“Oh yeah?” Branch asked, looked to his feet, kicked an invisible stone and told her. “This,” he looked up at her, connecting with those brown eyes, waved a hand between them and finished, “Makes up all my presents for a lifetime.”
Emma blinked the burning from her eyes and reached for Branch’s hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t come for your birthday. My aunt wouldn’t let me, didn’t want me to be reminded…” Emma didn’t finish the sentence. Her aunt wasn’t happy about Branch’s visit. She’d made that very clear.
“I know.” Branch told her something she didn’t know. “My aunt called yours, asked her to let you come, not sure what happened, my aunt didn’t tell me everything, but yours hung up on mine, and from what my uncle says, they haven’t spoken since, but thank God your aunt still talks to my uncle.” He confessed, saw the frown appear on Emma’s face and said, “Let’s forget about that. I’m here now, right?”
Emma reached for his hand again. “Yes, let’s forget about all of that. What do you want to do first? Are you hungry?”
“Hell yeah, I am.” Branch grinned. “You got any good burgers in this town?” he asked, looking around the area and told her. “My uncle gave me some extra dough to spend.”
Emma thought on that for a second before her eyes lit up. “I know just the place. It’s close enough we can walk. I hope you’re hungry because the portions are crazy.”
“Good,” He pulled Emma along the concourse but stopped. “Which way?” He laughed when he realized he had no idea where he was going.
Emma laughed too and pointed to the golden revolving doors. “We’re heading in the right direction. Just out those and to the right.” Her eyes found his, the laugh turning into a smile. “Still like being first, don’t you?”
Branch looked into her eyes. Boy, his Emma had changed… and Branch being a growing teenage boy, he felt her change in areas he never thought he would. “Not all the time.” He winked and started toward the doors.
Emma felt her cheeks warm, her focus lingering on Branch’s mouth as thoughts popped into her head, thoughts she had no business thinking. She swallowed the lump in her throat but held his hand tighter.
The next day, they went to the movies and snuck in to see Jeepers Creepers, but she couldn’t tell you what the movie was about because her attention had been on their hands. Branch had held her hand throughout the entire movie, even comforted her when she jumped at the scary parts. The heat when their hands connected lingered then grew, moving up her arm to settle in places that were distracting and very pleasant.
She took him to a lake to go swimming, but the experience was not the same as when they were younger. Branch wasn’t the gangly kid he’d been. Seeing his body in board shorts, she couldn’t tear her eyes from him. She knew she wasn’t the only one feeling it because she felt his eyes on her, and with an intensity that caused her skin to flush. What hadn’t changed was them. Even older, the connection they had as kids was just as strong, maybe even stronger because they knew what they were missing by being separated. And she missed him, it was a constant ache, one that had eased seeing him again, but would only grow more painful when he left. She couldn’t bear the thought.
It had been almost a week, their time going too fast. Her aunt had agreed to let Branch stay on the sofa, which surprised Emma learning about the conversation her aunt had had with Branch’s aunt, but her aunt never let them forget she was around. She didn’t sit in the room with them, but she made her presence clear, to remind them they weren’t alone. When they were younger, Emma would have been confused by her aunt’s behavior, but she understood after the days they’d spent together. Even just sitting next to Branch, Emma’s body was burning. She wanted to move closer, wanted to climb into his lap, straddle him. She wanted his mouth on hers. She blushed, realizing what she was thinking.
Pulling her mind from those thoughts she said, “She won’t be home tomorrow. She works a double shift.” Or maybe not moving very far from those thoughts.
Branch was having a hard time lifting his eyes from the bare skin of Emma’s thigh that he had been staring at, he did it, and when he looked into Emma’s eyes, his whole body went warm. Every day his feelings toward Emma only grew as fast as the time had been going.
“The house to ourselves sounds fucking awesome.” Branch didn’t think it was awesome because Emma’s aunt just about growled at him every time she saw him, but for other reasons…reasons he was coming to terms with and that was that he liked Emma, a lot. And not as her best friend anymore.
Emma had still yet to take her eyes off of Branch, and Branch the same. The movement was slow as Branch’s head inclined toward hers. She didn’t move, her gaze locked on his. Branch’s mouth was an inch from Emma’s when he whispered, “I’m gonna kiss you now, Emma Blake, and I know it’s going to change everything, but…” His eyes dropped to her pink lips. “I don’t care.”
Her voice was a rough whisper. “Kiss me, Branch.”
The second their lips touched, she sighed and he growled. It was just a brushing of lips at first, learning the other’s taste but what started off soft and slow turned heated when Emma crawled onto his lap, straddling him. Branch’s jeans grew tighter as he pulled his fingers through her hair, holding her steady as he drove his tongue past her lips, sweeping her mouth
