“You’d push me away after.”

He lifted a shoulder but said nothing.

He was so darn condescending and cocky. “Why are you at another frat party that I just happen to be at? Who are you? Why are you following me?”

Finn leaned against a palm tree and looked far too casual, but he reminded me of one of those lions on the Discovery Channel. He looked perfectly calm on the surface, but in a second he could be all deadly and lethal. “I’m here because I was taking a walk down the beach, and I saw you and that loser kissing. Then I saw you push him away. I wanted to make sure you were okay, but now I’m wishing I had bashed his head into the fucking wall before I let him go.”

My heart rose to my throat. “Why?”

“Because you should be kissing me,” he practically whispered. “Not some college boy who doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

He closed the distance between us. And as soon as his hands were on my hips, his mouth was on mine. The familiar sensations he’d awoken in me came to life, and I clung to him. His tongue entwined with mine, and he grabbed my waist, yanking me against him.

I lifted up on tiptoe, trying to get closer, and moaned softly. He needed to do that again. And more. This is how a kiss was supposed to feel. This is what it was supposed to do to me. I might be inexperienced, but even I knew what a good kiss felt like.

And. This. Was. It.

As soon as my lips touched hers, I knew I was making one of the biggest fucking mistakes of my life. I shouldn’t have done that. I really shouldn’t have done that. Seeing her in that bastard’s arms had triggered something deep within me. Something had made me go crazy and come down on her like a barbarian or some shit like that. I’d needed to show her who she should really be kissing. That same primal urge had apparently taken away the common sense God had given me. This was strictly off limits. Forbidden.

Yet I couldn’t stop.

When she whimpered into my mouth and pressed even closer to me, pressing her soft stomach against my hard cock, I wanted so badly to forget all the reasons why I couldn’t kiss her. Forget all the reasons I couldn’t bring her back to my place and spend all night making her scream my name.

But then my phone buzzed.

And all the reasons I shouldn’t be kissing her came flooding back. I jerked free and stumbled back, a hand over my mouth. As if that would help remove the memory of how wonderful she tasted. “Fuck.”

She stiffened, her sapphire eyes going narrow. “No. Fuck you.” Flinging her hair over her shoulder, she headed for the dorms.

I ignored my phone and stumbled after her. “Wait. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry about what?” She spun around, arms akimbo and eyes blazing. “Sorry you kissed me again? Sorry you keep kissing me and then regretting it? Sorry you keep following me around?” She shoved my shoulders hard, but I didn’t move. Not much could move me anymore. “What’s your deal, anyway?”

I clenched my jaw. “The truth is, I don’t want to want you. I’m a Marine. I could be out of this place in days for all I know. And I barely know you, and yet I can’t stay away. That’s what I’m doing here. That’s why I keep coming back.”

Even if it is my job to follow you around.

“Why aren’t you supposed to want me?” Her eyes went wide and she pointed a finger at me. “Oh my God, you have a girlfriend. Don’t you?”

My heart stuttered to a stop before speeding up painfully. For a second, I thought she knew who I really was. For a second, I thought my cover had been blown. And I had been relieved. Maybe I needed to stop this game. Quit.

“No. I don’t.” I held my hands out to my sides, palms up. “I’m not a cheater.”

“Just a player.”

No, just a liar. “Pretty much. And I’m already committed to my work.”

She pressed her lips together. “The Marines.”

I wanted to correct her. Tell her it was my other job that was causing problems, but then she’d want more info. Info I couldn’t give her. “Right.”

She smoothed her hair. “So what are we supposed to do? Stop seeing each other?”

I couldn’t do that even if my job wasn’t to see her. I wanted to be with her, plain and simple; no matter how wrong it might be. “No. I can’t do that.”

“Then what do you want from me?” She tilted her head back and looked up at me, her lips soft and her eyes even softer. I wanted to kiss her again, but I held back. “You aren’t making any sense.”

“I want to…I want to teach you to surf, and ride on my bike, and be with you, but I can’t be with you.”

I cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead. Her lids drifted shut, and she swayed closer. It took all my control to not capture her lips. To not take what she so freely offered, but she didn’t realize who she offered her lips to. If she knew she would hate me.

More than I hated myself right now.

She held on to my biceps and gave me a small smile. “Friends?”

“Friends.”

She nodded and dropped her hold on me. I let her go, but it was hard. Way too fucking hard. “Then you can’t be mad if you see me kissing other guys. You can’t not want me, but not want me to be with someone else. That’s not fair.”

The hell it wasn’t.

“I can’t promise that.” I gritted my teeth. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep, and I don’t think I can keep that one.”

“Then at least promise you won’t lie to me anymore.” She canted her head. “Can you promise me that?”

I swallowed hard. “I can’t promise that either,” I managed to say. “But I can promise to do my best not to hurt you and to be a good friend.”

She gave me one last look and turned on her heel, leaving me behind. I followed her, even though I had been clearly dismissed. Yep. She was just like her father. “Would you rather I lie and say I’ll never tell you a lie? Who can promise that?”

“Honest people. That’s who.”

I laughed hard. “So you’ve never lied to me?”

She hesitated. I could see her recalling our time together, going over every conversation in detail. After licking her lips, she finally admitted, “No. I guess I can’t say that.”

“See?” Of course, I already knew all about the lies she’d told me. Every single one. “No one can promise that. People lie all the time, especially when it comes to little things.”

My phone buzzed again, but I ignored it. Hers buzzed too and she pulled it out. After quickly typing on her phone, she gave me her attention again. “Fine. You win.” Her phone buzzed again and she rolled her eyes. “What is he even doing up?”

“Who?” I asked, even though I knew who it was. I hadn’t answered his text soon enough, so he’d texted his daughter. The dude needed some form of medication and some serious help.

“My dad.” She stole a quick peek at me as she texted. “He’s kind of crazy protective.”

“No kidding.”

She snorted. “I wish I was kidding. It’s, like, after midnight there.”

“Where are you from?”

She froze, her fingers hovering over her iPhone screen. “Washington, D.C.”

“Nice.” I rocked back on my heels, slipping back into my role. It was time to play the part of interested friend again. Asking questions I already knew the answer to. “What does he do?”

“Oh, nothing too interesting.” She put her phone away and gave me a calculating stare. “Something to do with billing.”

Or making bills. “Oh, that sounds fun.”

“Not really,” she said, smiling. “It’s pretty boring. What do your parents do?”

“My mom died of cancer when I was sixteen.” I ignored the pang of pain I still felt at the loss. There was no use living in the past, and it would never go away. “My dad is in security.”

She placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry for you loss. I can’t even imagine…”