Page 16 of Fragile Hearts (Hibiscus Hearts #3)

“Okay, yes,” she whispers.

I grin, my heart pounding in my chest as I give her a quick nod. “Awesome, I’ll get everything organized for us. You have class on Friday?”

Sloane shakes her head as she says, “No.”

“Cool, don’t make any plans then,” I reply, giving her a wink.

“Are you sure your parents are okay with me coming along?” she questions, and I can see the nervousness written all over her face.

Leaning in, I grip the back of her neck as I pull her close. Brushing my lips against hers, I whisper, “Yes, I promise.”

She nods, and I silence any more of her questions with another kiss. When we eventually pull back, Sloane’s face is flushed, and her eyes are all hazy and sexy.

Chuckling, I pick up my fork again as I say, “Your blush is so adorable, you know.”

“What? I don’t blush,” she says as her cheeks get even darker.

Laughing, I say, “Yeah, you do. It’s really sexy.”

“Oh my god,” Sloane moans, dropping her fork as she puts her hands on her cheeks. “This is so embarrassing.”

I reach over, pulling one of her hands away as I lift it to my mouth and press a kiss against her palm. “It’s not,” I whisper. “It’s adorable, seriously.”

Sloane rolls her eyes, and I laugh again before she changes the subject and asks, “Wanna watch a movie tonight?”

I raise a brow, smirking as I say, “Sure, what are we watching?”

Sloane’s head falls to the side as she watches me, a secretive little smile on her face as she says, “How about the second car movie?”

“The second car movie,” I repeat with a laugh. “You mean Too Fast, Too Furious , right?”

“I don’t know, do I?” she asks, shrugging. “I’ve never seen them, remember?”

“Yeah, gorgeous, you do,” I say with a nod. “But yep, that sounds good.” I take another mouthful of dinner, chewing slowly as I try to decide if I should ask the question I want to ask. As I swallow, I mentally say fuck it and just ask it. “You wanna have a sleepover again tonight?”

Sloane’s lips twitch, like she’s trying not to smile. “Like for Mochi’s sake?” she asks.

I burst out laughing. “Yeah, sure, for Mochi’s sake,” I tell her.

She smiles now, unable to stop it as she rests her arms on the table and leans a little closer. “Are you sure you can handle the little cockblocker?” she asks. “I can’t even imagine what that’s doing to...” She trails off, her eyes dropping to what I assume is my crotch beneath the table.

With a grin, I point my fork at her as I say, “If you are referring to my blue balls, Sloane, then I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Oh?” she asks, a single brow raised.

Chuckling, I shake my head. “Nope, all good.”

“You sure?” she asks, a teasing smile on her face now. “Because it seemed like you needed a minute this morning?”

I’m laughing again, shaking my head at this new, playful side of Sloane that I really fucking love. “Yeah, not gonna deny that,” I admit. “But I’ve been managing this blue ball situation for a long time now, so I’m good, I promise.”

“Blue ball situation?” Sloane asks, laughing.

“Uh huh.”

“But you...” She trails off, and there’s that fucking blush I love so much.

With a grin, I lean over as I say, “Yeah, I have jerked off to deal with it,” I whisper, my gaze locked with hers. “But that’s all,” I add, wanting her to know the whole picture here.

“So like...you haven’t...” She trails off again, seemingly unable to ask the question my statement implies.

Closing the distance, I give her a quick kiss as I say, “No, Sloane. I haven’t been with anyone else.”

She blinks at my admission, her eyes wide as she says, “Since, like...?”

With a grin, I sit back in my chair, forking another pile of spaghetti as I say, “Since I fell for you.” Sloane doesn’t say anything, and when I turn back to her, she’s staring at me, a look of shock and surprise and something else on her face.

Just before I shove the fork in my mouth, I wink and say, “Told you I’d wait. ”

“So, how do you wanna do this?” I ask as we walk hand in hand along the beach.

“What do you mean?” Sloane asks, glancing up at me.

Laughing, I let go of her hand, slinging my arm around her shoulder as I pull her close. “I mean, I’m not exactly sure what this is, but are we doing whatever it is,” I pause, squeezing her shoulder as I drop a kiss to the top of her head, “in front of our friends?”

Sloane stops, turning to face me with a smile on her face. “I kinda don’t know what this is either,” she says quietly. “But I do like it.”

I smile before leaning in to kiss her. “Me too,” I murmur against her lips. “And I mean, it kinda feels like we’re, I don’t know, dating?”

She laughs now, nodding as she says, “Yeah, it does.”

“But going slow,” I quickly add. “Which is totally cool with me.” Sloane smirks at that, and I can’t resist adding, “And Mochi too, apparently.” The little shit might have played matchmaker that first night, but he’s been pretty steadily playing cockblocker every morning since.

It’s been two nights since we first shared a bed, and we’ve just kept right on doing it, alternating between whose room we sleep in. And every night, Mochi is up on the bed, lying between us, and every morning, I wake up wrapped around Sloane, Mochi barking his head off beside us.

I’m going to have to figure something out for when this does finally go further because I definitely don’t need a barking commentary to all the things I want to do to Sloane.

“And dinner,” she adds, reminding me of the other night when I came home to find her dancing in the kitchen as she made dinner.

Fuck, I was so close to saying fuck it and just taking her back to my bedroom then and there, especially after watching her move without knowing I was there. But like I’d said to her at the time, I wanted our first time to be perfect, when she was one hundred percent sure about us.

I chuckle, dropping a kiss to the end of her nose. “Yeah.”

Sloane pushes up on her toes, her hand cupping my jaw as she gives me a soft, slow kiss. “I’m okay with our friends knowing,” she whispers. “I mean, they’ll give us a ton of shit about it, but I’m okay with that.”

I grin, tightening my arms around her as I lift her up, planting another hard kiss on her mouth. “Pretty sure all the shit will be directed at me, but I got you.”

Sloane wraps her arms around my neck, an easy smile on her face as she says, “I know you do.”

My heart soars at her words, at knowing how big a step that is for Sloane to not just accept help but acknowledge it too. I kiss her again, deeper this time before lowering her back to the sand. “Okay then, let’s go get shit from our friends.”

We walk along the beach until we get to The Pipe Dream, crossing the road and walking past the now infamous sex shower to the backyard. As we round the corner of the shop, it feels like everyone stops talking at once and turns to look at us.

“Well, well, well,” Kai says, a huge grin on his face. “What do we have here?”

I roll my eyes, turning to glance at Sloane, who is blushing. With a grin, I lift her hand, kissing the back of it as I turn back to our friends and say, “We don’t need to make a big deal out of things.”

“Oh, but I think we do,” Kai says, stepping forward. Behind him, Flynn is grinning like a motherfucker as he gives me a thumbs up.

“We don’t,” I correct. “And it’s new, and we’re just?—”

“Seeing where things go,” Sloane says.

Alana claps her hands together at this, letting out a squeal as she comes racing over and pulls Sloane into her arms, jumping around on the spot with her. I blink at them, not quite sure what to make of her reaction, and when I look over at Flynn, he’s laughing now as he walks over to me.

“Finally took that risk, huh?” he asks, slapping me on the back.

“Something like that,” I reply.

Flynn laughs, hooking his arm around my shoulders as he drags me over to the coolers. “Looks like you could do with a drink.”

“I’m fine,” I say, taking the beer he hands me.

Flynn scoffs. “Sure you are,” he says, laughing again when I look over at Sloane, seeing she’s now surrounded by all three girls. “It’s good, dude, seriously,” he adds.

“Yeah,” I breathe out, a smile tugging at my mouth. “It is. Just like it’s good you’re getting back into surfing,” I tell him, changing the subject as I take a long pull of my beer.

This get-together tonight is sort of a farewell, good luck party for Flynn and Alana. Tomorrow they fly to Oahu to compete in Pipe Masters next weekend, which is huge for both of them because it’s Alana’s first comp as a pro and Flynn’s big comeback after his injury.

Flynn scrubs a hand across his jaw, shrugging a little as he says, “Yeah, maybe. Who knows? Could be a total shit show, but hey, figure I owe it to her to give it a shot.” He nods in Alana’s direction.

“You’ll do great, Flynn. You’re an awesome surfer, a fucking world champion.”

Flynn laughs, shaking his head as he says, “Former world champion.”

“Whatever,” I say. “A former five-time world champion, so still a fucking world champion.”

“Alright, alright, settle down,” he says as Alana and Sloane both walk over to join us. “Ladies,” Flynn says, slinging an arm around Alana.

I turn to Sloane, who’s looking up at me with a smile on her face.

Chuckling, I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and pull her close as I say, “Come here, you.” Sloane giggles, burying her face against my chest before she turns to our friends, her head leaning on my shoulder.

“You good?” I ask, gently squeezing her neck.

“I’m good,” she says, glancing up.

With a grin, I lean in and drop a quick kiss to her lips, which is apparently enough to warrant loud cheers from all of our friends.

“Oh my fucking god,” I say, laughing. “Settle down. It’s a kiss, not a cure for cancer.”

“No chance!” Daisy says, grinning as she now joins us. “We’ve all been waiting forever for this to happen, so we’re definitely gonna be cheering for it.”

I raise a brow at her. “Really, Daze?” I deadpan.

“Yes, really,” she says, slapping my chest. “You two have always been like...I don’t know, the couple everyone wants to be together, so...” She trails off suddenly as her gaze moves away from us to land on Miles, who is standing quietly beside his brother, his eyes firmly fixed on Daisy.

With a grin, I lean in and say, “I don’t think we’re the only ones, Daze.”

“Yeah,” Sloane says, poking her friend. “When are you gonna ditch that dickhead and realize what a catch Miles is?”

Daisy slow-blinks at Sloane before crossing her arms over her chest. “Um, hello pot, would you like to meet kettle?” she asks, smirking.

Chuckling, I shake my head as I say, “Totes different, Daze.”

She scoffs at that, throwing her arms up as she says, “Whatever,” before turning and walking over to the cooler, avoiding Miles’s stare as he watches her the whole time.

“God, it’s almost painful watching those two,” Sloane mutters.

Alana bursts out laughing. “Jesus, Sloane, now you know how the rest of us felt watching you two!” she says, flinging her hand in our direction.

Sloane’s gaze snaps to Alana’s, her mouth open in an adorable little O shape. “What?” she asks.

“You two,” she says, flipping her hand between Sloane and me. “Watching Owen pine, watching you trying not to give in to it, knowing you were both being idiots, all of it!”

Flynn laughs, squeezing Alana into his side as he says, “Settle down, babe. Not everyone hooks up within five minutes of meeting each other.” Alana lets out a shocked yelp as she turns to gape at her boyfriend.

Flynn is grinning at her as he leans down and nuzzles the side of her neck.

“I know I was hard to resist, babe. You were too.”

Alana’s shock dissolves into giggles as she turns to Flynn, kissing him hard.

“Oh my god, I think we need to find someone else to talk to,” Sloane mutters.

“Agree,” I say with a laugh as I turn us around and we wander over to where Nate and Sage are. “Oh, and before I forget,” I add, my mouth at her ear so none of our friends hear this part.

God knows how much shit we will get when they find out I’m taking Sloane to my family’s soft opening of their newest hotel.

I’ve never taken any of my friends to one of these because they are normally reserved for family and friends of my parents.

I’d already been planning to ask my mom if I could bring Sloane, if only so I could treat her to something nice.

But then she suggested I bring her anyway, obviously fully aware of my crush on this girl.

“We’re on the ten o’clock ferry tomorrow morning.”