“That’s all you have to say?” she teased as she pulled back slowly and sank down. “That, my friend, is vaguer thangood.”
“Uhh,” he repeated, but he was grinning.
It was time to stop talking. She grabbed his hands and brought them to her breasts as she rode him. Pinpricks of pleasure zipped from her nipples to her center. She kept the pace slow, in keeping with the vibe of the encounter. Slow but concerted.
It didn’t take her long, and it didn’t take him long. She gasped as the fluttering started. It was less intense than before, less overwhelming, but it was so, so good. One might even say… “Peachy,” she whispered.
He moved his hands from her breasts and laced his fingers with hers. He gave a final “Uhh,” and thrust upward.
They stayed like that for a few moments, but eventually, she reached down to make sure the condom stayed where it was as she levered herself off him. She yawned.
He yawned.
“Contagious,” she said.
He sat up, dealt with the condom, and looked around. “This room is really something. I hadn’t really registered…”
“The unicorn posters? The unicorn duvets? The stuffed unicorn in the corner? The Unicorn Central vibe in general?”
“Correct on all counts.”
Blair curled up in the warm spot he’d created and pulled the fluffy duvet up to her chin. She was perfectly content. “Mm. Cozy.”
“I know you don’t want to slumber together, but can I sleep in the other unicorn bed?”
She cracked up. “I don’t know,canyou?”
He rolled his eyes. “MayI sleep in the other unicorn bed?”
“You may.”
Chapter 27
The Green Light
Riding a bike, it turned out, was like riding a bike. Blair snickered to herself as she built up speed on the loaner Allie had said she could use. Blair hadn’t ridden a bike since middle school, transporting oneself by bicycle being not the thing for proper Southern young ladies, but she hadn’t forgotten how.
She’d left Jack at the cabin staring out at the water, rather morosely if she wasn’t mistaken. Was he having more memories of childhood? Was he thinking about what had happened last night? She’d desperately wanted to know what was going on in his head, but, sensing that he wanted to be alone, she’d declared her intention to head into the nearby town.
He had offered his car, but she’d wanted to ride to get a sense of what Sunny, the protagonist ofGreen Light, who was not a proper Southern young lady and therefore a cyclist, would have experienced.
She was also on a mission.
Her first stop was, on Jack’s advice, Bo’s Live Bait and Tackle, which, contrary to the name, was more of a general store. Her mind whirred as she entered the cluttered, unflatteringly lit store and was greeted by a portly, gray-haired man wearing a Minnesota Vikings T-shirt who, clocking her as being from out of town, introduced himself as the one and only Bo.
“I’m a friend of Allie Jensen’s, and I’m staying at her place.” She was pretty sure Bo’s Live Bait and Tackle would make an ideal alternative to the convenience store inGreen Light, but she didn’t want to tip her hand just yet. Bo hadn’t recognized her, and she hoped to stay on the down-low. “Of course, on my trip to the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, I managed to forget to pack a bathing suit. I heard you might have some.”
Blair was directed to a section of the store that had floaties, beach toys, and a few bathing suits, though the pickings were slim. She grabbed the only one that looked like it would fit—there were no changing rooms at Bo’s—which was a one-piece covered in mermaid scales, except they were blurry and pixelated as if the image printed on the suit had been enlarged too much. She drifted up and down other aisles on her way to check out, marveling over worms, minnows, and some larger fish. She examined elaborate multicolored lures, fishing poles, and other equipment that seemed vaguely fishing related. Bo also had a small grocery section, gardening tools, hardware, boating supplies, and, it seemed, a little coffee shop in one corner.
“Can you make a latte?” she asked, nodding at the espresso machine behind the counter.
“Sure can. Well, the machine makes it. All I do is press a button.”
Soon Blair was on her way down the short main street with a comically ugly bathing suit and a surprisingly good latte. She poked her head into an antique shop that was really more of a junk store, stopped to peruse the menu posted outside a diner called Lake View even though the town was not, in fact, on the lake. She took note of a few spots Jack had mentioned: the laundromat, which was called Super Suds, and the library, though it was closed because it was Monday.
She got back on the bike with a strange feeling. Not a bad feeling—nothing like the bone tingling that used to presage thecyclone. It was a calm, confident knowing. This town wasperfect, and it was going to be the setting forGreen Light.
Jack didn’t seem to be around when Blair got back to the cabin, though the car was still in the drive. Blair donned the ugly suit and retrieved an inner tube from the stash Allie had shown them. She waded out from the shore, trying not to squeal when her feet touched something slimy that she told herself was just seaweed.
