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26

Summer

I emerge from my room in search of water, wearing Connor’s discarded shirt. It swallows me, the hem sitting at mid-thigh. He was reluctant to release me, but I convinced him by promising to bring him back some dessert. The guy is a bottomless pit. How does his mom cope with five of them?

I open the newly installed large double door fridge and pull out two bottles of water. I grab the pastry I got from the bakery yesterday that I forgot to eat and bump the door closed with my hip. Strong arms wrap around me, and Connor presses his soft lips to the sensitive spot beneath my ear. I inhale deeply and relax against him, reveling in the smell of clouds.

“Summer?” His voice is still a little hoarse. I did put him through quite the workout.

“Hm?” I ask, tilting my head as he trails the softest kisses down my neck, teasing me.

“Sometimes it scares me, too.” His voice is so soft I almost miss his words.

“What does?”

He nuzzles my neck, his nose brushing against my pulse. “Us.”

I frown at the way I instinctively lean back into him, seeking the comfort of his powerful body wrapped around me. “Us?”

Connor nods against my neck, his stubble brushing against my jaw a maddening distraction. “How much I like you. How fast it’s going.”

Defensiveness writhes through me, and I fight my body’s instinct to tense. If Connor notices, he doesn’t let on. He simply kisses my neck again, and I can feel my traitorous heart jump in response.

“I’ll try to… not go so fast.”

Something inside me melts at his words, and I turn to face him, looking up at his handsome face. His lips are curved in an easy smile, but his gaze is shadowed, betraying his anxiety. The sea blue of his eyes washes over me, soothing and calm. There is something both comforting and maddening in how he is always trying to read and understand me. Normally, I hate it because the knowledge has always been used to manipulate and use me, but Connor does it for no other reason than to know me better. He cares about me and wants to know who I am. He wants to understand the intricacies of me . I have never allowed anyone this close.

In the past, if anyone looked at me like Connor is right now, I’d bolt in the other direction, cut all ties, and never look back. I would not spare them one further thought. Not one tear. Not one regret. Yet, the longer Connor and I stand like this, the more I realize things are different with him. Unsure what to say, I stand on my tiptoes and brush my lips against his. The kiss is so soft, so filled with emotion, that if he knew me better, he’d know it was both an admission and a thank you. Then again, with the way his eyes are sparkling, maybe he does know.

“Food, then more sex?”

He grins and swings me into his arms. “Don’t need to ask me twice!” He carries me into my room and positions us on my bed before grabbing his laptop.

I frown at him. “What are you doing?”

He tilts his laptop away from me while he types in his password suspiciously fast.

“Worried I’m going to hack you, Morningstar?”

He blushes a little before turning the laptop around again so I can see the screen. “You never know,” he says, typing something into the browser.

I blink, watching him. “What are you doing?” I ask again.

“Putting on a movie while we eat.”

“Oh…”

Connor grins at me. “Unless you were planning to eat while having sex. Though I think there’s a rule against that.”

I roll my eyes. “Pretty sure that’s swimming. Put a movie on, dick.”

Connor tucks me tighter against his side, the laptop between us. He’s chosen an action movie with lots of guns and explosions. I barely pay attention, my mind drifting to the library and the sensation of eyes on me. The weight of the gaze felt both sinister and… possessive. There was something about it that was almost predatory. Angry. Jealous. Lethal. How could it have felt like two separate entities watching me? Why did I let Connor do what he did if I knew someone was watching? What if it was a student recording us? I had to have imagined it, but my reaction was so visceral.

Stupid, Summer. Stupid and reckless.

Connor shifts, arranging the laptop on my bedside table and pulling me down with him. He spoons behind me, forcing thoughts of the library and the mysterious lurker from my mind.

“Oh, no. Not cuddling again,” I groan, but wiggle back against him.

Connor nuzzles into my hair. “What do you mean? We cuddle whenever you stay over.”

I go very still. “Right.”

Connor lifts himself on his elbow, and I can feel his frown as he looks down at me. I chew on my lower lip, trying to remember how to lie, something I’ve never struggled with in the past. I’ve never been allowed to be anything but a liar. My survival insisted upon it. The truth has never been a luxury I could afford, yet with his eyes pinning me in place, I seem to have forgotten the skill.

“Summer.”

“Hm?”

“You do stay, don’t you?” Connor asks, his face more severe than I’ve ever seen it.

“Well, I?—”

Connor curses and rolls onto his back. I cringe at the loss of his warmth, both emotional and physical. He rubs his hand over his face. “Summer.”

I roll over to face him, preparing myself for the words of anger and insults about to be thrown at me. Finally, here is the proof that this angel is not the angelic guy he seems to be. I take a deep breath, relaxing into the idea that this will be it, even as something within me breaks. Connor turns his head to look at me, and I’m surprised to see no anger there. There is only… concern?

“You sneak out when I’m sleeping?”

I nod and look down, plucking at the blanket as shame buzzes around me.

“Fuck, Summer. You walk across campus alone in the middle of the night?”

I blink, my gaze snapping back to his. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out, surprise silencing me. He doesn’t know this is the safest place I have ever lived. Avalon is a haven compared to what I am used to.

“You should have woken me. I would have walked you home.”

“Well—”

“We can take this at your pace, and if us having a curfew makes this easier for you, we can do that. But no sneaking out in the middle of the night. Okay?”

I scoot closer to kiss him. He kisses me back, and everything he puts into the kiss feels sincere.

“Are the sleepovers too much?” he asks, cupping my cheek.

I nod. “I don’t do sleepovers. I’m sor?—”

He interrupts me with a kiss and then pulls back. “I’ll leave every night at ten. Or I’ll walk you home. Deal?”

“Eleven.”

Connor laughs, the booming joyful sound irresistible. He pulls me close and effortlessly flips me over, arranging us into a spooning position again. I groan, but my lips twitch.

“You’re really into this cuddling thing, huh?”

He kisses my head. “I am. I’m the worst. Though it’s your fault.”

I glance at him over my shoulder. “How is it my fault?”

“Because you’re so cute and cuddly.”

I blink, genuinely confused. “I’m not cute.” No one has ever called me cute before, not even when I was a kid.

Connor rolls me onto my back and starts smothering me in kisses. “You are so cute!”

I push him off me and climb on top of him, straddling him and pinning his wrists by his head. “I am not cute.” Connor’s eyes flood with black, and my lips twitch. The angel boy likes to be pinned down, huh? I bend down and bite his ear, growling, “Say it. Say, I’m not cute.” I rock my hips, my bare pussy rubbing against his erection.

Connor groans and bucks his hips. “So… cute.”

I bite his neck hard, and he cries out in a mix of pain and pleasure. “Try again, Morningstar.”

He whimpers, but there’s a clear heat in it. I rock my hips again, slicking his cock with my arousal. I reach over and grab a condom off the nightstand. “I think this is the last one…” I purr into his neck before pulling back and ripping the packet open with my teeth.

Connor watches me, completely enraptured by the sight. His groan is low and desperate as I lean over and lick the bead of precum from the tip of his cock. Slowly, I glide the condom over the head and roll it down the thick shaft, squeezing when I reach the base. Connor moans, his eyes not leaving mine until I shift.

I crawl back up in body until I am straddling him again, and his gaze flashes down to where we are about to join. I drag the tip of his cock through my slick folds until he’s pressing against my opening. Connor’s eyes darken even further as I lower my hips, slowly sheathing his cock inside me. He grips my hips, his fingers digging deep. Again, not enough to bruise me, but enough that I feel the slight bite of his nails.

I moan and take more of him, my pussy stretching so perfectly for him. My inner muscles protest a little, burning as I take him to the hilt, the bite of pain bringing its own sort of pleasure. I roll my hips, savoring the feel of him fully inside me.

At some point, Connor shifted his gaze back up to me. He is watching me now with such awe that my chest tightens a little. I swallow, unsure what to do with the feeling or even what it means. It is true that I see him as more than just a generic fuck buddy who I can use and discard, but there is something in the way he is looking at me. It makes me think that he’s feeling something that goes even deeper. I lift my hips and slam them down again. My pussy tightens in protest, begging for a break from being hammered into, but I lean into the pain, into the pleasure. I throw my head back, losing myself to it, desperate to escape the turmoil of all the unfamiliar emotions.

Connor comes after another few bucks of his hips, and I follow him, allowing myself to descend into the chaos of my orgasm. I collapse forward, my chest heaving against his. Connor pants, brushing a kiss against my damp forehead and stroking a hand over my hair. I start to roll off him, but he snakes his arm around me, holding me there.

“I’m crushing you,” I protest, but don’t make any further attempt to move.

He tightens his arm around me, his voice soft and sated. “Stay right there.” He brushes his lips over the top of my head, practically humming with contentment. “Summer?”

“Hm?”

“Will you tell me if I’m moving too fast?”

I sigh. “Yes.”

“Thank you.” He pauses for a moment. “What else can I do to make you more comfortable? Other than the sleepover thing.”

I lean up on my forearms, looking down at him. “Sit next to me at lunch, weirdo,” I say and press my lips to his.