need?”
“I can think of a couple things, but I’m guessing there are enough college girls here on spring break to provide you with that,” she said wryly.
“I don’t go out with college girls, Morgan,” I said, feeling tired for some reason. “I outgrew that a long time ago.”
“You don’t owe me any explanations, O’Shea,” she said with a half-smile. “I’m just passing the time. I’m glad we walked it. The frozen lemonade was awesome, and I don’t think I would’ve been good to drive. I was really tired after surfing, and needed to clear my head. So you helped me out.”
“Consider this our first hike. A really short one, but the refreshments were good.”
“So was the company. I’m looking forward to our real hike,” she said.
“It’ll be better,” I promised. “There’s plenty to show you on this island.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, and headed into her resort. I watched her go, raised my hand in a wave when she looked over her shoulder at me.
I was sorry to see her go. Part of me did feel the gnaw of loneliness, a fleeting wish she would’ve asked me up to her room. I would’ve gone. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. Something in the confessional way she’d been talking to me, in the way we got in too deep too quickly for a casual conversation had made me feel like I could trust her, like I wanted to spend more time with her, in and out of bed. So if I stared after her for a minute as she walked away, if I let myself imagine what she’d feel like in my arms—she was little, no more than five foot five, I’d guess—about a foot shorter than I was—it was a passing thought. A scrap of connection I hadn’t expected with her. Nothing serious. Nothing real.
Chapter 9
Morgan
If I said I wasn’t counting down till my hike with Billy, I’d be a lying bitch. In fact, Maggie kept texting me to see how many hours till I saw the ‘hot Navy dude’ again.
“He has a name,” I’d told her, laughing.
“Hell yeah he does. Hot. Ass. Navy. Dude. If you do not let him in your pants, I’m gonna fix you up with my dentist when you get home. Because you want some boring man that’s not going to push the right buttons if you know what I mean. But if you let this one get away without a hot fling, you deserve to have to listen to your dates talk about molars and shit,” she said.
“So you’re going to be mad if I just do my job and come home? That’s ridiculous. I know you want me to have a good time, but I’m not going to hook up with some random—"
“Badass ex-Navy SEAL sex machine? Yeah, who wants that?” she asked sarcastically. “I mean, you sent me that shirtless picture where he was just goofing off at the lemonade place and I about came in my panties. Don’t act like you weren’t dripping when he took off that shirt.”
“You’re nasty,” I laughed.
“You’re not denying it,” she said pointedly.
I felt heat rush to my cheeks. Of course, he’d made me wet. When he was massaging my calf, I’d felt all the blood rush to the place between my legs where I felt sensitive and slick, where I longed for his touch. His fingers on my leg had been enough to make my nipples hard. I had twitched away from him, panicked because I was afraid he’d see my spiky nipples pointing through my bikini top or notice that I was breathing hard. When I went to bed that night, it was to thoughts of his hand between my legs, long fingers fondling me and then plunging roughly inside of me. I had come to the ministrations of my own hand, but it was frustrating, not satisfying. I wanted what Billy could do to me. That man could turn me inside out. I knew by the way he moved, the way he looked at me with that easy charm, that slight edge he had that made me think he’d give it to me until I couldn’t take any more. I wanted to feel his teeth on my neck. I wanted more than that from him.
“Hello?” Maggie said.
“What?”
“Are you still there or did you go eat dinner while I was waiting for you to admit I’m right?” she teased.
“I’m here, but I do need to go. I