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While I shimmied out of my cutoffs, I watched Kane spread out a blanket under the shade of a river birch tree before he took off his T-shirt. His golden-brown skin looked smooth to the touch. Sweat beads dripped down his taut chest and landed among his defined abs. I bit my lip, mesmerized by him. Still in shock that this man chose to be mine. It should give hope to all the shy, awkward premed students out there.
I approached him, taking my glasses off when I reached him and gently tossing them on the blanket. I wrapped my arms around his beautiful body and rested my head against his hard chest. He didn’t hesitate to embrace me.
“Please tell me what’s wrong.”
Without a word, he scooped me up, and I threw my arms around his neck. He gave me a forced smile. “Time for a swim.”
I let him keep his secret, for now.
We entered the water together. I gripped him tighter, stung by the cold of the river. Kane didn’t seem to mind—he seemed reluctant to let me go at all, and even when he did set me down, he pulled me right back to him. I snuggled up against him, letting the nearby rowdy crowd splash us.
Kane kept kissing my head and running his hands down my back and arms. His touch sent more shivers down me than the cold water.
Once we’d cooled off, we headed back to the blanket. Neither of us spoke about eating the food Kane had brought. There seemed to be more pressing needs, though I wasn’t sure what those were. We soaked each other in while lying on the blanket together, my head on his chest. My fingers danced down his wet skin.
“That feels good,” he whispered.
“Thank you for this summer, Kane,” I spoke quietly.
He embraced me tighter. “It was one for the books.”
“It’s been the best summer I’ve ever had.” Those words seemed so inadequate and not truly what I wanted to tell him. I needed him to know what the past three months had meant to me, what he meant to me. With my heart full of emotion and beating wildly, I propped myself up on Kane’s glorious chest.
He offered me a smile.
My trembling fingers touched his lips. “I love your smile. I love you,” I said, so breathy it was as if it were whispered by the light breeze. For a moment, I experienced such sweet relief telling him how I felt. I was filled with the hope of him reciprocating my feelings. It didn’t last long.
His eyes grew wide before he tightly shut them and let out a heavy sigh. “Scarlett, have you ever been in love before?” It seemed as if it pained him to ask.
How could he ask that? The man had needed to teach me how to kiss. He knew I had never been in a serious relationship before him. “No.” I sat up, trying not to cry. I was an idiot. I should have known he didn’t feel the same way. I reached for my glasses, intent on walking back to the water or back to his car—anywhere to be alone.
Kane reached for my hand. “Scarlett, stop.”
“Please, let me go,” I cried.
“No. You need to listen to me,” he begged before gently turning my face toward him.
Hot tears of embarrassment started to stream down my face and onto his hand.
He wiped a few tears away while tenderly looking at me. “You are so young. You need to live more life and fall in love again and again,” he struggled to say.
“You sound like my father.”
“Your father is right,” he snapped.
I felt as if he had slapped me. I tried to look away from him, but he wasn’t having it.
“Scarlett, I’m not trying to hurt you,” his tone softened.
“Too late. Is it because I’m not beautiful and stick skinny like all your other girlfriends?”
He let go of my face. “How could you think that?” he asked angrily.
“Did you love any of them?” I choked out.
He hesitated, seeming reluctant to respond. It gave me all the answer I needed.
I scrambled to stand and put my cutoffs back on.
He gently grabbed my arm. “Scarlett, I’ve been promoted to senior global manager,” he spat out, as if he were upset about it. Which was odd, considering that was huge for him and what he wanted. He hadn’t expected he would reach that level for another year or two.
“Congratulations,” I said, a tad snarky. I mean, he’d just crushed my dreams and I was supposed to celebrate that one of his came true?
He hung his head. “I’ll be based out of London.”
“What?”
“Your father told me yesterday,” he growled. “I’m moving next week.”
“To London? As in England? As in across the ocean?” I grabbed my stomach, hardly able to catch my breath.
He nodded.
