“On the inside of your right thigh. It sort of looks like a peanut.”

She opens her mouth to speak but closes it before turning back around. “Lucky guess.”

I laugh and nudge her with a hand on her calf. She begins to move faster. “Luck has nothing to do with it. Fate, maybe. Putting us both in that bar the other night was more than some coincidence. But knowing that you like to watch me eat your pu**y or that you have to be digging your nails into something when you’re coming has absolutely nothing to do with luck.” She glances over her shoulder at me with a staggered look. “I pay attention to every little thing about you.”

She doesn’t linger on my face, nor does she give me a response. But I think I may have impressed her. Maybe. Mia’s difficult to read lately. She’s definitely not sending me clear signals like she did the other night at the bar. She turns her attention back to the rocks above her and makes her way up the side of the cliff. I’m close behind her, keeping an eye on her footing in case she slips and I have to catch her.

We make it to the top and she moves to the edge, apprehensively glancing down. “Holy shit.” Her wide eyes blink rapidly and she turns them on me. “This is really high. It didn’t look that high from down there.”

I stand beside her, brushing my hand against hers. “It is high. I do this all the time and I still get nervous up here.” I run my finger down her arm, feeling her skin tingle against mine. She seems completely unaffected by it and keeps her focus on the water. How can she ignore that? How can she pretend her body doesn’t respond to my touch? “Want me to jump with you? It isn’t so scary if you do it with someone.” I try to grab her hand but she pulls it away from me.

“Jump, you pussies!” Tessa yells, standing on the pier and waving at us. Reed and Luke are watching in amusement and Mia laughs next to me. And it is f**king beautiful. I’d give anything to hear that laugh every day for the rest of my life.

“I love that sound,” I say, completely unashamed of my infatuation.

She looks at me with confusion. “What sound?”

“Your laugh. Your voice. Hell, all your sounds.” Her lips part slightly, and a shaky hand comes up and tucks some hair behind her ear. “I can’t get them out of my head.”

She purses her lips, dropping her gaze to the water. “Stop it, Ben.” Her voice is an intense plea, like she can’t possibly handle another word coming out of my mouth. Which is too f**king bad because I have a lot to say right now.

“Stop what?” I bridge the gap between us and grab her hips with such blunt force my fingertips ache. I know she likes it like that so I don’t let her stunned look slow me down. She gasps softly as I turn her toward me. Her body is tense, fearful even, but she doesn’t try and get out of my grasp. I hold her gaze, daring her to look away from me as I continue. “Stop telling you that I want you? Stop telling you that I’ve been going mad since you walked out of my bedroom?” I reach up and brush my thumb across her bottom lip, wanting more than anything for her to pull me into her mouth like she did the other night. I need some part of me inside her. She allows me to touch her without giving me an inch. I move closer, pulling our bodies together so that they’re perfectly aligned. “Stop telling you that you’re so incredibly beautiful, I’m having trouble remembering my own name when you’re around me?”

She shoves against my chest, hard, causing me to stumble back a bit. “Stop it! You can’t say things like that, Ben. Do you know what that does to me?”

“I know what being around you does to me.” I grab her hand and place it against my chest, my other hand reclaiming its spot on her hip. Her eyes dart from my face to where her hand is and I see her eyes react to the effect she has on me. “Do you feel that? That’s what you do to me. Every f**king time I’m near you.” I can hear her heavy breathing while her eyes stay glued to her hand. I don’t say anything else. I just let her feel it. You own this part of me. Take it. The magnitude behind that admission doesn’t faze me. I don’t care how crazy it seems to be this obsessed with someone after one night together. I’ve never felt like this.

She seems hesitant but she stays right there with me, her breathing filling my ears and her fingers moving against my skin. Tentatively. Just the lightest brush of her fingertips but I swear to Christ she leaves burn marks on my chest. Scorching me. Branding me with her imprint. And then I see it, the very moment a memory of our past washes over her. Breaking our connection. She blinks several times, her face falling before yanking her hand away from me as if I’m the one burning her. She looks quickly from my worried face to the water and without a second glance at me, she jumps.

“Mia!” I move to the edge and see her disappear and I don’t waste any time before I jump in after her. My body hits the water hard, my back stinging at the awkward angle I land in. But I wasn’t concerned about form when I jumped. As I come up to the surface, I see Mia wincing in pain as she treads water. I swim over to her and hear her gentle whines.

“Where are you hurt? Let me see.” I wrap my arm around her waist to help keep her head above water. We are chest to chest and I expect her to push me away but she doesn’t. She keeps her eyes down, looking at the way our bodies come together. Her hands are gripping my arms and she slides them higher, grazing my shoulders until settling around my neck. She closes her eyes as I hold her to me, the pain stricken expression vanishing and replaced with a look of contentment. She moans as I tighten my grip on her waist, bringing us closer. Fuck me. Yes, angel. Let your body feel it. A minute ago she jumped off a cliff to get the hell away from me and now she’s making those f**king noises that drive me insane. She whimpers, raking her teeth along her bottom lip. I press my lips to her ear and feel her shudder in my arms. “You’re killing me, baby. Do you have any idea how badly I want to take you right here?”