Page 18 of Just Forever

A few more.

A few more.

“Damnit,” I mutter, rapping my knuckles against the wooden surface of the dock quickly.

He starts to laugh again. “See? I told you I knew you better than anybody else.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

He’s still smiling, but he’s also leaning closer. My heart jumps, and I start to look around.

“Relax,” he murmurs. “It’s too dark to see anything, and there’s nobody here.”

I force myself to follow the order. It helps that he slides his palm onto my cheek and kisses me right then, so all thoughts swiftly evacuate my brain while I lean into the kiss.

His mouth covers mine, warm and sure and familiar. I forget my frayed nerves for the moment. Or, more accurately, he makesme forget them. He nips and tastes, his warm breath in my mouth, nose bumping against mine every now and then.

My hands go into his hair, and he wraps his arm around me, pulling me tightly against him. In another moment, I’m straddling him, and all common sense—what little there was to begin with—flies out the window at the feel of Ryker’s tongue licking over mine. In another moment I’m panting and pushing my hips forward, trying to rub my cock against his. His fingertips sink into my hips.

It’s only when a loud whistle pierces the air, followed by even louder laughter, that some sense finds its way back to us. I scramble off Ryker’s lap and glance behind us. A group of people pass by on one of the trails. My heart is beating wildly in my chest, both from adrenaline and the kiss, as I try to swallow through the dry panic in my throat.

Careless. Not just careless; this was the height of carelessness, and carelessness is not something we can afford right now.

I jump when Ryker’s palm lands on my thigh and snap my head toward him.

He sends me a funny look and snorts out a laugh.

“Just me,” he says.

“I know,” I say quickly.

He holds my gaze, assessing. I must look really freaked out, which was not the goal at all.

“They didn’t recognize us,” he says.

I nod. I know. It’s dark enough, and they were far enough away from us. Of course they didn’t recognize him. That wouldn’t make sense. But it’s better to be hypervigilant about this. It’s stupid to take risks like the one we just took if the goal is to not stand out.

I don’t want to ruin anything for him. Ever. And I’m terrified it will ruin things should the truth about us come out.

Ryker is still studying me, so I force a smile onto my face. The last thing I need is to have him worry about how I’m handling this.

For a while, we’re both quiet. It’s getting late, and we have to head back home tomorrow, but Ryker doesn’t look ready to leave yet, so I don’t make the suggestion.

“Do you think I overreacted?” Ryker finally asks.

“With Genevive?”

He nods, eyes still on the city skyline.

“Maybe?” I say carefully. “I think…” My voice dies down while I’m trying to find the right words.

“You think?”

“I think you had set certain expectations for how she was going to react. But then she didn’t follow that plan, and that was disappointing.”

He meets my gaze and waits.

In the end, I just shrug. “It’s difficult to be generous in situations like these.”

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