I leave tomorrow. We clear out of the cabin early tomorrow morning, and then, I go to the airport and leave. I have no idea how the time flew so damn fast this summer , but I’d give anything to have more time.
Rhett’s hands move to my shoulders, pulling me from my dazed thoughts just before he shoves me under the water of the lake. I don’t sputter despite being surprised, I only grab him around the waist and pull him under with me.
It’s dark out, but the sun only set a little while ago, and it was hot as hell today. The water feels incredible as we wrestle under it and then both pop back up for air.
Soon it’s less playing around and more kissing and groping, like we’re unable to get enough of each other. We make it to the dock where he helps me up and then pulls my body on top of his. This is where I want to be.
Not just now, but forever.
I lean down and kiss him softly, memorizing every moan, gasp, and the feel of him sucking on my tongue and then me doing the same to him. Always fighting for dominance. Both of us getting it somehow.
His fingers slide through my wet hair, and as we grind our covered cocks against each other, his body writhes under mine as I thrust against him, desperately wanting the release but not wanting it to be over either.
“You know, it’s pretty secluded out here, but maybe we should go inside,” he says against my lips.
I grin and goad him, “Chicken.”
He laughs, nipping at my bottom lip. “No. I want to get you naked and don’t want anyone else to see.”
He says it as a joke, but damn, if it doesn’t stab me directly in the chest. I don’t want anyone else seeing him naked either, dammit. I stand and grab his hand, pulling him up before shoving him playfully. “Whoever makes it back first bottoms!”
I yell and hear his laughter right before he pushes past me and runs for the cabin. Okay, then.
I don’t intend to let him win, though, running through the grass that’s dry from lack of rain and crunches under my bare feet. But he just barely makes it to the front door before I do. He pulls it open, and I follow him inside before he grabs the back of my head and pulls me in for a searing kiss. “Guess I win.”
I smile, the thrill of being inside him sending a rush of pleasure through my entire body. We kiss all the way to the stairs and barely pull away long enough to climb them before landing on the bed. Pushing our trunks off and tossing them across the floor, our kissing only turns more desperate.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without this,” I say against his lips. I’m not talking about sex, not only sex anyway.
“I’m sure you’ll make do,” he tries to play it off, but I see his pain, even with the moonlight barely illuminating the room.
He rolls to his back, pulling my body fully on top of him and down to him, kissing me more firmly and not letting me talk anymore. It’s probably smart. No good can come from talking. We’ve already discussed everything.
I can’t ask him to go with me and hide who we are to each other, and he can’t ask me to stay and give up my lifelong dreams.
I grab the lube and a condom, needing to be buried deep inside him, not wanting my mind to keep wondering. Soon, I’m on my back, and he’s on me, kissing my neck as I lube my fingers and sink them inside him one at a time. By the time I’m stretching him with three fingers, he’s moaning my name over and over, asking for more.
He doesn’t wait for me to give direction though. Soon enough, he’s in charge, sheathing my dick and turning away from me, letting me watch as he slides that perfect ass down my throbbing dick, swallowing it in one torturous move.
“Fuck,” I say as I grasp his hips with both hands, and together, we move his body over mine. My cock sinks into his tight heat over and over, driving me insane.
I pull his body back so he’s laying back almost fully, and he turns his head to offer his lips, which I gratefully accept, thrusting inside him and hooking one hand under his knee to pull him with me.
We kiss, nipping and biting, starving for each other until I’m crazy with need. He pulls away, gasping for breath, then offering me the palm of his hand. I know what he wants, and I drag my tongue over his hand, wetting it before he reaches for his cock, stroking furiously as I fuck into him, hoping like hell he’s close.
He tosses his head back against the pillow next to my head. When I see his cum spurt from his cock and feel his ass clenching tightly around me, it’s all over. I come so hard, I can’t even make a sound, almost afraid I’ve blacked out.
“Jesus,” he says, He turns to me and kisses my lips softly, still panting and just as out of breath as me.
After a few more strokes inside of him, my softening cock slips from his ass, and we both groan. He turns to me, a smile on his lips, and he smooths a hand over my cheek. We don’t say anything for a long time. I actually have to rub my hand over my chest, where I’m pretty sure my fucking heart is tearing in two.
I roll to my side again and grab the present I got for him, handing it to him. He looks at it skeptically. “A key?”
I nod, lying on my back and pulling him to me, resting his head on my chest. He looks at the silver key in his hand. “To the cabin. I want you to have a key, so you can come here whenever you want.”
I can’t see his face, but I can feel his mood. “No.”
I laugh at his signature initial response. “Yes.” I kiss the top of his head. “This place is special to me. I hate that I can’t give you everything I want to, but I can at least give you access to this place.” Where we were happy.
I don’t say the last part out loud. I only think it. Because I know Rhett well enough to know he isn’t a fan of that level of sentimentality. “Grayson, I can’t come here without you.”
His voice is sad, and yeah, my heart is definitely broken. “Yes, you can. You’re going to send me a selfie of you in this bed when you miss me. And I know you’ll miss me,” I add, trying to inject a little humor, but he doesn’t laugh.
He’s too quiet for too long, and then I barely hear him when he speaks, “I will miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you too.”
I wish I didn’t have to go, but I don’t think I can give everything up and let my grandfather down. I owe it to him to make the changes he’d make in his company. Give back to the community and make the world a better place, like he always talked about. My dad cut nearly every charitable donation. He only invests in shitty companies that make the world more toxic and polluted than it already is. I’m driven to do better with the family name. I have to.
But it comes at a tremendously high price.
FORTY-ONE
“Let me know when you get there,” I say dumbly, hating every second of this and hoping like hell I can get through it.
We just got back to Blair and Rhys’s for a goodbye brunch, and now, Grayson’s Uber waits for him in the driveway to take him to the airport.
“Yeah. I will.” We stare at each other for far too long before I grab his hip and pull him to me. His hand grips the back of my hair as our lips crash together for one hell of a goodbye kiss. One that may kill me.
The heated kiss slows to desperate brushes of our lips as we release each other, neither of us wanting to let go.
“I’ll talk to you soon.” He starts for the Uber, his bags already in the trunk. But he stops and looks at me over his shoulder before fully turning back to face me. “Come with me.”
Shit.
He takes another step toward me. “I know it’s crazy, and you finally started tolerating me not long ago . . .” He reaches me and cups the side of my face in his big hand. “But we could make it work.”
My eyes close involuntarily as I breathe in his cologne and shampoo, letting him touch me, knowing I want so badly to say yes. “I . . .”
“We could find an apartment together. One with a tattoo place close by.”
I hear the desperation in his voice, and it nearly guts me. “Grayson.”
He must hear the no in my voice because he drops his hand, and I hear him sniff just as I open my eyes and see his are full of tears he hasn’t let fall. “I know.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, feeling tears well in my eyes too. A sob nearly escapes my throat because it sounds amazing to live with him. But I wouldn’t really be his. We couldn’t be seen together, and I’d just be his roommate. And I can’t do that.
He sniffs again and then plasters an unconvincing smile on his face. “I know. I was kidding, okay? It was a joke. I know we can’t do that.”
I cup the back of his neck with my hand and pull his face to mine, resting our foreheads against each other's. “I would.” If . . .
“I know,” he breathes. “Maybe someday.”
He pulls away and looks into my eyes with pleading. I nod. Because I can give him that. “Yeah. Maybe.”