004

Chapter 4

Roman’s POV

Despite the cold ocean water, I felt hot everywhere.  

Lila’s hard nipples pressed against my chest. Her heartbeat thundered wildly, matching mine. Her hands were wrapped around my neck, her breath warm against my face.  

Wet hair clung to her cheeks. Droplets slid down her collarbone, glistening. A small wave pushed her closer, and I grew even harder. I groaned and pulled her tighter against me.  

“You’re driving me insane,” I muttered, my mouth lowering dangerously close. My breath brushed her lips. She closed her eyes.  

I shouldn’t.  

Kissing her once could pass as a mistake. Doing it a second time would be deliberate.  

But I couldn’t hold back.  

My lips crashed against hers desperately. She moaned, and I lost every last shred of control. I pulled her tighter, deepening the kiss.  

Every warning in my head vanished. All I knew was that I wanted her.  

“Lila!”  

I froze at the sound of Ethan’s voice.  

Lila’s eyes flew open. She tried to pull away, but I held her closer for one more second, refusing to let go.  

“Lila!” Ethan called again, closer this time.  

“Let me go,” she whispered.  

I dunked us both under the surface, wrapping my legs around her waist to keep her up. My hand brushed against her bare breast as I quickly clamped her bikini top back into place. Then I hooked an arm under her and carried her up.  

She coughed and sputtered as I lifted her out of the water.  

“What happened?” Ethan came running toward us. I laid her on the sand and stayed crouched over her.  

“She pulled a muscle. I got her out just in time,” I said roughly.  

Lila coughed again and rolled onto her side. Her face was bright red. She kept her eyes fixed on the sand, refusing to look at me.  

Ethan knelt beside her. “Are you okay?” His hand hovered near her shoulder.  

“I’m fine,” she rasped.  

She sat up slowly, testing her leg. I pulled back a little.  

“How does it feel now?” I asked.  

She winced but nodded.  

“I’ll go grab a towel,” Ethan said.  

The second he turned, I stood. I was still rock-hard and had to crouch slightly over her so he wouldn’t notice.  

I dove back into the water and swam away. The cold did nothing to calm the chaos in my head.  

My summer plan had never included lusting after Lila. I wanted a quiet few weeks at the beach house—time to finally look into the things I’d been avoiding for years. But with her here, every single plan felt like it had been thrown straight into the wind.  

The last time I saw her she was thirteen. She used to follow me around every summer when her family came to South Carolina, pigtails bouncing as she tried to keep up, asking endless questions and begging me to teach her everything.  

That was five years ago.  

I hadn’t come back since. Not since what happened.  

Lila wasn’t a kid anymore. She had grown into a beautiful, graceful young woman—and she was so damn tempting.  

Everything about her pulled me in, and that was fucking wrong. Because Lila wasn’t just anyone.  

She was my best friend’s little sister.  

Someone I had no right to touch.  

When I finally dragged myself out of the water, they were already gone. My arms and sides ached from swimming for hours. I grabbed a towel from the chair and rubbed the salt from my skin before heading back to the house.  

I found Lila at the dining table, laptop open. She was hunched over it, tense, fingers hovering above the keyboard.  

She didn’t even look up when I walked in. I doubted she noticed I was there.  

“Are you okay, kiddo?” I asked.  

Her eyes flicked up for half a second, then dropped back to the screen. “Yeah.”  

I frowned. “Where’s Ethan?”  

“He left. Went to the mall to pick something up,” she said briefly, voice clipped.  

I nodded and started to turn away. I needed to keep my distance. I couldn’t stay near her any longer.  

“Wait… Roman?”  

My heart jumped at the sound of my name. I turned back. “Yeah?”  

She bit her bottom lip, nervous. “I need your help?”  

I walked toward her slowly, trying not to overthink it. “What’s up?”  

“The college entrance results are out. I need to know if I got into Brown.” She stood and pulled the chair out for me.  

“Really?”  

“Yeah. I can’t bring myself to click it. I’m so scared.”  

“Alright,” I muttered, leaning down to look at the screen.  

The moment I did, she let out a tiny scream and grabbed my hand, holding it tightly. My entire arm tingled at the contact. I swallowed hard.  

Her face was suddenly right behind my neck, her warm breath against my skin. I tried to focus on the laptop, but every sense I had was screaming at me to kiss her again.  

The scent of her shampoo filled my nose. I inhaled deeply.  

“R…”  

“Yeah.” I snapped out of it and dragged the cursor across the screen.  

“Hurry!” she whispered, squeezing my hand tighter.  

I finally clicked the link, just as nervous as she was. The words flashed across the screen clear as day.  

“Congratulations,” I read the first word.  

“Congratulations!” she screamed, her whole body shooting forward. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tight.  

I froze for half a second. The shock of her pressed against me made every nerve in my body burn.  

Then I hugged her back, pulling her closer. My hand settled on her waist as she ended up sitting on my lap.  

“Congratulations, Lils,” I said, genuinely proud of her.  

She pulled back just enough to look at me, green eyes glowing.  

“Thank you.” She smiled brightly. Her face was so close.  

“Lils,” I murmured, her name slipping out before I could stop it.  

Her smile faltered. For one heartbeat we just stared at each other.  

“Roman… I—”  

“What’s going on?”  

Ethan walked

in.  

I raised my head and saw him standing in the doorway, eyes flicking from her arms around my neck to my hands still holding her waist.