“You’ve got your bathing suit on underneath your clothes, so I’ll just snap a shot and we’ll be done.”
“That’s wei–”
I tilt my head at her, knowing what she’s about to say. But if she protests too much, then we’ll come back to why my picture is on her phone, and I know she doesn’t want to explain that.
“Fine.” She dangles her arms at her side. “Where do you want me?”
I could answer that question with so many possibilities, but I go with, “How about the coach?”
The entire time she walks into the living room, she’s mumbling to herself, but she still whips off her tank top and slides her jean shorts down her ass.
This was a bad idea.
“This is ridiculous, Eli.”
“Nope. It’s perfect. Just sit right there.”
“I feel like an idiot.”
“You don’t look like one.” Nope. She doesn’t. She looks hot as hell. Her sexy AF hot pink bikini top tied over her breasts is like a fucking Christmas gift I want to unwrap. I bite the inside of my cheek to hold back saying anything more.
Perched on the edge of the couch, she folds her hands in her lap. Then unclasps them and drapes one hand over the arm of the couch.
“I’m usually behind the lens. I don’t know how to sit.” She moves up on her knees, tits bouncing.
“Just like that.”
“What?”
“Don’t move.”
Her brown eyes trace my movements as I drop to my own knees a few feet in front of her. Fumbling, I grab her phone from my pocket first, then toss it aside. Finally, my own camera in hand, I snap a couple of shots of her.
Shuffling forward, I brush a strand of hair behind her ears. “You’re beautiful, Summer.”
Her resulting small gasp from my touch sends a rush of fire through my body.
Breathless, she asks, “Why is it like this between us, Eli? Like I know you. Like I’ve always known you.”
“I don’t know. I wish I knew. But it’s just easy being with you. It’s the most natural thing in the world. I’ve found something in you that I’ve never experienced with anyone else. You see my goofiness and get it, but you also understand this deeper side of me. I’ve hardly had to explain any of it to you. You just get it. We click.”
“Except the calendar.”
“Except that. But I don’t mind.”
“You don’t?”
“No. We can’t be perfect. Finn would never recover if my relationship with you was better than his and Kenzie’s.”
“Oh!” She reaches forward to playfully swat my chest, but the couch cushion sinks and she topples into me.
Instinctively my hands grab her waist to steady her. But the feel of her soft skin tempts them to run north. Up her ribs.
We’re both kneeling on the floor, her straddling one of my thighs.
“What about that date, Eli?”
“Big plans, Summer. I had big plans for that. I was gonna give you a tour of the Lit Creek you don’t know yet. Show you the Johnny Board, all the most embarrassing and most celebrated moments of the town. Then I was going to take you to the Pie in the Sky bakery that Sierra runs. Even though I know you’ve already been there. Eventually we were going to make our way to Keepsake Corner where they have vintage cameras.”
