Hearing him groan, I look at him and watch his hungry eyes drag across my skin as he adjusts his hard-on in his shorts. My pussy clenches, and I debate going back and attacking him. “Go,” he growls, making my stomach clench.

Nodding, I hurry to his room and right to the bathroom, where I strip out of my clothes, turn the shower to cold, and hop in. The freezing water does almost nothing to cool my overheated libido, but I do feel like I can breathe a little easier. After washing up quickly, I get out and dry off then put on the jeans I had on yesterday, one of my simple black tanks, and my sweater back over it.

I try to get ready quickly, since I don’t want Sage to think I’m being rude, but it still must have been longer than I thought, because when I walk into the kitchen while tying up my hair, the smell of bacon is in the air. There are pancakes on the griddle on the counter, along with two beautiful girls sitting on the stools in front of Sage, who is cooking shirtless. I know Willow and Harmony well. We’ve hung out a lot. We have the same friends—or I should say I’m friends with their cousins—but I’ve never been around them since Sage and I… well, whatever we are right now. Feeling uneasy all of a sudden, I pause just outside the kitchen, not sure what to do with myself. Do I pretend like nothing is going on, or do I—

“Kim!” The shout of my name and two women running toward me cuts off my wayward thoughts, and before I can prepare myself, I’m engulfed in a tight hug that cleans all of my worries away.

“Hey, guys,” I get out, and then they both attack me with question after question in rapid succession.

“Are you okay? How are you feeling? Do you need anything? We wanted to come see you, but Sage wouldn’t let us.” That last statement makes me shake my head.

“What?” I ask, and both Willow and Harmony pull back to look at me before looking at their glaring brother.

“He told us we weren’t allowed to bother you.”

“I did not say bother her. I said you guys needed to give her some space. Jesus, there’s too many people in our family. If everyone started showing up, she would have been overwhelmed, and you know her family was here.”

“You just wanted her to yourself.” Willow rolls her eyes.

Sage shrugs. “Sue me.”

“Whatever,” Harmony grumbles, taking my arm and pulling me toward one of the barstools. “The point is we don’t want you to think we don’t care, because we do.”

“I know that,” I assure her, and I do know they care. After Kelly’s death, I must have gotten a million texts and a dozen bouquets of flowers delivered to Sage’s house from his family, my friends. It was all really sweet, and I tried to reply to everyone, but sometimes I just couldn’t.

“How’s Sage treating you? Is he being nice? Mom said to make sure he’s being nice, ’cause if he’s not, she promised to cut off his balls,” Willow states, and I flinch.

“Christ,” Sage mutters, looking at me. “I knew I shouldn’t have opened the fucking door.”

“He’s being very nice,” I promise, watching Sage’s eyes darken. Seeing that, my nipples get hard and my clit throbs. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep myself from jumping him the first chance I get. There is too much heat between us, and I’m pretty sure that if we don’t find a way to burn some of it off, we’re likely to explode.

“Sheesh! Do you two need me and Willow to leave?” Harmony asks, and I say “no” as Sage says “yes,” which makes me smile.

“I’m listening to Kim on this one. Sorry, brother,” Harmony says, picking up a cup of coffee from the counter to take a sip.

“So, you two are really together then?” Willow inquires, and I look at Sage and wait to see how he will answer that question.

“We’re really together,” he confirms.

I let out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding then get up and head around the island to get a mug and make myself some tea, but Sage stops me with a hand to my waist before I make it to the cupboard.

“I made you tea,” he informs, reaching over and handing me a cup of tea.

I take a sip, realizing it’s just how I like it—dark English Breakfast tea with a little bit of honey. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He presses his lips to my temple then turns me in his arms, walking me two steps forward. Pressing his side into my back, he wraps his hand around my waist while he uses his free hand to remove the pancakes off the griddle.

“Do you two want to go out on the lake with me and Kim?” he asks Willow and Harmony.

I tip my head back to look at him, wondering what he’s talking about. He never told me anything about going on the lake. “The lake?” I question.

His head dips down as his eyes drop to meet mine. “I figure we have a while before dinner tonight. I already pulled the kayaks out of the garage this morning. The lake’s calm and the sky’s clear, so it’s a good day to go out.” He shrugs, adding more batter to the griddle while Harmony moves to the oven, opening it up and pulling out a pan full of bacon.

“I’ve never kayaked before,” I tell him, and he looks at me once more with a smile that’s almost wicked curving his lips.

“Really?” he asks, and I shrug.

“I’m not really an outdoor-activity kind of girl. I’m more of a sit on the edge of the lake or in the sand at the beach and read a book kind of a girl,” I admit.

“You’ll love it.” He kisses the top of my head while his fingers run along my hip under my tank.

“I don’t think you understand. I’m not the most athletic person in the world,” I add, and he laughs.

“It’s all good. You don’t need to be athletic.”

“I’m guessing you’ve made up your mind and no matter what I say I will be going out on the lake,” I deduce, and the girls, who are watching me and Sage like they would a Ping-Pong match, both laugh.

“You’d be right. You’ll like it.”

“If you say so,” I mutter, taking a sip of tea, knowing he has no idea what he’s getting himself into.

*

“THIS WAS A bad idea,” I grumble, and Harmony and Willow laugh as I take Sage’s hand and put one foot in the kayak then the other, hissing “Oh, God” when the boat wobbles side-to-side.

“I’ve got you. You’ll be fine,” Sage assures.

I roll my eyes. I don’t think he understands how uncoordinated I am. We are both likely to end up in the water if I’m on this damn thing. “What are you doing? I thought you were coming with me.” I panic as Sage starts to push me and the boat out into the water.

“I need to get us out a bit before I climb in so we don’t bottom out,” he replies calmly before climbing into the seat behind me. The boat tips again, and I grab both sides, holding on for dear life as I screech at the top of my lungs. Hearing him chuckle behind me, I turn around to look at him and narrow my eyes.

“It’s not funny.”

“Baby,” he says gently, smiling at me. “Take a breath and look around. Tell me this isn’t beautiful.”

With a huff, I turn around to face the front of the kayak then pull in a sharp breath. He’s wrong. It’s not beautiful; it’s breathtaking. The trees surrounding the lake are in varying shades of greens, golds, and browns, and the lake itself looks like smooth dark glass that the sky and trees are reflecting off of.

“It’s amazing,” I whisper as we move smoothly over the water. Turning to look at Sage once more, I see he has the paddle in his hand and is using it on first one side and then the other in an almost circular motion. “Thank you,” I mouth to him, and his face softens. Hearing Willow and Harmony laughing, I glance across the lake and watch them as they speed over the smooth surface, paddling in sync.

Seeing them, I pick up my own paddle. “How do I do this?” I ask, and the boat glides to a stop.

“First one side and then the other. You start us off and I’ll fall into rhythm with you,” he says, and I nod then take the long paddle and begin to put one side into the water. It takes me a few minutes for me to stop going in circles and to get the hang of it, but when I finally catch on, Sage starts paddling with me and we fly over the top of the lake, chasing after Willow and Harmony.