With This Fling (Summersweet Island 5)

“Collin Roberts? That kid has been kicking ass in the rankings. If you make him a better putter than me, I will disown you,” Palmer threatens, still swinging Bodhi’s surprisingly quiet baby around by its legs while Dean chuckles.

“Don’t worry; you’ll always be my favorite golfer. After Collin, I’ve got an order from a guy in Augusta, and two from a woman in Phoenix.”

“Jesus. You’re going to be busy as hell after the wedding.” Palmer shakes his head.

Colorado, Maine, and Arizona… about as far away from a tiny island off the coast of Virginia Beach as you can get.

So, this is it. He’s gonna tell Laura later, “This was fun and all, but you knew it was just a fling, and now I have to leave and get back to my life far, far away from here.”

I suddenly don’t feel like watching a movie. I feel like locking myself in my room and crying for the rest of the night.

Both fake babies choose that exact moment to start wailing at the top of their battery-operated lungs in my quiet garage. Owen starts freaking out, Palmer starts swinging his baby faster to get it to quiet down, people shush them, and someone throws a handful of popcorn at Palmer, while Birdie turns around in her seat a few rows up and looks like she’s ready to kill everyone on the couch.

Before I can blink, Dean grabs both dolls from Owen and Palmer. He puts one on each shoulder, jumps up from the couch, and races to the door that leads into my house, quickly disappearing inside until the wailing of babies tapers off.

And I just stand here, wondering what in the hell has happened to my life.

I don’t want to think about Puppy-Baby Syndrome. I don’t want to think about Birdie not being a Bennett any longer. And I certainly don’t want to think about Dean leaving. I’m supposed to be happy, and having fun, and just enjoying this fling and whatever time I have with him, not worrying about how much I’m going to fall apart when he leaves.

Get it together! You’re single, carefree Laura Bennett, and you do not need a man in your life permanently!

Closing my eyes and shaking my head, I quickly push away everything that makes me want to cry and just focus on the here and now.

And right here, right now, nothing sounds better than disappearing into my empty house with Dean, so I can finally thank him properly for what he did for my daughter today.

Focus on the fling. Don’t focus on the fall-out.

“Tell Shit Ass that Daddy loves him, and I promise not to try to use him as a bong again!” Bodhi quickly whispers to me as I rush by him.

Chapter 19

Laura

“This is just a fling.”

“I am not allowed to shake you. I am not allowed to shake you…”

Smothering a laugh with my hand as I lean my shoulder against my bathroom doorway right off the kitchen that Dean escaped to, I stare at his profile. He’s half turned away from me, facing the sink, his full concentration on bouncing the fake babies against his chest while they continue to cry. He’s so damn handsome I feel like I could stand here for an hour just looking at him. This big, strong man wearing a fitted white T-shirt and faded jeans, in a pale yellow bathroom with a floral motif, with his big, tattooed arms wrapped around two tiny baby dolls. Being gentle with them, and quietly shushing them, and caring for them like they’re real babies, tucked away in my half-bath so the movie wouldn’t be disturbed. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. He’s so perfect I can’t even handle it, and once again, an image of him holding my grandchildren in his arms flashes through my mind.

This is just a fling. This is just a fling.

Clearing my throat to get rid of the stupid lump that won’t go away, the sound makes Dean quickly whirl around to face me.

“I feel like someone is playing a cruel joke on me. No matter what you said, babies cannot be this horrible,” Dean complains as I move into the room, closing the door behind me before taking one of the dolls out of his arms as it wails even louder.

Flipping the doll over, I tug down the back of the onesie and pry open the battery panel in the middle of the doll’s back, flipping the switch to power it down. I quickly do the same with the other doll, Dean just staring at me with his mouth dropped open when his arms are empty and the small room is no longer filled with the sound of screaming babies.

“Oh, you’re a devil woman,” Dean mutters, making me laugh as I set the now-quiet dolls on top of the closed lid of the toilet. “That power switch was there the whole fucking time, and you didn’t say anything?”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

I barely get the words out when Dean’s arms are wrapping around my waist and tugging me against him. His head dips down, and he seals his mouth to mine as soon as my hands come up to rest against his chest. I immediately sigh when he deepens the kiss after dreaming about kissing him again since this morning and the way he scrambled my brain when he brought me coffee at the stand.

This is just a fling. This is just a fling.

Pulling back from the kiss before I get too lost in what he’s doing to me, I keep my eyes on him while I trail my hands down the front of him, stopping when I get to the button of his jeans.

“You look good wearing my shirt.” I smile up at him, his hands sliding down my back and moving to grip my hips when I unbutton his jeans.