Was I? My nerves felt like they were being jolted with a cattle prod. It was one thing to be in the moment and quite another to find one’s way back to that moment. I blurted out, “I’m on the pill. I mean, just so you know.”
He made a surprised noise in the back of his throat and chokedout, “Good, good. Pretty sure there are condoms inside the armrest.”
“Good, good,” I repeated, probably sounding as nervous as I felt.
“Maybe we should just take it slow and see what happens,” he suggested. “I have no expectations.”
“Okay.”
“C’mere.”
He pulled me into his arms, and we were back on. He dispelled my nervous quivers by kissing a slow, erotic trail up my neck that lingered on my earlobe, making me shudder while goose bumps raced over me.
“So soft,” he marveled. “How are you so soft? I wish I could see you.”
“Wish I could see you, too.”
Seb shifted away for a moment and flipped on the interior light. I squeezed my eyes closed for a second, eyes adapting to the golden light, and we both chuckled.
“Well, hello there,” he murmured, curling both arms around me.
“Hello...” My hands dared to slip under the front of his T-shirt and trace the muscled planes of his chest, making him shiver briefly.
Our kisses turned frantic as our hands wandered freely over each other’s bodies, in and out of each other’s clothes. I fell back on the seat as his hands roamed under my shirt. He kissed his way from my belly button upward, and when he pulled down a cup of my bra and licked my nipple, I nearly died of pleasure.
My fingers struggled to undo the button on the front of his shorts, and we both halted our explorations briefly, chuckling and whispering as we shifted around on the back seat to maximizethe space, with our legs dangling onto the floorboards. And that’s when I heard it.
A dog barking.
The sound barely registered in my head, it was so muffled and distant, so far away from our erotic cave in the back of the car. Then I recognized the bark at the same moment Seb did.
Punkin.
Seb jerked up his head. We both listened intensely while my pulse thumped in my temples. It wasn’t just Punkin we heard.Someone was outside the car.
Why did we turn on the interior light? Now I feltextremelyexposed.
That was my last thought before I felt Seb roughly jerking down my shirt to cover me up, and the door near our heads suddenly opened to the most terrible, blinding light. Was it a UFO? Or the cops, and we being arrested for indecency?What in God’s name is happening?
The blinding light dropped to the pavement, and there stood Jazmine and Benny, staring into the back seat of the Land Rover with their mouths open and dueling looks of horror on their faces.
“Knew it!” Jazmine said. “You fucking little liars!”
Chapter 24
The walk of shame back to the campsite was mildly humiliating. Thank God it wasn’t far because Jazmine was giving us so much grief, despite Seb’s insistence that we never intended to keep this from them (we absolutely did) and that it was none of their business (it truly wasn’t) and that we knew what we were doing (nope).
Jazmine imitated talking with her hand to show him how little she believed him. And as I ducked into the girls’ tent, I gave Seb a look that said,I have to deal with this, and he gave me one back that said,Good luck. It was the last thing I wanted to do—my body was still hoping all of this would blow over so that we could get back to it—but I needed to make sure Jaz was okay with this. I didn’tthinkshe was genuinely upset with us, but the guilt made it hard for me to know for sure. She sat on her sleeping bag, pretending to look menacing, with her arms crossed while I zipped up the door.
“Got anything to say for yourself?” she asked in a low voice.
I lifted my shoulders slowly, gritting my teeth. “Oops?”
Jazmine snorted a soft laugh. “Just fell on top of him, did ya?”
“Oh God.”
Her laugh was bigger this time. “Go on, confess.”
