The Risk (Kings of Linwood Academy 3)

I think my body can sense that our vacation is about to come to an end, but instead of letting me sleep in like a normal high school graduate in her last weeks of summer break, it wakes me up early, demanding I not waste any of these last few precious days on something as trivial as sleep.

Who needs it anyway?

I managed to make it to graduation with my GPA mostly intact, and if there were still a few low B’s floating around on my transcript, it certainly didn’t make Mom or Hunter cheer any less loudly for me when Principal Osterhaut announced my name. And I still got into the same university as the guys, which was the only thing I was really concerned about.

Hunter met all of them when she came out to celebrate my graduation, just after walking in her own ceremony in Bayard a week earlier. She teased the fuck out of me for being, as she put it, “a badass bitch with four smokin’ hot boyfriends”, but she gave them all her best friend stamp of approval. Which is a good thing, because neither of us were kidding about our plan—she’ll be going to the same school as the five of us in the fall.

We’ll start college soon, which feels fucking weird to say. But before we tackle that mountain, the guys and I decided to have one last little hurrah, so we rented a beach house in Cape Cod for a couple weeks. We’ve only got a few more days left here though, and I’m not ready to return to real life.

The curtains are open on the sliding glass door, allowing orange sunlight to creep across the floor like slow flowing lava. Dax’s arm is thrown over my waist, and there are several other body-shaped lumps under the blanket on the king-sized bed. There are several other bedrooms in the house, but we all seemed to gravitate toward the one with the biggest bed from day one.

Not that I’m complaining. At all.

Holding my breath and using all my ninja skills, I maneuver out from under Dax’s arm and slip out of bed without waking him. Just because I can’t sleep past six a.m. doesn’t mean everyone should be forced to wake up with the sun on our last week of freedom before school starts.

The sunlight is just beginning to heat the hardwood floor, which feels cool against my bare feet as I pad toward the door. I’m only wearing panties and Chase’s t-shirt, which hangs down to just below my ass, but the back patio leads directly to the private beach behind the house, so no one will be able to see me.

I slide the door open and shut it behind me, tilting my head up to catch the first soft rays of the sun—when a hand whips out and grasps my wrist.

A startled yelp escapes me, and I slap my free hand over my chest as I turn to face Lincoln. He’s sitting in one of the large deck chairs, which is offset just enough from the glass doors that I couldn’t see him before I stepped outside.

“Jesus Christ,” I gasp, panting dramatically. “My heart.”

He smirks at me, then tugs on my wrist, pulling me onto his lap so I’m straddling him. He’s shirtless, wearing just a pair of cargo shorts that fall low on his hips, and a week and a half of lounging in the sun every day has given his skin a gorgeous golden glow that complements the dark gleam of his hair.

He grabs my other wrist too, pinning my hands at my lower back as he nips at my bottom lip.

“You’re up early,” he murmurs.

“Not as early as you.” I brush my lips against his, stealing little half kisses before I draw back to look into his eyes. “I didn’t even realize you were awake.”

Not that I counted the bodies in bed before I got up. Although maybe I should start doing that.

He shrugs, his gaze tracking over my face, his amber eyes warm. “I woke up about an hour ago. Couldn’t sleep, so I came out here to watch the sunrise.”

“Me too.” Then I let out a soft chuckle, realizing he’s put me directly in his view of said sunrise. The slowly rising sun behind me is casting my shadow over Lincoln’s face. “You can’t see it at all anymore, can you?”

“Don’t care.”

The words are a hungry growl as he sits a up little straighter, claiming another kiss.

“I can’t see it either,” I comment in a teasing whisper.

“Oh, you want to see the sunrise?”

“Eh.”

I shrug noncommittally and am about to go in for another kiss when Lincoln suddenly leans me backward, supporting me with one arm so my back arches and my head tilts, giving me an upside-down view of the rising sun.

“There you go.”

“Gee, thanks.”

A dry laugh huffs out of me, but it

turns into another sound entirely as Linc uses his free hand to push the soft, oversized t-shirt up my stomach, sliding it over my breasts and bunching it up just below my collarbone.

I’m bared to him, bared to the whole fucking world, to the sky and the wind and the gulls that swoop and call in the air above us. The air is warm, but my nipples peak anyway, and when he drops his head to draw one into his mouth, I grind my hips against him, arching my back even more.