We both laugh and joy bubbles in my chest. I don’t let up though. He can stare at my ass, but I’m still going to kick his.

“Thank you!” I shout back as a joke. But deep down, it doesn’t feel like a joke.

It feels like he’s wiggling his way into my heart.

26

Willa

Summer: I feel like we live on the same piece of land and yet, I haven’t seen you at all.

Willa: Been busy.

Summer: With what?

Willa: Saving horses.

Summer: Oh, yeah?

Willa: Sum, I’ve saved so many I might as well open a rescue.

Summer: Good lord.

Willa: Would it be legal for me to have Cade write me a charitable donation receipt to offset my taxes?

Summer: I think he’s fucked you stupid, bestie.

* * *

Cade’s head pops out the back door, and butterflies erupt in my chest. I can tell by the way he scans the backyard that he’s been looking for me.

“Hi,” is all I say from the far side of the hot tub, steam wafting around me. We’re well into the dog days of summer now. It’s August and the nights have cooled. The air is fresh against my chest and shoulders, but the hot bubbling water caresses my body, chasing away the chill.

I’m not cold at all. Especially watching Cade step onto the patio, barefoot with thin lounge pants slung low, signature black T-shirt hugging his biceps, and hair all mussed from a shower and lying down with Luke.

“Luke asleep?”

“Yeah.” His eyes rake over me hungrily. “I meant to come find you sooner, but I think I fell asleep in there.”

“That’s okay. I’ve been keeping busy,” I reply, not missing the way his head quirks and his eyes narrow.

“Yeah? Busy with what?”

“Thinking about last night,” I reply boldly, stretching my arms above my head and showing him the way my nipples have pebbled beneath my thin, purple bathing suit.

The same one he couldn’t take his eyes off of the last time we found ourselves in here together.

Rather than approaching me, he props a shoulder against a thick wooden beam, still standing under the covered portion of the patio. He crosses his arms over his chest and regards me like he’s unaffected. However, when my eyes drop below his waistline, I know that’s not true.

“What part?” His voice is a rumble, thunder that rolls over my skin and shoots straight to my core.

“Well, I started out thinking about how I got on my knees for you.”

“You do look beautiful on your knees,” he replies smoothly. My heart rate ratchets up under his gaze. Recounting last night has every nerve ending firing. “More beautiful when you struggle to take it all. I love watching you work so hard.”

A smile twists my mouth.