Reality of Love Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by Marika Ray

  “Okay, so here’s what we do. We’ll enter the water with the board floating next to us. The paddle will stay on top of the board. When we get past the break, jump onto the board on your stomach and then slowly make your way to your knees. Both knees should be on either side of the handle in the middle. From there, I’ll help you get to your feet. Any questions?”

  Rhett was hot dishing out paddle boarding instructions.

  “Is it going to be cold?”

  The dimple was back. “That’s all you want to ask?”

  I made a face. “Any sharks out there?”

  Rhett put his hands on my shoulders. “Snookums. It’s the ocean. Of course there are sharks out there.”

  I pulled away, my heart in my throat. “What? I thought you said it was safe.”

  He started laughing, which I didn’t appreciate. He pulled me into his naked chest and even though I intended to be angry about this confession of sharks, I couldn’t find words. Not with my mouth literally brushing against that valley between his pec muscles. Sadly, my puffy life vest bungled any other body part from touching, but I’d take what I could get. Then he set me back, his hands on my shoulders once again.

  “Very rarely do they ever have sharks around here. But it is a free ocean. More likely is us seeing dolphins.”

  That got my attention. “I do like dolphins.”

  Rhett smiled. “Everybody likes dolphins.”

  I nodded and blew out a nervous breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Rhett winked. “Thatta girl.”

  We waded into the water, and even though it was warm outside given that it was early September, the water was on the cold side. I did fine until we got about waist high.

  “Can I get on the board now?” I shouted over to Rhett. A wave crashed right on me and I sputtered, trying to get the water out of my eyes while keeping a hand on my board.

  “Not yet. Keep going a little farther out. Hurry!”

  Another swell was coming in and if I didn’t get out farther, the waves were going to keep crashing right on my head. I knew this, yet moving through the water with a huge board and paddle, plus that stupid life vest blocking arm movement, was harder than I expected. I hustled, panic giving me the burst of movement I needed to get past the wave before it crested.

  “Nice, Gabby. Now go ahead and climb on.” Rhett looked good all wet with the ocean as his backdrop, but I really couldn’t focus on that since I felt like I was fighting for my life at that very moment.

  The board was now chest high and I wasn’t really sure how to climb on. Since I could still touch the ocean floor, I figured I’d jump. What I hadn’t accounted for was the damn life vest getting in my way yet again. I threw my arms over the board and jumped. The vest hit the side of the board and immediately rejected me, tossing me back into the water. I would have gone under except the life vest decided to actually help me for once and buoyed me up.

  I heard a snicker but couldn’t see Rhett behind me what with the vest now up around my ears. I was many things, but I wasn’t a quitter. This time I put my hands on the edge of the board and jumped, careful to keep my vest out of the way. I made it halfway onto the board, my ass sticking up in the air as my legs dangled into the water. I only knew my ass was in the air because I felt my swimsuit bottoms pull down in the water when I jumped and the cool September air was now blowing across the top half of my exposed ass cheeks.

  Rhett let out a wolf whistle and if I dared unclench my death grip on the board, I would have flipped him the bird. As it was, there was only a gorgeous, yet all too thin, board between me and those sharks I could have sworn I spotted on the horizon. When the paddleboard quit rocking so much, I reached back and pulled up my swimsuit. Once that was taken care of, I hoisted a leg up and onto the back of the board. It tipped dangerously, but I held on and prayed for this outing to be over.

  Rhett was so cooking me dinner.

  Speaking of the devil himself, Rhett had paddled over while kneeling on this own board. He reached out and held mine steady. With his help I was able to get my full body onto the board and out of the water. I laid my forehead down on the rough surface to catch my breath. I felt a deep sense of relief, which was quite stupid because a shark could totally get me lying there on the board. It was like when I was a kid and I’d pull the covers over my head at night. The boogieman couldn’t get you under the covers, right?

  “Are we done yet?” I wailed, water dripping into my eyes and mouth.

  A muffled bark of laughter was all I heard above me. The bastard was laughing at me.

  Goose bumps dotted every square inch of my flesh, irritating me even further. I was cold, and wet, and exhausted, and I hadn’t even stood on my board yet! Fury gave me strength to lift my head and spear him with my scowl.

  “You promised me fun! Where is it?”

  He smirked at me and for once I did not find it sexy. “Oh, I’m having plenty of fun.”

  I splashed my arm into the shark-infested water and it sprayed in his face, just as I’d hoped. The satisfaction of seeing him sputter and wipe the water out of his eyes was short-lived because then he began to turn my board around like there was more to this ill-fated adventure.

  “All right, so now that we’re past the break, let’s have you come up onto your knees.”

  He was out of his mind if he thought I was going to be able to do that. The damn board was still rocking on the water, even with him holding one end of it.

  “I like my body right here.” I stuck out my bottom lip, hating the way my voice came out like a petulant child, but tough times called for overboard reactions. Pun intended.

  “Babe. I got you.”

  Pushing with my hands on the board, I lifted my upper body off like some up-dog yoga fanatic. “Don’t you ‘babe’ me, mister. I’m telling you, this isn’t gonna end well.”

  He held his hands out like he was placating an armed robber. “Okay. I hear you. But I also know you’re perfectly safe with your life vest on. If you fall in, no big deal. I’ll help you back up.” When the scowl didn’t leave my face, he continued. “Gabby, it’s time to try new things. Be spontaneous. Be a little crazy. I’m right here with you.”

  Dammit! I hated how that plea zeroed right into my chest and made me waver. He was right. I wanted to be more fun, more courageous with life in general. I’d gotten into such a boring habit with Hew and look where that got me. I needed to live a little. You know, right before I died from a shark bite.

  I huffed out a breath. “Fine. Let’s do this. But so help me God, if I hear one more snort of laughter out of you, I will paddle this beast back in and never speak to you again.”

  He nodded solemnly. “You got it, Snookums.”

  I gave him a crazy-eyed look that had him motioning to zip his lips and throwing away the key. He held the front of my board again and I tried to press up to all fours. The board started wobbling maniacally and I froze. Once it was steady again, I shuffled my knees forward an inch at a time, a little squeak of wet skin on board piercing the silence with each shuffle. As I hit the middle of the board with my knees, I was able to pry my fingers off the rail of the board and straighten up ever so slowly.

  “Nicely done!” Rhett held his hand out for me to high five, but I wasn’t moving for anything. He slowly dropped it when he realized I was going to leave him hanging forever if necessary. Instead, he grabbed my paddle and slid it out from between my knees and handed it to me.

  “What the hell do I do with this?” I was frozen stiff trying to keep my balance, my body already screaming from the prolonged contracture of every single muscle I possessed.

  “Paddle with it?” he deadpanned.

  I threw caution to the wind and moved my eyeballs to give him a nasty look. When that didn’t lead to falling into the water, I almost patted myself on the back. If I could have reached around my huge life vest and if I hadn’t been balancing on a tiny board in the middle of the ocean, of course.

  “Okay, let’s try padd
ling. Like this.” Rhett dipped his paddle into the water and started moving away from me. He switched sides every few paddles and before I realized it, he was twenty feet away.

  “Wait! Don’t leave me!” I panicked, I admit.

  “Then paddle over to me,” he called over his shoulder.

  Old-fashioned anger and stubbornness welled up and overran the lingering fear. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Stupid redhead with his dickimus maximus luring me into doing things I never should have agreed to.” A litany of curses streamed forth as I dipped my paddle into the water and gave it the weakest paddle known to paddlers. “Hickory dickory dock. How did that Gabby girl die? Oh, she perished while paddling after the big D. Pretty pathetic really. Poor girl never even got a taste of the hickory dickory cock before the shark got her.”

  “Ahhh!” My board hit something and jerked me to a stop, sending the board rocking again. I let go of the paddle and bent down to grab the board to steady myself. I looked up to see feet. My gaze traveled north to see familiar board shorts, a bulge I daydreamed about, and then finally Rhett’s face peering down at me.

  “What were you talking about?”

  “Uh…” Shit! I had no idea what I’d been mumbling about. I just went to my happy place to get through the paddling portion.

  “Well, whatever it was, you did great, Gabby. Ready to try standing? Wait, where’s your paddle?”

  14

  Gabby

  I’d never been so happy to be in Rhett’s death trap of a vehicle. Terra firma was a blessed thing, indeed.

  “I’m super proud of you, Gabby.” Rhett reached over the console and squeezed my hand before letting go again.

  I may have overreacted a bit out there on the water, but I legitimately had been out of my mind scared. Rhett had been so patient with me, talking in that reassuring voice of his and turning the whole two hours into being about me. He could have had so much fun out there if he hadn’t stayed behind to get me comfortable on my board.

  A sense of pride filled my chest at having actually gotten to my feet. I even paddled a bit while standing, which was unthinkable before today. Rhett had looked at me with a new smile when I let out a whooping holler of triumph. I didn’t know what that smile meant, but I liked it aimed my way.

  “Can you believe we saw dolphins out there?” I was grinning just thinking about it.

  “Pretty magical, right?”

  “Is it crazy to say I want to do that again?” I looked over at Rhett, seeing the way that made him grin from ear to ear.

  “I’ll take you anytime you want.”

  My phone rang and I reached down to the floorboard to grab it. I’d completely forgotten to check in with work, that’s how much fun I’d had that morning.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Gabby, this is Ron from the studio. We need to get a technician to your house this afternoon to install that bedroom cam we talked about the other day. Can he swing by now?”

  All that warmth and happiness got dashed with a bucket of oh shit. “Bedroom cam? What are you talking about?”

  “Huh. Did we not tell you about that? Well, we need a camera installed so we have twenty-four-hour footage. Don’t worry, we won’t have a camera in the bathroom and we’ll black out anything not fit for television. So, can he come by in about half an hour?”

  My brain went fuzzy over the news. “Um, yeah, sure. That’s fine.”

  I hung up and dropped my head against the headrest. This wasn’t good at all.

  “Oh my God, I’m all sweaty,” I mumbled in a panic. I didn’t want the camera mounted in the corner of my bedroom, currently blinking at me, to pick up my words, telling the whole world that this was all a sham. For the viewing audience, I should be lunging at Rhett and having my way with him. Instead, I’d spent nearly half an hour in the bathroom putting my pajamas on and having a panic attack.

  “Hey,” Rhett came up and pulled me into his bare chest. His skin was warm to the touch, the muscles moving and shifting as he rubbed my back. “We’re just acting, putting on a good show right now. We’ll burrow under the covers and they won’t see a damn thing. Okay?”

  I nodded as much as I could with Rhett’s chin resting on the top of my head. “Okay,” I whispered, already feeling much calmer. The frantic energy that had buzzed through my body since I got the phone call about the camera had morphed into a pleasant hum I kind of liked. One face plant with a naked man chest and I was ready to be a hussy for the camera. I imagined this was how the slide into a prostitution career happened. If all pimps were as persuasive as Rhett, I could see the appeal.

  Disengaging and walking over to the bed on shaky legs, I purposely looked away from the camera and instead assessed why my legs felt like limp noodles. Was I scared of acting in front of a single camera on the wall after acting all week in front of multiple cameras? Or was I terrified of being up close and personal with Rhett in my bedroom, where all too quickly acting could turn into something real? Because in all actuality, I didn’t think I could be held accountable for what happened when I was pressed against a wall of muscley yumminess or for wanting to take a ride on the disco stick when presented with the opportunity. I was a warm-blooded female, after all. Sure, I hadn’t been sexually active in a while, but the urge was definitely there. Perhaps even amplified—by a million—after my year of celibacy.

  Rhett’s heat hit my back and I realized I had hesitated too long before climbing under the covers. I scrambled to get in and Rhett followed me, his long limbs tangling with mine, even as he situated the bedspread over us, the edge coming up as high as my chin.

  “Just follow my lead,” he whispered into my ear, his hot breath fanning across my cheek as he spooned me from behind.

  His hand landed on my hip and traveled north, a wake of shivers following his movements. Lips hit my skin, that spot in the crook of my neck, and I squealed, unable to withstand the tickling.

  Rhett chuckled, the impact amplified by the vibration of his chest pressed against my back. He was close. So close I could feel the hair on his legs brush against mine and detect his smell. After intense scrutiny this week, I’d determined that his smell was half soap and half just Rhett. Like his skin pumped out a cologne only I could smell, one uniquely designed to stir the butterflies in my stomach and make me yearn. For what, I had no idea.

  Okay, fine. I had an idea. An idea I couldn’t be thinking of just then or else I’d peel off my little shorts and change the moisture level of the dry humping we’d planned on.

  Rhett palmed my breast through my tank top and I nearly reared back and head butted him in my surprise. I’d been too busy sniffing him to realize his hand had traveled quite a bit farther than I anticipated.

  “This okay?” he murmured in my ear. His next inhale sounded a bit like a groan, but then his hips pressed into my backside and I lost all train of thought. The dragon was stirring, of that I was sure.

  The Italian sass I was known for came out in the form of ass sass. My backside insisted on making further contact with the beast and she could not be denied. I pressed back, seeking him out, reveling in feeling him grow against me.

  Another groan hit my ear and I nearly purred at the sound. His hand at my breast pinched my nipple gently, the pressure sending a shot of pleasure straight through my core. A strangled sound came out of my mouth to mingle with Rhett’s groan. Harsh breathing filled the air as we both thrust against each other. It could have been mine, or it could have been Rhett’s, but based on the heat level rising under the heavy comforter, I would guess it came from us both.

  Rhett’s hand kneaded my breast, our hips thrusting in unison for several long, delicious minutes. I needed more than my cold pillow to touch, so I reached back and found his head, letting my fingers get lost in his hair. Wet kisses dotted a line down my neck and my shoulder, adding to the desire building in my stomach. He was a dirty dry humper with sweet kisses and murmurs of encouragement. I could only imagine what actual sex would be like with Rh
ett.

  His hand left my breast abruptly, the loss of his heat making me whimper. I tightened my grip in his hair in a show of displeasure. Instead of complying, his fingers skimmed down my torso and over my hip before he lifted my leg and hooked it over his thighs, leaving me open yet still covered by my thin cotton shorts. A slide over my hipbone and his fingers were under the waistband of my shorts. Another hip thrust to meet his hard length and his fingers slid down farther, parting me and finding how wet this fake make out session had gotten me.

  If my desire had been percolating at a six on a scale of ten for the last few minutes, it was now at a twenty. I should have been shocked Rhett was touching me so intimately, but all the showers in the world with my vibrator wouldn’t have taken the edge off a moment like that. All I cared about in the moment was succumbing to the pleasure and letting Rhett get me off. Preferably with the eight inches of fury sliding along my crack.

  What did shock me, was his fingers diving into me the same moment he thrust into my backside, his thumb grazing the bundle of nerves that would send me flying over the edge at any second. One more like that and I trembled and gasped. Yet another and I was flying, my whole body entering a galaxy of pleasure I’d never been to before. I soared through the sky, my vision exploding with stars, my body shaking with the release of energy into the cosmos.

  The ride ended with soft kisses along my shoulder and spine. Rhett slowly removed his fingers and I didn’t know if I should try to selfishly hold him there forever or push him away in embarrassment. It could go both ways, but he saved me from deciding by removing his hand from my shorts and whispering in my ear.

  “Good night, Snookums.”

  He rolled away onto his other side, though I could imagine he didn’t sleep for a while, nor did I for entirely different reasons. I obsessed over every detail of the last ten minutes, wondering how I’d let that happen while also wondering how I could get him to do that every night. I’m sure he didn’t sleep due to a case of overinflation of a certain body part.