Family (Men of Steel #5.5)

by Mj Fields

  He hopped down from the board and into the water. I should’ve walked away, but I didn’t want to. It wasn’t like I’d see him again anyway.

  He picked up his board and held it under his arm as he walked toward me. My god, he was even more beautiful close up. He ran his hand through his hair and shook the excess water out as he continued toward me. I looked left so that he didn’t notice my stare, but I kept my eyes on Neptune; he certainly was a beautiful creature.

  As he continued walking toward me, I began to feel uncomfortable.

  “Hey.” His voice was soft yet strong.

  “Hey to you.” I smiled. He stopped and stood his board in the sand.

  He smiled. Beautiful.

  “You number four?”

  “Excuse me?” I laughed and he bent over and grabbed a towel that happened to be beside me. I hadn’t noticed it before.

  “You with the three ladies staying up there?” He pointed to the beach house and then began to towel off.

  It hit me right then that he was the All-American boy who my friends had caught floating naked in the pool. I bit my cheeks so that I wouldn’t laugh and he smiled and shook his head.

  “Yeah, I would be the neighbor who uh,” he stopped. “Well, let’s just say I met them last night.”

  “Oh, I heard about you.” I smiled, embarrassed.

  “I’m sure I made a great first impression. But in my defense I had no clue it was a shared space.”

  “I don’t think they minded much.”

  He tilted his head and looked at me like he was questioning something. Then he chuckled and leaned down to grab his shirt. He shook the sand off and threw it on.

  “I offered up dinner tonight as a peace offering. You’re welcome to join us, Four.”

  “I see.” I smiled because there was not much else I could do. He gave off that kind of vibe. He had a warm, inviting smile, the kind of guy you could be comfortable with immediately.

  “So, any special requests, Four? I only ask because I haven’t embarrassed myself in front of you, so you’re like the safe zone.”

  There was a moment of uncomfortable silence that he broke. “You surf?”

  “Never tried it. You looked amazing out there though.” Oh dear, god I just said that out loud. The corner of his lip curled up slightly. “I just meant…”

  “Don’t worry about it, Four. I know what you meant. If it helps, you look pretty amazing standing here on the beach as well.”

  Now I was the one smirking.

  “I’ll be back out here in a couple hours if you’re interested.”

  I nodded and smiled. Then I kicked at the sand, giddy. Neptune made me feel like a giddy little school girl.

  “I think I’d like that.”

  “I think you will, too. How long are you here?”

  “Three days.”

  “Me too. I can teach you a lot in three days, if you’re up to the challenge.”

  “I’m always up for a challenge.”

  His expression changed and his eyebrow lifted a bit.

  “Yeah?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “I’m gonna push you hard, Four.”

  I may have not been in the game for a few months, but he was flirting. “I wouldn’t want it any other way, Neptune.”

  He bit his lower lip and looked me up and down. “You got a suit?”

  “A wet suit?”

  “No Four, please not a wet suit.”

  “I’ll have to see what I brought. I’ll surprise you.”

  “I will look forward to it.”

  He hesitated before grabbing his board and walking up the beach toward the house. I watched him. He looked great from behind as well. This man could be the one to pull me out of my funk.

  I was still gawking when he turned to look in my direction. I wasn’t gonna hide it. I was excited about the possibilities. This vacation just got way more interesting. I waved and he waved back.

  Wow.

  ***

  I walked up the beach, looked toward his place, saw his silhouette pass by the window, and smiled at the glimpse of him. I held my hand to my heart and laughed out loud. Over at our little place, three sets of curious eyes stared at me before quickly ducking out of sight.

  I walked in and they all sat quietly around the table. I sat down and looked at them, trying to keep it together. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I smiled and looked down.

  “You met the neighbor,” Paige goaded, and they all busted up laughing.

  “Shh, geesh he’s right over there, keep it down already.”

  “Ooo, looks like Stella’s about to get her groove back,” Mel whispered.

  “He’s very nice-looking.” I whispered.

  “Nice looking? That’s all you got? That man is H.O.T. hot.” Laney whispered.

  “Yeah, he is. He offered to teach me to surf.”

  “No way!”

  “Shhh,” I giggled.

  “When?”

  “Well, in a couple hours, for starters.”

  “Oh no. We have massages set up in an hour and a half.” Paige interjected.

  “I didn’t know.” I tried not to sound disappointed, but I kind of was.

  “Ho’s before Bro’s,” Laney laughed.

  “Yeah, I’ll just have to go over and let him know.”

  “Go now.” Mel sounded a little bit too eager to get rid of me.

  “Fine. I will.”

  I pulled my shades back down, walked out into the shared lawn and across the patio to Neptune’s door, and knocked.

  He opened the door with a towel wrapped around his waist. He didn’t have sunglasses on and his eyes looked like the ocean, sparkling and light blue, something I could definitely get lost in. The towel was slung pretty damn low and I was stuck on the tattoo on his hip bone. That tattoo pointed to the V.

  He lifted my chin up so that I was looking at him now.

  “You have a tattoo.”

  “I do.”

  “It’s nice.”

  “Thanks.”

  I didn’t say anything and he smiled.

  “What brings you by, Four, did you need a cup of milk, some sugar?”

  “No, um no.” Get it together, Nikki. “The girls made massage appointments so I won’t be able to take you up on the surf lesson. I just didn’t want to leave you hanging.”

  My eyes went down again and then quickly up.

  “Four, you keep checking out my stuff and I won’t be hanging much longer.”

  “Well, I only thought it fair that I got to see it, too. You know since the rest of the girls did.” I laughed, trying to make light of the situation.

  “All in due time, Four.”

  I laughed, “So, I’ll see you around.”

  I turned to leave and he grabbed my bicep stopping me. His touch was gentle yet strong, and it felt good. I looked back at him as he slowly released my arm.

  “Dinner for four tonight. Don’t forget.”

  “I won’t. Thanks … um … what’s your name?”

  “I’m kind of liking Neptune, how about we stick to that?”

  I smiled, laughed, and walked away.

  ***

  As we lay on our stomachs getting massages, I told the girls what the neighbor had said.

  “He likes you, Nikki.” Laney giggled.

  “Like, really likes you,” Paige said, in her sexy voice.

  “It’s an obvious attraction, not love.” I laughed.

  “Love, lust. Who cares? You need to jump on that one, get out of your slump.” Paige laughed.

  “I’m not in a slump. I’m just not a ho.”

  I could only imagine what the masseuses were thinking.

  “See, girl, you need it bad. You’re coming apart under poor John’s hands.” Mel laughed.

  “Who the hell is John?”

  “That would be me, miss.” The masseuse chuckled as he continued massaging my left leg.

  “Mel, good lord!”

  “Magic Mike over here is
hittin’ real close to home.” Paige cackled.

  We all laughed, and once we got going, it wasn’t likely we’d stop any time soon.

  “You bitches better quiet down or my guy’s gonna get a golden shower.” Laney snorted, and that did it. We all busted up laughing like we had back in high school. Tears falling, some snorting, some cackling, and we all had to sit up to try to keep from falling off the tables.

  When we had all calmed down, I looked at the four men in white trying to maintain their professionalism. Yep, my guy was John, his name tag said so. I laughed again and wiped the tears from my eyes.

  “See, you need the big O so bad you’re crying.” Paige held her stomach and laughed harder.

  “What I need is a damn drink if I’m gonna have to deal with you bitches for three more days,” I laughed and looked at my girls, all of them looking at each other like they were hiding something.

  “What? Spill it.”

  Silence.

  “Come on, Laney give it up.”

  “We’re all flying out tomorrow night … ” Laney began.

  “WHAT!”

  “We told you,” Mel spoke up.

  “Like hell you did!”

  “Well, when do you fly out?” Paige interjected.

  “Three days. So I have two nights left here.”

  “The neighbor will be here. What’s his name again?” Laney asked.

  “Neptune.”

  “No, that’s not it.” Mel scratched her head in thought.

  “That’s what I call him. He calls me ‘Four.’ ”

  “Four?”

  “Yep. He said Laney told him we’d have four for dinner tonight, so I’m four.”

  “I bet he’d like four for dinner.” Paige laid down and let out an orgasmic moan. But I wasn’t laughing.

  “You guys are serious? You’re really leaving tomorrow night?”

  “Yep, sorry, girl.” Paige looked over at me. “Check your messages. I’m sure it’s in there. How the hell you’re going to be organized at work is beyond me.”

  “Screw you. I know you said this whole week.”

  “Yeah, we have the place for a week but have to leave on day five. You showed up three days late, remember? Some of us have classes to get back to, not some cushy paid internship for the rest of the semester and all of our senior year.”

  “I needed to get the hell off campus.”

  “We get it.”

  I lay back down, nervous about being alone for three days and excited at the same time.

  ***

  “There’s a bar on the beach,” Paige pointed to the left. “Let’s go have some drinks.”

  The first round of frozen, fruity, umbrella-laden drinks was on me.

  We sat and laughed as we drank and reminisced about our high school days and about the boys we left behind. When we were sixteen, we made a pact to love em’ and leave em’, to move forward and not look back. This decision came after our group of five became four. A high school friend Heather allowed herself to turn to drugs when her heart was broken, instead of her friends. Laney and I still tried in vain to get to her, still sent her messages, invites, Christmas cards and birthday cards for a year. Mel and Paige gave up after six months and that’s when we made our pact.

  We talked about how different college was from high school. The freedoms would have gotten a few of us in trouble academically if the others didn’t push them back on track. We took college seriously. We all wanted to succeed in life so parties were minimal. We all played a sport, mine was track. We had plenty of time to hang out together. Mondays, we watch The Bachelor while we study. On Tuesdays, we discuss books we read for pleasure. Wednesday is our wine night. Thursdays was supposed to be our “date night” when we went out to dinner instead of eating from vending machines. Fridays were normally prep for a weekend of sports team trips or laundry. God, I hated laundry.

  After each of us had bought a round, it was my turn to buy another.

  “If you bitches are leaving me tomorrow, you’ll think of me all day while you nurse a hangover. Drink up!”

  ***

  We took a cab back to the house and stumbled through the front door. Giggling, drunk fools, we all peeked out the side window at Neptune, who was lounging and sipping a Corona in the courtyard. Music blasted as he tapped his foot to the beat. A man with rhythm.

  “Okay, girl, if you don’t go get that, I’m gonna. He’s fine, fine, fine.” Mel groaned.

  “You leave him alone, she’s got dibs.” Laney slurred.

  I laughed and waved them off as I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. That man did things to me.

  I leaned against the door and closed my eyes. Dibs and alcohol induced fearlessness. My reflection in the oversized bathroom mirror alarmed me. Damn! My eyes were bloodshot. I didn’t make it a habit to get inebriated by … I looked at my watch, three o’clock in the afternoon.

  “Oh well, Neptune, I got dibs.”

  At least I had enough sense to brush my teeth before making a complete fool of myself.

  The girls were gone by the time I’d finished drunk-primping. My skimpiest bikini laid conveniently on the table, so I grabbed it. It was a little yellow one with white polka dots. Ammunition.

  She wore an …

  Abe

  I spent the day surfing, drinking and thinking about Four. The way she’d looked at me when I answered the door, the way she gave it right back to me with that beautiful, smart mouth of hers. That mouth. I wanted it on me, to taste it, devour it. I wondered if it tasted as good as it looked. I wanted it to be mine while I was here.

  All three were out at the pool, but Four wasn’t. I watched the beautiful women swimming in the pool and laughing. I didn’t remember any of their names and it didn’t really matter, but I certainly didn’t want to come off as a dick.

  “Hey, Neptune!” The blonde yelled.

  “What’s up, girl?”

  “You should come in, water’s warm. Shed the shorts if you feel more comfortable.”

  They all laughed and so did I. “I’m manning the grill.”

  “You’re manning those shorts, too, Neptune and we know what’s hidden deep … ”

  The brunette pushed her under the water and I returned my attention to the smart phone I regretted bringing with me on vacation. Fucking work.

  The sound of a door sliding open caught my attention and looked up at the vision walking out the back door across the expansive lawn. I took a long pull off my beer and pushed my shades down, to hide the fact that I was checking her out. Four looked better than I had remembered.

  She pointed at the grill, “Need some help?”

  “All set, but why don’t you have a seat right here so I can put some sunscreen on you. The sun’s hot, Four, wouldn’t want you to burn up.”

  She sat in front of me, and I scooted up close. Maybe too close. I took a deep breath and squirted lotion into my hands, eager to touch her again.

  “I don’t want to mess up your hair,” I went to pull it back at the same time she was doing the same. Our fingers touched and the connection caused her to tense up a bit, it also caused blood to start pooling in my groin. “It’s gonna be cold, Four, brace yourself for impact.”

  As soon as my hands touched her she leaned her head to the left. “Don’t forget my neck.”

  “I won’t forget any part of you.”

  “No?”

  “No.” I leaned her gently forward, rubbed lotion across and then down her back, slowly touching every part of her back, and moving all the way down to that nice, round ass that was barely covered by the tiny yellow polka dot bikini she wore so fucking well. “You can sit back now. I need to do your front.”

  I stood and she tilted her head up and looked at me. “I can get the rest.”

  “You sure, I don’t mind at all.” I saw her cheeks turn a bit red and I took the opportunity to squat down in front of her. “Four, I have to do the front, your cheeks are already turning pink.”

&n
bsp; I squirted some sunscreen into my hand.

  “No that’s … ”

  “Head back, I promise I’ll be a gentleman.”

  She held her breath and that was enough to rile me up a bit more, and the few beers I had sucked down while waiting for her to get back made it even easier to let the boss in me want to take charge.

  I lifted her chin then started slowly rubbing lotion into the skin of her collarbone. I made my way up her slender neck. She let out a slow breath and a virtually silent moan as I held her chin in my hand. I pulled it down gently and then held her hair back as I rubbed the white cream across her forehead and cheeks.

  “Wouldn’t want those lips to burn, but this stuff won’t do. I’m gonna share with you, Four. Don’t move, OK?” I leaned in. She took in a quick breath, but didn’t move. “Stay very still. Don’t move.”

  I set my lips on hers and she whimpered. “Don’t move.”

  I rubbed my lips slowly across hers. I took the time to breathe in her sweet scent and her entire body relaxed. I pulled back.

  “Much better.”

  “Thank … you.”

  “You are more than welcome.” I smiled, letting her regain control, before sitting back on my heels. “Do you like roasted vegetables and chicken?”

  She cleared her throat and nodded.

  “Good. Give that lotion a few minutes to soak in before you get in the pool to … cool off. Don’t forget your chest and stomach. I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable for the next few days.”

  I stood up and walked towards the grill.

  Fuck, she was sweet. The only problem was I liked this girl. I didn’t want to like her. She had to know what’s up. This would be a vacation fling, nothing more. Stick to the plan O’Donnell.

  I took the food off the grill and brought it to my kitchen. I dished the food onto a platter and opened the wine refrigerator. Something light. I found a Moscato that would pair well with the grilled chicken and mixed tomato, squash, and onion vegetable medley.