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PART I

HEATHER

With just one precious week of summer left, Heather Vincent laid her head back against the seat of the Bentley convertible and closed her eyes with a sigh. “If I could stay in the Hamptons all year round, I’d think I was in a dream.”

It was true.

Summering in the Hamptons was a dream for her.

During the rest of the year in New York City, she woke up somewhere that reminded her more of a mausoleum than a home. The whole place was dark. Dark walls, dark drapes, dark carpets, and yes, dark floors.

There were servants in both locations, but her room in the Hamptons was full of sunlight. She could just leave the house when she wanted to go to the beach.

She could just leave and go out with friends.

Well… almost.

“Silly girl.”

She turned her head to look at the guy in the driver’s seat and almost smiled.

Tanner Barrett was the reason that her father didn’t mind if she left without her guards. Tanner was the son of her father’s corporate attorney. And the Bentley convertible that he was driving told a story beyond the shiny teal paint job.

The fact that his father didn’t bat an eyelash at the nearly three hundred thousand dollar price tag of the car was some indication of how much he made representing her father.

“Your whole face just changed.”

“Oh?” She sat upright and struggled to place a carefree smile on her face. “What you said is silly. See?” She lifted her hands in a shrug. “I’m just fine.”

“Fine?” Tanner laughed and even though he had his aviator sunglasses on, she knew he was rolling his eyes. That was his go-to expression when things weren’t perfect in his mind. He was that golden-boy that everyone thought was the perfect gentlemen.

He was with her because her father would break his hands if he wasn’t.

It wasn’t just what she thought, it was what she knew. Her father had certainly said the words enough.

Tanner always laughed it off when her father said the words, but that wasn’t just because he thought of himself as untouchable.

He laughed because even though he was publicly ‘dating’ her, he was just pretending to date her.

At first, it was just because that was the only way that they could get out without guards, and then it was because she was actually dating someone, and Tanner didn’t mind being the fake boyfriend.

“You better put a real smile on that beautiful face, Heather.”

“I’ll smile when there’s a reason.”

“There is.” The car stopped and Tanner put it in park with a heavy sigh. “Your boyfriend is here.”

That got her smiling.

And sitting bolt upright in the passenger seat of the convertible.

Her boyfriend, Mark Goddard, was walking in their direction, his long strides eating up the distance between them. Feeling the furious flutter of her heart in her chest, she called him by her pet nickname for him. “Mars!”

Tanner groaned. “Why do you call him that?”

Heather barely listened to her friend’s surly question.

Mark had her door open and his arms around her in seconds.

Seconds longer than she wanted to wait.

Having his arms around her was heaven.

His whole body was lean muscle and as hot as it was in the sunlight, she loved the heat that rolled off of his skin and warmed her all over.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” she looked up into Mark’s eyes. “Tanner had to get his car detailed before he left the grounds.”

“Hey!” Tanner had already shrugged off his lightweight jacket and was examining this pale skin for possible burning. “This car is my baby! Nothing but the best for my baby!”

Mark sighed and then laughed at his friend. “You can keep the car. I’ve got my baby right here.”

Heather leaned into his embrace and tried to ignore the heat that it stoked inside of her body. As much as she loved joking with Tanner, she really wanted to spend some alone time with Mark. This last week of her summer was quickly ticking away, and she hoped that she could have some private time with Mark before she left for the rest of the year.

In just two days the end of the summer bonfire was looming before them, and it was a night where her father wouldn’t expect her to come back until well after midnight.

It was going to be a magical evening. At least that’s what she and Mars had planned. A plan that Tanner was going to be an integral part of.

Given the look on Mark’s face as he leaned in toward her, she had a feeling he was thinking about that night too.

“Hey, before you start mauling my girlfriend,” Tanner snorted, “is your brother here?” He gave them both a big grin and raised his eyebrows. “I, uh… I need something.”

Heather’s mood took a downturn as he said the words.

Tanner had discovered a taste for marijuana at the beginning of the summer, or at least that’s what he said. Heather had a feeling that he’d developed the habit in New York City and brought the hunger with him.

Heather saw the muscle in Mark’s cheek flex, and she rubbed her hand up and down his back to soothe him.

“He’s down at the beach. Look for the red umbrella at the far end.”

Tanner gave Mark a mock salute and disappeared.

“Mars-”

“I told Luke he’s got to stop dealing. Even when he used to be careful about who he sold to and where, I hated it. I don’t like what this could do to his life. To our family.”

Heather rubbed her hand over his back. “Have you thought about telling your mom?”

Mark shook his head, and she could feel the tension in his body under her hand. “It would kill her. It would certainly kill her business.”

Heather nodded and leaned her cheek against his chest. Mark’s mother had built a good business as a house cleaner and then shifted to running a business employing over two dozen cleaners and she was now a property manager for a number of families in the Hamptons.

She was a lovely woman and an inspiration for Heather.

Her father laughed at the idea of a woman owning her own business and being a success. It was likely the reason that he didn’t hire her to maintain their home during the off season, but that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Is there something I can do to help?”

Mark went stock still as soon as she asked, and she wondered if she’d said something wrong.

Before she could ask about the shift in his mood, she felt his hands lovingly move down from her back to her backside.

When Mark’s hands grabbed a hold of her, she shivered, feeling a little naughty. It was one thing to be eighteen and in love. It was quite another to be on the verge of losing your virginity to the man that you knew you were destined to be with for the rest of your life.

His possessive hold on her body?

Delicious.

Mark leaned down and whispered into her ear. “What are you wearing under this dress?”

“My bathing suit.”

His lips brushed against the lobe of her ear. “Let’s go down to the beach so I can see you in it.”

She laughed and brought her hands up between them. “It’s not a bikini,” she sighed, “just my one piece.”

Her father had threatened to send her back to New York City and lock her in their home if she bought something else to wear.

Mark moved away, taking her hand in his. Looking around the parking lot, he drew her into the shadows of a cold drink stand at the edge of the lot.

He turned them until she was hidden completely in shadow with a flowering vine that scented the air. The way his hands settled on her hips and the hungry look in his eyes made her feel like she was finally a woman.

How could anyone ever feel this much in love and not act on it?

“You’re beautiful,” he told her, and it wasn’t just pretty words, she felt the truth of his words in the tender way that he looked at her, touched her. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Heather. Everything.”

Her cheeks were hot and the rest of her… Well, it wasn’t far behind.

“It’s crazy,” she groaned, “I love you so much, but in a week-”

“Heather-”

He was always trying to distract her from talking about the end of the summer, but they couldn’t ignore it. The date was looming before them.

“I want to be yours, Mars. I want to be yours in every way possible.”

She bit into her bottom lip, anxious to see and hear his response. They’d danced around the topic before, both hinting about the possibility, but they hadn’t said the words out loud.

Well, she hadn’t said them out loud either, but she’d come close.

“Yeah?” She heard the eagerness in his voice and his hands moved from her hips, up along her sides, just shy of her breasts. “Are you sure?”

Her own hands moved down until they were just above the waistband of his pants. Feeling daring, she shifted her hands until her fingertips slipped between his skin and the waistband of his board-shorts.

She heard his rough, indrawn breath and felt the sweep of his thumbs along the underside of her breasts.

Her nipples tightened and heat flared between her legs.

“Mars?”

“Yeah?”

She turned her face up toward him and swallowed when she thought she saw her own feelings mirrored in his expression.

“Kiss me?”

It didn’t take longer than a heartbeat for him to react.

“Fuck, yeah.”

And he did.

He kissed her.

It started as a rush. His lips bumping into hers, someone’s teeth hitting the other’s. Their hands feverishly roaming over clothes, their temperatures rising even though they were in the shaded recess behind the booth.

They fed off each other’s ardor and there came a point when Heather knew they had to stop, but how could she break away from him when his kisses made her feel like this. Feel like she could light the world with their love.

The light cotton dress that she had put on over her simple one-piece suit was bunching up around her thighs and she felt his leg wedge between her thighs.

Heather was nearly breathless, and her common sense was quickly disappearing with every heady touch of his skin against hers.

Mark pressed closer, opening her mouth under his, teasing her tongue with his.

Oh god. Oh god .

Something was happening to her. She didn’t know what it was, but it felt like the buzz of electricity through her bare skin.

I love him. Oh, I love him. I-

“Hey! Oh god, my eyes!”

Mark’s body tensed against hers and she knew that his brain had caught on faster than her own had.

Tanner was standing behind Mark, grousing.

“Your brother sold out before we got here!”

Mark turned around in a flash. “Shut up, Tanner!”

Heather saw the moment that Tanner remembered where they were.

“Oh sh-” He covered his mouth with his hand and his eyes widened in shock, but it didn’t last long. “So… can we go?”

Mark shook his head in disbelief. Heather felt the same way too. She leaned around Mark to talk.

“We just got here.”

“Well, it’s hot.” Tanner blew out a breath, lifting his bangs off his forehead. “And I don’t have anything to do.”

“It’s a beach,” she offered. “We were just about to-”

“Oh, I know what you were about to do with the boyfriend here.”

She rarely got upset with Tanner, but this was one of those times.

“We weren’t, Tanner. We were headed down to the beach. I’m wearing my suit. She tugged on the elastic neck of her dress to show the wide black strap of her bathing suit. “Let’s all go down together.”

“Great,” Tanner grumped at them both, “I get to go down to the sand and watch you two Frenching.”

Mark tensed up and Heather reached forward and put her hand on his back to soothe him the only way she could.

With a slow exhale, she felt the tension bleed out of him and she relaxed as well.

Mark reached back and she put her hand in his, smiling as he drew her up beside him. “Let’s go down to the beach.” He gave Tanner a pointed look. “There won’t be any Frenching.”

Tanner’s mood improved, but he tilted his head. “Cross your heart?”

Heather reached out and pushed on his chest with her fingertips. “That’s enough, Tanner. Let’s go.”

He reached out and took her hand in his, a motion that shocked her. Before it got too weird, he let her hand go and they moved toward the stairs to go down to the sand.

The world was suddenly back on its axis again.