Page 59 of The Summer Intern

"Thought you'd be at your cabin doing laundry by now."He glanced over his shoulder at the van where the campers were climbing in, then took my elbow and guided me behind the nearest equipment shed.

"What are you—"

His mouth covered mine before I could finish, his hands cupping my face with a gentleness that made my knees weak.He tasted like coffee and the blueberry muffins from the mess hall.I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt, pulling him closer, starving for him.

When he pulled back, we were both breathing hard."Sorry," he whispered, though he didn't look sorry at all."I just...needed that.I'm going to miss you."

I blinked up at him, hating how much I understood."The campers—"

"Can wait thirty seconds."He pressed his forehead against mine."For me to make sure you're okay.And get one last taste of you for the road."

The words hit me like a cannonball to the chest."It's just two nights," I said, my voice betraying me with its roughness.

Matt reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, pressing them into my palm."I meant to give you these, and I almost forgot.They're for the house.In case you...I don't know, need anything while I'm gone."

I stared at the keys like they might bite."Why would I need your keys?I have my own cabin, remember?With Oliver?"

"I know."His thumb traced small circles on my wrist."It's just in case you want to stay at my place.Or, I don't know.In case you need somewhere to hang out."

"I won't."I should have handed them back.It was too intimate, too couple-y.But my fingers closed around the metal, warm from his pocket, clutching the keys like a lifeline.

His hand closed around mine."Keep them.Just in case.I should get back," he said, peering around the shed."Dave's probably wondering if I fell in a ditch."

"Yeah."

He brushed his lips against mine again."See you in the day after tomorrow, Casey Kim.Maybe next time you can come backpacking with me so we don’t have to be apart."

“Fuck no,” I muttered.“This is as much wilderness as I can handle.I like beds.And showers.”

He smirked at me, then wrapped his big hand around my throat and gave me one last kiss, and this one was devastating, soul-shattering, wild, and hot, his tongue reminding me of every dirty thing he’d done to me over the past two weeks.He backed off and stared at me for a long moment, a little smile playing around his lips, a question in his eyes.

“Still no,” I grumped.

He burst out laughing, his eyes sparkling.“I have another two weeks before I’m on the schedule to take the kids backpacking.That’s two weeks to convince you… in every way possible.”

“Good luck with that.”

He kissed the tip of my nose, beaming.“It’ll be fun to try, even if it doesn’t work.Bye, Casey.I’ll be back before you know it.”

Then he was gone, jogging back to the van where the kids were hanging out the windows, shouting and laughing.I watched him climb into the passenger seat, the van pulling away down the gravel road in a cloud of dust.

I stood there clutching his keys, a heaviness behind my ribs that I refused to name as anything but an inconvenience.It was just sex.Great sex—phenomenal sex—but still just sex.In five weeks, camp would end.I'd go back to Oregon State, and he'd stay here, planning next summer's adventures.That was our reality.

So why did those keys feel so significant against my palm?I shoved them deep into my pocket and headed back to the cabin, skipping breakfast, telling myself that it was fine as I let myself inside and looked around the cabin.Oliver was hunched over his laptop at the small wooden table by the window.He glanced up, his glasses sliding down his nose in that perpetual way they did.

I flopped onto my unmade bed, wincing at the twinge in my lower back.Two weeks of getting thoroughly fucked by Matt Blackstone had left its mark.My body craved him even as my brain screamed that I was getting in too deep.Two damn weeks, and I was already an addict jonesing for my next hit.Pathetic didn't begin to cover it.

"You look like shit," Oliver observed.

"Thanks, Ollie.You really know how to boost a guy's confidence."I rolled onto my stomach, burying my face in my pillow that smelled too much like me and not enough like Matt.

Matt's keys dug into my thigh through my pocket.I should've left them on his desk or something.Or given them back the moment he gave them to me.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing laundry today?"Oliver asked, his voice carrying that light teasing tone that only brothers can perfect.

He was right, of course.I'd planned this whole productive day: laundry, followed by organizing my music sheets for next week's lessons, then maybe catching up on that novel I'd been trying to read since camp started, and practicing guitar.All perfectly reasonable tasks that had gone by the wayside as my focus had turned to Matt.

"Working on it," I muttered, not moving an inch.

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