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  “No, I’m fine.”

  “Stop saying that. You’re clearly upset.”

  “Renée, can we not?”

  “Preston is your first boyfriend, and you put your heart on the line, inviting him to this. He probably doesn’t even know it, but I do.”

  “Yeah, well, I feel stupid for being upset.” Trihn swiped at her eyes. God, now tears?

  She took a deep breath. She would never have had tears like this if Renée hadn’t asked her about it. She could have held it together through dance, and then it all would have just gone away. It was always the worst when someone asked if she was okay. It was as if the minute someone cared, her walls would crumble.

  “You’re not stupid.” Renée slid her arm around Trihn’s shoulders. “You’re just human. I know you wear your heart on your sleeve, no matter how serious or how much of a tough girl you are.”

  Trihn shrugged. “Nothing I can do now. Let’s just go dance.”

  She left Renée behind as she strolled to the barre.

  Planting her feet in first position and resting her hand featherlight on the barre were the only things that Trihn let occupy her mind. She wasn’t going to think about Preston or vacation, which just meant a week without him, or anything else. She was just going to focus on her body lowering into a plié, the feel of her feet rising up onto pointe in a relevé, and the burn in her legs as she pushed her body to the limit.

  THE SHOWER BEAT DOWN ON TRIHN’S HEAD, blocking out the pulse hammering against her temples. Ballet had temporarily alleviated the pain and disappointment of what had happened before class, but the anger had continued to simmer just under the surface, giving her a headache.

  She shut off the shower and threw back two Tylenol she’d retrieved from her dance bag. She took a swig out of her mostly empty water bottle and waited for the miracle to set in.

  “T, I’m heading out. Are you ready?” Renée called.

  “Yeah, I’m coming.” She wound her hair up into a tight ponytail on top of her head and then slid into the clothes she had come in—loose-fit gray shorts, a white V-neck T-shirt¸ and black-and-silver slipper ballet flats.

  With a deep breath, she set out for the exit with Renée. They both jumped when they found a figure standing in the foyer of the dance studio. It was late, way after-hours for anyone but a student to have access to the company.

  “Sorry, we’re not open,” Renée called.

  But as they drew closer, Trihn recognized the person in front of her. “It’s all right.”

  They stopped in front of Preston. He had a worry line in between his eyebrows. His perfect lips were pursed with concern. She wanted to reach out and hug him, to try to comfort him for whatever he was feeling, but she didn’t move. She still keenly felt the sting of rejection.

  “Hey. What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Came to see you.”

  Trihn crossed her arms over her chest. “I thought you had to work.”

  Renée coughed next to Trihn and then pushed her own hand out. “I’m Renée, Trihn’s friend.”

  “Hi, Renée.” He shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You, too. Take care of my friend,” she said with a slight warning in her voice. “I’m just going to head out and leave you two alone.” Renée tossed keys on a blue keychain to Trihn. “Lock up after you leave.”

  “Thanks. I will.”

  Renée left them in a hurry, clearly feeling the wave of tension between them.

  Had it really only been this morning when I woke up in his arms, desperate to never leave?

  For some reason, as they stood apart now, it felt like a lifetime ago.

  “So, this is your studio?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Can you show me around?” He smiled tentatively. “I want to see where you spend all your time.”

  “Sure,” she whispered.

  She didn’t exactly want to play like everything was fine. She was upset but not at him. She was more upset with herself for wanting him to go with her so badly when she had never wanted that before. She just didn’t know how to channel that anger.

  He took her hand, and they walked around the studio through the open foyer, down the hallway where the administrative offices were, past the empty dressing rooms, and around to all the dance studios. She ended the tour in the studio she and Renée had just been working in.

  Trihn walked Preston over to the far wall, which had floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the New York City street below. He was so silent, and she wished she knew what he was thinking. She didn’t even know what he was doing here.

  She couldn’t hold in all the emotions swirling through her any longer. “Why are you here?” she blurted.

  “Do I need a reason to come see you?”

  “You’ve never visited me at dance before.”

  “Not true,” he said quickly.

  “Not since that first night.”

  “I know, but you sounded upset in your text, and then you never responded to my other messages.”

  “I was in dance. I didn’t check them.”

  “Or you were avoiding me,” he said.

  It was a pretty astute assessment. She hadn’t wanted to think about anything, so she hadn’t checked her phone.

  “Not on purpose.”

  Preston’s fingers curled around her elbow, and he pulled her toward him. “You’re mad at me.”

  “I’m not,” she insisted.

  “You are.” His hands circled her waist, and then he planted a kiss on her forehead.

  “No, I’m really not.” She sighed heavily.

  The feel of him against her just strengthened her resolve. She wasn’t mad at him. She wanted him too much, in dangerous amounts. And him being here was showing her that clear as day.

  “I’ve just never invited anyone to go with me on vacation before.”

  He looked down at her with earnest. “You know I would go with you if I could get off work.”

  “I know,” she insisted. “I just think I was so excited for you to come with me before I even asked you. I know we’ve only known each other for a couple of months, but what we have is so much more than I expected. I never really dated seriously before you. It just never felt right, but it does with you. So, I guess I got my hopes up that you would be able to go with me, and I understand your reasons for not going, but I can’t stop myself from feeling this way. Now, I’m babbling…”

  Preston leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She could feel the tension rolling off of her. She stopped thinking and let herself get caught up in his embrace.

  “I know, Trihn,” he murmured against her lips. “I get it.”

  “I don’t think you do.” She firmly pressed her mouth to his once more before confessing the truth that had been resting on her tongue, “I love you.”

  “I love you,” she repeated.

  The words had slipped out of her mouth with unstoppable conviction. She had known for weeks but hadn’t allowed herself to think the actual words.

  This isn’t normal, is it? She wasn’t supposed to fall in love this quickly. She was strong and independent and didn’t need a man. But when she looked up into Preston’s bright blue eyes, she knew she was lost. She knew she loved him. There was no going back from this point.

  “Trihn—”

  “It’s okay,” she said hastily when she realized he hadn’t said anything back. “You don’t have to respond. I didn’t think you would.”

  She bit her lip and looked down.

  “Trihn—” he repeated.

  “I don’t want you to feel pressured to reciprocate. We haven’t been dating for that long,” she said. Her anxiety was peaking. She had just confessed her feelings to the first boy she ever loved, and now, she felt like an idiot.

  “Trihn!”

  “What?” she asked, finally looking up at him.

  “Just shut up.”

  Preston latched on to the back of her neck and crushed his lips down
onto hers. A flush rose to the surface of her skin. Her breathing was labored. Her eyes were pressed firmly closed, and everything else all around her shut down. His lips were a dose of adrenaline to her system, waking her up and fueling her forward.

  Her fingers twined into his hair, and she slid her body against his until no room was left between them. His tongue slipped into her mouth and massaged against her own. His mouth was hot and welcoming. Everything in her surrendered to that kiss.

  What little resistance she had left crumbled under his skilled lips, the taste of his tongue, and the slight pressure on the small of her back. Want was a live thing inside of her, and Preston fulfilled what she so desperately craved.

  His hands ran down her back and hoisted her legs up and around his hips. She gasped against him as he lowered to his knees right there in the ballet studio overlooking the entire city below them. But no one else existed. It was just their two bodies silhouetted against the glass, coming together in an act of love.

  Preston lowered her to the black marley floor and immediately covered her body with his own. He pressed his dick against the thin layer of material of her shorts. She groaned and rocked her pelvis up toward him.

  His laugh was deep and guttural in her ear.

  “What?”

  He started kissing his way down her front. “I’m going to take my time with you.”

  She practically purred at the comment.

  He pushed her shirt up her flat stomach and slowly dragged it over her head before tossing it away from them. His lips fluttered around her breast before one of his fingers dipped under her black bra. She arched her body as he flicked his finger against the erect nipple. His other hand reached under her body and eased the hooks out of the eyes. The bra fell away from her and was slung in the same direction as her shirt.

  “Fuck me,” he groaned before taking a nipple into his mouth and kneading her breast with his hand. “This body.”

  He moved to the other breast, making sure each had equal amounts of attention, before landing kisses down the curve of her stomach. He swirled his tongue around her belly button and then trailed it to the waistband of her shorts. Hooking his finger under the edge, he lingered against her sensitive skin, teasing her. She bit into her lip to keep from begging.

  His eyes were alight and mischievous when he looked back at her. He was completely in control of himself and her body. She wouldn’t have changed it for the life of her.

  “Guess you don’t need these,” he teased.

  Her shorts and thong disappeared in one swift tug, and before she had a chance to respond, he buried his face between her legs. She couldn’t hold in her cries as he ran his tongue along her clit and forced her legs to open farther for him.

  He licked, sucked, and nibbled on her until she bucked beneath him. She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to handle anything more, and then his fingers found the opening to her lips.

  “Mmm,” she sighed.

  He swirled his fingers through her wetness, coating them, before sliding them inside her pussy.

  “I fucking love the feel of you tightening around my fingers like that,” he said from between her legs. “Tighter, babe. I want to feel you fuck my fingers like you would my dick.”

  His words fueled her desire, and she tightened even more without even thinking about it. Her walls squeezed him so hard that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t already orgasmed.

  “Yes”—he flicked his tongue against her clit again—“that’s what I want.”

  “Oh, fuck,” she cried out.

  “My turn. I’m going to finger-fuck you until you’re dripping on this floor, until you come so hard that you see stars,” he promised. His fingers started pumping in and out, harder and faster, before they curled up into her, finding the perfect spot to send her over the edge.

  She came just as hard as he’d promised. Her lower half exploded all at once, and a muffled cry escaped her lips. Her walls were still clenching around his fingers as she finished.

  “Now, I’m going to take what’s mine.” He slid his fingers out from her still-quivering body and playfully swiped his fingers against her clit.

  She yelped and pulled back. She hadn’t recovered enough to even be touched there.

  He chuckled and immediately started stripping out of his clothes. When he freed himself from his boxers, she had her own smirk at seeing what her orgasm had done to him. He was as hard as a rock and practically throbbing to get inside her.

  “Wait,” she said, before he positioned himself in front of her.

  If he did that, she would never be able to stop him. Her mind would completely shut off, and she owed him more than that.

  Trihn came up to her knees and ran her fingers up his thighs before taking his cock in her hands. “I want you to feel this, too.”

  To feel my love.

  She didn’t give him a moment to protest, not that she thought he would. She wrapped one hand around the base of his dick and then wet the head, swirling her tongue around in a circle. He steadied himself with a hand in her hair as she took him all the way into her mouth. Then, she started bobbing back and forth, sucking him until she was sure he couldn’t grow any bigger.

  His moans filled the space, bringing a smile to her face. Then, his fingers tightened in her hair, and he started thrusting into her mouth. She still had control of him, but he didn’t seem to be able to stop either. He was so close. She was sure she was going to feel him hitting the back of her throat at any second, but she still didn’t stop.

  Just when she thought he was going to come undone, he harshly pulled back and stumbled backward a step, away from her.

  Her eyes went wide in panic, and she sat back on her heels in confusion. “What?”

  He was breathing heavily as he stared down at her. “If I’m coming, I’m coming inside of that pussy.”

  Her mouth gaped open in surprise at the crude words, but she didn’t protest. Isn’t that exactly what I want?

  Preston closed the distance between them and forced her onto her back again. Her heart thudded in her chest as she spread her legs wide for him.

  This was it. She was giving herself to him, giving him everything. He’d had her before but not like this, not with the knowledge that she loved him. This time it felt like so much more.

  His hands clasped down on her hips and dragged her an inch closer to him before he plunged deep into her. She kept her eyes trained on his beautiful face as he pumped into her over and over again. They were both so worked up from the foreplay that she knew they were going to hold out for long. He had almost come in her mouth. There was no way he could resist it while being inside her.

  Trihn ran her hands up his arms and pulled his face back down toward her. She passionately kissed him with all the love in her heart as she gave her heart, body, and soul to him.

  And as she came for a second time, she once again whispered the words to him in earnest, “I love you.”

  “I LOVE YOU. I’ll always love you,” Preston coos into my ear.

  I lean back into his arms with a sigh. This is right.

  “Honey, did you need to stop?” Linh asked.

  Trihn shook herself from her daydream in frustration and stared at her mom sitting in the passenger seat of their Mercedes SUV while her dad drove.

  A week had passed since she confessed her love to Preston. He hadn’t responded, but she was sure he felt the same. She didn’t want to rush him even though she couldn’t help but think about it and what it would be like when he said those three beautiful words. Unfortunately, for the next week, she would be on her stupid family vacation without him.

  “No, Mom, I don’t need a break. We’re almost to the Hamptons anyway,” she said, slumping back in her seat.

  Her mom gave her a motherly look that said she wasn’t going to take this attitude from her youngest daughter throughout the entire vacation. Trihn just slid her Bose headphones out from her oversize Kate Spade bag and drowned out all the other noise in the
car. She wouldn’t mind going back to that daydream.

  She checked her phone for the umpteenth time and sighed at the lack of response. She knew Preston was working and not normally all that talkative during the day anyway, but still…she missed him. She hadn’t even gotten to say good-bye because he was so busy.

  As she and her parents drove into the Hamptons, Trihn’s eyes slid over the stunning mansions. Each was bigger and more outdone than the next. For someone who had grown up and lived her entire life in a townhouse surrounded by millions of other people, the giant houses and wide open spaces in the Hamptons were a thankful reprieve from the city. But by the end of the week, she was always ready to get back to her home.

  Her father turned down the street where the house they rented for a week every year sat as untouched and as beautiful as ever. She slipped her headphones off her ears and leaned forward in the seat.

  “Glad to be back?” her father, Gabriel, asked.

  She nodded. “Yeah. A lot of good memories here.”

  He pulled into the driveway and parked in one of the three empty garages. Trihn popped open her door and hopped out, inhaling the balmy sea air.

  “Where’s Ly?” Trihn asked. “I thought she came up yesterday.”

  Linh waved her hand. “Oh, I asked her to pick up some things that I forgot for the welcome party tomorrow night.”

  “You got her to go to the store for you?” Trihn asked with wide eyes.

  “Lydia was happy to help.”

  Trihn rolled her eyes. That didn’t sound like her sister. “Okay,” she said disbelievingly.

  She grabbed her bag off the floor of the SUV and trudged toward the house. She was halfway up the stairs when her mother called her back into the kitchen.

  Trihn sighed and then ditched her bag at the foot of the stairs. “What?”

  Linh held up a piece of paper and waved it at her. “Seems Mr. Peterson has already been over, looking for you,” she said with a knowing smile.

  “It’s just Ian, Mother, no Mr. Peterson and definitely none of those looks.”

  “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure,” Trihn said with a shake of her head. In the next minute though, she was out of the house and jogging across the immaculate lawn to the house next door.