I Kissed Her First: A BOUND TOGETHER NOVEL Read online

  She hands me the bottle in her hand with a devious grin, making me laugh. Oh, she has naughty plans for tonight, and they might be the exact distraction I need.

  Tipping the bottle back, I take several long pulls, my eyes staying on Harper. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand right as she looks up at me and blows me a kiss. Maybe we’ll be okay.

  * * *

  “That’s it. We’re all skinny-dipping,” Gabby announces after we’ve drained a couple bottles of liquor between the four of us.

  The night started fun and light and then turned weird and awkward. Bless this crazy, drunk girl for trying to keep the mood up. I’m just not sure that Teddy seeing Harper naked is exactly going to help me feel better right now.

  Before anyone can protest, Gabby has her top off, shimmying her newly pierced nipples in Teddy’s face. Harper laughs so hard she spews out the drink she just took.

  “Sexy, babe,” I tease.

  Standing up, she bites her lip and pulls the tie behind her back before reaching up for the one behind her neck. “Harper,” I warn. But she pulls it anyway, brow raised in defiance.

  Gritting my jaw, I stare up at her, pleading with her not to do this right now. But she’s too drunk to care. She starts to spin around, but I’m quick to my feet, grabbing onto her tits to block them from anyone else’s view.

  Leaning down, I whisper in her ear, “These are mine. No one else’s.” Then I bite into the place where her neck and shoulder meet, squeezing her breasts in my hands. My eyes never leave Teddy’s, letting him know right the fuck here and now who’s she is.

  As we stare off at each other, Gabby looks back and forth between us as I spin Harper in my arms to face me again. Then Gabby turns to Teddy and rips his shorts down. “Oh, someone is happy to see me,” she teases at the fact that he’s hard. But it only pisses me off more.

  I decided then that I may regret every second of this tomorrow, but right now, I’m going to show him exactly what he isn’t getting. Pulling the sides of Harper’s bottoms, the fabric falls to the sand at her feet. I smack her ass, earning a yelp out of her as Gabby pulls her bottoms off and grabs Teddy’s hand to pull him behind her toward the ocean.

  Once they aren’t looking at us anymore, I pull my shorts down and look at Harper. She’s in her own drunken haze, unaware of what’s happening around her except for the fact that we’re both naked on the beach.

  Reaching down between us, she grips me in her hand, making me groan. Her sexy little smirk plays at the corner of her lips. “Harper…” I start but trail off, closing my eyes when she squeezes me harder. “I need you, baby, but I don’t have anything here.”

  She licks her lips. “Take me, Jett. I’m yours to have. Only ever yours.” We haven’t had sex yet since I’ve been back this time. I never want to rush her when there are so many months between us, but right now, I need her.

  Picking her up, her legs wrap around me as she pulls herself high on my front while I line up with her entrance. When she slowly slides down on me, we both moan loud, loud enough that I’m sure half the town heard. We start at a slow and steady pace as our mouths fuse together.

  “Water. I want to do it in the ocean,” she says after a few minutes. Turning, I walk, still inside her, into the ocean up to my chest as the waves splash around us. Gripping onto her ass, I push and pull as my hips move in tandem.

  Her hands are in my hair, pulling hard. I capture her moans in my mouth, kissing her with everything in me. Her new tongue stud slides along my lip and around my mouth, spurring me on more. Her head falls back, and I suck one of her pink nipples into my mouth. “Yes,” she moans. We’re both close, about to crash together with the water and waves while our friends are only feet away from us.

  But what started as something to prove is now an act of passion. I don’t care about anyone or anything else around but us, together at this moment under the moon.

  My hand slides up her spine, bringing her mouth back to mine. “I love you, Harper,” I say against her lips. Seconds later, she’s yelling my name and then I’m spilling into her, wishing this never had to end.

  Opening her eyes, she looks at me with heavy lids and a smile. “I love you too.”

  Our bubble pops with the sound of Gabby’s scream. Our heads turn to see her very obviously getting fucked by Teddy.

  Harper and I turn back to look at each other with eyes wide in surprise. We both start to laugh hysterically until tears are spilling down our faces.

  Slipping from her, I bend my knees, dipping us into the water to our necks. “I missed you,” I tell her honestly.

  “Shit, Jett, what’s going to happen now?”

  “We aren’t going to talk about it. Not right now anyway. Let’s ignore everything that’s about to crash down on us a little longer. Please, Harper, give me a little bit longer to forget,” I start to beg.

  She kisses me over and over all over my face. “Shhh…okay, baby.”

  We stay in the water a little longer, feeling relaxed and sleepy from the mixture of alcohol and sex. Picking her up, I walk her back to the beach, still wanting to shield her from Teddy’s eyes.

  Once there, I wrap a towel around her to dry her off first, then pull my hoodie over her head before wrapping the towel around my waist. Stepping into my shorts, I pull them up under the towel. Then I kneel in front of Harper and hold out her shorts for her to slip on under my hoodie.

  I sit down on one of the chairs we brought with us and pull her to sit on my lap after adding some wood to the dying fire. Harper connects her phone to the speaker that Gabby brought, and soon, “Sweet Creature” by Harry Styles begins to play as she snuggles into my chest. Each word of the song resonates through me with their truth.

  Harper and I are once again lost in our little bubble when Teddy and Gabby walk back up to our spot on the beach. Teddy at least has the decency to cover himself with his hand until he wraps a towel around his waist. Meanwhile, no-shame-Gabby stays in the nude, turning to us.

  “Do we get to switch partners now?” she asks, looking at me and wagging her brows.

  Harper tenses in my arms. “We aren’t swingers, and this isn’t a fuck-fest, Gabs,” I scoff.

  “But it could be,” she says with an evil grin.

  “Put some damn clothes on, Gabby,” Harper yells.

  “Or—” Gabby starts again, but Harper cuts her off, getting to her feet.

  “I swear to God, Gabriella, if you don’t put some clothes on and stop trying to fuck my boyfriend, I will drown you right now,” Harper seethes.

  I’ve never seen her mad like this before, and although it’s not the right time, it’s making me hard again seeing her all fired up and territorial of me. I shift in my seat, reaching for her hand. “Harper,” I call to her, trying to get her to look at me. “She’s drunk.”

  Harper finally spins and looks at me with tears in her eyes that gut me. I stand up and cup her face in my hands, searching her eyes for answers to why she’s so upset. “Take me home, Jett. Please?” Her eyes close and a tear falls down her cheek. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

  “Okay, baby. We’ll go.” I press a kiss to her lips. “Go on up to the walking path. I’ll gather your bag and meet you there in a minute.” She doesn’t fight me, only nods and walks away without a word or look back behind her.

  I stare at Gabby, waiting until I think Harper is far enough away not to hear what I’m about to say.

  “Enough of this shit, Gabs. Stop trying to ruin everything before it has to be. Just… just give us this summer.” I pause and shift my eyes to Teddy for a second, who’s been silent in the background this whole time. “Please, just give me this summer.” I quickly grab up our shit. “And put some fucking clothes on,” I tell Gabby, not giving her another glance.

  When I reach Harper, she’s staring off, looking lost. “Want to stay at my place for the night?” I ask, taking her hand in mine and bringing it to my lips for a kiss.

  “I’d like that.”

&nb
sp; We walk in silence and stay that way through each of us taking a shower and climbing into my bed. Everything about tonight feels wrong. Nothing is like it should be, and I hate it.

  “I’m sorry,” she says softly, turning into my side and resting her hand on my chest.

  “What are you sorry for? Gabby is the one being a little bitch tonight.”

  “I mean, yeah, but still. I’m sorry. I just… I got so mad.”

  “I know,” I chuckle. “It made me hard to see you get all jealous.”

  She sits up and looks down at me. “It did not.”

  I nod. “Totally did, babe.”

  She lies back down and is quiet for a few minutes before she starts again. “Seeing her like that with you—with me right there—was like seeing my own personal nightmare these past two years playing out in front of me.”

  I pull her closer until she’s on top of me, needing her as close to me as possible. I know how she feels because I’ve felt the same way about her. She’s told me before about feeling jealous and insecure about seeing pictures and hearing about me with other girls. And I get it, because that’s how I feel every time I see or hear about her and Teddy.

  “Gabby might want me, but I don’t want her, Harper. I never have and never will. She might be our crazy friend, but that’s it.” She takes in a deep breath, and I feel it fan out over my skin as she exhales. “Do you believe me when I say I love you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you believe me when I say I don’t want her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you believe me when I’ve told you I haven’t touched any girl but you?”

  She pauses for a second, and it’s a second too long before she says, “Yes.” That one second hurts more than if she would have just said no.

  Sitting up with her straddling my lap, I take her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. “Harper, I have never wanted anyone but you. Ever.”

  She bites her lip trying to keep the tears in her eyes from falling. When her eyes close, those tears cascade down her beautiful face. “I miss you so much when you’re gone. Think about you every morning as I watch the sun rise. Wish I had you close enough to touch you each day. I’m not as strong as I thought I was. Being away from you is torture, Jett.”

  “Soon…” I start but stop myself. “I’m here now.”

  “Please don’t leave again.”

  I close my eyes and bring her lips to mine. “I’m here now,” I say again into our kiss.

  I kiss her hoping that she feels everything I want to tell her but can’t. This time when we connect, I take my time worshipping her, showing her how much I love her. We make slow, sweet love until we’re both wrung dry with nothing left to give.

  Chapter Eleven

  Gabby

  I wake up to feel the sun burning my skin. Blinking my eyes several times, I remember now that we were all sleeping on the beach last night. Groaning, I rub my temples as my head pounds. That’s when I realize that I’m sleeping on an arm that isn’t mine. Turning my head to see who it’s attached to, I realize it belongs to Teddy.

  “Oh shit,” I whisper, sitting up slowly, trying not to wake him up. That’s when all the bad decisions from last night come back to me.

  My head in my hands, elbows on my knees, I push my hair back out of my face. Why the fuck do you do this, Gabby?

  “Stop overthinking it,” I hear Teddy say, his voice sounding hoarse and scratchy.

  “I messed up last night.”

  “Thanks, Gabs. Just what a guy wants to hear the morning after a night of fucking,” he deadpans.

  Looking over my shoulder, I meet his eyes. He sits up, leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss on my skin. I don’t deserve his kindness or gentleness. But he knows. He’s the only one who knows everything there is to know about me. More than even Harper or my friends back in Miami, not because I chose to tell him but because he found out by accident one day.

  “She was so fucking mad, Teddy.”

  “She’ll get over it. It’s been a rough couple of years for her,” he says, looking down to the sand.

  I stand and brush the sand off of me as best as I can. Picking up a shirt, I slide it on and step into a pair of shorts. “I need to go talk to her.”

  He lies back down, covering his eyes with his arm to shield them from the sun. “She’s probably at Jett’s.” I pause for a second, looking at him and knowing he’s hurting too, but I need to go make this right.

  * * *

  I knock lightly on the door, gnawing on my lip nervously as I wait for Jett to answer. I’m about to turn to leave when I see him coming down the stairs after my third time knocking.

  He takes a beat to open the door when he sees it’s me. I don’t blame him after last night.

  “What do you want, Gabby? Don’t you think you made a mess of things enough last night?” His sharp honesty hits me in the gut and hurts, but I deserve his anger.

  “I need to talk to her. To apologize.”

  “She’s still sleeping.”

  “Can I come in and wait?” I ask, pleading with him with my eyes and hoping he’ll give in. He stares at me for longer than I feel comfortable. Shifting on my feet, I drop my face to look at the ground between us.

  “Fine,” he says, snapping my head up again. “But, Gabs, don’t you dare pull that shit from last night again.”

  I nod and walk inside, following him into the kitchen, where he turns on the coffee machine. I sit on a stool to wait while he makes a cup of coffee. I’m surprised when he slides it in front of me and then turns to make another cup for himself.

  “Fuck, Jett. I’m so sorry.”

  He leans back against the counter, taking a sip of his java and staring at me again. It has me wondering what the hell that’s all about when he relaxes and begins to look more like the Jett I know.

  “She needs you. She will need you. And I need you to swear on her life that you won’t tell her what I’m about to tell you.”

  My face pulls in confusion, but I nod. “Okay.”

  “I’m not going to school with you guys in the fall. I made a deal with my dad when he moved us back to LA that I’d get to come back for these past summers if I went to the school he chose for me.”

  “But we’ve talked about all of us going together…” I trail off. “But she doesn’t know, and you don’t want her to.”

  He walks over to where I am, leaning on his forearms with his head dropped low in defeat. “I know it’s going to hurt her, and I just can’t.”

  “You have to tell her at some point, Jett. Where are you going then?”

  “That’s the fucked-up part. I don’t even know yet myself. But if I had to guess, it’ll be far away from Harper. My dad sees her as a weakness and what keeps me from ‘growing up and moving on from this rebellious stage of my life.’”

  “You know that Teddy and I will be there for her, no matter what.” I see his jaw clench at the sound of Teddy’s name, and I smirk. “Down, boy, you know she doesn’t see him like that no matter how much he wants her to.”

  “Yeah…” He purses his lips and takes another sip of his coffee. “I just need this summer with her. I need to live in my fantasy where Harper and I can be together a little longer.”

  “Of course,” I say, wishing someone could love me the way he loves her.

  “Am I interrupting?” Harper says from the entry of the kitchen. She’s wearing only a T-shirt with her hair a mess.

  I smile at her. She’s beautiful in a way other girls wish they could be, and she has no idea. Which makes her even more beautiful.

  I stand to walk to her. “I begged him to let me wait for you to wake up. I’m so sorry, Harper. I’m a fucking idiot. I know I messed up and pushed too far last night. As soon as I woke up this morning, all I could think about was finding you to apologize and hope that you might forgive me. I feel awful, Harps.”

  Her arms are crossed over her chest and she looks at me for a while, probably taking in my own dish
eveled appearance, I’m sure. Then she rolls her eyes. “Fine. I forgive you, you bitch. But I swear to you, I will drown you if you ask to sleep with Jett again.” I rush to hug her, wrapping my arms around her tightly. “And stop taking your clothes off all the time. We all know you’re hot but damn. Keep the goods hidden a little, okay?” she adds, smiling at me when we pull apart.

  “I’m done. I swear. I’m sorry,” I say again. “Trashy Gabby is gone. I’m going to be primmer and more proper now.”

  “I didn’t say that…” Harper laughs. “I like my crazy-ass friend. I just like her without seeing her ta-tas all the time.”

  “On that note, I’m in desperate need of a shower. I’ll leave you two to…” I trail off with a knowing grin.

  Jett

  I watch Harper as Gabby leaves, waiting to see if she really is okay. She turns to look at me, her eyes coasting down my chest, and she lifts a brow at me.

  “I woke up hearing someone knocking. I answered the door as fast as I could so it didn’t wake you up,” I say with my hands up in surrender.

  She slowly stalks over to me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “I didn’t like waking up without you in bed with me.”

  “I’m sorry, baby. Promise I would have preferred to stay there.” I kiss the top of her head. “You okay?”

  She nods against my chest, but I’m not buying it. Tucking my finger under her chin, I tilt her head back to look at me. “Take me back to bed,” she says softly.

  Placing my mug on the counter behind me, I pick her up and sit her on the island. “I’m hungry for some breakfast first.” I grin down at her, flicking my new lip ring with my tongue. I see the heat in her eyes knowing exactly what I mean.

  My fingers dance up her thighs, and I’m excited when I feel that she’s bare under my shirt she’s wearing. I pull the shirt off of her and drop it at my feet. She is the most beautiful thing I will ever have the pleasure of laying my eyes on.