Page 62 of The Summer I First Saw You
When we wake hours later, the midday sun is blazing through the windows, dirty dishes are all over the counter, and the couch now possesses a new white stain I doubt is going to come out.
I love the mess, I love the ruined furniture, I love the way her hair has dried in tangles. I wouldn’t change a thing.
“My couch now possesses a mysterious stain.”
“Something to remember me by,” she says. “I have no idea why you bought a velvet couch. At the beach, no less. If it’s not already full of sand, it will be. And, uh, it appears it’s not good for having sex on, either.”
“Audrey chose it.” Audrey, who’dneverhave had sex on a couch and would have been disgusted at the mere suggestion.
“Now that you’re entering your sex-crazed bachelor days,”she says, walking naked toward the kitchen and grabbing a paper towel, “I’d suggest you consider leather instead.”
I flinch. I want to ask how she knows this. I want to ask how many times she’s been fucked on a couch, and I know I’d be angry at the answer.
This is supposed to be a fling. I don’t know why I’m incapable of treating it like one.
32
DAISY
The problem with swim trunks is that they’re so easy-access. Even on the days when we have agreed in advance that we are heading straight out to surf as soon as he gets home…those roomy swim trunks demand a very different outcome.
And thus we are racing to get to the break tonight before we’ve missed high tide entirely.
“If I haven’t mentioned it yet,” he says, grinning over his shoulder at me as we paddle out to the lineup, “I’m grateful you so ruthlessly blackmailed me when you came back to California.”
I laugh. “Do you mean that, or is it the hand job talking?”
“The hand job certainly didn’thurtyour case.”
“I actually have a great deal of experience blackmailing older men,” I reply, straddling my board.
His eyes darken. “This conversation is taking an unpleasant turn.”
I lean back on my hands. “Liam was the first…non-sexy blackmail of course. He was sleeping with one of my teachers andalsosleeping with my soccer coach. It’s not like he was lying to anyone, but they wouldn’t have been pleased.”
He grins. “Is that how you weaseled your way into his home?”
I wave a hand. “I’m delightful. I don’t have to weasel my way into anyone’s home. Okay, I did have to weasel my way into yours, but you were drinking too much to realize how delightful I am.”
“I fully realized how delightful you are—I was just trying hard to forget.” His gaze drifts over me in a way that leaves me clenching my thighs. “So what did you get out of Liam?”
I shrug. “He had to sign something saying I had counseling every Friday and could leave at eleven for the day.”
He raises a brow. “Anddidyou have counseling?”
I nod at the board beneath me. “If this counts as counseling, then yes.”
A wave is approaching. We both lie down and turn to face the shore. “And how long did that go on for?”
“All four years of high school. Liam dated alotof women. One day you’ll have to compare blackmail stories.”
I regret the words the moment I utter them. Did I really just forget that he and I have to stay a secret? That next month, when I leave, all these weeks with him will be a moment in our shared past, one neither of us can even allude to?
I did. But based on the way his smile wavers, he hasn’t forgotten for a minute.
That night,he orders in dinner and brings it to his room where I’m lounging, naked and wanting more.
When soy sauce drips down my stomach, he leans over to lick it off. “I’ve never eaten naked before, but I’m starting to see the advantages.”
