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“Your call, man. It’s your birthday. Get yourself a plate.”
“In a sec.”
He nods and wanders to the long table at the far end of the patio where the food is set out buffet-style. The pool lights click on, as well as the landscape lights around the area. They put a soft glow on everyone. The music doesn’t quite drown out the hum of conversation. It’s relaxed. I take a long, deep breath and will myself to do the same. Then I head toward the girl taking up space in my head I didn’t know was available…until her. Manners force me to stop and be social when all I really want is to grab Kendall and take up where we left off in my office. Eventually I make it across the deck to stand beside her. She looks up at me and opens her mouth to speak.
“How do you take your burger?” I ask quickly because I’m almost certain by her expression she’s about to tell me she has to go.
“I’m not really hungry.” She twists the cap on her water bottle open, then closed. “Thanks for inviting me, but I should probably—”
“Stay and eat,” I interject, cutting her off. “Or at least keep me company? Come on, I’m starving. I take her hand, but she doesn’t move.
Instead she faces me, and I hear her next words before she even opens her mouth.
“Did you invite her?”
“No.”
“So…” She pulls her mouth into what she probably thinks is an impassive line, but all it does is make me want to kiss her lips until they soften and open under mine. “You have a surprise guest. I’m sure she’d like to spend time with you and…catch up or whatever.”
“There’s no whatever,” I correct, and take her hand to lead her down the patio and around the side of the house where we can talk privately.
“Vaughn—”
“Shh.” Once we turn the corner, I let her go. She leans against the wall and gazes up at me. “Look, I’m not going to lie. Becca and I have hooked up, but that’s in the past. We’ve been friends for a long time, too, and that’s not going to work anymore, either.” I brace my hands on either side of her head and look her in the eyes.
“I didn’t invite her.” It’s darker back here, but I can see her gaze dart over my shoulder and then drop to our feet. “I invited you. The only person I want to catch up with is you.”
“Look, whatever is going on between us is…”
“Undeniable?” I suggest, because if she says “complicated” right now, I’ll have to prove her wrong. So much for the heart-to-heart I promised myself we’d have. I’m not sure I can handle it.
She sighs. “Pointless is the word that springs to mind. We don’t want the same things. We have very different goals.”
“You don’t know what you want,” I point out. “You came here this summer to think.” I’m not trying to argue with her, but these are words straight from her mouth.
She lifts her chin and stares into my eyes as if she’s searching for something. “I can’t do that properly if my mind’s constantly on you.”
“Has your mind been constantly on me, Kendall?”
I can’t hold back my smile when she responds with a very exasperated, “Yes.”
I don’t have any magic words to make her let go of her worries and cut herself some slack. All I know is she’s a good person, and she makes me want to be a better one. “Maybe right now you’re not supposed to be thinking about anything but this…”
I kiss her.
She’s rigid for a second, and then melts against me with a small sigh. I cup her jaw and take us both deeper. Her lips part for my tongue, and I lose myself in an addictive combination of peaches, rum, and Kendall. A big-brother voice in the back of my head wonders how much she’s had to drink, but then her fingernails rake through my hair and big brother shuts up. She rises onto her toes and kisses me back with an urgency that tells me she doesn’t want to think about this too much, either. Just go…go…go. And Jesus, I’m going, because her tongue’s sliding over mine, and the soft scrape of her nipples against my chest brands me through her dress and my shirt. Next thing I know I’ve got my hand under her skirt, holding her tight little ass, lifting her higher as I kiss my way to her ear.
“I owe you an apology.”
“For what?” She angles her face so her mouth finds mine. She rocks her hips, seeking, offering, demanding. It’s all I can do not to tear her panties off and give us both some relief, but I want to give her more. She deserves more.
“I owe you an apology for not walking away with you back there, because it made you doubt. And that was wrong. It’s you I want, Kendall. Don’t ever doubt that.”
Her hands fist in the front of my shirt and pull my mouth back to hers. This isn’t something she wants to talk about.
“I’ll show you.” So saying, I back away.
“Vaughn—”
