Beg You to Trust Me (Lindon U #2)(92)

She nibbles her lips. “That does sound nice…”

I can tell there’s still one thing on her mind, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was on the forefront of mine too. “Later,” I promise her, voice low. “I want to make sure it’s everything and then some for you.”

Which probably shouldn’t happen at my childhood home where anyone can hear us.

Will that stop me? The way the girl on top of me is looking at me, I’d say no.

I pat her butt. “C’mon, Blondie.” I shift her off me and sit up, adjusting myself and wincing. “I may need a cold shower before we go. Give me ten minutes?”

The small smile on her face tells me she’s happy with herself. She should be.

This is all for her.





CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE





SKYLAR





Danny is right, the pier is beautiful at night. At the waterfront restaurant he took me too, you can see the lit-up cityscape.

An hour full of conversation and clam chowder, Danny knocks his foot against mine underneath the table. “Just so we’re clear, I’m not taking you out tonight just so this counts as that date I promised.”

Something deflates in my chest. “Oh.”

He doesn’t want this to be a date. The dim lighting and beautiful view set the scene perfectly. I may not be dressed to the nines, but neither is he. It seemed like the kind of perfect first date you see in the movies.

“Sky,” he says with a laugh, tapping my hand and covering it with his. “All I mean is that I don’t want you thinking I asked you out for any nefarious reason. This doesn’t mean we have to do anything later. There’s no pressure. Just you, me, and good New England food. That’s all.”

Relief loosens my shoulders. “What if I want something nefarious to happen after we get back?”

His eyes heat. “I should probably tell you that we should wait, at least until we’re back to campus.”

Hope blossoms in my chest. “But you’re not going to do that,” I guess, voice a little raspy over the possibilities.

Danny rubs the back of his neck. “When you look at me like you are right now, it’s making it pretty fucking hard to want to be a gentleman.”

The way he shifts in his seat makes me wonder if something other than his decision is hard right now too.

We walk out after he waves down our waiter and pays the bill. His hand slips into mine the second our coats are on, guiding us outside to stop by the edge of the bay.

I breathe in the cool, fresh air and stare at the ripples of water as I listen to the sounds of the city. Car horns blast, people yell, it’s oddly…calming. Familiar. Like California and the bustling suburbs that I’m accustomed to. Lindon is nice because it’s quiet, but sometimes I miss the racket to dull out the thoughts in my head.

“What was your first girlfriend like?” I ask, thinking back to the conversation with my sisters.

He rocks back on his heels before blowing out a raspberry with his lips and leaning on the top of the railing separating us and the water. “That was not what I was expecting you to ask at all.” His laugh is short, light. “Her name was Juliette, but everyone called her Jules. She was nice. It didn’t last very long. It was mostly a summer romance.”

“Why?”

He stares out at the water. “My high school football coach was helping me do some extra practice in my free time to bulk up and train for the new season. During the summers I went to training camps for at least half of the break. Jules wanted to spend more time with me, and I didn’t have any of it to give. She got tired of waiting, I guess.”

“That sucks.”

“Eh. We were young.” His eased tone matches his calm demeanor. “I wasn’t exactly heartbroken by it, which is telling.”

I nod along.

“What about you?”

His question has me thinking back to my time with Ryan. How many months had we seen each other? Two? Three? Barely. He’d asked me out just after Valentine’s Day which I think was strategic on his part. He didn’t want to invest in the flowers and chocolate that the school always sold to raise money for the events that the student counsel always hosted. It didn’t bother me because I was shocked he was even interested. No guy had seemed that into me before him. Serena says I was just aloof to the boys who looked at me.

“Ryan was my only boyfriend,” I admit sheepishly. Danny’s eyes scope out my face, not that surprised but still interested in hearing about him. I lean my hip against the rail and sigh. “He was popular, and everyone liked him, so I was excited when he asked me out to a local hangout. But I never felt all that giddy like I think I should have when we were together. He was really touchy-feely and always wanted to do more than I was willing to—”

He makes a face, eyes narrowing.

“—but he never did anything to pressure me. It was the biggest reason we broke up. I wasn’t ready to give it up to him and we were about to graduate and go off to college. It made sense to end things there.”

The gruff noise he makes has me cracking a smile appreciatively. “Guy sounds like a dick.”

“Apparently my family thought so too,” I muse, still surprised they kept that opinion to themselves. “But can you blame him? He was a teenage boy. You can’t tell me you didn’t always have sex on the brain with Juliette.”