For the rest of the weekend, she had a fuck-hot boyfriend to enjoy.
“We’re going to win!”
Evie glanced over at Garrett and Aaron, who were only one canoe length behind her and Eric, both of their red, sweaty faces creased with determination as they rowed for all they were worth. Most everyone else in the family who’d started with them in the race had fallen way behind with no real chance of catching up, including Graham and Raquel, who was screeching at her fiancé to go faster because she hated to lose.
Evie looked over her shoulder at Eric, who was sitting behind her since he was heavier and more muscular, so therefore he could apply more steering force to the canoe than she could. “They so aren’t going to win!” she yelled to him as she dug her paddle deeper into the water to increase their speed.
“Damn, you really are competitive!” Eric grinned at her. “Then again, so am I, so let’s do this!” His shoulders flexed as he made a hard, downward stroke with his paddle, which gained them a few more feet on the boys.
“Pump harder!” Evie’s brother shouted to Aaron. “Pump faster!”
“That’s what he said,” Aaron replied, and snickered at his dirty joke. “And it’s paddle harder, paddle faster, you dumb ass!”
“Whatever, just do it!” Garrett panted for breath. “You’re not going to let a girl beat us, are you?”
“You underestimate your sister,” Eric called out from behind her, his voice filled with laughter. “She’s a badass and competitive as fuck!”
Thank goodness they were in the middle of the lake, far from everyone else in the race and all the other family members who’d brought folding chairs down to the shore to watch the fun event. Nobody could hear their bantering, so offending anyone with their choice of language wasn’t an issue.
“Doesn’t hurt that she has a beast sitting behind her!” Garrett grumbled.
Evie shook her head and cast another glance back at her brother. “Will you two stop being such pansies?”
“Jesus Christ, look at his arms!” Garrett went on. “They are bulging!”
“I bet that’s not all that’s bulging,” Aaron joked around his huffing and puffing as they valiantly tried to keep up.
“If you two spent more time concentrating on rowing, rather than eye-fucking my hot boyfriend, you might have a chance at winning!”
“He’s so fucking distracting. It’s not fair!” Garrett accused good-naturedly. “You’re in front of us and all I can see are his broad shoulders and his tight ass!”
“We should use it as an incentive to row faster,” Aaron suggested, nearly wheezing now. “You know, like a dangling carrot.”
“A dangling carrot? Seriously?” Garrett’s winded voice was ludicrous. “I’d rather have other kinds of dangling incentives!”
Behind Evie, Eric chuckled at their innuendo. He was such a good sport about it all, and Evie appreciated him letting her brother and Aaron have fun, even if it was at his expense.
The buoy up ahead that indicated the finish line drew closer and closer, and suddenly the power of the canoe gliding over the surface of the water increased exponentially, which was all Eric’s doing, because honestly, Evie was exhausted and her arms were beginning to feel like limp noodles. His strength and stamina were impressive . . . but then again, she already knew that.
With Garrett and Aaron still shouting behind them, Evie and Eric’s canoe passed the buoy, declaring them the winner, and she was so excited that she jumped up to her feet and raised her paddle over her head in victory while shouting a triumphant hurrah.
The sudden move caused the vessel to rock hard from side to side, and Eric’s eyes widened in an oh shit moment as he stood up with his feet braced apart to stabilize the wobbling canoe. Despite his efforts, she lost her balance anyway, and he reached out and grabbed the front of her life jacket as she toppled overboard, taking him right along with her as they plunged into the cool water.
Seconds later, they bobbed to the surface of the lake, both of them laughing with Evie sputtering on the water she’d managed to swallow.
“I think I might need mouth-to-mouth!” she teased him, coughing.
With a sinful grin, he hooked his fingers in the front snaps of her life jacket and drew her to him. “I’m happy to oblige.”
The fact that they were both wearing flotation devices made it hard to get close and stay that way, but Evie wrapped her legs around his waist, anchoring herself to him, while he framed her face in his hands and brought her lips to his for the hottest, sexiest form of CPR imaginable.
A few feet away from them, her brother and Aaron’s canoe finally passed the buoy.
“Get a room, you two!” Garrett said, sounding completely beat.
Evie ignored him. For winning the race, they got bragging rights for the weekend, but right now, this decadent kiss was her prize, and she intended to savor every second of it.
At ten p.m. that Saturday night, Eric and Evie headed back to their cabin after spending a few hours with her family around the big bonfire located on the campgrounds for larger groups to enjoy. They sat around and her relatives brought up stories from other reunions, and as the older generation gradually retired for the evening, Garrett and Aaron took over with ridiculous horror stories, each one gorier than the last.
It had been a very long day, but Eric had a perma-smile on his face because he’d had a great time and so much fun . . . starting with winning the canoe race. Graham and Raquel had come in second to last, and she’d done nothing to disguise the fact that she was pissed that Graham hadn’t tried harder. She’d stood up in her canoe wearing her skimpy bikini and no cover-up, most likely to berate Graham from a superior position, but as she’d waved her hands in the air dramatically while she screeched like a banshee, she’d ended up falling overboard instead.
Unlike Eric, who’d tried to catch Evie before she’d plunged into the lake, Graham just watched it happen, and when Raquel bobbed to the surface, he’d merely reached out his paddle to draw her back to the canoe, while she wailed that her hair was completely wet with gross water and her false lashes were ruined—hello, they were on a lake, for crying out loud—then demanded he take her back to shore, right now. Without a word, Graham had done as he was told.
A few of them had remained out on the lake, floating next to their canoes, enjoying the warm day and swimming and playing in the cool water. It was the kind of vacation Eric remembered spending with his parents and Trish during the summers . . . when they’d been a family of four. He’d been hit with a wave of melancholy, but as he’d glanced over at Evie as she’d laughed at something her goofy brother had said, he was also struck with the realization of how relaxed he felt, how comfortable he was with her family, and how he wished that his time with Evie didn’t have to end. But he was not that guy who could give her any kind of happily ever after, and she knew that about him.
After the canoe race, most of her other relatives did their own thing for the rest of the afternoon, while he and Evie spent time with her immediate family. They’d played cornhole and spent almost two hours talking to her grandpa, who was a fascinating, interesting man. They’d gone on a nature hike with Evie’s father as a guide, with Garrett and Aaron adding hilarious side commentary. After dinner, they’d made and ate s’mores at the campfire—a first for him, but he’d definitely enjoyed licking the sticky marshmallow from Evie’s fingers.
In truth, it was one of the best days of Eric’s life since Trisha’s death. The day had been filled with so much smiling and laughing and sense of family, and never once had he felt out of place.
As they entered their cabin, Evie turned on the light on the nightstand next to the bed and released a tired groan. “God, I’m absolutely exhausted.”
Now that they were inside where there was light, he saw how pink her skin was on her face from their day in the sun, and as she pulled off her top, he could see that her shoulders and arms and anywhere else the one-piece bathing suit she was wearing had left her expose
d were also a warm rose color. They’d put on sunscreen, but clearly they hadn’t applied enough.
“And you’re sunburnt,” he told her.
Her eyes rounded in surprise. “Am I really?”
“A little bit, yes.” He lightly skimmed his finger over the bridge of her nose and the tiny, almost miniscule brown dots that the sun had brought out. “And you have freckles.”
“Ugh.” She scrunched up her nose in disgust. “I hate when my freckles come out.”
He grinned and brushed his thumb along her cheek, his pulse skipping a beat at the sweet way she looked up at him. “I like them. They’re adorable.” And Jesus, when did he start waxing poetic about a woman’s complexion? “How about I rub some lotion on your shoulders and back where you’re pink?”
She raised a suspicious brow. “I didn’t see lotion in that basket, just flavored lubricant.”
“Well, if I use the flavored lubricant, I can lick you afterwards. Anywhere you’d like.” He waggled his brows for effect.
“You tempt me,” she said with a cute sparkle in her eyes. “Actually, I have some real lotion in the bathroom, and now that you mention it, my skin does feel really warm. Maybe it’ll help cool me down for the night.”
“Consider me your personal masseuse tonight. Get undressed and get ready for these hands and fingers to make you moan in pleasure.”
She giggled. “That sounds so dirty.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Ms. Bennett,” he said with a grin as he reached for the front of her shorts and unfastened the top button, then lowered the zipper, letting them drop to the floor. “It’s a massage, nothing more . . . unless you beg. Begging will get you just about anything you want, as you already know.”
A sultry smile touched her lips. “Mmm. Yes, I do know that very well.”
“Take off your bathing suit and make yourself comfortable on your stomach on the bed with the sheet up to your waist,” he ordered gently. “I’ll be right back with the lotion.”
He left her alone for a few minutes, because he already knew if he watched her strip naked or saw her perfect bare ass, a massage would be secondary to fucking Evie because he wouldn’t be able to resist her. At least with her half-covered, he’d hopefully have a fighting chance of not getting too distracted.
When he returned with the bottle of vanilla-scented lotion, she was in the position he’d requested, the covers in place, and her arms raised so that she could tuck her hands beneath her cheek. His eyes traced the slope of her back to the base of her spine, then over the lush curve of her ass beneath the sheet, making him remember how he’d taken her from behind that morning, and just like that, his dick was hard for her.
He shucked off his own clothes until he was in his boxer briefs, and ignoring the stiffy in his underwear, he moved onto the bed and straddled her hips from behind, making sure to keep his erection from riding the crease of her ass. He poured lotion into his hands, rubbing it between his palms to warm it before leaning over her and smoothing it across her slightly sunburned shoulders and along her arms.
He massaged her neck and across the taut tendons down the center of her back, then up again. Jesus, just touching her platonically turned him on. Or maybe it was the low, sexy, breathy groans she made as his fingers kneaded her muscles that made his stomach twist with desire and need. He reminded himself that this was about her, not him.
“You’re spoiling me,” she said on a soft, relaxed sigh. “This is the best boyfriend experience ever. I might have to hire you again just for your incredible masseuse skills.”
He heard the teasing note in her increasingly lethargic voice as he continued to rub and soothe her upper body. She still thought he’d deliberately signed himself up for the Boyfriend Experience app as a side job, and he seriously thought about telling her the truth right then, because he wanted and needed to set things straight with her, but he didn’t for two reasons. One, he didn’t want to kill the mood for a serious conversation that required an explanation that would be more than one sentence, and two . . . her soft, barely perceptible snores told him that she was already out cold.
He smiled to himself, and after a few more light touches, he moved off of her to his side of the bed. And then he did something incredibly stupid . . . he watched her sleep. He stared at her beautiful, serene face. He thought about how perfectly she fit into his life and how happy and content he was when he was with her.
He felt a discernible shift inside of him, something he’d never experienced before with a woman, but it was quickly obliterated by fear. Whatever was happening inside him when it came to Evie, it scared the ever-loving shit out of him. So many emotions, so many feelings he couldn’t and didn’t want to handle or confront. So he did what he’d spent the past thirteen years perfecting . . . he pushed them deep down inside that dark place where they belonged. He couldn’t give Evie everything she needed and deserved, so why even try?
He glanced away from her and reached for the cell phone on the nightstand that he’d left charging all day because he hadn’t wanted to risk getting it wet or losing it. He’d never disconnected like that, and he honestly hadn’t missed being attached to emails, texts, or social media.
Punching in his passcode, he saw that he had a text from Leo.
Just checking in. Everything is good here. Hope you’re having a great time. Leo followed that up with a smirky smiley face. Don’t forget we have that two p.m. meeting Monday afternoon, so I’ll see you in the office when you get back into town.
Tomorrow, Sunday, was the Fourth of July, but Monday was a workday for Eric. He’d already talked to Evie on the drive up about leaving around eight in the morning on Monday so they’d get back to San Diego by noon and in plenty of time for his meeting.
He set the phone back down and released a deep breath. He had one more day with Evie. And he was selfish enough to take what he could from it, and her, even knowing he was going to walk away in the end.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Tantric yoga . . . Yeah, Eric hadn’t been thrilled about attending the spiritual, get-in-touch-with-your-emotions-and-sexuality session, but he’d promised Evie’s mom that they’d be there. Something she’d been very excited about, and even though Evie assured him that they really didn’t have to go, he hadn’t wanted to disappoint Lauren. When the hell had he grown such a huge conscience?
It was a half hour. He could survive this.
There were eight couples sitting on mats on the floor in a room at the lodge, facing their partners, holding hands, their crossed knees intimately touching. There was Lauren and Gene, him and Evie, Garrett and Aaron, Graham and Raquel, and four other married relatives who’d been curious to learn all about the benefits of tantric yoga.
Calming, lyrical music played in the background while Lauren guided them all through breathing exercises in a soft, soothing voice as she talked about cherishing your body and your mind and harnessing your sexual energy to make orgasms more intense. Yeah . . . not really what Eric was into, but he followed along . . . including the part where they were supposed to stare into their partner’s eyes.
Before long, he heard Raquel muttering beneath her breath about how stupid it all was and how bored she was . . . and while Eric would rather have been anywhere else, he wanted to tell Raquel to shut the fuck up and stop being so disrespectful to the couples trying to benefit from Lauren’s lesson. It was just common courtesy.
Because there was no talking allowed, Evie rolled her eyes at her cousin’s whiny complaints, and Eric winked at her as he caressed his thumb across the back of her hand. She smiled at him sweetly, shyly, and he wanted to lean forward and kiss her . . . which wasn’t part of the exercise. Actually, holding back on your desires was the theme of Lauren’s lesson, which she promised would create a spiritual bond that, when finally released through sexual intercourse, would heighten the physical and emotional connection between a couple.
“Keep staring deeply into your partner’s eyes,” Lauren instructed. “Feel
their passion and desire. Let them feel yours. Open yourself completely, be vulnerable, and trust that they will do the same.”
Eric kept his gaze on Evie’s, following through on what was expected . . . but somewhere along the way, his sole focus became the woman sitting in front of him, as if the two of them were the only ones in the room. And suddenly, everything went from I’m-just-going-through-the-motions-until-this-session-is-over to something so intense he felt like he’d just been pushed over a cliff without a fucking parachute, because staring into Evie’s vulnerable blue eyes was like staring into her soul. And what he saw there, what he felt deep inside himself shook him to his core.
She was a woman he could spend the rest of his life with. And he was never going to know what that was like.
“The best way to skip a rock over the surface of the water is to first find a smooth stone like this one that’s about the size of your palm.” Evie held up the flat stone she’d found at the lake’s shore, where she and Eric had wandered down to after lunch.
“Like this one?” he asked, scooping up a similar-looking rock and showing it to her before giving her a sinful smile that made her belly flutter. “Except my palm is much bigger than yours.”
“I’m well aware of that,” she murmured, unable to forget how those big hands had covered her breasts, how his long fingers had done wicked things to her body. “But this is about finding a well-balanced stone . . . and not about your sexual prowess.”
He chuckled and arched a brow. “I might have sex on the brain after that Tantric exercise. Though I’m not a fan of the whole holding back on my desires when I could easily spend the afternoon doing really hot, dirty things to you.”
She laughed, because she knew he was trying to make light of the earlier session. They’d been following her mother’s instructions to breathe and relax, to look into each other’s eyes, to let their partner feel their passion, longing, and need and be open and vulnerable to each other.
The Boyfriend Experience Page 14
