Free Lost (Captive Heart #1) by Carrie Aarons

is.
    “Mysteries, right? You like mysteries? I remember when you used to read um … Nancy Drew, wasn’t it?”
    Char sits up, placing a bookmark in her book. “Yeah, when I was like eleven. Since that was probably the last time you ever spoke to me, it figures you’d remember that.”
    I’m not dumb enough to miss the hurt in her voice. I drop down to the ground next to her, not close enough to touch but close enough that I can see the outline of her features in the slowly setting sun.
    “I say hi to you in school!”
    She scoffs. “Yeah, right. Pigs will fly before that actually happens.”
    Now I just feel like an asshole. “You’re right. I’m sorry. School is, well …”
    I can’t tell her that I feel so much pressure from every aspect of my life that I might explode. I can’t tell her that if I had one normal thing for myself, it would be crushed under the expectations from those around me.
    “School is hard.” There. That sounds more normal.
    Char’s jaw drops open. “School is hard? For who? You? Give me a break. You’re Tucker Lynch. Prom King. Football Star. You have no idea just how hard high school is. You don’t even have a clue.”
    I can see this discussion is going to get us nowhere, and I don’t feel like leaving just yet. I don’t feel like being alone. “So what are your plans for after graduation? Only two months left, have you picked a college yet?”
    She sighs. “I’m going to Bryn Mawr. To study business and accounting.”
    “Double majoring? Damn, that sucks.”
    “Yeah.” Char looks away when she talks, and I get the feeling the double major isn’t exactly her choice.
    “Do you think you’ll come home often?” Bryn Mawr is only about an hour or so from Conestoga. I’m so glad I’m getting out of Pennsylvania, I could practically shout it from the rooftops.
    “I don’t know. I hope not.”
    Char is cryptic, like she’s been since that night at Camp Marsh when we kissed. I didn’t know what to do after we got home, and she seemed so stand-offish when I tried to approach her after our first week of high school, that I just kind of stopped trying altogether.
    But now, sitting so close to her, I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. I’d had kisses, blowjobs, sex … and still sometimes I thought about that innocent make out session under the obstacle course.
    I don’t think before I gently grab her chin and make her look at me. Her beautiful brown eyes fill with confusion, so sweet and innocent. Things with Char, every encounter, has always been so easy. There is no pressure here. I can just be who I am with her.
    I move my head in, puckering my lips and laying them on hers. Testing. I swipe across her mouth once, twice … and feel the sparks of lust and excitement course down my spine, landing in my balls and causing my dick to start swelling. I don’t pull back even when Char makes a tiny noise of hesitation, like she might put an end to this.
    Instead, I coax her mouth open, sliding my tongue in and lapping it against hers. And instead of apprehension, I’m met with the sweet sensation of her lips and tongue moving in rhythm with mine. She’s slow and soft while I bring some heat to the kiss, the addicting way she ends each meeting of our mouths with a tiny suck on my bottom lip is driving me insane.
    I take her head in my hands and tilt her backwards, moving on top of her, the entire time our mouths never disconnecting. I lay my body down, all hard ridges on her soft curves. Her kisses are making me drowsy, the way her tits feel pushed up against my chest is the only thing my brain is registering.
    Char moans into my mouth and I finally break the seal of our lips, coming up to look her in the eyes. “You’re so hot.”
    Her cheeks turn a cute shade of pink before I kiss and suck my way down her jaw and neck. At the same time, I finally move my lower half to kneel between her legs, the jean shorts she has on riding up her thighs. I connect us, pushing my