Page 57 of Reality With You (Arden Beach #1)

Grinning, Dylan reached out and narrowly missed her as she snaked around the patio furniture.

He gracefully jumped over the back of the sofa, causing her to let out another shriek, which evolved into a fit of giggles as he cornered her, a large fire pit between them.

She teetered left and right, but whichever way she went, his long arms and limbs had the advantage.

“It’s cute you thought you could get away,” Dylan remarked with a smirk. That smirk—it sent a wave of fire through her.

Lennon reached behind and grabbed the pillow from the chair, tossing it across the fire pit. As it flew toward his head, she bolted for the pool.

Dylan caught it midair and laughed. “Really?” He was behind her again in a flash as she rounded one end of the long, infinity-edge pool.

His fingers brushed her back, eliciting a scream/laugh from her, and then his arm hooked around her waist. She tried to tug away, but his strong arms held her against him.

They were dangerously close to the edge of the pool.

Physics defied them, and they were a ball of laughter as their weight began to topple toward the water. She held her breath, bracing for impact. He twisted their bodies as they plunged in so he would fall first into the water on his back, softening her landing.

When Lennon resurfaced, she sucked in a sharp breath.

She kicked her legs as her pink gown floated around her.

He was up a second later, shaking his wet hair.

Looking at each other made them burst out laughing again.

After a few moments, it tapered off, and they silently bobbed in the water, staring across the short stretch of space between them.

Warm lights illuminated the pool from within, glinting off the dark blue waves undulating around them.

The water’s reflection danced across his face, the light occasionally catching one of the droplets clinging to his skin.

Her attention went to his mouth, to the water dripping from his lower lip. She tasted the salt water on her own.

“I wanted to be caught,” Lennon said. She dragged her gaze back to his, letting the heat she felt blaze in it.

In a swift, fluid movement, Dylan crossed the space and pulled her into him, crashing his mouth against hers.

Lennon wrapped her legs around his waist as his fingers splayed across her back, his other hand cradling the back of her head, digging into her wet hair.

She cupped his face, both pulling each other deeper in, needing to be closer, closer, closer.

Lennon clawed at the muscles in his shoulders, wanting to rip off the white dress shirt that clung to him.

Her legs gripped him tightly, pressing the heat between her legs into his torso.

He took the message, carrying her up the pool steps and across the patio as their mouths remained greedily attached.

Dylan fumbled to push open the large sliding glass door without breaking the kiss.

When he finally had to turn away for a second, she went for his ear, nipping and licking.

He moaned, cursing under his breath at the door.

As soon as he finally got it open, he carried her to the massive dining room table a short distance away and carefully lowered her onto it.

They both immediately tore at the hem of his shirt.

Lennon helped him rip it off and then stilled for a moment as she took in the glistening muscles sculpting his long, lean torso.

Dylan stopped, too, chest heaving as he looked down at her.

As he watched, she reached behind and unzipped her dress, slowly lowering the straps and letting the bustier fall to her waist. He helped her pull it down her hips as she lifted them from the table, the dress dropping to the floor, leaving her in a lacy thong and matching strapless bra.

The yearning admiration that flooded him made her limbs feel like the water pooling on the table.

“Wow,” Dylan breathed, taking her in. “You’re so beautiful, Lennon.

” His having that reaction, even after all these years, made her heart swell and liquify.

He brushed his thumb along the small tattoo on her ribcage beneath one of her breasts, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

A line drawing of waves interrupted by a crescent moon—a break in the tide.

Dylan lowered his lips to it to place a soft kiss there.

He then moved to the tattoo on her upper thigh, palming the inner swell to hold her leg steady as he reverently traced the words with his tongue, a soft moan humming against her skin.

Lennon dropped her head back, shivering and yet on fire.

Tearing himself away from her thigh, Dylan took her face in his hands, kissing her slow and deep.

Her fingertips slipped along his body’s firm lines and ridges, starting at his chest and traveling down until she grazed the trail of hair below his navel.

She felt him lightly shudder beneath her.

She went lower, gripping the button of his pants.

Dylan released her from the kiss. “Are you sure?” She unlatched the button with a sharp tug as her answer. The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I need to get a—”

“I’m on the pill.” Lennon yanked down the zipper. “Now, take off your pants and fuck me on this table.”

She practically felt the heat that ignited in his eyes, Dylan’s gaze turning primal.

They collided again, tearing off the rest of each other’s clothes.

His hands explored her, one cupping her breast as the other went between her legs.

Dylan parted her, his long fingers teasing, eliciting a soft moan from her.

Lennon arched her back, propping herself up with one hand behind her as the other squeezed the nape of his neck.

Her core throbbed mercilessly. When he pulled away, she waited for him to fill her, but instead, he dropped to his knees.

With ease, Dylan slid her to the edge of the table and spread her legs further, resting them up on his shoulders as his hands braced her hips.

When his tongue brushed against her, Lennon’s entire body shuddered. She threw her head back, fingernails searching for purchase on the smooth wood as the other hand buried itself in his hair. It wasn’t long before she was near the edge of exploding.

Fuck , he’d learned some new things.

“Dylan—get up here. I’m—I need you inside me,” Lennon begged, struggling to form coherent words.

He kept going, moaning into her and tightening his grip on her hips as if made hungrier by her pleas.

She felt hollow, aching for him to fill her.

“Please. Oh, God.” She bit down on her lower lip so hard she was surprised she didn’t draw blood. “ Dylan —”

Dylan let go and rose slowly, his impressive silhouette—broad, lean, sculpted—bathed in the soft moonlight pouring through the wall of glass behind him. Dark, wet hair tousled around his face. Swollen, pink lips. Eyes heavy with passion. He was so beautiful, it hurt.

Dylan crawled over her, taking his time, caging her between his arms. He parted her lips with his, devouring her slowly.

As his narrow hips lowered against hers, Lennon felt him brush against her center, and her body erupted with intense need all over again.

She wanted to be impossibly close to him.

Feel every inch of him against her and inside her.

She lay back against the table, wrapping her legs around his waist to pull him closer.

Dylan took it slow at first, both exhaling the moment they connected.

But they were both so eager for release, so hungry for each other after years apart, that soon he was picking up the pace, and she was encouraging him to go harder, her nails digging into his back and her cries ringing out as he groaned into her neck.

Sweat mixed with the saltwater from the pool, making her cling tighter to him so he wouldn’t slip away.

“Don’t worry. I got you, baby,” Dylan rasped, his breath hot on the shell of her ear, then groaned as she internally tightened around him. “ F-fuck … you’re so perfect.”

He breathed her name, warning her when he was on the precipice, barely holding off until she was ready, and they both came apart together.

Dylan released his body weight onto her, and Lennon rested her arms around his shoulders, legs holding him to her, his face nuzzling into her neck.

His breath warmed her skin as the length of their bodies pressed closer with every gasp for air.

Lennon didn’t want to move. She enjoyed the feeling of his skin against hers. Of him filling her.

She hadn’t realized how empty she’d been.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Dylan rasped in her ear, still breathless. Blissful. Sounding the way she felt.

“Me either.”

Dylan stiffened slightly against her, pulling back to look at her. She met his gaze, finding a shadow of concern in it. “You don’t … regret it, do you?”

A soft smile formed on her lips, her eyelids heavy. Lennon shook her head. He relaxed again, happiness radiating from him. Dylan placed a gentle kiss on her lips, then returned to his spot in the crook of her neck, tickling her with his facial hair.

They stayed like that until their breaths calmed to a stable rate, and she reluctantly released her grip around him, allowing him to slide away. Dylan peppered kisses down her neck, chest, abdomen, thighs. Lennon lay there, enjoying his delicate worshipping of her body.

He offered her something to drink, and she followed him into the massive kitchen. After hydrating, she ended up bent over the sprawling island for round two.