Trespassing

Trip's POV

Four hours of laying around and I was still spent. Ava had killed my stamina. It had been so fucking worth it, though.

"How can you eat so much?"

"How can you eat so little?" I teased, pulling her into my lap. We were on the balcony. Ava had already started filling it with some flowers-beds. Pink and purple flowers. Pretty—not nearly as the one in my arms. "You're going to turn into skin and bones."

She made an awfully cute face.

"You ate a whole pizza—plus my leftovers—you're the one with an eating disorder."

"Maybe my cooking will open your appetite."

"You can cook?"

"I can make anything as long as we're talking about eggs, bacon, stakes and canned soup."

She broke out laughing, dragging me after her. Ava shook her head, coming close to my neck. Her wavy hair tickled my skin.

"We're set for life."

"Laugh all you want, but I'm not hearing any special skills from you."

"In the kitchen?" I nodded. Ava nipped my bottom lip. "Oh, I can do plenty in a kitchen." Her hands scurried underneath my washed shirt.

I kissed the base of her neck. Gently grasping her wrists, I stranded her chest against mine. Dropping her head onto my shoulder, Bambi didn't complain.

"I'm loving this lounge chair right about now."
"That's because I picked out." She murmured smugly.

I had no idea how much this whole thing took out of my fund. I'd risk saying one-big-crap-load. I'd never given much importance to money, I'd spent it left and right—trying to enjoy myself. Hadn't brought me nothing but trouble, except for this.

This apartment was more than a simple escape from our parents, more than a rebellious faze. It was the start of something—a new chapter. Meeting Ava had been the best thing that had ever happened to me and I would admit it any day, any hour, to anyone.

With anyone else, living together felt like a huge impossibility. With her, it was reality. A chance I couldn't let slip away. One of those once-in-a-life-time opportunities.

"What are you thinking?"

I sighed as the breeze blew our hairs aside. Ava squirmed and the quilt draping us slipped, she simply balled her slender fingers into my shirt, staring.

"Wondering how we got here," I stroke her hair. "We met in a shrink's office, Rosy. Of all the romantic places."

"Yeah," she hugged my sides. She chuckled. "I totally ignored you."

I snorted.

"Like hell you did," Ava grinned, nodding. "Please, my blue eyes totally hooked you up."

She locked eyes with me, face in a mock show of horror.

"Damn, you found out my secret. I was so careful covering up my undeniable desire for you!"

"Funny," I swept down, stealing a kiss. "Have you talked to your dad?"

"Not since he finalized the divorce. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say, I mean... I know he wants to get close, but I don't think I'm ready."

She needed time to heal and I was happy that Mr. Wellington got that. He hadn't tried pushing another coffee-shop meeting. Even then they'd talked about her College fund, where she was going. Nothing too personal.

"How about your mom?" I watched as some of Ava's mood took a downward turn.

"Haven't talked to her since the showdown." She curled up on her side, drawing circles on my arm. "But dad said something about her traveling, remember?" Oh yeah.

"Hope the plane doesn't crash."

With a little smirk she said, "I think you said it with too much wishful glee to be believable."

I shrugged. My bones sagged—muscles relaxing—as Ava's scent covered my senses like an addiction.

The city was alive below us, around us, lights and ruckus polluted the view and air. But everything felt far away as we talked into the night. About our present and future. Never about the past. Ava told me she was going to either work part-time a in a flower shop or in the photography branch. I told her how excited I was for my first day at the garage—and she pretended to yawn at it.

By the end, she was talking in a sleepy-slur. I held tight remembering the waves of sensual pleasure she'd put me through hours earlier. How magnificent she'd been. The whole experience.

My lips pecked her temple.

"Is this what you dreamed of?" I whispered up-close to her ear. The lounge chair squeaked as she shifted above me. "The garden in the sky thing?"

Ava didn't stop staring at me with wide eyes and smiling lips. Lips I never got tired of feeling on me. Any part of me.

"You're my dream come true, Harrington. The dream I never knew I had."

Closing her eyes, her head rested on my chest. I pulled the quilt over us, brushing Ava's curves and edges, admiring the flowy hair spilling over her sharp little nose.

This was the girl who'd gotten so deep under my skin I wouldn't be able to ditch her if I tore myself apart. Because I knew she would always be there to mend me. The girl who stood by me even after finding out my deepest secret. The only person in the world who turned me into mush just with her doe-gaze.

Maybe Bambi was right. We should send Ms. Coleman a thank-you basket. Because with each breath Ava took, I got a strong feeling in my gut. A feeling of a life time.

One day, I'd marry this girl.

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THE END

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