Fanning his lips over mine, Knox murmurs, low and husky, “I can lie with you like this forever.” His words rumble against my mouth, amusement laced through the lazy drawl. “Even if you hog all the covers.”
I giggle and close my eyes, letting the moment wrap around us like a dream.
And, this time, I don’t think about if or when or why this summer has to end.
CHAPTER 17
Knox
I am utterly and totally beyond fucked.
And the worst part is, I think I knew it the night she slammed into me.
July
CHAPTER 18
Cami
Crystal Cove’s Stars and Stripes Festival is an annual explosion of color and noise.
Bunting drapes from lampposts, the air thick with sweet kettle corn, charred barbecue smoke, and music spilling down Main Street in competing waves of country twang and beachy cover bands.
Kids dart between legs, clutching dripping snow cones, and couples sway lazily near the gazebo, the whole town humming with that too-much-sun, too-much-sugar buzz.
I should be weaving through the crowd with nothing on my mind but fried Oreos and the fireworks later tonight, but instead, I’m dodging the smell of carnival nacho cheese and wondering if anyone here can tell I’m still walking around in a Knox-induced daze.
Funny, considering there’s a chance I’ve already lost him.
Somewhere between the barbecue stand and the lemonade truck, he vanished—one second beside me, the next making a beeline for the shortest beer line in sight, tossing a “don’t wander off” over his shoulder.
Fifteen minutes later…I’m still wandering.
My bubble phone vibrates in my hand, and I flip it open without hesitation.
New Message:
Knox:Stay where you are, bubble girl.
Knox:Headed to you now.
Biting back a grin, I thumb my reply.
Cami:Stalker…
Turning in a slow circle, I scan the crowd, almost expecting him to materialize out of thin air. And, there he is, cutting through the throng like a heat-seeking missile, two bottles of beer swinging from one hand, a paper tray of fried Oreos in the other, that signature curve of his mouth pulling me apart one heartbeat at a time.
It’s been a little over a week since Millie Palmer came home early, and since Knox and I stopped pretending we could keep our hands off each other. Seven days of lazy mornings, warm coffee, and kittens curled between us. Evenings spent tangled in sheets, his mouth on mine until I forget my own name.
Knox closes the last few steps, handing me a beer before claiming my mouth in a kiss that shorts all my circuits.
“I lost you,” I murmur against him.
His gaze catches mine, heat curling low in my stomach.
“Never,” he says, a vow and a dare in one word, before kissing me again, quicker this time, like he can’t help himself.
He nips at my lower lip, then lets the corner of his mouth hitch into a grin. “Let’s move before I forget we’re supposed to be social. Millie’s with Elena and Margo at the pie-eating contest. I promised we’d say hi before the fireworks.”
