When August Ends

As if on cue, the dog entered the room and began barking at the cage. The guinea pigs trembled. This wasn’t good.

“No, Teddy!” Heather shouted, steering the dog away from the cage. “I can’t believe I never thought this through.”

“You didn’t know how Fathead was going to react.”

She shook her head. “This was a mistake. I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Heather led the dog downstairs before returning to the room and sitting down on the bed.

She continued scrolling for information. “Their toenails have to be trimmed from time to time. It says here you could break a blood vessel doing it.” She kept reading, seeming unable to look away.

I must have been out of my mind, but I said, “Tell you what, I’ll take them over to the boathouse for tonight. That will solve the dog issue until we can get a top for the cage. I think I have a little romaine lettuce, too, that I use for my sandwiches.”

“I feel awful making you do that. We just set everything up here and—”

“It’s really no problem. I’ll move everything over. Tomorrow we can get more hay and buy some greens and stuff. They’ll be fine.”

Heather looked like I’d lifted a huge load off of her chest. “Seriously…I don’t know what I would do without you this summer. You’ve done more for me in the six weeks you’ve been here than my father has in my entire life. I feel like you keep saving my ass. I owe you so much.”

Saving her ass wasn’t exactly where my mind had been lately.

She stood up, walked over, and wrapped her arms around my neck. It caught me off guard, and my body stiffened. But rather than continue to tense up, I closed my eyes and let myself experience the comfort that holding her brought me. Nothing had felt this damn good in a long time. With my nose buried in her hair, I took a deep breath in. She smelled so good it was almost too much to bear. I knew she had to have felt my heart beating. Christ. Now I could feel my cock stiffening. This wasn’t good.

I pulled back. “I’d better get everything packed up.”

***

After I returned to the boathouse and got the guinea pigs settled in their cage on my floor, I decided to wash up after the long day of working outside.

I jerked off in the shower and came in a matter of seconds, proving how much I really needed to get laid. If that was going to happen, it sure as fuck couldn’t be with Heather, so I’d better figure out a plan B. Holding her tonight had felt way better than it should have. I almost wished she’d never touched me. I hated that my mind wouldn’t focus on anything besides her beautiful face and body while I beat myself off.

The guinea pigs—who had yet to be named—stared at me as I walked out of the bathroom. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they were judging me.

“What are you looking at?” I chuckled.

Their little mouths moved in sync as they chomped on some hay. It seemed I now had an audience.

“Don’t be so judgey.”

After I got dressed, I realized I still had a basket of laundry to put away from, like, a week ago. Heather had surprised me by folding it, and I’d forgotten to thank her for doing that.

As I put things away in my drawers, I stopped short when my fingers landed on black lace.

Well, this definitely isn’t mine.

The shock of realizing I was holding Heather’s panties caused my fingers to spring open. Like a hot potato, the underwear fell to the ground.

I bent down to pick it up, holding it in my hands while my dick swelled against my jeans. My fists closed over the material as I willed myself to throw them back into the basket.

Don’t do it.

Against my better judgment, I gave in to the need to smell them. Bringing them to my nose, I breathed in the hint of her scent that remained.

I’m so fucked.

CHAPTER NINE

* * *

HEATHER

It was set to be a busy day, so I got up earlier than usual to get things done before I had to go to the realtor’s office later in the morning.

As I sat by my bedroom window, sipping my coffee, I noticed someone walking onto the porch of the boathouse.

It was my slutty neighbor, Kira Shaw.

My heart nearly stopped.

Then she disappeared inside.

It felt like all of the blood in my body rushed to my head.

No.

He never let anyone in the boathouse.

Unless…

I paced for a while, unsure of what to do.

You can’t control what he does, Heather.

You’re just friends.

He can fuck anyone he wants.

He can do whatever he wants with his life, and it’s none of your business.

What part of that don’t you understand?

He’s a man. He has needs. What do you expect? Like Mom said, men are weak.

My imagination ran wild. I pictured him pulling her inside before they started going at it on his bed.

Did you really expect him to be celibate the entire summer?

Oh my God. I was going to be sick.

I had to know. I had to know if it was true. No way could I go about my day like I hadn’t seen her enter the boathouse.

My heart raced as I threw on some clothes. I wouldn’t do anything, but I needed to confirm. I vowed not to embarrass myself or him by making my presence known. Those days were over. But I would see if I could tell what was going on. Then I would leave. I wouldn’t subject myself to watching anything more than necessary to get my answer. I could just peek inside the window and be on my merry way.

Yeah right, as if it would be that easy to get over Noah fucking Kira Shaw—or anyone, for that matter. But especially her.

This is devastating.

A cool mist in the air and light morning fog greeted me as I stepped outside. My stomach churned as I approached the boathouse.

What if he’d drawn the shades and I couldn’t see inside? Then what?

As I stepped onto the porch, I made sure they wouldn’t hear me.

To my surprise, when I peeked in the window, the bed was empty.

Where are they?

The only other room was the bathroom, and there was only one thing they could be doing together in there. That made me feel even sicker. Now things were almost certainly not going to go in my favor.

My legs felt wobbly as I walked around to the bathroom window on the other side of the house.

It was slightly open, and the shade was only lowered halfway, so I was able to peek inside.

The water was running, and the shower curtain was closed.

They’re showering together.

Holy shit.

I wanted to cry.

But I wouldn’t.

I needed to be strong. Maybe this was just the thing I needed to help me get over him.

I wasn’t going to want him after he’d been with her. This was going to change everything.

My heart palpitated as I stared at the embroidered butterflies on the white shower curtain and listened to the sound of the water.

Then, as if the situation couldn’t get any worse, the sound of Noah’s groaning echoed through the bathroom.

That should have been my cue to leave, but I stayed frozen at the window, consumed by curiosity. My shock had paralyzed me.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the shower curtain whipped open.

The sight of a stark-naked Noah flashed before my eyes. A very naked—but alone—Noah. His body glistened, and let’s just say everything I’d imagined about his anatomy was all that and more. He was freaking huge.

I gasped.

I hadn’t meant to make a sound. It just came out.

Then I ran as fast as I could back to the house.

Had he seen me? I was certain he must have heard me, but maybe he didn’t know it was me.

And who was he, Houdini? Where the hell was Kira?

I’d seen her enter the boathouse. He was groaning! Yet he was alone in the shower.

Back in my bedroom, I prayed I’d dodged a bullet, that by some miracle he hadn’t seen me running away.

When my phone chimed a few minutes later, I got my answer.

Noah: Something you want to tell me?

Heather: It wasn’t what it looked like.

Noah: Oh good. What a relief. Because it looked like you were spying on me in the shower.

Damn it!

Heather: I can explain.

Noah: I’m just putting some coffee on. This outta be good.

I took this as a hint that he wanted me to get my ass over there and explain myself, perhaps while he sat back and sipped coffee, enjoying the show of my humiliation.

Swallowing my pride, I walked back over to the boathouse to face the music.

As usual, he opened the door before I had the chance to knock.

Noah’s hair was wet. He’d put on a gray T-shirt that stretched against his muscles. He wore jeans, and his feet were bare.

He was silent. All you could hear was the sound of coffee percolating. What struck me was the lack of amusement on his face. He looked seriously concerned for my mental health.

I couldn’t blame him.

I wanted to run for the hills, but instead, I came right out with it. “I saw Kira Shaw here. I was looking out my window, and I saw you open the door and let her in.”

His brow lifted. “You did, huh?”

“Yes, I swear.”

“You sure you saw me open the door?”

“Yes. At least, I think I did, but now I’m wondering if I was hallucinating.”

The coffee made that loud bubbling sound it always does when it’s finished brewing. Noah sauntered over to the pot and poured some into a mug.