Page 68 of The Fangirl and the Grump

I decide to walk to the lodge, and by the time I get there, Keegan is sitting on the front porch steps. She stands up as I approach, and she looks so beautiful, my heart cracks in my chest.

“You look like you’re feeling better,” I say, only half-attempting to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

She blushes, saying, “I lied. I wasn’t sick.”

My feelings of justification are short-lived, quickly replaced by a sickening sort of anticipation. “Why?”

“I had a video chat meeting this morning, and I didn’t want to say anything until it was a done deal.”

“A meeting?” I ask, all my negative feelings morphing into confusion.

“Come inside, and I’ll tell you all about it. Pressley is at Moonstone Mystic, explaining everything to Willow.”

“Pressley?” I ask, even more confused than before as I follow her up the steps and into the house.

“She’s part of it,” she says, closing the door behind us and moving to the couch. “Come sit with me.”

I move slowly, my mind racing as it tries to make sense of what she’s said so far. When I finally sit––on the opposite end of the couch from her––she sighs and scoots closer, taking one of my hands in both of hers.

“Have you heard of BingBang?” she asks, throwing me off-kilter once again.

“The social media app?” I ask.

“Yes. So, several weeks ago, Pressley and I were fooling around and made a video together.”

All sorts of sordid thoughts zoom through my mind, and Keegan chuckles.

“Nothing like that, you big pervert,” she says gently, then squeezes my hand. “We were being silly while mixing and taste-testing drinks. Apparently, the video went viral and has three-point-five million views, and counting.”

“Wow,” I breathe.

I don’t use a lot of social media, but I know that’s quite the feat. And this conversation isn’t going anywhere close to where my vivid imagination was taking it on the walk over here.

“Planter’s Vodka reached out to Pressley, since the video was posted to her account. They want us to make more videos featuring their vodka. Correction. They want topayus a lot of money to make more videos.”

“Seriously?” I ask, feeling my tense muscles loosen a bit.

“We had a video meeting with them this morning to finalize the deal. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this, and that I lied this morning, but I was being superstitious and didn’t want to jinx it. Do you forgive me?”

“Of course,” I say, feeling genuinely happy for her. “I mean, I don’t like that you lied. I knew something was up, and I’ve been stressing over it all day.”

“I promise I won’t ever lie to you again,” she says. “I was just so nervous, and like I said, I didn’t want to jinx it. And I didn’t have time to explain everything when you called. The meeting was about to start.”

“I understand,” I say.

And I do. And while I am happy for her, I can’t help but get the feeling this is the beginning of the end for us. If she and Pressley got this big deal with Planter’s, they’ll have to cut this vacation short and get back to Seattle, right?

The thoughts slip out of my mind as Keegan mumbles something about celebrating and climbs over me, straddling my lap and pressing her mouth to mine. I grip her hips as we kiss, grinding her down against my rapidly growing erection. She groans into my mouth, then breaks off the kiss roughly before climbing off my lap.

Taking the hand she stretches toward me, I stand and follow her into her bedroom. She closes and locks the door, then holds my gaze as she slowly strips out of her clothes. My throat goes dry while my mouth floods with saliva. It’s a strange feeling, and I swallow rapidly as I pull my own shirt over my head and unbutton my jeans.

Keegan climbs onto the bed, stretching out onto her back before reaching her arms out toward me. I stomp my jeans and underwear off, then climb over her, settling between her thighs.

We make love slowly. Tenderly.

It feels amazing to be inside her, as usual, but it also feels a little sad. Final. Like it might be the last time.

It feels like goodbye.

---