Page 109 of Give & Take

I set my chin on the back of my hand, which lays flat on his chest. “How do you do that?” I whisper.

Raph brushes the hair from my cheek and tucks it behind my ear. “Do what, Sunshine?”

“Make everything sound so simple?”

“Because life is simpler than you think.”

I scoff. My first thought isJust wait. It isn’t, you’ll get it one day.

But he gives me that grin, the one that makes my knees weak; my insides turn to hot syrup on pancakes.

“Now, Sunshine,” he says. “I know you don’t believe me. But hear me out.”

He glides his broad hands over my ass, the entirety of them fitting in his wide grip.

Want tugs low in my belly.

“There are complicated situations,” he says, working his hands lower. “Complicated ideas.” His fingertips trail dangerously close to the tender, swollen part of me he’s been filling over and over again all night.

“But matters of the heart?”

He rolls us over again, flipping me onto my back. “What could be simpler than this feeling?” He presses a hand to my heart, his eyes unexpectedly serious for a moment.

Then the moment’s gone, and he’s sliding down, taking my nipple into his warm, wet mouth. My body instantly responds, my pussy clenching, legs curling around his once more.

“This is crazy,” I whisper.

He pops off my nipple, trailing kisses down my ribs, one by one. “No it’s not, sweetheart,” he says. He drops down between my legs. “This is just us.”

Then his tongue slips into my waiting heat, and I’m changed too.

Chapter 30

Lana

That week, I try on being Raph. That is, I try to think of what we’re doing as a fun game. Serious when it needs to be, like how we act normal around the girls—or as normal as possible when we can’t keep our eyes or hands off each other—and fun whenever we get a spare stolen moment.

I take Shelby up on her offer to take the girls to the movies on Tuesday night, and the minute the car pulls away, Raph appears on my doorstep. We spend the full two hours in my bed, intending to do other things but not making it back into clothes until I get a text from Shelby that they’re on their way back.

On Thursday, Raph comes with me to drop the girls off at dance class. After they’re ensconced, we drive up the mountain, where there’s a short public trail next to the Widow’s Walk B&B, which overlooks the whole town. The view even from the parking lot is spectacular, but Raph promises it gets better.

Once we get out of the car, we follow the trail to thepublic lookout, which we stop briefly at before Raph pokes around and finds the entrance to a less used trail. It weaves through the trees between a cleft in the rock.

“I had no idea this was here,” I say as we edge around a massive boulder, thick evergreen boughs overhead. It smells fresh here, like soil and cedar.

Raph holds my hand to help me down a steep step on the path. “Apparently teenagers come here to make out sometimes.” He smirks at me. “So you know, I guess I’ll be right at home.”

I laugh so hard at this that Raph throws me a look of feigned annoyance.

But soon enough, we emerge from the brush to a spectacular rocky outcropping.

“Oh my God!” I say as I step onto the closest part of the wide ledge.

Below us, Redbeard Cove twinkles in the early evening light. Beyond, we can see the whole stretch of coast. Even Swan River is visible as a bright speck way in the distance. The ocean, though, is the crown jewel. It sparkles in the pink light of sunset, the islands off the coast like beautiful giants in repose.

“How did you find this place?” I ask, awed.

“I’m just a magnet for special things,” Raph says. But he’s not looking at the view. He’s looking pointedly at me.

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