Sex on the Beach (Southern Comfort Book 2)

by Melanie Shawn

  As soon as it came out of my mouth, I wanted to facepalm. That was absolutely the wrong place to start.

  “Neither do I.” Jimmy looked appropriately confused. “Do most people?”

  I took a deep breath. “No. But most people don’t have a heart condition that killed their mother, and could kill them at any time.”

  I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting Jimmy’s reaction to be, but when his face filled with worry, I realized that, that wasn’t it. “You’re sick?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I mean, yes. I mean…not really. I have a small hole in my heart. The placement makes it impossible for doctors to repair. My mother had it, too. She died when she was twenty-seven.”

  The color drained from his face, which was another reaction I wasn’t expecting. “You’re gonna die when you’re twenty-seven?”

  “No. I mean, maybe. I don’t know. They don’t have any answers. Some people live their entire lives never having an issue, and others with the condition die as infants. They haven’t discovered any links to determine contributing factors as to why that is.”

  “God,” Jimmy choked out, his voice barely there. I thought he might say more, but he just kept breathing hard.

  “I didn’t know that I had it. I only found out because when I turned twenty-five, I inherited my mother’s estate and had access to the coroner’s report. I’d always thought that my mom died of a broken heart.

  “My dad left when I was four and my mom spent the last three years of her life in bed. I’ve researched depression, and most people who suffer from it have good days and bad days. My mother only had bad days. Then one day, when I was seven, I came home, and Mrs. B told me that she was in heaven. My father came and got me, and no one ever spoke of it again.

  “So I was curious about her actual cause of death, and it turns out I was right. She did die of a broken heart, just not the kind I thought. I looked up the numbers. One in ten million people have the condition, and of those that do, fifty percent pass away prematurely.”

  I paused, not sure where to go from there. I figured I might as well tell him about the list. “After I got the coroner’s report, I didn’t understand it, so I went to see a cardiologist to ask what it meant. Dr. Pine recommended that I get some tests done. I went back a week later and she basically told me everything that I just told you.

  “I left her office and realized that I had lived my entire life just trying to make my father happy. He was very strict. Very controlling. I don’t know if that is just his way or if it had something to do with my condition. But, whatever the reason, I followed every rule, even unwritten ones, trying to gain his approval. I hadn’t lived.

  “So, I decided to make a list. A Before I Die list. And I came down to Firefly Island to see Mrs. B because the best memories of my childhood all have her in them. I was on my way to the boarding house when I saw the dock. Going out on a boat was on my list. And then once I was on the boat, other things happened that were on my list. And then on the Ferris wheel, and at Peachtree Peak.”

  I could feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment, but I pushed on. “Anyway, that’s why when you said the things you did last night, I reacted the way I did. This can’t be anything more than what this is.”

  “Why not?” Jimmy asked.

  “Were you listening to what I just said?”

  “Yeah. And?”

  “And I have the same cond—”

  “Condition that your mama did.” Jimmy cut me off. “Yeah, the one that is one in ten million and a fifty percent survival rate. I’m not a gamblin’ man, but I’d say those are good odds.”

  Despite myself, I grinned. I could tell that he was trying to make light of this for me but I didn’t need him to do that. “Jimmy, I’m serio—”

  “I know it’s serious. I’m not saying it’s not. But the truth is, none of us know when we’re gonna be checking outta here. My mama went for a drive and never came home. My pop shoulda died ten, fifteen years ago, and yet we only buried him a few months back. My friend Jack fell off a beam at a construction site and he was gone.

  “I could trip and fall on my boat, hit my head, and it’s Hasta La Vista, Baby. Everyone is dying. I just think we should concentrate on the living. And I’ve really been enjoying the living that we’ve been doin’ the past few days.

  “I want to be with you. Nothing you’ve said has changed that. Actually, all I want is to check more things off that list.”

  The look in his eyes made it clear exactly what sort of livin’ he was referring to, and my body responded immediately.

  He stood up and my pulse raced. With an air of authority, he took two steps toward me and my heart rate shot up even more. Before he made it across the room, though, there was a knock at the door.

  The second he heard it, his expression tensed. The energy in the room shifted.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yep.” He nodded.

  “Are you gonna answer that?” I asked.

  I saw the indecision in his eyes as he stared down at me. Another knock came, he lifted his hat off his head and ran his fingers through his hair. When he did, the muscles of his triceps swelled and my lady parts took notice. I’d never known I was such an “arm” girl before Jimmy.

  “Yep.” He turned on his heel and walked around the corner.

  My body had just been on a roller coaster of emotions and sensations and I figured I’d take this break to center myself. I took a deep breath. The hard part was over. Jimmy knew, and he didn’t seem to care. What else could go wrong?

  CHAPTER 29

  Isabella

  I was still catching my breath when I heard the screen open and a woman’s voice. “I’m back and I brought—”

  Well, there was my answer. That could go wrong.

  “Actually, I…” Jimmy cut her off.

  “Oh my God… Someone’s here?”

  Her voice lowered when she said here, and I found myself getting up from my chair and sneaking over to the corner so I could hear better. I wasn’t normally the eavesdropping type. Or maybe I was, just like I was apparently the secret-keeping type.

  “You’re seeing someone,” she whispered. “That’s why you were so weird this morning.”

  I wished that I could see her face. She didn’t sound upset. More curious than anything.

  “I’m seeing someone,” Jimmy confirmed.

  His response had me grinning like the cat that ate the canary. Jimmy Comfort and I were seeing each other. He’d just said it himself. Maybe for any other twenty-five-year-old, that wouldn’t seem like such a big milestone. But for me, it was monumental.

  “Well, I would ask if she was special, but from the look in your eye, I can see that she is.”

  My smile grew wider.

  “Do you want to meet her?” Jimmy asked.

  Wait. What. Meet her?

  Why would he ask that? I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest, like I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t. I mean, yes, technically I was eavesdropping, but I had started to rush back to the couch when I heard my name.

  “Isabella, can you come here for a sec?” Jimmy called out.

  “Um…sure…” I stumbled over my words as I simultaneously stumbled over the coffee table. I knocked a tiny ship right off the table and barely caught it before I landed on my forearms with a thud. When I lifted my head, I saw there were feet on the floor in front of me.

  I looked up and saw Jimmy standing over me. He held his hand out. “Everything okay in here?”

  “Yep.” I took his hand and he easily pulled me up off the ground. “Thanks.”

  I clumsily stood and he led me around the corner, his hand settled on my lower back. I was checking to make sure my clothes were straight from my fall, and when I looked up I saw one of the most stunning women I’d ever seen in my life standing in the doorway.

  She reminded me of a Mila Kunis, if Mila Kunis had been built like Kim Kardashian. She was wearing a light blue sundre
ss with a waist that was, at the most, twenty inches. In one hand she had a bottle of wine and in the other she had a bag of takeout food.

  It was clear that she’d come to have dinner with Jimmy. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was using the just-show-up method.

  Jimmy’s thumb rubbed up and down my lower back, making me instantly feel more comfortable as he made introductions. “Isabella, this is Reece. Reece, Isabella.”

  It was strange hearing him use my full name. But I liked it. I liked that only he used the name Bella with me.

  Reece took a step toward us and I got a whiff of what could only be described as a fresh, summer breeze. The woman even smelled beautiful.

  She handed Jimmy the bottle and offered me her hand. “Hello, Isabella.”

  “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” I offered as I shook it.

  Her eyes were scanning me, but I didn’t feel like she was doing it in a negative way, or even a checking out the competition way. There was no judgment in her gaze. It was more like she was studying me.

  “It is very nice to meet you, Isabella.” Her smile was wide. “Well, I’d better be going.”

  Jimmy’s hand dropped from my back and he walked the few feet to hold the door open for Reece. As she passed him, she lifted up on her toes and kissed the side of his cheek. The peck was significant. I could tell from the look in both of their eyes when she lowered down. Almost like a goodbye.

  He smiled down at her and I could see that she was obviously someone he cared about. “Take care of yourself.”

  “You know I will.” She grinned as she put her sunglasses on.

  As she walked down the porch steps, he attempted to hand the bottle back to her but she waved him off. “Consider it my parting gift.”

  And just like that, she was gone.

  “Sorry about that,” he said as he shut the door behind her and locked it.

  “It’s fine.”

  “She and I…”

  “I got it.” I might not have had that much experience myself, but I wasn’t that naïve.

  He set the wine bottle down on the entry table. When he lifted his head again, the look he’d had in his eyes before the knock was back.

  My insides started tingling all over again.

  “Do you have your list?”

  The list? Oh, the list. I’d totally forgotten what he was talking about.

  I pulled it out of my purse.

  “Can I see it?”

  I hadn’t shown anyone the list. Not even Mrs. B. It felt very personal. But if there was one person I didn’t mind getting personal with, it was Jimmy.

  My hand trembled as I handed it over to him.

  He opened it and his eyes scanned the page and then flipped it over and looked at the other side. My nerves were popping like corn in a microwave as I watched him. Would he think that it was silly? Would he be surprised at just how inexperienced I was? Not just with intimate things, but with everything.

  “I think you need to add one more.” He handed it back to me.

  “Okay, what?” I hadn’t thought about getting other people’s input on the list. It gave me an idea to start asking people what would be on their bucket lists. I figured I would go with, “bucket list,” when asking around because it sounded better than Before I Die list.

  He stepped forward, stopping just in front of me, and all thoughts of my list or adding to it evaporated. There were only a couple of inches that separated us and that space between us crackled with intensity. We weren’t touching, but I felt him everywhere. I was cocooned in his masculine scent, his intense stare, and the magnetic air of confidence that drew people to him.

  The deep timbre of his voice vibrated through me as he gritted out. “I think you need to add getting your pussy ate against my front door.”

  My sex clenched as I silently gasped, “Oh.”

  The paper slid from my fingers as Jimmy spun me around. My back was pressed up against his front door and he dropped to his knees.

  His fingertips brushed against my thighs as they slid beneath my dress. He pushed the material up to my waist, lifted my leg up, and set it on his shoulder. His movements were confident and steady. The entire thing took less than five seconds.

  My body trembled as I watched him lean forward and press a soft kiss to the black lace covering my sex. The sight of his lips pressed against the material was erotically charged. When his tongue joined the party and he licked my panties, my knees buckled, unable to stand beneath the onslaught of sensation.

  It was somehow just as hot, or maybe even hotter, that he was doing all of this with my underwear still in place. I could concentrate on all my other senses because, although it felt good, it wasn’t quite as overwhelming as when he was kissing me directly on my skin.

  I didn’t get to revel in my other senses long, because he pulled my panties to the side, exposing my core. The tip of his tongue brushed across my swollen pleasure button and I gasped as shocks of bliss spread from my clit to all my extremities.

  One hand flew to the wall beside me and the other gripped his hair to keep my balance. He began a flicking motion as his finger pressed inside of me. My body clamped around his digit, pulsating as a powerful release careened toward me.

  When he added another finger, my walls stretched and the sting of the intrusion sent a firestorm of pleasure whipping through me.

  “Oh…that’s…so…good…” I mumbled unintelligible encouragement as he continued catapulting me into my release.

  His fingers crooked, hitting what I could only assume was my G spot and, that time, my legs did buckle out from under me. Thankfully, Jimmy was Jimmy. Capable and strong. He easily kept me upright as I went up, up, up and over the edge of total oblivion.

  My head fell back, hitting the oak door behind me as I closed my eyes and fireworks exploded behind my lids. Rhythmic convulsions shook me to my bones. Every cell in my body was alive with sensation as I rode my orgasm out against Jimmy’s tongue as his fingers gently massaged my internal pleasure generator.

  I went up and over the peak, and as I neared the bottom of the hill, I opened my eyes once again. I looked down to see that Jimmy was still positioned with his mouth hovering over my sex. When he pulled his fingers out of me and licked them, an aftershock rippled from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.

  “I didn’t even know…”—I panted—“…that was a real thing.”

  Jimmy’s eyes were still locked with mine as he pressed one more, ever so gentle, kiss to my overly sensitive flesh before replacing the lace material over my still tingling core. He stood, keeping one hand on my hip to steady me.

  “What’s that, darlin’?”

  “The G spot.” I gazed up into his honey stare, trying to focus but still feeling drunk off of my release. “I thought it was a myth.”

  His lips slowly pulled up into a grin that would tempt a nun. “I guess that makes me your sexual myth buster.”

  I chuckled and hoped that the night would lead to a lot more myth-busting.

  CHAPTER 30

  Jimmy

  Before her laughter died down, I scooped Bella into my arms and headed toward the bedroom. There was a lot more that I thought she might want to add to her list, and then check off. Her giggling continued as I held her tightly against me and she wrapped her arms around my neck, clinging to me. My taste buds were coated with her sweet juices making my mouth water.

  “Oh my god!” she gasped.

  “What?” I stopped.

  She pointed to the large mirror that hung in the dining room. The one that was positioned perfectly for me to see her from the front door when she’d snuck right up to the corner to overhear what Reece and I were talking about.

  Leaning back, she looked in my eyes, there was a slight bit of panic in them. “Did you see me?”

  I nodded, not voicing just how adorable she’d looked at that moment. I didn’t want to push my luck by inundating her with compliments.

  Her face flushed and she returned
to her original position, burying her face in my neck. “Sorry about that.”

  “I was impressed you lasted as long as you did. If the roles were reversed, my ass would’ve been out of that chair the second I heard you open the door.”

  She shook her head against my chest and I tightened my hold on her. As I looked at our reflection in the mirror, my heart expanded to double its size. I could feel the pressure of it in my chest. The woman I held in my arms was my heart, and that’s what I saw reflected back at me. Tears pricked the back of my eyes with that realization.

  A woman I hadn’t even known existed a week ago now held the pink slip to my heart. She owned me.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked quietly after I stayed in place for a minute, standing still in the hall.

  There was no way I could share what was actually running through my head. Instead, I said, “I was just thinkin’ you look like one of those little animals girls used to put on pencils.”

  She looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, I do. I can get down.”

  She started to squirm, causing the heat of her core to grind along my rock-hard erection. I held her tight, not letting her go as I pressed my hard-on against her. “Honey, you can clip onto my pencil anytime.”

  Her giggle was back and, although I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, my heart expanded even further. In an attempt to keep things light and playful, I squeezed her backside as I raced down the hallway to the bedroom. She kept laughing and held on for dear life.

  I still hadn’t processed everything that Bella’d told me, but that didn’t change the fact that I was going to take any and all of the time she was offering. I didn’t want to think about her not being here, ever—but she was here now, and I was going to take full advantage of that.

  When we got to my bed, I bent down and gently laid her on top of my comforter. With her arms still wrapped around my neck and her legs around my waist, she began peppering light kisses down my neck. My entire body buzzed with arousal. Nerve endings I’d never known I had tingled with desire.