Chapter Forty
Jade
By the time we got back to the cottage, the silence between us had settled into something thick. Not angry, not cold—just heavy. The kind of silence that made every sound louder: the squeak of the screen door, the thump of the keys when I set them on the counter, the hum of the old fridge.
I set my phone face-down on the table, like that could keep the world out. For a second, I almost let myself pretend we were just a normal couple winding down after ice cream, but the knot in my stomach wouldn’t let me.
“So,” I finally said, twisting the napkin I’d carried all the way home, “what now?”
Brian leaned back against the counter, arms crossed, studying me like the answer was written somewhere on my face. “We could pack up, head back to Haven Springs, and deal with things head-on.”
The thought made my stomach flip. Back to the whispers, the stares, Rachel’s smug smile when she realized she’d stirred up trouble, just like she wanted. “Or,” I said carefully, “we could stay. Finish our time here. Pretend none of this exists outside of here.”
One side of his mouth lifted, but it wasn’t the cocky grin he gave everyone else. It was smaller, softer—like he liked the idea, too.
“I like that idea,” he said. “The world will still be waiting when we get back.”
And just like that, the knot in my stomach loosened a little. It wasn’t a fix, but it was enough.
****
Brian
“I like that idea,” I said. “The world will still be waiting when we get back.”
The cautious look she gave me from where she sat at the little kitchen table suggested she didn’t know if I was serious.
“You sure?” she asked.
I crossed the room and pulled the napkin out of her hands before she shredded it to pieces. “I’m sure.”
That earned me the smallest smile, but it was enough to lift the weight off my chest. I wanted to tell her I didn’t give a damn what Rachel or the whole internet thought, that I’d already decided she was mine.
But I didn’t. Not after her reaction at the ice cream parlor when I’d asked to keep seeing her in Haven Springs.
She wanted this to be temporary. Only while we were at the Cape. So, hell yes I was sure I didn’t want to leave.
Maybe ever.
I brushed my thumb over the back of her hand and asked, “So, how do you want to spend tomorrow? Beach again?”
She let out a breath like she hadn’t realized she’d been holding it. “Yeah. Beach sounds good.”
And just like that, we decided to cling to our slice of heaven a little while longer. The other shit could wait.
~~~~
We ended up on the back patio with a bottle of white wine we’d picked up when we’d gone to the grocery store.
She was curled up beside me on the cushioned bench, legs tucked under her.
The summer night was warm and humid, and a steady breeze coming off the water made a strand of her hair brush against her face.
I tucked it behind her ear and leaned down to kiss her lips.
We didn’t talk about the article. We didn’t talk about what waited for us back in Haven Springs.
Instead, we traded stories—her worst day in the ER, my dumbest mistake as a rookie.
My most bizarre call, her craziest shift.
Our career aspirations. Our laughter came easy, although the wine may have helped.
We were careful, however, to steer clear of the subject of love and kids.
Every time she laughed, I felt it in my chest. And when her eyes softened on me, I knew damn well I was in deeper than I had any business being.
At some point, I slid my hand over hers. She didn’t pull back. She just laced our fingers together, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
When she leaned her head on my shoulder, I turned and kissed the top of her hair.
“Ready to go in?” I asked.
She nodded, and I stood, tugging her up with me. She picked up the empty glasses, and I grabbed the wine bottle, and we headed inside.
She moved toward the kitchen sink, but I put my hand on her arm, motioned toward the counter where she should set them, and said, “Let’s just leave those until tomorrow.”
With a single nod, she did what I suggested, and I grabbed her hand to lead her into the bedroom.
When I closed the door, there wasn’t any rush.
No tearing clothes off, no wrestling each other to the mattress.
I pulled her into my embrace and kissed her slowly.
She kissed me back the same way. When I eased her onto the bed, it felt different.
Less about getting lost in her body and more about holding on to her.
Her hair fanned across the pillow, and I stopped for a second just to look at her. She reached up and touched my jaw with a tender expression, and I felt my solar plexus go tight.
I kissed her slowly again and let my hand drift over her side. She moved in sync with me with her fingers in my hair pulling me closer.
When I pulled her shirt over her head, unclasped her front-closing bra, and bared her to me, she didn’t hide.
She just watched me like she was waiting to see what I’d do next.
I took my time, kissing down her throat, over her collarbone, and across the swell of her breast. Her breath hitched when I closed my mouth over her left nipple, and I couldn’t help but smile.
I wanted to bury myself in her, to lose control like every other time. But tonight, I forced myself to hold back in order to savor every inch of her and make it last.
I kissed my way down her stomach, trying to memorize every freckle on her skin until I reached her panty line. She let out a soft moan when I pulled the fabric down and let my tongue follow the faint mark it left behind.
I knew I could never get enough of her, but her reaction at the ice cream shop told me I needed to savor every second we had left here.
Her fingers slid into my hair, urging me closer. I tugged on her panties, and she lifted her butt to help me slide them off.
I paused when I saw her lying there with her legs spread, her pussy glistening in invitation.
I moved to dip my head between her legs, but she shook her head. “I need to feel you inside me.”
I needed that, too.
As I reached for a condom, she shook her head again. “I want to feel you. I’m clean, and I get a birth control shot.”
“I’m clean, too.”
Her hand slid up my chest as she reached for me, and I leaned down to kiss her again, taking my time as I shifted into position above her.
With my cock between her legs, I paused.
“Are you sure about this?”
She nodded. “Positive.” Then, as if to emphasize the point, she lifted her hips to situate my tip at her entrance.
I thrust in deep, making us both moan in unison.
For a second, neither of us moved; it was just the sound of our breathing as we met each other’s gaze. The weight of what we were doing hung in the air between us.
She slowly closed her eyes as I pulled back and thrust in again and again until I established a rhythm. Fucking her raw was a new experience—I always used a condom. Feeling her walls around my bare shaft was better than anything I could have imagined.
My spine tingled, so I knew I was close, but there was no way I was coming before her. I leaned back on my heels in order to rub her clit while I continued fucking her.
“Ohhhh,” she cooed softly as she subtly pressed against me. “That feels so good.”
I moved my fingers faster and thrust in deeper, and she wrapped her legs around my waist while hissing, “Yesssss. Just like that.”
I was hanging on by a thread as I polished her little nub and pumped in and out of her like a mad man.
Her entire body went rigid for a beat before she let out a long moan and quivered from head to toe. I dropped back into a plank position and thrust in hard as her pussy pulsed around my cock. That’s all it took to push me over the edge.
Holding her hips, I seated myself deep inside her and grunted loudly as I spurted rope after rope against her walls.
Hearts still racing, I let myself fall against her, careful not to crush her.
She wrapped her arms around me and held me against her. We both knew this time was different. I just didn’t know what it meant.
****
Jade
We lay tangled in the sheets, the sound of the surf floating in through the open window. My body felt sore in all the right places, but I couldn’t turn my brain off.
I knew we’d just made love.
I’d felt connected to his soul, not just his body, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that.
He brushed his lips against my temple, then pulled me closer, and I let him. I wanted to stay right there, wrapped up in him, pretending nothing outside those walls existed.
But I knew better.
I’d promised myself I wouldn’t confuse sex with more, and here I was, wondering what it would be like to fall asleep in his arms every night.
Fortunately, he hadn’t brought up us being together in Haven Springs again, and we had five more days before we had to leave, so I still had time before deciding anything.
I shifted against him, trying to get comfortable, and muttered, “You’re like a furnace.”
“Guess I’ll save you money on heating bills,” he said, as he played with my hair.
I snorted. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m looking for in a man. Lower utility costs.”
He grinned, unbothered. “Good to know I’m practical and handsome.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling. “You forgot modest.”
“Sunshine, modesty’s never been my strong suit.”
I swatted his stomach, but he caught my hand and pressed a kiss to my knuckles.
I smirked. “You’re kind of likable off-duty.”
“Let’s keep that our little secret. I have worked hard on my grumpy reputation; I don’t want it getting ruined.”
“My lips are sealed.”
He leaned in and murmured against my mouth, “Hopefully not with me,” before he kissed me again.
“No,” I replied with a sigh when we broke the kiss. “Not with you. In fact…” I pushed his shoulders, so he lay on his back with his head against the pillow while I shimmied down the mattress and reached for his cock that was already hard again. “Let me show you how unsealed they are with you.”
He put his arm behind his head with a salacious grin.
“I like where this is going.”
I met his eyes and didn’t avert my gaze when I ran my tongue around the crown of his cock.
His nostrils flared, and he closed his eyes briefly before snapping them back open, like he didn’t want to miss a thing.
He reached for my hair and held it away from my face so his view wasn’t obstructed.
I chose that time to take him deep in my throat, and he let out a long groan. “Fuuuuck, Sunshine.”
My hand followed the rhythm of my mouth, moving up to meet it while I bobbed my head up and down his shaft. His hold on my hair tightened as he set the pace, his breath catching with every movement.
I let out a soft moan that I knew vibrated through his body. His answering groan came rough and low, and I couldn’t help but smile around his dick in my mouth.
I loved being the cause of him losing control.
He tugged on my hair to try and pull me away.
His voice broke as he warned, “Baby, I’m going to come if you keep doing that.”
“Yeah, I know.” I smirked as I stroked his cock while he kept his hold on my hair. “That’s the point.”
It almost felt like surrender when he relaxed his grip and collapsed his head back into the pillow to let me continue what I’d started.
It didn’t take long before his body went taut, his hands twisting in the sheets as he tried to warn me between rough breaths. “I’m gonna come…”
I took him deeper so he knew I was with him all the way. His voice broke on a sound that was half-groan, half-my-name, and then I felt him spurt against the back of my throat.
I swallowed every drop before I drew back with a satisfied smile, brushing my thumb across the corner of my mouth while he watched me, limp and dazed, like his body didn’t know how to move.
“You…” he whispered as he stroked my hair. “Are going to be my undoing.”
Too late, I thought. I already was.