Page 52 of Honey Undone (The Hornets Nest #5)

SARAH

“ A re you sure?” I held up the long dark blue dress, it was made of a light, satiny fabric and patterned with the most delicate gold hydrangeas that climbed over the bodice to my right shoulder. I stared at Jensen in the mirror as he rested on my bed giving me his undivided attention.

“It’s perfect.” His hair was messy from my fingertips an hour before, and he was still half dressed.

We should have been on the road already but he had showed up in a sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of shorts that showed off every pumped tanned and tattooed muscle from his workout.

I would have had to be a saint to resist him.

“Please tell me you brought the GR?” I said, slipping the dress into a hanger bag as he pulled on his shirt and got off the bed.

“Only to see that smile on your face,” he said, zipping up his shorts. “We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up.”

“I thought the wedding was tomorrow?” I asked him, fixing my hair in the mirror. His hand wrapped around me, reaching down to palm my thigh as his teeth grazed my shoulder.

“It is, but there’s a dinner tonight, and if we miss it Ella will have our heads,” he mumbled, peppering kissing along my skin.

“ Your head,” I said, “she likes me. It’s your head at stake.”

“Mmm,” he grumbled, squeezing my thigh tighter.

“And if you don’t stop doing that, we’re not going to get anywhere fast.” I giggled as his fingertips tickled my inner thigh.

“I can think of one place I can get fast,” he chuckled .

“Can I drive?” I asked while he was distracted by my skin.

He clicked his tongue at the question, digging out the keys and holding them up beside my head as his lips found my jaw on the other side.

I smiled wickedly, snatching the keys and turning my head to brush my nose against Jensen’s.

“That gives us an extra twenty minutes.” I whispered and he didn’t even hesitate to haul me back to bed.

Once Jensen had gotten it completely out of his system, and I was dressed, again.

He dangled the keys in my face and we finally got out the door.

This weekend would be a whole other ballgame when it came to our relationship.

Being around all his friends, the people he considered family for something as important as a wedding.

Since we had spoken about California, he had been nothing but sweet and charming.

The same loverboy that had wormed his way into my heart all those months ago, but there was something else there now.

He was cautious, like he was anticipating the heartbreak before it even happened.

Part of me regretted telling him but the other part was glad I did.

Hauling around a secret like that was breaking me down.

The weight was too much to bear. I thought it would feel good to tell him but it only made the guilt worse.

I wanted to play rugby and have Jensen. Was that too much to ask for?

He made me feel seen which wasn’t something I was accustomed to in my life. I was always the last thought. And maybe it gave me a complex, maybe it was the reason I pushed so hard in rugby but… I didn’t have to push with Jensen. It was effortless attention, meant only for me.

It was in the little details, my apartment always had my favorite snacks, there was always a new set of dice in my dungeons and dragons bag, he had started to keep an extra gym duffle for me in his trunk… he was always one step ahead of me, caring about things that I cared about.

And he let me drive his expensive car way too fast because he liked how happy it made me.

I giggled to myself, and sped up. The GR took the turns to the Shore cabin like a dream, I barely had to let off the gas for the back end to slide into place, straighten out and take off.

I’d never get sick of the engine rumbling to regain momentum, the vibrations that coursed through my veins.

Jensen was relaxed in the passenger seat, the wind whipping through his dark hair. He hadn’t bothered to put his shirt back on and the sun nipped at every inch of the tanned, tattooed form. Kaia’s words about him being a Greek god, ruffled through my peaceful thoughts.

It was rare that she was wrong.

“What?” He said, with a lazy smile on his face. I turned my focus back on the road.

“It’s stupid,” I said, tapping the steering wheel and switching gears.

“Adeline,” he whispered over the wind.

“I was just thinking that you're beautiful,” I admitted.

“Beautiful?” Jensen smirked, his brown eyes lightened by the setting sun. “I’ve never been called that before.” There was a soft blush on his cheeks that demanded attention.

“Yeah.” I bit my lip letting up on the gas as the driveway for the cabin came into view.

There were already a ton of cars parked in the massive gravel driveway and my eyes went wide at the sight of the cabin.

“He really does make it sound small,” I said, looking over at Jensen who was pushing his hair back to hide it with a backward hat.

“Modest is Silas’s middle name.” Jensen laughed, “go on in, I’ll grab the bags.”

I cut the engine and inhaled slowly, I could do this. I took the stairs inside and was instantly met with thunderous echoes of laughter and chatter. I’d have back up in Cosy for the weekend and could hear her chatting from the front door, my ears leading me further inside.

“You made it,” she turned around, her dark red hair curled around her face. She was standing with Zoey, both sipping on something that smelled delicious and sweet

“Yeah, sorry we’re late,” I said, giving her a small hug. The room erupted again when Jensen burst through the door and chucked our bags on the floor.

“What was it this time?” Cael asked, from the counter.

Jensen came up behind me and threw his arm around me, “this one doesn’t know how to keep his hands to himself.”

“Oh yeah blame me,” he huffed.

“It’s always you, Jenny.” Arlo dropped the beer from his lips with a raised eyebrow .

“Yeah yeah!” He laughed, “I’m starving, when's dinner?”

“We’re waiting on Gramps,” Cael groaned like he was dying.

It was good to see him in good spirits. Jensen had been a mess for nearly a week after that game.

I was selfishly grateful I wasn't there to watch Cael tear that muscle, when Jensen told me I could feel the strain in my own shoulder and winced. I’d never seen him so cuddly, it would have been endearing if it wasn’t heartbreaking.

Even though there was nothing any of them could have done, it still ripped through the team like an unstoppable storm.

This weekend was a break for them, they’d been training and playing harder than ever.

They won the semi-finals but not without bloodshed and the championships would be no different.

Jensen came crawling back to the apartment every night barely on his feet but still in search of comfort and I would continue to oblige for as long as I could.

I couldn’t think about that right now, it was going to make me sad.

“Is it frowned upon to get drunk tonight?” I asked Zoey and Cosy, only to be met by excited laughter. Three hours later and probably one too many shots half of us were sitting around the coffee table in the living room playing never have I ever .

“You definitely have,” Van was laid across the floor propped up on an elbow so Zoey could use him as a backrest.

“I never made out with Otis!” Dean argued. “I have standards,” he scrunched up his face. “The real question here is why Clem drank for Cael!”

“Otis really?” Van still sounded horribly confused.

“Drunk people do drunk things, and Otis has really nice green eyes,” Cael said with a shrug. “It’s Jensen’s turn,” he passed off the conversation to his left.

He was sitting flush against my back with his head resting on my shoulder and let out a low grumble.

One of his hands was on his beer and the other one was tucked under my shirt and pressed flat against my stomach.

I could practically hear him thinking with how long it took him to come up with something to add to the game's already hilarious turn of events.

“Never have I ever skinny dipped in the lake,” he blurted eventually.

Not a single person moved .

“Seriously?” I looked around, “ You guys ? Not even one of you has gone in the lake naked?” I moved to look around at the players that had stayed awake.

“Don’t look at me this is only my third time up here,” Joshua Logan scowled at me.

“What about the rest of you?” I looked at Van, Dean, Arlo and Cael.

“Never really crossed our minds?” Van shrugged. "We're naked around each other enough…"

“Cael?” I was actually in disbelief that this wasn’t a common thing with them.

“There’s a first for everything.” A wicked grin formed on his face.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Arlo warned and Ella started to laugh as Cael stripped from his shirt. “Sit the fuck down.”

“Mom’s laughing, all bets are off,” Cael yelled, backing toward the door.

“Stop encouraging him,” Arlo sighed, looking at Ella.

“He’s got a point,” Van said next, rolling back and causing Zoey to lose her balance laughing. She held her glass up, impressively not spilling a drop as her boyfriend darted after Cael, only pausing to haul Dean up by the back of his shirt.

Dean stumbled backward but followed, bravely flipping off Arlo as he went. Josh laughed gently as the shirt slapped him in the face but rose from his spot and followed the boys outside.

“Sorry Cap, it’s kinda funny,” Josh said as he disappeared. Both Zoey and Clem were gone before Arlo could stop them and Ella scrambled away from him forcing him to get up and join the fun.

“You too hot shot,” I nudged Jensen in the sudden quiet.

“If I’m going, you’re going,” he smirked, moving too fast for me to stop him as he scooped me off the floor and started toward the back door.

The cool night air hit my face, and I instantly curled against his chest with a deep laugh that rumbled his chest. “You started this.” The warning was loud as he flipped me over his shoulder to navigate the stairs, his hand pressed up my shorts against my ass.

“I didn’t think they’d all get up and get naked!” I giggled, pushing against his back .

"That is exactly when you knew they would do, you're just trying to catch a peak of Arlo!" Jensen dug his fingers into my skin and made me squeal.

“How are you even upright? It’s pitch black outside!”

“We know this path in our sleep, now stop wiggling.” He gave me a squeeze.

Even backwards, it was easy to tell when the lake came into view because the moon reflected off it and turned everything a hazy blue color along the tree line.

Jensen set me down on the dock and kicked off his shorts.

I could hear bodies hitting the water behind me but with his eyes on me nothing else needed my attention.

“You guys take everything way too seriously,” I whispered but lifted the hem of my tank top.

“Get in the water Adeline.” His voice was low and commanding, stepping toward me, I took a step back. Water splashed as two more people took the dive and everyone's light, tipsy laughter echoed across the surface. Jensen’s gaze was predatory. “Shorts too. This was your idea.”

“Did Arlo get naked?” I whispered and his jaw ticked but his eyes flickered over my shoulder.

“Yes,” he grumbled. “You even got Harbor’s grouchiest dickhead to have fun.

Now, get in the water,” he said, snapping each word as I rolled my shorts off.

I wrapped my arm around my chest and smiled at him.

Stepping back again my heels balanced off the side of the dock and I hung there for a second letting the cold air nip at my skin to cool the heat from Jensen’s admiration.

“Okay, okay!” I giggled, pushing off my toes and jumping in. The dark water swallowed me whole as I sank beneath the surface. I went limp for a second and enjoyed the muffled silence before kicking up for air.

“Careful,” a hand wrapped around my bicep pulling me away from the dock as Jensen backed up from the shore. I swam backward a little, falling in beside Ella and Van who had enough sense to warn me.

“What is he doing?” I asked, looking at Van.

“Showing off.” He laughed, slapping the water. “Does your dick shrink when you're nervous Jenny or is that just normal?” He teased loudly and Jensen laughed uncontrollably but took off at a run to the end of the dock .

Pushing off his toes he curled into an impressive front flip and hit the water with a massive splash of water. He broke the surface, shaking his head around violently like a dog and spraying water everywhere with a crooked smile on his handsome face.

I loved when he showed off.