Our Scorching Summer (Perks & Benefits #2)

by Kels Stone

People always forget to check in on the positive ones. Yes, my good days far outshine my bad ones, but sometimes all that joy takes a back seat.

Her doses of reality are some of my favorite things because they make us mesh so well.

If I tell her about any of the confusing things I’ve been feeling, I risk pushing her away. This is bound to end poorly; she’s said so herself. I’ll wait until the end of the summer if it doesn’t go away.

“Maybe fear doesn’t have to be negative. It can be a part of the experience.”

“If I hesitated each time I felt afraid, I would’ve never dropped out of college to travel, I wouldn’t have built Flight Falcon, I wouldn’t have gone on the gondola ride…maybe I’d never have met you.” What a tragedy that would’ve been.

“I wish I were as fearless as you.” “I think, princesa, you’re as fearless as I am. You just gotta get comfortable taking more risks like you have this summer.”

Each time she lets me turn a page in her case file, she’s quick to slam it shut once the classified information comes into my vicinity.

I’m growing tired of this part of her personality, the part that continues to stack bricks while I’m trying to knock down her walls with my bare hands.

I’d give her my entire plate and stay hungry just to see her smile.

“Don’t worry, Nico, we’ll figure it out. Let’s start with these three, and maybe something will click.” She sets my phone down and smiles at me. We will. As though my problems are her problems now. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wipe away the smile on my face.

I can’t stay mad at him. Silly apps can be downloaded again, but upsetting Nico and disrupting my princess treatment is not worth it. I don’t want to think about what my life will be like once summer ends and the terms of our agreement expire.

Random hookups, a string of obsessive guys trying to annex me, hiding my other life from my best friend, no more fancy dinners, clothes, or traveling.

No more Nico. No more daily heartwarming laughter or the full-body yawn he does when he’s the slightest bit tired. I know we’ll still be in each other’s ...

Damn him for knowing me like the back of one of his gorgeous hands.

Almost ten years I’ve guarded this secret with my life. Ten years of living an entirely different identity without anyone being the wiser. Ten fucking years all to go up in flames because of the grinning man sitting in front of me. Ten. Ten. Ten. Ten. Ten. Ten. Ten.

What does he want me to say? I wrote a book about Nico Navarro? Never.

No number of random hookups last summer quenched the thirst I’d felt for him during those sporadic weekend trips.

My eyes narrow on him. Who could blame me? I mean, look at him. Everyone else is waiting for the chance to pounce. I can’t admit to any of this.

Nico’s ego wouldn’t be able to handle the truth. He’d give this so much more mean...

Coastal Fling is simply the work of a depraved woman who spent too many afternoons watching him take ...

“I’m not upset with you,” I say, catching my breath. “Okay, good. I didn’t want any secrets between us. I want to know everything about you simply because you captivate me.” A blush melts across my skin. “Such a heartbreaker with words like that.” “I’d gladly break my heart for you.”

I believe he would. The truth is both soul-stirring and petrifying. Nico’s only ever come to me with open arms, speaking a language hummed in my veins better than anyone I’ve ever met.

It’s everything about him. The damn grin that sings to me like my favorite song, his morning wake-up calls with steaming cups of tea, carrying me to bed when I stay up too late, or when I catch him simply watching me be. He’s so quickly become a dear fri...

Things between Nico and me are different than they were in Brazil.

There are moments when we hold hands, both of us pretending not to notice how our fingers hook around each other when we’re walking around London, or when our fingers brush while he forces me to endure another scary movie.

Maybe the spell of romantic fog isn’t so bad. I know my heart is—under lock, chain, barbed wire, electric fencing, and a long, rusted, forgotten key. Why not enjoy sporadic moments of affection from a man who wants nothing out of me other than the time we spend together?

“You fascinate me. Writing about love while avoiding commitment.” “I write about sex, not love.” He nods, no judgment in his eyes. Genuine interest is the only thing kissing his features.

“Whoever told you that writing isn’t a real job is a fucking asshole, Lil.”

I didn’t overhaul my life to allow another man to affect me that way ever again. Even if I’ve broken every single promise I made to protect myself this summer. It’s Nico. He’s safe. I think.

We stroll around the gallery, reading each of the plaques and filling the walls with laughter. The entire time, our hands are interlaced, and I don’t attempt to pull away. The romance of the whole thing is enough to crystalize sugar on my tongue. Irresistibly sweet.

“Trust me?” he asks. I nod. I do. On a level I’m not quite ready to address.

“You’re a work of art,” Nico says after his mouth finds mine again. The taste of him is almost healing. “Even here?” I sneak in the question between my airy moans. “Anywhere,” he breathes in my ear.

My eyes melt into his tender pools of brown, and there’s more than a longing gaze that meets me there, more than some hidden erotic intention. It’s as if Nico were an archer aiming for the one shrapnel of vulnerability still inside me and he struck the target without breaking a sweat.

He’s so painstakingly different from anyone I’ve ever known, ravishing and sentimental wrapped up in a possessive and warm-hearted package.

He has taken a piece of me with him this summer, whether ...

I know I’m making a terrible mistake when my lips connect to his. This kiss feels different. Not just because of the rule I’m about to break but because of how safe I feel in his arms and how safe I want him to feel in mine. Selflessly.

I ache to be brave enough to give myself to him fully, but I haven’t surrendered a piece of myself to a man in years.

What would it be like to give in to the desperate look that keeps finding me in his warm gaze? A look that begs for our arrangement to tur...

As we kiss, I can taste the fantasy of Nico and me not hiding behind our list of rules. A life without secrets. Is that something I’m even capable of? Lust doesn’t ...

I know this can only end poorly, but I do nothing to stop it. Nico Navarro may be the only person in the world who’s claimed control over me and I—the ever-silly girl I thought I’d buried long ago—let him.

I’m hers. I’m wrong for realizing it while her panting body writhes beneath mine, but there’s no point denying the truth. I’m in love with Lily Rodin. My first love.

Despite it all, I’m certain our arrangement is going to leave us both in the rubble of our own making, but I’m willing to try. I want to make a change. I want to give her all I have.

I really fucking hope she feels the same because if the past few weeks have shown me anything, it’s that she’s starting to feel more and more like ho...

“Look at me.” Her green eyes meet mine. “You’ve ruined me, Lily, for the rest of my fucking life.” Her lips manage a weak smile. “I think you've ruined me too.”

We can pretend that us fucking beneath a projection of Starry Night wasn’t some of the best sex either of us has ever had. Whatever rules or lines she wants to draw around us are okay by me. I’m happy to have her in my arms, however that looks.

“You may think you’re a mystery, gorgeous girl, but I know you like the back of my hand.”

“Do you want a bad guy, Lily?” Nico returns to my ear, catching the binocular eyes stalking me from the end of the balcony. “Only to ruin them.” “I guess I’ve been bad since I’m already ruined by you.”

There has to be a universal rule for women congregating in bathrooms on a long night out: we spill secrets and make friends for life. All the other bullshit doesn’t matter as we bitch about all the people who broke our hearts along the way to this moment.

I’ve been coming to terms with the fact ever since we landed in London. Nico makes me feel alive. He makes me feel like every part of me, the good and the ugly, are worthy of being cherished.

“I would crawl to the end of the fucking earth for a taste of you.” His voice is aching. “No one else.”