“You’re going to come, aren’t you?”
I manage a nod.
“Already?”
I nod again.
“I can feel you,” he rasps. “Fuck. You feel so fucking good.”
When I do, it’s like an explosion. One that was simmering, kept at a low boil, only for it to splinter my body right down the middle. I feel it all the way down to my toes.
He follows. Being the gentleman that he is, he waits for me to finish.
We’re a panting mess when he climbs off me, and I lazily run my hand over his chest, enjoying the deep valley between his pecs that trails down to a set of muscles lining his stomach. And a thought occurs to me.
I smack him.
“What?” he asks. He looks genuinely concerned while I bite my lower lip.
I eye him, my breaths slowly evening out. I fight a smile when I say, “I was going to make you wait.”
He looks confused.
“At least until the fourth date?—”
He laughs, yanking me closer to him, and I squeal, following willingly.
CHAPTER EIGHT
James
NOW
“Soph,let’s put on some sunscreen!”
Sophia squeals, paddling her floaty-clad arms to the opposite end of the pool, away from Kendall.
“Sophia,” Kendall warns, enunciating each syllable. Sadie, my niece who’s back home from her freshman year of college with my sister for the summer, scoots closer to Sophia. She smiles at Sophia, coaxing her back to dry land where her mom waits with a blob of sunscreen in her palm.
Sophia flails her arms, splashing droplets of water everywhere, while Kendall attempts to dry her the best she can before slathering her up to prepare her for another hour in the sun. I watch them from the other side of the backyard, sitting on a slatted lounge chair. I’m nursing a beer with a plate full of food balanced on my knee.
With Sadie’s return, my mom went all out for her welcome-home celebration. Marinated short ribs, steamed rice, side dishes like stir-fried glass noodles and braised vegetables. The usual suspects for a weekend lunch at my parents’ house, and the Korean food I only really get to eat when my mom cooks. Though the way we embrace the Korean side of our family—specifically, my mom’s side—is usually through food, I can’treally complain. Other customs, such as New Year’s Day rituals, are done on a case-by-case basis. Something that happened over time as most of our extended family grew further and further apart.
“First year of college. Are you guys happy now that Sadie’s back home?” I ask my sister.
Teeny nods from the lounge chair sitting parallel to the one I’m sitting in. She has her own plate of food, different variations of what’s on mine, though she favors more of the noodles and vegetables. “She’s just been sleeping in most days and eating a lot,” she tells me. “I think that last week of finals knocked the wind out of her, and she didn’t really like the dining hall food that much.”
“She’s been ordering a lot of food delivery,” Everett, her husband, chimes in.
“Yeah,” Teeny agrees. “A lot of dessert.”
The two share a smile like it’s an inside joke.
They’ve been married about three years, after Teeny divorced Sadie’s dad, Leo. She started dating Leo when she was a senior in high school. He was a friend of mine from college, and they met when he followed me home for a weekend visit. While I see Leo from time to time, considering he’s still my niece’s dad, the divorce and my sister’s new husband have altered our friendship. It’s crazy how things turned out. I thought Teeny and Leo would grow old together. Watch Sadie grow up, send her off to college together and have her come back to a home they share. But life has a way of paving its own path. Instead, destiny decided to bring Everett back into Teeny’s life after he disappeared more than twenty years ago. High school sweethearts and whatnot. It took some time for the whole family to adjust to their relationship considering they had quite a past, but now, it’s like they’ve been together this whole time.
“How does she like Berkeley?”
“She likes it. Said the classes are pretty hard,” Everett answers. “But she’s happy to be home.”
