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  He huffed a laugh. “I’m about to round a decade with that record.”

  She smiled at him, hoping she could get her words out correctly. “I don’t want this to sound like a bad joke, but I’m on the pill and I promise you I don’t miss a day.”

  He chuckled, shaking his head. “I can’t imagine that you would, darlin’.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “Despite what it might seem like this week, I don’t sleep around, even with condoms. I’m on the pill for other reasons.” He nodded, staring at her. “Are you game?” she asked.

  He took the condom from her and tossed it away, his mouth on hers, his hand cradling the back of her neck. She pulled herself up on her knees and then lowered herself down onto him, closing her eyes as his skin slid over hers, the sensation of direct contact impossibly eclipsing all the other times he’d been inside of her. He filled every inch of her as she moved up and down on him, her hands rounding his broad shoulders.

  She relaxed backwards, and he took the lead, cradling her back as he laid her on the bed and then drove into her. She wrapped her legs around him, needing every part of her to be engaged with as much of his skin as possible. She fell into his rhythm, her body becoming one with his as was so natural now. How she’d never known closeness like this was unfathomable to her.

  The pressure snuck up on her, building quicker than she anticipated as she squeezed his back. She let herself go as he continued to pump hard into her, and a moment later he was collapsing onto her holding his weight from crushing her. But she almost wished he’d just let himself cover her from head to toe. He pulsed inside of her, and she closed her eyes, savoring him there. She wanted him to never separate himself from her.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jake’s whine woke Maya up with a smile. She wanted to be awake as much of this day as possible since it was her last day with Bo. It wasn’t like she would never see him again. She’d come back to see Sebastian at some point, and she’d see him then, if he wasn’t with someone else, or worse, married. She winced, thinking about it. She had to stop. They had one last fabulous day together, and she would not screw it up thinking about tomorrow.

  “Mmm,” Bo moaned, pulling Maya in closer to him. “Go away, Jake.” Of course, that made Jake’s whine turn into a howl. Bo kissed the top of her head. “I’m gonna let him out and get his food. Don’t move a muscle.”

  She went to the restroom while he was gone, but slid right back into bed just before he appeared in the doorway. “Didn’t move, I promise.”

  He grinned. “I’ll be right there.” He closed himself in the bathroom, and she inhaled a deep breath, running the Angela story through her brain, trying to fathom it all. Nine years. He had to have loved her in a way that transcended romance to keep helping her like he did.

  He slid into bed with her, thankfully still nude. She would never be able to get enough of his bare-skinned body. She grinned as she got a whiff of minty fresh breath. She’d done the same. She kissed him and ran her hand over his hair. “I hope I didn’t push you last night.”

  He let out a huff of air while gazing into her eyes. “I feel better, somehow, having told you. I didn’t mean to get into so much detail, but I wanted you to understand why I’d been with someone nine years and never married her.”

  “She was really lucky to have you through that time in her life.”

  “She could have had better, someone who was focused enough on her to see all the signs. We could have cut the whole thing off at the pass if I’d just paid enough attention.”

  She took his hand and threaded her fingers through his, pulling it to her chest. “This might sound weird, but there are parts of your relationship with Angela that remind me a little of mine with my sister, Meade.”

  He furrowed his brow, listening.

  “Watching someone you love do something to ruin their life…having little to no control over it but wanting so desperately to fix it for them.”

  He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “I can see that. But my relationship with Angela’s over. You and your sister have your whole life together.”

  She huffed a laugh, not having thought about that. “God, I’ll be worrying about her till I’m ninety.”

  “You mentioned you’ve been trying to get her back to Indianapolis?”

  “Yes, that’d be my ideal. I really think if I could just get her to move in with me for a little while that we could figure everything out. I’d love to get her in with a good therapist, sort of like Matt Damon’s character in Good Will Hunting, except without the rough childhood.” She smiled at him.

  “You should call her today,” he said.

  She nodded. “I will. She called day before yesterday, but when I called back she acted like nothing was wrong. It’s so hard to know with her.”

  He nodded, his brow furrowed.

  “What do you want to do today?” she asked.

  “I could see if Chase will let us take his boat out, or we could lay our asses on the beach, or we could go to the pool I saw you at on Sunday.”

  “God, that seems like six months ago.”

  “I know it.” He kissed her. “Seems like that long since I’ve had my mouth on you, too.”

  His phone buzzed and he rolled his eyes. “Hang on.” He picked it up. “It’s my mom.”

  She scooted away from him, instinctively covering herself with the blanket. “Go ahead and take it.”

  He answered the call. “Hey. All right.” He ended the call.

  She frowned. “That’s it?”

  “She’s in the driveway.”

  She shuffled to an upright position. “As in right outside?”

  “Yeah, she doesn’t like to intrude, so that’s her way of knocking. She brought muffins for me to take to the shop. You want to meet her?”

  She glanced around, getting her bearings. “Not like this.”

  “With clothes on, of course.”

  She put her fingertips to her forehead, trying to think. On one hand, this guy who she had grown crazily close to the past twenty-four hours wanted her to meet his mom. On the other hand, she was in his freaking bed, and his mom likely didn’t even know she existed. She met his gaze. “What’s she going to think of me?”

  He gave her a reassuring smile. “She’s gonna love you. Come on. Get dressed.”

  She got up, grabbed her overnight bag, and then slipped into the bathroom where she quickly got cleaned up and dressed. She could hear voices in the living room but not exactly what they were saying. That was probably for the best.

  She checked herself one last time, took a deep breath, and then headed out, her heartbeat racing.

  A hearty woman looking about sixty stood in the living room with a warm smile across her face when she saw Maya. “Hello, sweetie. I’m Bo’s mom.” She held her arms open and wrapped Maya in them like she was her own daughter.

  Maya couldn’t form words. She just let herself be hugged by the mother of the man who she’d had inside her hours ago. Mortified.

  Bo’s mom pulled away, holding Maya’s hands. “I’m Donna. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Maya nodded, swallowing. “Nice to meet you as well.”

  She motioned to the kitchen table. “I brought chocolate chip muffins if you’re hungry.”

  “Mama, she doesn’t—”

  “I’d love one. Thank you,” Maya said, going for the kitchen table and taking a muffin.

  “I’ll take another one, too. I’ve only had two so far this morning,” she said with a chuckle.

  They both bit into the muffins, Bo’s mom closing her eyes. “Mmm, that’s good.”

  “Mmm hmm,” Maya said, chewing, not believing she was standing here in front of the woman who created Bo. She looked a little like him, now that Maya was over the initial shock and could actually look at her. Her hair was graying, but she was still hanging onto some of the same dark hair Bo had, and of course, there were those dark eyes of his. She had to look away.

  “You’re Sebastian�
��s friend?” Donna asked.

  “Yes, from Indianapolis where he grew up.”

  “Don’t you just love that boy? Bo brought him by the house for Sunday supper once and I could have just eaten him up.”

  Maya smiled, and then took another bite of the muffin when she noticed Donna looking at it in her hand.

  Bo cleared his throat, running his hand over the back of his head.

  “All right,” Donna said. “I’m heading out. I’m sorry to interrupt, but Bo wanted me to meet you.” She held her hand up to her mouth like she was blocking him from seeing her. “I told him I was fine to just drop the muffins and go, but he told me to stay and meet you.” She held up both hands in surrender, still holding the half-eaten muffin. “For the record.” She winked and then headed toward the door. “See you Sunday, honey,” she said to her son and was off.

  Maya looked at him, eyes wide, and he flashed her a smile with a shrug. “That’s my mom.”

  They headed out toward Sebastian’s house so Maya could get her bathing suit. She was still reeling from having met Bo’s mom. Ideally, that would have been done over a dinner at a comfortable restaurant on an even playing field and not fresh from his bed, head hazy from a night full of passionate love-making. Still, she felt honored that he wanted to introduce her. He could have just run out and grabbed the muffins, and his mom would have never known Maya existed. The idea that he cared enough to want them to meet meant the world to Maya.

  She glanced over at him, her heart so ridiculously warmed. What was she doing? Setting herself up for misery, that’s what she was doing.

  She cleared her throat shaking the cobwebs out of her brain. “Are you sure Chase is okay with us using his boat?” she asked.

  He drove all sexy-like, laid back with his elbow on the doorframe. “Yeah, we’ll just swing by his office for the keys after we get your swimsuit.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna run by the shop just a minute.”

  She smiled, excited that she would get to see it. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

  “I’ve got to cut vendor checks. It’s all in the system. Doesn’t take but a minute.”

  “Sure,” she said. “I look forward to seeing where you work.”

  He pulled into the parking lot of a building with a sign that read HARRISON POOL SUPPLY. When he’d said he had a storefront, for some reason she’d pictured something small in a strip mail. But this was a decent-sized standalone building with its own parking lot. “Wow,” she said.

  He looked at her curiously. “Was this not what you were expecting?”

  “It’s just really nice…and big.”

  He smiled, looking proud. “Thanks.” They got out, and he opened the door with a key. The hours on the window indicated they opened at ten, but there were two people inside, one counting down a register and the other stocking a shelf. “Morning,” he said, setting down the muffins on the counter.

  The girl counting the register did a double take and stopped mid-count. “Hi.”

  “This is Tracey and that’s Andy. This is Maya.”

  Both of them, each sporting a blue polo shirt with the name of the store appliqued on it, waved and said hello. Maya smiled. “Hi.”

  This was Bo’s business, and it was totally legit. Scanning the room, she couldn’t imagine the amount of money he had tied up in the inventory. And this was just the retail portion of his business. When he spoke about it, he called it a pool cleaning businesses, but this storefront wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

  He leaned in for a quick kiss. “You can look around in here and come on back when you get bored.”

  She glanced around the store, moving from aisle to aisle. All of this stuff was his. Bo owned all these pool gadgets and gizmos. He had a section of lawn furniture, a shelf full of beach towels, a display of floats and pool safety for kids. The place was so well-rounded.

  She noticed black and white photos on the walls and moved to look closer at them. All Panama City Beach-themed—the Pier Park sign, a big shark’s mouth attached to a store, one of a family building a sandcastle on the beach. They were Ashe’s pictures, tailored to fit Bo’s store. It warmed her heart to see Bo’s friendship group represented in his store.

  Continuing with her curiosity, she headed back through a hallway in the back and found him at a computer. He loaded paper into a printer tray, and checks came zooming out. She’d seen this done at her work plenty of times, but the buck stopped with Bo. That was his money behind those checks. Of course she understood the concept of business, but it was like she was seeing it from an entirely new angle.

  One of Ashe’s pictures hung in Bo’s office. It was of their friendship group on the beach, holding cans of beer and sort of piled up together, all smiles and laughs. She backed out of his office, that familiar sadness covering her heart. She didn’t know how she was going to leave.

  A few minutes later, he came out from the back. “You ready?”

  “Are you sure you can take the day off?” she asked.

  “Of course.” He smiled. “Perks of being the boss.” He set the checks and a stack of envelopes on the counter in front of Tracey. “Will you make sure these go out in today’s mail?”

  “Yep,” she said. “Hey, I sold the last Davison 115-volt, above-ground pump right before close last night.”

  “They’re coming in on the shipment today,” he said.

  “And Todd and Pablo are both asking for next Friday off.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll cover for them. Anything else right now?”

  She shook her head and smiled. “No. Enjoy your day. Thank your mom for the muffins.” She turned to Maya. “It was nice meeting you.”

  “Nice meeting you, too.”

  Tracey waved and got back to work. Bo helped Maya into the truck, and she watched his shop in action as he walked around the front. He closed himself in and started the truck.

  “I feel bad, like I’m taking you away from them for the day.”

  “You need to get over that. This place runs just fine without me all the time, trust me.”

  She smiled at him. “I feel like I know a new side of you now that I’ve seen your business.”

  “That’s just the storefront. It runs like a well-oiled machine. It’s the cleaning side that takes most of my attention. I wish I could see you at work,” he said.

  She chuckled at that thought. “I don’t. I stare at a computer in an office all day. It’s not in the least bit sexy.”

  “If you’re there, darlin’, it’s sexy.”

  She shook her head at him. He was so good at making her feel like the only woman on the planet.

  They wheeled into Sebastian’s driveway, and Bo leaned over and kissed her. “You sure they won’t be pissed at me for taking you for the rest of the day?”

  “They’ll get over it. We may need to make an appearance at the bonfire on the beach Sebastian is planning for this evening.”

  “We can do that,” Bo said. “Just means I need to get you to that boat faster so we can have the whole day alone.”

  She leaned over to kiss him, and he cradled the back of her neck with his big hand. He knew how to make her feel so feminine.

  “I’ll be two seconds grabbing my suit.”

  “I’ll come say hi to Sebastian and make sure he’s all right with me taking you today.”

  She smiled and kissed him one more time. “Okay.”

  She shouldered her overnight bag and purse and floated up the walk to Sebastian’s house, holding hands with Bo like they were teenagers who needed to touch one another to survive. Man she was in for a rude awakening tomorrow.

  She opened the door, and stopped in her tracks. “Meade?”

  Her sister stood up off Sebastian’s couch and smiled, but her eyes were bloodshot like she’d been crying.

  “I was just getting ready to text you, again,” Sebastian said, a smile plastered across his face.

  Maya realized for the first time
that she hadn’t even thought about her phone yet that day. That was some sort of record.

  Meade let out a huge sigh. “Maya, oh my gosh. Look at you.” Meade rushed over and took Maya into her arms.

  Maya stood, still as a stone, no clue what was happening. She dropped her purse and her bag to the floor. “What are you doing here?”

  Meade pulled back from her, holding both of Maya’s hands. “Surprise!” Maya let out a huff of air, trying to process Meade’s presence. Meade held out her hand to Bo. “Hi, I’m Meade, Maya’s sister. You must be Bo. Felicity and Sebastian have been filling me in.”

  Bo shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Maya turned to Bo, who was smiling politely but had already taken a step away from her. She turned back to Meade, irritation starting to bubble in her chest. “What’s going on?”

  Meade let out a huge sigh, glancing at Bo and then back at her. “Well, I came in last night, and I’m here just for the day. I thought I’d hitch a ride back home with you and Felicity tomorrow.”

  “To Indianapolis?” Maya asked.

  Meade got this huge smile on her face. “I’m moving back. I know it takes me a while, but I finally get there. Come, let’s sit and talk about everything.”

  Maya rubbed her forehead, glancing at Bo. He pointed at the door. “I’m gonna head out. It was nice to meet you, Meade.”

  “No,” Maya said, and Meade blinked looking confused. Maya clenched her eyes shut, the ridiculous irony of Meade choosing this one precious day to listen to Maya.

  “Come walk me outside,” Bo said, his voice resigned.

  “We’ll see you tonight at the bonfire?” Sebastian asked.

  Bo gave something resembling a nod, and then headed outside. Maya followed him, every step they took toward his truck adding more weight onto her anxiety level. When they got to the door of his truck, she tossed her hands up and let them fall to her sides. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Come here,” he said, pulling her to his chest.

  She pulled away. “This is just so her. So typically Meade. She chooses right now to do this? Right freaking now?”