He held me tight against him as he thrust into me, his own sexy sounds rumbling from his chest. He dug his fingers into my ass as he sucked on my neck. “Yes, baby,take me.”
I clenched around him as he came too, his throaty moansfilling the tent. He clung onto me harder, unless it was my imagination. He also whispered everything he loved about me, which sounded like helovedme, but that was my hopeful heart talking.
I made a vow to myself to enjoy every second of this trip. Things were meant to happen a certain way. I’d walk away from my time with Dean with pride and joy because how many people got to experience this with someone?
It was the summer I fell in love.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Dean
Iwoke up to the sounds of birds, wearing a big-ass cheesy smile. Our legs were intertwined, Mack’s sleepy snores right next to my face, and I couldn’t recall the last time I was this happy. Years? A decade? She made everything better, and I couldn’t explain why or how. My body ached from sleeping at this angle, but it was the best kind of pain.
I slept with her without a condom.This felt huge. Massive growth for me. I mean, fuck, I wasn’t even worried about it. A part of me, buried way deep down, wouldn’t be that upset if a kid tied me to Mack for the rest of my life either. That was a mindfuck of a thought, so I shoved that aside, content in the moment.
I kissed her forehead, snuggling her closer as I sighed. Two weeks left. There was no way I’d be able to walk away from her andnotwake up like this. Was I supposed to just pretend this didn’t happen and go back to partying? No. That would never happen. That sounded so much less fun that challenges with her and our friends. It wasn’t even a competition at this point.
What does this mean though?
Soccer came first for her too. She said it as much, that she never wanted to catch feelings, and here I was planning on asking her to continue this. She’d say no.But would she?I was the one who said I’d never do this, not after Jessica. Mack didn’t say anything, just respected my words.
I rubbed my hand up and down her arm, enjoying her soft breaths and the way her body heat warmed mine. She was such a mixture of softs and hard. Her toned muscles yet soft hair, her dynamite hard competitive streak with a heart of gold. No wonder Lo claimed her as her best friend.
Lo.
Talk about ruining the moment… I had to talk to her. I had to come clean about this and how it wasn’t supposed to happen this way, but it had. She’d understand, but it still felt dirty not sharing this with her.
Okay, game plan. My ownsummer playbook.I had to speak to Lo about this then talk to Mackenzie. I could… hm.
“Morning.” She pushed up onto her elbows and smiled up at me. “I like waking up with you, Romano.”
My stomach swooped. “You’re not so bad, Mallinson.”
She snorted and kissed my chest. “You said I wasexceptionallast night, which I’ll never let you forget.”
“Fair.” I hoisted her closer to me. “You sleep okay? Your neck hurt at all from the angle?”
She shook her head. “I feel better than I should, especially with all the rum we drank. It was so worth it though. Best night ever.”
“Yeah.” I pressed my lips together. After sleeping together without a condom once, we did it three more times, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back. It felt incredible,exceptionalas she said. “We still have a few hours without a phone. Did you want to go to the lake or on a hike?”
“A hike would be awesome!” She stretched her arms over her head, completely content being naked. Her rainbow hair spread around her shoulders, and her eyes seemed to match the blue of the sky. Just… beautiful. “I wish we put a hike on the list. I’m so damn competitive I want to keep going.”
“You should be proud you only have one item left, right? Your girls’ night is in a few days, and you can flaunt it.” My fingers itched to keep touching her, so I ran my thumb up and down her bicep.
“True, but Vee has made good progress being less of a party animal and being more focused. That is worth celebrating, even though she definitely got on the counter with Oliver and stripteased.”
“They are a fun pair. He is so straitlaced and nerdy for a football player where she is—”
“Wild. I love her and would never want her to change, but her focusing on studies and not messing up her senior year is good. Maybe I can delay the final item until next week, so she can have hers.”
Is she trying to delay this as much as me?She admitted it as much yesterday, but with the aggressive urge to continue this, suddenly my feelings felt tense, and my nerves took root. “So, uh, no makeover for a while?”
“I mean, it can wait. I have no fancy plans any time soon. If anything, I should’ve done it before the wedding we crashed. Which, that was a highlight for sure.” She giggled and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. “Seriously, that was a night to remember.”
I told her I’d love to take her on a real date that night, not even aware of how hard I was falling for her. Inspiration hit like a helmet to the gut.I know what to do.
