by Melody Anne
“Wrong. You do like him. Don’t worry, though. I’ll do some digging on him and find out if he’s worthy of being liked or not. You don’t always have the best judgment when it comes to men.”
“It wasn’t as if either of us had a great example of what a husband looks like,” Savannah said.
“Yes, our father was an abusive asshole, and yes, I know you took the brunt of that,” Alexa said before sending a warning look Savannah’s way with one unmistakable meaning: DO NOT INTERRUPT. “Don’t play it down. I’ve always known what you did for me. I also know that you’re smarter than me and have always had bigger aspirations in life. We both got out of there, sis, and we won’t repeat the pattern. We won’t turn out like our mother, and we won’t marry men like our father. So quit worrying so much about it and enjoy having a hot man drool over you. It’s not wrong.”
“I thought I hid a lot more from you than I apparently managed to do,” Savannah said, stunned by this new confident woman her sister had become in the last year while working out of the country as a nurse.
“No. But I was selfish, and that’s on my shoulders. I missed you so much while I’ve been gone. Phone calls haven’t been enough. But now we’re both in Seattle, and we’re moving on with our lives. Let’s do that without sacrificing anything else.”
Savvy laughed. “Isn’t it supposed to be me saying all of this to you?”
“You’re only two years older than me, Savs, so loosen up a bit. You have two more months before your nose is stuck in the books again, and we’re going to have a good summer. Hopefully, you’ll also have some amazing sex with that hunk of a boss of yours.”
“Seriously, who in the heck are you, Lexie?”
“I’m your favorite sister,” Alexa said before opening her car door and jumping out.
Savvy followed suit. “Yes, you are,” she said.
Lexie quit grilling her after that, and the two of them spent the rest of the day shopping, something Savvy detested. But they were also laughing, talking, and catching up on their lives.
By the end of the day, Savannah’s worries over Ashton were nearly gone. Too bad they hadn’t completely vanished, but she didn’t want to get too greedy now, did she?
Chapter Fourteen
Ashton sat on the deck of the boat and watched as Savvy walked away with her sister. His body was hurting, yet he was still smiling almost like a loon.
Never before had he woken up feeling so good. Hangover? What hangover? He’d never enjoyed his time with a woman so much, especially while not having sex. The conversation had been stimulating, intriguing. And it had left him wanting to keep it going.
The foreplay — well, that had been pretty freaking spectacular too.
And her words … Oh, how those words had been a turn-on. She’d actually thought she would dodge him. It was a challenge, and the Storm men were known to love a challenge. His Anderson cousins apparently felt the same way, so it had to be in their genes. And maybe their jeans, too. Right down there.
Only moments after Savvy disappeared, Ashton watched as one of his brothers came strolling down the dock, a stupid grin on his face. Were stupid grins also in the family DNA?
“Damn, Ash, you have some mighty fine employees working here,” Lance said as he jumped on board. “If I’d known that, I would have been coming around a lot more.”
“You can keep your eyes and hands off my employees,” Ashton said in his sternest voice.
“I can’t help but look when they not only pass by me but also speak so damn sexily. They had legs that never seem to quit, plus the sweetest little asses — they were using their tushes to the best advantage as they positively sashayed along,” he said with a sigh. “And why haven’t you offered me a beer yet?”
“It’s nine in the morning. You don’t need a beer, Lance,” Ashton told him.
“It’s Saturday. There’s no timeline on when you can pop the top. That dark-haired one had a great laugh.” He was going to continue, but Ashton went on red alert.
“What do you mean? Did you talk to Savvy?”
“Savvy? You mean Savs? I think that’s the name I was told. I’ll definitely be visiting the docks a lot more often knowing that a babe like that is working here.”
“Keep your hands off her, Lance.” Bad move. His brother was already in goading mode, and the guy would show him no mercy now.
“Ah. I see you’ve also noticed the laugh.” Lance moved to the on-deck fridge. He grabbed a nice cold one and sank into a deck chair as if he owned the world.
“No. She hasn’t done much laughing around me,” Ashton grumbled before his eyes lost their focus and he turned his lips up a bit. “But she can kiss. We’re talking extraordinarily well!”
Lance wasn’t above goading him again. “I thought you weren’t supposed to kiss and tell.”
“Some kisses are meant to be shared. No, not that way. Savannah is spoken for.”
“Aren’t you spoken for?” Lance asked casually. “I seem to remember some other woman …”
“Not for much longer,” Ashton said. Maybe his trophy fiancée wasn’t worth keeping after all.
“Message received,” Lance said, taking a swig. “Didn’t like Kalli anyway. But the sweet brown-haired sassy girl — Alexa was her name — I could find myself really liking her.”
“Savvy’s sister?” Ash said. Yeah, she was cute and all, but she didn’t even come close to comparing to Savvy — at least not in Ashton’s mind.
“Yeah. I’m definitely going to have to see what she’s hiding beneath all that sass,” he said.
“Go for it,” Ashton told him. What color eyes did Savvy’s sister have? He couldn’t remember. He and his thoughts had been otherwise occupied.
Before Ashton said anymore on the subject, his brother was already moving on. “Why don’t we now take it down a notch and get the sailboat ready to roll? I’m in need of some fishing.”
“I thought Lucas was joining us,” Ashton told him, and he stood up.
“He’ll be here by the time we get everything ready. Since I have a feeling we won’t be catching a heck of a lot of fish, we’d better bring a picnic basket. I’m already hungry.”
“Screw that,” Ashton said. “We’ll just stop at Uncle Joseph’s. You know he’ll have a spread ready in minutes. He loves visitors.”
“Yeah, I have a soft spot for the old man. I’m so glad Dad found his brothers, and even more glad the family was worthy of being found.”
“Just a soft spot, Lance? I think you’re going soft all over in your old age.”
“As if you have a right to mock me, Ash. You don’t feel the same?”
“Yeah, I do. I just don’t admit all my girlie thoughts to the world at large,” Ashton said with a laugh.
“Because I’m a nice guy, I won’t mention the kissy-face stuff you subjected me to just now. And the family says I’m the one who needs to grow up,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes.
“Ha! We both know that’s so far from the truth, it’s laughable. You’re the most mature of all of us.”
Lance gave out a booming guffaw. “I know. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“Yeah, that was real mature,” Ashton said.
“Once in a while a guy has to let go. I’ve decided I’ve been too serious for too long. Where in the hell has that gotten me?”
“A successful business, for one,” Ashton reminded him.
“Money only goes so far,” Lance said.
Ashton’s eyes flew open. “Are you telling me you’re not happy?”
He stopped what he was doing and faced his brother. Yes, he and Lance joked around a lot, but they’d die for each another without even a moment’s hesitation. They might have forgotten that for a short time, but their father had managed to bring them all back together, and Ashton, for one, was incredibly grateful.
“I’m happy … most of the time,” Lance insisted, but his laugh rang false. “Okay, this is getting way too deep for a Saturday morning conversati
on. I just saw Lucas drive up. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Ashton wanted to push his brother, find out what was going on, but he also knew when to back off. If Lance wanted to tell him something, then he’d get around to it, but he would do it in his own time.
If a man needed his space, he had every right to it.
“Tell me more about this Savvy chick,” Lance said. “I could see that she was curvy and hot with a beautiful smile and about the sexiest eyes known to woman. But does she have a brain cell alive?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You tend to date — or in one notable case get engaged to — Barbie dolls, Ash.”
“It’s lovely to know you hold such a high opinion of me,” Ashton almost snarled.
“Come on, brother. I’m already planning the party to celebrate your dumping Kalli. Not even Uncle Joseph, the man who thinks everyone over the age of eighteen should be planning marriage and grandbabies, likes that woman.”
“I didn’t notice,” Ashton said.
He tried to remember family gatherings. And come to think of it, Kalli tended to avoid them. She’d always had one excuse or the other, but he hadn’t cared enough to pay attention until Lance pointed it out.
“Yeah, Ash, and that’s because you didn’t look past the woman’s pumped-up breasts to the beady look in her eyes.”
“That’s not fair. I saw her eyes plenty happy a few times.”
“You sure about that?” Lance asked. “The woman can obviously act.”
“You’re in a mood today, big bro.”
The two of them made their way down the docks to his favorite private boat. Ashton thought of it as small but he didn’t do anything in small measures. This beauty was of the highest quality and was large enough for a couple of dozen people to fit on comfortably for an afternoon on the water, or else to house four couples for a week at a time. It boasted four bedrooms, two sitting areas, a large deck for sunbathing, spacious bathrooms, and an impressive modern kitchen.
He’d stayed on her for two weeks once with his brothers on a guys-only trip that had infuriated his sister, and they had seriously thought about sailing to Hawaii just to enjoy the peacefulness of the water while the rest of the world faded away.
Responsibility had called them back from that naughty jaunt, but that didn’t mean he didn’t go out on her as often as possible. Though he had a few dozen luxury boats, this one wasn’t for charter. It was his personal baby, and he couldn’t imagine ever finding a new favorite.
And just like that he’d somehow maneuvered his trail of reflections back to Kalli, as he realized the woman had never gone out on the water on his favorite boat. She hadn’t liked any of the boats, and she’d told him more than once that she much preferred to keep her feet on solid ground. That should have been a huge red flag.
His head was about to explode now. Maybe he was blind, at least when it came to things he didn’t give a damn about. And that was no way to be when thinking of spending the rest of his life with a woman.
“You guys aren’t ready yet,” Lucas said with an exaggerated sneer as he met them at the private boat.
“Ashton was otherwise engaged this morning,” Lance said, and Ashton shot him a warning look. But Lance ignored it. “With his new employee.”
“Oh, really?” Lucas said, and he was first in line to board the boat and move over to the controls. “I’m guessing this is a young, hot, well-endowed employee.”
“Do you really think you’re running the controls?” Ashton said as he pushed Lucas out of the way.
“A man has to try,” Lucas said with a laugh.
“And don’t talk about Savvy that way,” Ashton added before he could stop himself.
Both Lucas and Lance stopped what they were doing and gave him looks he refused to let into his head.
“Let’s just go,” he said.
He heard Lucas ask Lance if the engagement to Kalli was off. He didn’t stick around long enough to hear his brother answer. He had a boat to get ready to leave port. Besides, from what he’d just learned, he was sure to hear a happy whoop from Lucas, and that would be too much.
Ashton had been hoping for a relaxing afternoon. And while any time spent with his family was good, he also knew that he was going to be grilled. Or eaten alive. Hungry sharks roamed in these waters.
Chapter Fifteen
Savvy was sad to see the day end, but her little sister had to return to her apartment and get ready for her new nursing job. Savvy waved and didn’t walk through the gates until her sister’s taillights faded away. She’d see Lexie again soon — she was hardly about to let another year go by. Well, she wasn’t going to unless her sister decided that her calling was again overseas.
She was proud of her sister, proud that Lexie used her talents to help those less fortunate, but that idealism had pulled the two of them so many miles apart before, and it could do so again. Neither of them was rich or likely to be, and international flights didn’t come cheap.
When Savannah walked down the quiet docks, stepped onto her boat, and made her way to her bedroom, she wasn’t expecting the impact of seeing the rumpled bedding, where she’d been writhing in shameless lust not too many hours earlier.
It stopped her cold, and the ache immediately started back up low in her belly. The way that man’s mouth had caressed her body had been magical. She had a feeling she wasn’t ever going to feel something so earth-shattering — or ocean-shattering — again.
No. She couldn’t think like that. Though she might not be the most romantic woman in the world, she did believe in love and did believe that she wouldn’t be alone forever. But she’d never settle with just any man, especially an engaged man, even if he couldn’t seem to remember he was taken. Even if her sister told her it was all fine and dandy. She just didn’t think that way.
Shaking off thoughts of Ashton, Savannah threw herself into cleaning mode, stripping her bed, washing the sheets, then cleaning up her room, trying to erase all scents of Ashton from it. It wasn’t working. She could still smell the man even after the bedding came out of the dryer. By the time she was finished, the sun was low in the sky, promising a spectacular sunset. And there was nothing better than sitting on the deck and watching the colors paint the skies.
The moment she sat down, of course, thoughts of Ashton stroking her in all the right places flooded her mind, sending instant fingers of delight throughout her. Yes, images of his mouth on her nipples, his hand sliding up her inner thigh.
She shuddered and tried to catch her breath. If she had these thoughts too often, working for the man wouldn’t work at all. And she wanted this job, wanted to be on the ocean, wanted to be right where she was.
“What are you doing sitting out here all alone?”
Startled by the deep baritone, Savannah froze. But when she turned, she found a smiling Richard Storm approaching her.
“I love sunsets, and I’m hoping for a good one tonight. This is the perfect view right here,” she told him. “Would you like something to drink, or are you just passing by?”
“I would love a drink. But why don’t you come with me to have it? I have a much better spot to watch a sunset from,” he said, holding out his hand and looking at his watch. “I’d say we have about an hour to get situated before the colors begin.”
“I don’t know …” Should she hang out with Richard when she thought the man’s son was a cad? It didn’t seem right.
“Aw, come on. I want to take a little ride, and it’s lonely all by myself.”
She chuckled. “If you put it that way, then I really don’t have a choice, do I? Are we going to watch from deeper out to sea?” she asked as he urged her along to a smaller boat and helped her up.
“No. Just a better location.”
She didn’t think to question him further. But within a few minutes the boat was pulling away and they were racing along the water.
It was her first evening boat ride here in Seattle, and laughter
spilled from her as the cool night air whipped through her hair. Seriously, there was no place she’d rather be.
Far too quickly, though, the boat slowed down, and Richard began moving toward a large lit-up dock. And then she saw a bright bonfire and a crowd of people in beach chairs sitting around it, and several other people moving across the sand-covered shoreline.
“What are we doing?”
“This is the spot to watch the sunset,” Richard said as he cut the boat’s motor.
“Is this your place?”
“It’s my brother Joseph’s house.”
“I don’t want to intrude,” she told him.
“I guarantee you that Joseph will be upset if you don’t join me, sweetheart.”
Richard was genial about it, but what choice did she have? Leaving would be not only rude but also impossible. How was she to get a ride back?
Just as she was giving in, she spotted Ashton. She so wasn’t ready to speak to her boss again, not after what had happened that morning. And not after the thoughts that her sister had placed in her head.
“Let me introduce you to some of the family,” Richard said, pulling her attention from Ashton, who was laughing at something one of his friends or family members had just said to him.
Before Savvy knew what was happening, she was swarmed, and people were throwing names her way. There was no way she would remember all their names. But she really wouldn’t have to anyway. It wasn’t as if she’d be hanging around this wealthy crowd. She was only a worker, not on their social level at all.
Name after name, handshake after handshake continued her way. Lucas, Alex, Mark, Trenton, Crew. She finally gave up on even trying when the wives and children were all standing in front of her.
“Come sit down for a minute with us ‘girls,’” one of the women said. “The Anderson and Storm men can be quite overwhelming.”
Dammit! Savvy couldn’t remember her name, but she wasn’t about to ask her to repeat it.
The woman laughed. “I’m Brielle, married to Colt, that devastatingly handsome man over there by the fire with Ashton,” she added.
