Tempting Faith (Indigo Love Spectrum) by Crystal Hubbard Page B

marry a bratty Winslow either?” Faith teased.
    Alex blessed her with a rare smile. She took his arm and rested her head on his shoulder.
    “I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life in Dorothy,” Alex sighed.
    The yearning in his voice tugged at Faith’s heart. She shivered, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of Alex or the sudden chill in the wind.
    “You can leave town anytime you feel like it,” she said. “I still have another month of school, but come fall I’m starting at New York University. One more summer in Dorothy, and my life, my real life, really begins.” She quietly cleared her throat. “You know, you could leave too, if you wanted.”
    “Where am I supposed to go, Faith?” he asked sadly.
    “There are lots of things a resourceful guy could do in New York City.”
    “With what money? I got nothin’, Faith. I couldn’t even get hired at your daddy’s mine. What makes you think I could get a decent job someplace else?”
    “You could go to college,” she suggested. “You’re smart, you—”
    “You just don’t get it, kid,” he said, shaking his head. “You don’t understand how the world works.”
    “I understand plenty,” Faith said, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest. “And don’t call me kid. You’re only a year older than I am.”
    “I didn’t have the grades for college,” he said. “Honors American history didn’t compensate for the way my grades fell toward the end of my Lincoln High career.”
    “Only because you were out sick so much.” She took his left hand, her fingertips grazing the network of scars that represented the nature of his sick days. “I could talk to my dad,” Faith offered. “If he met you, I know he’d give you a job.”
    He’d looked at her then, and his sadness brought tears to her eyes. Alex had touched her face just below her ear, and his gentle caress raised her to her knees, drawing her face closer to his.
    The wind had gained in force, bending the trunks of the youngest trees and thrashing them with the branches of the bigger ones. Faith’s hair lashed her face and Alex’s hand as they moved closer together, aware of nothing other than each other.
    “You’re legally an adult now,” Alex murmured. “A grown-up woman.”
    He brought his lips to hers, touching them with such tenderness she felt the tremble in them. Alex wasn’t like the boys at school because there was so little boy left in him. Faith had been kissed before, but never like this. Never had a boy gently parted her lips with his tongue to touch hers, the resultant jolt of electricity leaving her breathless and limp as she melted into his arms.
    She was loath to separate from him even to breathe, her mouth seeking his as his head shifted, his nose sweeping hers in passing. She smiled through their kiss, thrilled by the rasp of the stubble above his upper lip and the taste of his mouth.
    She could have reveled in his kisses from that moment until forever if he hadn’t torn away from her.
    “We should go,” he said.
    The gravity of his tone returned her to the mountainside, and for the first time she noticed the rumbling sky. The sky, which had been as pretty as a present, was angry, black, and layered with storm clouds that seemed to weigh heavily on the treetops.
    Alex took her hand, pulling her roughly to her feet. Faith moved into the protective circle of his arms, blown there by instinct or by the violent wind now forcing the trees to dance crazily. When the rain came, it fell all at once, as though the sharpened tips of the tallest evergreens had ripped open the cloud bellies.
    Carefully picking their way down the mountain, Alex stayed in front of Faith, helping her maintain her footing even as torrents of rain made their path precarious. He lifted her over hollows and caught her when she stumbled over a large rock. The rain saturated their clothing instantly, leaving his T-shirt nearly invisible and plastered against the hard muscle of his