“Are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on yet?”
Aspen glances up at me as he tosses his bag in the trunk of the Impala, and I’m quick to follow suit with my own bag—the bag I didn’t even pack—so he can shut it. He doesn’t answer me as he hops into the driver’s seat, so with a sigh of indignation, I open the passenger side.
All I know is that ten minutes ago, he told me to get dressed and get down to the car.
At first, I thought maybe we were just going out to dinner or something. After all, it was a rare spring Friday night where I’m free to do whatever the hell I want, since we have an off-weekend. But then he walked out of my room, carrying two overnight bags, and handed one to me.
In the time it took to get down to the car from our dorm, I’ve asked him the same question about fifteen times.
Where are we going?
Clearly, I’ve yet to get a real answer out of him. In fact, the only time he actually gave me an answer at all was the first time when he just smirked and told me to get moving. Which isn’t a fucking answer at all.
“Earth to Aspen? Did you go deaf in the past fifteen minutes?”
When he doesn’t respond, I pop my finger into my mouth before leaning over and shoving it in his ear, giving him a wet willy.
“What the hell, Keene?” He aims a glare at me after pushing me away from him, rubbing the sleeve of his hoodie in his ear. “Are you five?”
I cock my head. “I don’t know, are you going to answer my question?”
“No, I’m not,” he says, turning the keys in the ignition. “Isn’t the point of a surprise to…I don’t know…be surprised when you find out what it is?”
I bite my tongue and roll my eyes because…yeah, he has a point.
“You could’ve just said it was a surprise,” I mutter indignantly.
“You could’ve just gone with the flow, Mr. I Don’t Like Plans.”
The glare I shoot at him is less about the dig and more about him being right, per usual. But to hell if I’m admitting it now.
“Fine.” I sigh, leaning back in the passenger seat as he backs out of the parking space. “But I get control of the radio the whole way there.”
Aspen pulls the car into the driveway of a tiny little cottage in the coastal town of Cannon Beach before killing the engine and looking over at me.
“We’re here.”
My brows furrow. “Where is here, exactly?”
“Your surprise.”
My eyes flick from him to the house. It’s cute, I guess. Quaint, and far enough from town that there isn’t much traffic. Just from peering around it as we pulled in, I can tell it’s seated right on the beach.
“Unless you bought me that house, I don’t think I understand,” I say slowly.
His brows raise and eyes widen, looking at me like I’ve truly lost my mind. When he realizes I’m serious, he sighs and shoves the car door open, letting it fall closed behind him as he makes his way back to the trunk. I follow, meeting him at the back of the car to grab my bag.
“Did you take one too many balls to the helmet this season to think I could afford to buy you a coastal property at twenty years old?” he asks as he walks up the front path to the door. There’s a lockbox next to the door, and Pen enters a code before pulling out the keys and slipping them into the door. “It’s a rental. Our rental, for the next two nights.”
He pushes the door open, letting me walk into the foyer first. My immediate thought as I take in the open concept house that has a view straight out to the ocean is…damn. It’s beachy, but with plenty of modern touches and upgrades. Homey and welcoming, but still clean.
“Wow,” I murmur, dropping my bag beside the front door and heading to the back door. There’s a deck off the living room with some outdoor seating and—
“Are we allowed to use the hot tub?”
Pen materializes behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist and chin settling on my shoulder. “Would you kill me if I said no?”
“Possibly.”
He chuckles, his warm breath coasting over my skin. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing we can.”
I settle back into his hold, my entire body vibrating with joy and excitement. I try to tamp it down, careful not to read too much into the plans he made to surprise me with this. But my stupid heart gets the better of me every damn time when it comes to him.
“Why’d you do this?” I murmur, turning in his hold.
His hand slips beneath the fabric of my shirt, fingertips skating softly over the skin of my lower back. It makes me shiver, especially when paired with the intensity of his stare.
“So we could have a little getaway before life gets crazy with finals and baseball and shit. I…” He clears his throat softly. “I didn’t think we’d see much of each other past this weekend, so…”
The thought hangs in the miniscule amount of space between us. Heavy and overwhelming.
His focus shifts from the ocean that damn near matches his eyes, and then back to me, and my heart stumbles in my chest at the vulnerability he’s showing as he waits for me to say something.
But I can’t. I can’t even fucking speak.
So I do the only thing I can.
My fingers slip around the back of his neck, and I haul him into a toe-curling kiss.
His tongue wastes no time entering my mouth, and he walks me a few steps until my back presses against the sliding glass door of the porch. He takes and takes and takes some more, pillaging my mouth like it’s his to own before taking my bottom lip between his teeth.
We’re both hard behind the confines of our clothes, grinding and groping at each other with a frenzied need. My hands work their way under his shirt. His fingers work the button on my pants.
I have half a mind to have him turn me around and fuck me right here against the goddamn door; that’s how needy I am for him as he continues to suck on my tongue like it’s his favorite candy.
“I’m going to assume that you like it?” he murmurs, a lilt of amusement in his tone between kisses.
“I love it,” I whisper into his lips, yanking my shirt over my head when I break away. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Always.” He brushes his nose against mine, and a little piece of me dies inside at the gesture.
Something’s changing with him. With us. And I have no idea why.
It’s like all these unwritten rules we’ve had for the past few months flew right out the window of his Impala on the way here. Now, I’m left standing here, desperately grasping for them, if only to keep my heart safe.
But they’re already long gone, and as much as I should be ecstatic, I’m terrified.
I’ve always felt safe with Aspen, but this might be the first time I’ve felt like I need to guard myself from him too.
He steps away from me slowly, leaving me breathless against the glass as he slips outside and uncovers the hot tub with a swift move. Steam billows out of it, floating through the air and adding to the lust floating between us.
Lust that only gets worse when, right in the open and where anyone else could see, he drops his pants and underwear.
He’s left completely naked before me, his erection bobbing out in front of him in a way that has my mouth watering. My eyes lock on it, on the blue veins and pale skin as he stands before me like some kind of god waiting for me to get on my knees and worship him.
As if I don’t already have every waking thought devoted to him already.
Without removing his gaze from me, he hops over the edge of the hot tub and slides his sinful body down until the smooth, hard expanses of his torso are submerged.
Once his dick is out of sight, I manage to snap out of my reverie and focus back on his face.
“You coming or not?”
His sapphire eyes practically glow in the lights from the jacuzzi as he waits patiently for me to join him like I normally would, under any other circumstance.
But the line we’re toeing right now is anything but normal.
We’re playing with fire, and if I’m not careful, I’ll end up being the one who gets burned.
Maybe that’s why every part of my body is screaming at me to turn and go back inside to the safety of the cottage. Walk away from him before it’s too late. Salvage what’s left of this friendship, knowing it was better to have him like this for a short time rather than not at all.
All these thoughts blast inside my head like alarm bells and sirens.
But I ignore the warnings.
Shed the rest of my clothes.
And jump straight into the flames.
The next morning, Aspen wakes me up at what might be the butt crack of dawn with a swat to my ass and kisses over my shoulders. At first, I think it’s for sex—which would be fucking insane, considering we went at each other for three rounds last night before my dick finally called it quits. Then I hear him murmur something about starting the day, so I try grumbling, rolling away, and going back to sleep.
But this is Pen. He’s not one to take no for an answer, especially when it comes to plans. One of which he says he has for us at freaking six-thirty in the morning.
A freaking sociopath, my best friend.
As it turns out, he drives us a little bit north of Cannon Beach to a hiking trail famous for a bunch of different movie filming locations. And while Twilight might be the main draw, it’s when I see another movie listed on the trailhead map that gets my stomach swirling with anticipation.
Probably because The Goonies was one of my all-time favorite movies growing up. I think the two of us have seen it close to fifty times over the course of our lives. And I have to admit, a sunrise hike beside the ocean is breathtaking, and I’m sure Aspen ended up with plenty of amazing shots of the scenery.
Afterward, we return to the rental to rinse off the sweat and grime together…which turns into trading blowjobs under the rainfall-style shower head. The little delay of events makes it so the two of us are starving by the time we head back into town, stopping at a small cafe for breakfast. And honestly, while I love The Goonies something fierce, I think the highlight of the trip so far is the omelet I scarf down in maybe three minutes flat.
No lie, I think there might be crack in it or something, because after one bite, addiction sets in, and I’m ready to be that person who asks the cook for a recipe.
“Don’t you dare think about it, Keene,” Aspen mutters, shooting me a glare over his glass of orange juice. With pulp.
Like I said, a sociopath.
“I’m just saying, it might be the greatest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.”
A dark brow lifts, a filthy smirk forming on his lips. “And why weren’t you saying that an hour ago while I fed you my cock?”
One sentence. One fucking sentence from him is all it takes for me to pop an instant boner, even in public. Which is kind of a problem, no matter how much I love his dirty mouth.
I lean forward, closing the space between us from across the table. “Maybe because I was a little too occupied to speak.”
“Mmm,” he hums, lifting his glass to his lips. My attention latches on to his Adam’s apple while it bobs from him taking pulls of the drink.
If I wasn’t hard before, sure as hell would’ve been now.
The day’s only just begun by the time we leave the cafe, and we spend the rest of it exploring the areas around town, vegging out in the hot tub at the rental for the second time in a twenty-four-hour period, and just…enjoying each other’s company.
I’m honestly shocked when Pen does something as simple as holding my hand as we walk down the main street of town. When he’s not too busy taking pictures, that is. Not to mention the way he reels me into a kiss before we walk through the doors of a tavern a couple towns away where we have dinner.
By the time we’re back in Cannon Beach, the sun is a couple hours from dipping down past the expansive horizon created by sand and sea. It’s honestly one of the most stunning things I’ve seen, the sunset over the ocean. We watched it from the deck of the rental house last night, wrapped in nothing but towels and each other.
I’m just glad we’ve made it back in time to watch it again. Or, at least, that’s my thought until Aspen pulls into a parking spot near the boardwalk leading down to the beach.
“More activities?” I ask, a smirk on my lips. “You’re starting to spoil me, Kohl. Better knock it off before I start getting used to it.”
Or maybe the real issue is that, in less than twenty-four hours, I already am. And I have no fucking idea how we’re supposed to just go back to what’s been normal for the past few months.
“Don’t sit there and act like you haven’t loved every single thing we’ve done today.”
He doesn’t even wait for me to answer, climbing from the driver’s seat and waiting for me to join him at the front of the car.
“We’re not going swimming, are we?” I ask as we hit the edge of the beach. It might be April, but we’re in the Pacific Northwest. Only insane people go swimming when the water’s that cold. I can see one now, a lone black dot on the horizon sitting on an orange surfboard.
Pen shakes his head, a chuckle slipping from him as he toes off his shoes and socks before he sets them off to the side of the boardwalk. I follow suit, though I’m still fairly skeptical.
The only reason I know, for a fact, he won’t randomly try to drag me into the surf or dunk me is because he’s got his camera bag slung over his shoulder.
“What happened to going with the flow?”
I can go with the flow just fine. My last name is Waters, for fuck’s sake. I just have no interest in getting hypothermia and dying. Or getting so cold that my dick decides to flip inside out and permanently retreat back into my body.
“Trust me, Kee. Now, c’mon,” he says, grabbing my hand and linking my fingers with his. My stomach flips at the smile he gives me before saying, “I have another surprise for you.”
