Love, All (Camp Firefly Falls Book 19)

by Tamsen Parker

  Out here by the tennis courts, she could put some of that aside and appreciate how calm and peaceful it was. Except for the shouts and grunting that were coming from the match she was watching. Which were, to be honest, enjoyable in their own way.

  Ruby had liked Nate’s body from the beginning—what wasn’t to like about a tall handsome guy in a well-fitting tux?—but seeing him in motion was drool-inducing. Sure, they’d walked for hours and hours with each other by this point, but watching him tear across the court? His tee plastered to his back with sweat and his lean muscles flexing with effort? The precise mechanics of his athleticism as he lined up and took a shot over the net? Hell, she could watch him all day.

  But who knew how long she actually had. The power had gone out at Landry’s, which wasn’t in and of itself a closing situation—they still had the old-school credit card slidey thingers and the carbon paper they used to make easily destroyable records for when people rented equipment and had used those to record actual payments when their systems had gone down or when there was another power outage. But when the power had come back on, the alarm system had gone haywire, and despite being in touch with the alarm company, they hadn’t been able to fix it. Yet. Jim Landry had sent them home from the blaring alarms and flashing lights but had said if they could get it fixed in a reasonable amount of time, he’d call them back in.

  She should’ve been dealing with crap at home—there was always a mountain of laundry, paperwork to be sorted through, budgets to tweak. And yet she was here. Probably inadvisable to use the gas she hoarded, but was it really so awful to treat herself for once? And that’s what watching Nate play tennis was. A goddamn treat.

  He was beautiful and strong and masculine and just plain good at what he was doing. It made her engine purr, even watching him from a distance. What would it be like to touch him when he was like this? Probably those same engines would rev pretty damn hard. She was willing to find out.

  Initially, she’d worried she was interrupting a lesson, but the way the men on the court yelled at each other and the complete lack of instruction gave the impression of a match between friends, not a paid-for educational opportunity. And if she were wrong, well, she could wait for the end of the hour or however long.

  In the meantime, Ruby walked closer, smiling at the mild and somewhat bewildering trash talk between the two guys on the court—“I hope you like cream cheese because you’re about to get bageled!” Whatever the hell that meant.

  When she was sure Nate would be able to see her and they weren’t in the middle of playing, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “Double fault, ace, match point, deuce, love all!”

  Yep, that was about all the tennis lingo she knew. But it was good enough to get the attention of Nate and the guy he was playing with, too.

  Nate’s face lit up like a ray of sun was going across it. He looked nothing short of delighted. While she thought he’d be happy to see her, this was more than she was expecting. Her stomach flipped and her cheeks got hot. Okay, so it had been impulsive to come out here, and now maybe Nate was going to read more into this than she’d like for him to. But honestly, after she’d spent the weekend at his parents’ house with Chloe, this wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. She liked him.

  As Nate jogged toward her with that big grin plastered on his face, she felt kind of warm and squishy. He made quick work of flinging open the chain-link door to the court and greeted her with a kiss on the lips before holding her at arm’s length. “Sorry, I’m all gross and sweaty, don’t want to get it on you.”

  “S’okay.” She shrugged, not wanting to admit that, while she could do without the odor that had crept through his deodorant, she kind of liked him looking all athletic and exercised and…used. Yep, she could definitely work with that.

  “What are you doing here? I thought you had work until five. That’s what I put in my calendar. Did I mess up? I’m sorry, I—”

  “You didn’t mess up. Mr. Landry closed the store because there was a glitch with our security system—the alarms were going off and we couldn’t stop them. No one wants to get a migraine while they’re shopping for golf clubs, you know? So I…”

  Nate studied her, his hands still on her biceps, and his searching eyes seemed to be asking for something. An acknowledgment that she rarely had spare time and, the one time she did, she’d chosen to spend it with him. And why had she come here, after all?

  “So I came to see you. Thought it would be a nice surprise, and thought I might be able to see you in action. Seemed only fair since you’ve seen me do my jobs. I didn’t mean to interrupt, though, so if you’re in the middle of a lesson, I can leave. Or just sit here and probably not heckle you.”

  He stepped in closer, and his hand shifted from her arm to cup her cheek, gently tipping her head up for another kiss. His voice was soft but rumbling as he said, “Don’t you dare.”

  The carnal implication went straight to her core.

  The sound of someone clearing their throat next to them was the only thing that kept her from launching herself at Nate, sweat and being in public and the other ten million reasons making out here would be a bad idea apparently not sufficient to dim her enthusiasm.

  Nate must’ve felt the same way, because he turned to the throat-clearer with a narrow-eyed glare. “What?”

  A guy who was just as sweaty as Nate and not bad-looking himself returned Nate’s demand with a twinkling-eyed smile.

  “We weren’t finished with our match.”

  Nate turned to full-on face the guy, who looked kind of familiar now that she thought of it. In the process, he dropped his hand from her face and laced his fingers through hers. It all seemed so comfortable. Easy. “I forfeit, you win. Now go away.”

  The dude laughed, and Ruby had to snort herself. Then she held out a hand. Nate was being so rude she was sure Georgina would cuff him upside the head if she were here, but Ruby wasn’t required to follow suit.

  “Hi, I’m Ruby. Sorry for interrupting. Have we met?”

  She thought the guy might stick his tongue out at a sulking Nate, but he settled for a smug smile and a shake of her hand. “I’m Birk. I don’t know if we’ve ever officially met, but you’re one of Anya’s staff, right? And you helped me out with a pair of sneakers last summer.”

  He gestured to the beat-up trainers on his feet, and her nose wrinkled. “Not trying to make a sale or anything, but you should probably get a new pair. With that amount of wear, your arch support is probably shot.”

  “All right, enough shop talk, you two. Birk, go away. I’ll see you later. You, come with me.”

  There was a tug on her hand, and she followed Nate wherever he was taking her. Hopefully somewhere that would have privacy and a bed. Or hell, any stable horizontal or vertical surface. She wasn’t picky.

  “Uh, Nate? You forgot your stuff.”

  “Don’t care, I’ll get it later,” he shouted over his shoulder as they headed down a wide dirt path toward a group of cabins amongst tall pines.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ruby had come here. For him. She had basically no spare time to speak of, and when she’d gotten some, she wanted to spend it with him. That might’ve been the nicest compliment anyone had ever given him, and it made him want to do something nice for her. Well, nice things, plural, but he could start with the nice sexy thing.

  Her hand was warm in his as he all but dragged her along toward his cabin, because apparently her wanting to see him in action was a hell of a turn-on, and she was lucky that he hadn’t hefted her over his shoulder and sprinted toward his cabin. Which…shit. He hadn’t been expecting visitors. He’d been living his best life, which didn’t exactly include putting laundry away.

  Well, here was hoping she hadn’t come to camp for a formal tea or whatever. Maybe she’d come to see camp, though? But no, she’d said she’d come to see him, and she hadn’t objected when he’d dragged her off, wasn’t objecting now as he hurried her up the wooden
stairs and put his shoulder into the door that could sometimes get sticky with humidity. No way in hell was a swollen door going to keep him from Ruby.

  The door slammed into the wall, and as soon as he’d pulled Ruby inside, he slammed it right back and then pulled her against him. She had her hair in these french braid pigtail kind of things, and she looked frigging adorable, but it was a little strange, out of character. She noticed him looking and shrugged.

  “Chloe and I are twinsies today.”

  He remembered how happy it had made Willa when she’d gotten to wear a dress that matched their mom’s, and thinking about it made him happy. Ruby was a good mom. And while it felt weird to call it sexy, it really was something he liked about her. Loved about her? Dammit, Van. Now that he’d thought it, he couldn’t unthink it. Maybe he should tell her? They were alone, Chloe wasn’t going to walk in any second, and hell, if Ruby said it back, it would be having seen his living space, which to be honest, didn’t look all that much different than it had when he was in college.

  Which Ruby was now realizing, her gaze skipping over the chaotic space.

  “Is this what your apartment back in Boston looks like, too? Or is this a bachelor-summer special?”

  He laughed and resisted the urge to scrub a hand over the back of his neck. “Nah, I’ve got way nicer milk crates at home.”

  A smile broke out across her face, and he loved seeing her like this. Loved that he could make her smile, make her laugh. And he’d fricking love to make her come before she had to dash back to real life. Make her trip out here worth it. He’d save the L-word for later. He could say that in front of her house sometime or when they were chilling on her couch after a dinner with Chloe, but there were much more limited opportunities for uninterrupted sex.

  So he kissed her. Long, hard, and deep, taking her body that had been vibrating with laughter and making her slump against him, parting her lips to receive his kiss. While their tongues tangled, he reached up and fumbled for the ends of her braids, wanting to feel her silky hair in between his fingers. When he found one, he tugged gently and came up for air.

  “Mind if I take these out?”

  Ruby shook her head and didn’t give him time to respond before pressing herself back against him and returning his kiss. He had definitely not read this situation wrong, and he was happy he’d kept his mouth shut. He was going to show her a good time. As gently as he could, he pulled the hair ties from her pigtails and then sifted his fingers through the braids to release her hair, which then cascaded down her back in waves. Mermaid hair is what Chloe called it. The tight waves were soft, and after he’d had his fill of them, he speared his fingers through it near her scalp and made a fist. Not pulling exactly, but whatever it was made Ruby moan and then pull back slightly.

  “Nate?”

  “Yeah?” They were both panting, sharing the air that was between their lips that were millimeters apart.

  “I want to suck you.”

  Oh, for fuck’s sake. Something in the back of his head exploded. It was like the big-ass fireworks display they did in Boston on the Fourth of July. He’d stayed to do an internship over the summer one year at MIT and he’d gotten to see it from the banks of the Charles. Incredible amounts of lights and music, an overload to the senses, and that’s what he felt like. Overloaded.

  “I—I want that, too. But I don’t want to come like that. I want to come inside you.”

  “What, my mouth doesn’t count?”

  Goddamn this woman. If she kept talking like that and looking up at him through her lashes, he was going to pass out. “Ruby, I—”

  She laughed and kissed him quick before his brain could string any more words together. And then she was on her knees, tugging at his athletic shorts and the compression shorts he wore underneath until his already hardening cock was free. The way she looked at it, at him, was the best kind of present. She wanted him.

  Which was obvious as she circled his base with a hand and leaned in to take him in her mouth. Her hot, wet mouth and her dexterous tongue. She licked around the head and sucked gently before popping off and using just her tongue to lick from base to tip, then swallowing him down again. He was not going to last long at all. Not with Ruby on her knees, not with the way her head felt cradled in his hand, not with the way her breasts pushed up against his legs as she sucked him.

  His fingers scrambled at the hard surface of the door, looking for purchase because he needed to hold onto something or his knees were going to buckle. He could run up and down the court for hours before he eventually tired, but Ruby giving him a blowjob made him feel like he was going to pass out after only a minute. Thankfully he found the doorknob and held on for dear life while she pleasured him.

  Eyes closed, head dropped against the door, one hand in her hair, he let himself steep in the physical sensations. The incredibly warm and slick feel of her mouth, the way her blunt fingernails dug into his ass, the way she seemed to be drawing all the feeling from every inch of his body and concentrating it in his pelvis, it made him lightheaded. And when his balls started to tighten—

  “Ruby, stop, please, I want…”

  She drew off of him with a last suck and looked up at him, her dark brown eyes wide and her mouth gorgeously swollen from working his dick. Christ, it was all he could do to not come at that very second.

  “What do you want?”

  “I want you.” He did. Even worse when she smiled up at him, her eyes darting to the side before meeting his gaze again.

  “I want you, too.”

  ***

  Nate offered her a hand up, and once she’d stood, he kicked off his shoes and shoved his shorts the rest of the way off, pulled the sweat-soaked shirt over his head. Maybe it was the moisture or that he’d been working out, but his muscles looked more defined. Long and lithe and toned, he was a fit and gorgeous man. Not to mention the cock jutting out toward her and his heaving chest and stomach. She’d done that to him. With her mouth.

  “You have too many clothes on.”

  “So true. How are you supposed to fuck me like this?”

  He grabbed her hand and steered her between a few piles on the floor. Books, laundry, what looked like a care package from his parents, and yes, a gaming console hooked up to a small but state-of-the-art TV. They weaved toward the bed, and once there, he set to stripping her. Started by untying her sneakers and pulling them off her feet while she rested a hand on his steady shoulder. Next came untying the knot of the button-down at her waist and shoving the shirt, rolled up cuffs and all, off her. Then her Landry’s tee was lifted over her head, and he kissed and nipped at her stomach before getting her out of her jeans. Followed quickly to the floor by her bra and underwear. Yep, Nate could be efficient when he wanted something. And he had his eye on her.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said, coasting his hands over her shoulders and arms, down to her waist and hips before circling around to her butt and cupping her cheeks. “Do I tell you that enough?”

  What the hell kind of question was that? Another woman might’ve known how to respond to what was clearly a genuine compliment. But Ruby wasn’t one of those women. She was her.

  “Um, yes.” Her protests were made more difficult by him dipping his head to press kisses to her neck and nibble at her earlobe in a way that made her want to rub up against him.

  She felt rather than heard him laugh, and then he was looking at her, his lips curled into a smile. “Clearly I don’t, because you wouldn’t be so weird about it. I’ll add it to my to-do list. But for now, actions seem to be more convincing than words, so I’ll just scramble your brain with orgasms enough that you’ll be able to take a compliment.”

  “I mean, if you must…”

  With that, he pushed her onto the bed, and she bounced on the mattress. After swinging her feet up onto the bed, Nate was crawling over her, pressing kisses as he went, not sparing on nips or small sucks at her skin. God, he felt good, even better when he lowered himself between her th
ighs and let his cock slick between her labia, over her clit. She arched up to get the angle and the contact she wanted and dug her fingertips into the muscles of Nate’s back, using his body for leverage.

  “Can you come like this, Ruby?”

  He asked it like there was a possibility of her not coming.

  “Oh, yes. Yes, I can. I like your skin on my skin.”

  It had been so long since she’d fucked without a condom she’d forgotten the pleasure of no latex between the most intimate parts of her and her partner’s bodies. And she trusted Nate not to take advantage.

  “I like it, too. I’d like it more if you came all over me.”

  She whimpered and tightened her grip, rubbed faster until she felt the tension gathering, squeezing tight while Nate met her rhythm and rocked against her. Every muscle in her body tensed and then released in a flood as the orgasm rocked her body, making her gasp and buck, and if it was possible, want him more.

  “Nate, fuck me please. I want you in me. Please.”

  Luckily, Nate was prepared and grabbed a condom from a drawer of the messy desk to the side of his bed, ripped open the packet, and sheathed himself before the last of the aftershocks had left her body. He didn’t take his time pressing into her, knowing she was wet and ready.

  The penetration felt like completion of a sort, like he was meant to be between her thighs, meant to be a part of her. Their bodies moved in time easily, and she felt surrounded by Nate. His smell, his body, the words he murmured in her ear while they came together.

  She was beautiful, he wanted her, she made him feel so good, and hell, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever been with. Feelings rubbed raw when she’d only expected a good lay almost reduced her to tears. He was almost too good to be true sometimes. But she’d allow herself the goodness while it lasted. So she chased her next climax, grabbing Nate’s taut ass and urging him drive into her farther, harder, until the coiling started again and she could feel it building, bigger than the last. Deeper too, because he was inside of her.