“So, what do you wanna do this summer?”
You.
I felt my cheeks and neck get hot at the thought and hurried to look at the road slowly passing beneath our feet.
“You have cheer camp and dance,” he said softly when I didn’t answer. “I’ll be in the orchard a lot. But we have nights.”
Oh my God, am I sweating?
I’m definitely sweating.
“And the party out by our lake in a couple nights.” He cleared his throat. “And you’re still not talking . . .”
“Yes, I am.”
He pulled us to a stop and made sure I wasn’t standing on the road before looking around us, running a hand nervously through his jet-black hair. “Savannah, I asked what you wanted to do this summer about five minutes ago.”
“No, you—” I glanced behind us, surprised to see we were nowhere near where I remembered us just being.
How long had I been freaking out over Beau figuring out my super-embarrassing thoughts?
His dark blue eyes studied me when I faced him again, looking worried and curious. “If you want to do something else, you just gotta say it, Savannah.”
“I wanna be with you this summer,” I said quickly, the words falling from my lips like I was confessing something bad.
Beau nodded and took a step to the side to continue home.
“I’m ready. I want it. With you—us,” I rambled. “I wanna do that. Be with you—sex. I want sex.”
That was as awkward as I thought it’d be!
Beau had come to a stop as soon as the word sex left me, his head whipping back around to look at me and eyes wider than I’d ever seen them.
For long seconds or maybe minutes or hours, he just stood there staring at me.
“That’s what Madison and I were talking about. That’s why I wasn’t talking just now . . . because that’s what I want. I just didn’t know how to tell you, and I didn’t really wanna tell you because I wanted it to happen like in the movies, you know? Where they don’t have to say anything, it just hap—”
He stopped me with his mouth to mine. The kiss was firm until I melted against him, and then he was teasing my lips with his tongue and slipping it inside my mouth when I opened for him.
Soft.
Inviting.
Easy.
“Got it, angel.”
And then he was pulling back from me and walking away, leaving me in a daze in a way only Beau Dixon and his lips could.
“Wait,” I said, snapping out of it and hurrying after him. “That’s it? You aren’t gonna say anything? You don’t have any thoughts like maybe I’m crazy or you want that too or-or-or anything?”
“We’re not talking about it.”
My feet became one with the road beneath me.
My heart sank and humiliation rushed through me for the half-second that he left me hanging there.
“We’re not talking about it because you want it to happen like in the movies. No saying anything, just letting it happen when it’s meant to,” he said in that soft, rough tone. Glancing over his shoulder and studying me with that fierce, adoring passion that had a way of knocking me off my feet. “And that’s exactly what I’m gonna give you.”
I was sure if I could’ve moved, I would’ve run up and kissed him. But I was too stunned as I tried to process the way he’d let me know he wanted it too. He wanted that with me.
Beau reached out for me, the corner of his mouth lifting in that way he had of smirking. The tilt of his lips so subtle, and yet it changed his expression so completely. Did the most amazing things to my heart and body.
I slipped my hand into his and let him pull me close, tucking me against his side as my pulse raced wildly for this boy.
“Crazy girl,” he murmured against the top of my head before placing a kiss there.
I pushed against his stomach as a smile stole across my face. “Bear.”
Hunter came jogging toward us with Madison bouncing on his back and giggling like crazy. “Y’all are slow as hell,” he called out as he neared us.
“And?” Beau challenged.
“And it’s hot,” Hunter fired back. “Let’s go so we can get in the lake.”
“I gotta go home—”
“No,” Madison said before I could finish talking, drawing out the word. “I thought we were gonna hang out all day and night.”
“We are. Just gotta grab my bag for your place tonight and check in with my mom. Show her I haven’t joined a cult or shaved my head. You know . . . the usual.”
Beau squeezed me a little closer, the apology practically screaming from him even though he remained silent.
Even though our families had become so close that we spent all our free time and holidays with the Dixons, my parents had serious issues with Beau, and he knew it. It was impossible for him not to.
They didn’t exactly hold back their thoughts in front of him.
And even though our families had a deep bond that I was thankful for, my parents didn’t want me with Beau for long unless they were around too. So, if I was hanging out with him, I had to check in every so often to assure them he hadn’t gone and done something crazy—like hit me.
I’d already swung by my house after school, and I’d probably have to check in again before going to Madison’s tonight.
“Well, then we’re getting in the AC until then,” Hunter said as he turned and started down the last stretch toward our driveways.
“See you soon!” Madison called out, already laughing again as Hunter’s jogging started up her bouncing all over again.
“Your dad’s home,” Beau said suddenly.
“What?” I looked toward my house and down the long drive, my chest getting cold and hot all at once when I saw his car. “Guess he got off early,” I whispered, but something about his car in the driveway that early in the afternoon had me worried.
And I wasn’t even sure why.
I’d gotten a near-perfect GPA my first year of high school, and that was all while maintaining dance and cheer. I hadn’t gotten in trouble lately—well, Beau had, and I’d been there. But they already knew about that.
Still, there was a twisting in my stomach like I was about to get caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Except I had no jar. There were no cookies.
I hadn’t even realized I’d starting biting at my thumb nail until Beau moved my hand away and curled his fingers around mine.
“I wasn’t biting it,” I said automatically.
“I know.”
I knew he knew that.
I didn’t bite my nails. I kinda-sorta tapped on them with my teeth. My parents were the ones who couldn’t see the difference. But at the moment, I was freaking out over why my dad would be home so early. I mean, it wasn’t like he never came home early . . . just . . . almost never.
“I’ll come with you,” Beau offered when we stopped in front of my driveway, his dark eyes searching mine like he could feel the ridiculous spiral my mind was going down.
I wanted to say yes.
Beau was everything to me . . . my comfort and safety and happiness. If I could, I would cling to him and never let go. But he and I both knew it would be so, so much worse if he walked into that house with me.
My mom was afraid of Beau even though he’d never so much as said an unkind word to her or my dad. So, if my dad wasn’t around, she tried to bite her tongue around Beau and sometimes succeeded. But when my parents were together, the verbal gloves came off.