“Let’s slow down a sec.” Preach gently set me down, until my feet touched the ground. I let out a long breath. “Whoa.”
I grinned up at him and pressed a kiss to his lips.
His hands slid over my hips to my butt. He kissed me hard and fast, then took a step back.
“Wait, what?”
“Trust me, there’s nothing more I want to do than this,” he said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
“Me, too.” I reached out and tugged at one of the strings to his hood.
He snatched up my hand, turned it over, and kissed my open palm. “But I’m just getting myself back together, and this is way too tempting.”
“Tempting?” I brushed my thumb below his bottom lip. “What do you mean?”
“Just…taking things further. Sex.” He let out a breath as he held my gaze. It was almost as if he was trying to decide if he should tell me more or not. “I don’t want to jump into anything that intense too quickly.”
My lips practically ached for his, but I forced myself to nod. He had a good point, though, and I had to give the guy mad-props for his willpower. “I understand.”
Preach kissed my cheek. “Thanks, Gracie. There aren’t too many people out there who would.”
There was a fallen tree a few feet away, so I tugged him toward it. It looked like the perfect spot to watch the moon reflecting over the water. And I wanted to hear more about why he wanted to slow things down.
We made our way to the log and sat down on it, shoulder-to-shoulder. Preach took my hand in his as I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“Sometimes it’s really difficult to be different because of my choices,” Preach said. “Maybe that’s why I fell off the rails like I had. It was…fun, you know? Not having a care in the world.”
I nodded into him, totally getting it. After Emmett died, I didn’t lash out. At least not like Preach. But I internalized everything. I barely spoke to my parents about it. Or anyone, for that matter. I kept it all inside and let everything build up.
An icy sensation settled over my chest and made it hard to take a deep breath.
Yeah, I wasn’t dealing with things in a healthy way, either.
“The hangovers didn’t feel awesome,” Preach said, pulling my focus from a sense of impending doom and back on him.
I cuddled closer. It was chilly out, but his body heat was doing pretty good at keeping me warm.
“But letting loose. Not caring what anyone thought. Not being the perfect son and friend. That was nice.”
“That’s understandable,” I replied.
He tilted his head and looked down at me. “Really?”
“You were under a lot of pressure. No one can be perfect all of the time.”
“Are you taking your own advice there?”
“Touché,” I said. But he was right. That truth did hit a little too close to home. But I went on, “People slip up and make mistakes, but it’s how you handle the aftermath. That’s what defines you. You got over your rebellious streak and are back on track. But if you ever want to let go again, hopefully you’ll know where to draw the line this time.”
“How did you get so smart?”
“Oh, I’m not, considering you weren’t too far off base by telling me to take my own advice.”
I let out a long sigh and thought about Emmett. We sat in silence for several minutes, holding hands. The silence was completely comfortable. Felt like we were in a time bubble or something. None of the crap going on could touch us here.
“Gracie?” Preach asked. “Have you…I mean, I think you have, but I want to ask anyway.”
“What’s up?”