Love is a Beach: a romantic comedy

by Lilliana Anderson

  My whole body comes to life as I moan in response. The funny thing about Leo is that he’s always so restrained. In general life, he’s patient and calm, quiet even. But get him alone and wanting and he’s a bit of a beast. I like it.

  No.

  I love it.

  “All of me?”

  “Mmm.” He returns to my nipples. “We might be here awhile.”

  “I have all afternoon.”

  Lifting his head, he gives me a wicked grin. “Excellent.”

  When he’s finished doing delicious things to my nipples, he makes his way down my stomach, nipping, licking and sucking my skin until he reaches my parted thighs and nudges his mouth right against my apex.

  “You might wanna remove those first,” I say of my underwear, while I press up on my elbows to get a better view.

  He meets my eyes and smirks. “Soon.” Then he places his mouth over the thin silk and blows his hot breath against my centre, heating it to point where I’m gasping and sliding my fingers into his hair.

  “What the hell?” I let my head loll back.

  “Good? Bad?”

  “Wonderful.”

  He runs the tip of his tongue right at the point where my thigh becomes my pelvis, and I shudder.

  “Oh, that’s good too.” I release my hold on his hair as he pulls my underwear from my body, dragging it down my legs in slow-motion torture, the aching between my legs insistent and intense.

  “Leo,” I whisper, reaching for him as he sits back and takes a moment to look at my body. I feel thoroughly loved by his eyes, the way they take in every part of me with such hunger. I forget to worry about the way my breasts sag or my stomach crepes. I forget about the cellulite and stretch marks and the broken veins that normally bother me when I see them in the bathroom mirror. In his eyes, I feel every bit as gorgeous as he tells me I am. “I need you inside me.”

  “Soon.” He quirks one side of his mouth. “I’m in no hurry here, Darce. I want to touch and tease you until you’re so far gone you can’t think straight. I want you to lose control again.”

  “Oh God, Leo.” I place a hand across my forehead, trying not to let that initial embarrassment I felt after our first time get the better of me. “I haven’t had enough wine for that.”

  “Who says you need wine to let go? All you need is trust and enough time riding the edge that you forget to stop yourself.”

  “You sound like you’ve done this kind of thing before,” I say, half-cheeky, half-knowing. It’s silly to think of a man his age and background and not understand he’s slept with far more women than I have men, and while it doesn’t bother me, it does make me feel inexperienced. He’s so sure of himself and I still feel like giggling every time he pays me a compliment.

  “With you”—he slides his hands up my legs, gripping my thighs as he pulls me closer to him—“everything is new again.” He settles himself on the bed, face settled between my thighs so he’s looking directly at my most private parts. When he inhales, my stomach does this crazy flip. Not because I’m shocked, but because I’m turned on by the way he seems to really get off on my scent. It’s carnal. It’s animal-like. And I fucking love it. “That moment when you grabbed your breasts and licked your own nipples…” He hisses his breath in through his teeth as he places a hand on my mound and runs his fingers over my neatly trimmed curls. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve jacked off thinking about that.” He slips a finger between my folds, moaning when he connects with my juices then pushes inside.

  “Oh God.” My cheeks burn while my insides clench around his fingers. It’s a strange sensation, my mind telling me to be embarrassed while my body sighs with arousal. “You’ve been…um”—I struggle to maintain focus and flick my gaze to his tented pants—“over me?”

  “Unashamedly.” He inserts another finger, pressing a kiss between my legs, right on my clit. “Didn’t you?”

  Pressing my lips together, I nod, shocking myself that I’m admitting it. There was a particular video of him on YouTube, dominating the rugby field, that really got me going. “Yes.”

  He flicks his tongue over my clit. “Now we’re getting somewhere. I’d like to see you touching yourself.”

  “You would?”

  He nods as he places his mouth over my core and sucks back on my clit.

  “Oh God.” I grab a fistful of the sheet. “Don’t stop.”

  He chuckles, and I feel the vibration shoot right up to my nipples. “This’ll be over too soon if I don’t.” Pressing a kiss on the inside of my thigh, he keeps his fingers moving as my clit pulses with need.

  “Show me what you do when you’re thinking about me,” he says, taking a hold of my hand and disconnecting it from the sheet. We lock eyes and I’m instantly nervous. But there’s such heat in his gaze that I allow myself to be spurred on as he guides my hand between my thighs and urges it to join his as it pulses inside me. “Yes, Darcy.” His slick fingers slide with mine, his breathing thickening as he watches the show. “Show me what you do when you’re alone.”

  With my eyes on his rapt expression, I slide my fingers up to my clit, circling it before I slide them back inside to join his. Up and back. Up and back. My breasts grow heavy and everything tightens. “Leo,” I gasp, losing focus.

  “Let go, Darcy,” he instructs. And I do. My hips lift as my body shudders and a moan tears from my throat. The moment the orgasm rips through me, Leo moves my hand and replaces it with his mouth and tongue, sucking and swirling on my clit until I’m pulling at his hair and gasping out his name. Wave after wave hits me, and he doesn’t stop, doesn’t let go until I throw my head back, my body wrapped in heavenly fire as I scream, “Leo.”

  With soft gentle laps, he brings me back down, kissing his way back up my body, tasting my neck until he captures my mouth, tongue demanding as he shares my flavour with his passion. “Is that what you imagined?” he whispers against my lips as I wrap my arms around his neck.

  “It was better,” I whisper back. “Way better.”

  “I love it when you scream,” he murmurs, just before he slips his tongue into my mouth and takes over my mind with the hunger in his movement. My head spins and my body comes back to life, calling as though it hadn’t just been given the orgasm of its life by the hottest man I’ve ever met.

  “Leo.” I can still taste that hint of toothpaste from before, but mostly there’s a carnal sweetness on his tongue that I don’t hate. It tastes like sex. I reach for his pants, eager to get them off and feel his hardened length in my hands.

  Keeping our mouths joined, he shucks his pants and I feel the weight of his penis hit against my thigh. “I need you inside me.” I reach down and take him in my hand, pressing my fingertips into the throbbing vein on the underside, my palm gliding up and down his length, thumb finding his slick, precum-drenched tip. He moans and I quicken my movement. “Leo, please. I want you.”

  “Condom,” he says, finally breaking free from my mouth.

  I whimper, because I don’t want to stop holding him in my hand, but at the same time, my insides are throbbing. I want him to fill me.

  “Roll onto your side,” he says, and I roll, not having the slightest bit of hesitation in his instruction. God, I love how sure of himself he is.

  He slips into bed behind me, lining himself up with my entrance then pushing inside, his hand flattening against my stomach as he does. I moan as every nerve ending I possess comes to life, and my brain decides that it doesn’t need thought anymore. Just feeling.

  Reaching back, I pull his hair and turn my head, kissing him over my shoulder as he thrusts in and out of me, his big cock angled perfectly. “Leo,” I gasp, the connection almost transcendent as I spiral towards yet another orgasm. “I’m so close.”

  He pivots his hips, pressing his lips against my shoulder. “Hold on, baby. I’m almost there. Wait for me.”

  “I’m trying. Oh God. You’re so big. You feel so…ohhh God.”

  “Holy fuck,” he grunts, pushi
ng hard against my core as he pulses in my depths. “Fuck, Darcy. That was—”

  “Transcendent?” I offer, grinning as he places soft kisses against my shoulder.

  He chuckles before taking my chin between his fingers and bringing his lips to mine. “Fuck yeah, it was,” he says, kissing me in a way that makes my heart sing. Then and there, I decide that Leo’s workshop is my absolute favourite place in the world. Like Betsy said when she read my cards, “while a man won’t make you happy, having a man who sees the real you and loves what he sees will make all the difference.” And it does. My God, it really does.

  THIRTY-ONE

  LEO

  “How are the kids feeling about starting a new school?” I ask Darcy as we walk along the beach path before the sun comes up. In the two weeks since we decided to give this relationship a red-hot go, we’ve taken to spending this quiet time of day together before our kids wake up. It gives us time to walk and talk without the worry of teenagers kicking up a storm over seeing us together. And it’s been incredible. Building a friendship from scratch. She’s even more amazing than I already knew.

  “Archer is excited. He’s made some good friends through holiday club, so he’s keen to make more. Abigail is being very tight-lipped about it. She’s more relaxed now that her uniform has turned up, but she’s been moaning a lot to her friends back home.”

  “Eavesdropping, huh?” I nudge her arm with mine, giving her a teasing grin.

  “Me? Never.” She laughs a little and then she sighs. “It’s the only way I learn anything about her these days. She’s stopped yelling at me every chance she gets, but she’s still very withdrawn. I’m thinking she might need some grief counselling? I don’t know. I’m hoping school will help her settle in more. Seems we won’t be leaving Nana’s any time soon, so she’ll have to get used to being here.”

  “No news on the job front?” She’s been applying everywhere she can, hoping to find something entry level that still gives her time with her kids. Not an easy feat.

  She shakes her head. “And my single parent benefits are taking forever to process. It’s been a nightmare trying to get that off the ground. Although, the lady at the café on the main road said she might have a couple of days for me when school goes back. But how that’s supposed to pay rent and support two kids, I’ll never know.”

  “Ez is cool with you staying though?” I couldn’t imagine Esme ever pressuring Darcy and her kids to leave. She loves having them there.

  “Of course. She’d keep us forever if she could. I just feel like I’m taking advantage. She pays for most of the food and I’m not contributing to bills.”

  “It’s not taking advantage when it’s freely given, Darce.”

  “I know. But it still doesn’t feel great. I love Nana, I do. But I want my own place again. I want my independence, and the kids need their own space. That bunk set-up you created is amazing, but it’s only temporary. I can’t expect them to share a divided room forever.”

  A sly grin pulls at my lips as I stop walking and catch her about the waist, pulling her against me. “You could always give up your room and bunk in with me.” Never going to happen. But I’d fucking love it if it did.

  With her hands moving up and down my arms, she lets out a heavy sigh. “I’ve considered it, believe me. Do you realise how hard it is not to sneak out at night and knock on your door?”

  I nuzzle close to her ear, inhaling her intoxicating scent. “About as hard as it is to fall asleep knowing you’re only a few metres away.”

  She turns into me and touches her lips to mine. “Torture,” she whispers before we let our need win for a few moments, kissing like teenagers while the cool wind sprays salt against our skin.

  “Pure torture,” I agree, dropping my forehead to hers before we release each other and continue walking, feeling together and apart at exactly the same time.

  Keeping our relationship on the down-low is a necessary evil, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult. Living next door, seeing and hearing each other when you can’t act on that need to be close is bloody hard.

  When you first sign up for parenthood, you don’t realise you’re signing up to willingly put yourself second at every turn. But the moment that kid is placed in your arms, you realise that your child’s happiness is more important than your own. We can try to make the two coexist, but when emotions are high, sacrifices must be made. Darcy’s and my circumstances—our love for our children and concern for their well-being—insist we maintain our distance. For a while, anyway. We have to repair the relationships in our own homes before we introduce anything new.

  “How about Niall?” Darcy asks after a few silent steps. “He’s at one of those fancy private schools in the city, isn’t he?”

  I nod and then shake my head. I always wanted him in public, but Tash insisted on private. With the amount of trouble he’s been in over the years, I wonder if that was the right choice.

  “I don’t know what that answer is.” She laughs as she leans forward slightly to see my expression.

  “The answer is yes. He’s at a fancy private school.”

  “This is his final year. Has he given any indication how he’s feeling about that or what he wants to do next?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing. I took him out, paid for all his school stuff and that’s about as far as that went. I know he’s planning on going to uni, but I’m not sure even he knows what for. He’s quit busting my chops though, so the truce is still working. We’re actually going skydiving this weekend before I take him back to Tash.” I’m really not looking forward to seeing her. She always finds some way to try and make me stay longer, and by the time I leave I feel thoroughly harassed and have a splitting headache. I can’t handle being in the same space as her any more. We’re chalk and cheese. And I often wonder what the hell I ever saw in her.

  “Skydiving? Wow. His idea or yours?”

  “His. It was one of the conditions of the truce.”

  She giggles. “Teenagers. Always trying to bargain over everything. You know, Abby tried to get me to agree to buying her this really expensive backpack for school last weekend. Said she’d clean both hers and Archer’s side of the room for a month if I let her. Of course, I said no. I’m too low on funds these days to think about a three-hundred-dollar backpack, but I had to give her points for trying.”

  This is the point where I don’t know whether to keep my mouth shut or open it. Darcy is a proud woman, and if I offer to give her money she could take that badly. But she’s struggling for cash and I have plenty after always being careful and investing my earnings over the years. I know I can help, but the question is, will she let me?

  “If you’re struggling, Darce, I can help.” I chastise myself internally the moment the words are out there. And the way her eyes bug slightly tells me I probably should have kept my damn mouth shut, but it happened, so we’re gonna deal with it.

  “No, Leo,” she says immediately. “I can’t take money from you. And it’s not because it’s coming from you. I can’t take money from Nana either. She tried to give me a credit card the other day.” She rolls her eyes and laughs, trying to brush her discomfort off.

  “Why?” I ask. Not because I want to force her to take my money, but because she’s refusing help altogether.

  “To help pay for things.”

  “No,” I say. “Why won’t you let us help? We know what Kevin did to you, we know your situation, and both your nan and I have the means to help you. There are no strings attached. You don’t need to worry about money and count pennies when you have two people who care about you and want to step up, Darcy.”

  “Leo,” she says, a slight edge to her voice. And I know I’m pushing a little hard, but I don’t see the sense in this for the sake of something as fickle as pride. Maybe it’s that superman complex, but I want to do this.

  I stop walking again and face her, sliding my hand against her cheek as I look into her clear blue eyes. “I want to take care of
you, Darcy.”

  “Leo,” she says again, but this time it’s a soft whisper as her tongue snakes out to lick her lips. It makes me want to kiss her, and only serves as a reminder as to how hard I’ve fallen. There’s no turning back for me.

  “I mean it, Darce.”

  She shifts her gaze between my eyes as she chooses her words carefully. “I love that you want to take care of me, Leo. It shows how wonderfully kind this big heart of yours is. But I need to do this for myself. And before you object, I need you to look at this from my point of view. Relying on someone else to take care of me and the kids is exactly how I got in this situation. I need to stand on my own two feet. Even if I’m just waiting tables.” She flattens her hand over my heart. “Can you understand that?”

  Pressing my lips together, I release the air through my nose as I nod. “Yeah. I do—I don’t want to—but yeah, I get why you need that.”

  She smiles before pressing a quick kiss to my lips. “Good. Then let’s move on to talking about fun things like when I’m going to get the chance to visit you at the workshop again.” Pulling her lip between her teeth, she takes a step backwards then we start walking again. I’m amazed by her ability to face a problem without turning it into a confrontation or letting it spoil our time together. Where has she been all my life?

  “Let me see if I can fit you into my schedule,” I tease, flashing her a smile as the tension in my chest melts away. Years upon years of senseless arguing with Tash has taught me to brace myself whenever I bring up a touchy subject. It’s refreshing to be with someone who can communicate her objections without getting pissed off. Darcy keeps me grounded and I’m in awe of her at every turn.

  “You’d better make time for me.” She bumps her shoulder against my arm. “Although, with the way things are this next week, I’m thinking we’re not going to get a moment to ourselves until the kids are back at school on Monday.”

  I stop walking as a sudden idea hits me. “What if I offer you a job?”