Page 79 of Shifting Sands

She turns in my arms and rolls into my chest. As the moonlight illuminates her beautiful, sleeping face, it hits me like a ton of bricks.

I loveher.

I don’t know how or when it happened, but it did. I don’t care if it feels too soon. I don’t care what my parents or my grandfather will think.

“Brandee,” I whisper in her ear.

“Hmm,” she hums in response.

“I love you.”

She snuggles closer to me without opening her eyes and whispers back, “I love you.”

“You did what?” Sebastian asks, clearly surprised.

“Last night, I told Brandee that I love her,” I reply as I carry the cooler onto the boat.

“Like, in the throes of passion?” Anson asks.

“No, we were just cuddling. The moment felt right,” I respond.

“Cuddling?” Anson gasps.

Parker steps in from behind him and elbows Anson in the ribs. “Don’t act like you and Tabby don’t cuddle.”

“Tabby and I have been together for a while. We’re well past the initial phase of our relationship and definitely into the cuddling stage. Brew and Brandee should still be in thecan’t keep our hands off each otherphase.”

“Whatever. It was a long night, and we were exhausted. She was asleep when I got there, and even though she whispered it back, I’m not entirely sure she heard me,” I say.

“I bet she would have heard you clearly if you had been ravaging her when you said it,” Anson says just as Graham and Garrett board the boat behind him, followed by Tucker and Caleb.

“That’s enough, Anson,” Sebastian hisses under his breath.

“What? You know I’m right. If she’d been riding out a mind-blowing orgasm when he said he loved her, he wouldn’t be standing here, wondering if she heard him,” Anson continues.

I clear my throat loudly just as Tucker steps past him.

“Trust me, girls hear everything. Even if they’re half asleep,” Tucker says, and Anson’s eyes go wide.

“Yeah, especially Erin and Jena. So, if Brandee didn’t hear you, I bet one of them did, even if you weren’t ravaging her when you said it,” Caleb adds.

Graham gives him a light smack on the back of the head.

“Mind your business, kid,” he says as he leads him toward the back of the boat.

Garrett follows, but as he passes me, he says, “The kid’s right. Those women hear everything.”

I scrub my hands down my face in frustration.

Sebastian chuckles. “How did she act this morning?”

“She was still asleep when I left.”

“Really asleep or just pretending to be asleep so she didn’t have to face you?” Anson asks.

“Asleep, asleep,” I confirm.

“Are you sure you know the difference?”

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