Page 279

I smile and take another sip of water.

Jude

That yellow fucking dress is driving me insane.

Nora walks beside me through the crowd, her bare shoulders and back glowing beneath the thousands of lights hanging above the street. Her olive skin, the yellow fabric moving around her legs, those dark curls bouncing against her shoulders. Every few steps, the crowd forces us closer, her arm brushing mine, and every single fucking time my eyes find that naked back.

The urge to reach out and run my hand over it is bad enough.

The thought of putting my mouth there…

Fuck.

Football.

Nope. Football isn't cutting it anymore.

Horse shit.

I take my brain straight to cleaning stalls. Wheelbarrows full of it. Hades after a full day of eating. Anything.

“Oh, look!”

Nora grabs my arm and points towards the beach, where people are already leaving the streets and moving onto the sand, spreading blankets everywhere as they wait for the fireworks. Kids run towards the water with glowing bracelets around their wrists while someone yells after them. The music from the fair still carries behind us, mixing with the waves and hundreds of voices.

Nora steps towards the beach just as a teenager comes flying through the crowd on a bike.

“Nora.”

I grab her around the waist and pull her against me before he can hit her. The kid swerves past us, someone shouting “Attento!” after him, but I barely hear it.

Because Nora is pressed against me, her hands resting on my chest and her eyes shooting up to mine.

Coconut every fucking where.

That's the first thing my brain registers. Then those deep night-sky eyes, her warm, soft curves against me and those full lips.

Fuck.

“You're always saving me, Grumpy.”

Her smile hits me square in the chest.

I make myself let go, because if I keep my hands around her waist for another second, I'm going to find out what those lips taste like.

And I'm not doing that.

Nope.

She's not ready.

Don't know if she'll ever be ready.

I can live with that. I have to.

But damn it if those eyes and those lips don't bring me to my fucking knees with want.

We make our way down to the beach, where Dex drops onto a blanket and Lexy immediately settles between his legs, leaning back against his chest like that's where she belongs. On the other side, Matteo sits and pulls Chiara down with him.