“It’s the universe trying to get you two pussies together,” Spider muttered.

Oh.

“I can help with the planning,” Mila offered, as we all ignored Spider’s remark. “I have a list of celebrities we can invite. Big spenders.”

I grinned. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.”

“We’d love to help you with the gala, but there’s one condition,” Sebastian said.

“What?” I asked. My heart thudded and I don’t even know why, except that I was reeling from knowing that he was already part of something that was important to me.

“I said I’d find you a gig, and I have. You play with us at the gala.”

“But why would you want me to?”

“Because it’s you, V, and I want you to be happy. I’d do anything for you. Don’t you see that?” His voice was heavy with emotion.

Mila and Spider got up and murmured excuses about getting more marshmallows, and headed back to the cabin. I didn’t think they’d be back.

I stared at Sebastian as he sat next to me. “Why am I so special to you?”

His finger started at my head and traced a line down between my eyes, over the slope of my nose, past my lips, my neck, and down to my pounding heart. “You’ve two sides to you, V. One wants to be the way you used to be, but the other side of you has found a new home. You’re starting to shine—hell, sparkle. I see it. I want to see you shine on stage in front of an audience too.”

How was it that he knew exactly what I needed to hear?

I leaned into him, and he leaned into me, both of us breathing in the other.

We sat like that, his fingers tracing little designs on my arm, his lips a hair’s breadth from mine. My fingers itched to trace his lips, to pull him down to me, but it was a line I couldn’t cross. Not if we were just friends.

After a while, he tugged a blanket around my shoulders. “I need to put you to bed,” he whispered in my ear.

“I don’t want to go to bed and neither do you. Plus, Spider and Mila are probably having sex in the cabin as we speak. We should sleep here. Together.”

He stilled his hands, which had been rubbing my back. “What are you saying?”

I inhaled sharply. “That I want you, and I’ll take you any way I can, even if it means just one night.”

“You’re on dangerous ground, V.” His voice had deepened.

“I’m sick to death of tip-toeing around how bad I want you. I think you are too.”

His fingers stroked my lips, rubbing across my upper lip and then my lower. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

I captured his fingers. “Then kiss me and pretend it’s a plain kiss, one that doesn’t mean a thing.”

His chest rose, distance building in his eyes. “I want you, but you’d regret us in the morning when things are back to normal.”

Enough. I was tired of his push and pull. Tired of the longing looks he’d give me but then deny them. “Forget it. I’m not going to beg you to make love to me, Sebastian. If you want me, come and get me.” I jerked up and strode off toward the large wooden swing near the two oak trees. Sturdy and made for two, it was the perfect place to vent. I sat down and leaned back to push off.

“Dammit, come back,” he demanded from behind me. I shivered at the tinge of authority in his tone, every molecule in me wanting to turn around and run to him. I resisted and settled for pushing off again.

He walked over to me with intent, his broad shoulders blocking out the moon.

Sending me a searing look, he halted in front of me and pulled on the chain to stop my momentum.

I gasped. “What are you doing?”

He scowled. “Get off that swing, V, or I’ll fuck you while you’re on it.”

And as if on cue, my core got wet for him. “Don’t make a promise you won’t keep,” I said softly.

“Even wrapped in sorrow, she lived in color.”

—Sebastian Tate

MY COMPOSURE CRACKED. Which wasn’t surprising, considering the way she’d been prancing around in those tight jeans all day, talking about sex on a horse. My willpower had dissolved into dust. I was so screwed.

“Get off and face me,” I told her. “Or are you all talk and no play?”

I put my hand out and helped her stand, her eyes wide as I tugged her against my chest and kissed her. I cradled her head with my hands and took what I’d wanted all day. She tasted like marshmallows and I groaned, needing more of her, more of us. Like a man dying of thirst in the desert, her lips and tongue were a fucking waterfall.

I kissed down her neck and nibbled and then sucked on the hollow of her throat. My hands moved to her shoulders, cupping them, and then moved down to play with the buttons on her shirt.

Her breath came in little gasps. “Sebastian?” she whispered as I tugged her shirt out of her jeans, pulled it off her head and tossed it on the ground.

I tweaked her nipples through her bra, making her hiss. “I’m going to do what I’ve wanted to since the first time I saw you. I’m going to make you mine—just like you want, V.”

She shivered and I put my hand to her chest. “Your heart is flying. Do you want me to stop? Because I’m about three seconds away from a point of no return with you. My cock is hard enough to chop wood, and we don’t need anymore for the fire.”

She sighed. “Please don’t stop.”