Sinner(82)

“Something?”

“Yeah, like, go out and do something. You and me.”

She blushes. “Like a date?”

No.

“Yes.”

Stupid. You’re being stupid.

“We could go to another town,” I say as if appeasing my own thoughts.

She holds my eye. “I’ve never been on a date.”

“Well, you mean besides your evening of magic the other night with Milton?”

She sticks her tongue out as she punches my arm. “I am not counting that.”

“So is that a yes?”

“I…” she glances back at the party around the corner, her teeth raking over her lip.

“Say yes,” I murmur into her ear. “Don’t analyze it, don’t second guess yourself, just say-”

“Yes,” she finishes for me, glancing back at me with something sparkling in her eyes as she nods.

“Yes.”





Chapter Forty





Rowan




I’m in trouble.

The bike rumbles as I take us out of Shelter Harbor and onto the winding shore road. Eva’s sitting behind me with her hands around my waist, I’ve got the sun turning the sky crimson in front of us as we head for the breakers, and I’ve just come off of the single greatest date of my life.

And that’s why I’m in trouble.

Because it’s clear to me beyond any shadow of doubt now that what’s happening between us is much more than just “teaching her”. This is more than making her dirty, making her scream, and making her come.

This is much more than that now, and it’s frankly scaring the shit out of me.

Because I am into this girl. Hard. And that’s dangerous.

Besides that, what the fuck is the end game here? What do I get for taking Eva Ellis on dates, and driving her out to my favorite solo spots to watch fucking sunsets when in the end, she’s going to leave? In the end she’s going to be someone else’s, and this whole arrangement we’ve had turns to dust.

Best case scenario? She ends up hating me. That’s the best case. The good scenario here is her hating me for leading her astray, for turning her from her parents’ wishes and her faith and her innocence. Hating me for taking that pureness.

The worst case is worse though. Because the worst case is I break her heart.

I pull off the shore road and head down to the dunes by the breakers — the long stretch of rocky shore that stretches out into the ocean by the end of town and protects the harbor.

The air is briny out here — smelling like ocean and sand. Silas and I used to come out here and smoke cigarettes. There’s a familiarity to this place, but not with her.

She’s something new.

And I like it.

I turn off the bike and kick down the stand. This is where I took her before, actually. This is where I denied her.

…There’s no way I can imagine denying her anything now.

I grab the same blanket from the side bag, and we head down to the sand.

“Brrr,” she shivers, hooking her arm through mine.

I grin. “Brrr?”

“Hey, I’m a Southern girl, remember? This is cold.”

“Better stay close then,” I murmur as we come to a stop between two dunes, looking out at the ocean side of the breakers. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close, running my hands up and down her arms to warm her.

“I know what you’re doing.”

I grin at her. “Oh?”

“Oh yeah. You’ve turned me on to your little tricks now.”

I laugh. “So what am I doing?”

“You’re trying to seduce me.”

She turns in my arms and our eyes lock. “Maybe.”

She draws her bottom lip between her teeth. “Maybe yes or maybe no?”

“Depends. How am I doing on that front?”

And suddenly, she’s reaching up, pulling me down, and kissing me. She moans into my lips as I pull her tight, my hands cupping her face and the small of her back as I take that kiss and make it mine.

“I’ll take that as a ‘well’,” I murmur.

“Oh that’s definitely a ‘well’,” she moans.

She slides into my arms as I bring us down to the blanket.

She’s wearing the white sundress — the one she wore that first day I laid eyes on her. And I like that she wore that tonight. I like that she chose that one, not just knowing that I’d like it, but knowing the gravity it’d bring to this night and wearing it anyways.

I like that, and I show her how much I like it by crushing my mouth to her lips and claiming that mouth as my own. She opens her lips for me, her tongue finding mine, her moan drowning in my breath as I lay us back on the blanket.

I’m going to take my time with her.

I’m going to have her squirming, writhing, begging me for release before I’m done with her.