She smiled bashfully back at me.
We walked back to our rooms in companionable silence. Dinner had been delicious. The company great. I kinda felt like I’d known Saylor for forever. Most of the time I completely forgot about our age difference.
I wondered how she’d slide into my life back home. I might have a lot of free time on my hands when we got back.
Shit, what was I going to do with my life?
I blinked and suddenly we were standing at the base of the stairs leading up to Saylor’s treehouse bure.
“Everything okay?” Saylor asked with a head tilt, concern twisting her eyebrows.
“Yeah, just thinking about home. I might have a lot of time on my hands soon, and I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.”
She squinted. “I thought we put the kibosh on that thinking with the sandcastles.”
“I can’t help where my mind wanders.”
“Well, that sounds like a problem for Future Mal to figure out. We’re staying in treehouses on an island in Fiji. How about you try living in the moment?”
“Sometimes I think you’re way too wise for your twenty-whatever years.”
“Twenty-two years, thank you very much.”
I winced. When I was twenty-two, I’d been making stupid decisions—sleeping with groupies and getting talked into ass tattoos. Damn, that made me feel old. So very, very, old.
Is that what I was for Saylor? Her poor decision ass tattoo—only she was sleeping with a washed-up rock star instead? Fuck.
Why did that bug me so much?
“Uh uh,” Saylor tsked. “There’s that face again. You’re getting all grumpy. Not very sexy.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if I can do sexy tonight. It’s hard to turn off my mind when I’m mentally spiraling like this.” I sighed. I might need to call my sponsor.
“That’s too bad.” She pouted exaggeratedly then shook her head sadly. “BecauseIwas feeling sexy tonight. Guess it’s just going to be me and the collection of toys my bestie packed for me…”
“Toys?” I perked up.
Saylor tipped her head. “A whole suitcase full of them, practically. Paige was insistent. Said I needed to take care of me while I was here. I have vibrators, some flavored lube, and more that I haven’t even seen yet. Paige bought out a whole store, I think. I don’t even know what some of them do.” She sighed.“Sounds like I need to dig into the bag since you’re not up for the job.”
“I’m up for the job. Who said I wasn’t up for the job? What are we doing down here when you have a cornucopia of sex toys waiting for us?” I grabbed her hand and all but drug her up the stairs. “Let’s go.”
She laughed as she let me guide her to her treehouse.
When we got to the top, I bounced on my toes like a kid waiting on Christmas morning. “Where’s the bag? I wanna see it? Show me!”
Saylor cringed. “God, I don’t know where I got the brazenness to even tell you about it. I mean, it sounded like a good idea at the time, but standing here now…”
I tugged her toward me and brushed the hair out of her eyes. “Look at me, baby.” I waited until she did. Her baby sky eyes looked so uncertain and kinda freaked. I softened immediately. “Nothing is going to happen here tonight that you’re not enthusiastic about. If you don’t want to dig into your perverted sex bag, we won’t. Simple as that.”
“But you were so excited…”
“And I’m still excited.” I pushed my hips into hers. “He’s happy every time he sees you, I promise.”
She bit her bottom lip and still looked unsure.
“And you can change your mind anytime. All you gotta do is say ‘get out.’ And I don’t mean that as a safe word or whatever. I’m not into the whole ‘no means yes’ thing. You say no and it stops. End of conversation.”
She nodded. “I did change my mind.”
