Page 174 of Wildest Dreams

“Try harder,” she hisses, her eyes frantic as she glances over at her brother.

I give her waist another squeeze, my thumbs rubbing firmly into her lower back.

She fucking melts against me.

“Everyone here knows that I love you,” I murmur to her, gently scraping my stubble back and forth over her warm, water-speckled skin.

She pouts nervously, a little frown between those perfect eyebrows.

“But they all think that I hate you,” she whispers back to me. “How’s it gonna look when I go back on everything that they thought they knew about me? It’ll look disingenuous. They’re not gonna know what to think.”

I press a kiss to her cheek, keeping it chaste but pressing it hard.

“Listen to me, baby,” I tell her, wrapping my arms around her waist as she shoots worried looks toward her brother and my teammates. “One, it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks about you. Your opinion on your life is the only one that matters. Two, showing your real feelings is the least disingenuous thing in the world. People’s thoughts and feelings change, and that’s damn well okay. It’s more than okay – it’s growth. It’s maturity. It’s being true to yourself in a world where everyone is trying to impress everyone else. It’s being kind to yourself – making yourself happy. And that’s the most important thing of all.”

I press another kiss to her cheek, loving the way that she turns in closer, wanting my touch.

“That’s my priority,” I murmur. “Making sure that you’re happy.” I rub my thumb over her gorgeous little love-heart freckle and say, “You can wear your heart on your sleeve, baby. And I’ll always be here to look after it.”

She looks up at me over her shoulder, meeting my eyes, and hers are so full of fear of the unknown that I almost drop my forehead to hers, wanting to show her that everything will be alright. But while she doesn’t want me to be so obvious about our relationship, I just press another kiss to her shoulder, palm her hips, and then move back a step.

Like, a really fucking small step, because I don’t actually want to hide this thing from anyone. But, you know – compromise.

Aisling looks down at her freckle, frowning slightly, before glancing up and suddenly meeting her brother’s eyes.

Her brother’s kind, knowing, smiling eyes.

He’s holding the football in front of his chest and he tosses it easily over into the fray before wading over to us.

We’re still next to everybody but closer to the edge. It’s a little more private over here.

The sunlight pours over the lake right behind him and his smile is as warm as the rays on the water.

“Ash,” he says, his eyes flicking between hers and mine. He gives her chin a little rub and says, “Ash, everybody knows.”

She stares up at her brother, unblinking, and then fiddles with the brim of her cap again.

“Everybody knows what?” she breathes out, her voice sounding husky as hell, the way that it does when she’s getting nervous.

I can’t lie, I find it really hot, but I just bite back my smirk as her brother shoots me a knowing smile.

“Everybody knows about you and Tanner,” he continues, laughing gently as Aisling’s jaw drops to her chest. “It’s obvious, Ash. You two are clearly crazy about each other.”

I share a half-grin with Connell that has warmth spreading through my chest. Having gotten his growing seal of approval over our summer by the lake has been a blessing that I wasn’t expecting but that I’m unbelievably grateful for. Has he been teasing me senseless about how down I am for Aisling over the past couple of weeks? Yeah. But I wouldn’t change that for anything, knowing that we’ve built a solid brother’s bond based on mutual trust and understanding as a result of it.

Smile creases appear beside his eyes as he grins back at me, satisfied by the fact that I’d do anything for his sister.

Aisling on the other hand? Yeah, she still hasn’t grasped the fact that Connell knowing about us is a good thing.

She brings her palms to her chest, cheeks flushing as she pants.

“You heard us?” she gasps, looking absolutely mortified, and this is the part where I have to stifle a groan.

Because Connell is simply telling Ash that everyone can tell that we’re into each other. That they’ve seen us playing around and they know that we’re head over heels.

But does Aisling understand that? Nope. In fact, Aisling has immediately jumped to the worst conclusion possible.

That they must have heard us in the forest when she was on her knees in my tent.

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