Page 100 of Bright Lights and Summer Nights

Emma looks at me in disbelief. “I thought you’d probably lost it the day I found it.”

“Nope. I’ve kept it with me every day since. And it’s not going anywhere now. It’s my lucky charm. So are you.”

“Hey, Preston?” Emma asks, rocking her hips up and down with a wide smile.

“Yes?”

She leans closer until our lips almost brush. “I know you’re probably exhausted, but I need you. Right now.”

Her words are all I need to hear. I turn and set her gently on top of the bed. I thought I could wait until we got some sleep to have her, but I can’t. And I fucking love that she can’t either. “I need you too,” I comment, pulling her panties down her thighs and appreciating the view of her truly in nothing but my jersey.

“Then come get me, boyfriend.”

I smile at the way she says boyfriend. God, I’ll never get tired of hearing it.

“Whatever you want, girlfriend.”

Emma laughs, but it gets cut off the moment I pull her to the edge of the bed and bury my face between her thighs..

Emma Turner. My fake girlfriend turned real one.

My life falls perfectly into place as I prepare to make love to the woman who owns my heart. Nothing for us was easy. We started out as something that was only supposed to be temporary. She’s taught me everything I know about love and the sacrifices you make for a love like ours. But no matter what, through it all, we were able to find our forever between the bright lights and summer nights.

EPILOGUE - PRESTON - FOUR MONTHS LATER

“Preston, I’m not so sure about this,” Emma whispers from behind me. Her fingers tighten around mine as I lead her to the tall fence.

I turn around to look at her, only seeing part of her face through the darkness. The moon tries to illuminate the night, but the trees surrounding us make it hard. “Since when are you unsure about breaking and entering? If my memory serves me right, it was a year ago that I caught you hopping this same fence to crash Peyton’s party.”

Emma rolls her eyes, using her free hand to give me a playful shove. “At least then the club was open. It feels wrong for everything at Pembroke to be so dark.”

I nod in agreement, leading her to a spot I think would work to hop the fence. My mind goes back to a year ago when I first laid eyes on her. Even that night, I knew something was special about Emma, and I’ve known every day since in the year we’ve been together.

And what a year it’s been. From the moment we won the Super Bowl, life has been full speed ahead for the both of us. Emma signed a major podcast deal. The podcast officially released last month and debuted at number one for all podcasts in its first week. I had the honor of being her first guest on the show, where we let it slip that we’d officially bought a house together in Manhattan—one right next to Beck and Margo.

“Right here looks good,” I tell her, stopping at a spot in the fence that’s slightly on a hill, making it a little less distance to climb.

“Babe, I just really don’t think this is necessary.” Emma’s eyebrows pinch together with uncertainty.

Her reaction makes me smile. “Don’t bail out on me now, rebel.”

My heart leaps in my chest at the nickname I gave her a year ago to the date. Little did I know then that the woman who threw a heel in my direction would end up becoming the love of my life. She’s made my life better in countless ways in the year since we met, and tonight, I wanted to return back to the place we met on the one-year anniversary.

“Imagine the headlines if we get arrested tonight,” she quips, placing her hand against the fence. She supports her weight against it as she pulls both her shoes off.

I hold my hand out, taking the heels from her. “We’re not going to get arrested.”

One of the curled pieces of her hair falls in her face as she shakes her head at me. We’d gotten dressed up for a nice dinner at one of our favorite spots here in the Hamptons to celebrate the anniversary. I hadn’t told her about my plan to break into the club until we were on our way here. Seeing the look on her face when I told her was priceless.

And she doesn’t even know everything I have planned for the night.

“Are you going up first, or am I?” Emma asks, placing her hands on her hips.

I can’t help but smile, loving how she’s going along with my plan even though she thinks there’s a chance we could get in trouble. “I’ll go up first with your shoes. You come after so I can help you down.”

She raises an eyebrow at me. “I don’t seem to remember needing help last year.”

This makes me laugh. “I wanted to help you, baby. But you came flying at me before I was able to finish counting down.”

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