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Hagan and Adalee concede so we win. John wraps me in a hug and with spark in his voice, he says, “You owe me.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

John

“Dunking Adalee and Hagan in the ocean was a terrible idea.”

“They lost, Becca.”

“I know, but Adalee choked on the saltwater for ten minutes,” she says. Her shoulders slump as she sits and sinks on the corner of the bed.

This is why people are drawn to Becca Shearer. (Yes, I refuse to use her former married name, Dumas.) She opens her arms wide for anyone who needs comforting. No one is exempt from her love. I saw it so many times in college.

A friend was cheated on. Bex was there.

A child in the hospital dreamed of being a cheerleader. Bex was there.

A teammate was injured. Bex was there.

I needed help with anatomy. Bex was halfway there.

And when my dad married and divorced his fourth wife, Bex was there.

I park myself beside her, and the comforter bunches up between us, but I’m still close enough to smell the ocean breeze in her hair. “She was probably faking it so Hagan would take herback to their hotel room,” I joke, lifting my brows in quick succession, followed by squeezing her knee until she squeals.

When she quits laughing, she leaves a red mark on my arm from pinching me. “Is that all you boys think about… sex? She could have died.”

“It’s notallI think about.”

Her lips pucker and twist, and her eyes crease. “What percentage of time are you thinking about sex? I bet every time you see Stella in a bikini or…”

“Wow. You have it all wrong. I can’t remember a time when I initiated sex with Stella.” I release a long, mocking sigh. I twist my body, so my knee points to the center of the bed. My body opens to her side. As I swipe her hair off her face, her gaze slowly meets mine. “But you. Bex, I haven’t stopped thinking about you since college.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. And don’t play dumb… you’re anything but dumb.”

“This is what I’ve wanted to do since we reconnected this past year.” My hand slides to the nape of her neck, gently pulling her head closer to mine. I allow myself to look at her in a way I’ve hidden since college, at least most of the time.

Her hair glimmers in the sunlight that streaks through the trees and into the villa, and her gold strands sparkle. I’ve never known my hands to shake, but they are now. I’m so close to having the woman of my dreams yet paralyzed with fear. No matter what happens right now, Bex will come to her smart girl senses and leave my arrogant ass on the curb. But I don’t care. If she breaks my heart, it will be worth just one kiss.

Tears balance in Becca’s eyes, which could be a good or a bad omen. There’s no more waiting to show her how I feel. My world shifts, and the sounds of the island drift just out of reach.

In a hushed tone, she says my name. Is it a question? Is it an attempt to stop what’s happening?

Our breaths mingle together as our salt and sun-kissed lipstouch for the first time since college. My heart ricochets from my rib cage as her lips part for me. Tender kisses overlap again and again. Years of unspoken dreams hang on this one kiss.

Wild horses stampede through my veins, and there’s no way to slow them down unless I’m doused by a bucket of ice. As my finger pads graze her neck, I feel her heavy pulse thumping. Sliding my hand to cup her face, a tear slips down her cheek, and I wonder if she’s thinking what I am.How badly we want and need each other. Or if she’s thinkingthis will ruin our vacation and possibly our friendship if it doesn’t work out.

Her tear slides between our lips, and our kiss grows hungrier, needier. Her fingers curl into my bicep as a harmonic hum snakes up her airway, releasing as she pulls back for a split second. I tickle her leg as I bunch the hem of her shirt in my hands and lift until we have to separate.

“You wearing my shirt brings out the caveman inside me, but…”

She pushes off the bed, stands in front of me, and raises her arms. “I need a caveman right now.”

Holy Mother of Jesus, this is not what I expected—at all. I don’t want our first time having sex to be something she regrets. It should be loving and caring, but controlling the alpha in me will be hard. My breaths are deep as I stand, bringing her shirt over her toned stomach, her chest, and up her arms until I have her shirt, well, my shirt, in one hand and drop it on the ground.

My head falls to her bare shoulder, pressing an open-lipped kiss to her sticky beach water skin, peppered with grains of sand. She tilts her head, opening for me as my lips place a gentle suctioning assault on her sensitive skin until my lips land on hers once again.