Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Light streams into the room, pulling me from the deepest sleep I’ve had in some time.
I’m warm and groggy and confused as I come back to the land of the living and even more so when I open my eyes, not recognizing the room.
It’s not the luxury long-term rental in Seaside Point I’ve been staying in for a few months.
That’s when I realize the warmth is not the sun or even the summer weather, but a body.
Suddenly, the night comes back to me.
The concert, realizing I am into her in a way I couldn’t ignore any longer, and then there being only one available hotel room.
June handing me that coin to decide what we’d do next, then not even bothering to check the results of her game of chance before I pulled her into me and kissed her the way I’ve been dying to for weeks.
Now she’s tucked against my side, feeling like she’s always been there, always belonged there. I thought if I ever crossed the line with her, I’d feel panicked. I’d feel shame or embarrassment for my lack of control or be anxious about whether I made the wrong choice.
But instead, I simply feel this strange sense of belonging, something I’ve never really experienced anywhere. It’s something that I have a feeling June brings with her everywhere she goes, but I never thought I would be so damned lucky to feel myself.
What feels even better is when her face moves, rubbing on my chest, a small mewl leaving her lips that has my cock instantly hardening.
Fuck, this woman is everything to me.
“Morning,” I murmur tentatively, still unsure what her reaction will be.
She was sober last night, but it was a long day, and for all I know, when she wakes up without the exhaustion from the sun, she might have a different perspective on what happened last night.
She might want to forget what happened and move on completely.
If so, I’ll be disappointed, but like everything with June Taylor, I’ll give her whatever she wants.
I hold my breath as she lifts her head, her eyes hazy as she blinks a few times, trying to wake up.
Then it happens.
Her lips spread, her eyes going warm, her body shifting until her entire chest is pressed against mine, her body lying on top of me.
“I kind of thought that was a dream,” she says, voice croaky with sleep.
“A dream?”
“A good one. A great one.”
I can’t help it—I smile down at her, a hand lifting to push her hair back. At some point, we took a shower together, so it’s smooth and free of the gems, but her hair is so thick that it’s still a bit damp in some places.
“Does that happen often, you dreaming about me fucking you into the mattress?”
A blush burns across her cheeks, and it looks so fucking pretty.
“Maybe once or twice.”
I groan, then move, rolling her beneath me and pressing my lips to hers before looking at her seriously.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Good. Really good. You?”
“Fan-fucking-tastic. I woke up with you in my bed,” I inform her.
“Not a bad way to wake up. We uh,” she looks at me, her teeth sinking into her plush lower lip. “We should do it more often.” I’m silent as I stare at her. “I mean, if you want, of course. I’m not sure—”
I dip my head, pressing my lips to hers to quiet her before pulling back. When I do, she’s a bit dazed, but I don’t hesitate to explain, not when this is so important.
“I told you, June. It changed everything for me. This has been a long time coming, and we both know it.”
She hums contentedly, melting a bit, and my body eases with the sound, like even that small bit of making her happy heals something inside of me.
“Oh. Well, good,” she says with a little smile. I laugh, shaking my head, then dip it to press my lips to her temple.
“It seems like I was right after all,” I say, pressing kisses anywhere I can find.
Her shoulder. Her cheek, her jaw, her eyelid.
I want to taste her and feel her everywhere I can.
It’s not even really sexual. It’s more like, now that I have her, I want to touch her, make sure she’s real and not going anywhere, that she’s mine.
“What were you right about?”
“We aren’t friends,” I say, pressing my lips against her ear. Her entire body stills, and I lift my head, looking into her eyes as my free hand lifts, pushing her hair back. “We are so, so much more than that.”
She smiles then, wide and genuine.
“Oh, you’re good at this, aren’t you?”
“Only for you.” It’s not an agreement, but also not a denial, and I shift to my side, pulling her into me.
“So, you’ve been into me?” she asks after a moment, a smile on her lips.
“Don’t be cute, June. You know I’ve been in you.”
“I’m always cute, Graham,” she counters, that wide, contagious grin on her lips.
I fought it for weeks, trying not to give in to her friendship and joy, to bite back smiles, desperate not to encourage her, but the day at the Seabreeze when she lit up, cheering just because I gave her a mere smile, I decided I couldn’t do any longer.
“How long?”
“How long?”
“How long have you been in me? I mean, I know there was that one night at your place, but…after that you were so…cold.”
I lift my hand, tucking her hair back behind her ear.
“I needed to be that to keep my sanity. I was losing it before you walked in for your first day, and I knew being around you nonstop would only make it worse. If I gave in then, I’d never get anything done.“
She lifts her eyebrow, and I figure it won’t hurt to tell her at least some of my secrets.
“You coming into Daytrips that day was the luckiest moment of my life, but I wasn’t going to rely on luck to find you.”
“Oh?” I smile, looking down at her and brushing my lips against her forehead.
“No way. I went into Seaside Coffee every single morning before work, after the convenience store. I spent two hours there for a week, pretending to work, waiting to see if you would walk in.”
Her face melts, her jaw going slack.
“Is that why Mrs. Miller gave you that weird look?”
The reason Mrs. Miller gave me that weird look when we went to the cafe was that I’ve been buying her out of donuts to make sure June could get the one she wanted, but I don’t plan to tell her that.
“Yeah. It was probably strange, seeing a stranger in the place for hours at a time, then not at all.” Lie, lie, lie, my mind yells, and for the first time since I started this scheme to give June everything she wants, panic moves through me.
Because now I have her, and I won’t be letting her go.
But now, there are lies between us. White lies, on white lies, and probably a few that she would argue are on the edge of the gray area, but lies all the same.
When I offered her a job, I never anticipated we’d be back here again.
When I got the donuts, moved the four-leaf clovers, and bought her art, I never thought we’d be in bed together, that in just a few weeks, she would become my whole world.
I thought I’d fall for her from afar, and it would stay that way until I left town, which is another thing I don’t want to think about too closely.
As I sit there, panic rushing through me, June’s phone blares out with a new message.
Then another.
And another and another.
“Fuck,” she groans, her head settling on my chest as the tone of another new message fills the room.
“Is everything okay?” I ask because if I were getting back-to-back messages like that on Sunday morning, something terrible would be happening.
She lets out a loud sigh, then shakes her head before rolling away from me, leaving me cold as she reaches for her phone.
I plugged it in last night after we showered, had a round two, and June promptly passed out.
“Yeah, my DND turns off at nine am on Sundays, and my friends know it. It’s just Claire and Lainey.” She bites her lip and looks up at me. I lift an eyebrow. “They’re asking for details.”
I stare at her expectantly, not understanding her reluctant look.
“Is that okay?” she asks nervously after a moment. My brow furrows, unsure of what she means.
“Is there a reason it wouldn’t be?”
“Well, you know. You’re…my boss. And Claire is Sutton’s sister, and they don’t know how to keep a secret to save their lives, so…”
I see where she’s going with this and want to quash whatever worries are brewing in her pretty little mind before they get out of hand. I reach out once more, grab her, and pull her back into me.
“They’re your friends, June. You can tell them whatever you want.”
“It won’t be a problem? I mean, Sutton told me that there are no non-fraternization rules or anything, but….”
“Will you get in trouble?” she asks, and I shake my head.
“There’s no rule about people having relationships at Daydream, but if there’s a power dynamic, everyone needs to be informed. I’ll tell Rowan on Monday.”
“Oh, you’re right, of course. Are you…Are you okay with that? I mean, if you want —”
“Do you want this to be a secret?” I ask, cutting her off before she can finish her sentence. If that’s what she wanted, I’d give it to her, but God, I hope it’s not what she wants.
“Is that what you want?” she asks, and I see that same masked nervousness on her face, and I relax just a bit. What a pair we are.
“That’s not what I asked, June. I asked if you want things to be a secret.” She bites her lip and looks at her phone, where it seems messages keep coming through. “The truth, June. Not what you think I would want to hear.”
“I would enjoy this not being a secret. I want to show you off. But I also understand—”
Before she can finish the sentence, I’m rolling her onto me.
She lets out a tiny squeal, then a giggle, as I sit up and settle her into my lap, shifting so my back is to the headboard.
I’m grateful I slid on a pair of boxer briefs before I went to bed and that June slid on my tee, not because I don’t want to feel her naked body against mine, but because it would be so terribly distracting.
I’d never be able to finish this important conversation.