46. Darcy
FORTY-SIX
DARCY
It’s almost time for it all to end.
Maggie and Bill come back tomorrow, and I’ve been in my feelings about it. This went from the most confusing and tumultuous time in my life to the sweetest, coziest summer.
The work day is over. Becca went home. Caleb moved out at the end of last week, getting settled in his new apartment before his plumbing program starts. It’s just me and Jake, one last time before he moves out tomorrow evening. It’s hot as shit, the mid-August steam devastating.
“It’s real hot, ya know?”
“I could go for some ice cream,” Jake says.
“I agree, ice cream. But something else first.”
Jake gives me a quizzical look.
“Pond.”
Jake smirks. “Let’s go.”
Even though we’re exhausted, we run. Once we’re within a few yards of the pond, Jake strips off his hat and shirt. I do the same, letting my hair out. We kick everything else off at the end of the dock.
“Do I need to count, or will you jump with me?” Jake asks.
I squeal and wave my hands. “This is the part that always gets me.”
Jake lifts a brow at me. “You’ve done it before. I’ve seen you do it before.”
“But it’s still scary every time!”
“Hence why you were screaming,” he says. “So, scream now. I don’t care. We’re the only two around.”
“It feels weird with an audience,” I whine.
Jake looks at me. “Darcy, we’re both naked. We’ve touched every part of each other. You’re afraid to scream in front of me? You’ve screamed in my ear before.”
I shake out my hands. “I don’t know! I get scared every time!”
Jake’s hand taps my back. “Okay. On three, we scream and run.”
I draw in a deep breath. “Okay.”
“One, two, three—” We both unleash a scream and Jake runs to the end of the dock before he realizes I’m not with him.
He turns back to me. “You sneak!”
He runs at me and I run the other way, letting him chase me. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone running naked before, especially not a man. There’s a lot of jiggling going on and emphasis on his ridiculous muscles. I’m one lucky gal.
“Like it or not, you’re coming!”
“No! I’m scared!”
Jake catches me and scoops me up in his arms. “I’m scared too, but we’re doing it anyway.”
With a few paces, I’m suspended in the air for a second before I go crashing into the cool water. I squeeze my eyes shut and surface, heading to the right of the dock where it’s shallow enough to touch.
“I hate you!” I shout.
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do! I hate you!”
Jake laughs, holding me up under my ass. I’m straddling his waist, just our shoulders sticking out of the water. I’m doing my best to look like a little storm cloud, but it’s hard to do with the way he’s looking at me. His eyes are wide and smiling, a look that translates as enchanted.
“That’s really too bad,” he says.
“What’s too bad?”
“That you hate me.”
I tip my head to the side, draping my arms tighter around his shoulders. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
Jake’s still smiling, but his face turns more serious. His lips relax, and I swallow hard.
I know. I know what comes next. I can see the writing on the wall. He’s being cute and sweet and charming, and what he’s about to say makes total sense. We’ve spent so much time together. Told each other our secrets. Covered every inch of each other’s bodies with light touches and kisses.
Kisses. So many kisses.
Jake rubs his lips together, studying every feature on my face. He’s nervous. Hell, I’m nervous. Do I say it back? Does it matter? Aren’t we parting ways?
“I’m in love with you, Darcy. I love you.” I sip in tiny breaths as I watch his eyes. “It’s overwhelming how much you’ve made my life better. I’m whole. This summer, this . . . us. I feel like it’s all meant to be.”
I pinch my lips into a line and nod.
“Maybe you don’t feel the same way yet?—”
I hold his cheeks in my palms and gasp for air. “I love you, Jake.”
He smiles, eyes going soft. “I love you so much, Darcy.”
“I love you,” I say, more elated each time I say it.
“This has been the best summer of my life.”
“You make me so happy,” I admit. I shake my head to ward off bigger emotions. “Everything’s about to change.”
Jake’s eyes are earnest and he speaks so confidently. “It won’t change how I feel about you.”
I’m trying not to cry when I say, “It might.”
“I won’t let it. This is worth working hard for. Worth waiting for. What’s life if I don’t have this? If I don’t have you?”
I crush my lips to his and Jake holds the kiss, slowing us down. I’m in love again. I’m kissing the man I love.
“I love you,” I whisper against his lips.
“I love you,” he breathes between kisses.
“I want,” I start and he nods, pressing his growing erection against my stomach. “But not in the pond.”
He chuckles and gets a tighter grip on my legs. “What, you don’t want pond water up there?”
“Nah.”
We laugh, and joyful kisses pass between us as he gets us out of the pond.
“The house?” he offers.
“The dock?” I counter.
Jake lifts a brow. “Last chance for outside. May as well make it count.”
He props me on the edge of the dock where he can stand about knee deep and together, we work. The heels of his hands claw down my sides, our hips rolling and our breath shared. I kiss him, and kiss him, and kiss him some more, partially because I’m afraid to let go, and partially because I’m afraid of what it means if he stays.
We’ll always have this summer. We’ll always have loved each other. And maybe that’s the best I can hope for.
I have to leave the rest to chance and for once in my life, trust . Things will work out the way they’re supposed to. I can’t plan it.
I can trust. And I trust him.
I nudge him to sit next to me on the dock and I straddle his lap. His fingers sink into my ass as I lower onto him, gaze intoxicated.
“You are so perfect,” he says with such a deep reverence that I might cry.
“Love me,” I beg, and he gets the sweetest smile.
“I do. I will. I won’t stop.”
I slam down and grind up, exchanging kisses and gropes and long stares. He grasps my ass so hard he hits bone—not an easy feat with an ass like mine.
I want this forever, this magnetic connection, this bond. This can last, be forever, be more than a sweet summer of kissing and goofing off and wonderful, delicious sex.
I hope there are more barbecues with him by my side, but I catch myself. Nothing is guaranteed. I suck a choppy breath imagining this coming to an end, and I realize it’s probably not the best look to be crying while we’re having passionate sex.
But Jake gets it.
“I know, baby. Let it out.”
We kiss and bump together, my hands on his neck and his side, his on my ass and my back. I close my eyes, going inside myself and Jake dips to suck a nipple. I groan, shamelessly rocking my clit against his lower stomach.
“There you go. Take what you need.”
Jake’s hands support under my ass so I can focus on my pleasure, and he sucks a breath through his teeth.
“Am I hurting you?” I ask.
“No, I’m just close. You’re so beautiful like this. Eyes open if you can, baby.”
He has me. Jake is home. His hands and the air we breathe and the scent of his skin and the reverent way he closes his eyes when we kiss, like he wants to feel every little part of it and not miss a thing. He’s mine.
And that security is like nothing I’ve ever had.
My hands grip his biceps and, right as it becomes apparent that I am indeed going to come, I open my eyes. Jake doesn’t have to say he loves me, because it’s written all over his face.
He loves me. He wants me to be happy. Safe. Cared for. And I want the same for him. I shout, my nipples tight, the pressure building and the pleasure mounting. Jake’s encouraging me and pulling my hips into him, fucking me through my peak. He loses himself in the motions until I sit up and grip his chin, forcing his eyes to mine as he comes. His arms band around my back and we kiss, hot and deep.
Jake smiles, wiping a little moisture from under his eyes. “That was intense.”
I grin. “It was. Perfect.”
“You didn’t need help.”
I rub my lips together as emotion clogs my throat again. “I felt safe.”
“Me too,” Jake says, tugging me into a tight hug. “I did too.”