Straight Up Love (The Boys of Jackson Harbor #2)(74)

The Jackson family cabin is forty-five minutes inland from Jackson Harbor, away from the tourist draw of the shoreline of Lake Michigan and the lights of the city. The cabin is tucked off the road and into the woods on a nice piece of property with a small lake. We’ve spent so many summer days out here swimming and fishing, and winter days sledding down the hill by the pole barn. The far side of the property has a dirt bike track where Levi and Colton train with their motocross team.

Jake leads me away from the house and down the path to the little beach area in front of the lake. When I see it, I stop walking and press my hand to my chest. “Jake.”

I can make out his grin in the moonlight, and my heart squeezes hard with love. Lanterns line the path to the beach where there’s a blanket laid out in front of a small campfire.

“Come on,” he says. “I think there’s a bottle of wine waiting for us.”

Wordlessly, I follow him down to the sand and sit on the blanket in front of the fire. He pours us each a glass of wine.

“Do you like it?” he asks. He lowers himself to the blanket beside me, and I try to find my voice.

“I love it. How did you . . . When?” He hasn’t left my side since we arrived tonight.

“I made Carter help. He owed me some favors for going on a date with my girl.”

Laughing, I shake my head. “This is so amazing. Thank you.”

“You’re amazing,” he says softly. “This is the first weekend we’ve gotten to spend as a couple, and you didn’t even hesitate when I asked you to spend it with my family.”

“Of course not, Jake. They’re . . .” I turn, looking up toward the house. “They’re my family too.”

He studies his wine and then takes a long pull from his glass before meeting my eyes again. “I don’t want you to move to Florida. You belong here with us. But if you decide that’s what you want, we’re gonna figure it out, okay?”

I nod, emotion clogging my throat. “I don’t know what I want yet.” I don’t want to leave, but I don’t want to be that girl who dismisses amazing opportunities for a guy. I did that with Harrison. If my relationship with Jake is going to work, it can’t be like my marriage was.

“Hey.” Jake pulls my glass from my hand and sets it in the sand next to his. “You don’t have to know yet. We’ll figure it out.”

There are so many unknowns in my life right now, but in this moment, his promise is enough to quiet the worry inside me.

He sweeps his lips over mine, leading me to lie on my back as he slowly slides his hand down my body. When he inches the hem of my skirt up my thighs, I giggle. “I’m beginning to think you planned this.”

“You think?” He grins against my mouth as his hand inches up the inside of my thigh. When his fingers brush the satin between my legs, I lift my hips off the ground, and he takes advantage of the moment to tug them from my hips and down my legs in one smooth movement.

I gasp and look up toward the house.

“Don’t worry about them. They know this spot is for us tonight. We won’t be bothered.”

I study his face and shake my head in wonder. I’m really here with Jake. “Do you remember when we came out here after finals our senior year?”

His fingers lazily stroke over my hip. “The night you got trashed and passed out right here on the beach? Yeah. I remember. I slept by your side to make sure you were okay.”

“I was going to tell you how I felt that night.” The fire flickers and snaps behind me, casting shadows over his face as his grin falls away. “I’d had feelings for you for so long, and I’d finally worked up the courage to tell you.”

“And then I met you out here with a girl,” he says flatly. “Fuck.”

I shake my head. “Her name was Sadie, and I hated her. She was so beautiful.”

He shakes his head, and I see torment in the lines around his eyes. “I would have sent Sadie home in a cab if I’d known. She broke up with me after that weekend anyway. She didn’t like that I spent the night with my drunk friend instead of in bed with her.”

“Why did it take us so long to get here?” I ask, still remembering that night. I was drunk and jealous but also a little triumphant that he was with me and not her.

He lowers his head and brushes his lips over mine. “I don’t know.” He kisses me again, longer, slower, deeper, his hand slipping between my legs and skimming across my sensitive skin. “What matters is that we’re here now.”

His thumb finds my clit, and I close my eyes. I’m wet and aching. “Yes,” I whisper.

“You feel so fucking amazing,” he says against my ear. His fingers slide over me again and again, teasing my clit and circling my opening. When he slides a finger inside me, I arch my back and gasp, and he sucks my earlobe between his teeth. “So amazing.”

“I wanted this that night,” I confess on a broken exhale. “I passed out in your lap imagining you might touch me like this.”

“I thought about touching you too. I watched you sleep and wondered how it would feel to kiss you, wondered if you were drunk enough to let me or if I was enough of an ass to try when you were so wasted. By then, I’d already touched you a million times in my imagination.” He slides a second finger inside me, and I have to bite my lip to keep from crying out. “Rock into me,” he says. “Fuck my hand like you moved against me at the hotel.”