Second Chance Summer (Chance #1)(32)
Author: Emma Hart

“Who needs food for breakfast?” he murmurs, kissing my neck.

I put my hands on his. “I do. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

“Mmhmm.” He hums against my skin, his hands skimming down to my hips.

“Reese,” I scold even as my head moves to the side. “I need food.”

“I can feed you.” He tilts his head, and I can see his wolfish grin from the corner of my eye.

“I’m sure you can,” I reply dryly, stepping away and turning to him. “But I need real food.”

“Fine.” He grabs my hands, pulling me back to him and pinning them behind my back. I crane my neck up to look at him. “I hope you weren’t planning on a busy day today, because you’re gonna need all of your energy for tonight.”

“Is that so?” I raise an eyebrow, my heart beating erratically.

Reese’s hands release mine. He puts them on my back, sliding them downwards until they cup my ass. He pulls my hips toward him, and I can feel him hard against me. I rest mine flat against his waist and take a deep breath in.

“Damn right it is.”

CHAPTER 10

I tug at the light scarf wrapped around my head, adjust my sunglasses, and sip my milkshake.

“I don’t get why we dressed like this,” I say, looking at the cowboy hat on Reese’s head.

He grins. “Because this weekend is about getting away, so we’re in disguise.”

“But no one here knows us. Why do I need to be in disguise?”

He shrugs one shoulder. “Because it’s fun.”

“Fun. Right…” I glance at him innocently. “Is the disguise thing your explanation for your failed breakfast, then?”

He purses his lips and his eyes tell me if I keep it up I’m in for it. Naturally, I’m going to keep it up, because a small part of me just loves to wind him up. It’s so easy to do, and he falls for it every single time. Without fail.

“Because, let’s face it, we all know you can’t cook. Especially not pancakes.” I leave my glass on the table as we stand. “What did you put in them anyway? Half the packet of flour?”

“Kia…”

“Do you remember last summer? You always burned the smores. They’re marshmallow. How the hell can you burn marshmallow? I mean, you’re watching them on an open fire. That’s like watchin’ a sink fill up and letting it flow over the edges.”

“Kia!”

“I’m just sayin’, Reese. I should have known you’d have a crazy plan by the cooking attempt.”

He grabs my hands and wraps our arms around my stomach, resting his head on my shoulder from behind me as we walk along the sidewalk. “I’m not that bad,” he protests lamely.

“You burned marshmallow,” I repeat, giggling and squirming when he tickles my sides. “And then you wiped it all over me.”

He chuckles low, his chest rumbling against my back. “And then I kissed every bit of marshmallow off of you,” he reminds me. “You weren’t complaining when I was doing that.”

I blush as he runs his nose along my jawline. “Maybe not,” I acquiesce. “But that was only on my face.”

“Hey, I can arrange to smear marshmallow all over other parts of your body if you really want. I’m pretty damn sure I’d have no problem kissing it all off again if that should happen.”

I smirk a little and shake my head. “But then you’d get all the fun.”

Reese spins around, grabbing my hands in front of me, and walks backward down the sidewalk. “Baby, if you feel like smearing marshmallow all over me instead, all you have to do is say the word. I would lie there quite happily covered in that sticky shit if it meant you were going to kiss every inch of my body.”

“Are the abs included in that?” I give him a sassy look, and he tugs me toward him. His face bends toward mine.

“The abs are a requirement.”

I press my mouth to his and take his bottom lip between my teeth, letting them graze over it. “Maybe we should buy marshmallows later.”

“Or now. Now is good, right?”

I laugh, throwing my head back slightly. “Um, now might be a little awkward.” I glance around at the tourists surrounding us. “And you promised to show me Fort Raine.”

His eyes twinkle as he grins boyishly, and when he speaks, he exaggerates his accent into the long, sexy drawl that makes me want to lick more than just marshmallow off his abs.

“Kia, baby, the underside of our sheets count as Fort Raine, and it’s a part I definitely have to show you.”

I smile against his mouth, remembering just how easy it’s always been to be with Reese. When I’m not fighting with myself, it’s easy to see why I couldn’t keep him away. Why I couldn’t keep away. And now I’ve given up the fight, it’s clearer than ever.

Being with Reese is as easy as breathing. Every movement. Every smile. Every kiss. It’s all as natural as the sun rising and setting. Being KiaandReese… it’s effortless.

“You’re thinkin’ again.” Reese lets my hand go and cups my face, his fingers sneaking below the scarf to my hair.

“A little.” I smile.

“What about?”

I look up into his eyes. “You. Me. Us.”

“Uh-oh,” he murmurs, dropping his hand. “It’s never good when you’re doin’ that.”

I curl my fingers around his neck, holding him to me, not caring that we’re still standing in the middle of the sidewalk. Not caring that everyone else is having to detour around us.

“It’s amazing that, after a year, it’s like nothing has changed between us. It doesn’t even feel like we’ve been apart, does it?” I blink harshly, swallowing. “Absolutely nothing has changed.”

“You’re right and you’re wrong. We have changed, both of us. We’ve grown up a little – we know what we want from life now. We’re not just a couple of kids that have finally been let loose on the world. We’re older, more mature… But as far as me and you go, you’re right. We haven’t changed when we’re together; we’re still as crazy and impulsive and as lost in each other as we always have been. If anything has changed, baby, anything at all, it’s that this time round there’s not a damn chance you’re leaving for New York unless I’m right there with you. I’m not makin’ the same mistake twice. Know that when you go back to school in the fall, come hell or high water, I’ll be right there beside you.”