I shoved my clothes into the locker and slammed it shut, ignoring the knot that was growing in my stomach. Was the other woman right? Was Chuck just entertaining me, knowing I would be gone in a few days? I purposely avoided looking in the mirrors as I made a beeline for the exit.
Chuck was nowhere to be seen, and I looked out the window at the pool, flustered and afraid I’d misunderstood where we were supposed to meet.
As I turned around again, I was nearly trampled by a bleached blonde in a tiny scrap of a black bikini and high-heeled sandals.
She looked me up and down, her lips turned down in a frown. “I don’t know who you think you are, but just know that whatever you have going on with Chuck is only temporary. He’s mine, and it’s just a matter of time before the world knows it.” She hooked a bone-thin finger under the halter strap of my suit and sneered. “Don’t you think a one-piece would be more fitting?”
I curled my hands into fists, barely containing the urge to cross my arms over my stomach and hide from the thinner woman’s derisive gaze.
“Vanessa.” Chuck’s icy voice drew both of our gazes to him, and he reached out to take my hand, pulling me in close. His arm slid around my waist, his hand locking onto my hip, and his glare looked steelier than I’d believed his blue eyes could look.
“Oh, Chuck, I didn’t know you were here.” The blonde batted her eyelashes at him and pouted her lips slightly. “We should share a pool.”
“Aubrey, you ready to go?” He turned his attention to me, ignoring the woman’s suggestion that they share a pool, presumably without me at all. His eyes softened the moment he turned to me, and the knot in my stomach shifted from anxiety to desire as his hand slid lower on my hip.
I rose up on my toes and kissed him gently. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Chuck steered me out to the pools, and his hand stayed low on my hip as he gestured to the map that listed each of the small, hot tub-sized pools with the temperatures they typically stayed around. “Which one?”
I pointed to one of the hotter ones, that also looked to be one of the smallest.
He nodded and gestured at the bar. “Works for me. Do you need a drink?”
I shook my head, still feeling tense over the encounter with the blonde woman.
Chuck led me to the edge of the pool and then stashed our flip flops and towels on a nearby pool chair before climbing in next to me.
“Is everything okay, Aubrey?”
I kissed him and leaned back against the edge of the pool, letting my eyes drift shut. I tried to ignore the tension in my gut and the fear Chuck was only with me because I was convenient and easy.
15
Aubrey
Chuck’s hand slid over my thigh, gripping it just above the knee, and he leaned over to practically growl in my ear, “Did I tell you how sexy you look in that suit?”
I smiled at him, moving closer as he kissed along my jawline, but I didn’t feel nearly as sexy as he claimed I was. I could hear that blonde’s words echoing in my head, repeating over and over again all the ways I wasn’t good enough for Chuck. At the same time, I wondered why it mattered. She was right; I was only here temporarily. It’s not like Chuck would move to New York to be with me. It wasn’t like I could move to Aspen either. All we had were a few days, and this morning, that had felt like more than enough. So why did I feel like everything was crashing down around me?
“Aubrey, is everything okay? Really?” He slipped one arm under my legs, and the other behind me, and scooped me up to pull me into his lap.
I sighed. “The stupid blonde got into my head.”
He looked around, making sure no one was within earshot. “What do you mean, she got into your head?”
I leaned my cheek on his shoulder and frowned. “She was talking about you in the locker room, about how you’re slumming it with me, and that you should be with someone more like her. She claimed that the two of you had a thing going, that you were playing hard to get, but sooner or later, you would give in.” I looked up at him. “And she was talking about how it was just a matter of time before you’d get bored with a woman like me. Like I couldn’t possibly satisfy you.”
Chuck cupped my cheek and met my eyes. “Aubrey, I don’t play hard to get. I go after what I want. And believe me, if I wanted Vanessa, I would’ve had her. But she’s not my type. She thinks bedding and wedding a Wright will help her move up the social ladder and probably the celebrity ladder too. She’s been chasing after me since high school.” He leaned down and pressed his forehead to mine. “The only woman I’m interested in is currently sitting on my lap in a sexy red-and-white bikini.”
“But she’s… I don’t know, she could be a model. Isn’t that what guys want?”
“If I wanted a woman who looks like she hasn’t eaten in three years, I’d date a woman like Vanessa. But Liling has friends with more personality than Vanessa and frankly more curves. I happen to like a curvy woman. One who needs more than a tiny triangle of fabric to cover her tits. One with an ass I can grab onto. One who doesn’t look like a stiff breeze could break her in half.”
Chuck kissed my cheek and smiled at me. “In case you weren’t aware, Aubrey, I like you. I don’t jump into bed with just anyone. I certainly don’t go down on people I’m not interested in. Or fuck them without a condom. I could’ve asked Luke to send over a service yesterday to shovel the walk, and I could’ve had groceries delivered. I certainly wouldn’t have offered to cook for you.”
I bit my lip, trying to stop the overflow of emotion threatening to pour out. “I told you, I let her get into my head. I know you like me. I like you too. I just…” I sighed and curled into his shoulder again. “I don’t want to get too attached to a man I might never see again after my vacation’s up.” Just the thought of never seeing him again made me feel a little woozy.
Chuck rubbed my back, his hand sliding between the polka dot fabric of the two pieces of my swimsuit. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when you go back to New York. You might be sick of me. I might do something to piss you off or turn you off. But as long as you’re here, I want to enjoy our time together. You and me.”
I smiled and hugged him tight. “I think I can manage that. Though, it’s just as likely that you’ll get sick of me.”
He chuckled in my ear and kissed along my jaw. “Doubtful, gorgeous.”
I sighed into his embrace, just enjoying the feel of his arms around me. His hands stayed in more chaste places, and he made no effort to deepen his kisses beyond the sweet and the playful, but still, being pressed against him, feeling his hard, manly body wrapped around mine was getting to be distracting. The bulge pressed against my leg gave an indication he might not be feeling as chaste as his hands and kisses seemed either.
“Chuck, can I try something with you that I’ve never done before?” I shifted in his lap, grinding up against his erection.
His hands settled on my hips, tugging me closer. “What did you have in mind?”
I licked my lips and turned so I was sitting with my back pressed against his front, and then I reached back between us and undid the ties on his swim trunks. “I want you to put your big cock inside of me. Right here, right now.”
“Fuck.” His hands tightened on my hips. “Aubrey, we’re in public.” He groaned into my hair as I wrapped my hand around his cock.
“So? I can be quiet if you can.” I shifted the crotch of my bikini bottoms to the side and nestled his tip at my wet core.
Chuck’s hands slid around my hips and slowly, inch by inch, guided me down his length until I was seated with him fully inside me. I bit the inside of my cheek as he rocked his hips, keeping the motions small so we didn’t disturb the surface of the hot spring too much. He kissed my neck as his fingers tracked down my stomach and into the front of my bikini.
Gripping his knees, I leaned forward slightly, changing the angle as his fingers found my clit and he started to circle the sensitive nub with his thumb.
“You’re so fuc
king tight like this.” His rumbling groan was barely audible, but the way his cock thrust into me harder echoed the sentiment perfectly.
I rocked my hips slowly, rolling and gyrating them over his, already so close to orgasm just from having him so deep inside me with his fingers working my clit. I tried to watch the people around us, not wanting to get caught, but at the same time, the prospect of being discovered having sex in such a public place just made me hotter.
Chuck thrust up hard again and pulled me back against him, holding me to him as he moaned in my ear, “I want to feel you come, Aubrey. I want your tight, wet cunt to squeeze me so hard that I explode inside you.”
I groaned and my grip on his knees tightened as his dirty words built me up that much higher. I felt like I was dancing on the edge of orgasm.
When Chuck’s lips found mine and his tongue thrust into me with as much heat and need as his cock was filling me from below, I let go, clenching and massaging his dick roughly. Time seemed to stop as he thrust into me again and again, pushing my climax deeper, his tongue claiming my mouth in such a searing, need-filled kiss that I never wanted it to end.
Chuck’s fingers on my clit slowed and his kiss shifted into something softer, though just as passionate, and his cock softened and slipped out of me.
I pulled forward just enough that he could reach down and adjust himself back into his trunks, and then I turned in his arms and straddled him, tangling my fingers in his hair as we continued to kiss.
“God, get a room.”
Vanessa’s voice was like a bucket of cold water, and I pulled back slightly to see the twiggy woman teetering slightly on her heels, a half-empty drink in her hand. “This is a public place. No one wants to see that.”
Chuck shifted slightly so he could see her better, and he grabbed my ass as he said with a mischievous grin, “Just because you’ve never been lucky enough to have passion in your romance doesn’t mean you can shit on mine, Vanessa. And for your information, I will kiss this sexy woman wherever and whenever I damn well please.”
I smiled softly as his hands stayed on my ass, massaging roughly, one finger just a hairsbreadth away from my still semi-exposed core. If I shifted just right, I had no doubt he would slip it right inside me, even as that bleach-blonde bimbo stood over us.
“Ugh. Whatever. You look so fucking trashy, making out in public like this. Why can’t you get freaky in a private hot tub, like a normal person?”
Chuck’s finger slid over my pussy, not quite penetrating me, as he grinned. “Who wants to be normal, Vanessa? Just because I don’t want your skinny ass doesn’t mean you get to talk to the woman I’m with like she’s beneath you.”
I looked up at her and sneered. “At least my blonde’s natural, and I don’t have dark roots showing.”
Her hand went to her head and she teetered off toward the locker room, clearly worried about her hair.
I laughed and kissed Chuck again before sliding off his lap. “I think we should get changed and go get some dinner. And then I think we need to go somewhere with a bed, where I can get you completely naked again and roll around for a while.”
“That sounds like a hell of a plan.” He hopped out of the springs and hurried over to get our towels and shoes.
While I watched him wrap the terrycloth low on his waist, I adjusted the bottom of my suit and licked my lips, still a little surprised at what we’d just done, and the fact that we got away with it.
16
Chuck
Once we were dressed again, I drove back to Main Street, since neither one of us felt like waiting until we got back to Aspen for dinner.
“Why don’t we go to the Doc Holliday Saloon? You’ve told me enough about him today, it seems only fair.” Aubrey let her fingers dance up and down my thigh, reminding me that after dinner, I’d get her naked again.
“Sounds perfect.” I parked the Jeep and went around the car to open her door. She slipped her hand into mine easily, and I gave her fingers a little squeeze as I closed the door behind her. “I’m really glad you came to Aspen.”
She smiled and leaned up to kiss me gently. “I’m really glad the chalet’s hot tub broke down and you fell and twisted your ankle.”
I laughed and nudged her with my hip. “That was supposed to sound sweet and romantic.”
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t mean what I said wasn’t true.” We rounded the corner, and Aubrey froze like a deer in headlights.
“What is it?” I scanned the street, assuming Vanessa had somehow managed to show up again.
“Greg, my ex-fiancé, is here.” She gestured toward the couple walking directly for us. “With Mindi, the woman he fucked the night before our wedding, who was also supposed to be my maid of honor.” Aubrey’s entire posture shifted. She grew stiff and unresponsive almost. She watched them head right for us like a deer caught in headlights.
“Let’s just go.” I went to pull her back around so that we could just head back to the car.
A weaselly voice called out before I had the chance to help her escape. “Aubrey? Thank god we found you. I was expecting to find you in Aspen, but this is so much better.” Greg reached for her but stopped when he realized she was already holding on to another man. Me. “Aub, what is this? Who is this guy?”
Aubrey hadn’t shared with me what happened before she came to Aspen. I knew she was supposed to be on her honeymoon, but I didn’t want to bring up something that was clearly an opened wound. Now I felt like I was out of the loop without an advantage. Much like I’m sure she felt with Vanessa. Fuck. Things got screwed up fast.
I squared my shoulders, ready to start a fight if needed, ready to defend Aubrey. I wasn’t as quick to fight as some of my other siblings, but I would step up for Aubrey. She was worth it and if these two hurt her, then they deserved it.
Mindi stood with her arms crossed and her hip cocked, looking pissed off as she struggled to find anything to focus on besides the woman who used to be her best friend.
“Are you seriously walking around with some stranger, acting like you’re not engaged to be married? I know you had cold feet, baby, but this is no way to handle it. Come on, come with me, I’ll take you home.”
Aubrey didn’t say anything. She stood there, staring at him. I wondered if she still loved this fart weasel or if there was something else going on. She was like a fortress of secrets. She didn’t really tell me a whole lot about what was going on in her head. I wished I’d asked more questions to see if I could get her to open up. How did I reach her?
Greg stepped forward and reached for her hand.
Fuck that! I moved my body between Asshat and Aubrey, my free hand clenched in a fist. “She’s not going anywhere with you.” If she wanted something different, she was going to have to speak up.
Finally, she did. “Chuck, I’ve got this.” Aubrey released my hand and pushed past me. “What the fuck are you doing here, Greg? How the hell did you even find me?”
“I was hoping you’d come here. This is where we were supposed to go together once we were married. I hoped you were as sentimental as I thought you were.”
Was that why she’d come to Aspen?
“I had all the honeymoon stuff. I gave it a shot. I can’t believe we found you. I’m here to take you home.” He reached for Aubrey again, and it took all my strength not to snarl or growl at him.
I glanced over at Mindi, who was growing red in the face. She clearly had different expectations of their outing. I wondered if Greg even had the balls to tell Mindi why he wanted to come here. But she wasn’t going to say anything. Not yet. She was waiting for her moment. Aubrey hadn’t even addressed her yet.
“I don’t want to go back to New York with you, Greg. It’s over. Or did walking out on our wedding not clue you in to that?”
Greg’s nasally voice grated on my nerves as he grasped at straws. “That was just cold feet, Aub. You got scared. I get it. It happens to a lot of people. We’ll plan a smaller wedding this time. Just a few friends
. That’s how you wanted it in the first place, right?” She threw her hands up in the air. “No, dickhead, I never cared about the wedding. And this wasn’t cold feet. This was about you fucking her the night before our wedding.” She pointed accusingly at both of them. “And you”—she pinned Mindi with a glare that could freeze the deepest corners of hell—“you were my friend. Was that your plan all along? Knowing I didn’t want to go anywhere, counting on me declining your invite? Because you knew he was waiting for you? Or did you intentionally go down there to seduce your way into his bed?”
Mindi had tears in her eyes, but my girl was far from finished. “How long? How long has this been going on, Mindi? God, I can’t believe I was so stupid not to see what happening right in front of me. Or maybe I just didn’t want to see it for what it was.” Aubrey’s voice grew softer with that last sentence, as if she were talking to herself, and it was all I could do not to pull her into my arms and hold her.
“Aubrey, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing’s going on between Mindi and me.” Even as he said it, he took a step backwards, away from her, away from the conflict.
“Oh, it didn’t? So, when I stopped by your room that night to see if you wanted to skip tradition and spend the night together, you weren’t naked, with your face buried between her thighs? There wasn’t a used condom laying on the floor right beside the bed?” She crossed her arms and shook her head. “Don’t fucking act like I don’t know what I saw, Greg. Don’t stand here and lie to my face.”
“God, when did you get so crass? You were such a lady when I met you. Is this his influence? He looks like a lumberjack.” Greg rolled his eyes.
Seducing the Runaway Bride (The Wrights Book 1) Page 10
