Touched By You (The Touch Series)

  © 2013 t. h. snyder (Tiffany Snyder)

  Published by t. h. snyder

  First published in 2013. All rights reserved. This book is copyright. Apart from the fair purpose of private study, research or review as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced without written permission.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Images Copyright http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com/

  This entire journey has been a dream come true and I couldn’t have done it without all of you.

  I appreciate all the support of my fans on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and Instagram…it’s because of you I continue to write every day.

  My family! You are amazing and always encourage me to do what I believe in, no matter who says otherwise. I love you Mom, Angie, Mar and Dad!!

  The two most important people in my life, my kids Raeghyn and Mason. I love you more than you will ever know…to infinity and beyond.

  My reading partner in crime Trisha. Regardless of our busy schedules you always find the time to fit me in…somewhere.

  My amazing beta girls! Thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to read my book. You all mean the world to me….love you STAR BETA SQUAD Jenn, Tabitha, Susan, Crystal, Sandee, Barbara, Amelia, Pam, and Jennifer.

  Special author shout out to Margaret McHeyzer for guiding me under her wings. I love you for never giving up on me and giving me a good slap when I need it.

  Someone once told me everyone has a special someone they are meant to be with forever. A man who will be my world, my partner in life, and the one person I can grow old with and always be by my side.

  Maybe I never found that right person to begin with.

  No! That can’t be right. I had my person and I was too wrapped up in my own little bubble to realize what was right in front of me.

  He was the one.

  He was my forever.

  I screwed it up over my own damn selfish needs.

  I thought I had chosen the path in life that was best for me, but I seem to have lost my soul mate along the way.

  Waiting to board a plane back to Boston, I sit here wondering if I made the right choices in life. Did I follow the path that would take me in the right direction? Could I have done something different that would change the outcomes I’m faced with right now?

  I haven’t seen or spoken to him in four months. Four long, torturous months dealing with what I did to us and our happily ever after. I know I’ll run into him soon, but when I do I’m not sure how he’ll react. He could accept me in an embrace or turn the corner and run the other way.

  What did I do?

  The choices I’ve made changed my life in only a short period of time and I fear I may have lost him forever.

  At one time he was all I ever knew. The two of us were so in sync with the other no force field could tear us apart. I can hear him whisper in my ear. “Chloe you and I will stand the test of time because I was touched by you and only you.”

  I, Chloe Taylor, am faced with a decision I may not like myself for in the next few hours. Only time will tell what is meant to be and for now I have a much bigger weight on my plate than that of my love life.

  I sit under the giant weeping willow tree at my parent’s house, waiting for him. This is our meeting spot, the place where we can be together and no one can bother us. We’ve been meeting up at this exact tree for years and now it’s the last time he’ll come and meet me as my high school boyfriend.

  I’m leaving for college tomorrow.

  I’ll be moving to New York to attend NYU with a few friends and my cousin Lucy. This is a huge opportunity for me. I’m more than ecstatic to start a new chapter of my life, only if the distance from my boyfriend wasn’t making me have second thoughts.

  Derrick and I have known each other since the first grade when his family moved to Boston. Since that time we’ve always been friends, but we never shared our true feelings for one another until our junior year of high school.

  I sit back on the bench under our tree and remember like it was yesterday.

  It was the day before our junior prom when I had my very first emotional melt down in front of Derrick.

  I was asked by quite a few of my classmates to go to prom, but I kept saying no in hopes that Derrick would ask me.

  It’s the day before prom and I sit in my room crying for hours.

  How is it possible that Chloe Taylor is going to miss prom because of a guy?

  Derrick climbs up to my bedroom window and asks me what’s wrong. I’m so upset, so embarrassed. I don’t think I can pull up the courage to tell him that he’s the reason I’m having an emotional breakdown.

  “Chloe what’s wrong, why are you crying?” He asks.

  “It’s nothing I can talk to you about Derrick.” I reply in between sniffles.

  “Come on Chloe, you know you can talk to me about anything. We’re damn good friends and I won’t judge you if that’s what you’re worried about.” He tells me in his Dr. Phil voice.

  I let out a giggle. Derrick always knows how to make me laugh when I’m sad. He’s been here for me for years and I’m always too afraid to tell him how I feel. My god, what if he doesn’t feel the same way about me. Could I deal with the rejection of Derrick Peters? I’m the most popular girl in my school and here I am swooning over a guy that may not like me more than just a friend.

  “It’s just…ugh…god Derrick it’s so embarrassing.” I tell him with my hands hiding my face.

  “Look, I’m not going to ask you again so if you want to tell me fine. If not then I’ll just climb back out of your room and leave you be.” He says in a pissed off tone.

  “No please don’t go Derrick. I’m sorry for being all girly with you. I’m just really upset that I don’t have a date to prom tomorrow.”

  I remove my hands from my face and look up into his baby blue eyes. He’s hysterically laughing at me. What the hell is wrong with this guy and why do I find myself so attracted by the fact that he’s making fun of me?

  “Whatever asshole, this is exactly why I wasn’t going to say anything to you.” I respond to him and begin to stand moving across my bedroom.

  “Stop it Chloe. I’m not laughing at you. I just find it odd that over a dozen guys asked you to prom and yet you still don’t have a date. Why is that Chloe?” He asks while he walks over to me and begins staring at my lips.

  I look up into his eyes and see my friend, but as I begin to look a little deeper I see something I never noticed before. I see his desire for me.

  “I guess I was just waiting for the right guy to ask me.” I say biting my thumb nail in a nervous gesture.

  He’s looking down at me intently and I can tell the wheels are spinning in his head.

  “Well if you had someone in mind why didn’t you just ask him?”

  I let out a laugh.

  “Oh come on Derrick that’s just not right. This is prom and it’s customary for the gentleman to ask the lady.” I tell him.

  “Well the way I see it, if you would’ve broken the custom and just asked the guy you wanted to go with you wouldn’t be in this predicament. Now would you
?” He asks moving closer to me.

  I begin to feel nervous, anxious that Derrick Peters is coming so close to me. I’m not sure what he’s up to, but with the look in his eyes I can tell that any friendship I share with him is about to be thrown out the window.

  “Derrick?” I ask in a whisper.

  “Yes Chloe.” He replies

  He’s so close to me in this moment. I can feel his warm breath and the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand. I know that I’m attracted to this guy, but I have no idea what game he’s playing with me.

  “I was wondering.” I tell him.

  “Wondering what Chloe?” He asks.

  He is seriously standing only inches from me. I can feel the heat of his chest radiating onto me. I want to grab hold of his polo and pull his body against my own.

  “Umm Derrick, do you have plans for tomorrow night?” I ask closing my eyes.

  I want him to kiss me more than anything. I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life. I can smell the spearmint gum in his mouth. I can’t stop the feelings my body is craving for this guy to touch me.

  “Actually yes Chloe, I do.” He replies. “I plan on taking the most beautiful girl to the prom and having the time of our lives.”

  “Oh!” I say with a pout, still keeping my eyes closed.

  I can feel his arm lift to his side and in a matter of seconds his fingers on my face pulling me in closer to him.

  He leans down to me and puts his lips against mine. For a moment I feel that this act is foreign to us, but within a few seconds I’m opening my lips to welcome a deeper kiss.

  This is the moment I’ve been waiting for way too long. I’ve been crushing on Derrick for years and now I’m finally sharing a moment with him that could change everything between us.

  I’m so involved in my own brain that I realize I’m not enjoying the fact that his mouth is intertwined with my own. I feel his tongue against mine and his hands begin to roam from the sides of my face down my neck and along the length of my torso. For so long I imagined what this moment would be like and here we are together at last. Slowly Derrick starts to pull away and rather than move from me he pulls me tightly into his embrace. I can feel his heart beating a mile a minute through our clothes.

  “Chloe, I couldn’t stand to wait another minute to kiss you.” He says almost breathless.

  “Derrick you have nothing to worry about. I’ve wanted you to do that forever.” I reply with a giggle.

  “Good! So now nothing will be weird when I let you go?” He asks.

  “Nothing has or will ever be weird with us Derrick. Now that I’ve been touched by you things will never be the same.” I told him standing up on my tip toes to get another kiss.

  The sound of the weeping willow branches moving pulls me out of my daydream and I can smell the heavenly scent that is Derrick. I look over in his direction and see him walking toward me. He really is quite handsome in his polo and khaki shorts. His light brown hair is styled just perfect and his gorgeous baby blue eyes are looking right at me.

  He sits down next to me and wipes tears from my cheeks. I hadn’t realized I had been crying.

  I really am going to miss being so close to him.

  I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the past few weeks. Not only do I need to prepare to move to Cambridge, but my girlfriend is moving away to New York. Why the fuck does Chloe have to go find herself hundreds of miles away from here? Seriously, what does NYU have that Harvard doesn’t?

  I continue to go through my room to make sure I’ve packed up all the things I need for the dorms. I come across a picture of me and Chloe from junior prom. My heart begins to beat a mile a minute as I remember our prom, our first dance and the night she became my girlfriend.

  Chloe and I were drawn to one another from the first moment we met, well at least I was, but things didn’t really start up until the end of our junior year. Since then we’ve been pretty much inseparable

  I’ve had a crush on this girl for years, but was always standing along the sidelines of all the other jocks waiting to ask her out. Don’t get me wrong, I had my own line-up waiting for me, but Chloe was the one that always seemed to catch my eye.

  It’s the night of prom. I’m on my way to her house to pick her up in my car. I feel like an ass for not having something fancier to take her to prom, but we did plan this kind of last minute.

  I walk toward her house and can feel the butterflies creeping up as I knock on her front door. I am met with her parents and sister, who fortunately have liked me from the start.

  Bryce gives me the usual lecture and curfew guidelines while Teresa and Char set us up out by our tree for pictures.

  Everything is perfect.

  We meet up with a few of our friends to take pictures and talk about after prom parties.

  I hold Chloe in my arms for most of the time. We dance the night away and just embrace every moment of being together.

  I come back to the land of the living and out of my trance. I smile to myself. We really did have the time of our lives that night.

  Chloe is the one person I know I cannot live without. I really don’t know how we’re going to make it through our first year of college without one another. But I’m damned well going to try just about anything to keep Chloe as my girl.

  I finish up a few last minute things at my house and get ready to go meet Chloe for our date. I stop at the flower shop down the block and grab a bouquet of flowers that I know she’ll love. I also make a point to pack us a picnic basket with all of her favorite foods from town. I figure I might as well show her all the great things she’ll be missing by leaving Boston.

  I pull into her parents’ driveway and see that both Bryce and Teresa are sitting out on the front porch. I hop out of my car, grab the stuff out of the backseat and send a wave in their direction. Making my way over to our spot I’m flooded with so many memories we shared in this exact spot. I go around to the back side of the weeping willow tree so that she doesn’t see me coming through the branches. I can see that she’s sitting on the bench and her knees are pulled up against her chest. She’s wearing a light pink sundress and her long, dark waves are casting a curtain over her shoulders.

  I love this girl.

  She looks to be deep in thought I hate to interrupt any memories she’s thinking back on in this moment. This transition is going to be hard on both of us, but there’s nothing that can break what the two of us share.

  I set down the things I brought for our picnic and walk over to the bench. She can sense that I’m coming and she shifts her body to look over in my direction. As her face looks up to mine I can see that she’s been crying and her big brown eyes are now red and puffy with sadness.

  I quickly sit down on our bench next to her and pull her into my lap. I stroke the soft hair down her back and pull her face to look at me.

  “What has my girl so sad?” I ask while kissing her lightly on her lips.

  “I’m leaving tomorrow Derrick and this is the last time we’ll be in this special spot together.” She says while sobbing.

  “Oh Chloe, as much as I hate this too, we’ll make it work. I promise.”

  I pull back her thick hair so that I can see her beautiful face. I wipe away the tears that are running down her cheeks and kiss her on each side of her face. She gives me a smile that I know speaks a hundred words. She is mine forever.

  “I have a great afternoon planned for us, so how about you shake off this feeling you have and let’s go have some fun together.”

  “You really are the best Derrick Peters. I’m going to miss you so much.”

  She stands up off of my lap and pulls me up with her. I grab her back in my arms and twirl her under our tree.

  This will forever be our place, no matter how many miles apart we may be.

  “So what’s the plan for today?” She asks.

  “Well I have a picnic basket and all of your favorites inside. I also brought you some flo
wers.” I hand her the bouquet and kiss her gently on her forehead.

  She takes a whiff of their sweet scent and grabs my hand into her own.

  “Where would you like to take our picnic?

  “I would love for us to spend the entire afternoon under our tree. This is our getaway place, so why not just spend our time hidden under the branches?”

  “I think that’s a perfect idea. After we’re done eating how about we go for a swim and then I have a little going away present for you.” She remarks with a coy smirk.

  “I’m all for it!” I tell her while getting out the blanket and setting up our lunch.

  We share our picnic foods and reminisce about all the times we’ve shared together. We laugh over the awkward moments, the heartbreaks we caused once everyone knew we were together, the parties with our friends and what our futures hold after college.

  After our time under the tree I’m confident knowing that my girl loves me and will miss me as much as I will her. She’s my world and no matter what we’ll make it through anything life throws our way.

  Derrick has made our last day together absolutely perfect. He wasn’t joking when he said he packed all of my favorite things, but the one I’ll miss the most is him. We plan to come home as often as possible so that we can be together, but with his football schedule and classes it’s going to be tough.

  I’m the type of person that needs routine and schedules in my life, without them I go crazy. It will be my mission to get on track as quickly as possible so that I can plan as many visits as I can to Cambridge. I’ve never missed watching Derrick play a game…for anything, even when we were just friends. He says I’m his lucky charm. I hope his winning streak doesn’t dry up because I won’t be around to see him play.

  I’m wrapped up in his arms on our bench and I can feel myself beginning to doze off. Derrick runs his fingertips up and down my arms and a chill ignites thousands of goose bumps across my body. This man has a way with his fingers and with just a mere touch he can have me all girl crazy. I love him and will never…ever let him go.