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“Dreams change,” Poppy said.
“But how do I know if staying is really what he wants?”
“You don’t. He can’t know either, since he doesn’t have a crystal ball or anything,” Jo noted.
“I’ve been trying to convince him to go because I don’t want to be the reason it goes bad.”
“It wouldn’t be your fault, Presley. Not any more than how Marnie feels is your fault. That’s just life, you know? You’re not responsible for anybody’s choices but your own. Sebastian is a grownass man. I think it’s safe to assume he knows what’s best for him better than you do.” Jo was giving me a look over the top of her sunglasses.
“You think you’re so smart, Iris Jo,” I joked, not wanting to acknowledge the truth of her words.
“I am smart. I’m smart as fuck. You should take my advice.”
We all laid back in silence for a moment, and I let myself imagine him staying. I imagined him choosing us, and the three of us living happily ever after.
It felt so good, it scared me.
So I brushed the thought away and watched Sebastian as he flew off the swing, starfished belly-down, and hit the water with a back-breaking crack that had everybody hissing and wincing and collectively groan-laughing.
When he surfaced, it was to float on his back with his hand on his belly to catch his breath.
“The things we do for love,” Daisy said on a sympathetic laugh.
“And butt stuff,” Poppy added on a less sympathetic laugh.
But all I could do was admire his devotion.
By the time we got back to his place, it was dusk, and we were exhausted.
He was staying in the little one-bedroom bungalow on the Vargas property, and in the low light of the entryway, I couldn’t find my way around. When we walked in the door, I nearly took a header over a hall table.
Sebastian caught me around the waist, laughing. “You okay?”
I rubbed my hip. “That’s gonna leave a mark.”
He flipped on the light. “C’mere and let me have a look.”
With a tug of the band of my jean shorts, I was flush against him with his lips against mine.
When the kiss broke, I said, “That’s not where I got hit, you know.”
“Don’t worry—that spot will get a full inspection too.” His smirk didn’t disappear until he kissed me again.
And hot damn, was it a good one.
As a teenager, kissing Sebastian was my favorite thing on the entire planet. As an adult, I always looked back on it with a little condescension—of course kissing a boy was my favorite thing as a teenage girl. But since coming back, I could say with absolute confidence that it was, in fact, the absolute best thing in the whole wide world to kiss Sebastian Vargas.
Through the spell his lips cast, I considered the kiss, wondering what made it so utterly satisfying. The possession, perhaps, in each flex and release. The certainty of every sweep of his tongue. Maybe it was the familiarity of him, the comfort of safety I found in his arms.
Or maybe it was just his magic, luring me in without fail. All he had to do was hook his finger, and I was his.
His lips closed, and he leaned back to peer down at me. Then he took my hand and started for his room.
“Come on. You owe me a sex favor.”
I followed, laughing. “You earned it. You didn’t break anything, did you?”
“Don’t think so.”
“Good. I would have felt terrible.”
He glanced over his shoulder at me with a brow raised. “Really?”
“Nah, that was funny enough to sacrifice a rib or two.”
“As long as they’re not yours.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t have done it, especially not for a sex favor.”
“No?”
“Nope. Because do I really need to do more than ask?”
“No.”
“Exactly.” I set down my bag just inside his bedroom door and sighed.
His room smelled so intensely like him, my mouth watered. I stretched like a lazy cat, trying to decide if I wanted a shower now or later. When Sebastian pulled off his shirt and flopped into bed, later became the only answer.
I climbed in next to him and found my way into his arms. His skin was warm and dark from the sun, his scent masked by the faint salt of sweat and coconut from our sunscreen. He smelled like summer and weightless, untethered days.
I could have lived there forever.
My heart folded in on itself in a painful squeeze.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Why do you think something’s the matter?”
“I dunno. Just a hunch.”
I breathed him in again and closed my eyes. “I just wish summer could last forever. That’s all.”
He stilled. “Maybe it can.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I said half-heartedly.
A long, pregnant pause. “Do you really not know if you want me to stay, Pres?”
“It’s more that I don’t know how to answer you.”
“It’s either a yes or a no.”
