But at the mention of Julian’s apartment and its vacancy, I’m reminded that Lilly and Noah are gone now. Away at school, starting their freshman year. The twinge of jealousy pulls the corners of mymouth down. I quickly force them back up into a smile. I’m happy for my friends. I don’t mind getting my degree online. I can continue to build a life in Blue Lake while I do it. With Julian. I meet his eyes and give him a wink to let him know I’m on board.
We’re a team, I remind myself.
***
Once Callie and Auz are settled into the two spare rooms, we venture on foot to Brew to show them the resort. It’s all but shut down now, with a few local stragglers visiting and soaking up the last of the warm days. Julian and I jog there, but it’s a choreographed event with Auz capturing stints of running and Calliecuttingto fix shadows and misplaced hairs. The five-minute jaunt takes thirty minutes. The more we stage ourreal life, the more grateful I am that I deleted my social media. Of course, Ashley (and company) is trying to convince me to reactivate my accounts. Or better yet, start new ones. I’m entertaining the latter—challenging Julian that I will if he does.
By the time we get to Brew I’m wishing we’d brought suits to jump in the lake. Callie wants to get some yoga/stretching shots on the beach. I’m thrilled to take off my socks and shoes and bury my toes in the sand. I whip my T-shirt over my head and plan to do the poses in my sports bra—if nothing else to avoid the sweat stains on my shirt.
“Ooh, I love that, Ev. Julian, can you take your shirt off too?” Callie notes his arched eyebrows at her request. “Oh, c’mon. Sex sells and you’ve got sex appeal in spades. Besides, you two together will make every married couple in the world want to join a gym.”
Julian rolls his eyes, wiggles his brows at me on the last remark, shrugs his shoulders and whips his shirt over his head. We save the floor moves for the end, so we don’t have sand clinging to us in the other shots. By the time we’re done, the sun is much lower in the sky, but it’s still a slightly cooler oven outside. When Callie finally says, “That’s a wrap,”Julian picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder like a sack and runs into the lake, dunking us both. As I’m coming up for air, I see Auz whip his shirt off, balance on one foot to pull off his Converse and plunge in after us. Callie’s tinkling laugh follows. She picks up his camera and begins snapping, not bothering to check the quality.
“We’re done for the day, Callie, get in here,” Auz shouts, tossing his head sideways to swing his soggy hair out of his face. It’s met with more tinkling laughter. “Get in or I’ll come up there and carry you in.”
“Fine. God, you’re a pain in my ass.” She kicks off her shoes and tosses her tank top on the sand. “These denim shorts are going to weigh twenty pounds when they’re wet.”
“So go in your underwear,” Auz calls back.
“You wish,” she counters.
“I kinda do,” he says under his breath.
Julian’s arms snake around me from behind, so I turn and wrap my legs around him. With a soft kiss, he says, “Let’s go get us all some towels.” He carries me out of the water as Callie is heading in. Setting my feet on the sand, he calls out, “Grabbing some towels, guys. We’ll be right back.” To me, he says, “Race ya,” and takes off up the beach.
I take off after him, knowing I’ll never catch him.
“Hey, stop doing cool shit when I don’t have a camera,” Auz yells from the water.
Seeing Austin’s attention to Callie makes me hate her less. Combined with Julian’s undeniable affection for me, I’m feeling like myself again. Content, calm and happy. I even enjoyed making content. Our beach session was kinda hot and sexy. Maybe that’s why Julian wanted to race me to the towels—alleviate the tension. But we don’t need much to wind us up. Our sexual tension seems to always lie just under the surface.
I catch him at the bottom of the stairs leading up to his old apartment, but only because he stopped and waited for me.
“Hi, pretty girl.”
“Hi, boyfriend,” I say, trying not to sound out of breath. My beautiful man isn’t winded in the least. He’s so frickin’ hot and still dripping lake water. Since he doesn’t have a shirt on, I grab the waistband of his shorts, pull him to me and plant a smacking kiss on his lips.
I take a step back, and he slinks his arms around me, grabs a handful of my ass with one and presses my lower half to him with the other. My hands glide over his soft and warm skin, past his abs, pecs and neck till my fingers wrap around the back of his head, where the spiky fade of hair is almost dry. I pull his face to mine and take the kiss deep from the instant our lips touch. The hand on my ass moves to my hip and lifts my leg to drape over his hip as he grinds into me.
The sound he makes deep in his throat rumbles against my chest.
I pull back, panting, and remind myself where we are. I put my hand on his chest and lean my top half back from him, leg still curled around him. As I lower my leg, he plants tiny kisses on my lips, cheek, ear. His breath is warm and tickles my ear.
“You get the towels. I’ll grab four waters from the fridge,” he says low and sexy, like it’s dirty talk.
I smirk and turn to climb the stairs. His exaggerated sigh tells me he’s watching me walk away. The smirk turns to a grin that hurts my cheeks. “Julie?” I pivot on the stairs.
“Yeah?” His hands brace on the deck rails as he looks up, squinting.
“Thanks for being such a great boyfriend.”
His dimples dent his cheeks with a smile that creases the corners of his eyes.
“I mean it,” I continue. “Even when women clearly want you, you’re just . . .”
“Just?” He’s playing coy and cocky, but he sobers and says, “There is no one else for me, Ever. Just you.”
My stomach somersaults and my cheeks ache with the force of my smile. “Me too.” I turn and jog up the stairs to get the towels.
