She took his hand in hers, squeezing lightly, and moved his fingers between her thighs just above the place where he disappeared inside her. “Make me yours,” she said.
He tried not to be disappointed. If that’s the way she wanted it, another game, for him to take it from her, then that’s what he’d do. He’d make her his the only way he knew how, the only way she’d agreed to. He’d make her his with each thrust and each stroke, with every orgasm he coaxed to the surface and denied, with each shiver that ran down her spine and each contraction of her muscles as her climax barreled down on her at last.
And when, hours later, skin sweat-slicked and flushed, she fell asleep in his arms, his cock still buried deep inside her, he’d pretend she was his for real.
Chapter 15
Annie tugged Jo through the Hotel Bellwether lobby and out into the courtyard garden known as The Follies. A large fountain stood at the center, the unexpected greenspace filled with palm trees and flowers. “There!” Annie pointed triumphantly at the fountain before dropping Jo’s hand and sprinting towards it.
The low-walled, circular fountain was surrounded by yellow and blue flowers, bright bursts of color amongst the greenery. The blue tile bottom made the water appear impossibly clear as it splashed over the large stone sculpture at the center. In the sunlight, copper and silver coins glinted from the shallow pool.
Jo vaguely remembered the space from the old movie Kyla and Molly loved to watch where the 1950s actress Nadine Prescott had walked along the perimeter of the fountain as she made her wish, nearly falling in before the classically handsomehero saved her from her own poor decisions. She snapped a few photos to send to her friends. Jo wasn’t a big fan of the movie, but she loved the outfits. All the same, it was strange to stand in the spot she’d seen on film so many times before, to think about how many generations of people had stood in that same spot, tossing their wishes into the fountain.
How many of those wishes had been granted?
Annie pressed a penny into Jo’s hand. “You have to make a wish.”
“For what?” Jo asked.
“Anything. But don’t tell me what you wish for! If you tell someone else your wish, it can’t come true. Like birthday cake wishes.”
Jo rolled the penny between her fingers, unsure what to wish for. She had a life in Aster Bay that, if not exactly fulfilling, was perfectly fine. She was happy enough. She had friends who loved her, who had made her a part of their families. An apartment that, thanks to Derek, she could afford for the next few months at least. A job where she didn’t have to sit behind a desk.
She had a good life waiting for her. And if it would feel a little less full, a little less vibrant now that she’d glimpsed this other life—
No. She couldn’t compare this time in California to her day-to-day in Aster Bay. Anything was fun and sexy when it was new and temporary.
But what if she didn’t want it to be temporary? What if she liked the way she felt here, with these people, livingthislife?What if, for the first time in years, she didn’t feel like the extra friend, the fuck up who hadn’t figured their shit out yet?
What if these last few days with Derek and Annie and the whole Midnight Storm family were the first time in years that she really felt like herself?
“Make a wish!” Annie said as she chucked an entire handful of pennies into the fountain.
Images flashed behind Jo’s eyes of Annie grinning around a mouthful of chicken nuggets, helping her pin her hair up for the dance party, Kat and the band teasing each other on the beach, Zach and Logan grinning for her camera backstage before a pane. And Derek. His soft smile when she woke in his arms, the crease between his eyebrows when he was worried, the crinkle at the corner of his eyes when he was trying not to laugh. The calm that flooded her veins when he gathered her against his chest in the middle of the night. The way her skin tingled when his eyes were on her, eating up the sight of her with no makeup, no filters, and still wanting her. Maybe even wanting her more.
Derek.
Jo tossed the penny into the fountain.
“Do you think it worked?” Annie asked.
“I don’t know.”
“There’s a lot of wishes in there.” Annie leaned closer to the fountain to get a better look at the accumulated change lining the bottom. “What if there isn’t enough magic to make them all come true?”
Would there be enough magic left for Jo to get her wish foronce?
“I don’t think there’s a limit on how much magic can exist,” Jo said, swallowing down the unexpected lump in her throat. “You threw a lot of pennies in there. I think the odds are in your favor. You must have wished for something really important.”
“Soimportant.” Annie worried her lower lip. “Kat said this fountain helps people fall in love.”
Jo’s eyebrows shot up. “She did, huh?”
“She said there’s all kinds of legends about the hotel helping people fall in love because the lady who started it used to write kissing books, like Kat does.”
Wasn’t seven a little young for Annie to be making wishes about falling in love? “I don’t know much about these legends, kid, but I know that most legends aren’t true.”
“Not uh! Legends are based on the truth, or on what people think is true, even if they can’t prove it. We learned about it in school.”