Daring the Bad Boy (Endless Summer)(54)

“I hardly remember my brother, but you spent fourteen years with your mother.” I let my hand drop away from his face, a little embarrassed that I could touch him so easily. This all felt so new, almost surreal. I’d wanted a summer boyfriend, and now I thought I had one, but that didn’t mean I knew how to act around him. “That’s a big difference.”

“Losing them made an impact on our lives,” he said. “That you can’t deny.”

I couldn’t. He was right. Because of those we lost, I became the girl who was afraid to live and he became the boy who was angry at the world.

“So maybe finding each other will make a bigger impact on us?” I asked hopefully. “A better impact?”

“I’d like to think that’s true, yeah,” he said as he leaned in and kissed me again. And again. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against my lips, and because I’m me, I blushed. His fingers brushed my cheeks, the featherlight touch making me shiver. “You’re blushing. Your cheeks are hot.”

“It isn’t every day a boy tells me I’m beautiful,” I admitted, a sigh escaping me when he pressed his mouth to mine yet again. I could get used to this. Being held in Jake’s arms, his sweet yet hot kisses that made me want more.

“I should make that my new goal. Tell Annie every day just how beautiful she is,” he murmured against my mouth. “Because you are. Both inside and out.”

That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. And I never wanted to forget it. I never wanted to forget this entire moment.

Long minutes later, we reluctantly agreed that we should head back. He climbed down the tower first, and I followed after him, noticing that he was totally checking out my butt, the perv. He just gave me a big smile when I caught him and smoothed his hand over my backside once I landed on the ground, pushing me against the tower where he proceeded to kiss me until I couldn’t breathe.

“Jake.” I curled my fingers into the thin fabric of his shirt, feeling the heat from his firm body just beneath. “I need to get back to my cabin.”

“One more kiss,” he whispered just before his tongue swept inside my mouth. I wound my arms around his neck as he pressed closer, my body trapped between his and the tower. If he kept this up I’d give him one hundred more kisses. I never wanted to stop.

This all felt too good to be true.

…

JAKE

It was too good to be true.

Yet it was true, Annie and I. We were a thing; we were a couple. A couple who had to spend all of their time together on the down low, but yeah. We were together.

And I’d never been so happy.

My good mood spread like a disease. Everyone made note of it, telling me how cheerful I was. Dane said I seemed to have knocked that chip off my shoulder. Brian was glad I wasn’t grumpy so much. Even Uncle Bob told me one morning as I entered the dining hall that he was happy to see my smiling face.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him what was causing me to smile. He’d send me home the minute he found out I was with Annie.

So I had to keep her a secret.

She was game for keeping us on the down low. We spent those first heady days we were officially together constantly sneaking around. Sneaking glances. Sneaking touches. Sneaking kisses. It was exciting. Made our mini reunions that much more special, that much more thrilling. She’d smile at me from across the dining hall during breakfast, and I’d immediately break out into a sweat. She’d brush past me when the entire camp got together for the nightly activities, and I wanted to grab her.

And when I’d pull her behind a building and kiss her until she was breathless, she’d stumble away from me, her hair a mess from my hands, her face flushed and lips swollen from our kisses and wearing a blissed-out smile. I’d think every single time, there goes my girl.

It was crazy.

It was awesome.

We met for a couple of swim lessons after dark, but those were pointless. No learning how to swim involved. More like splashing each other, grabbing each other, kissing each other.

We couldn’t keep our hands off each other. And I needed to slow down. She admitted she’d never had a boyfriend before. That our first kiss on the lifeguard tower was her actual first kiss. She was completely inexperienced. I didn’t want to push too hard, but I wanted her so damn bad, it was difficult not to just lunge for her and show her how I really felt.

And right now, I was feeling a lot. So many overwhelming emotions I wasn’t sure what to do next. I was just winging this entire relationship and having fun.

But the fun was going to be put on hold when I saw Annie approaching the lifeguard tower, her determined steps and the stubborn set of her jaw making all the hairs on my body stand on end.

I was in trouble. I could feel it.

“Can I come up there?” she asked, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked up at me.

Glancing around, I saw there was no one paying us any attention, so I nodded.

She climbed up the slats and settled on the bench right next to me. I leaned in to kiss her, but she placed a hand on my chest, stopping me. “We need to talk.”

Shit. The dreaded we need to talk talk. “What’s up?”

Annie looked away, the wind blowing hair across her face, and I wanted to reach out and brush it away. But I didn’t. “I’m tired of us always sneaking around. It makes me feel like you’re embarrassed about the two of us together or something.”