Page 68 of Summer People
Knowing exactly where this is heading, I step closer. “No.” When both girls look at me, I stare Libby down. “I’m serious. You have a concussion. You’re not doing a ten-foot leap into ice-cold ocean water.” I eye Sutton next. “And you are not doing it without an adult.”
Sutton bats her eyes. “You could do it with me.”
“Pigs will fly before I jump into that ice bath.”
Sutton’s shoulders slump, and even Libby’s face falls.
“But…” I sigh. “Since we have dinner at Mrs. K’s tonight, we can swing by and watch the others jump.”
“Doesn’t it look fun?” Sutton asks Libby for the tenth time as we trudge back up the hill.
Blue and a few other islanders came out tonight to perform the first of many of the summer’s Monhegan Goodbyes.
Libby nods, her eyes sparkling. “And there is this energy in the air. It’s like this exciting tingle.”
My focus lowers to Libby’s bare legs. That’s exactly how I felt when she walked down the stairs dressed like that earlier. Like the air was suddenly charged, and when she came into sight, the current zapped through my entire body. The way she strutted down the steps, her legs on full display in the short white dress, her hips calling to me, nearly knocked me on my ass.
Thank fuck Sutton was still upstairs, because there was no stopping the urge to touch her. Of its own volition, my body practically floated across the room. Like a compass finds its true north, she drew me to her. To feel her, to touch her. To kiss her lips and fall under her spell. I was a glutton for punishment, letting her tease me. Hell, she’s been teasing me since the moment she arrived. Her presence alone is the most exquisite torture. I claimed her mouth, and she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. There was no resisting the need to run my hands up and down her bare thighs. I teased the hem of her dress, taunting her, tempting myself.
The whimper that slipped through her lips had my dick begging to be released from my damn jeans.
Libby shivers, the vibration pulling me from my reverie. I glance over and find her watching me with the intensity I feel after reliving our moment together earlier. Like she’s thinking about the way I skated a thumb across her panties the instant before Sutton flew down the stairs, interrupting us.
“Blue gets to jump every single time.”
I blink, putting the past away, determined to remain focused on the conversation with Sutton. The ferry. The idiots jumping into the water and waving to the summer people heading back to the mainland while the rest of us are forever on vacation.
“He says he hasn’t missed a single Monhegan Goodbye since he was six years old.” Sutton sends me a pointed look. “I wouldn’t know what that’s like.”
“Once Eddy gives me the-all clear, I’ll jump with you,” Libby promises.
“Yes!” Sutton spins in a circle, and I groan.
“Don’t be such a grouchy bear.” Libby bumps her shoulder into my upper arm.
I snag her hand and lace our fingers, only to realize that Sutton has zeroed in on our connection. Fuck.
Her lips tip up into an almost smile before falling flat again. Then, without looking at either of us, she takes off running, her pigtails flopping around her head. “Come on, Bing. I’ll race you to Mrs. K’s.”
Libby clears her throat, drawing my attention. “It’s okay to loosen the reins a little, even when it feels scary.”
My body tightens in response to the comment. Sutton is already limited in so many ways. She’s never seen a busy city street. She’ll never play soccer with a group of kids her age. She won’t drive off on her own the morning of her sixteenth birthday. She won’t graduate from high school with a whole class of kids. She misses out on enough. I do not need to hold her back more because I’m afraid to lose her.
I swallow. “I know.”
Libby squeezes my hand and gives me a small smile.
“Come on.” Shoulders relaxing, I put my hand on the small of her back and guide her up the steps of Mrs. K’s porch. “Let’s get this over with.”
“I love Sunday dinner. I don’t know why you always act like it’s going to be such a chore.” She giggles, the sound floating away on the breeze.
“Because it’s always a shit show.”
And a shit show it is. The main event begins the second we’re all settled at the table.
“Look what I picked up from the Amazon,” Blue announces.
“Ordered from Amazon,” Eddy corrects.
