Chapter 11 #2
“Luke!” She presses her finger to my lips.
“You can’t say that.” She is so red that she could camouflage in next to a firetruck, but I don’t say anything.
I want to reach over and thrust two of my fingers inside of her.
I want to get her off. I want her begging me to fill her with my cock.
I want her screaming for me to take her.
From the front. From the back. From behind.
Now, is not the time, Luke.
I let out a long sigh. “We’re just going to pretend that—”
“We should go to sleep,” she says softly and gives me a quick peck on the cheek.
“I bet you in the morning, we’ll wake up and think this was all a dream.
” I can’t believe she’s trying to gaslight us both but I understand why.
We’d gone from zero to a million miles per hour and she was likely confused.
“I think not,” I mutter under my breath. “In my dream, we wouldn’t have stopped.”
I stare into her eyes, and she smiles softly at me.
Her eyes flutter closed, and I don’t know if she’s really falling asleep or just pretending, but I know that it’s for the best. It is all for the best. I’m glad she stopped me.
She was right. If we’d fucked, we would have crossed a line neither one of us wanted to cross.
She is too important to me to become a fuck buddy.
Though the hardness in my briefs wants to disagree.
I can still feel her wetness on my fingers.
I bring them to my mouth and suck her juices off.
The taste of her sweet pussy is intoxicating, and I know I need to forget what just happened.
I need to forget and not let it happen again.
The last thing we need is to make this situation even more complicated.
The sound of banging on the door awakens me, and I groan as I wake up.
My eyes fly open as I remember where I am and what went down the evening before.
I turn to see if Mia is upset with me, but she’s no longer in the bed.
Another knock on the door makes me sit up, and I slowly clamber out of the bed.
I have no idea who could be at the door, unless it’s Mia and she forgot her key, but then I hear the sound of water running in the bathroom, and I realize that Mia is in the shower.
“I’m coming,” I yell as I head toward the door.
I look down at my watch. It’s nine a.m. I can’t believe I slept so late, and for once, I’m grateful that Rex and Andi scheduled a late breakfast at ten a.m.
“Hello?” I open the door suspiciously, expecting to see Rex, but it’s Juniper’s smiling face I see standing there.
“Morning, Luke.” She beams at me as she steps into the room and looks around. “I brought a bag of clothes for Mia.” She holds up a black duffel bag and whistles as she looks around the room. “Wow, this is amazing.” She looks around, exploring the room. “Rex really sprang for the expensive rooms.”
“My parents did, you mean,” I say dryly and study her face to see if she’s looking at me awkwardly.
Did Mia tell her what had gone down between us the night before?
“Well, that was very nice of you to drop by, Juniper. I’m sure Mia will be thrilled to have some real clothes. I don’t think she wanted to sleep in her dress last night …” My voice trails off, and I casually observe her face for a reaction to see if Mia mentioned anything.
Juniper places the bag on the ground and continues exploring the hotel room.
“She ended up taking off her dress and sleeping in my shirt,” I add to see if she’s going to respond scandalously or give me a knowing wink. I pause to see if she’s going to react.
I’m curious what Mia thinks about our actions from the previous evening. We definitely crossed a line. And I know Mia well enough to know that she’d want to talk about it with someone.
“That’s cool. I was wondering what she was going to sleep in.
” She walks over to the window and looks outside at the view.
“Wow, you’ve got an amazing view of the ocean here.
I wish I lived in a condo right next to the beach.
” She then turns back to look at me with a wry smile.
“But, wait, I forgot; you’re a Haverbrook. You have multiple houses at the beach.”
“I wouldn’t say that I have multiple houses, Juniper.” I laugh slightly. “My grandparents live at the beach.”
“And your parents have an enormous mansion on the beach. I’ve been there multiple times, remember?”
“I know. Those were the good old days.”
I think back to barbeques in my backyard with Mia, Juniper, Josie, and some of our other friends.
Mia was the glue of our group, always bringing people together to hang out on the weekends.
We’d swim, have bonfires, go stargazing, play board games all night.
She’d sing and dance and cheer me up whenever she thought I was working too hard.
It was hard, growing up as a Haverbrook, especially as the youngest son.
My parents funneled every dream into Rex.
He was the golden boy, the jock my father boasted about to all of Coconut Beach.
Sometimes, I thought my dad lived vicariously through Rex.
He was proud of every move Rex made. From the cheerleaders he dated to the business classes he took at the University of Florida.
Rex was a Gator, a star football player, a handsome all-American son to be proud of.
I was the geek, too skinny when I was younger, always studying, getting ready to take over the family business and grow it.
I had my eye on an Ivy League university and then an MBA, and I achieved my dreams, but they were never enough.
I was always overlooked, and that was why I stayed away from Coconut Beach.
I didn’t want to be in Rex’s shadow any longer.
“I mean, you could always move back and buy your own mansion on the beach, and then Mia and I could come over every weekend, and we could have epic parties.” Her eyes glaze over as she thinks about that possibility.
“That would be so cool. Then Mia and I could meet hot guys who aren’t in town for a week.
Oops.” She quickly covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes widening as she stares at me.
“I guess we would meet hot guys after the summer’s over and you guys break up though. ”
I don’t respond to her comment. It’s only day two. I’m not ready to think about Mia and me breaking up, even though this entire situation is fake anyway.
“So, how’s it going? Is it totally weird, pretending that you guys are in love and in a relationship?”
“I don’t know that I would say it was weird. It’s definitely different though.”
Like the fact that I was on top of her last night, touching her in ways that I shouldn’t have been touching her. Listening to her moan in ways my ears should never be privy to. I can still taste her on my lips.
I need to speak to Mia. I need to make sure she’s okay. That she’s not obsessing over what happened.
Juniper heads to the couch and takes a seat. “Did you and Mia figure out the treasure hunt map that she got in the mail?”
“No, we were both caught up with trying to convince our families that we’re together. I bet she’ll show me today.”
“Makes sense. Did you have a good night last night? You must have been exhausted, getting off the plane and then having to party.”
“It was a lot, but I managed. Thank you for asking. Did you have fun?”
I wonder what she’s thinking as she looks down and then back up at me. Her brown eyes are open, and I think about how I was first jealous when she became good friends with Mia. I was nervous Mia would drop me, but she navigated being friends with us perfectly.
“I did have fun. The girls and I enjoyed all the free food and drinks and, of course, dancing.” She leans back into the couch. “It was a magical night. Almost surreal, you know?”
“So, did Mia say anything about …” I pause, not wanting to be too blunt. I’m almost positive that she hasn’t said anything because I don’t think Juniper would be acting so casually. “I mean, I was wondering if …” My voice trails off as I hear the bathroom door open.
“Who are you talking to?” Mia sashays out of the bathroom with a fluffy white towel wrapped around her body. Her long blonde hair is damp and sits in a bun atop her head.
She looks at me with a shy smile, but then she spies Juniper, and her lips twist into a wide grin.
“Yay, you made it.” She rushes over to Juniper and practically jumps up and down.
Her towel clings to her body in all the right ways, and I try to ignore the dip of her curves and her long, slightly wet legs.
“I can’t stay long, as I have to get to the beach so I can open the bookmobile, but I wanted to make sure you had some clothes. You sounded kind of desperate in your text messages.” Juniper points to the duffel bag on the ground. “I packed some dresses and skirts and stuff for you.”
“Thanks, girl. I didn’t want to leave here, doing the walk of shame. Though maybe that would have really sold the relationship to everyone.”
Mia giggles loudly, and my eyes fly to her to see if she’s losing it.
She looks at me, and for a couple of moments, I search her face, trying to see what she remembers, trying to see if she’s upset, mad, happy, excited.
I can’t tell from her expression what she’s thinking, but I don’t think she’s mad at me, which is good.
I’m not getting a tense vibe, which is what I was worried about when I woke up.
“Maybe some of the tourists would have thought I was a hooker, slinking away in my cheap dress.”
“Nah, that dress was too hot to ever be anything other than fabulous.” Juniper jumps off of the couch and picks up the crumpled dress that Mia took off the evening before.
“It is so pretty, and, wow, this room is absolutely stunning as well. I love the wallpaper and all the decor.” Juniper walks around, her fingers touching the linen wallpaper, filled with seashells, pearls, and sand dollars. “This is so pretty.”