The Summer Girlfriend (Heart Beach, #1)(83)

“Where are the cardboard boxes and bins?” she asked. “Have you started packing anything?”

“Ah, yeah. I’ve been procrastinating about that.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’ll get to it soon, though. Other than the furniture, I don’t have that much stuff to move, honestly.”

She nodded as she walked to the hallway that led to the bathroom and his bedroom. She paused in front of a photograph that was hanging on the wall. It was a picture of him and his family, taken at Disney World when he and his siblings were kids. She recognized it as the same photo that appeared on his phone’s screen whenever his mom called him.

“Look at you and your Mickey ears.” She pointed, smiling.

“That was on my eighth birthday,” he said, coming to stand beside her.

She looked closer at the picture and noted the similarities between him and his grandfather. There were the obvious physical similarities, of course. But they also smiled alike and squinted the same eye closed as the sun shined on them. It was sweet.

She continued down the hall to his bedroom. Like his living room, his bedroom was filled with matching gray-and oat-colored furniture, tasteful and put together. When she sat on the edge of his king-size bed, she realized that her curious perusal of his apartment might come across as rude or a bit intrusive.

“Sorry, I’m being so nosy right now,” she said, biting her lip.

He leaned against the doorway and shook his head. “Nah, I like that you’re comfortable looking around. It makes me feel like you’re comfortable with me.”

“I am comfortable with you,” she said, as she ran her fingers over the gray comforter. “Your bed is soft.” She looked up at him. “Do you like living here?”

“I do. I like being close to my family in case of an emergency,” he said. “I like the West Coast too, but I’ll miss being a drive away from everyone.”

“Why don’t you want to continue to work remotely?”

“The rest of the team is in California, and I want to be there too,” he said. “I want them to know that I care about the company’s success as much as they do. My hope is that once I move to California, they’ll see how serious I am.”

“Why can’t they see that now?” she asked.

Jeremiah shrugged. “The founder, Aaron, knew me in college. I was different then, less motivated. I think he has a hard time separating who I was from who I am now.”

“If he can’t see how amazing you are, he probably doesn’t deserve to have you on his team,” she said, frowning.

He laughed softly. “It’s a work in progress.”

He walked over to his dresser, unclasped his watch, and placed it beside his cologne. He slipped off his sneakers and padded over to his closet. His back was to Noelle, and as she watched him, she realized that she wouldn’t have many more opportunities to see him like this. Unwinding at home after a long day. Repeating the small, ordinary acts that stitched together the patchwork of his life. She was already mourning the future they wouldn’t have.

“What?” he said, smiling as he turned around and caught her eye.

“Nothing.” She forced a smile. They’d been having such a nice day. She didn’t want to bring down the mood with her sad thoughts about their eventual separation. “Just admiring you.”

He walked back toward her. “I think that’s supposed to be my job.”

She laughed, which then made her yawn. She wrapped her braids into a high bun on top of her head, and she noticed the way that Jeremiah stared at her exposed skin beneath the hem of her tank top as she lifted her arms.

“I’m tired. I could use a shower.” She raised an eyebrow. “Do…you want to join me?”

Jeremiah grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She laughed as he led her toward the bathroom.

In the shower, he stood behind her and spread soap suds down the slope of her back. Then, so that her hair stayed dry, he repositioned them so that his back faced the showerhead. He kissed her and slipped his fingers between her folds. She gasped as she kissed him back. He pressed her up against the wall, and the only thing stopping him from lifting her up and burying himself inside of her was that he didn’t have a condom.

Once they were back in his bedroom, Noelle lay on the bed, and Jeremiah kissed his way down her body, stopping to kiss her between her legs. She rolled her hips and panted as she gripped the sheets. Breathless, he grabbed a condom from his drawer and wasted no time sliding it on. Noelle stared up at him, dazed as he propped her legs on his shoulders and slid inside of her. He grabbed her hips, and her breasts bounced as he pumped into her. She gasped his name, moaning as she came, and soon the headlong rush overtook him too.

Heart pounding, he collapsed beside her, keeping her wrapped in his arms.

She wished they had more time together. She wished that they had an endless summer before them.





Chapter Twenty-Six




“The only time I worry about not knowing how to swim is when I think about how my options of escape would be limited during an alien invasion or something like that,” Tati said, “Otherwise, I don’t think about it that much.”

Noelle laughed, while Tati smiled, lifting her shoulders in a shrug. They were sitting side by side on the back of Jeremiah’s boat. Their feet dangled in the water. Unlike last weekend when Noelle and Jeremiah got caught in the storm, this weekend they’d been blessed with beautiful weather.