Page 153 of Possess Me! (I Want You To)

“I didn’t realize the ocean was this close to Elmwood!” He called back to me, tongue out, like he was tasting the salt. I’d always loved the ocean. It was one of the only things near Elmwood that had ever felt like it was mine. That was one thing we shared.

I continued onward, pulling onto the long winding driveway I had paved a month ago.

“Don’t you get enough of the beach in San Diego?” I teased, though Luca just laughed.

“Hey!” He slid back into the car, his attention all mine as he flashed me a happy grin. “There’s no such thing as too much ocean.”

Said like a true summer baby.

I pulled the car to a stop, and Luca frowned in confusion before turning to face his surprise for the first time.

“Pru…” He sounded confused.

Confused had not been what I was going for.

Nervous.

Nervous.

Nervous.

“What?”

“Why are we parked in someone’s driveway?” Luca frowned, turning back toward me as he picked a piece of lint from his dress pants.

“We’re not.”

“Ummm. I’m pretty sure we are.” He glared at me like I was the stupid one as he huffed out an annoyed breath. “We’re gonna block their cars in—”

“We’re not parked in someone’s driveway.” This wasn’t going like I’d planned. Why wasn’t he getting it? Luca stared at me like I was the biggest idiot in the entire world, and I had to hold back my laughter. “C’mon.” Fine. If he wasn’t going to get it, I’d just show him. I stepped out of the car, waiting for him to follow my lead.

“Fine, fine.” Luca shook his head at me in disbelief as he opened his door and climbed out. He stood in the driveway, his hands on his hips as he stared up at the house. The front side of it was made entirely of one way glass, the ocean and our faces, reflecting back at us as sunset painted the windows pastel. There was a second building attached to the main one by a glass walkway, and the warm beige of the wood that comprised the rest of the structure fit right in with the sandy beach it sat beside.

Luca released a wistful sigh, and my gaze snapped to him as I waited to see if he’d finally understood why I’d brought him here.

“Now that is one badass house.” He crossed his arms thoughtfully.

“You like it?” I couldn’t keep the hope from creeping into my tone. Which was entirely unlike me.

“Shit, yeah.” He smiled at me, his cheeks pink. “Is this what you were showing me?”

“Yes.” Finally he was getting it. I rounded the car so we were standing side by side as he stared at my gift.

“Because you think we should buy something like this?” Luca nodded thoughtfully.

Jesus fuck.

“No.”

“You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that.” God, he was infuriating. I shuffled even closer to him, soaking up his beachy coconut-esque scent. He laced a kiss against my cheek, and my skin tingled.

“You not a fan of the color?”

It was becoming clear to me that unless I spelled it out for him explicitly we were going to stand here all fucking day.

“This isn’t someone else’s house,” I tried, going for direct. Luca’s eyes narrowed, then widened, his mouth dropping open. Finally. He got it. “It’s—”

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