Chapter 35
chapter thirty-five
Dayton
Iarrive at Summer’s bungalow just after sunrise with my coffee, her matcha, and a bag of groceries.
I texted her and told her we’d start with a lazy beach morning.
She’s already dressed in a bright blue string bikini.
I have to pause and take a deep breath, reminding myself that I can’t take it off of her right now.
We’re getting to know each other.
The ties around her neck and at her hips would be so easy to undo.
She accepts the matcha from me before lifting up on her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to my jaw. “Good morning.”
“Morning. You look beautiful.”
She smiles, taking the grocery bag inside before picking out two beach towels from the basket by the door and looping her camera around her neck and a beach tote over her shoulder.
“Thanks. So, we’re being lazy on the beach?
Can you actually sit still for longer than ten minutes without feeling like you’re wasting away your life? ”
I grab the two beach chairs and an umbrella that are stored in a plastic bin on the side of the bungalow.
“Yes, I can be lazy and relax on the beach with you.” I’ve probably never done it before in my life, but there’s a first time for everything.
She leads the way down to the water. Her bikini bottoms keep riding up her butt, and I wonder how the hell I’m going to last all day without touching her. I busy myself with setting up the chairs and the umbrella. She lays the towel out on the ground, and we both sit.
Thankfully, we had the workers help clean up our area of the beach yesterday. The city asked everyone to make piles of the palm leaves that fell so they could come by and slowly burn them as they dry out from the sun.
“There’s a reef about twenty yards out that way. I’ve seen some really pretty fish around it.” She points out toward a dark shadow in the water.
“I’ve seen you leaving with your snorkel gear, but I didn’t know it was that close.”
She sits back and levels me with a glare. “I can’t believe you’ve been spying on me all this time.”
“You wouldn’t answer my calls.”
“Worst excuse for stalking someone I’ve ever heard.” She shakes her head. “You should’ve taken the hint.”
“Oh, I took the hint.”
I look over to see her trying to hide a smile.
“My favorite days were when you’d do yoga on the deck in that swimsuit.”
“I thought I was alone in the privacy of my backyard.”
“How can I make it up to you?”
“You can forgive me for screwing up the budget.”
I stare at her. “This isn’t your fault, Sum. I don’t want you to stress about the budget.”
She sighs, closing her eyes. “We’re kind of screwed though. There’s no money left to fix it because I spent it. You were right all along.”
She gets up and lies down on her stomach on the towel in front of us. Her butt is in the air, momentarily distracting me with the position she’s in.
“Can you rub some tanning oil on my back? It’s in my bag.”
I reach into her straw beach tote and pull out the bottle of oil. I get down beside her and pour it over her lower back and shoulders. My hands gently massage her as I spread it around. She lets out a soft groan. My swim trunks are getting tighter by the second.
I love touching her. I had to resist it and settle for my imagination for so long.
“We’re going to finish the house. You made it beautiful. I don’t want you to worry about it. I have a lot of investors at my company.”
She must not know how much money I have, which I find … shocking. She’s not really in the finance world, but I would have assumed she knew that I’d have plenty of money to help us finish the house.
I guess because I’ve acted like a stuck-up, selfish prick all these years. I have millions, but it’s mostly all tied up in stocks.
On instinct, I swat her butt, licking my lips when it jiggles. I return to my seat before I lose the willpower to stop touching her.
She raises a brow, tilting her hip up and emphasizing the curve of her slim waist. After wiping the oil off my hands with a beach towel, I grab the camera she left on her chair and turn it on. I lift it to my eye and snap her photo.
“I’m supposed to be taking your picture.”
“You’re a prettier subject. Hold still.”
She lays her head down on her forearms. Her honey hair is spilling out around her, framing her like a halo. I keep taking different angles until she sits up and reaches for the camera.
“Enough! My turn.”
I hand it over before leaning back against my chair. She loops the strap around her neck and takes several pictures before I start to feel uneasy.
I lift up a hand. “All right, all right, ease me in here.”
She lowers it, silently laughing. “Your expression makes you look constipated.”
“I don’t like being in pictures.”
“You need to relax.”
She comes over and stands in front of me, turning toward the ocean. Her ass is practically in my face. I reach out and grab her hip near where her swimsuit ties.
She lifts the camera to take a selfie of us.
“Smile.”
I impulsively pull her down in my lap. She yelps in surprise, squirming. I try to ignore the rush of blood south. She lifts the camera and takes a few more pictures.
“I don’t know if we have any pictures together at all,” she says.
“Christmas, eleven years ago.”
“Oh, right. My mom made us wear matching sweaters.”
I nod, wrapping my hands around her waist, realizing I can almost make my fingers touch. I have big hands, and her waist is small.
“Even my dad hated that.”
“The different plaid patterns with palm trees were truly horrendous.”
She’s silent for a few minutes, relaxing into me. “What do you think they’d say about us?”
“That they’re glad we’re finally getting along so well?”
She punches my thigh. “I’m serious. Would they be super angry?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” I lie.
I know my father would be enraged. Even after his death, I struggle with the heavy weight of disappointing him.
“Clara wouldn’t mind.”
“No, she wouldn’t. She loved you,” she says. “She never cared for Andrew. She used to tell me you’d make someone a great husband one day.”
“Hmm. I didn’t know that.”
She nods, leaning back against my chest. “Yeah. I kind of wonder now, looking back … I don’t know. Maybe I’m just thinking she was trying to tell me something because I want to make myself feel better about having sex with you.”
“She and I talked about you a lot.”
Summer sits up, turning to face me. “Really?”
I trace my finger over the tie at her hip. “I called her every Sunday.”
Her eyes widen, but she waits for me to continue.
“She would tell me what she and my dad had been up to, but it was like she knew that I was mostly calling to get an update on you. So, after ten or fifteen minutes, she’d just casually segue into your life and how things were going. She definitely did not like Andrew.”
Summer scrunches her eyes together thoughtfully.
“I’m hungry,” she finally says.
“I brought the ingredients to try a new recipe for brunch.”
She studies me. I get lost in her pale green eyes. They’re the color of the inside of a lime, bright and beautiful. The delicate spatter of freckles across her nose gives her a youthful look.
“Come on. I’ll cook for you while you set up the Scrabble game.”
After making her shakshuka and playing a game of Scrabble, where she completely annihilated me, we began the hike to Hidden Cove.
I’m wearing a backpack with bottled water, granola bars, sunscreen, and her camera.
Summer insisted we keep our swimsuits on so we can swim in the waterfall. She stole my white T-shirt to put over hers, which is somehow even sexier than the bikini.
We pass by Juniper and Mia while we’re still in town. They wave at us with knowing grins on their faces. When we see Silvie and Cal walking the beach, he gives me a subtle thumbs-up while the girls are talking.
The walk to the entrance isn’t difficult, but when we make it there, the path becomes more of a jungle with an incline. Rocks and tree branches litter the trail ahead of us, which is only marked with pink ribbons tied around branches. Summer is in front of me.
“If you had traveled for pleasure in the last ten years, where would you have gone?” she asks.
“I did go to London once, but it was on business.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“I think a safari would be my first choice.”
“Ooh, yes, with a hot air balloon tour over the savanna? And a little lodge where the giraffes poke their heads in the windows?”
“Yeah, that sounds amazing.” If she’s there too.
We’re getting closer to the waterfall. I can already hear the rushing water. Summer slips, her foot sliding in a patch of mud. I reach out and grab her arm, steadying her.
“We should do it. After the house is done, to celebrate,” I say.
She peers up at me, licking her lips. “Maybe after it sells so we can actually afford it. Together?”
I nod, letting her go. She continues the hike.
We can see the falls now. It’s a breathtaking sight. The water spills out of the moss-covered rocks thirty feet in the air, creating a mist around the pool below. Behind the spray is Hidden Cove, which isn’t visible until you swim under the water.
Summer peels my T-shirt off and tosses it on a rock before removing her shoes and wading into the pool. The freshwater is crystal clear, with mossy rocks at the bottom. She wades in, pushing off a rock until she’s floating on her back. I swing the backpack off and pull out her camera again.
I snap three photos before she looks over at me and smiles. I snap another one.
“Come on. Get in while we have it to ourselves!”
I put the camera back in the bag and remove my shoes and hat before wading in. The spring-fed water is cool and refreshing. I swim up next to her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. She sighs, reaching out to thread her fingers through my hair.
She scratches my head, and I know we’re both thinking the same thing.
It’s only been a couple of days, but we’re craving each other.
We’ve resisted. I even stayed at the Grand Palm last night to avoid temptation.
But when she turns her head and looks at me with hooded eyes, I know exactly what she’s thinking.
“Come on.” I tug her hand.
She tips her body so that she’s swimming beside me as we make our way through the spray of the waterfall.
I reach for her waist in the water, sliding my fingers under the bikini string on her hip.
I’m already growing hard in anticipation, but I want to make sure she’s ready before I make a move on her.
After we get through the waterfall, the water is shallow.
I wipe a hand over my face, surveying the inside of the cove.
It’s darker in here, with just enough light filtering through so that we can find a large, flat rock to sit on.
It’s about an inch deep in the water right now.
When there’s more rain, it’ll get deeper.
She sits up on the rock, eyes on me. I scoot up next to her, surveying the cove.
“This place hasn’t changed at all.”
“When was the last time you came down here?”
“I don’t know. Maybe junior year, with Will and Cal.”
“Hmm,” is all she says, leaning closer into my shoulder.
I freeze, my heart rate spiking. I told her I’d wait for her to initiate things.
Touching your shoulder doesn’t count.
I force myself to be still. My hands are pressed down against the mossy rock, my gaze trained on the waterfall. Her fingers start brushing over my thighs. I finally turn to look down at her. She licks her lips.
I swallow, waiting.
She inches closer to my dick. Blood is rushing down, hardening me more with each centimeter she gets closer. Finally, she brushes over it. I suck in a breath, closing my eyes.
She caresses it over the top of my swim trunks before reaching down to the hem. Her fingers slide up from the bottom.
My muscles are rigid, body poised and waiting for her as she takes her sweet time tracing the inside of my leg. Her fingers brush over the head of my cock, and I snap.
My eyes pop open, and I grab the string of her bikini tied around her neck, tugging it free. Her breasts spill out.
She’s so beautiful.
“Like a siren,” I whisper.
My thumb brushes over her nipple. She whimpers, her finger still playing with the sensitive head of my cock.
“All I ever think about is you touching me,” she confesses.
“Hmm.” I pinch her nipple before dipping my head down to wrap my lips around it.
I pull it through my teeth, sucking it back between my lips. She leans back, giving me better access. My other hand finds the string of her bottoms and loosens it. She shifts, her hand moving out of my shorts to grip my shoulder. I let go of her nipple.
“Lift up for me, baby.”
She obeys, raising her hips. I yank the bottoms off impatiently. I allow myself to look down over her full breasts, the pinch of her waist, and the flare of her hips. Her pussy is clean-shaven and slightly swollen with arousal. I exhale, forcing myself to slow down.
“I wanna eat you out right now, but I don’t think this rock is big enough for that.”
She shakes her head. “No. I want your dick in me—now.”
“You’re a demanding little thing today.” I grin, pulling my swim trunks down.
Her eyes drop to my dick, and she bites her lip hungrily.
I’m so gone for this woman.