by Regina Wade
Her Big Brother’s Best Friend
A Protective Possessive Instalove Romance
Regina Wade
Copyright © 2020 by Regina Wade
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
A Day at the Beach Playlist
1. Nash
2. Nicole
3. Nash
4. Nicole
5. Nash
6. Nicole
7. Nash
8. Nicole
9. Nash
10. Nicole
11. Nash
12. Nicole
13. Epilogue One - Nash
14. Extended Epilogue - Nicole
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Meeting Madison: Insta-Love Office Book 1
Also by Regina Wade
About the Author
A Day at the Beach Playlist
Some Beach, Blake Shelton
No Shirt No Shoes No Problem, Kenny Chesney
Somewhere on a Beach, Dierks Bently
Toes, Zac Brown Band
Water, Brad Paisley
Day Drinking, Little Big Town
Barefoot Blue Jean Night, Jake Owen
Soak up the Sun, Sheryl Crow
All Summer Long, Kid Rock
Under the Boardwalk, The Drifters
The Boys of Summer, Don Henley
Chapter 1
Nash
Some beach. Somewhere. There’s a big umbrella casting shade over an empty chair. Palm trees are growing and warm breezes blowing. — Blake Shelton, ‘Some Beach’
I can see her.
Even from out here, where I’m straddling my surfboard under the early morning Hawaiian sun, I can see her on the sand near the beach house. Those curves, the gentle dip of her waist; the ample swell of her breasts and the sway of her hips as she walks.
It’s been five years since I’ve seen Nicole West, but I’d recognize her shape anywhere.
It would take a hell of a lot more than a stretch of soft white sand and pristine blue ocean to keep me from zeroing in on my best friend’s little sister.
Not so little anymore.
I start to paddle towards shore, my muscular frame already glistening with sweat and seawater. I’ve been out since sunrise, taking advantage of another perfect day in Kauai to ride waves. I didn’t have a lot of support when I first moved to Hawaii to pursue my professional surfing career. Only my best friend Alex— Nicole’s big brother— really supported my decision.
And, of course, Nic herself.
She’d been just a shy eighteen-year-old college freshman five years ago when she hugged me tight and told me she knew I’d make it big.
Try not to forget about me while you’re in paradise winning every surfing competition, she’d told me— slipping a thrift store puka shell necklace into my shirt pocket.
As if I could ever forget her.
She was right about the winning, though.
At thirty-five, I’ve won more state and world championships than any other surfer on record. California, South Africa, Australia. I walked away with the trophy— and the prize money— for all of them.
Not many men my age can say they’re semi-retired with a private beach house on the shores of Kauai, but I’m proud of everything I’ve accomplished. I’ve been looking forward to having Alex out, spending a week with my best friend.
I didn’t know he was bringing Nicole.
She’s inching her way out onto the sand from around the back gate as I coast closer to the shore. My heart slams into my chest even as my cock swells in my board shorts at the sight of her. Nicole has always been beautiful. Her long dark hair and big brown eyes have a way of looking straight into my soul. Knowing that she’s Alex’s little sister— that she’s off-limits— doesn’t make the ache for her any less intense.
Nicole isn’t dressed for the beach. She’s still wearing jeans and a black tee-shirt that flows around her generous curves, blowing in gentle morning breeze coming off the ocean. As my feet make contact with the wet sand, I can see that she’s barefoot, her flats dangling off her fingertips. She must have just arrived, caught an Uber from the airport straight to my place. I don’t see Alex anywhere.
I hate the thought of her coming alone. I wish she’d called me; I would have come picked her up. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Nicole, and seeing her standing in the sand on my beach for the first time in five years just cements that idea in my own mind.
I can tell the moment she sees me. I’m still a ways down the beach, but Nicole’s eyes light up. Even under the mid-morning sun, lights dancing on the endless water, the brightness in her scotch brown eyes outshines everything around us.
“Nash!” She waves at me with the hand not holding her shoes.
Making her way down the sand, Nicole looks like a postcard. The waves lap against the edge of her jeans, foam and water licking at the hem of her jeans.
Tucking my board easily under one arm, I jog along the shore towards her. There are a million questions rolling around in my head.
I knew my best friend was coming to spend a week with me, but he never mentioned he was bringing his sister. And where is Alex, anyway? The most important question is the one I’ve shoved to the back of my mind a dozen times in the short time since spotting Nic standing there like a vision in the sand.
Will I be able to control myself around my best friend’s little sister for a week?
Do I even want to?
There’s nobody I’ve ever wanted as much as Nicole. Ever.
I’ve spent more time fantasizing about kissing her, taking her clothes off, exploring every inch of her gorgeous curvy body than I can count. In my mind I’ve fucked Nicole every way possible. From slow, sensual lovemaking to rough hair-pulling that makes her scream out my name.
I thought maybe I’d get her out of my system. Traveling the world, getting my face on magazines, becoming the top of my sport. There were plenty of women throwing themselves at me through the years. But none of them ever pushed the innocent smile and deep set dimple of Nicole West out of my mind. None of them ever chased away the idea that Nic is meant to be mine, at my side forever.
Now here she is, materialized out of thin air for the first time in five years.
It’s gonna be a hell of a week.
Chapter 2
Nicole
No shirt, no shoes, no problem. Blues, what blues? Hey I forgot ‘em. Sun and the sand and a drink in my hand with no bottom. — Kenny Chesney, ‘No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem’
Nash.
It’s been five years since the last time I saw my big brother’s best friend, but not a day’s gone by that I haven’t thought about him. Nash Winston is big in ways I never even knew men could be big. Muscles on muscles— and his time on the professional surfing circuit has only served to make him bigger. More graceful, too.
I watch as he scoops the massive longboard under an even more massive arm, running towards me through the breaking waves like a slow motion scene in some surf god movie from the sixties.
Maybe that’s what’s always drawn me to Nash. He’s not just big and gorgeous, with his blonde hair and movie star blue eyes. But he’s a throwback to an older time. I thought maybe once I started school, I’d find more guys like him. A gentleman, with protective tendencies and interests that aligned with mine.
I was wrong.
Maybe I just attract the wrong kind of boy, or maybe I just have terrible luck. Or maybe I�
��ve just never really worked Alex’s best friend out of my system. Either way, it seems ever since I started college, the guys that are drawn to me just don’t hold my attention. I had actually started to think maybe I should just settle for a boy who will squeeze in some time for me between video games and hanging out with his buddies.
Not anymore.
Just seeing Nash again, even just catching a glimpse of him, is enough to slam all those old memories home, reignite the flame inside of me. I could never settle for anything less than the flutters that lift off inside of me when I watch him on his board, or those moments when he smiles at me.
I could never settle for anything less than Nash.
The realization is sudden. Out of place. Nash is my brother’s best friend. He’s too old for me, and Alex would kill us both, besides.
Ugh. Alex.
The very thought of my brother sours my entire good mood. Alex was the one who invited me on this impromptu Hawaiian vacation. He told me that he was heading to Nash’s Kauai beach house for a week. He’d been working his butt off for the sales company he slaves away for, accruing vacation days all year for this. He even bought my plane ticket so I could spend my Spring Break with him.
‘A little big bro little sister bonding’, he called it.
It wasn’t until my plane landed that I got the text from Alex letting me know that he had to fly to a last minute client meeting and wouldn’t be able to make our vacation at all.
He never mentioned Nash would be here at all.
Wait. Does this mean I’m going to be alone with Nash for seven days? Just me and my big brother’s best friend? Alone in his massive house in paradise?
How am I supposed to behave myself for seven whole days all alone on a white sand beach without surfing head-first right into Nash-ville?
I’m so lost in my own turbulent thoughts that I don’t notice the wave until it’s too late.
One minute, I’m picturing a thousand and one ways to lose my virginity to Nash Winston.
Is it even possible to do that on a surfboard? What’s the jellyfish situation like in Kauai anyway?
The next, I’m flat on my back, sucking up seawater.
“What the— Nash!” I call out, already knowing I’ll be embarrassed later by the way his name is the first thing that comes to my lips.
The sound is strangled, cut off immediately by my sputtering and gasping. There’s saltwater in my mouth, in my throat. It stings my eyes, blinding me every time I shove at my face to clear away the hair and foam enough to get my bearings.
The strength of the wave is enough to disorient me. I don’t know which way is up, or whether or not I’ve been pulled out further than where I landed. My fingers dig into soft sand, grit making its way under my nails as I push myself upwards in an attempt to sit up. Instead, I end up swallowing another mouthful of salty seawater.
Note to self, if you’re going to fall into the ocean, your traveling jeans are not the thing to be wearing when you do. Somehow, the soggy denim manages to soak up half of the Pacific Ocean and weigh me down even more than the airline breakfast I put on Alex’s card.
A sneaky cord of seaweed winds its way around my ankle. Somehow my brain convinces me that it's both an electric eel and a great white shark, even this close to shore. Another shot of saltwater makes it into both my eyes and lungs at that.
“It’s ok, I’ve got you, Nic.” Nash’s voice cuts through the panic, calming me from the inside out.
Just like that, Nash Winston wraps his arms around me for the first time in five years.
Chapter 3
Nash
I went wheels up on a runway. And that ticket was a long way. I’m somewhere on a beach. Sippin’ something strong. — Dierks Bently, ‘Somewhere on a Beach’
The last time I had my arms around Nicole was five years ago. She was eighteen then, a fresh-faced college freshman.
Wrapping my arms around her gorgeous body now as I lift Nic up and out of the surf where she’s fallen, there’s no doubt that she’s all woman. She clings to me instinctively, pressing into my body in a way that makes throb all over again. The water is pressing her clothes to her, outlining every one of her curves in exquisite detail.
“You’re alright, Nicole.” I reassure her as we stride along the sand towards my house. It feels good to have her in my arms, to cradle her body this close to me after all this time.
The sun is shining down on her, but even the warmth of a perfect day isn’t enough to cut through the goosebumps erupting all along her pale skin.
I’ve seen it too many times on countless beaches now. The ocean can be an unforgiving mistress for anyone not familiar with her. Turn your back on the wrong wave and you can end up underwater or worse. Even a good swimmer can lose to a nasty undertow.
I don’t want to think of what could have happened to Nicole if I hadn’t been here; if I hadn’t seen her.
The ‘what ifs’ are still roaring through my mind as I carry Nicole through the front doors of my sprawling modern beach mansion.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I already know it won’t be the last time I carry her through this threshold.
“Nic? Look at me.” I’m at the couch in three long strides, laying her out on the buttery soft leather. “You’re alright. You just had a nasty fall. I’ve got you.”
“Nash.” It’s a relief to see her dark lashes flutter all the way open. “Careful. I’ll get your place all wet.” Nicole sputters the words between coughs.
Just like her, too. Of course Nic is more worried about me and my stuff than herself after nearly drowning. It only widens the soft spot in my heart for her.
My cock has an entirely different reaction to her. Especially now that the sun streaming through the window means I can see the way her nipples press against her tee in the most tantalizing way. I ease myself onto the couch next to her and wrap the throw blanket from the back around Nicole’s wet shoulders.
“Don’t worry about that, Nic. This whole place is made to be waterproof. Easy, now.” I give her back a gentle pat as one last round of coughs grips her. “Let me look at you.”
I take my time, tipping her chin back and drinking in the endless brown of her eyes.
“Alex didn’t tell me you’d be here,” Nicole murmurs as I look her over for signs of shock or injury.
Even after I’m satisfied that she’s ok, I don’t want to look away.
“Alex didn’t tell me you were coming,” I finally reply. “Looks like we both have a bone to pick with him when he gets here.”
Nicole meets my smirk with a small grin of her own.
“He’s not coming.” Her voice is quiet when she says it. Strained. As if she’s thinking the same things I am.
Judging by the heat flashing in her dark eyes and the spark of electricity in my fingertips where they’re still touching her face, she is.
“Oh?” My tone is casual, but we both know the question isn’t. I move my hand up, start the gentlest caress along her cheekbone.
“He invited me to come along. Spring break.” Nicole shrugs one shoulder. There’s a creep of blush in her cheeks now. Clearly over her brush with near-death, she’s back to her old self. “But then I got a text from him after I was already at the airport. He had—”
“A last minute meeting come up.” I finish for her.
Nicole laughs, shaking her head.
I love my best friend like a brother, but Alex and I have a fundamental difference in life philosophies. I like to be in the driver’s seat of my own life.
The softness of Nicole’s skin against my palm beckons. Her laughter is sweet music against the sound of the ocean crashing against the sand outside.
“Thanks, Nash,” she draws the blanket tighter around herself. “That wave took a cheap shot.”
Nicole’s laugh is dismissive, but I meet her dark eyes and wait for her to be looking back at me before cupping her face in my hands again.
“I’ll always be there for you, Nic. I’
ll always save you.”
I hear her breath hitch in her throat, watch the way her pulse races at the base of her neck. I wasn’t imaging the way Nicole looks at me, or the way she feels about me. I wasn’t wrong, either. I knew from the moment I saw her reappear on my beach.
I lean down, bridging the last of the space between us.
Nicole tastes like sweet wine and summer sunshine. She’s everything I’ve wanted, every reason it’s never worked with anyone else. Her mouth fits perfectly against mine, lips molded to the shape of my own.
She’s tentative at first and I don’t rush her.
I let her take her time, exploring each other’s mouths with small kisses and exchanges of breath. Eventually, I guide my tongue into her mouth, eating up her excited sounds and small whimpers.
My dick throbs in time to her pulse and it isn’t long before Nic is all but climbing into my lap. She’s wiggling and squirming her wet body against me in a way designed to drive a man to the brink of insanity. My hands find their way into her wet hair, tangling in the dark tresses until I pull away from her with a nip of her full plump lower lip.
Nicole’s face is flush with color now, her breath coming in big gulps. I could drink up the look in her wide eyes forever.
“Welcome to paradise, Nic.” I stand up and hold out a hand to help her up. “It’s going to be a great week.”
Chapter 4
Nicole