by Brianna Cash
I shove my hands into my pockets once more to keep them off her, refusing to let my mind wander to another girl without any siblings who doesn’t believe in love. The only thing I want to do right now is wrap my fingers around Sadie’s and walk along this secluded beach, talking, just like this. When she’s letting me into her world. When she’s letting me see the real her, and not just the professional girl at work that smiles but doesn’t ever act like she wants to know anything about me.
“That’s a very dismal attitude to have two weeks before your best friend’s wedding.”
“Eh…” She shrugs, pulling her eyebrows together. “Is it dismal, or realistic?”
“Dismal.”
She stops. I turn back to face her and our eyes lock. “If they’re together forever, or even just a few years, you and I are going to have to figure out where to go with this attraction.”
The casual way she brings it up makes me smile. “Why’s that?”
“Your brother’s marrying one of my chosen sisters and your family seems close. We’re going to see a lot more of each other outside of work.”
She’s right. Alena and Rob are going to have parties and holidays and get-togethers, and Alena will invite her friends and family, and Rob will invite his. Not all of his will show up, but we’ll all be invited.
Sadie steps a little closer, and her hand slowly reaches out to twist the hem of my shirt between her fingers. She looks up at me, her dark eyes shining in the moonlight, then her hand drops to her side. But her feet bring her even closer.
“I thought you didn’t want to do this,” I say. Whisper really, because my voice is suddenly stuck in my throat.
“I didn’t...at least not then, when it was planned. When we hadn’t really spent any time alone without me hating you.”
“Have you changed your mind?”
“We need to find out if that kiss was a fluke.”
I slip my hands around her waist; I can’t stop myself from touching her when she’s this close and looking at me like that. Her breath is warm and insistent on my chest, and my heart is beating a thousand times for every second that passes. My eyes dip from hers to her lips, then back up. “We both know it wasn’t a fluke, Sadie.”
“Fine.” She relents quickly, closing the miniscule distance between us and pressing her body flush with mine. “I just want to kiss you again.”
She’s shorter than I remember. Wait, no, she’s not. She just always wears heels, and she kicked her sandals off at the bar. We’re both barefoot for the first time, and our height difference is startling.
That still won’t stop me from kissing her again.
I lower my face a fraction of the way to hers.
“And after that? After I kiss you?”
“I don’t know.” Worry creases her brow. “That’s Future Sadie’s problem. She’ll deal with it later.”
Our faces come a little closer as she pushes onto her tiptoes. The corners of my lips tip up.
“How does Future Sadie see things working between us later if we do this?”
“How does Future Owen see things working between us later if we don’t do this?”
She’s so right. I’ll never be able to stop thinking about her if we stop now. I’ll always wonder. And if I’m constantly thinking about Sadie, I won’t be thinking about SD, who I’ve already kind of promised myself to.
Christ, what if Sadie is my SD?
I was already sort of planning on getting physical with my great kisser. If the two girls I’ve been obsessing over are the same person, that’ll make things easier, won’t it?
What if SD’s not Sadie, though? They have a lot in common, sure. But there’re probably a thousand girls in my city that have the same similarities as these two. And what will SD think when she finds out that I’ve had my first ever one-night stand—or in this case, two-night stand—while she and I were flirting with the idea of forming some kind of relationship?
SD’s already given me her blessing to do this. She’s ok with me having sex with someone other than her. As long as I don’t shut her out. As long as I keep going back to her. As long as I’m single when we meet.
Sadie said whatever happens here, stays here. This weekend will be purely physical.
SD is promising me an emotional relationship, as well as the possibility of something physical.
SD also said she thought I might need some practice.
It doesn’t matter if they’re the same or just eerily similar. SD, the girl giving me more than sex, already gave me the greenlight.
My nose brushes against hers as I do everything in my power to get one more answer before jumping into the deep end of…whatever this is between us. “How’re we going to do this, Sadie?”
“What do you mean?”
“You want me to kiss you like I mean it? Or like we have all the time in the world?”
“Right now, I don’t care how you do it, Owen.” She turns her head, lining our lips up and whispering into my open mouth. “I just want you to kiss me.”
Chapter 15
Sadie
His breath rushes between my lips before he finally makes up his mind and presses his mouth to mine. I’m magically transported back in time, to before I knew who he was, when I could kiss him and do more with him, without there being any real consequences.
I truly don’t want to think about what happens after this. That’s Future Sadie’s problem and Future Sadie can deal with it. I’m not Future Sadie yet, and right now, I just want this to happen.
He’s teasing me with his kisses, like he did in that closet. His open mouth closing over mine repeatedly, letting me taste him, letting me anticipate what’s coming, but pulling away anytime I even think about adding some tongue to the mix.
It’s fun, slow, and easy.
But I’m impatient.
My hand slides up until I’m cupping his neck, and I hold him against me, trying to take control and hurry this along. He closes his mouth against my advances, a smile lifting the corners of his lips as he chuckles and opens his eyes. “I thought you didn’t care how I kissed you.”
“I changed my mind.” I breathe into his mouth, willing it to stay open as I place my lips against his.
He evades me again, kissing me softly with lips that are locked together. “You change your mind a lot, Sadie.”
“Owen!” My voice is gruff, demanding we stop the chitchat and get back to the physical stuff.
“I like the way you say that.” His low voice is raspy and filled with longing.
“Your name?”
“When I can taste you on my lips and you can’t hide how turned on you are? Yeah.” He drags my mouth back to his, finally kissing me like I want him to. With a mouth that’s wide open in invitation, welcoming my tongue inside and demanding it play with his. I groan a little as his hands move to my ass and I lean into him, tipping my head back farther to deepen the kiss and make it even harder for him to pull away.
I slide my other hand under his shirt, satisfying my need for some skin on skin action. But that need comes back stronger than ever a second later, when Owen’s fingers tangle in the hem of my shorts. He tugs gently, drawing my attention to the area between my legs and the ache there that’s quickly making itself known, with or without his help.
My feet drop onto the sand, needing a break from standing on tiptoe. Owen wraps his arms around me, crushing me against his chest. Our labored breathing competes with the sound of the ocean as we try to come back from one hot-as-hell kiss.
He’ll do me in with just his kisses…
“You’re too short.” His arms loosen as he looks around. “You ready to go back to the room?”
I don’t want this magic to stop. This magic where Owen and I are on a dark, deserted beach in the middle of paradise. Where we’re not simply polite to each other. Where we don’t hate each other. Where we’re both comfortable enough to talk and touch and let things happen between us that otherwise wouldn’t. I don’t want to move; what
if we break this spell? What if we get back to the room and things are awkward again? What if this magic only exists here, in the open, and as soon as we put a roof over our heads, everything we thought we were feeling evaporates? “No.”
“Then can I find you a rock or something to stand on?”
Euphoria is knowing that even with all the things that would normally keep us apart, he wants this to keep going as much as I do. I nod, giggling, and join him in the search for something that will make me a little taller.
“Sadie, come here!”
I follow his voice to where he’s half-hidden in the palm trees and vegetation lining the beach. He reaches out, grabbing me and pulling me with him as he falls backward…right into a hammock. He drags me on top of him, making the hammock swing wildly, nearly tipping us over before it settles into a gentle sway. I don’t even have time to get comfortable before he tips my face toward his, his mouth settling under mine, his fingers tangling in every part of me he can reach.
Careful to keep our lips locked together, I straddle him, immediately aware of how hard and stiff he is. His mouth stays busy, kissing a path down my jaw as I reach between us to run a hand up his length. He hisses but doesn’t stop what he’s doing, his lips now low on my neck, making a beeline for the top of my shirt.
One question is running through my mind right now: Where are his hands and why isn’t he touching me?
In the room, he said he wasn’t sure he could do this. I changed my mind. Maybe he didn’t?
“Owen?”
His eyes pop open and I get his full attention, even though his mouth doesn’t move off my skin. “Yeah?”
“Did you change your mind?”
“About what?”
“Do you want this?” I sit up, refusing to let go of his moonlit gaze until he admits what we’re doing is ok. That I’m not pressuring him. That I’m not pushing him past any limits he might have.
“Your hand is on my dick. Do you really need to ask that question?”
I roll my eyes. “Just because you’re hard doesn’t mean you’re ok with what we’re doing.”
His hands move, flexing and digging into my flesh. They were on my hips this entire time. They’re so light and gentle I didn’t even know it.
I don’t want gentle hands. I want to know he wants me.
“I changed my mind almost the second I told you I didn’t know if I could go through with it, Sadie. I want this…you. But it’s not happening here.”
“Why not here? And be a little rougher with your hands. I want to really feel them.”
He grins wickedly, arching a brow as his fingers scrape along the hem of my shorts to dig into my ass. “I didn’t bring a condom. I watched you fill your pockets; you don’t have one, either.”
“Oh. You mean here, like here, here.” I sigh with relief. “And what you’re doing with your hands? So much better, thank you.”
He chuckles at my comment. Or maybe my politeness. Then he squeezes my ass again. “You said you weren’t ready to go back to the room. Are you ready now?”
I shake my head. “Hm-mm.”
His hands move higher, skirting past my ribs and settling over my bra. Knowing for sure he’s in this, I yank my shirt over my head. His eyes drop to my chest, then round out and come back to mine as I undo the clasp.
“Anyone could come down here, Sadie. You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“We’ll be quiet.” I pull the straps down my shoulders and drop my discarded garments to the ground.
He cups my breasts carefully, forgetting that I want to really feel his grip. I lean into him, wanting more pressure, more friction, more action, just…more. “Owen...”
He groans when I say his name, sitting up halfway and burying his face between my boobs. My fingers thread into his hair to guide him, first to one nipple, then the other, letting him do whatever he wants when he gets there. He doesn’t need me to tell him. So far, everything he’s done has been spot on.
Owen’s giving good ol’ Jamison a run for his money.
After teasing me into a withering mess of aching need, he falls back onto the hammock, pulling my topless body with him so he can devour my mouth again, making me wish I had been ready to go back to the room. I want to stop playing and get to the main event. I don’t think he can get me any more turned on than I am right now.
Fuck, I had that thought way too soon.
Somehow, he gets out of the hammock with me still on top of him. He spins us around and lays me crosswise on the swing, making sure to stay between my legs. He slowly drops to his knees, our hips pressed together, but barricaded by the restraint of our clothes. I loosen my legs from his waist, letting him see me. Or at least all of me that’s exposed.
“Tomorrow night...” His eyes are dark and serious as his finger traces the waistband on my shorts. “I want you out here. Where we can hear the ocean and it feels like there’s no one on this island except us.”
I nod, squeezing my thighs, wanting to feel the length of his hardness again. We haven’t even enjoyed round one yet, but from what he’s shown me so far, I’m all in, as many rounds as he’s up for. “What about tonight?”
He smiles. It’s confident, but not that arrogant smirk that graced his face earlier today when we formed our truce. He forgets the waistband of my shorts to touch the zipper, then the seam, following it between my legs, forcing his finger between our bodies, like I did to him in the closet before my mysterious, masked suitor kissed me with tongue.
“Tonight, we’ll have to make it back to the room at some point. But I’m going to get you out of these clothes before that happens.”
Me, completely naked in this hammock, with only his eyes on me?
My breath hitches in my throat.
He chuckles quietly. The knowing sound makes its way into my soul and singes every cell in my body.
“You like that plan, Sadie?”
“Yes.”
Do I ever.
“Help me make it happen.” His hands are already undoing my shorts as I lift my hips, impatient to be rid of them. The rest of my clothes join the growing pile on the other side of the hammock. Then Owen leans over me, kissing me deeply as his clothed erection presses against me. My mouth and legs fall open to let him in, and my feet push at his back pockets, wanting him to be as naked as I am.
He circles my nipple, his eyes moving between mine and the movement of his fingers. “How do you want this to happen, Sadie?”
“Now.”
“Not when. How?” He chuckles, kissing me again, then whispering in my ear. “With my hand or my mouth?”
I moan at the thought of his mouth on me. From his teasing kisses, I know if he’s going to use his mouth on me there, I won’t last long.
He laughs again at my unrestrained response, sitting back on his knees, leaving me cold and sensitive in his absence. His hand splays across my belly, giving some warmth back to me, even as I break out in goosebumps of anticipation.
“Both,” I manage to grind out between panted breaths. “Use both!”
Owen
The waves crash continuously behind me, sounding like thunder as they roll over each other and race their way up the shore. I doubt Sadie can even hear the ocean over her cries and whimpers. She’s so responsive. She’s so confident. She’s so damn beautiful, I’m glad I’m seeing her like this first. It’s a muted version of her, one I can take my time to fully appreciate.
If I’d seen the unmuted version first, I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate her the way I should. I wouldn’t have been able to laugh with her, to talk to her. I wouldn’t have been able to truly admire every part of her. I wouldn’t have been able to go slow with her.
Her thighs tremble as she gives her request, asking for both my hand and my mouth, and I almost shake my head at her boldness. Is this something Sadie does often? Combine two options to create a third?
She catches my eyes as I lower my head, her breath stuttering in her chest as I press my lips
against the inside of her knee. Her legs fall even wider apart as I slide my hand toward her glistening center, my mouth following at a much slower pace, knowing half the prize is the anticipation of what’s coming.
As soon as I’m within reach, her hands fist my hair, trying to move me where she wants me, but I don’t go any faster. My fingers find her wetness and explore her outer lips, knowing she doesn’t want slow and what I’m doing is teasing her. But I also know from our kisses that teasing her works. Teasing gets her hot, bothered, and desperate for more.
“Owen…” She groans, jerking her hips toward my hand, making me dip inside her folds, and she gasps. Pulling my hand back, I smile against her upper thigh, so close to my destination that her scent is flooding all my senses. She’s the only thing I can smell, and it seems like I can already taste her.
No, wait. That musky, sweet moisture on my tongue is definitely her. She’s so wet, her upper thighs are slick with her arousal.
This time it’s my groan that cuts through the air around us.
She pulls on my hair, hard, forcing me to bury my mouth against her sensitive skin or risk being scalped.
“Owen, please?”
That one word is enough for me to give in and do anything she wants. It almost sounds like she’s begging, and that’s something I can’t see bold, beautiful Sadie doing. I don’t know her well enough to know what she likes, though, so I drag my tongue through her folds and suck her clit into my mouth.
“Yes! Fuck!” Her voice is loud in the surrounding darkness. She must have forgotten her own reasoning that we be quiet. With my forearm on the back of her thighs, I push her knees closer to her head, making it harder for her to control my movements. She simply repositions, shoving her hands between her legs, under my arm. She doesn’t have nearly as much leverage this way, though. My tongue takes a mostly unguided tour, and the intensity of her whimpers and moans help me gauge what her body needs.
