33. Jo

Playlist: This Love (Taylor’s Version) | Taylor Swift

Pink sparkly shots are fun, but watching Hunter steal a handle of top shelf tequila from Port of Call is infinitely more fun.

As she leads me down the beach, we giggle like we’re fifteen again.

“Where are you taking me, you wild woman?” I laugh as Hunter stops and pulls off her boots and socks. Her toenails are painted a glittery pink that shines in the darkness, and it makes me smile. She’s so unexpected and unpredictable and somehow as steady as the waves on the shore.

“You’ll see!” she says in a sing-song voice, pulling my hand. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

Finally she stops, and looks at the houses across the street from the bluffs. “Here. This is it.” She drops her boots onto the sand with a muted thud .

“This is what?” I ask, looking around.

“This is where I realized I had fallen for you fifteen years ago,” she says softly, and my eyes snap back to her.

“Here?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I thought it was funny that we could see the rectory.” She points to a white Cape Cod house across the street, which is indeed where Father Gilligan has lived for the past six hundred years, or however long he’s been pastor.

I’m overwhelmed by the fact Hunter not only remembered where she fell in love, but brought me back here. “Hun,” I whisper, voice thick.

“Hold on.” She lifts the handle of tequila and brings it to her mouth. I swallow hard as she tilts her head back and pours a shot’s worth into her mouth. As she swallows, she wipes her mouth with the back of her free hand and holds out the bottle to me. I wordlessly accept, keeping my eyes on hers as I repeat her actions.

“I brought you here for a reason,” Hunter says as I lower the bottle. I bend down and put it on the sand, steadying the bottle so it doesn’t fall. “And…and I’m scared. Because this might be my Willie Nelson, my reckless climb without any guarantee this is safe.”

My heart is pounding, a steady thump thump thump in my chest. Maybe I’m irrational in hoping that she could be saying the same thing I want to say. “Be brave with me,” I whisper, reaching out and taking her other hand in mine, squeezing both. “I’ll ride the bull with you.”

Her eyes search mine, so earnest and beautiful. “I’m in love with you, Giovanna Quinn.” Her voice is quiet, barely audible over the waves. “And you might not be ready to hear that, but you deserve to know. To know that you deserve to love and deserve someone who stays. Someone who sees how brave and incredible you are. Someone who wants to grow with you because you only get better with age. And…” she inhales shakily, eyes searching mine. “And I’m fucking terrified. Because you can reject me and you know how hard that is for me. But I’m willing to risk that for you. Because you’re worth the risk, and…”

“Hunter…” I interrupt, voice wobbly.

“You deserve the sun and the moon,” she continues, “and all I have is my heart and a bearded dragon and—”

“Hunter. I have to say something.”

She looks so scared, and I’m pretty sure she’s trembling. Either that she’s shivering from the breeze. “Oh. Okay,” she stammers.

I reach out and take her hands in mine. “Hunter Cleary, you’re a fucking meteorite…”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Let me finish, honey. You’re a fucking meteorite and you demolished everything I believed about the world and myself. Remember when I told you I was a bad liar? That people know when I’m trying to lie?”

Her brow furrows in confusion. “Yeah?”

“I’ve never been dishonest with you. Not once. I’ve never felt the need to hide the parts of me and my past that have caused so much hurt, because you see me, Hun. And you’ve let me see you, too, and what a privilege it has been to see you. To trust you and see and love the parts of you that should have always been seen and loved.”

“Love?” Hunter whispers, blue eyes watery as they search mine.

“Yeah, honey. Love. I couldn’t stop it no matter how much I tried. You and your boots kicked down the walls I put up around my heart and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m so goddamn in love with you that I’m floating away like a balloon in the sky and I’ll do whatever I can to never come back. As long as you float away with me and—”

My words are cut off by Hunter lifting herself to her tiptoes, wrapping one arm around my shoulders and kissing me square on the mouth. I relax into her, like my subconscious knows that she’s safe.

She breaks the kiss, and I open my eyes. She’s wearing the softest smile, eyes screwed shut as she presses her forehead to mine.

“Want to remember this one, too?” I ask.

“Mmhmm. Never wanna forget what you tasted like after you told me you loved me for the first time.”

“The first of many,” I promise, taking her hand in mine and bringing it to my lips, kissing where her pulse pounds on her wrist. Another kiss, this time to the center of her palm, and then one the back of her hand.

“I love you for who you were twelve years ago, and who you will be in twelve more years. Who you were yesterday, and who you’ll be tomorrow. I love everything you are, and everything you’ll be.” I promise, bringing the palm of her hand to my cheek.

When Hunter opens her eyes, a single tear falls. I cup her cheek and thumb it away.

“I never stopped thinking about you,” she chokes out. “I never stopped wishing, hoping you’d come back to me. Then you did, and you told me you felt like you’d lost yourself, and I knew you had to find yourself again. It’s been such an honor to fall in love with you while you did.”

“I came back to you by coming back to me,” I agree, leaning into her palm.

“Kiss me,” she demands, pulling my face down to hers. There’s still so much I want to tell her, because I still don’t think I’ve properly expressed everything I'm feeling. But maybe it’s not possible to put into words, at least not in one night.

Good thing I have longer than tonight to tell her.

“I want you,” she breathes into my mouth. “Now. Please?”

“Here?” I clarify.

She nods frantically, getting to her knees and pulling me down with her. “Here. Remember that night we had sex here?”

I nod as I extend my body over hers. “Mmhmm. I strained my eyes to see that pretty smile when you came in the dark.”

Illuminated only by the moon, I see that shy blush and smile. I kiss her hard, as she lays down, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and holding me close to her.

“Touch me,” she whispers against my mouth.

I nod and get to my knees between her spread legs. I keep my eyes on her as I reach up her dress, running my fingers over the edge of her bike shorts. She pushes herself up to her elbows and keeps her eyes on mine, lifting her hips so I can pull the shorts and underwear beneath them down in one fluid movement.

“You’re somehow prettier every time I see you,” I say, hearing the wonder in my own voice as I slide my thumb between her labia. Hunter gasps, hips jerking to meet my touch.

“Please,” she breathes, eyes illuminated only by the moon. “Please, Giovanna.”

“Please what?” I ask teasingly.

“Please everything. Anything .”

I lean over her, kissing her as I press into her and curl my middle finger. She moans into my mouth and she tastes distinctly like tequila and Hunter . It’s my new favorite flavor.

After a few minutes of slow finger fucking, I shift uncomfortably, trying to alleviate the growing numbness in my arm.

“Hey, Jo?”

“Yeah?”

“Sand’s getting everywhere,” she says. “Like… everywhere .”

I pull back and look between her legs, like I’ll be able to see grains of sand inside her body, only guided by moonlight.

She squeezes her thighs together, like she’s self-conscious, and pushes herself up to her elbows. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“I feel like you’re going to tell me no matter how I answer that question.”

“I kind of hate this. I’m not fifteen anymore and I think sex on the beach makes a much better cocktail.” She smiles sheepishly at me.

Then that sweet smile of hers is wiped clean off her face when I press my fingers between my lips, moaning as I savor the sweet, musky taste of how much she wants me.

“My god,” she breathes. “You’re hot as fuck. I fell in love with the hottest human on the planet? Even more bananas is the fact that the hottest human on the planet fell in love with me ?” She squeals and falls back onto the sand, dramatically throwing her arm over her face. “This is the best day of my life!”

I laugh, loud and bright. “Get that perfect ass of yours up. I want to go back to the room—I haven't finished eating.”

“Auuughhh,” she groans, thrashing in the sand. “I can’t. I’m being incinerated by how hot you are, let me burn in peace.”

I roll my eyes. “You’re such a diva.”

“I thought I was a brat?”

“Well, yeah,” I admit, reaching down and taking her hand in mine. She hoists herself to her feet and I pull her into me, savoring the hitch in her breath when our bodies press together. “You’re a diva and a brat. More importantly, you’re mine.”

She stares at me, mouth open. “Well damn, Giovanna. You already took my panties off, no need to seduce me further.”

I furrow my brow. “Speaking of, where is your thong?”

She pulls around and spins around. “Uh…I don’t see it. Or my shorts.”

“Shit,” I hiss, pulling my phone out of my pocket and turning on the flashlight. “I honestly didn’t even think about where I put them…”

Hunter points to where the waves crash on the shore two feet away from us. “So…it’s high tide.”

I stare at her. “No.”

Hunter starts to cackle, full blown belly laughs. “Oh my god. Oh my god, that’s too funny.”

“I was really horny,” I grumble, my cheeks heating. “I didn’t like…think to think about the ocean.”

“‘Didn’t think to consider the ocean?’ As we were about to have sex on the beach?” She’s laughing harder, bent over and clenching her stomach. I can’t find any negativity in this moment, because despite the literal ocean stealing Hunter’s undergarments, this moment is wonderful .

“Wait.” Her laughter stops suddenly, and so does my heart. “What do you mean ‘ was horny’?” she demands, straightening her back and firmly planting her hands on her hips.

I bark out a laugh and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into my arms. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m still plenty horny.”

She cups my face and pulls me down for another kiss. “Yee-haw.”