She sobbed now, and Vince reached out to embrace her as she continued to cry into his chest. He’d never felt so much hatred for someone in his life like he did at that moment. He couldn’t fathom how such a heartless bitch could’ve possibly produced someone as special and sweet as Rose.
As her crying calmed, Vince pulled away to look at her. It killed him to see her so sad. He wiped her tears away as they fell from the corners of her eyes. “Don’t cry, Rosie. Maybe she just figured you’d be happy about staying since you had brought it up earlier.”
Rose shook her head. “No, she’s never loved me. I don’t even know how to describe it, but from the time I was a little girl, I always felt this…I don’t know distaste for me, like I was more of a hindrance to her than a blessing.”
“Some people just don’t know how to show their feelings, but Grace has always loved you.” Vince wiped another one of her tears again. “You said it yourself. It more than made up for your mother’s lack of affection.”
She sniffed some more, wiping her face with the sleeve of her hoody. “Yeah, I know, but I guess I was hoping that maybe…” She shook her head again. “God, I’m stupid. How could I actually believe that after all this time, she finally decided she loved me?”
The flare of hatred was back, and it was blazing. “No you’re not,” he said firmly cupping her face. “Listen to me. It’s not stupid to hope that your own mother had finally come around and was gonna start acting like one.” He shrugged. “So she sucks at being a mom. You have an awesome sister who loves you more than anything in the world.”
Rose looked down for a moment without saying anything.
“I love you, Rosie.” If he’d lowered his voice any more she may not have heard him.
Rose looked up at him, immediately shaking her head. “Vincent, don’t—”
“I do.” He’d felt it for a long time now, but he hadn’t planned on telling her until he was sure he wouldn’t freak her out. He remembered her speech about love being a gradual thing, but he couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“You don’t have to say that just because—”
“I’m not just saying it.” He took a step closer to her and looked her straight in the eyes. “I don’t just love you. I’m in love with you. And I know you said it’s a gradual thing, but for me it wasn’t. It got me fast and—”
“I love you, too.” She put her hands over his, and for the first time that night she smiled making his heart go wild. “I’m in love with you, too, Vincent. I know I said it was a gradual thing, but you’ve made this the most amazing summer of my life. I’ll never forget it.”
After staring at her for a moment and taking in her unbelievable words, he looked down at her lips. “Can I kiss you?” he whispered.
He felt her go tense, and his eyes were immediately on hers. Seeing that she had gone from happiness to anxiousness, he was almost afraid to ask, but only because he didn’t want to get too excited.
“You’ve never been kissed?” She flushed as she shook her head and bit her lip. “Don’t be embarrassed, Rosie. It’d be an honor to be your first. If you let me, I’ll show you how.” He smiled trying to calm his insides as she nodded softly. Could this get any better? He was about to be Rosie’s first. “Lick your lips and tilt your head.” She did as she was told, and he kissed her gently just once then whispered against her soft lips. “Relax.” She did, and he kissed her again, this time parting her lips with his tongue, feeling her gasp when their tongues touched. He couldn’t help smile. “Just do what I do. You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”
Bringing his hand around her neck, he pulled her even closer to him and went in for a longer one, savoring her sweet mouth. It wasn’t a long kiss; he didn’t want to overwhelm her. He pulled away and smiled, leaning his forehead against hers. “You’re a natural.”
She smiled back. “I wanna thank you, Vincent.”
He pulled back to look in her eyes again. Something he loved to do now. “For what?”
“I’m gonna remember this day forever, but not for the reasons I thought I would earlier. You’ve completely turned today around for me. I can hardly wait to move in with Grace now.” She hugged him, leaning her face against his chest, and it felt perfect holding her like this. “Vincent?”
“Yeah?”
“Kiss me again.”
He laughed as she pulled away to look at him. “I was already wondering if it was too soon for that.” Before he did, he held her face in his hands for a moment. “This doesn’t end this summer, Rose. I’m coming back next year, and in between I’ll text you every day. I’ll see what I can do about coming down to visit you, too.” She didn’t have to respond; he saw it in her big, bright eyes. This made her as happy as it made him. So before she could respond, he leaned in and gave her another much longer kiss than the first.
~*~
Rose
Like most girls, Rose had daydreamed about her first kiss for years. She never would’ve imagined that it would be on a day when she’d finally had to face the devastating fact that her mother had no interest in raising her. And she certainly hadn’t imagined it would happen the day she professed her love to the guy doing the kissing. She’d always assumed the kissing would come first, and later there would be declarations of love, but this made it even more special.
Rose had heard of boys Vincent’s age mistaking lust for love all too many times. They’d put up with girls who they didn’t even really like, just because the girl was giving it up, and they truly thought they were in love. Vincent had yet to even kiss her when he’d told her he was in love with her. So it meant that much more to her.
Sex was not something they’d talked about yet. Rose got the feeling Vincent was almost afraid to. Judging from all the other things he’d already experienced in his short life, she was sure he was no virgin. Going by his kissing alone, she’d say he was plenty experienced.
Kissing was their favorite thing to do the last two weeks he was there. Of course they were careful no one ever saw them. But Vincent had behaved so well throughout the summer that, by the end of summer and with Rose using the ole “but he’s only here for a couple more weeks—days” plea, they pretty much got to spend every day of those last two weeks together. They’d made the most of them.
Rose cried the day he left. Grace had warned her enough when she saw how close she’d gotten to Vincent that even thinking about any kind of relationship surpassing a friendship was unwise. He lived too far, and it probably wouldn’t work out. Having gone through what she had with Sal during their breakup, she was terrified of Rose being hurt.
Just knowing she wouldn’t be seeing him for a while hurt like hell. But Vincent had promised to be true to her, even from as far away as he lived, as long as she stayed true to him. Rose couldn’t even imagine another boy making her feel what Vincent did. He was her prince in what now felt like a fairy-tale life.
Rose’s mom had moved away weeks ago. For her whole life the woman had managed to hang around like a dark cloud dimming even the pleasant events in her life by simply not showing up. That was all behind her. Rose was happy now. She was done letting her mother bring her spirits down.
Rose had gone from living in the slums and going to one of the worst high schools in the district to living in the hills of La Jolla in a beautiful home and attending one of the highest-ranked schools in the area not just academically but in sports as well. She was now part of one of the best teams in San Diego County, and she was a starter. On top of all that Sal insisted on sponsoring her, so she could play on a club team as well. She had once upon a time until her mother decided she wasn’t paying for that anymore. But unlike in her old neighborhood, the teams out here were all ranked silver and above, and yet she’d still made the cut when she tried out.
She was already done with her first semester at her new school. Things between her and Vincent were still perfect. He’d been out to La Jolla many times thanks to all the parties leading up to Grace and Sal’s wedding. Then th
ere was the wedding itself. He’d been there the whole weekend. In between all the parties Vincent had come up a few other times on his own. His dad was so proud that he’d been completely trouble free for so long that he’d let him use his car a few times to drive down and see her. Vincent hadn’t been in trouble even once since his tagging incident.
Now he was back again for another visit, and she packed a picnic they could take to the beach where they could have some alone time. Done eating now, they lay on the blanket she’d brought doing what they loved doing most.
Vincent completely respected the fact that she wasn’t ready to do more than just kissing and what had progressed to heavy petting now. But she loved how intensely deep he kissed her sometimes. That alone felt almost erotic.
Most recently he’d begun to run his hands up and down her legs like he was doing now, and he literally groaned in her mouth. “Damn, this drives me nuts.”
Rose smiled, squirming as his lips moved from hers and nipped her neck now. Feeling him tongue-suck her neck drove her nuts and made her tingle in places she knew she shouldn’t be. She wasn’t ready to go there yet. Still a small moan slipped. “You drive me nuts, Vincent.”
The moan had been embarrassing enough, but being so breathless that she could barely get the words out surprised even her.
Vincent pulled away from her neck to look at her. His intense eyes fixed on hers. “Rosie, Grace doesn’t know about this, does she?”
Rose smiled. “That you drive me nuts?”
“Well,” he chuckled, but it still didn’t hide the worry in his eyes “that and that we’re doing a little more than just kissing now.”
Running her fingers through his hair, Rose chewed the inside of her lip. She knew what he was worried about. “I tell her a lot. But so far all I’ve only told her is that you’re the first boy that’s ever kissed me.”
“And the last,” he added quickly lifting a brow.
Rose laughed now, “Yes, Vincent, and the last.”
He smiled, kissing her softly before pulling away again. “You’re not gonna tell her any more are you?”
She shook her head, tracing that perfectly arched eyebrow of his. “Not yet.”
“But you will eventually?”
She smiled again, hoping to assuage some of his worry. “I’ll warn you before I do. But trust me, I wouldn’t tell her anything that might get you banned from coming to see me. You think I’m crazy or something?”
“No,” he said staring at her lips. “I just don’t know what I’d do if that happened.”
“Well, it won’t, so don’t worry, okay?”
Vince leaned in, and she could tell just by the look in his eyes this wouldn’t be one of his usually sweet kisses; this one had erotic written all over it, and she braced herself, her heart already thumping wildly.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rose
The following weekend Rose had a soccer tournament, and Vincent had said he’d try to make it down if he could switch his days off at work with someone, but so far there’d been no takers.
She walked out into the kitchen where Grace, whose belly looked ready to pop, was packing the small ice chest she always took to Rose’s tournaments. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said the new uniforms were short.”
Rose glanced down at her soccer shorts. “They’re ridiculous. If they weren’t loose, I’d look like I was wearing my volleyball shorts.”
Grace laughed. “Well, at least you have great legs. They look good on you.”
Rose smirked, thinking about how often Vincent made her tremble now by running his hands up and down her legs, telling her just how much they drove him crazy. A car honked outside, and she grabbed her soccer backpack. “That’s them. I’m out. I’ll see you at the park.”
Grace gave her the usual “don’t get crazy driving around with your friends” speech, and Rose ran out to meet Alison and Candace, two of her teammates and now closest friends. They’d both also been on the volleyball team last semester and had been best friends since they were kids. Somehow she’d clicked with them, and now they were a threesome. Alison got a boyfriend last semester, so Candace was glad since Alison’s boyfriend hung out with her even at school that she didn’t feel like a third wheel because she had Rose. So it had been perfect timing when Rose came along.
Rose got in the backseat. “Could these shorts be any shorter?” Alison said as soon as Rose was in. “But damn, Rose, you’re rocking them with your long legs.”
“Thanks. I just hope they don’t start riding up my butt when I’m playing. At least our volleyball shorts are made to cling to our legs and not ride up. These aren’t like that.”
Candace was busy applying makeup using the front visor. “You’re so crazy, Candace,” Rose giggled. “How can you wear makeup knowing you’re gonna be sweating up a storm in an hour?”
“Because,” Candace continued to apply her mascara, “the boys are playing this weekend, too, and I think Jeremy is so smoking hot.”
Alison stopped suddenly, making Candace squeal then curse.
“Sorry.” Alison’s remorseful expression made Rose laugh. Alison had only been driving a few months, and she wasn’t the greatest driver.
“Have you gotten pulled over for drunk driving yet even though you don’t drink?” Rose laughed.
This time Candace laughed, too. The last time they’d picked her up, she hit the curb twice pulling up just outside Sal’s house. Sal’s friend Romero had been there, and he was the one that cracked that joke. He said one of his uncles had. They gave him the sobriety test and everything, and he was stone sober.
“Not funny,” Alison said as she stepped on the gas, and all their heads jerked back.
All three of them laughed this time.
“Oh my God.” Candace turned around to look at Rose. “What was that guy’s name at your house that day?”
Rose rolled her eyes smiling. “Romero.”
“He was so hot.” Candace gushed.
“But he’s older.” Alison said scrunching her nose.
“And hello! Married.” Rose reminded them.
“Minor details,” Candace said turning back to continue with her makeup. She wasn’t even done with her thoughts on Romero when she was already gaping out the window as they pulled into the school’s parking lot. “Quivering orgasms!”
“Candace!” Alison laughed as she pulled in very slowly into a parking spot.
Rose laughed, gathering her backpack. Candace was nothing if not boy crazy.
“Who is that?” Candace gushed.
They got out of the car at the same time. Rose was too busy adjusting her ponytail to notice who Candace was drooling over now. She looked up just in time to see who it was and nearly froze in place. “Oh wow, I know him.”
“You do?” Candace was at her side in seconds. “From where?”
Just then Ben saw her. He did a double take then smiled big. Candace gasped as he started toward them.
“I went to prom with him last year. We were good friends until he graduated and we sort of lost touch.” Rose flung her backpack over her back and went to meet him halfway since he was already walking toward them.
“You went to prom with him?” Candace said mouthing the words, “Oh my God,” to Alison.
Before Rose could respond to that, Ben was already there. “Look at you, sexy girl.” He blatantly checked her out from head to toe, slowing his gaze at her legs and her ridiculously short shorts as she and her friends came to a stop. He held his arms open with a smile so big and lustful it made her blush, and he actually groaned. “Bring them hot legs over here, girl. Damn!”
“The hell she will.” Vincent’s voice startled Rose. She turned just as he and Lorenzo walked up from behind her. “And her name is Rose.” Slipping his hand in hers, he glared at Ben. “I’m her boyfriend. Who the fuck are you?”
“Vincent!” Rose squeezed his hand at first mortified then alarmed as he stepped in front of her. Lorenzo was right next to him ready
to go head to head with not only Ben but the two friends walking up from behind him.
Ben turned around when he saw his friends closing in and held up a hand for them to stop then turned around and smiled at Rose. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend now, Rose.”
“Well, she does.”
That wiped the smile right off Ben’s face, and he glared at Vince. “I was talking to her.”
Vince took a step forward. “I don’t give a shit. I’m talking to you!”
Rose jumped in front of Vincent, remembering all the fights he’d told her he’d been in. As far as she knew, he hadn’t been in any since before last summer.
“He’s my friend, Vincent.” She grabbed a handful of his shirt. “Don’t do this, please.” Vincent’s eyes were still glaring past her at Ben. She turned to Candace who was standing off to the side with Alison then looked at Ben. “Ben, this is Candace; she wanted to meet you. Candace, please go talk to him over there.”
She motioned with her head, and her eyes pleaded as she prayed Candace would have the sense to take him far away.
“I’ll call you,” Ben said as he and Candace walked away.
Vincent flinched in an effort to get away from Rose. “Stop it, Vincent. Please.”
His eyes were finally on Rose, and they were furious. “He’ll call you?”