Spring Tide (Coastal University #1)

by Ki Stephens

“I could use a minute to decompress first, though. It’s been a hell of a day.” “Okay, well, if you wanted to relax . . . I, um, I ran a bath for you.” He stops in his tracks, brows lifting. “Wait, what?” “Yeah, I got the bath going right before you got here. I bought some bubbles and this, like, manly soap. And a candle—peach scented because I know you like that.” “Harper.” “Luca,” I echo his stunned tone. “I’m forcing you to relax tonight whether you want to or not. It’s not a big deal.” “It is a big deal.” He flashes me a rare, heart-stopping smile. “Baby, you are so fucking perfect that it makes my head spin.”

“But no funny business. This whole thing is about relaxing, okay?” “Got it.” His brows are stern, but there’s an unmistakable smirk on his lips. “Absolutely no funny business.” I lift one leg and dip into the center of the steaming water, carefully lowering myself into the bubbles. Luca loops one arm around my waist. It takes some cautious maneuvering, but we manage to fit in here nicely together. Sighing, I snuggle in firmly between his outstretched legs. His dick presses into me from behind, causing my mind to shift course. “Okay, maybe a tiny bit of funny business.” He laughs, tugging at a strand of my hair. “Harper.” “What?” I tilt my head back against his chin. “You’re the one with an erection right now.” “Oh my God,” he groans. “I’m in the bathtub with my girlfriend, completely naked, and her ass is pressed up against me. If I wasn’t hard, I feel like that’d almost be an insult.”

Honestly, I never usually think about what I’m wearing or how it might look on me, but what I do know is that Harper called me handsome the last time I wore this. That’s reason enough to throw it on a second time.

“I could swing by that place you like? Pick up some chocolate ice cream with gummy bears.” A soft pink stains her cheeks. “You remembered.” “Of course I did. Who could forget something so disgusting?” Her jaw drops in a playful scoff, arms crossed over her chest. “You’re just mad that you’re boring.” I pocket my change and return my hand to its rightful place atop her thigh. “Sure am.”

Moments later, while we wait at the drive-through window, I grab her hand and scribble a tiny cursive L in the same place. There’s a weight in the pit of my stomach now, a desperate, aching need to make her just as absurdly happy as she makes me. It may be an impossible feat, but I’m sure as hell going to try my fucking best.

Luca’s mine, and I’m his. Truthfully, I can’t imagine my life here at Coastal without him now. So yeah, I guess that does mean I’m in love with him. It’s a scary thing to admit to myself, even scarier to think about admitting it to him.

“I want your mouth. Fuck, I want you to wrap those perfect, pouty lips around my cock.”

“I’ve, uh, I’ve been thinking about what to say while we’re together like this . . . what words you might like.” I practically come on the spot, my head, my heart, and my fucking vagina simultaneously combusting at the thought. “You have?” “I just want it to be good for you,” he says softly. My smile grows. He is so absurdly sexy, and he doesn’t even know it. “Well, keep it up, champ, because that was everything.” He snorts out a laugh. “You’re ridiculous.” “And you are so hot.”

“God, you take my cock so well. A perfect. Fucking. Fit,” he says, each word punctuated by a thrust.

“Yeah, being with you is the best I’ve ever had.” He kisses me again, slow and deep. “Every. Single. Time.”

“You’ve never been camping?” “Nope, never.” I give him a tired sigh. “My parents aren’t really the camping type, if you know what I mean.” He rears back, eyes glinting with mischief. “I’ll take you camping.” “You will?” “Of course.” Anticipation thrums through my body at the idea. “Okay, maybe we could plan a trip somewhere in the spring after you get drafted.” “And if I don’t get drafted?” I give him a stern look, confidence seeping from my voice as I say, “You will.” He nods, his smile piercing me as he laces our fingers together. “Then I guess it’s a done deal.”

“I’m trying to look out for you here,” I say softly, carefully, willing him to understand how serious this truly is. “You have so much going on right now, I’m worried you’re not thinking clearly.” “I’m thinking perfectly clearly.” He takes a deep, shuddery breath. “And I know that if you contact anyone on my team, you and I are done.” I reel back, stomach dropping like a lead weight. “What?” “If you go to the team’s athletic trainer behind my back, then I don’t see how this relationship can continue.”

“You’ve spent your whole life living in some sunshiny alternate reality, pretending everything is just peachy. Because for you, it always has been. Meanwhile, I’m stuck down here in reality with the rest of the world. You know, that place where people have real fucking problems to deal with.” “Oh.” His words sting. Like a hand on a hot stove, they burn me without warning. “Silly me, I thought you said I was perfect.” “Harper . . .” “Is that really what you think of me?” I let the hurt wash over me, pull me under, drown me so completely. “That I couldn’t possibly understand you?” “Sometimes it seems that way.”

“I suppose it’s nice to know how you really feel. Do you even care that I love y—” “Harper, don’t.” He pins me with a harsh gaze, cracking me into a hundred tiny pieces. “Don’t say something you don’t mean.” “Why on earth would you think I don’t mean it?” “Because you fall in love like it’s a goddamn hobby. And I really, really can’t handle hearing something that’s not real, not right now.” Shame and embarrassment cloud my vision, shaking me out of the numb sort of daze I put myself under. “You don’t take me seriously at all, do you?”

“I really don’t know to make you believe that I’m in love with you. And I’m certainly not going to beg you to love me back. You want to deal with things your own way, alone, then be my guest.”

“Maybe we’re just too different.” “No, I wasn’t right about anything.” My heart squeezes. “And I love our differences.” “I thought I did, too. I think . . . I think I just need more time to think. Why don’t you take care of yourself first, figure out your future, and then maybe we can revisit us?” Raw, unfiltered emotion croaks out of me as I say, “And what if I want you to be my future?” “Then I guess you shouldn’t have spoken to me the way you did this morning. How about you take that space you asked for, and I’ll do the same? At least for now.”

A small part of me worries now that I’m too much for him . . . or for anyone, for that matter. That, inevitably, the people I love will start to believe that I’m a girl made of fluff, living in a dream world that doesn’t exist.

“I miss your eyes, your lips, your hair, your smile. The sound of your voice when you’re happy. The way you blush when I say something you weren’t expecting. The smell of your skin after a day at the beach . . . Touching you for touching’s sake. Kissing you just because I can.” He takes a deep breath, swallows low in his throat. “God, there’s no fucking question that I miss you, Harper.”

“But when things get rough, you can’t speak to me like that or push me away ever again. From now on, we deal with all of our problems together. As a team.” “Together.” He nods his agreement, a broad smile stretching across his face and sparking an ember in his eyes. “Always. I fucking promise.”

But loving Harper, the girl bathed in sunlight, feels as natural and effortless as breathing in my sleep.

“I hope you know much I love you.” Her eyes shine. “You do?” “God yes. I’m so in love with you,” I say, my voice thick with emotion. “Honestly, I think I’ve been a little bit in love with you ever since that first day at your apartment. You know, when you asked me to take my pants off.”

“You know I love you, too, don’t you?” Her voice is eager, passionate as she looks up at me, those blue-gray eyes sparkling with adoration. “So much.” “I know you do.” I lift our clasped hands, sweeping a kiss across her knuckles. “And that makes me feel really fucking lucky.” “I feel the same way.”

“It’s you and me,” I murmur on a groan. “Always.” “Always,” she echoes.

Sometimes, I still can’t rationalize the fact that this girl is actually mine. And that I’m hers, for-fucking-ever. I’ve spent a large part of my life believing that I’m not enough. For anyone or for anything. That all my hopes and dreams—supporting my family, playing professionally, finding real love and friendship—were far-fetched, relatively unachievable for a guy like me. It wasn’t until I met Harper that I started to believe differently.

Learning, loving, and then losing Harper has shown me exactly what I’ve been missing out on all this time. And there’s not a shot in hell that I’m gonna let myself lose her twice. It’s the two of us from now on. Together. Always.

“How’s my little Junebug?” “Hewo, Ewo.” June giggles at her own rhyme, stretching her arms up and out toward her uncle. Elio grins wide, lifting her without question and perching her onto the side of his body. He wraps one arm underneath her legs to hold her up, lifting a brow in my direction. “We’re great,” I murmur, ruffling my daughter’s hair. “Somebody was really excited to see you today.” “Is that right?” He taps his niece on the end of her nose. “Was it you, Juney?” “Mhmm.” “I’m excited to see you, too. You’re growing so much!” She beams up at him. “Mama said I a big girl.” “You are a big girl. You still want to sit up on my shoulders, though, right?” “Yes, p-ease!”

Can you believe this will be his fifth season with the Bobcats already?” “Not at all.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “I also can’t believe June’s gonna be two years old in a few months.” “I know, it’s honestly so sad. I thought she’d be my baby forever, but now she just wants me to call her big girl,” I pout, reaching for my daughter’s tiny hand. “Isn’t that right, Junebug?” “I a big girl, Mama.” “I know, sweetie.” I tap my fingers against her palm, glancing up to give her a watery smile. “I know.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get over seeing you both up here, wearing my jersey and cheering me on.” “It is pretty great, isn’t it?” He dips his chin, resting it against our daughter’s head. “Definitely one of my favorite things.”

“Well, I hope you know I never get bored of you.” “Of course you don’t.” He steps forward, looping one arm around my shoulders and nearly crushing June between us. “You love me too much.” “I do love you,” I say. “So, so much.” “Just as I love you—both of you—always.”