“Do you think we should make double the snow cones today?” I ask Cherry as I settle in to start making the board that now sits outside every day. There’s even a local Instagram account dedicated to it. Everybody in Willow’s Gap wants to know what the specials are at Sweeties. The morning rush is done and now we can kind of relax.

Using some of the time I have, I start doing a little work for Slade’s non-profit. Basically it’s a lot of scheduling posts and coming up with tag lines, making graphics, and things like that, but I love it. It’s given me some freedom in my schedule, and I’ve been able to see him at night. Which is important to me. We’re slowly but surely working through anything that’s stood in our way, and it’s nice to have a partner again, someone who wants to do life with you.

The summer heat has descended upon Willow’s Gap as well as the tourist season. It started the week of July 4^th and has continued to be steady. We’re doing more business than we had been and it makes me proud of working with Cherry.

“I think so, we sold out yesterday, and since this is the start to the weekend, I feel like more people will be walking around downtown today,” she says from behind the counter where she’s starting to make the deli sandwiches we added to the menu last week.

“I agree, and maybe you should make more chicken salad. We sold out of that yesterday too.”

“That was mostly because of Slater,” she laughs. “I’ve never in my life seen a person eat the way he does and still have the banging body that he does.”

“When you have muscle, it automatically burns.” I give her the answer he’d given me all through high school when I’d complained about everything he ate. “It’s fuel,” I say in a deep voice that makes her snort. “At least that’s what I’ve been told.”

“You two seem to be doing well.”

“We are.” I use a pink piece of chalk to draw a little heart on the board. “Better than I expected, to be perfectly honest. We’re taking it slow though.”

“Slow? The way his eyes eat you up every time he’s in here doesn’t say slow to me.”

A small smile spreads across my face. “We still haven’t done the deed as adults,” I assure her.

“You’ve been seeing each other for the past month or so, and you haven’t done the deed?”

We haven’t and it’s been killing both of us, but we both want to be sure this is where we are in life. What we’re ready for. “That’s not to say we haven’t done other things.” I think of the incredibly hot way he can make my body come apart with just a few well-placed licks, bites, and two fingers. “He’s very skillful.”

“Most athletes are.” She shoots me a look that I raise my eyes just early enough to see. “I hear their reaction time and stamina is to die for.”

“He’s very resourceful.”

“How’s his recovery going?” It feels good to catch up with Cherry. As crazy as the last few weeks have been, we haven’t had much time to have actual conversations while we’ve been working.

“He started running for real, like on pavement, today.”

I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of saying those words to another person. This is what he’s been waiting for the whole time. Once he can safely run and not experience pain, he can get back out on the field, start batting practice, and then be cleared to rejoin the team. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about it, because I am, but I’m extremely happy for him. This is what he’s been waiting for.

“That’s a huge step, huh?”

“Super huge. In order for him to move forward in his rehab, he had to be able to do this. I’m just waiting for him to text me, so I can see how it went.”

Cherry’s looking out the front window of the bakery. “Looks like he’s doing one better and coming to see you.”

I turn around to see what she’s talking about, and I’m met with his smiling face coming through the door. It’s stupid how my heart beats faster, how the smile on my own face spreads wider, and how my day automatically gets brighter, but it’s all the truth. And it’s becoming pretty fucking clear what Slater Harlow is starting to mean to me. Again.

“I did it!”

I run up to him, throwing my arms around his neck. “How did it feel?”

He circles his arms around my waist, hugging tightly. “Scary as fuck at first, then once I’d done a lap and it didn’t hurt, I realized things were good.”

“That’s amazing, I’m so excited for you!”

He kisses me before picking me up and twirling me around.

“Your knee!”

“Is perfectly fine. In a couple of weeks I get to hit and try to field. I’m fine, Mal, as long as I take it slow.”

Clasping my fingers at the back of his neck, I lean our foreheads against one another. Kissing him slowly, I relish the closeness, smelling the body wash he uses. “I’m so proud of you, Slade.”

His hands move down my back to rest on the curve of my ass. “What are you doing this afternoon?” The pitch of his voice is low, only for me to hear.

“Actually, I have the afternoon off. I’m caught up on all the stuff I do for your non-profit, and I don’t have anything else going on. I don’t have any plans.”

He digs his fingers into my blue jean covered flesh, his lips moving against the shell of my ear. “I happen to know there’s an empty pool at my house. Mom and Dad are at Stone Mountain for some marriage retreat and Six is on a road trip. What do you say we spend the afternoon at the pool?”

Savage in swim trunks? Sign me up! “Yes, everything about this yes. Let me just go home and grab some clothes.”

“You work tomorrow?” He pulls back, tilting my chin with his thumb.

“Nope, off here at the bakery.” His dark eyes meet mine, and I’m loving the emotion, the arousal I see there.

“Then grab some clothes to change into, you’re staying.” He kisses my neck, making a growling noise.

“All night?”

“All night.”

The prospect of spending the night with him is the most exciting thing that’s happened since I came back to town.

She’s killing me, straight up fuckin’ killing me. Malone the teenager had been the owner of a nice body. Malone the adult is the owner of the best rack I’ve ever seen, curves for days, and thighs that make me want to spread them wide and dive deep in between them. As soon as she descended the steps from my apartment, I knew I was in a lot of fucking trouble.

“This is heaven,” she sighs as she floats past me on an inflatable raft. “I didn’t realize how much I needed to relax.”

“We all need to relax sometimes, and I have a feeling you’ve been going balls to the wall for a long time.” I reach out, running my hand up and down her calf. Her skin is smooth, warm from the heat of the afternoon, but gooseflesh pops out on it as I caress her.

“You keep doing that and I’m not gonna be too relaxed.” She pushes her sunglasses down so that I can see her green eyes.

“Maybe you’ll be even more relaxed when I’m done.” I give her a smile.

“You think?” She moves her legs, sliding into the water, squealing as it goes up to her chest.

“I do.” I grab her around the waist, pulling her to me. Clearing my throat, I inhale deeply. “Do I scare you, sweetness?”

She licks her lips. “You don’t scare me.” She shakes her head. “The way you make me feel scares me.”

“How do I make you feel?”

My stomach is in knots as I wait for her to answer. A lot rides on what she says, and I’d be lying if I wasn’t looking for something from her in this moment, something she never gave me before. The whole fucking truth.

“Like I haven’t felt since the last time I was with you.”

“Good.” I smile, taking her lips in mine. “I’m right there with you, sweetness.”

Pushing us over to the wall, I softly pin her against it, looking my fill at her. She’s wearing this red bikini that shows off every curve, dip, muscle, freckle, and even the little place in the back where there are two dimples above her ass.

“Slade?” It’s breathless, unsure, and partially turned on.

“Yeah?” I answer her as I put my hands around her waist, lifting her partially out of the water. It puts her chest level with my gaze. There’s no padding in the suit she wears. The evidence of how much she wants me is right in front of me, standing at attention, begging for my attention. Leaning forward, I take the wet material in my mouth, pulling it down to expose her bare flesh to my gaze. The skin is pulled tight, her nub puckered, making my mouth water. It’s been longer than I care to admit since I’ve been with a woman like this, seems like forever since I’ve been with her. “Wonder if you still taste the same, sweetness,” I whisper as I capture the tip between my teeth, pulling and nibbling before I circle my tongue around it.

“Slade.” She pushes her fingers through my hair, tilting her head back against the concrete of the pool, thrusting her flesh further into my mouth. Her heels dig into my back as she circles her legs around my waist. “Don’t stop.”

“I won’t,” I soothe her. “What do you want, Mal? Harder, softer, more?”

“All of the above,” she whines as she splashes water between us by grinding down on my hard cock.

The swimsuits between us prevent our skin from touching, but I can feel her heat, and I’m ready to dive into it. Done with waiting, done with the slow burn, fuck the teasing. I’d rather fuck her. Hard and fast, then slow and gentle, everywhere in between too, if I’m honest.

“You wanna get out of here and head upstairs?” I tilt my head to the steps that lead up to the apartment I’m staying in. “That way we can for sure not be disturbed?”

Her eyes are hooded, heavy with desire and she licks her lips like she’s getting the taste of me to tide her over until we’re able to touch again. “Yeah, I’d rather not get interrupted.”

Fuck, me neither. I watch as she puts her tit back into the cup of her swimsuit and then pushes me slightly away so that she can swim over to the steps that lead out of the water. Grabbing her leg, I prevent her from leaving, pulling her over to me to place a kiss on her dimpled back and to deliver a slap to her ass. Malone doesn’t say anything, she fucking moans and closes her eyes.

“Let’s go.” I hurry us out, only because I can’t wait any longer, because I want her more than I can say, and my arms ache to have her in them. My chest wants her head curled up around me, and my cock wants to be buried so deep inside her we’re not sure where I begin and she ends.

As she climbs the steps in front of me, I clench my fists, telling my body to calm down. We’ve got all afternoon and all night. I want to savor this, I want to make it better than it was when we were teens, getting fifteen minutes here and there. I want her to see what kind of a man I am now and fucking not be able to live without me.

Without a doubt, I know I’ll never be able to let her go again.