Page 85 of The Third Baseman

He pulled back with a smile. “So you wanna show me the balcony?”

I tried to focus, but after that kiss it was like asking me to run a marathon. “You just walked through it.”

“Yeah, but I think you should show it to me anyway.” His lip curled up as he winked and walked to the window.

“Okay…” I followed his outstretched palm and held onto it to step up on the window bench, and through the window.

The balcony did not look like it had when I’d last seen it.

My earlier panic and the ringing in my ears was likely the answer to why I hadn’t heard him out there setting it up, because there’s no way he’d been able to do this in silence. Roped lights hung between the palm trees, crisscrossing the tiny space and fastened onto the wall. My blankets had been laid out, along with more, and a dozen cushions I didn’t recognize. Electric tea lights flickered in the twilight, positioned in every corner and crevice he’d been able to find.

It was stunning. More than stunning. Perfect. And Jupiter had done it all for me, actually… I removed my hand from my mouth. “How did you do all this?”

He looked at his feet, and for the first time ever, I swear he blushed. “Emerson helped me.”

“Emerson?”

“I didn’t tell her anything, just that I wanted to surprise you to watch the stars. She passed me the cushions, and let me borrow all the lights.”

“She won’t tell your parents?”

He shook his head, with a grimace. “No, I paid for her silence by promising to take her and Mallory to surf camp every day during the holidays.”

My hand went back to my mouth to hide a giggle. Emerson really must have worked him hard on that negotiation, and the fact he’d agreed meant more to me than the fact he’d done this in the first place.

His arms snaked around me from behind, his head on my shoulder. “It was worth it, I told you I wanted it to be special.”

I circled in his hold, his face searching mine for approval, desperate to know he’d done the right thing, “It’s perfect. So, so pretty, Jupe. I can’t believe you did this for me.”

“I’d do anything for you, Star.” His fingers combed through the strands of my freshly washed hair, lifting the ends to his nose. “I love it when your hair is down. I love feeling it slide through my fingers.”

My chest rose and fell; the longer he looked at me, the tighter it felt. I needed to breathe, and I needed to stop shaking. The balmy April night air was doing nothing for me.

“Are you cold?” He snatched up a blanket, and wrapped it around my shoulders.

“No, just adrenaline, I guess.”

“You’re so beautiful. Some days I have to pinch myself to believe you’re really real.” His head cocked to the side, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking the exact same thing earlier.”

“Oh, yeah? Does that make me as smart as you then?” he bent and kissed my nose.

“You’re way smarter.”

“I am for finding you.”

Time began moving in slow motion as his warm fingertips inched underneath my tank top. I looked down to see his palms enclosing my waist; his thumbs drifting over my skin like a whisper, so hypnotizing. My breath shallowed the higher his palms slid over my too hot skin, and soon he’d be able to feel my heart hammering if he couldn’t already.

“Arms up.” His voice was thick and gravelly, and dragged across every nerve ending. The goosebumps I had were nothing to do with the cooling air; the heat from his gaze was doing a good job of keeping the chill at bay.

He dropped my tank top on the floor, swallowing thickly. I’d had a month of feeling his hands on me, but this was nothing like those other times. Now he was almost transfixed as his thumb swiped across my nipple, puckered so tight it hurt. I couldn’t stop the groan from barreling up my throat.

His eyes found mine; they were no longer piercing blue – they were navy – and the little flecks of gold round the edges glinted in the flickering lights around us. If that wasn’t enough to show me how affected he was, I could also feel it nudging against my stomach.

“That noise, Marn. I need to hear it again.”

He got his wish when his lips replaced his thumb. “Fuuuck,” he mumbled with his mouth full. His tongue, his magic tongue, circled around my nipple then popped off with a loud, wet slurp, and I let out a groan, deep and animalistic, a sound I’d never imagined I would make.

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