Chapter 24
COLT
Ididn’t want to go home. The bill was paid and we were standing in the parking lot with the warm night air moving around us.
The sound of the ocean pulled at me. The last thing I wanted to do was get in the car and end this.
I would never forgive myself if I walked away from her without at least trying to get her to stay out with me.
“Walk with me,” I said.
She looked at the beach and then back at me. “In this dress?”
“The dress can handle it.”
She considered that for a moment. I knew what I saw in her eyes at dinner.
The feelings were still there. I didn’t think they would ever go away.
Was she afraid to be alone with me because she knew there would be no denying that spark?
I told myself not to rush. I would let her dictate how things went. I could be a gentleman.
We took our shoes off and left them in the car.
I rolled up my pant legs as far as I could get them, which was only about mid shin.
I took her hand, expecting her to protest, but she didn’t.
We fell into an easy pace beside each other.
The beach was quiet. A few lights from the houses up the shore.
We had most of it to ourselves, which felt like a gift.
She bumped her shoulder into mine, which earned her a bump back.
She bumped her shoulder into mine again, harder this time.
I looked down at her with a warning, brow raised with a challenge.
She did it a third time and I shouldered her back, sending her sideways a step.
She laughed and recovered, planting her feet in the wet sand and shoving at my arm with both hands. I didn’t move an inch.
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” I told her.
“I’m warming up.”
“Terrifying.”
She bumped me again, hip to hip this time. I let it move me just enough to make her feel powerful. The smile it earned me was worth every bit of the dignity I sacrificed.
We walked closer to the water’s edge. The tide was coming in slow and easy, foam washing up around our feet and then retreating.
The sand was cold between my toes. She walked right to the edge of it without hesitating, the hem of her dress catching the air as the water rushed over her feet. She sucked in a breath.
“It feels good,” she said. She looked down at the water pulling back around her ankles.
I waded in beside her. The water hit my rolled cuffs immediately and soaked through. I didn’t care. I would have walked in fully clothed and been completely fine about it.
She was looking out at the dark water with the moonlight sparkling across it.
Her hair moved in the breeze. I watched her without trying to hide the fact I was watching her.
She knew I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
It was an affliction I suffered from the very first night I met her on that beach.
I didn’t want to be cured. I loved looking at her.
She turned and caught me staring. The smile that broke across her face was the one that had kept me company on about a thousand sleepless nights. Before I could react, she swept her foot sideways through the water, sending a wide spray across my chest.
I looked down at my shirt. Then I looked up at her with complete shock. “What the hell?”
She was already backing away. She was giggling and shaking her head. “Oops!”
“Oops?”
“I didn’t mean to get you that wet,” she said, which was a complete and obvious lie. The smile said she had no remorse.
I stepped forward and bent down, sweeping both hands through the water, sending a wall of it toward her. She shrieked and spun sideways, but she caught the worst of it across her hip and the side of that beautiful dress. She spun back around with her mouth open in mock outrage.
“This is a dress,” she said. “A very nice dress. It can’t get saltwater on it.”
“You started it.”
“I barely touched you.”
“You soaked me.”
She looked at my shirt before she burst into laughter. “I might have misjudged the power of my foot.”
“Bullshit.” I stepped toward her and she bolted. She splashed through the ankle-deep water, the dress billowing around her legs. I caught her around the waist from behind, both arms locking around her.
She grabbed my forearms and dug in. “Colt Anderson, don’t you dare.”
“You started a water fight on a beach,” I said. “This is the natural conclusion.”
“Don’t ruin the dress!”
She twisted in my arms just as a wave rolled in. It caught us at the knees and she lost her footing. I managed to catch her and keep her from going down. The hem of the dress was soaked and my pants were wet up to my knees.
“That was close,” I said. “You almost went swimming.”
She shoved away and ran inland to avoid the next wave that caught me again.
She was standing on the beach, the light behind her highlighting her blonde hair.
She looked like an angel. A mystical creature.
I couldn’t look away. My legs were moving without me even realizing.
I was drawn to her. Always had been. I remembered a movie about a mermaid.
Or maybe it was a fairytale. Mermaids supposedly had the power of enchantment or something. That’s how I felt with her.
I took her hand and we started walking again.
The energy was different. We both felt it.
Her hand was trembling in mine. Or maybe it was mine.
I was breathing like I’d been running. That’s what she did to me.
My heart refused to just beat normally. It insisted on going too fast, which made my breathing come out in short gasps.
I wanted her to make the first move, but dammit, I didn’t have that kind of self-control. Not around her.
I stopped walking but didn’t let go of her hand. She looked over at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong, Summer. That’s the problem. Everything is right.”
I turned to face her. I wouldn’t push. I looked into her eyes and tried to make her understand what I was feeling. Her eyes held mine and I was transported back to one of our last nights together. She could say so much with one look. She offered a soft smile.
“Summer.”
Her smile slipped. “Colt.”
I reached up slowly and pushed her hair back from her face.
My fingers slid through the waves before my hand cradled her cheek.
She went very still. Her eyes dropped to my mouth and then came back up to mine.
There was no stopping this trajectory. We’d been moving toward each other for seven years.
There were always obstacles but we never let them stop us for long.
Every agonizing minute of being near her and not touching her had been leading to exactly this moment.
Every night I lay awake staring at the ceiling thinking about the way she looked at me before she caught herself and looked away.
Every private moment I had with her face in my mind while I touched myself was only ever going to bring me to her.
I tilted her face up with my thumb under her chin. My thumb brushed across her skin. She swallowed hard. My other hand was still holding hers. I ran my thumb across her wrist, feeling the rapid pulse there.
“Summer,” I said.
She didn’t answer. She just looked at me with those eyes that had never let me go, not in four years of being apart. Not ever. Her lips parted slightly as her eyes fluttered closed. That was the invitation I needed.
I lowered my mouth to hers, tasting the wine and a faint whisper of saltwater.
I kissed her the way I’d been wanting to since the moment I saw her for the first time in way too long.
She made a small sound against my mouth and then her hands curled into my shirt.
Her lips parted and she kissed me back. A rogue wave could have swallowed us whole and I wouldn’t have noticed or cared.
I pulled her closer, my hand sliding from her cheek into her hair.
My tongue slid into her mouth. Her body relaxed against mine.
My hand slid down her bare back, my fingertips tracing her spine. I swallowed her moan. Her hands slid into my hair, tugging at the strands before moving them down my back. She pulled me against her. We were so close a breeze couldn’t get between us.
She tasted like every summer I’d ever spent here. I couldn’t get enough. I pulled back just enough to drag my mouth along her jaw and down her neck. She tilted her head back, giving me permission to take my time. I intended to.
“Colt.” My name came out breathy and unsteady.
“Still here,” I murmured against her skin.
Her laugh was low and a little undone. I felt it vibrate against my lips. I brought my mouth back to hers and kissed her slower this time. Deeper. I wanted her to feel every single thing I hadn’t been able to say to her in four years. Every night I’d reached for my phone and put it back down.
Her fingers worked at the back of my neck, her nails dragging lightly across my back. I felt it everywhere. I slid both hands down her back and relished the feel of her satiny skin under my palms.
Another wave came in and broke around our ankles. We ignored it as we continued to explore each other’s mouths. Her hands came around and jerked at my shirt, pulling it from where it was tucked into my waistband.
The second her fingers scraped across my chest, I jerked, my cock jumping to attention.
Damn this woman. She could undo me with a single touch.
Her mouth pulled from mine. Her teeth nipped at my jaw before sucking the flesh on my neck.
She nibbled and sucked while I rocked against her.
Her mouth was going to be the death of me.
I tilted my head back and gave her better access, my hands gripping her hips hard enough that I was probably going to leave marks on that perfect skin.
I didn’t care. She didn’t seem to care either.
She worked her way along my neck with that wicked mouth like she had all the time in the world and nowhere else she’d rather be.
I felt each pull of her lips like a wire being drawn tight from my throat straight down to my groin.
“Summer,” I groaned.
She hummed against my throat but didn’t stop.
My hands slid up her bare back, fingers spread wide to get maximum coverage.
The dress had seemed like a good idea when I ordered it.
Standing on a dark beach with my fingers tracing the long line of her spine, it was the best decision I’d ever made in my life.
I found the nape of her neck and gathered her hair in my fist, gently pulling her head back so I could get to her mouth again.
I kissed her deep and slow and thorough. I had never needed a woman more than I needed Summer Banks.