She bites her lip.
“We need to make sure we work before we can’t take it back.”
“Penny, you already know we’re in too deep.”
She groans, resting her head back on my chest and her hands coming back to my waist.
“Please don’t break my heart or take away my family,” she says, looking down.
I tug at the base of her hair, forcing her to look at me.
“Your family isn’t going anywhere and out of the two of us, you’re the one who could break us.”
I lean down, kissing her again.
Hating that this is still a secret, but loving that she’s no longer resisting me.
“Lincoln!” I hear my name screamed from down stairs and Penny and I part.
“I’m going to kill my brothers,” I say softly against her face.
“Go,” she says, rubbing her hands across my chest.
“This weekend is going to be long as fuck,” I groan.
Despite everything, I still smile and kiss her one last time. This weekend just changed everything in a way I couldn’t imagine.
25
ORANGE JUICE
My hair shiftsand I swat at whatever dared to wake me up. I desperately need more sleep.
“Go away,” I grumble.
“I’m going fishing. I’ll see you later,” Lincoln says.
“Bye,” I groan again, turning on my side and wrapping myself tighter into the blanket. He kisses the side of my head before leaving with his brothers and our fathers for a day out on the ocean.
I try to go back to sleep, but this hard mattress and everything that happened last night is weighing on my mind.
I truly completely agreed to give me and Lincoln a shot.
That doesn’t mean I want anyone else in the family to know, honestly, I don’t ever want to cross that bridge. But… I have to see where this goes.
I need to know for sure that this isn’t about forbidden feelings or wanting what you can’t have. What if my person has been in front of me my whole life and I’m just now seeing it? It would be the biggest regret of my life if I didn’t at least give it a shot—a real shot.
No more tension so thick I want to choke on it and die. It will still be our dirty little secret, but we’re really going to try this. We’re going to be a real couple within the privacy of our own homes, but what exactly does that mean?
All I know is I can’t stop thinking about that kiss, or about how much Lincoln wants me. I smile like a fucking idiot into my pillow as there’s a knock on my door and my mom comes in.
“Hey, sweetie. Are you ready to get up and go shopping?”
I grumble, even though I’m awake, I don’t actually want to be.
My mom and aunt love shopping, and I suppose I do too, but all I want to do is get off this island and go back home with Lincoln and figure this all out. What’s the next step? What does dating each other but not telling our family or friends look like? Well, at least the ones who don’t already know.
My cheeks heat when I think about Gavin walking in on us last night. But Gavin isn’t like the rest of our family, he’s forward thinking and easygoing, my mother on the other hand is not.
