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This didn’t mean anything.Couldn’tmean anything. It was supposed to be temporary. But nothing about his hand on my ass, or the possessive way he tucked me into his side, felt temporary. Nothing in thatdamn kissfelt temporary. Nothing in the way my soul seemed to reach for him did, either. Insane. This was insane. One night in a tent, and my thoughts were all a muddled mess of lust and…nope. Not going there.
Clearing my throat and my thoughts, I smacked on my best attempt at a smile.
“Wow!” I said, mustering every ounce of remaining espresso in my veins to scrounge up some enthusiasm as Sterling showed off an enormous pale pink starfish, at least the size of Jameson’s hand. A high-pitched whistle brought all three of us to attention, and I spotted Axel perched on the top step of the staircase to the Rhodes’ house. He waved us over before turning back and heading inside.
“Dinner time,” Sterling said before sprinting for the small, moss-coated cliff face. I was about to follow in his wake, mind spinning with that greeting, when Jameson tugged my hip against his. Holy shit, that smolder could turn me molten hot in point-four seconds or fewer. Those previous million questions threatened the control I had on my lips, but only one snuck through.
“What are we doing, Jameson? There’s nobody here.”
“There was nobody on the summit, either.” Thank God for that, because I think I screamed his name until my voice gave out. That panty-melting smirk spread over his face, like he was reminiscing, too.That was so you’d know it wasn’t for the fucking show.His snarled words after he’d decimated my logic in his foyer reverberated in my skull, my emotions a mess of uncertainty and messed up desire.
“So...?” I hedged nervously.
“I told you before.”
“You’re going to have to expand for me.” When his lips came down on mine again, I kissed him back for all of a heartbeat before laughing against him. “Well, Iknowyou can dothat.”
Forehead resting against mine, Jameson sighed. Low and hungry, he softly said, “Of course, I’m happy to see you, Skittles. I’m just…grappling with how to do this.”
“Fake-dateme? I told you this would never work. It never works. And sex just makes everything confusing. At no point in history, fictional or otherwise, has a fake-dating relationship ever—”
My words were silenced with a bruising kiss, his hands gripping my body, sliding up to cup my face before he let out a breath against my lips. “Can you just—give me a minute? I don’t do this touchy-feely shit, okay?”
Trying and failing to resist the urge to laugh, I earned a crisp clap to my ass, followed by an endearing squeeze as he grinned at me. He nipped kisses up my neckline, making me burst into laughter, and arch away from him only to find myself trapped in the cage of his arms. As he buried his face against my neck, I couldn’t say I was particularly mad about it. Beyond the demanding draw to Jameson, there was a kind of…security that cocooned me when I was with him. A girl should feel safe in her man’s arms, and a pang of ache ran through me at the alienness of the sensation. It shouldn’t mean anything that I knew I was safe there. Anger shadowed along the edge of my mind—anger that I’d thought so little of myself to tolerate that kind of uncertain hell for so long.
But as he pressed his lips against my neck, scruff smarting against the tender skin, my body settled against him, and arousal swallowed my apprehension. His next words only fanned that flame.
“You gotta let me hear myself think, or I’ll have to find a better use for that mouth,” he promised as his words sent a fever through my center. I wanted that. Wantedhim. One night was not nearly enough. “If we’re going to pull this off, you’re going to have to let me process every now and then.”
And just like that, my stomach sank. All illusions of something between us dashed on the black sand beneath our feet. ‘Going to pull this off’. So, itwasfake; we were just enjoying the benefits of it? What exactly did that mean? And why was his first declaration still tightening my core despite the uncertainty assaulting my veins? Sensing my sudden trepidation, perhaps psychically aware my pulse was suddenly thrumming against my skin, he dropped his gaze to lock on mine.
“Shit, that came out wrong. Look, baby, you make me want to be better—to figure this shit out—but it’s going to take me a minute. I’ve…avoided doing any of this for so long.” No stranger to an endless string of excuses, I started to extricate myself from his grip. Jameson brought his forehead to mine, cradling either side of my face in sudden desperation and stealing my breath with his next declaration. “Wait, Noel. You don’t owe me anything, but please just…be patient with me. It took every scrap of strength to drive away from you at Grizzly Grind today. Watching you in my rearview was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.Of course, I’m happy to see you. I just…don’t know how to get myself to leave you twice in one day.” When he kissed me this time, his dominance stole my breath until I forgot my own damn name.
* * *
Somehow,neither of us burst into flames sitting sandwiched between Rhodes on opposite sides of the dinner table. Jameson’s earlier declaration had been followed by a kiss so desperate it left me breathless, hands roaming until Axel and Sterling were back on the stairs bellowing for us to come to dinner. But the arousal he’d sent sprinting into my bloodstream refused to be tamed. My anxious anticipation funneled into my leg, which bounced compulsively beneath it. At least, right until Elora’s eyes flicked between my rapidly tapping heel and up to my face.
“Shut up,” I breathed as she swallowed her laughter, smirking around the rim of her wineglass.
“Got somewhere better to be?” she teased.
“No,” I said, clearing my throat. “Just jittery—too much of the new fresh brew today.”
“I think you’re brewing a lot more than coffee these days,” she muttered under her breath.
I snickered, spearing the last bite of steak off my plate and popping it in my mouth. She wasn’t wrong. The heat of his eyes on my face brought blood to my cheeks, the brewing temptation only rising hotter between us. One nightwasn’tenough. Hell, I wasn’t stupid enough to think two would be. And maybe it was confusing as hell—his words and actions in direct contradiction to this little ‘arrangement’ to keep Eric at bay. But as the others chattered around us, my blood thrummed relentlessly, my body purring in his presence and not really giving two shits if it was real or not. Either way, I needed more of him. It was just a matter of deciding if the pleasure would be worth the inevitable heartbreak.
When dessert replaced our dinner plates, I averted my eyes, feeling like I was about to wither under his relentless focus, his foot finding mine under the table. Days away from turning twenty-six, and I was playing footsie at dinner, wishing it didn’t send nerves flapping in my stomach. The moment a respectable amount of cobbler had been vacuumed off my plate, I cleared my throat.
“Juniper, Milo, thank you so much for having me. I’ve got to turn in early—I open tomorrow.”
Elora grinned wickedly at her plate, but I kicked her shin before she could open her mouth. I wasn’t lying, despite that not being why I wanted to sprint out the front door.
To my surprise, it was Broderick’s sly smile and smooth baritone that cut the tension. “Wouldn’t want to cut in onbedtime, Red.”
I leaned down to give him a hug—pinching his arm and earning a low chuckle—before making the rounds as Juniper chirped, “Thank you so much for making it, sweetie!”
“Yeah, I’m gonna miss you, Noel!” Alice said, reminding me it was Alice’s bon voyage party that had demanded all of our presence here in the first place. And here I was, worried about sneaking off with her brother. Selfish. Horrible way to start a friendship, Noel.
