Kill Devil Hills: A Complete Beach Romance Series (4-Book Box Set)

by Sarah Darlington

  Her words hit deep. Wow. I’d been disappointed when I first found out Ben was alive, but maybe Luce was right. Maybe this was better. I didn’t want to be Sydney’s second choice. I wanted to be her first. The same way I’d been her first for everything else. I wanted her to choose me over Ben. “So you’re saying I should go balls to the wall and fight for her?” I swallowed as my question slipped out. It was a gut-wrenching thought when I feared the worst.

  “Hell yes,” Luce answered.

  Not to compare a girl to a sport, but growing up, I put everything I had into baseball—all my tears, blood, and sweat—and when I failed at that, it crushed me. I still hadn’t fully recovered from the loss of that dream. Maybe that was the real reason I half-assed everything else in life. That sort of disappointment was not something I wanted to experience twice.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, “I’ve got to think on that one.”

  “Ugh,” Luce groaned, rolling her eyes. “Go think about it in the bathroom so I can change. I’m starving. That flight was too long. And your indecisive, male stupidity is annoying me.”

  Luce was a prime example of why I’d never officially had a girlfriend in my life. Females were too much work. It made me wonder for a moment why I wanted that next level with Sydney. I guess it boiled down to something I couldn’t describe. A feeling in my gut I couldn’t shake about her.

  I gave Luce her space so she could get dressed. Then once we were both ready, we headed one door down for Noah, Ellie, Georgina, and Sydney’s room. While everyone started arguing over dinner plans and what we should do first, I remained quiet. Sydney sat on the edge of one of the beds. She’d changed into a light pink dress that was a little too tight around her very perfect tits. Her attention wasn’t on me, as she weighed in on the different options with the others, but I had trouble keeping my eyes off her. She was an angel. While my ‘yellow snow’ comment still remained true. And I still couldn’t decide what to do about the balls to the wall thing.

  This whole situation was frustrating, to say the least.

  Finally the group decided on a plan. We were heading out to the beach to watch our first West Coast sunset. Then dinner would come second. I was fine with that. I was always fine with whatever. So that was what we did. And the whole ambiance of it all might have been romantic, had I been alone with Sydney, but obviously we weren’t alone. We had a whole bunch of other people right there with us. I forced myself to make conversation, not something I ever had to do, and keep relatively calm all evening. But by the time we were back at the hotel and back in our separate rooms, with a wall dividing me from Sydney, I was so fucking relieved to get away from her.

  Or at least I thought I would be relieved.

  The moment my head hit the pillow, I realized I wasn’t.

  I hadn’t done a damn thing all day. Tomorrow she would see Ben again. Tomorrow I could potentially lose her forever. Was I just going to sit back and let that happen? Give up on her without even trying? I tossed and turned thinking on it. Minutes passed. Hours passed. The hotel room was now dark and quiet, and lonely as hell even with Luce fast asleep in the other bed across the room from mine. It didn’t help that it had been months since I’d gotten laid. Sydney was the last person I’d been with. No one else would do or had even come close to tempting me since.

  My lack of a sex life hadn’t bothered me before this moment. I was managing on my own just fine. But right this second, my cock suddenly started screaming at me. It had one thing and one person on its mind. I rested my hand on the wall behind my head, knowing she was only feet away on the other side.

  “Shit,” I whispered, and hopped out of bed. I couldn’t sleep. Not here. Not with my head spinning like it was and my emotions out of whack. So I grabbed my hotel room key off the nightstand and left the room. Maybe a walk would help clear my mind; Unlikely, although I felt I had to do something.

  But as I opened the room door, careful not to make any noise that might wake Luce, the bright lights in the hallway blinding me, a soft voice said my name. “Rhett. Hi.”

  Holy fuck. There she was.

  As if she’d materialized out of some late-night fantasy, there Sydney stood, leaning against the wall adjacent to my hotel room door. Her blonde hair was down around her shoulders—messy, wild. She wore a cotton tank-top with matching cotton shorts, both of which were unquestionably inappropriate for a hotel hallway where anyone could walk out of their room and find her. Still, seeing her suddenly, it was almost as if she’d been waiting for me. Hell. Maybe she had been waiting. It sure felt that way. And when her cheeks flushed pink as our eyes connected, it reinforced that feeling.

  I let the door close gently behind me.

  My whole body blazed with new heat. I had no words. She wasn’t speaking either. But our eyes were stuck on one another, and I knew the inevitable was seconds away from happening. Jesus Christ. No matter the circumstances, we always seemed to have the physical thing down perfectly. This time was no exception. The rest of the world ceased to exist. Ben became irrelevant. And all that mattered was closing the gap between us.

  So much for my ‘the milk is no longer free’ threat I’d given her months ago. With no hesitation, I tugged at her waist, and yanked her body in against mine. She let me, and our mouths joined like old friends. Her lips on my lips. Her tongue tantalizing the shit out of me as it met mine equally. Her hands gripping me just as hard as I was now gripping her.

  Her cotton pajamas were barely a hindrance. And as I kissed her and ran my hands over her body—her sexy-as-hell, totally-out-of-my-league body—I knew I should slow down right the fuck now…but couldn’t. I couldn’t even attempt to try. A second later, I had her up in my arms with her legs wrapped around my waist, and her back pressed to the wall she’d been leaning against a moment ago. I needed that wall for support and for what was coming next. I tugged the front of my gym shorts down just enough to let my cock free from its captivity. If I’d thought I’d been in some kind of pain before…man, was I ever now.

  I had to be inside her.

  Now.

  No hesitation.

  No going back.

  No fucking around.

  Her shorts were loose and easily moved to the side. Her panties pushed aside too. With her legs already spread wide against me, what happened next came automatic. The second she was exposed to me, I guided my bare cock deep inside her. She moaned into my mouth as this happened, accepting it, accepting me, and she even squeezed her arms tighter around my neck. There was nothing gentle about the way I entered her either. Most of the time, no matter the girl, the first push inside would always take a little work. With Sydney, despite knowing this was only her second time having sex, despite knowing I might be hurting her, I couldn’t hold myself back.

  My thrust was powerful, punishing. And once I was in, my relentlessness only grew. Because I could tell, even if there was some pain going on for her, that she wanted this and was enjoying this just as much as I was. For starters, she was wet—seriously wet—and completely open to me. Her grip on my neck and shoulders was anything but kind. Yet, the kisses she kept planting on the side of my face, up to my ear, and down my neck, were sweet in contrast to the roughness of everything else. And the noises she made with each thrust—the cutest little grunts of pleasure I’d ever heard—only made me crazier and the blood pump harder through my veins.

  Only problem…we were fucking in an open hallway. Granted it was the middle of the night, but this just wouldn’t do. I couldn’t have some random person coming out of their room and seeing her like this. So as intense and as perfect as this was right here against this wall, I had to move us.

  There was a small room with an ice machine not far. I remembered passing it earlier. Since my room and her room weren’t available options…that would have to do.

  Oh, holy shit. She groaned in protest when I started to move her, pushing off from the wall, clutching her ass tightly to keep her right there against me, and walking down the hall. I made it to t
he small room and closed a door that could swing both ways behind us. Now that we had a small fraction of privacy, I stood in the middle of that room, the hum of the ice machine filling my ears, still buried as deep as I could go inside the girl I wanted more than anything in life, and focused on kissing her properly. I’d been rough and hasty out in the hallway a moment ago. As amazing as sex was with Sydney, kissing her wasn’t a part I wanted to rush. We had so much chemistry and such a connection when we kissed—something I’d never experienced on this kind of level with another person—that I felt I needed a moment to slow down and backtrack before we finished this thing.

  Which was exactly what I did. Holding her in my arms, my lips moved softly, savoring everything, against hers. This was slow and gentle and passionate. And she seemed to understand exactly what I needed and matched my pace perfectly, not rushing to get back to the hardcore stuff. Because being with Sydney wasn’t about the fastest way to get off inside her, it was about so much more. A calm in the middle of the storm…that was what this was.

  Then, just before I started moving inside her again, as that urge was becoming overwhelmingly hard to fight, and the need to finish what we’d started was tempting the hell out of me, I felt her come. Hard too. The soft walls of her pussy had my cock surrounded like a fucking glove and they started to pulse, squeezing me with unexpected strength. She was having one hell of an orgasm, out of nowhere, and I felt every bit of it. She broke our kiss, tipped her head back, and cried out my name. I must have brought her close to coming when we’d been fucking out in the hallway, that had to be why she’d protested so much when I moved her, and our kiss must have pushed her over the edge.

  Sweet Jesus!

  Making this girl come was the hottest thing I’d ever experienced in my life.

  As she rode out her orgasm, grinding against me now and clutching my shoulders with all her strength, I’d never felt so powerful. In this moment everything made sense. All this time I’d been waiting for her, all the torture she’d put me through—it was all going to be worth it in the end when I would be the man to make her come like this every night of her life.

  A second later, existential thoughts aside, I came myself. There was no fighting it. I barely had a moment to breathe, pulling out and setting her down so her feet touched solid ground, before I exploded. Exhilaration rushed through me, and I held her so I wouldn’t fall over.

  As the moment faded and passed, my senses suddenly felt over-exposed. The ringing of the ice machine was so damn annoying, the florescent lights were burning my eyes, the room smelled like bleach, and my skin felt like it was crawling. I think this new awareness boiled down to fear. We’d just experienced something great. But the last time I experienced something great with her everything turned to shit so fast I barely had time to keep up. How would she react this time?

  I couldn’t speak. As our eyes connected and I let go of her body, I felt a flush hit my skin. I was nervous. I was nauseous. I was terrified.

  “That was so embarrassing,” she said, breaking the silence first.

  I cleared my throat. “What was?” I didn’t know if she meant the whole thing or one part in particular. I glanced down and noticed that in my hastiness to pull out of her, I’d come on her. Fuck me. Now that was fucking embarrassing. I yanked off my shirt, and used it to quickly wipe the evidence of it away.

  “I’m on birth control now,” she whispered as I did this. “You didn’t have to…um…you could have…you know…”

  “Gone inside you?” I finished.

  “Yeah.” Crimson hit her cheeks. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

  “You wouldn’t have minded?” I repeated slowly, just to be sure I’d heard her correctly.

  “Yeah. I mean, as long as it was safe for you to go inside me then you could have. Assuming…assuming you don’t have anything.” She bit her lip, groaned, and looked away from me. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. That was rude.”

  I hooked a finger under her chin to guide her eyes back to mine. “You can ask me whatever. I’ll always answer honestly. But no. I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

  “Oh,” she uttered, staring up at me.

  “What part was embarrassing?” I questioned, needing to know exactly what she meant earlier. “When I came on you?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “When I came while you were kissing me.”

  The biggest smile hit my lips. She was so damn adorable. This wasn’t an easy conversation to have, but I loved that we were having it. “But that was the best part,” I answered, instantly losing my nerves and fear from a minute ago. “You’re the sexiest woman in the world, Sydney. That was so fucking hot. You have no idea. I’m still thinking about.”

  “Yeah,” she whispered, something of a smile crossed her face now.

  “Yeah,” I repeated.

  “Then,” she said, instantly turning coy on me and tracing her fingers in the most tantalizing way across my naked chest. “Can we do that again? Please? I wasn’t ready for it to be over.”

  Oh hell yes. We could do that again. We could do that as many times as she could handle. “Come here, sweetheart,” I said, drawing her close. “We can do whatever you want.”

  CHAPTER 13:

  SYDNEY

  Rhett entered me from behind. I’d awoken something fierce and controlling, but also protective and kind in him. And I absolutely loved it. This time he’d removed my shorts and underwear, something he did very slowly with lots of kisses in lots of new places, and he’d instructed me to stand as I was—my legs in a wide stance and my hands gripping on an exposed pipe in the corner of this random room we were in. “You’ll need it for support,” he’d told me, squeezing both of my ass cheeks playfully.

  And I might have been completely freaked out of my mind by what was about to happen, but he was talking me through every moment of it, and for some strange reason the trust I had in him kept growing. “It’ll feel deeper this way,” he told me, leaning over my back, trailing his finger across my stomach and then up to my breasts. He squeezed and tugged gently at my nipples.

  “Deeper sounds good,” I panted.

  “And I’m going to come inside you.” He nibbled lightly at my ear.

  “Okay,” I breathed.

  He was already inside of me, but he wasn’t moving. I couldn’t believe the way things had suddenly changed today with Rhett. When I started the day, never in a million years would I have guessed I’d be ending it this way. But I was. I’d jumped straight into the deep end with him and there was no going back now.

  “Spread your legs a little wider,” he instructed next.

  Swallowing hard, I did as he asked. I could feel every inch of him inside me, and I only felt him more as I moved. My breathing was so loud and my clit was thumping so wildly, I was scared I was going to come again before he had the chance to really do anything. He moved his hands from under my shirt, downward. I wanted him to touch one spot in particular, the one spot that was screaming for him, but he didn’t touch me there. Instead he placed one of his hands on the wall by the pipe and the other he kept wrapped around my stomach.

  He was bracing himself.

  “Rhett,” I begged. “You have to move.”

  “I’m the only one who has ever been inside you. Right, Sydney?” he asked, his voice hoarse and strained. “The only one who has ever made you come?”

  “Yes,” I said. Where was this going? “You’re the only one.”

  “Good. That’s how I always want it to be,” he told me and he finally moved.

  He was right—it felt so much deeper from behind. I expected him to be rough and forceful, especially given the way he’d been ordering me around a moment ago, but he moved carefully and slowly. And the feel of him sliding in and out, filling me, stretching me, was so…complete. It was more than my body’s physical reaction to him, though. The emotional connection I felt with him was the most intense, most euphoric thing ever. I loved how much closer it brought us. I tried
to twist around because I needed to see him. Which was a dangerous maneuver because I ended up on the floor instead.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said, reaching to help me up.

  But I wasn’t. Laughing at us, I yanked his hand and pulled him to the ground with me. And that was where we finished. Moments later, with Rhett buried deep inside me, I was coming for him all over again. A girl could get used to this sort of attention from a man. As the waves rocked through me, his fingers touched and traced and teased—first my clit and then my breasts. He was an expert in every way at this sort of thing. A wonderful tingling feeling lingered for several long moments after that initial high. And then Rhett followed me over the edge.

  For the first time ever, I finally got to see the look on his face as it happened, as he let go and he came inside me. It was an amazing sight to behold, especially knowing I’d been the one to bring him to this point. It made me feel desired and sexy and so very wanton. I think I was falling for this man. But this moment also brought out something else in me—jealousy. I couldn’t help but wonder how many other girls had felt this very same way with him. The thought nearly ruined the moment. Nearly, but not fully.

  * * *

  An hour or two had passed. Rhett and I were sitting on the cold tile floor, all our clothes back on, talking about the most random things, while eating ice cubes from the ice machine. This was the least stressed I’d felt in months. “Tell me more about your mom,” I probed. He’d mentioned a minute ago that he grew up with only her, but he hadn’t gone any deeper than that.

  “Well,” Rhett said, grabbing another piece of ice from the Styrofoam cup I had in my hand and popping it into his mouth. “She’s a lot like me, I guess. Outgoing. Fun. Where do you think my good looks and all this charm come from?” He winked at me.