More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
I turn, seeing Lincoln. He pauses, his eyes traveling over me in one quick pass. He pivots, making his way toward us, his attention on Arlo. “Hey.” He’s wearing his practice jersey over a pair of jeans, his dark hair mussed in a sexy way that makes me want to mess it up further.
I run my finger down her slit, loving the hiss she breathes in as her hips shift with the slight pressure. I blow out a breath, trying to steady myself and the weight of desire.
I shake my head. “Your sexiness and confidence are so fucking beautiful, but your vulnerability…” I shake my head, searching for this feeling in my chest. “It makes me feel like a god.”
I slide my hand along her jaw, grazing her cheeks, flipping a switch that carries this moment from sexy directly to intimate as we keep each other’s gazes, exposing our desires and the energy that builds between us—something so strong we’d be able to produce power to the entire Pacific Northwest if they could find a way to channel it.
I watch her as I run a finger over her, catching her wetness on my fingers. She’s soaked. I groan, running another finger down over her folds and using my other hand to spread her apart. Keeping her parted, I stick my thumb into her mouth. I see her pulse in her neck, beating faster than a clock as she thinks too long.
I pull my thumb free from her mouth, and then strum it against her clit, making her hips immediately rock against my hand as she closes her eyes. I run my thumb along her clit and then lower, dipping it inside of her. She gasps. I groan. She’s so fucking wet I could slide inside of her so easily.
I run my thumb gently over her clit once again and enjoy watching her hips push forward to increase the pressure. Then, her hips relax, waiting for me to return back over the same area now buzzing with anticipation and alive with nerves. Instead, I run my thumb farther down, parting her again as I slide my middle finger inside and feel just how soaking wet and warm she is for me.
I slide out, running my fingers along her clit, moving slowly, but increasing the pressure with each pass over the sensitive flesh until her thighs begin to tremble, and her legs struggle between spreading wider and closing with the last of her inhibitions that are keeping her from climaxing. “Stop thinking, Rae,” I coach her. “Just feel it. Absorb just how good I can make your body feel.” She gasps.
“I’ve thought of how I’d like to bend you over, hitch you up against a wall, watch you straddle me…” I shake my head, “I’ve thought about fucking you so many times I could write a book. I have an entire list of positions I need to fulfill with you, but not
here. Not like this. Not when you’re sad and angry, not in a dirty bathroom.” I reach forward, smoothing a strand of her hair. Her eyes are still wild, exposing her release that I can still smell on my fingers.
A guy stops mid-stride, roaming my body with his eyes, crossing the fine line of flattery to predatory. When Lincoln stared at me, it made me feel beautiful and wanted. This guy makes me feel violated in a way that makes me regret having agreed to wear this outfit. I turn and am about to head for the first sea of people I can disappear into when an arm wraps around my shoulders, and a familiar scent anchors me back to a safe and secure feeling. Lincoln stares at the guy, his threat clear.
A smile hits his eyes, but not his lips, which remain in a neutral line. He takes a short step back and reaches behind him, pulling his jersey off with one quick tug. A white V-neck tee slides back into place. His bare arms are tanned, roped with thick muscles and corded with veins that are possibly sexier than his smile. Rather than handing it to me, he rolls the fabric on each side like he’s prepared to dress me. His hands are another of my favorite features, wide fingers and squared nail beds, calluses and each slight imperfection making a tally on my list of favorites.
That thing guys do when they tug a shirt off over their heads like that is so hot.
Lincoln shakes his head, his fingers tracing down my lower back, stopping on my behind. “You wearing only that while astride me has just added to the growing list.”
“I plan to corrupt you. Dirty your thoughts so everything you think and hear reminds you of sex.” His breath fans my face, his gaze so sharp I swear it’s penetrating my thoughts.
He pulls his jersey back on, filling it out in a way that enunciates his masculinity and makes me want to reach out and touch each plane of muscle it conceals.
“I need to watch you come again.” His words sling my heart so far outside of my body, I’m left staring at him, my breath caught in my throat. That darkness in his eyes spreads to his lips, curving into a smile before reaching for me, tangling his fingers into my hair before he steals my breath.
I spent an hour confirming I still have self-control as I locked Rae and me up in the back of my truck. My ego inflated and my dick hard and throbbing as I finger fucked her until I watched her come on my fingers. I hit the pause button again, knowing her second time shouldn’t be in the back of a vehicle.
I shake my head. “It can’t be. I’ve been trying to ignore you for almost two years.” “I’ve been trying to ignore you for longer.” That new spark hits my chest. “So, you’ve been wanting me for three years?”
“You sound like such a girl. Next, I’m going to start thinking you have feelings for me.” Her smile is a fragile curve, and for a second, I’m suspended in time, memorizing every detail I can absorb like it’s an order from a higher power, telling me I will want to remember this moment years from now.
Pretty sure he does have feelings for her.
She only argues twice when I suggest we drive my truck, but I kiss her and remind her it’s only a couple of miles away, and she complies, following me to the passenger side, where I prop open the door, the scent of her orgasm mixing with the leather scent of my truck. It’s euphoric.
I grin, tucking my menu between the condiments and the window. “No. Are you ready to admit I won our first fight?” “That wasn’t a fight.” “Like I said, Everest.” “I’m going to smother you in your sleep.” “Hopefully with those fantastic breasts. That would be a great way to die.” She shakes her head, pressing her lips together as she fights laughter.
“But this isn’t just some relationship…” She nods. “I know. I get it. It’s Lincoln.” She purses her lips. “You have to fight for it. Let all those feelings you’ve had for three years out, and let him in. Trust me, he’s not going to go anywhere. You guys have something. I see it—hell, I feel it. There’s an energy between you guys that is palpable. It makes me excited and so damn happy for you and hopeful and jealous because I want that. I want someone who looks at me like he’d part the sea and knock down mountains if he had to—the way Lincoln looks at you.”
Lincoln nods. “I have no doubt. It’s hard not to care for her.” His attention cuts to the stairs, hearing our shoes, and his jaw falls, his gaze following each of my movements. “Be sure to drive safely. No drinking. Make sure she’s home safe,” she continues. Poppy giggles quietly at my side. “Can we modify my list to include a guy who falls speechless at the sight of me?”
His gaze steals my thoughts and fears. “Do you realize how many people’s lives stopped the day you got hurt? You’re the furthest thing from insignificant. You matter to Blue because you matter, you matter to all of us.”
“I was going to lie and say it was your winning personality, but…” Lincoln stops, his eyes dropping to my chest as I laugh. “Seriously. Don’t worry about your scar or your dad or anything else. We’re going to have fun, dance, you’re going to wow this marine biologist, and then I’m taking you home where I’m going to worship every”—he kisses my lips, and then my neck—“square inch”—he kisses my ear, and my exposed shoulder—“of your body.”
Raegan blinks, that highway of thoughts surprisingly calm as she maintains his stare then shakes her head. “I regret hurting people who I care about, and I regret not having packed a dry suit, but I don’t regret my decision. I think humanity loses itself and its value when we think our lives are more significant than the lives of other species.”
He stares at her, assessing the words that make so many things seem suddenly trivial in life. The wins, the losses, my impending future, and the choices that I’ve resented for so long. It doesn’t matter because while I love the game, the adrenaline, and the rush I get each time I step out onto the field, it still pales in comparison to what I feel for her. I would live in a one-bedroom shack as long as she was there with me.
I nod. “I know. But you’ve missed so much, and it scares the hell out of me to be honest with you because you don’t hear what I tell you. She’s the only person who actually sees me for something more than a football player or a life of privilege. She sees me. She gets me.”
“Dad, I love football. I love history. If I can’t make it to the NFL, I want to do something that allows me to do something I’m passionate about—something I give a shit about. And I need something that allows me to spend as much time as I can with her rather than something that will always be pulling me away from her.”
“I’ve never wanted to be a lawyer, not even when I was a kid. And to be honest, the only thing I feel passionate about right now is her. She makes me feel alive. She makes me feel whole.”
His lips pull into a grim line, a silent threat of the pain he’s endured because he tried following his heart, and it led him to a life filled with empty relationships and promises. “She must be pretty special.” I shake my head. “I love her.”
He swallows. “It’s hard to find someone who’s willing to love a broken man.” I place my hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you just need to find the person who makes you feel less broken.”
Raegan turns in her seat, our gazes tangling. Her smile hits me like a sucker punch, my admission to my father ringing in my ears as I realize how much love I have for her.
Dr. Swanson nods, turning his attention to me. “Hold on to this one. She’s a special young lady.”
I tug her back against my chest, her eyes dancing between mine. “You look beautiful in the dress, but Raegan Lawson, you could wear my jersey, sweatpants, or nothing at all and still be just as sexy.” Her cheeks color as she grins, leaving another stain on my thoughts.
“Please. I know you’re upset. I know I’ve hurt you, and I’m sorry—I’m so damn sorry. If I could take it all back, I would. I’d take back that lost time after you got hurt. I’d take back trying to convince myself we could only be friends. I’d take back every fucking moment of knowing her if it meant you’d understand how much I care about you, how much it kills me when you’re away.”
“What’s going on?” Pax looks at me, his gaze critical and unsteady, tugging at the very thread of our friendship. I know I need to tell him the truth—be honest with him finally and tell him I’ve fallen in love with his sister—and if this was anyone else, I’d stop and try to ensure this final thread doesn’t break since he’s the closest thing I’ve known to family in the past decade, but I can’t because my heart is already out of my body and speeding out of sight.
I yell, the sound a pain my soul can’t translate into words that has Paxton staring at me. “Can’t you see that’s what I’ve been doing? What I’ve been trying to do all fucking year? You’re like a brother to me, and so I tried. I tried staying away from her out of respect for you, but I can’t anymore. I just can’t. You can hate me, you can bench me, you can do whatever the hell you need to, but I’ve got to do this for me. For her because I know she needs me just as badly as I fucking need her.”
I think she was trying to get under your skin, and she hit you right where you’re the weakest because you still refuse to believe you’re good enough for him, which you are. He chose you. He wants you, and she knows that, and she was bitter.
“I know. I get it. I understand how debilitating that fear is. How scary the idea of taking a bullet to the heart is, but you have to stop being your own worst enemy.”
Poppy is just the best. Everyone needs a friend like her.
“It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. Love has a way of making even simple things seem overwhelming if you try to dissect it, rather than just live in the moment—and then when you find that balance, everything feels easy.”
Lincoln starts toward me. “If you jump in there, you’re crazy.” I grin. It feels reckless and irrational, similar to my mood. “Fifteen seconds,” I tell him. “Also, I love you, too,” I say, and then I jump.
“I fell in love with your best friend. If that isn’t proof that I’m crazy, then I don’t know what is.” Pax shakes his head, a near-silent scoff. “I told you to date a book nerd.” “I did,” I argue. “Have you seen how many books he owns?” I ask, glancing at Lincoln.
“But, I get it. And while it’s strange as fuck, I get it. I see it, now. It’s going to take some time to get used to this, but,” his gaze cuts to Lincoln, “I’m not going to get in the way. You guys need each other, and I’m not going to mess it up.” He pulls in a breath. “So, kiss and make up while I go buy you five minutes from all these cops.” His hand slips from my shoulder, and he walks up the dock with Poppy at his side.
I swear, I will do anything—everything—to make sure you’re safe and that you’re happy and feel heard—feel seen because I see you, Raegan Lawson. I see every part of you, and I love you.”
“I love you, Lincoln. I love you so much. I’ve loved you—” He silences me with a kiss that is demanding and impatient, much like Lincoln is. We kiss urgently in the borrowed time, knowing later we’ll be making time for slower kisses where we can appreciate these words and their truths.
I place my free hand on her waist, pulling her closer to me as I claim her mouth while she claims the space in my chest that’s solely devoted to her. Her body relaxes against mine, wanting me—trusting me.
When she pulls away, we’re both out of breath, our chests heaving as I wish I could transform this beach into anywhere else that would allow me to strip her of her clothes and inhibitions and consume every last part of her.
She leans her forehead against mine, our breath mingling in quick bursts that make my lips dry. “Let’s go. I want you to consume me.” I swallow her breaths, my forehead still pressed against hers. “I don’t just want to consume you, I want to own you—possess every part of you. Make your heart beat like mine does for you.” “It already does.”
Max has always been attractive, hence the many girls going home with him. He’d always been more built than the other guys in school.
