11. Karol

"The baseball game was fun."

"It was." Dan smiled as he opened the door. "Thanks for going and meeting Abel."

"He's your best friend." I shrugged, and my smile faltered at how distracted he seemed.

He'd been that way for the last three days. Maybe he was bored of me already and didn't know how to shake me off?

"You sure you don"t want me to go home?" I asked, and he frowned.

"Home? Why?" He frowned, snapping out of whatever he had been thinking.

"I just… I don't know. Never mind." I shook my head and watched him cross the living room and making his way toward the kitchen.

"Water?"

"Yes, please." I chewed on my bottom lip. "So, you two have been friends for a long time?

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Since we got into the Navy, and then we were SEALs together." When he'd told me what he used to do and that he was a SEAL, I could picture it. I'd almost swallowed my tongue when he'd shown me a picture of him in his uniform when they had returned from a mission. Dan was sexy and strong all the time, but that picture of him in a uniform was on a whole other level.

"You two make sense."

"Yeah? How so?"

"It's like my sister and me. We're opposites, but we mesh well. Do you think they've met before?" I asked, and he frowned.

"Who?"

"My sister and Abel." I had a feeling if they did, they would hit it off. Too bad that even though she was getting better, Abby was scared of her own shadow. Even before her accident. But I had a feeling Abel had a gentle side. A patient one that might do well trying to get her to talk and coax her out of her shell.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "It's possible. You guys keep telling me it's a small town."

"Yeah, true." He walked over and handed me a bottle of water before taking my hand in his. We walked out to the balcony together and sat down with me on his lap.

"You okay?" he asked. I opened and shut my mouth.

It would have been so easy to say yes. To shove down the worry that had started to pile up over the last couple of days. Part of me thought I was being silly. We had been inseparable, and it wasn't like he wasn't attentive. But I could tell there was something on his mind.

Something he wasn't telling me.

I had no idea how I knew that. We didn't know each other perfectly, but I felt like I did.

"I'm going to miss you," I whispered.

"What?" His brows bunched, and he searched my gaze. "I'm right here."

"I know, but… but it's almost been two weeks."

"I'm right here, baby. Kitten, I'm not going anywhere." For now. The unspoken words clung between us.

"You're right." I shook away the doubt and leaned into him. It wasn't lost on me how it felt when we cuddled. Like two pieces of a puzzle coming together.

"You know, the first night I got into town, I came out here," he shared, and I smiled. I liked when he talked about that night. I still couldn't believe he'd seen me. That we had been so close yet not. Dan stood up and led me toward the rail.

"I was standing here with a beer." He painted the picture for me.

"Mmm," I sighed happily. I could picture it, too.

Dan's arms wrapped around my waist, his front shielding my back from the summer breeze.

"I looked up at the sky. I was trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do with my life. I needed a sign, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt like I kept hitting a wall, a blank one." His lips pressed against my temple. "I couldn't believe how clear the sky was. Much like tonight." I didn't have to look over my shoulder to know he was looking at the star-littered sky above. His lips dropped to my temple, and he pressed a kiss there.

"Then…" His voice drifted off, and I waited, but he didn't say anything more. My arms clung to his at my waist, nestling close, pressing the back of my head against his chest.

"Then what?" I asked. His arms tightened their hold on me.

"I saw a shooting star," he whispered, and my body froze.

He saw it.

He'd seen it, too!

"I'm forty. I've seen a lot of the world. Beautiful things, terrible shit. Been in areas that…" He sighed. "Let's just say, I've seen a lot, so much I shouldn't have thought about making a wish. But when I saw it, I didn't overthink it. I just made a wish."

"You did?" I whispered, feeling like I was on the edge of my seat. He saw the star! We both made wishes on the same shooting star!

"Hmm." His lips brushed my temple again. "I was feeling lost and made a wish like some sap, and guess what?"

"What?" I wanted to turn around to look at him to tell him I'd made a wish on that same star.

"For a moment, I thought okay, something's gonna happen…. then nothing did."

"Oh." My body tensed.

"Then I looked out, and BANG! There you were."

"What?" I couldn't help it. I turned around, my hands on his chest as I stared up at the handsome man who had turned my life upside down in the sweetest of ways.

"You were right there," he repeated. "I couldn't see your face, just the back of you, and you weren't looking at the water. And I was wondering, what could she be doing? She's not lookin' out there. Doesn't she know she's missing it? To me, the ocean, the water's always been beautiful. A great place to be. But you were sitting there, painting rocks. I didn't see your face, just your back, your hair dancing in the wind, and fuck." He lifted my hand up to rest over his heart. "And I felt something right here. Forty years of living on this earth, moving, doing shit being in the middle of crappy situations…. I'd never felt what I felt right then."

"Dan—"

"I went inside. Thought I was a crazy fuck. All I wanted to do was rush out and find you. I got as far as the kitchen, ignoring that damn pull I felt."

"Honey—"

"And I went out, but you were gone. It was like you had vanished into thin air, and all I found was this." He pulled something out of his front pocket. My eyes widened at the smooth skipping rock I'd painted. A stifled giggling sound escaped from me.

"Dan…" My eyes searched his.

He'd picked up the bright pink Believe rock I'd left behind. Not only that, but he'd been carrying it with him this whole time.

"Your art means something. What you do, on your own time and at the rec center, means something."

"Baby, you're sweet but?—"

"If you didn't mean so much to this community, I would have asked you to come with me. Travel the globe and surf and swim all over the fucking world with me."

"You're leaving in a couple of days," I reminded him, but all he did was shrug. He didn't deny or confirm it. And those feelings of missing him grew despite the fact he was standing right in front of me.

How could I know I'd miss him so much? The loss of seeing him, being around him, would feel devastating. But we'd just met! How could I be so silly?

Because you love him,my heart and mind both gently said, and I blinked.

I love him. I'd gone and done the worst, stupidest possible thing! Fallen in love with a man who wasn't planning on staying. Even right then, as he was telling me the sweetest story about when he first laid eyes on me, how we'd both made wishes on the same shooting star, he was still planning on leaving.

And I was going to let him.

"Thank you for being more than the promise of what I thought I saw that night."

"I don't know if I should call you Mr. Hot Stuff or Smooth Operator now," I teased, blinking away tears. My emotions were getting the better of me. Three little words hung off the tip of my tongue, ready to spill, but I couldn't let that happen. I love you.

"You're everything I didn't know existed, kitten." His nose brushed against mine. I had to get him to stop talking, and fast, because I could only hold things in for so long. I rose on the tips of my toes and pressed my lips to his.

Like anytime we were alone, and sometimes not alone, when our mouths came together, the world around us disappeared. He picked me up, and my legs wrapped around his waist. Dan started to walk us back inside when I pulled back. His gaze searched mine, and I asked for what I wanted.

"Out here," I whispered. I wanted him to make love to me on the balcony under a sky full of stars while the waves broke on the shore. I had never thought of myself as an exhibitionist, but Dan brought out a side of me I hadn't met yet.

"Here?" His eyes heated, and he nodded. He carried me to the light switch and bumped it off "I'll take you under the stars, but there is no way I'll ever risk anyone seeing what's mine." For now, I thought but quickly shook away the thought. I love him.

"Love me, Dan. Please."

"How could I say no to that?" he grunted, then his tongue dove into my mouth.

His quick and talented hands worked on taking off my dress and his own shirt and pants. Before I knew it, we were both left in our underwear. He sat us down on an upholstered lounge chaise and pulled me on top of him. Dan grabbed a throw blanket that was resting on the back of the chair he had picked up from a board shop a couple days before. He tossed it over to cover our waists.

"You're gorgeous, Kare Bear. Jesus, just looking at you feels like a miracle," he rasped.

I was ready to respond when his big, warm, calloused hands moved up between us and cupped my lace-covered breasts. My breath shuddered. I loved when he touched me this way. His caress felt like it was somehow connected directly to my clit. Warmth pooled between my legs. His firm grip squeezed the weight of my tits just before his thumbs brushed over my tightened nipples. My back arched toward him, and my body reacted naturally. I couldn"t stop myself. I started grinding down, back and forth against him.

"We're wearing too much," I whined in a breathy tone. One hand dropped and squeezed an ass cheek before giving it a firm smack.

"Shhh, we're going to do this outside, and I'm going to enjoy you under the stars because, baby, this is a sight I'd be happy to die to. But we're going to do it quietly," he strained.

"Dan," I moaned. I loved when he got all bossy and talked dirty.

"There is no way I'm gonna let anyone hear these pretty sounds, do you understand?" His lips hovered over mine. Our breath warm and wet. "These pretty, little whimpers you make are all mine. You're all mine." I bit my lower lip and nodded. I was his. I love you. The words hung on the tip of my tongue. "If you get loud,"—his hands dropped down my torso, to the hem of my panties. He pulled them up just right. The gusset rubbed against my clit— "I'm gonna have to rip these off and"—his left hand rose, and with the pad of his thumb, he pulled my lower lips down, his stare smoldering— "and I'm gonna have to stuff this pretty little mouth with them. Understood?"

"Yes," I gasped before pulling his thumb into my mouth. I sucked on it without taking my eyes off his. I loved the way he watched me. The way his long, thick dick seemed to grow below me while I sucked and licked his thumb. The idea of him stuffing the panties into my mouth was hot, and I was tempted to get loud just to see if he would follow through.

"I could come just from you doing that, baby." He shook his head, popping his thumb out of my mouth.

"That's hot," I whispered before gently biting the tip of his thumb. "I'd watch that." I would get off on it, too.

"Hmm." His eyes darkened. "Maybe we can do a little show and tell later," he murmured, and my sex clenched. I felt so empty and needy. I sighed with relief when his lips fell to my neck. I loved how well he knew my body. Before I knew it, he'd pulled my panties to the side, and right there on the balcony, where anyone could see us, I rode him.

Slow and sweet.

Teasing and torturing both of us.

As I rolled my hips, my eyes locked with his. Dan was right. No matter how we connect, it was never just fucking. Whatever I'd done in my past paled in comparison to how it felt being with him. Loving him and feeling that love returned.

"Karol." I loved when he said my name. "Kitten, you're playing with fire," he warned. I didn't mind. I knew that with him, even when we burned bright, I was safe. Dan was sweating. His smoldering gaze left streaks of heat on my skin. He was close to losing control.

Good. I want that.

I wanted him to be as unhinged as I felt. I rolled my hips, and his lips parted. His teeth mashed together as his jaw clenched tight.

"Love me," I moaned, pressing my body down further, taking him completely as my breasts pressed against his chest. "Love me, Dan."

"Fuck," he cursed and flipped us over. His body draped over me, and before I could whisper his name, he was back inside of me. In one long, beautiful, thick, almost painful thrust. I gasped. I didn't know where I ended and he began.

The world could have burned down around us, and I wouldn't have noticed. All there was, all that existed, was Dan. Dan and me.

"Dan, oh god, honey!" I gasped. His lips brushed against mine.

"Love when you say my name, but when you say it"—his teeth mashed together— "you say it, and I'm inside of you. I fucking love it."

"Dan!" My eyes widened.

He didn't stop.

Not even close.

Dan's body covered mine when he got lost in us. He forgot all about being outside under the stars and the neighbors who might hear us. His deep groans and pants picked up volume and speed. He worked his body in and out of me and left me speechless. My breasts bounced with every thrust. There was no way we should have known how we could make one another mad with passion already, what drove us close to the brink of euphoria, but he did.

Whine-like whimpers were the only noises I could manage. He fucked me so hard my toes curled, and all I could do was cling to him. My nails dug into his back and shoulders. I met him thrust for thrust as he built us up higher and higher until I knew, he knew, we couldn't go any higher.

"You're close. Bite," he directed, gently shoving the side of his hand into my mouth, and I bit down when the world turned into nothing but glittery stars and bliss.

"Fuck." His head dipped into the crook of my neck, and I felt him. Again, without anything between us, he spilled into my body, and I squeezed around him as tightly as I could manage.

Anything to keep him just a little bit longer inside of me.