really like who you are.”
She scoffs, rolling her eyes. She focuses her gaze on the ocean, the sun beating down on its waves. “You barely know me, Sully.”
“Look at me.”
She doesn’t.
I reach for her, grabbing her chin and pulling her attention to me.
When I have her green eyes focused on me, I ask, “Have you lied about anything? Pretended to be anything you’re not? Shown me a side of you that isn’t authentic?”
“No.”
“You’ve been real with me?”
“Yes.”
I run my thumb over her chin, loving the feel of her skin beneath my fingertips. “Then, Thea, I know you, and I happen to really like who you are.”
A soft gasp escapes her lips.
“You have to stop being afraid of the unknown. Nothing is ever certain, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take the leap and enjoy the fall.”
Like lightning striking, Thea’s lips are on mine.
Then just as fast as lightning disappears, they’re gone.
For a moment, I think I imagined the kiss, but her wide, worried eyes tell me I didn’t.
Sharp, stuttered breaths are louder than the waves crashing against the shore, and I don’t know if they’re coming from me or her.
“I—”
I press my thumb over her lips, silencing her. She swallows against my touch, the fretting in her eyes dissipating, lust settling in.
She peeks her tongue out, grazing the pad for a fraction of a second like she can’t help but get a taste.
It’s my undoing.
I cover her mouth with my own, kissing her hard and fast.
She lets me, pushing back with just as much ferocity as I give. Her fingers crash into my hair, pulling at the overgrown curls and holding me to her. I wrap an arm around her, sliding my hand under her ass and lifting her onto my lap with ease.
Her gasp breaks our kiss momentarily as she straddles me, sinking onto my lap like she was made to be there. There’s no way she doesn’t feel my hard cock rubbing against her center.
She locks our lips together once more, grinding down onto me.
Leaving one hand on her hip, I glide the other under her sweatshirt. Her soft skin feels like home underneath my fingertips, and I decide then I could touch her forever if she’d let me.
Though I’m itching to feel every inch of her, I don’t take it any further, letting her be the one to tell me when she’s ready and for what.
Then I feel her tongue brush against my lips, and I open, letting her take the lead.
Thea kisses me slowly, thoroughly. Our mouths fuse together, tongues sliding in what feels like a practiced rhythm. When she hums against me, I swear I can feel it down to my toes.
Slowly, she pulls away, her hard nipples brushing against my chest with every sharp, unsteady breath she takes. She looks down at me, eyes ablaze with desire.
“That was… I…” She gulps, the sound loud and harsh. “I—”
“My eyes! My eyes! Make it stop, Frankie!”
Thea scrambles off my lap, leaping away from me like we’re a couple of teens who just got caught by their parents.
“Leave her be, Jonas,” his fiancée chides. “You are so humiliating.”
I pull my legs up, hiding my hard dick from prying eyes. I work to calm my breathing and get my body back under control as Thea’s brother and his fiancée make their way toward us.
Thea stands over me, eyes big and wild.
She looks spooked.
And like she regrets kissing me.
“Thea, I—”
“Don’t.” She pastes on a big smile and turns toward her brother. “Hey! What are you guys doing out here this early?”
He hooks his thumb over his shoulder. “This buffoon thought it would be romantic to take a walk along the beach for sunrise.”
“Don’t you know you’re supposed to be sleeping now while you still can?” Thea says to her soon-to-be sister-in-law. “You’re going to wish you had spent more time in bed once my niece or nephew comes.”
I push to my feet, standing next to Thea but not touching her.
“Probably, but at least the view was worth it.” Frankie smiles at me. “Hey, Sully. Nice to see you again.”
“You too. How are the wedding plans coming along?”
“Ugh,” she groans. “Exhausting. Jonas keeps trying to convince us to hand out signed footballs as wedding favors.”
“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Frank. Football is our thing, the 50-yard line.”
“Whatever that means,” Thea says. “Quit stressing your pregnant fiancée out, Jonas.”
“Yeah, Jonas,” Frankie echoes. “Quit stressing me out.”
“It’s not bad enough you gang up on me with my mother, now you’re doing