Page 13 of Match Made in the Maldives

When I turn to look at her, chin resting on my shoulder and eyes searching my own, I feel like I’m falling. Lou’s always been close, but not like we are in this moment. Only once before has she gotten so close that I could breathe her in or lick the freckle on her left cheek.

And she gets closer.

She presses her lips to mine in a way that’s familiar yet electric.Oh, I’ve missed this.Lou kisses sweet and slow at first, but her hand around my neck and her mouth parting so our tongues can play send a message ofmore, more. She tastes like honey and daydreams. My palm skates to the back of her head, and I yearn to get tangled up with her in knots. Without breaking contact, she shifts onto my lap, straddling me and grinding into my aching cock. I’d love to let her ride me into the earth. Fuck, Tanner is a lucky man.

“Shit,” I say into her mouth. “Wait.”

She withdraws, breathless, her lips swollen and glistening in the dim light of the night. I give her a moment to remember she has a boyfriend, to push me away, and to question why I thought it was okay to kiss her when she’s dating someone else. I’m asking myself that too.

She stitches her brows together. “What?”

“I don’t want to be the other man.”

“Oh, right. Yeah. Um…” Lou looks like she’s on the edge of saying something more. Her expression is tentative and curious, so I give her time to keep talking. Instead, she covers her mouthwith her hands in a tender gesture, feeling the place my lips just were.

I clear my throat. “Maybe you could, uh, get off me?”

Lou peels herself away in an instant, my body yearning for closeness again the moment I lose her. She takes a spot next to me, her hair still mussed, as she brushes sand off her shins and knees. I’d be lying if my dick didn’t twitch at the thought of making those knees dirtier.

“I, uh, I don’t know what I was thinking.” Her words come out in a rush as she finger-combs her tresses, tucking some errant pieces behind her ear.

“To be fair, I kissed you back.”

She looks at me with a grateful smile, then chews on her bottom lip.

“Everything okay, Lou?” I ask.

“Got carried away.”

So carried away that she was thrusting her hips in rhythm with mine and clinging to my face like we depended on each other for air. This was more than some kiss in a bar on a dare with her friends. It was heat and want. Desire for me. Where did that deep yearning come from?

“Please don’t tell anyone,” she pleads.

“What, that I took advantage of you on the beach?”

“You didn’t take advantage of me.” She nudges me with her elbow. “But we should keep this between us.”

“Sure.” I scour for a lame excuse to sound like I haven’t been dying for this moment again, or that her mouth on mine three years ago hadn’t fueled some of my dirtiest daydreams. “You’re my best friend’s little sister. I just don’t know what came over me.”

“No?” She gives me a curious look, and fuck if that doesn’t make me want to do everything again. Yank her right back onto me so I can help her feel good in every way possible. Taste hertill she moans my name to the stars. Bury myself inside her over and over.

This is bad news. I can’t get involved with my best friend’s little sister. From here on out, if I’m with Luna, I need a chaperone. No more alone time with her.

“Well, if you want,” she goes on, “we can both forget it ever happened.”

“Sure.” My response comes out strangled because the words are a dagger to my chest. “Sure.”

Forget it ever happened.I almost laugh. It’s the right thing to do for the sake of my friendship with her, with her brother, and with my found family. I can play pretend.

But never in a million years will I forget what it’s like to kiss Luna Moore.

Chapter Six

Luna

“Why are you on your computer?” my brother whines at me from the pool. “You couldn’t pay me to check my emails right now.”

“I’m relaxing,” I say. “People relax differently.”

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