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Quinn had to bite his lip to keep himself from audibly groaning when Rae arched her back at his touch. Obviously, he was getting carried away. Hey, he said he’d try. He hadn’t promised anything. Again, he applied pressure from the small of her back and kneaded his hands outward.

“Why haven’t you given me back massages before?” Rae asked, a low silvery tone to her voice.

He swallowed and cleared his throat before responding as confidently as he could, “All you have to do is ask, Princess.”

Did her skin just flush? Did I just...turn her on?

This was a bad idea. But it was the best bad idea he’d ever had.

He scooted forward just slightly, and the heat of her back radiated onto his chest. The shape of Rae’s ass as she arched her back again was going to make him lose it.

He was about to make bad choices but didn’t have the restraint to stop himself.

Grabbing the bottle of sunscreen with one hand, he bent his other that was still pressed to her back so his fingers were angled down, he let his fingertips slide just barely beneath the waistband of her bikini bottoms.

“Hey!” A harsh voice barked out from behind him. “Watch where you're putting those hands.” Charlie’s voice had come out as a growl between his teeth.

Quinn’s hands flew up, having never heard Charlie sound so threatening. The hand with the lotion bottle had squeezed in reflex, sending the creamy, white substance squirting everywhere. A long stream of it landed on Quinn’s chest and stomach.

Hesitantly, he looked up at Charlie who was now standing beside the lounge chair. Quinn was grateful to be wearing sunglasses. He thought it might hide some of the guilt he felt.

Charlie’s furrowed glare bore into Quinn for a few seemingly long, horrible seconds.

Rae turned around and grinned as she watched the uncomfortable interaction until Charlie’s face transformed to a look of amusement as he raised an eyebrow and pointed at the trail of lotion on Quinn’s chest. “Yeah, that’ll happen sometimes. ”

Quinn’s voice caught in his throat as he stared, jaw dropped in awkward, horrified disbelief.

“Dad!” Rae exclaimed, her face a look of equal mortification. “ Ew! That’s disgusting! ” She stood up and stormed away in a huff.

Quinn watched, frozen in place, as Rae strode away. He wasn’t sure what to make of Charlie’s joke and didn’t know that he could look him in the eye at this point in time. And to make matters worse, without Rae sitting in front of him, the evidence of his arousal was no longer hidden.

He could feel Charlie’s eyes on him and nervously let his own wander up again.

“You know where the bathrooms are if you need to take care of that,” said Charlie. He pulled his sunglasses off his head and over his eyes before attempting to hide a grin. “Use the old towels.” And with that, Charlie slunk away to one of the food tables.

Quinn could have died of embarrassment. He threw himself back onto the lounge chair with a mortified groan and, thinking quickly, grabbed the stray beach towel next to him and pulled it over his crotch.

Despite having her sensual massage interrupted by her dad , of all people, the party was actually a blast. Everyone was getting along great, which is a tough feat when there are so many boys and girls in one area- who knows what kind of drama could pop up?

Brandi seemed to be successfully charming Luke, and Raelyn was feeling pretty good about her odds with Quinn now, after the way he seemed to enjoy lathering her up with sunscreen.

Still wearing his white and blue baseball hat, which happened to be a favorite of hers, Raelyn stood next to the cake table, watching across the pool as Quinn emerged from the water’s surface. He shook his head to let the excess water out and ran his hands through his hair .

Does he know he looks like a model from an Armani cologne commercial?

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Jett sidled up to Raelyn, following her gaze across the deck to the pool. To Quinn.

“Can you believe he’s moving across the country next year?” Raelyn replied, hearing the sadness in her own voice.

“I think it’ll be good for him to get away,” said Jett, before shoving a large piece of cake in his mouth.

“I’m gonna miss him,” Raelyn sighed. Quinn was now initiating a game of pool basketball with several of the boys and a few of the girls. She overheard one of the boys suggest that only the girls can make shots and they have to be on the guys’ shoulders. Sneaky move, Luke. I see what you did there.

“Not as much as he’s gonna miss you,” Jett said, once he’d finally swallowed the dessert. He still had frosting on his lips.

Raelyn snorted sarcastically, “Yeah, because he’ll have time to think about me between baseball and a whole new pool of hot babes to choose from.”

Jett raised a curious eyebrow, peering at her from the side. “Does that thought bother you?”

“No,” Raelyn said, probably too quickly. “Um, no. That’s just Quinn, right?”

“Rae?” Jett’s suspicious glance didn’t let up.

Raelyn panicked at the thought of Jett knowing how she felt for Quinn. With Jett’s big mouth, every person at the party would know in less than five minutes. She needed to distract him. Make him forget why he was looking at her like this. Luckily, Jett was easy to distract.

Spotting the glob of sugary, buttercream frosting on the corner of Jett’s mouth, she swiped her finger across his lips to wipe it off. His eyes went wide, both alert and alarmed.

“Lick,” Raelyn said, holding her now frosting-coated finger in front of Jett’s mouth. This was super weird for her, too, but she hoped it wasn’t showing .

Jett hesitated, “Uhm...I don’t want to.” Raelyn noticed as his eyes flicked over to the pool, then back to her.

Raelyn rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Jett, it’s a finger. I promise not to get aroused if you don’t.”

With another quick glance toward the pool and back to Raelyn, he furrowed his brow and asked, “But what if you do get aroused?”

“Then I guess we’ll have to see where this takes us,” she replied with an overly exaggerated wink.

“You’re weird today,” Jett said. Then in what was probably the most awkward moment of their friendship, Jett wrapped his entire mouth around her finger and licked the frosting off.

Raelyn made a face, no longer hiding her discomfort at how unpleasant an experience this was for her. And for him, by the looks of it.

“You taste like sunscreen,” said Jett, making a face that she imagined was similar to her own.

“Well, Jett, I think it’s safe to say you and I are safely in the platonic friend zone,” Raelyn said, wiping her Jett-slobbered finger on her bathing suit bottoms. “Please don’t ever lick me again.”

“Please don’t ever ask me to lick you again.”

Standing next to each other and looking around at anything else for fear of making eye contact, Raelyn and Jett contemplated how to get on with their lives.

Raelyn’s gaze drifted back to the pool where Quinn was staring, halting the game, basketball in hand.

She looked at Jett whose mouth hung open as though caught doing something particularly heinous, then back to Quinn.

If she didn’t know better, she’d think Quinn looked. .. jealous.

Raelyn smirked, almost triumphantly at the thought. Turning back to Jett, she ruffled up his curly hair and walked off with a notable spring in her step.

The sun was going down, party food had been moved inside, and Quinn had opened his gifts, which were primarily ASU merchandise, baseball gear, and other athletic wear.

An envelope from Mr. and Mrs. DeRose contained a check for way too much money.

Mrs. DeRose assured him the card was a far better option to her husband’s idea to actually purchase him a car.

Charlie’s argument was that if Quinn got a car, he could drive that to Arizona next fall and take Rae along for the road trip.

When Quinn asked how Rae would get back if they drove his car, Charlie waved a hand and said, “Just keep her down there with you. She’ll stay out of trouble that way”.

Wouldn’t that be something? Bringing Rae with me to college.

She had her own plans though. Her sights were set on the amazing sports medicine program that the University of Michigan offered. If Michigan had offered him a better scholarship, he would have been on it. Him and Rae together in college? He’d be all over that option.

Rae wandered out of the house wearing a cropped racer back and a pair of blue jean shorts, and Quinn felt like a fresh breeze washed over him.

That bikini she’d been wearing earlier was a fucking treat for sure, but this was the Rae he was used to.

Cool, casual, effortlessly beautiful. Her hair was down, and she was still wearing his hat.

She had been right, of course; there were actually two new Arizona State University hats in his pile of presents.

As Rae approached him he smiled, maybe his first easy smile all day. “Where’ve you been?” he asked.

“Taking a minute to myself,” she replied.

She took in the new maroon colored hat that he was wearing and smiled, “That’s a good color on you.

” Before he could respond, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

She held her arms around him for a few heavy moments, and his own arms curled around her waist, pulling her in tight as he buried his face in her neck.

He breathed in her hair and the familiar summery scent of coconuts and vanilla consumed him.

When she let up, she only half pulled away and Quinn forced her to look him in the eyes. “What was that all about?”

There was a hint of sadness in her smile as she replied, “I’m just really going to miss you next year. ”

Quinn’s chest swelled, feeling both elated that she’d expressed this feeling to him, and also sharing her sadness that they would be separated for the first time since they’d met. “You don’t know the half of it, Rae.”