Page 61 of Meet the Teacher

The two of us are still on the beach, our naked bodies pressed up against each other, wrapped up in a beach towel as we watch the sunrise.

He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

“Mhmm.” I close my eyes, allowing the warmth of the sunrise to shine down upon us. We’ve been awake the whole night.

“Ya know, I pull all-nighters for work all the time, this is different. I’m just now getting tired,” Zayn tells me.

“You want to head inside and sleep in my bed?” I ask.

He nods. “Yes, I’m definitely ready to crash.”

“Same here.”

We unwrap ourselves from the towel we’re sharing and instead wrap ourselves up in separate ones to head inside.

The feeling of the sand between my toes—and well, a few other places—reminds me that this was one of the best nights of my life.

Once inside, Zayn asks if I want to rinse off together. I wake a bit more at the thought of a shower with him, so I agree.I mean, we did just have sex on the beach,so YOLO.

The moment we step inside the shower, we’re right back to kissing and making love again before finally washing off.

I gently take my lathered loofah to his body, slowly washing away the sand. We trade off and he lathers me in return. It feels like this may be the most intimate thing I’ve ever done. Before long, I find myself turning, breasts pressed up against the glass of the shower door, with him inside of me for a second time.

* * *

The soundof the alarm on my phone wakes me, so I roll over to turn it off on my nightstand. I look next to me to find Zayn.He is so cute, even when he’s asleep.I stand up and locate my slippers before heading to the bathroom to freshen up for the day.

When I’m done, I check to see if he’s awake yet. I sit on the edge of the bed debating whether I should wake him.

I decide against it—the man needs rest on his day off—so I head to the kitchen to make some coffee. As I’m about to start up the coffee maker, Zayn enters the kitchen wearing nothing but his boxers. I inhale as my mind starts to wander about the amazing night we had.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he says wiping his eyes.

“Morning,” I say. “Coffee?”

“Yes, but not here. Let’s go out.”

I’m so tired, but it would be nice to get some fresh air and a fancier coffee. I swear iced coffee is one of my love languages.

“Hmm, okay. Want to grab a Starbucks?” I ask.

He gets closer to me, and I can’t help but stare at his defined abs.Liam was always in shape, but this man looks like he works out several times a day. Maybe firefighters do?

“Autumn, hello?” he says interrupting my thoughts.

My eyes widen and I blink myself into focus. “Sorry. What’s up?”

He chuckles. “I asked if you wanted to go to Eats & Sweets? Like old times.” I watch as he runs his fingers through his hair and looks down at the ground.

“Um,” I pause. We have so many memories together at Eats & Sweets from our high school days. Sure, we’d still go to Starbucks occasionally, but that place was so special. Sometimes we would just hang out there after school, eating a variety of bizarre-combination donuts like peanut butter and bacon donut or a cheeseburger donut. The place itself though always reminded me of Central Perk from the showFriends,with its odd couches and inviting atmosphere.

“Am I losing ya again today, Autumn?” Zayn asks.

“Shit. Sorry about that. Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll go get ready,” I say turning back towards my bedroom. “We’re walking, right?”

“Yeah, let’s enjoy the sunshine. Maybe it’ll wake us up a bit more, too.”

I nod before ducking into the bedroom to get dressed.

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