Page 61 of The Summer I Destroyed You

“Good girl,” he whispers.

I should hate that too, but dammit…I don’t.

A muscle low in my belly contracts as his fingers glide in and out, keeping time with his tongue. That initial hint of need I felt before is now a heavy ache, as if I’ll explode if I don’t come, and yet…it’s not going to be enough. My breath is coming fast, my hands are tugging at his hair, but this isn’t what I want. I don’t merely have unmet needs. I have an almost desperate desire to watch him come apart with me.

I release him and slide away. His pupils are dilated, his mouth wet with me.

“Come here,” I pant, marching toward the desk. I lift my skirt around my waist as I sit atop it. When he’s close enough, I tug at his belt and pull his jeans and boxers down. He’s rock hard and throbbing against my palm as it wraps around him.

“Fuck yes,” he groans, pushing my legs apart as I pull his mouth to mine. I kiss him as if I plan to devour him, as if I’d fucking destroy him this way if I could. It is not inaccurate. I’d like to destroy him in a thousand ways, a thousand times over. I want to smash him into a million pieces and bury those pieces all over the world so he can’t be put back together, so he can’t exert this effect on me anymore.

“Fuck me,” I demand, leaning backward.

He grabs a condom from his wallet. Another pair of panties is effortlessly shredded, and then he is shoving inside me hard, knocking the air from my chest. He glances between us at the point where we are joined. “Jesus,” he says, seemingly more to himself than me. “I think I could come from the sight of this alone.”

“Don’t,” I hiss, as my head falls backward. “Not yet.”

But it’s not going to take me long. I was close before, and it’s so much more when he’s inside me, as if I’m filled to the point of pain, yet there is no pain. It’s just heat and need and this ever-growing ache.

“I’m going to come,” I warn, and his eyes darken. His thumb presses to my clit and I go off like a bomb, wrapping my legs around him as he thrusts hard and buries his mouth against my neck to stifle his own cry.

We remain pressed together, both of us slowly coming back down to earth. His lips graze my neck, moving over my jaw and up to my ear. “Thank you for admitting you were jealous.”

“I was horny. I’ll say anything when I’m horny. Ask me now.”

He laughs and thrusts inside me, still hard. “I’m pretty sure I could convince you to say it again.”

Yeah, probably.

He pulls out and ties off the condom. “Let’s go to lunch.”

“I don’t eat lunch.”

He rolls his eyes. “Princess, at a certain point, you’ll have to acknowledge we aren’t just fucking.”

I climb to my feet, straightening my skirt. “Look, it’s nothing against you. I just don’t date.”

I’m worried he’s about to ask for a heart-to-heart, that he’s going to ask why I’m so broken and then try to convince me I can be healed. Instead, he presses his lips to my forehead while fixing my collar.

“Okay, Em,” he says. “But you’re twenty-eight. Maybe it’s time to start.”

It scares me how badly I want to agree.

32

LIAM

Did you land safely? Don’t worry. I am not asking as someone who thinks he’s your boyfriend. I ask this of all my clients.

She is in Dallas, to be followed by Nashville and Atlanta. It’s strange, how empty this town seems without her. I’ve lived here my entire life, and sure, it isn’t what it once was—my friends are settling down, I haven’t been able to surf since last fall—but Elliott Springs has never seemed so dull, so lifeless before. I’d still like to preserve our history, but I can see where maybe we do need to change. Sometimes it takes an influx of new blood to bring things back to life.

The Princess

Safe as in “Did you arrive in one piece?” Or safe as in “Did you arrive without incident?” Because there were incidents. They only had the vegetarian meal option and we hit turbulence, so they never refilled my wine.

It’s probably for the best that they couldn’t refill your wine. I’ve seen you when you’re drinking. You’d probably ask the pilot to go into the bathroom with you.

Only if my mom liked him too.

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