This Summer Will Be Different(4)

It pulled a laugh from my throat. “If I’d known that, I would have come sooner.”

His hand curved around the back of my head. “I think your timing is impeccable.”

There was a thread of air between us, and we watched each other for one charged second, before snapping it closed. I wanted to go fast, but it started slow and soft, tentative, until Felix’s tongue slid past my lips. I leaned into him, my fingers migrating to his hair. He sucked my bottom lip, and I let out a moan. And then his teeth were there, dragging over my lip. His bite wasn’t hard, but it surprised me enough that I opened my eyes.

He inched back, gaze heavier than it had been moments ago. “Too much?”

I touched my mouth, shaking my head. “More.”

Felix led me into the house, and before I had time to gape at the view, we were kissing again. I reached for the hem of his shirt as I heard the metallic snick of my zipper, and then we were undressing and tripping over our clothes, climbing upstairs to his bedroom, a frantic tangle of limbs and laughter.

We fell onto his bed together, already naked. Felix’s body was all hard lines and shadowed ridges, as if it were designed for aerodynamics. His shoulders were broad, his chest solid and dusted with dark hair. I skated my fingers over his bronzed skin, marveling at the tight packs of muscle covering his stomach.

I didn’t notice much about his room, just the worn copy of Wide Sargasso Sea on his nightstand that caught my eye as he kissed his way down my body. It struck me, briefly, as unusual reading material for a guy in his twenties, but then his jaw scraped against the inside of my thigh, and I stopped paying attention to the decor.

The sun was setting, stripes of royal blue and orange rippling across the sky, when we decided we needed to refuel. Felix made dinner. Thick slices of crusty bread slathered with butter. A plate of juicy tomato rounds, salted and glistening with olive oil. Another of cold rotisserie chicken. Cheddar cheese. Corn on the cob. We assembled open-faced sandwiches with the tomatoes and cheese and demolished the entire plate of chicken on the deck overlooking the gulf, him in a pair of boxer briefs, both of us wearing white T-shirts he’d retrieved from a drawer full of them.

The next time, we didn’t make it upstairs. We didn’t even make it inside. Felix tasted like the summer-ripe tomatoes we’d eaten at supper—a fresh burst of sun and salt.

More, I kept saying. More.



* * *



? ? ?

I woke in the morning with Felix’s arm over my middle, his body wrapped around mine. We must have fallen asleep like that, though I had no memory of it. I lay still, not wanting to rouse him, not wanting to confront the inevitable awkwardness of morning. We had been frenzied last night. We were strangers who’d acted like long-lost lovers. I think Felix had needed to cut loose as much as I had. Surely we’d both be embarrassed in the daylight. But then I felt the rasp of his jaw on my shoulder and the whisper of his lips on my neck. And it wasn’t awkward. It was slow and lazy and sweet, like warm caramel sauce sliding down a scoop of ice cream.

When we eventually pried ourselves apart, when I said I better get going, Felix told me I didn’t have to rush away.

“Have a shower if you want,” he said. “Do you drink coffee or tea?”

So I stayed. I showered. Felix had tea, and I had coffee.

“When do you need to leave to get your friend from the airport?” he asked. We were on the deck, he in the armchair and I in the corner of the outdoor sofa where we’d ravished each other the night before.

“Soon, I think. Her flight lands at twelve.”

Felix blew into his tea, and steam curled from the mug.

“I had a great time last night,” he said, lifting his eyes to mine. “I know you’re here for two weeks, but—”

I cut him off. “Felix, last night was . . .” Explosive. Hot as hell. Ruinous, probably. Legitimately the best sex I’d ever had. “It was . . . well, you were there. You know what it was.”

His eyes dipped to the flush blooming across my chest, pausing on the trio of moles. “I was there.”

I wanted him to know that we were on the same page. We didn’t have to have that talk. “What I’m trying to say is that I agree—it was tremendous. Five stars. But I know it was a one-time thing.”

“It was more of a four-time thing.” His single dimple flashed.

“Right,” I said, my eyes catching on his.

Spark. Fizz. Crackle.

He cleared his throat. “Where are you staying? If you want, I can give you some suggestions for places to check out. I have a list for when someone asks at the restaurant. I left my phone in my buddy’s truck the other night, but I’ll text it to you when he drops it off today.”

“That would be great, actually.” I reached for my phone and opened my text chain with Bridget. “My friend grew up here, but she’s been living in Toronto for years now.” I read off the address she’d given me for Summer Wind, then glanced at Felix.

He watched me, unblinking, his face suddenly pale.

“What?”

It took him a few seconds to speak. “Are you sure?”

“I think so?” I read the address again. “Why? Do you know it?”

His eyes darted around my face. “You’re Bridget’s friend,” Felix said. “I thought you were coming next week.”