Chapter 25
SUMMER
Icouldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. There was nothing in the world except his mouth on mine and his hands on my skin. It was like no time had passed. The only difference between this kiss and our last was he had gotten better at it.
His tongue swept against mine. Four years of absence suddenly felt like the cruelest punishment I’d ever endured.
How had I survived without this? Without him?
My fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt, fumbling because I couldn’t see what I was doing and I didn’t care.
I needed to feel his skin under my hands. I wanted my mouth on his hard chest.
He made a sound low in his throat when I got the first button undone. Then the second. I spread the fabric apart and ran my palms up his chest. So fucking hard. More defined. I’d dreamed about touching him like this more times than I could count, but the reality was so much better than any fantasy.
His hands gripped my hips, pulling me flush against him. I felt exactly how much he wanted me. The hard length of him pressed against my stomach through the wet fabric of his pants. Heat pooled low in my belly and spread through my entire body like wildfire.
“Summer,” he breathed against my mouth. “Dammit, I fucking want you.”
“Me too. You. I want you.”
He chuckled. “You drive me wild.”
His mouth crashed back onto mine with a hunger that matched my own.
I felt ravenous. If I could devour the man, I would—one bite at a time.
One hand slid up my bare back while the other stayed at my hip, his fingers digging into my flesh.
I wanted him to leave marks. I wanted proof tomorrow morning that this had actually happened and wasn’t just another one of my dreams.
I pulled back just enough to catch my breath. His eyes were dark in the moonlight, pupils blown wide with desire. His lips were swollen from kissing me. His hair was a mess from my fingers. He looked absolutely wrecked and I loved it.
And I couldn’t do it.
I pressed my hand against his chest, feeling his heart hammering beneath my palm. “Colt.” He stopped, clearly understanding what I hadn’t said. “I need to slow down.”
He didn’t pull away, but his hands stopped moving. His forehead dropped to mine and he nodded, his breathing as ragged as my own.
“Okay,” he said quietly. “Okay.”
I didn’t want to stop. That was the problem. My body was screaming at me to let him keep going. I wanted him to drag me back to one of our houses and finish what we’d started. But my brain was waving red flags.
It would be too easy. Too fast. We’d fall right back into the pattern we’d always had, and when summer ended, I’d be left picking up the pieces again. I needed to protect myself. At least a little bit.
He seemed to be thinking the same thing. He wiped his thumb across his bottom lip, his eyes still dark with want. God, even that simple gesture was sexy. The way his thumb dragged across his mouth. The way his jaw worked. The way he was looking at me like he was memorizing every detail of my face.
Everything he did was sexy to me. Him breathing turned me on.
I was in so much trouble.
I assumed the night was over. That we’d walk back to the car in awkward silence and he’d drop me off at home. I had killed the mood. We’d go home and we’d both spend the rest of the night replaying what just happened.
He took my hand and we started walking again, but he clearly wasn’t in a rush.
Good. I wasn’t either. He surprised me by sitting down in the sand, right there at the water’s edge.
He looked up at me and patted the sand beside him.
That beautiful grin was my undoing. How was a girl supposed to turn him down?
I sat down and leaned my head against his shoulder. We both stared out at the dark water. The waves rolled in calm and easy. The moon was doing its thing, turning the water a silvery color. I could have sat there forever.
“I’ve missed this place more than I realized,” he said quietly. “I lost sight of what made it so special.”
I didn’t say anything. I just listened.
“I’ve been here for weeks,” he continued. “And I’ve only surfed twice. I haven’t been in the ocean other than tonight. This was my first real swim.” He laughed softly.
“That wasn’t a swim,” I teased.
“I used to live in the water when I came here. The bonfires. The late nights. The fun. It’s been so long since I had any fun.”
I lifted my head to look at him. “Then that’s your assignment.”
“My assignment?”
“For the rest of the summer,” I said. “To balance out the not-fun job of stopping Judd Mathers, you have to do one fun thing every day until you go back to Texas.”
He turned to look at me, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. “One fun thing.”
“One fun thing,” I confirmed. “Every single day.”
“What qualifies as fun?”
“You’ll figure it out,” I said. “I have faith in you. Anything that doesn’t involve you scowling. If you’re scowling, you’re not having fun.”
He was quiet for a moment, his eyes searching mine. “Will you help me?”
“Help you have fun?”
“Yeah.” His voice was soft. “I think I might need a guide.”
I smiled. “I think I can do that.”
“You sure? I don’t want to ruin this with you. I like being friends with you.”
I smiled through the pain of not being able to have him the way I really want him. “Don’t worry, Colt,” I told him. “I know this ends with you going back home when the job is done. And it’s okay. I have my eyes wide open this time. I know what’s coming.”
Something flickered across his face. Sadness. Regret. But I didn’t get to dwell on it for long because he was kissing me again. Slower this time. Goodbye. That’s what I’m sure it meant but I’m not going to think about it right now. I melted into it, letting myself have this.
I wished it could go differently. I wished this could be the start of something permanent instead of just another beautiful, temporary thing. But if this was the last romp I got to have with Colt Anderson, I might as well make the most of it.
I’d get closure this time. When he left—because he would leave—I could finally set my sights on my own future without memories of him making me question what if.
No more wondering. No more late-night fantasies about a man who lived a thousand miles away.
I’d have one perfect summer with him, and then I’d let him go. For real this time.
His hand came up to cup my face as he pulled back, his thumb brushing across my cheekbone. “We should probably head back,” he said quietly.
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
We walked back to the car, our fingers still intertwined.
The restaurant parking lot was empty now, just his Mercedes sitting under a single streetlight.
I was already mentally preparing myself for the drive home, for the goodnight that would come too soon.
Another night alone with dreams of a man I couldn’t have.
He stopped, causing me to run right into his arm. I stepped up and looked around.
“What the hell?” Colt breathed.
Then I saw what he was talking about. A jagged line ran the length of the driver’s side, the paint scraped away in an angry gouge. Someone had keyed the car from bumper to bumper.
My stomach dropped. “Oh, shit.”
He was already moving forward. A piece of paper fluttered under the windshield wiper. He pulled it free. I watched his face as he read it.
“What does it say?” I asked.
He crumpled the note in his fist but shoved it into his pocket instead of throwing it away. “Get the F out of Surfside.” His tone held no emotion.
“Oh my God.” I pressed my hand to my mouth. “Colt, I’m so sorry.”
He turned to look at me. I was surprised to see he didn’t look angry. Just tired. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s just a car. That’s what insurance is for.”
“It’s a dick move,” I said.
He took my hand and pulled me closer. “It’s fine. Really. What matters…” He paused, his jaw working. “What matters is being perceived as the enemy.”
I groaned as he led me around the car to inspect the rest of the damage.
I looked at the damage and cringed. Surfside wasn’t exactly a hotbed of criminal activity. I loved my hometown but I didn’t like the behavior I had witnessed. They were treating him like he was a villain. None of us liked the idea of a cruise line, but criminal damage was a bridge too far.
To think someone had done this while we were having dinner. While we were laughing and kissing on the beach. Someone had been here, in the dark, taking their anger out on his car because they couldn’t get to him.
Or they could have. That was terrifying to think someone was angry enough to do that kind of damage. Would it escalate? Would they come after him? His house?
“This is what happens when you become the villain in someone else’s story.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. Because to whoever did this, he was the villain. He was the face of everything they were afraid of losing.
“Come on,” he said finally. “Let me take you home.”
The drive back was quiet but it wasn’t comfortable. It was my hometown. I had not been very welcoming. Yes, I had a good reason, but I would never encourage that kind of behavior.
When he pulled into my driveway, I didn’t get out right away. I didn’t know what to say.
“Colt.”
He looked at me, and for just a second, I saw the man I had in my arms an hour ago. The guy that held my hand on the beach.
“Thank you for tonight,” I said. “For the dress. For dinner. All of it.”
He smiled. “Thank you for saying yes.”
I leaned across the console and kissed him. Just once, soft and quick. Then I got out before I could change my mind and do something stupid like ask him to take me back to his place. Lord knew I couldn’t be sneaking a man into the house with my niece and nephew running about.
I made it halfway up the walk before I heard his car door open.
“Summer.”
I turned.
He stared at me for several long seconds. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Colt. Sleep well.”
I went inside, locked the door behind me, and leaned against it.
The house was quiet. Everyone was asleep. I kicked off my shoes and padded upstairs. I felt alive. More alive than I’d felt in four years.
And all I could think about was September. The end of summer. The end of me and Colt.