Summer Love by Piper Rayne

Chapter Eight

Somehow we’d managed to move from the foyer and into the master bedroom, where this time I took my time with Abigail—kissing her, touching her, and exploring every inch of her beautiful body, even more luscious now than when I’d first met her.

She’d fallen asleep at some point after we’d made love again, but she stirred now in her sleep. I rolled over on one elbow and watched as her eyelids fluttered open. The moment she registered me there, watching her, a small smile traveled over her lips.

“So, I wasn’t dreaming it?”

I traced a finger up her belly, between her breasts, and bent over to press a tender kiss to her lips. “Wide awake, sweetheart.”

“Good.” She stretched her arms up over her head and groaned a little. “I’m sore all over.” My smile dipped but then she flipped over to her side and grinned. “And I love it.”

“You know what I love?”

Her eyes twinkled. “Me?”

“I was going to say breakfast in bed,” I teased. “But yes, you.” I moved quickly so she was once again flat on her back and I was overtop her, caging her in with my arms. “I do love you very much.” Our slow kiss stirred me to life again. I didn’t think I would ever tire of her now that I had her. I nudged her legs apart with my knee, and Abigail arched her back up to meet me.

We were the perfect match.

She groaned low and long as I entered her exquisitely slowly.

We made love lazily, taking our time until I could feel both of us reaching yet another climax. I kissed her deep, twisting my tongue with hers as we both moaned our release and finally rolled apart.

“Mmm, and I do love doing that.” I tucked my hand under the pillow. If I dared touch her again, we’d never leave this bed. Not that there’d be anything wrong with that, but Abigail might want breakfast sooner or later, and she would need to keep her strength up.

Right on cue, her stomach growled. Loud.

She laughed. “What was it that you were saying about breakfast?”

Reluctantly, I rolled from bed to text Mrs. Mclean our breakfast order.

“And maybe after breakfast,” Abigail was talking as I composed my message, “I should probably get going home. I have to take care of—”

“What?” I spun on my heel and stared at her, the breakfast order forgotten. “What did you say?”

“I need to get going home.” She smiled, a little unsure. “I mean, you did just say the weekend, and I have things I need to take care of. I work in the—”

“No.” In two quick strides, I was across the room and sitting on the bed in front of her. “Abigail, no.”

“No?” Her voice shook. “What do you mean?”

“Did you mean what you said last night?” I was so sure of the answer. I felt it in my bones. But now, with the bright light of the morning, I needed to be sure she’d meant it when she’d said those words. That she hadn’t just said them in the moment. I needed to know without any uncertainty at all that Abigail Blakely loved me. “Tell me the truth. Did you mean it?”

“Did I mean it when I told you I loved you?”

I nodded.

“Phillip! How can you even ask me that?”

“I need to know, Abigail. Did you—”

“Of course I meant it.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t make sense of me or what I was saying, which was probably fairly accurate. “I love you, Phillip.”

“And I love you. So don’t leave.”

She laughed a little. “Just because I love you doesn’t mean I don’t have a life and a—”

“That’s what I’m saying.” I had to speak quickly while it made sense in my head. “We’ve wasted so much time already. I know how I feel, and if you know how you feel, then let’s do this.”

“This?”

“You and me.” I grabbed her hands. “The way it always should have been.”

“Are you asking me to marry you?” There was a teasing tone in her voice, but I didn’t laugh.

“I will,” I told her confidently. “But for now, move in with me. Be with me. The way we always should have been together.”

She didn’t say no, but I saw the questions in her eyes. “I’m going to school.”

“Good. I support that. I support whatever you want to do.” I blinked, remembering what initially led us to this moment. “Except for stealing money for tuition. I’ll take care of it. All of it.”

“I can’t let you do that, Phillip.”

I pulled her closer to me on the bed so I could have one hand on her thigh and one cupping her cheek. “You can,” I said softly. “And you will, because that’s what people who love each other do. Let me do this, Abigail. Please let me do all of it. Everything.”

“I don’t need you to do everything for me.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Don’t I know it. I love your strength and independence.”

She closed her eyes as I kissed her tenderly.

When we parted, I could see it in her eyes. She’d made up her mind.

* * *

“So you’re moving?” Darla held up the duffel bag I’d thrown on my bed, later that day. “Just like that?”

I knew my friends would have questions. Hell, I had questions.

It was happening ridiculously fast.

And I’d never been so sure about anything in my life.

“Hey,” I said. “You’re the one who told me to go out and have a little fun. We only live once, right?”

Darla didn’t have an argument for that, so she started stuffing T-shirts into the duffel bag with a shrug. Phillip had tried to convince me to let movers come and handle my tiny apartment, but it was important that I do it myself. Besides, it gave me a chance to catch up with the girls and help them understand why I was moving so quickly. Not that it was quick. After all, we’d loved each other for over fifteen years. It was about time we finally figured that out.

And despite a few shocked questions, my friends were supportive, just the way I knew they’d be.

“So the sex…”

It surprised me Jessie was the one who asked about the sex first. But something about the way her eyes sparkled told me maybe my friend was finally getting ready to have a little bit of excitement in her own life, so I obliged by telling her every single detail. Well, most of them.

But enough that she threw her head back and groaned. “Okay,” Jessie admired, “I’m way overdue for a little of that kind of fun.”

“Yeah, you are!” Darla shouted her encouragement from the dresser.

“Kitchen’s all packed for donation,” Sandy said as she and Britt appeared in the doorway. “What’s Jessie overdue for?”

“Hot sex!” Darla and I shouted at the same time, before breaking out into giggles just as we would have twenty years earlier. “Seriously,” I said when I recovered. “It will change your world. Literally.”

Britt nodded pointedly. “Clearly. But not everyone can be as lucky as you. Aspen Valley is still a small town. There are only so many men to go around.”

“It’s not that small,” I protested. “And why can’t you all be as lucky as me? There’s no rule that says that.” I tucked a few more things in a box and looked up, an idea springing to mind. “In fact,” I said slowly, until all eyes were on me. “I think we should make a pact.”

“A pact?” Sandy raised an eyebrow. “Like when we were kids?”

“Exactly.” The ladies drew closer until we were all sitting on my tiny bed. “I don’t know if I would have been able to work up the courage to go ahead with everything with Phillip if it hadn’t been for you all convincing me to just go for it.”

“So really, you have us to thank for all this?” Britt laughed.

But I nodded. “In a way, yes. I do.”

“So what are you proposing?” Jessie crossed her legs and leaned in, curious. “We all encourage each other to just go for it?”

“Yes.” It really was that simple. “The next time one of us has the opportunity to step out of her comfort zone a little, they send a text and…we all support and encourage her to take a chance. Even if it’s risky.”

“It has to be safe,” Sandy added.

“Obviously.” I nodded. “But we’re all big girls, and we’re not stupid. We won’t do anything dangerous, and as long as we’re letting each other know…”

“It’ll be fine,” Britt finished. “And it could be fun.” She nodded. “I’m in.”

Darla laughed. “Well, I already do this, so I’ll be the lead cheerleader. I’m in.”

“Lord knows, with the twins almost grown and gone, I need something to occupy my time,” Jessie said. “And I could really use some hot sex of my own.” She shook her head and grinned. “Why not? I’m in.”

All eyes turned to Sandy. There was no way she’d agree, but to my surprise, a small smile played across her lips. “Okay,” she said. “I’m in.”

We all laughed and collapsed into a group hug on the bed.

Who said your forties were too late to take a risk and have a little fun? We might be late to the party, but finally we were all going to have some of the fun we’d always deserved.

* * *

Three hours later, the few possessions I had were boxed up and ready for the movers to bring to Phillip’s mansion. I’d officially quit my job at the Aspen Valley Country Club, not that anyone was surprised after Phillip and I had very publicly introduced our relationship to the world—and ourselves—at the party the night before.

And I was cuddled up, quite happy in Phillip’s arms on the couch in the living room, with two wine glasses on the table in front of us.

“Things have a funny way of working out, don’t they?” I nestled in closer and his arm squeezed me tight. “I mean, if I hadn’t have taken that money, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

He chuckled. “You mean, if I hadn’t have stopped into the pro shop that day.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But I took the money…”

“Right.” He pulled away and shifted on the couch so we faced each other. “And if I hadn’t have made you a deal you couldn’t have refused…”

“What if I had?” The question had just occurred to me. “I mean, would you really have turned me in?”

He didn’t hesitate with his answer. “Never.”

“So why make me a deal? And…kind of a ballsy one at that.” I crossed my arms and gave him a playful smile. It had been a risky offer, almost offensive, really. Not that I would have seen it that way. Not coming from Phillip.

He wiggled his eyebrow and smirked in that oh so cocky way he had that made my body pulse with desire. “Because I knew you’d say yes.”

Oh yes. He was cocky.

“What if I didn’t?”

“But you did.” He moved up the couch almost like a cat, so he was moving on top of me, pressing me back into the cushions. “And I knew you would,” he said when he was directly overtop of me. “Because you, my love, are stubborn, smart, feisty, and sexy as hell.”

I laughed a little and he caught my bottom lip gently between his teeth and tugged. Heat flared through me as he kissed me hard.

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said when he released my mouth.

“It doesn’t have to.” He wrapped his arms around me and turned so I was laying with my chest against his back, his arms holding me tight. “So,” he said. “Do you agree? Does it have to make sense?”

I shook my head and closed my eyes, in complete bliss.

He kissed the top of my head tenderly, and my heart filled with love and I knew with certainty that I was exactly where I was meant to be. “The only thing that makes sense,” I said softly, feeling every word deep in my soul, “is that I’m finally yours.”

* * *

I hope you enjoyed your introduction to Phillip and Abby! But we’re not done with these two yet. Find out what happens when Phillip plans a special surprise for Abby’s birthday in an exclusive epilogue.