere tone that I’ve ever heard from him. The room suddenly becomes quiet again. “Of course, I’ll come to the party today.”

“Whoa!”

I swing my head around at the same time as Evan does. Suddenly the room feels a lot more cramped and a whole lot less intimate as I look up at Judd and Alyssa, both clearly enjoying their morning findings.

“Whoa…” Evan mocks in my ear as I grit my teeth and Alyssa covers her huge smile.

“You know…I’m real disappointed that I did not get this same sort of invite to the Christmas get together.”

I strain to look around Judd and take in a third onlooker as Jake sits up on the edge of the hideaway in the middle of the living room.
Wonderful.
Half asleep, his hair is spiked up in all different directions, his eyes droop as he attempts to widen them and wake up. Glancing back to Alyssa and Judd, they look well rested, still smirking like they just caught us doing more than we were.

“Oh, I…yeah, I need to be going like I said.” I jump up, pushing off from Evan and sliding to the edge of the cot.

The playful mood we were in, lost in a rush of anxiety at what they must be thinking.
Should I explain? Deny it? Flee?

Judd and Alyssa back up a few feet. She lowers her hand, showing off a wide smile as she clears her throat and drops it. Alyssa and I have been around each other for years and even though I’m sure she has seen the level of discomfort and irritation that I usually exhibit in Evan’s presence, this has to be throwing her for a loop.

“Sooo, ummm, Piper…” Evan starts, and even though my face is about to explode into flames over the level of embarrassment that I’m feeling, I still want to crack up. My emotions are all over the place, because honestly, right now I could cry out of humiliation, yet a part of me wants nothing more than to bend at the waist, fall on the floor and laugh till I can barely get another breath in. Especially as I make eye contact with Evan.

Evan’s hand presses onto mine, which I have braced against the bed so that I can catapult myself to my feet and out of the room if the mortification becomes too much.

“What?” I look over, recognizing Evan’s teasing tone. My face heats up; I just know he’s going to say something even more humiliating;
don’t look him in the eyes, don’t look at him.
Luckily he turns his head before speaking, “You afraid we might outdo you two?” He snickers, looking right at Judd.

I swing my gaze around to see Judd’s lips sealed tightly together; he doesn’t say a word.

Evan’s playful voice rises up again as he squeezes my hand. “Don’t worry, I think you got the prize for last night’s performance. No way, we could keep up.”

My eyes widen.

“Yeah, no joke. I wanted to rip my ears off,” Jake mumbles, and I think the heat is off Evan and I.

“Oh but we tried to…” Evan challenges, raising his brows dramatically. “We were hitting the walls and shifting on the bed, rocking the…”

I want to die.
“Whoa…whoa, we did not…”

Everyone breaks into a fit of laughter as I look around, my finger held up to drive my point home and my face shifted into shock as I prepare to defend the fact that I was not out here bumping and grinding his ass in a game of who can make the most noise. I stop talking, unwilling to holler over the chaos of four people rolling in hysterics.

“We don’t believe him, Piper,” Judd assures me.

Alyssa bounces and her eyes water. “Yeah, don’t worry…we all know he’s full of shit.”

Jake raises his arms above his head, still perched on his own bed. “I definitely didn’t hear anything from this side of the room, so either you suck my friend or she was not very impressed.”

My mouth drops open; I snap my head around to meet Evan’s gaze as he looks back at me with an easy smirk and confident eyes.

“Don’t even. I know you were impressed.”

Shaking my head, all my panic melts as I stand there, forgetting for a second that anyone else is in the room.
Two can play at this.

“Really, I just didn’t see much of a change from years ago. I think all that growing up is in your head,” I rifle back, teasing him on his ‘I’m all that now’ assessment of himself.

Scooting away from the bed, I shove down all my laughter and refuse to look at him.

“Ouch!” Judd spits out and I can’t hold it in.

“You don’t even know what she’s talking about, man.”

One by one, I cram my feet back in my shoes while quickly taking a glance at Evan. He’s still grinning, drilling his eyes through me. I bounce up, stifling the tickle in my stomach that is threatening to spill out.

“Well, I think we can all figure it out, Evan,” Judd counters.

He also has a huge smirk across his face, enjoying Evan being on the receiving end, but for some reason I just can’t handle tormenting Evan’s ego for very long. No way am I going to boost it up and tell him the truth, that I did in fact check him out for a second in the shower. I’ll let him sweat that, but I do quickly change the subject to get the heat off of him.

“So everyone is going to be there at noon, right?”

I look around, making eye contact with Jake as he nods, Judd and Alyssa bob their heads yes as they make their way towards the door, then I settle on Evan. His eyes are squinted skeptically, yet one corner of his mouth is drawn up. He doesn’t answer or nod; he waits and I have to force down my smile.