by Aimee Laine
Tripp hung on to her upper arms as he battered her lips with his. A gentle tug, a kick of his foot behind hers, and she found herself lowered to the beach—him hovering above her. She gave him her trust, remaining relaxed as he laid her against the soft sand.
His hands found her shirt, undoing each button until her breasts hid only within lace he’d already unclasped on their walk down.
Lexi’s fingers teased in his hair as he kissed the skin at the swell of her breasts and tugged her shirt off.
Tripp propped himself up on one elbow. Lexi’s fingers slipped to his waist. She flicked the button open, unzipped. Her hand slid against soft flesh. She taunted with movement up and down. Encouraged by his groans and more forceful nips to her flesh, she adjusted her grip while kicking off her shorts in a final bid for freedom.
A gentle caress elicited moans of pleasure, so she added more.
Their lips continued to tease each other, his moving up and down her body—a lazy trail of desire burning to her center.
His fingers tickled as they toyed with her, teasing until the pressure within prepared to burst free.
Sand coated his hand and hers. The roughness edged into pleasure as he lay above her, his rock of a chest against hers—a connection Lexi craved.
She arched up to him again, shifted her hips forward and back until he wandered lower. Lexi groaned as he slipped within her, nibbling along her neck the entire time.
Around them, the ocean roared. A wave crashed so close Lexi expected it to cover them. Pier lights danced like the stars above.
She closed her eyes to the world around her, breathed in his scent and committed the moment to memory. If ever they separated, she wanted to remember.
His thrusts began in earnest, deep and slow with long drawn-out movements. Lexi pressed her lips to his, matching his rhythm to the mesmerizing beat of the ocean.
She opened her eyes.
The stars brightened as if the night sky had darkened only the pinpoints of the light remained. Canis Major and Minor—an outline of the fox, and the dog with the hunter—formed in her mind as Tripp staked his claim upon her—one she willingly gave to him.
His breath grew ragged as did hers.
She nudged her lips to the side. “You said … it … before.” Through the barrage of sensation, she forced the words out. “With me,” she whispered. “With me, Tripp.” Lexi bit at his bottom lip as she brought up her knees, let him push as far as possible within her.
“With me,” he said.
Their bodies constricted in a double show of passion that made the night sky brighten like in a flash of light. An observer might think it a dying star.
Lexi took it to be the besting of the gods.
Tripp slowed as a rogue wave hit their side, making them both jump as frigid water coated them. He still thrust within her, perhaps as undeterred as she.
Lexi ran a light hand down his back, unwilling to change their position. “You know that’s three times together, right?”
Tripp continued to slip and slide. “And you know that never, well, almost never happens, right?”
Lexi nibbled at his ear, trailed south and traced his star with her tongue. “Think our moments will always be that way?”
“If it is, then … well … hot damn.” He smiled against her cheek as Lexi laughed.
Another freezing wave hit them.
“I think the tide’s about to reach us,” she said.
Tripp nipped at her chin. “I think it hit us a long time ago, you’re just now feeling the effects.”
Lexi twisted underneath him, though his hips still beat against hers. The sand around them sank in as it fully engulfed by water.
She turned back to Tripp. “So we just made love in the ocean?”
“Sort of. Sand. Sea. Salt. Under the stars.” He twisted to look up. “It suits us, don’t you think?”
Lexi nodded. “I do. Completely. Wanna do it again?”
“I can if you can.”
“Oh, is that a challenge I hear?” She grinned, biting at his jawline with playfulness.
“Maybe this time we’ll float out to sea, meet a few mermaids and get a few pointers on sex from the masters.”
Lexi slapped his rump. “Or we’ll finish off the pizza, get into bed and sleep the night away.”
Tripp kissed her with a sweetness that had her heart flipping. “And by sleep, you mean—”
“Whatever you want.”
• • •
Tripp stood in the frame of the open sliding glass door, glancing from Lexi’s form to the beach and back. Outside, seagulls cawed as they swooped onto the sand, picking up what Tripp assumed to be their breakfast.
He turned back just as Lexi rolled over. “Good morning, sleepy head.”
She shifted toward her clock. “It’s only eight. Why are you up?” Her hair fell around her shoulders, covering one eye.
Tripp crossed to her as he considered the best way to explain. He’d waited to ask her the question he’d skipped out on the previous night.
“Let’s go sit on the deck a minute.” He held out a hand.
She slipped from the covers in the same clothes they wore to bed: none. “Let me get a robe.”
“Uh, no.”
“I’m not going out there naked.” She grabbed the blanket from the bed, wrapping it around herself but following along with him.
As Tripp took a seat, she fell into his lap. “Lexi.” He placed his hands at the sides of her neck, tugged her down and added a kiss to start their morning.
She responded with fingers in his hair. The blanket slipped, leaving her breasts uncovered.
As much as he wanted outdoor fun, he had only so long to find Jill’s future husband, convince him to meet her and marry her.
“I can feel you thinking, Tripp. What’s going on?”
He dropped his forehead to hers. “Remember when I asked you if you liked working with people?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever searched for a person?”
Shaking her head, she said, “I refuse—”
“I know. I’ve heard. But why?”
“Because I’ll never know the outcome—good or bad, but mostly on the bad side. I couldn’t live with myself if I was too late to find someone and they ended up dead.”
“But you could separate what you look for, right?”
“No. Because then I’d feel guilty only using it for some people and not others. It’s too risky.”
“What about for love?”
“People should find each other on their own.” She twisted in his lap. “And what if I were wrong? I mean, it’s not fair to use magic for that if I’m not willing to use it to the benefit of others—specifically people who’d need it more.” On a sigh, she added, “People need the right place, right time, not me interfering with fate.”
He agreed, somewhat, though her hesitation suggested he could perhaps sway her. “What if your help is critical to my ability to father children?”
Her eyes grew wide. “What the hell does that mean?”
Tripp hid his smile with a kiss to her hair. “I went back to New York to make sure Jill knew we were over.” He held tight when she flinched as he said ‘Jill’.
Her shoulders slumped.
“I went back a second time, too.”
“You what?” She pushed back and away, her face reflecting hurt and confusion. “Why?”
“To apologize—”
“You are going to marry her … after all this?”
Tripp grabbed Lexi’s wrists, pulling her into him. “Listen for a minute, and stop jumping to conclusions. I’m about to ask you to break your rules, and I want you to know why.”
She dropped her chin to her chest. “Go on.”
“I figured out that all Jill ever wanted was to get married—”
“A woman in her position could have anyone—”
“She doesn’t want just anyone. She wants the one who she thinks is her soul mate.”
He waved Lexi silent. “While I was getting the first painting, she dropped the engagement ring she bought into a box. She didn’t even cancel any of the plans she’d made.”
“She saw you?” She sat back up.
Tripp smirked. “Hell, no. I saw her, though. So it kind of hit me.” He tucked a hair behind Lexi’s ear. “Anyway, when I apologized, I made her a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Yes. She knows I’m good at finding things, which has really always been Ian’s part in our partnership. My part—”
“Was getting it. Gotcha.”
“So I told her to keep the wedding plans, and I’d find the guy she was really supposed to marry.”
Lexi slapped her hands on his chest. “You did not.”
“Uh. Yeah.”
“Why in the hell would you do that?” Despite the words, her tone didn’t bite.
“To make her father stop his rampage on me, and because it was the nice thing to do.”
“Nice?” She slapped her thighs. “Nice?” The second iteration came out with a frustrated whine far worse than where he’d thought she might have been going—emotionally. “To a woman who wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, who sends her father after you in a child-like hissy fit, and you wanted to be nice?”
“Yes.”
“Huh.”
Neither said anything for a moment. The gull’s screams grew as the wind picked up.
“So you want me to find the guy. How are you going to get him to her? Why does she believe this will work? Why would she even agree?”
“She’s an odd one, but she truly believes I will bring her the man of her dreams. You’ll have to just leave the acquisition part to me. “
“Oh, no.” Her eyes went serious. “You can’t do anything illegal, Tripp. That’s just not right.”
“I told you you’d have to trust me, right?”
“And I’ve been clear I won’t get into illegal activities. I won’t. Ever.”
“I’m not asking you to break laws, Lexi. I’m asking you to find someone and leave the rest to me.”
“What if I’m wrong? I don’t do this for a reason, Tripp.”
“Ever?”
She shook her head. “It’s too dangerous. I’d be messing with people’s lives. That’s not fair to them, and it’s not fair to me.”
“Well this one is waiting for us—for me, that is—to provide. You wouldn’t want her to hurt me, would you?” He batted his lashes at her like his sister did to him. “Would you do it if it was the very last request I ever asked you to do for me?”
“No.”
His hope drained.
28
Lexi couldn’t believe she’d been asked to search for someone’s other half, let alone for Tripp’s former lover. The task broke all her rules.
She’d stood and walked into the room as he explained what happened in New York—in exquisite detail. While she understood, a little, why Jill would accept his ridiculous scheme, how he could convince the other party, she had no idea.
Through a shower, coffee, breakfast, and even lunch, Lexi and Tripp talked more about Jill’s impact on his life and the potential effect on Lexi herself.
Tripp sat across from her at the coffee table, holding out his hands. “Please, Lexi. This … and a few other things are going to let us be together. You said you trusted me. So please. Trust me. I won’t ask you for anything again—ever. Just this once.”
She stared at him, willing herself to believe and trust, as she’d said she would. On a deep sigh, Lexi slid her palms against Tripp’s.
He rubbed his finger against her skin. “Is this a yes?”
A single nod had his lips curving up. “One more question first.”
“Okay.”
“How does this make us—” Her finger wagged between the two of them. “— work? How does it get us around the paradox? How—”
“You have to trust me.” He took both her hands in his.
Trust him. The hardest two words out there. Okay … I can do this. “I need my hands.”
He let go. “You’re ready now?”
“Yes, and no. My hands help me focus. Let me see her picture.”
Tripp pushed a button on his phone, brought up Jill’s face.
An instant dislike hit Lexi’s emotional mind.
“I’m sorry.” He said it as if he understood her internal thoughts.
Lexi shook her head. “I just didn’t think she’d be so pretty. Should’ve known of course, but I only caught a glimpse of her from the back at that hospital.”
Tripp used his finger to turn Lexi’s head toward him. “She’s nowhere near as beautiful as you.” He laid his lips against hers, a soft, wordless thank you.
Lexi smiled against him, pushed the button on his phone, and brought up Jill’s face again. The blue eyes, blonde hair, perfect smile and symmetrical features greeted her again. Lexi tucked away her negative thoughts, letting Jill’s image fill her mind. She kept her goal at the front—find Jill’s true love—but came up with blurry images—nothing she could distinguish.
Lexi opened her eyes.
“Find someone?”
“No. I need to—I need to go outside. Away from you. When I think of her, I think of you. Your smell is all around me, and while I love it, it breaks my train of thought.”
She stood, taking Tripp’s phone with her as she wandered to the first floor deck. “Okay, Jill. This isn’t for you. This is for Tripp.”
Lexi closed her eyes, drew Jill’s image to mind again and focused on ‘true love’. She found, instead, Tripp’s image. His face caused her to shiver as if she’d found the answer she didn’t look for. He and Jill weren’t meant for each other—never had been. She shook off the thought, hid the smile and focused again on Jill.
Slide-like images ran through Lexi’s mind, one after the other until she found a different face. Again, her concentration faltered. She twirled a line of her hair.
Tripp’s body pressed against her back. “Having problems?”
“I keep losing focus. I told you I don’t do people for a reason, but they also move, and their personalities interfere with the visuals I get. It’s the hardest kind of stuff, too.” She spoke toward the ocean, hoping Tripp would hear her.
A nudge on her shoulder and she turned into him. His hands moved to her chin as his lips touched her nose. “You know Jill’s not supposed to be with me, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Tell me about Jill.” The thought pained Lexi, but with more information, she would gain clarity.
“Her mother died seventeen years ago from breast cancer, and Jill’s relied on her dad ever since. She needs someone who’ll take care of her, love her for her flaws and not for her money. She loves to travel, is very demanding, but she’s very giving, too—of her funds and time. She doesn’t work, but volunteers at a bunch of places in New York. She’ll give her all to a relationship but has been burned a number of times, mostly because of people going after her for her money. That’s why she sticks to people who treat her well. Like me.”
“That sucks for her,” Lexi said.
Tripp kissed her forehead. “It does, and it took breaking her heart for me to realize where her clinginess came from.”
“Okay, let me try again.”
Tripp let go, but instead of the deck rail, Lexi clung to him.
“You’re going to hang on to me?” he asked.
“Just let me … yes.” She laid her head against his chest. His heart beat at her ear.
In one thought, the images flew through her mind. One after the other, the more she relaxed with Tripp connected to her, the faster they passed. She flipped to one—the face of a man with blue eyes and dark hair like Tripp, but no star, no earring and not a bit of overnight stubble.
Lexi laughed, but Tripp remained silent.
She backed out, found the man dressed in a tie, his suit jacket on a coat rack
next to a mahogany desk. He worked at a laptop, his fingers moving across a keyboard, though she didn’t see what he typed. She pushed farther back, brought to mind an office with a door and a nameplate.
“Sellers,” Lexi said. “Jacob Sellers.”
From four walls to a cubicle farm, she found a lobby.
“Second floor of an older building. One of those kids groups—for the underprivileged. Orange County Kid’s Connection.”
As the last image passed through, she fell against Tripp’s arms. The side of her head pounded. His hand rubbed the exact spot where it hurt.
“You pushed yourself for that, didn’t you?”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry.” He continued to rub. “I could feel it.”
She breathed in Tripp’s scent.
“Thank you.”
Lexi handed him his phone. “Jacob Sellers. I guess you’ve got some more work to do to convince him, now, right?”
• • •
“Jacob Sellers.” Ian’s voice reached Tripp with ease through the phone. “Thirty-one, owner of Orange County Kid’s Connection in Middletown, New York, son to Janet and Kevin Sellers of the same. Graduated New York University Summa Cum Laude, with a double degree in Sociology and Business Management—”
“Enough.” Tripp stopped the monologue.
“But you asked me to get the details.”
“Yes, I know. Can you shoot me an email with them and anything else you’ve got? Lexi and I are flying up to chat with … Mr. Sellers.”
“I hope he’s single!” The speakerphone picked up Emma, too.
“What if he’s not, Tripp? I didn’t even think to look.” Lexi drove as Tripp made notes.
“Shut up, you people,” Ian said “He’s single. I checked for active marriage records. Okay, info sent. I’ve got you on the nine thirty into LaGuardia. Limo to the Ritz since your place is a disaster—”
“Why is your apartment a problem?” Lexi eyed Tripp from her perch in the driver’s seat of her Mini.
“Renovations.” He lied with ease.
“Rental will be dropped off at the hotel tomorrow at nine. Ya’ll—No wait, that’s too weird. You two have fun.” Ian clicked off.
“Want to stay a few days at the Ritz?” Tripp laid his hand over Lexi’s, rubbing the top with his thumb. The motion soothed him.
