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Locking eyes with her--because I need to know that she wants this as much as I do--I slowly push into her My name escapes her lips, followed by a low moan that makes me swear under my breath With parted lips, she watches ain, deeper, earning another moan She curls her hand around the back of ain We keep that slow rhythh to let her little hs squeezingmy shoulders and back

Until I can’t hold out anymore

"I didn’t know it could feel like that," she whispers, her hands cradling the back of ainst hers, both of us struggling to steady our breathing, our chests rising and falling together Enjoying the intimate silence

Until a tear touches my nose

"Oh God What have we done?" I feel the tension start to course back into Alex’s li out of her, I yank the condo I noro of her long enough to find a trash can I roll onto ht

"I’ I’ood person"

"No, I’ in bed right now, crying over what he’s doing?"

"It doesn’t matter I’ainst its on the clock change as her breathing grows slow and heavy with sleep and hing with her, just being around her

Feeling her

But tonight, I took advantage of this girl, even though I was trying not to And I feel like a cohten when I carefully roll her offher sleep for a longto get hoe before work

I hope she doesn’t hate me after this

EIGHTEEN

Water

now

The scent of lavender and sandalwood announces Dakota as she places a tall black coffee and a pastry in front ofit is!" she exclaied purse onto the counter In the three weeks since I started working at The Salvage Yard, the twenty-four-year-old shopkeeper has greeted le day, rain or shine

You would think that it otten old by now And yet it’s a daily re Because I shouldn’t be alive to see it

Short, natural fingernails curl around the top of a box "Oooh! I’ve been waiting for Ms Teal’s jewelry Is this it?"

I nod through a sip of coffee as she reaches in and pulls out several copper-colored braceletswith excitement as she slides them onto her wrist The shop is tiny and jam-packed with all kinds of recycledto furniture And, of course, Ginny’s quilts, which I found out arestore

"What do you think, Water?" She holds up her arm to display the various pieces

"They’re beautiful" Especially against her naturally dark Native American skin She says she’s only one-quarter Chinook, but it iven her exotic dark features, thick black hair, and svelte figure I would describe hermaxi dresses and Birkenstock sandals and a makeup-free face

She drove back to Sisters froo after the great-aunt who raised her and owned The Salvage Yard died, leaving her the shop Dakota expects to head south again one day, but right now she’s enjoying "being back with nature"

I think that’s why, the day I walked in here with Meredith and introducedso and a kis this dreamy look in them

The rumor that Dakota smokes a lot of weed is not so much rumor as fact

Luckily for s instead of résu taxes, so I’o fast with the tourists Just you wait" She slides the jewelry off her wrist "All of this stuff will"

I help her cut open the rest of the boxes delivered over the last week, pulling out heertips grasp a coarse fabric

This feelsI pull the material out and find a red-and-blue checkered blanket I rub one corner between h textures pricking my skin

"Those are wool, froet a dozen each spring and they’re snapped up within weeks"

An eerie tingle runs throughthe blanket in my hands When it comes times to pull them all out and lay theo But the price tag Dakota just stuck on one is more than I make in a week! "Is there any chance I can set one of these aside until I have enough money to buy it?"

She sht and I’ll just deduct a quarter from your next four pays At cost for you, of course"

"Thank you" I know I’ll have to reet I tuck it under the counter withthe rest of the bracelets

Dakota hu a sister She doesn’t believe in co with her quilts?"

"She’s been working hard" I set to break apart the cardboard box

"And you? How is your new hobby?"

"I think I need to coht teeks ago with a bag of scrap material, a ruler, and a "cutter" She startedme how to make basic squares That was easy Last week, she showed ether

I’ve learned that I’m not the most patient person