“I often travel with adult supervision.”
“They know you’re looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re trying to decide if I’m worth the inconvenience.”
I smiled. “You assume you’d be inconvenient.”
“I know I would be.”
“That was almost self-aware.”
“I have moments.”
“Rare?”
“Depends who’s asking.”
I tilted my head and let my gaze move over him slowly because if he wanted to look, I could absolutely return the favor. I started at his face, took my time on the scar near his mouth, moved down his throat, chest, the ridges of his stomach, the waistband of his trunks, and back up again.
By the time I met his eyes, his expression had gone still.
Good.
Men always wanted women to be flustered by their bodies until we looked at them like we had plans, and Easton did not blush or smirk when I did it. He only watched me with that awful patience.
“Done?” he asked.
“No.”
His laugh was quiet, almost under his breath. “Honest.”
“Occasionally.”
“You like making people uncomfortable?”
“I like making men aware they’re not the only ones in the room with eyes.”
“I’m aware.”
“Are you?”
His gaze dipped to my mouth. “Painfully.”
That should not have worked, but fuck did it ever.
I turned and started walking toward the quieter bonfire before my face could betray me. The sand shifted beneath my sandals, warm on top and cool underneath, and I felt him fall into step beside me without asking permission or grabbing for it.
That was Easton’s thing. He moved like he could take up space without stealing mine.
It annoyed me how much I liked it.
The second bonfire sat farther down the shore near a curve of trees, smaller and less crowded, occupied by a few people talking quietly, a couple making out on a blanket, and two freshmen who looked scared of everyone hotter than them. The music from the main party reached us as a muffled pulse softened by distance and lake wind. The fire snapped bright against the dark, throwing orange over Easton’s face when we stopped near the edge of its light.
I kicked off my sandals and stepped into the cooler sand.
Easton watched my feet.
