My skin is ice cold when I return to the hotel room. Inside, I boil with lust. Pop says nothing when I return. He only nods at me as I shiver just inside the door. Soon, a warm shower washes off the chill left behind from leaving Cap’s arms.

Later, I curl up under the covers, forever craving the heat I felt earlier. Cap awoke something in me that refuses to fall dormant again.

I fall asleep while Pop watches an old movie. When I wake at sunrise, I find him in nearly the same position except with his eyes now closed. I bet my mom didn’t sleep any better than pop. They belong together in a way I couldn’t truly understand until I met Cap. Now I know the longing of being away from your other half.

I sneak downstairs to the breakfast area and grab as much food as possible for when Pop wakes up. I know he won’t rise until at least noon, and I want him to have something to eat when he finally wakes.

After I return to the room, I curl up in bed and check my messages. Cap sent me a smiling selfie earlier. When I return from breakfast, I find a second picture. This one is of his hands and a caption reminding me how they miss the feel of my skin.

Thank goodness Pop is sound asleep or else I’d feel awkward having to she-bop with him in the next room. Hell, if Cap doesn’t whip up all kinds of heat inside me that shoots directly to the spot between my legs. How people can deal with this kind of lust on a regular basis is a fucking mystery, though I guess I’ll soon find out the answer.

Pop wakes just after noon, desperate for coffee. I make him a small pot while he eats the reheated stuff from breakfast.

“What’s the meeting today about?”

“The details aren’t important. I just need to lay out a few things with Hayes. You can wait here if you want.”

“I’ll go with you to make it easier for us all to have dinner.”

“Us?”

“You, me, Hayes, and Cap.”

“Is that what the boy told you?”

“Was he wrong?”

“Let me ask you something, Audrey,” he says, sitting on the bed across from me. “What’s your interest in him? Is it his power? Or because he’s cute?”

Pop grimaces when he says the final word, and I immediately laugh.

“Well?”

“He’s handsome, and he doesn’t put up with my bullshit, but he also doesn’t cry or freak out about my bullshit either. He’s chill but also demanding.”

“I feel like I need a decoder ring to figure out your girl-speak.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“I want to make sure this boy isn’t conning you.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Men are liars and cheats.”

“Yes, but men rarely mess with me.”

“Because they’re afraid of me,” Pop says and runs both hands through his still thick blond hair. “I don’t think this boy is.”

“I don’t think he is either.”

“Thanks a lot, Audrey,” he says, standing up and looking genuinely hurt. “I was looking for reassurance.”

“About what? Are you nervous about the meeting today?”

Pop gives me a weird look and then exhales slowly. “It’s fine. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you’re interested in Hayes’s son. He’s not much older than you, and I know you like strong men like your pop. No, I shouldn’t be surprised at all.”

“Then why are you?”

“Leave me alone,” he says and walks into the bathroom where he nearly slams the door.

Rolling my eyes, I can’t believe how grumpy he is this morning. I write off his behavior as a reaction to missing Mom. The older they get, the less they can stand being apart.

Pop stops for a quick lunch, but I’m not hungry. All I want is to see Cap again. I need reassurance that he’s as sexy as I remember. Okay, more importantly, does he still think I’m hot. I’m forever certain of Cap’s worth, but I worry with enough time that he’ll figure out he can find someone better.

Stop it! I tell myself to remember how great we were the night before. We make sense. I knew that fact in the pool. I can’t let my old insecurities eat away the fun I’m having now. Stay focused on the prize!

Pop doesn’t talk about much at lunch. Mostly, he worries Lily will end up with a rebound guy he doesn’t approve of, and he asks if I have anyone I can set her up with. When I say no, he babbles a bit more about how Lily needs to meet someone appropriate. I think to ask what his definition of “appropriate” is but decide to let him keep rambling on. Being away from home has turned him into a doddering grandpa who doesn’t know where a story ought to end.

Finally, after what feels like a year of waiting to see him again, I come face-to-face with Cap. His casual smile would look dismissive on anyone else, but I know him now. He plays his cards close to the vest, just like his father and my pop.

“You two behave,” Hayes says to us before he and Pop walk inside to have their meeting.

Cap watches them go and then frowns at me. “I have no idea what they’re plotting. Did your father give you any ideas?”

For a second, that nagging voice in my head—that sounds a lot like Josi—suggests Cap only romanced me to get info about Pop.

I slap that idea away immediately. No way am I letting old hurts ruin the little time I have with Cap this weekend.

“No,” I say and wrap my arms around him. “I’m cold. Do we have to stand outside?”

“There’s a back office we can hang out in while they talk.”

Cap gently takes my hand, guiding me into the ugly building. Inside the office is much nicer than the stucco nightmare outside. The floors are a smooth, dark wood and extend into the meeting room where Cap leads me.

“Settle your sweet ass here,” he says, pulling back a comfy leather chair. “We can get to know each other better while our fathers discuss old-man problems.”

“What would you like to know?”

“Let’s do show and tell,” Cap says, sitting next to me and immediately covering my lips with his.

The kiss is so good that I’m halfway in his lap before it ends.

“I thought I’d hate kissing a man with a beard,” I mumble, still leaning against him and nearly falling out of my seat. “I was very wrong.”

Cap strokes my cheek and I notice for the first time how his knuckles are scarred. I take his hand, kissing the battered flesh.

“Show me pictures from home,” he whispers in my ear after sliding my hair aside, so he has free rein for my throat. “I want to see your family, friends, pets, whatever you want to share. Let’s considers this a dating crash course.”

“And you’ll show me yours?”

“Always.”

Grinning at his double meaning, I reach for my phone. I find surprisingly few recent pictures of my family. Most are from our last RV trip with the club families. I have several of Rando and Colton fighting on the ground. One of Lily looking bored next to Jay. I stop at the photo of the twins roasting marshmallows.

“They look like horrible people,” Cap says in between kissing my throat.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know.”

My lips search for his until we’re no longer looking at pictures. I think I set my phone on the table or maybe Cap does. Somehow, things happen. I can only focus on his lips on mine, and his fingers caressing my back. More than once, I hope he’ll slide those large hands up my shirt and take this fun to the next level.

I completely forget how Pop could walk into the room without warning. Cap’s kisses are just that damn intoxicating. I’m actually so drunk on his affection that I don’t react to my pop’s voice until he literally yells my name.

Freeing my lips, I look over Cap’s broad shoulder to find Pop standing with his arms crossed and a pissed expression on his face. I wish I could care about upsetting him, but I’m too buzzed on Cap’s affection to give a shit about something as minor as my pop’s rage.

“We’re leaving. Get off his lap,” Pop says and reaches for my arm.

“Leaving?”

“To dinner.”

I’m shocked to learn an hour passed from when I entered this room to when Pop drags me out of it. Smiling back at Cap, I can’t wait to return to his arms, and no amount of anger from my pop will change my mind.