Page 62 of The Summer Plans

“Something changed in me after that. I know it was just a week back in high school, but after it ended, nothing felt the same. Colors weren’t as vivid, food didn’t taste as good, and I’ve never had that rush of warmth flood my entire body when someone kissed me. Not like I had with you. This probably sounds so stupid and melodramatic.”

“It doesn’t.” I slide my palm up to cup her cheek. “I feel the exact same way.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. You picked Jessica.”

“I picked Raven. And while I love my sister, I regret what I did to you almost every day of my life. It gave me Sophie, and I’m so fucking grateful for that. But I regret not standing up to my sister. And I regret not picking you.”

“I don’t understand. Raven made you pick between me and her?”

“No, she’d never do that,” he says, threading a hand through his hair as he tugs on the strands. “I don’t know how much Raven told you about our birth parents.”

“Not much. Just that your mom died when she was little and you two were adopted. It’s why she was so supportive of my decision to adopt the twins. I remember her mentioning that your birth dad died in high school, but she said she wasn’t close to him.”

“Our mom died when I was four, and our dad couldn’t handle two kids on his own, so our mom’s great-aunt agreed to take us in and eventually adopted us. But Raven practically raised me. She was all I had for most of my life. And while I don’t think she’d ever make me choose between the two of you, I didn’t want to lose her.”

“Oh, RJ.” Her hands slide up my chest, and I take comfort in her touch as she lays her head against me. It grounds me, calms my racing heart in a way nothing ever has.

“The week that we spent together sneaking off to make out was the same week we found out our father had died. We weren’t close to him, but it hit me that she and my great-aunt were the only family I had left that were important to me. She seemed really annoyed with me that week, and I worried that she knew. I didn’t want to come between the two of you, and I didn’t want to lose her. But I know I didn’t handle it well. I was a stupid teenage boy, controlled by hormones and urges. And when Jessica asked me out a few days later, I agreed.”

She stills against me, head still pressed against my pec. I summon the courage to continue.

“It was never the same with Jessica. We didn’t have that same spark you and I have. I think I stayed with her throughout high school and college because it was safe. And when she told me she was pregnant, I was honestly more excited about having a kid than I was about building a life with her, but I proposed anyway.”

“How was I supposed to know all that when you stopped talking to me? We were friends before that kiss, and after you and Jessica…” Her voice falters, clogged with emotion, “It broke my heart, and I lost one of my best friends.” She won’t look at me, and I hate it.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you and wish I’d just been honest with you.”

Her head tips back, her eyes blinking rapidly, and relief floods me. “About what?”

“How fucking sorry I was. I’m so sorry for what I did to you. I spent years loving you from a distance. It was messy, complicated, and inconvenient, but loving you was the only constant in my life. Even when I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, where I wanted to live, or how I was going to raise my daughter after divorce, I knew one thing with absolute certainty: I would never not want you, never not love you. And I was resigned to do that from afar for the rest of my life. I should have picked you. It was always you. In my head. In my thoughts. In my dreams. No one can compare to you. I fell in love with you when I was twelve, and I’ve never stopped. It just keeps growing each day. Give me the week to prove it to you. I’m not asking you to forgive me overnight, but I will do everything I can to show you that I can be the man you depend on. I never want to live another day without you. I love you, Summer Sampson.”

“I love you too.” Her words are soft, her smile huge.

I lean in to kiss her, and because she’s still grinning, I awkwardly kiss part of her teeth when I’m aiming for her lips. She giggles, and the sound has me growing impossibly harder.

It takes a second for us to get ourselves under control. Foreheads pressing together as our noses graze each other’s. Her body melting against me as I tighten my grip on her. A shocked gasp falling from her lips when my hips thrust involuntarily against her, seeking her warmth.

Leaning in, I steal the moan from her mouth as I seal my lips over hers. Our kisses grow frantic. Sloppy. Her arms tighten around my neck as she rubs her pussy against me.

“I need you inside me,” she pleads, breaking the kiss.

“Take it out,” I growl as I roll onto my back.

Soft fingers dip into my waistband as she slowly pulls the fabric down. I’m so fucking hard, aching for relief when she gasps. “RJ, what is this?”

She traces the ink next to my dick, and I hiss out a breath. “I think you know.”

“Is this my handwriting?” Her fingers trace the words. “And my drawing?”

“You wrote me so many notes back in the day. And you always doodled in the margins.”

“You saved them?”

Leaning up on my elbow, I look her in the eye, willing her to see the sincerity in mine. “Every single one.”

“All this time?”

“All this time. I wasn’t lying when I said it was always you.”