“In the following question, there are underlined parts to each sentence. One of the underlined parts is incorrectly written. Choose the incorrect underlined part of the sentence.” I look up from the book in my hands with a scowl. “This is really hard so far.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re only giving me the directions!”

“Yeah, and they’re complicated.”

She nudges my arm. “I know the instructions. Just give me the sentence, already.”

I sigh and get back to reading. We’re sitting across from each other on her bed, going over practice questions for her upcoming Praxis exams. I came over early for dinner to “help Summer study,” though I wouldn’t say we’ve gotten a lot done so far. In fact, we haven’t gotten past the directions since I can’t keep my hands off her.

“Okay, so here it is: ‘Summer Rae thinks that every inch of Koa Rendell is sexy.’” I glance up when she doesn’t answer. “Come on, which part of the sentence is wrong?”

“You’re impossible!” she cries, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at me.

I catch it in midair and throw it back to her. “We’ll just say that one leaves you stumped. Alright, question two is multiple choice.”

Summer grows serious. “I’m ready.”

“Which part of Koa Rendell is sexiest?” I stop to dodge another pillow. “Hey! I haven’t even finished the sentence.”

“And you won’t,” she snaps, trying not to laugh. “I need to study, Koa!”

“We are! That’s what this says, I swear.”

“It says your name and sexiest?”

I hold the book over my head as she tries to grab it. “Let’s just hear the question before you make your judgement.”

She sits back and crosses her arms. “Fine, but then I’m serious about studying. Do you want me to fail?”

My smile slips. “No.”

“Koa? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I mutter, growing quiet. Are we really about to have this conversation? Now? I look up with a heavy sigh. “It’s just, I don’t want you to leave.”

Every muscle tenses in Summer’s body. “We still have a few weeks together.”

“I know, but it’s always there in the back of my mind. Waiting. The problem is, I’ve never been happier than I am with you.”

Summers reaches out a hand. “We still have time to figure something out.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, because I want to figure something out. I don’t want this to end either. I’ve never been happier either.”

“So…we’re agreeing to figure it out later?”

“Yeah.” She pulls back her hand. “Right now we should just enjoy it.”

I frown. “I guess.”

“And study.”

“You’re a hard driver, Miss Rae.” I shake my head and glance down at the book. “Okay, so the options are A, biceps. B, washboard abs. C—”

This time I swat the pillow out of the air and toss it to the floor. The Praxis book follows soon after.

“Oh no you don’t,” I growl, lunging across the comforter.

She scurries to the side and bats away my hand. “No you don’t!”

“You’re asking for it, lady.” I feign right so she’ll go left. It works.

She lets out a frustrated breath when she realizes it was a ruse. “You tricked me with your ninja skills!”

I laugh as I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her in. “My what?”

“I don’t know. Whatever they taught you in the military!”

“Well…” My lips trace a line of kisses down her neck to her collarbone. “We weren’t taught by ninjas.”

“Okay,” she breathes.

I lift my head and cock an eyebrow. “Do you want to keep studying?”

“Not really.”

“Good.”

I duck my head and make quick work of Summer’s flushed skin, pulling up her shirt and dragging my lips across her sweet, soft breasts, then down her stomach to her navel. She giggles as my stubbly chin grazes her bare belly.

“I knew that last question would stump you.”

“You did?” she pants, melting in my arms.

“Yeah. The answer is ‘all of the above’.”

I cut short her rejoinder by going to work on those little jean shorts of hers. She pushes up on her elbows and watches me with a curious look. “Koa? What are you—”

She gasps as I wrench them over her hips. They’re down her legs and on the floor in seconds. “Oh. Are we…?”

She trails off as I hook a finger under her panties and pull, giving her the answer she’s looking for. My heart races as I drag the rough lace down her legs to her ankles. She moans as I toss the panties to the floor.

“Stop playing with me, hot stuff.”

I shake my head. “I’m not done yet…”

She stifles a groan as my head dips between her legs, my lips leaving a trail of moist kisses along her impossibly creamy inner thighs. It’s an assault to my senses when my hungry lips meet her slick center, my mouth closing over her mound in one agonizingly slow movement. I want to savor this moment as I give Summer the pleasure that she deserves.

She digs her heels into the mattress as my tongue darts out, licking and tasting her sweetness with insatiable flicks. Her breath hitches in her throat as the first wave of euphoria crashes over her.

“Koa,” she rasps, “I’m…I’m—!”

I stifle her cries with my hand as she moans under my touch. She arches her back, pressing her clit against my giving mouth as I suck and lick her into pure oblivion.

I’m tugging off my shirt when we hear a knock at the door. “Summer? Koa?”

Summer’s eyes fly open. “Gran?”

“I wanted to tell you that dinner’s ready.”

She scrambles off the bed and starts rooting around for her panties and shorts. “Thanks. Uh, coming!”

Summer and I stare at each other as Jane’s muffled footsteps fade down the stairs. I thank heaven that she didn’t try the door. It’s unlocked.

I stifle a laugh. “Coming?”

Summer falls back on the bed and dissolves with laughter. I follow a moment laughter. “That was so close,” she gasps.

I push up onto my arms and wipe my eyes. “Too close.”

“I know. We should be more careful.”

I meet her heady gaze and grin. “Or we could…”

Five minutes later, Summer pushes back against my chest and scowls. “Wait! We’re holding up dinner!”

“Christ, sorry.” I shake my head roughly, trying to clear the hormone-induced fog. “It’s your fault, though.”

She laughs. “Right back at you, sexy man.”

We get dressed, stop in the bathroom to fresh up, then hurry for the stairs. Summer grabs my shirt and holds me back as she rushes ahead of me. She giggles back at me as she reaches the stairs. “Last one down’s a rotten egg!”

“Hey,” I cry as she grabs the railing, “you got a head start!”

“You’re just sore loser!”

I run up behind her and grab her waist. “You’re not going anywhere,” I mutter, dragging her away from the top of the stairs. She scowls up at me as I step in front of her and take the stairs two at a time.

She gives an irritated sigh and clambers down after me. “Wai—” She grunts as she runs into my back. I’ve stopped in the center of the stairs, throwing out my arms to block her descent. “What are you doing?” she demands, trying to push past me. “Not fair!”

“And grabbing a shirt is?”

“Hey, all is fair in love and war, buddy.”

“Right, which means I can do this…” I let go of the railing with one hand, turn around, and throw Summer over my shoulder.

“Koa!”

I stomp back up the stairs. “And this.”

“Okay, I give up! Truce?”

“Truce.” I turn around and start back down the stairs. “But I’m not letting you go.”

She giggles and pats my ass. “That’s okay, I like the view from back here.”

I return her to her feet and give her a peck on her cheek. “I like the view from up here, too.”

She blushes and shoves me down the hall. “Come on, lover boy. We have to go explain to Gran and Gramps why we’re—”

The words catch in her throat as we turn the corner and run into Captain.

“There you are,” he cries, steadying himself on the wall with his good arm. “Jane just sent me to see what all that noise was coming from.”

Summer and I glance at each other. “Huh, I don’t know,” Summer says with a smile. “Koa’s just got big feet.”

I raise my eyebrows. “I don’t know, Rae. You’ve got a pretty heavy step. Always thumping around the boat, scaring away the fish—”

I dodge her playful blow. I flash her a smirk and turn to Captain. “Ready to eat?”

Captain chuckles. “It’s good to see you two are getting along.”

I glance back at Summer as we head for the kitchen. Yeah, I’d say we’re getting along just fine.

“Wow, what a feast,” I say as we enter the brightly lit kitchen, brimming with aromatic dishes of all shapes and sizes. I spot corn bread in one (a personal favorite), fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, and pie. There’s always pie in the Boothes' kitchen.

Jane shines under the compliment. “Thank you, dear.” She glances around me at Summer, taking in her loopy grin and bright eyes with a pleased look. She motions us to the table. “Looks like you two have worked up an appetite.”

Summer’s cheeks flush bright red under her tan, adding to my own embarrassment as we’re caught redhanded. I start to wonder how much Jane knows before she answers my question.

“You know, studying?”

Summer visibly relaxes next to me. “Right. Yeah. Studying was—”

“Exhausting,” I cut in. “And mind-numbing.”

I shrug as Summer throws me a look. It’s fun to get a rise out of Summer. She’s just too easy to rile up.

We gather around the table, say grace, and tuck in to the delicious feast the Boothes put together. It’s all going great until Gramps picks up his Yuengling and drops a bomb on me. “So Koa, I’ve found you a new first mate.”

“Sir?”

“After Summer leaves us, of course.”

My gut clenches at the reminder. “Oh. Who is it?”

“Jim Robinson? You remember him, he’s a deep sea fisherman. Been out on a rig for a few months and just got back a week ago.”

I keep my eyes on Captain, not daring to look at Summer. It would just drive home the fact that in a few short weeks, Summer would be hundreds of miles away, out of Portland, and possibly out of my life.

“Well,” Gramps continues after a sip of his beer, “his wife wants him home more. She wants him to get something local, so he asked me if there were any positions open.” He waves his cast around. “Told him I’m going nowhere fast! So I hired him to start on the twentieth.”

The twentieth. That was only a week away.

Captain turns to Summer. “That gives him time to transition before you head home, sweetie.”

Summer nods and drops her eyes to her plate. “Right. Yeah, good thinking.”

Jane asks Captain a question, but I don’t hear it. All I can think about and focus on is the beautiful, intoxicating, hard-headed girl across the table from me. Somehow she’s wiggled her way into my heart and made herself at home. I can’t let her go this soon. I’ve got to tell her how I feel. How I really feel.

I’m about to think of some excuse to get Summer alone when her phone buzzes on the kitchen counter. She looks over with a frown. “I wonder who that could be. Excuse me.”

She pushes back from the table, walks to the island, and grabs it off the counter. She reads the screen and frowns. Her eyes flick to mine before glancing away. “I’ve…um—”

“What’s the matter, dear?” Jane asks. “Bad news?”

“Of sorts,” she mutters. She forces a smile on her face. “I’ll just be right back.”

My appetite leaves me as she rushes out of the kitchen. She looked…scared.

I get up from the table with some muttered excuse about needing to use the bathroom and head for the hallway. I glance in each room as I pass, but they’re all empty. Then I notice the front door’s open. I peer through the screen door and see her, pacing the garden to the side of the house.

The screen slaps behind me as I walk out onto the porch, jolting Summer out of her deep thoughts. “Everything okay?” I ask, striding toward her.

She nods, then shakes her head. “Actually, no.”

I pull her into my arms and slowly rub her back. “What’s the matter, baby?”

“My mom,” she groans.

“Your mom? What happened?”

“It’s about this weekend.”

I nod but stay silent. This weekend is a sore subject for me. I’ve been waiting for Summer to invite me to her sister’s baby shower, but the invitation never came, and I didn’t want to ask. Hell, I shouldn’t have to ask, but that fact didn’t ease my annoyance.

“She just texted me about a date she’s lined up for me.”

My hand stops its path along her back.

“Like I don’t already have enough going on, she thinks a date is…” She shifts in my arms to peer up at me. “Koa?”

“A date?”

“Yeah, but I’ll tell her I don’t want to.”

“You’re telling me that she’s still setting you up on dates even though we’re going out?”

Summer’s gaze drops, sowing a tiny seed of doubt in my mind. “Wait. She does know about us, right?”

“Well…”

I grow still. “You haven’t told them?”

Summer bites her lip. “There hasn’t really been time.”

“It’s been a week.”

“I’ll get around to it.”

I grip her arms and hold her away from me. “When?”

She stares back at me, the truth plain in her eyes.

I let her go and walk away. “I can’t believe this,” I mutter, raking a hand through my hair. “I can’t believe you’re going to stand there and lie to me.”

“I’m not lying to you.”

I whirl around, stopping her approach. “You’re never going to tell them!”

“I-I will,” she stammers, but there’s no conviction in her words. She’s just telling herself what she wants to hear.

Pain and frustration whip through me like a hurricane, ravaging everything in its path on its way to my heart.

“What do you want me to do, Summer?” I demand. “What can I do to show you I’m serious about us? That I want more than a summer fling?”

“I know you do, Koa.”

“Then what? Carve my damn heart out and put it on a platter?”

Summer flinches. “Wait—”

“Because I have and I will. And I will go on raking myself over the coals unless you just own up to your feelings.”

“I…I…”

“Just tell your parents, baby!”

The cool night air clings to us, still and silent as we air out everything that’s been building into a crescendo these past few weeks.

“It’s more complicated than that,” she whispers. I stare at her as she drags her teeth across her pink bottom lip, sucking it in and letting it go.

“No. It’s not.” I point to the phone in her hands. “Call your parents and tell them about us.”

“Now?”

“Tell them you’re with me. That you’re mine and not some New York City lawyer or hedge fund manager’s trophy.”

“You don’t mean that. It’s late and you’re tired.”

“There will always be a million excuses, Summer, but there’s only one that matters.” I steel myself for what I’m about to say, for what I’m about to find out. “Are you ashamed to be with me?”

“No!”

“Then do it! Tell them you’re with a guy who’s never wanted anything more than you and a home. Whose mother left him because she didn’t love him enough, and whose father’s only love was given by the back of his hand.”

A tear rolls down Summer’s cheek. “Oh Koa, I’m sorry. I want to tell them, I really do, but I need time.”

“Time?” I let out an explosive breath as the reality of our situation hits me. Even if she denies it, I know I’m with a woman who’s embarrassed by me. I’ve given my heart to someone who’s not even proud of it.

“Yes,” she pleads, “just a little more time. Then I can break it to them easily.”

I nod slowly and let my gaze drift to the dry grass between us. “Easily. Right.”

“Koa?”

I hold up a hand as she takes a small step forward. “No, no. I understand that your parents would be heartbroken to see their perfect little daughter slumming it.”

“That’s not how it is.”

“That’s how it sounds.”

Summer winces. “Stop putting words in my mouth! You don’t know what I’m up against. You don’t know what it was like growing up with my family. The pressure my sister and I are constantly under.”

“Right. A loving, stable family sure is tough to live with.”

“Loving?” She gives a dry laugh. “Sure, on the surface maybe, but it’s not easy being perfect every damn day of your life. Or having a mother who treated you more like an accessory growing up than a daughter who made mistakes and just wanted to be a kid.”

I pause, trying to wrap my head around what that would feel like. But I can’t.

I’ve only known what I’ve got, which is nothing.

“Well, you’re not a kid anymore, Summer. You’re a woman who can make her own choices.”

“I know. And I’m trying.”

We stare at each other for a moment, each having said what they’re going to say. It’s clear that Summer’s not willing to take the leap I’m asking of her. It’s as clear as what I need to do next.

“Well,” I say in a strangled voice, “I’m not going to wait around with my heart in my hands for you to finally stand up to your parents.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying…” What was I saying? Am I really about to break things off with the only girl I’ve ever loved? Because I do love her, that much is clear as I stand in her yard, baring my heart and soul to her, just for the chance to be with her.

I run a hand over my eyes. “I’m saying I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep living in the shadows until you decide to own up to your decisions.”

“No, Koa, please.”

“I can’t, Summer. I won’t live in limbo.” I back away, slowly putting one foot behind the other. I don’t want to tear my eyes away from this angel until I’m forced to.

“Please!” she cries, forcing back a sob.

My chest clenches at her pain, but I keep walking, widening the distance between us. “Goodbye, Summer—”

“Koa!”

“—and good luck.”

I turn away, finally wrenching my gaze from Summer’s sobbing form. I know I’ve done a terrible thing by walking away, but maybe there’s nothing to walk away from. Can you really say you’re in a relationship when your girl’s ashamed of her love?

No. You can’t.