Flight Season: A Novel by Marie Marquardt

Author:Marie Marquardt [Marie Marquardt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1250107016
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2018-02-20T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TJ

I CAN’T STOP staring at her.

We’re in the backseat of Sabrina’s car, riding south toward St. Augustine Beach. It’s almost six A.M., and everyone is asleep except for me and Sabrina, who’s driving. Vivi has fallen asleep on my shoulder and I am wide-awake—buzzing with intense energy.

She’s pressed against me, soft. No one else is watching, and the light from the streetlamps keeps floating across her skin, which is glowing and warm and still a little damp. She smells like salt and vanilla and—

I can’t breathe. I also can’t stop exploring Vivi with my eyes—the tip of her nose, the long, dark hair falling across her bare arms, the outline of that still-damp tank top against her shoulder, her shorts against her thighs. The curves of that red bikini through the white tank top that’s clinging tight to her skin.

She shifts and burrows deeper into my chest.

Jesus god. I have to stop.

“Hey, Sabrina,” I whisper.

She glances back.

“Throw me that towel.”

Sabrina pulls a balled-up towel from the center console and hands it back. Trying not to wake Vivi, I reach my arm around her, spread the towel across her shoulders and chest and thighs, and then I sink down in the seat so that her neck isn’t at a strange angle. She looks up at me with sleepy eyes and then they fall closed again.

Her head is resting softly on my chest and her wet hair is spread in waves across her face. She scratches her nose and sniffs, so I gently move her hair back from her face. And then I sit perfectly still, and when I know she’s settled comfortably, I close my eyes and lean my head back and try not to move and try to stop imagining in excruciating detail every inch of what I just covered with that towel.

Ten long minutes later we are heading through Anastasia Island, nearing the beach.

“Her house is on A Street, right?” Sabrina asks, slowing as she rounds the bend.

“I think so,” I tell her. I give Vivi’s shoulder a gentle shake, wishing I didn’t have to wake her. “Hey, Viv,” I whisper. “We’re in St. Augustine Beach. Where’s your place?”

Her eyes blink open and she reaches out her arms to stretch, brushing her forearm across my lap. I sit up fast, and she jerks back into her seat.

“Oh God,” she mumbles. “Oh my God, I’m sorry. Did I fall asleep on you?”

I shrug.

“Wow. That’s embarrassing.”

“It’s cool,” I say, wishing that were true, wishing she hadn’t set off a thousand flaming torches under my skin.

Because this is still a complication I do not need.

Vivi leans forward. “It’s the next left.”

Sabrina turns toward the ocean.

“This one,” Vivi says, pointing to a house on the right.

“The A-frame?” Sabrina asks.

Vivi nods.

“No way, Vivi! That’s awesome. You live in the A-frame on A Street!” Sabrina calls out, nudging Doug hard. “This place is, like, legendary!” She nudges Doug again. “Look where we are!”

Sabrina has pulled up in front of the house, the car facing directly toward the dunes that separate A Street from the ocean.

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