Could Be Forever: (Finn and Juliet) (A Back to Jetty Beach Romance Book 1)

by Claire Kingsley

  “Oh, come on,” Becca says. “You have to admit, that was funny.”

  “Jules, I love this,” Madison says. “You should have someone who’ll fuck you with his tongue. I mean, really. And I bet Jacob didn’t send you dirty texts.”

  “No, and he didn’t do stuff like that, either.” I let out a long breath. “Why did I stay with him so long?”

  “Because it was easy,” Madison says.

  “And because you were comfortable,” Becca adds.

  “Those are such terrible reasons to stay with someone.”

  Madison looks at me with her eyebrows drawn in. “Did you really just say that?”

  “Yeah, why? Do you disagree?”

  “No, I agree completely,” she says. “I’m just surprised you think so. When you were with Jacob, it kind of seemed like easy was enough for you.”

  “I guess I thought it was. Now that I have a little distance, I know better.”

  “Yeah, distance—and a guy who will go down on you and give you, what, ten orgasms in a weekend?” Madison asks.

  I laugh. “Seven.”

  “Oh, is that all?” she asks, and I don’t miss the sarcasm. “Are you still going to that wedding with him this weekend?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you think you guys will actually go to the wedding, or will you just bang the whole time?”

  I laugh. “God, Madison, we’ll be around his family. I don’t think it’s going to be like that.”

  “Do you think you’ll see each other again after this?” Becca asks.

  Madison looks at me with raised eyebrows. “Yeah, what is this thing between you two?”

  I shrug. “I guess I don’t really know what it is.”

  “And you’re okay with that?” Madison asks.

  “Sort of?” I say. “I’m just trying really hard to go with it and see what happens. But it is driving me a little bit crazy. I want to define it, but whatever this is, it doesn’t have a definition. It’s not a one-night stand. Maybe it’s just a short fling. I don’t really know.”

  “I’m proud of you, Jules,” Madison says. “I hope you guys have an awesome weekend together.”

  “Thanks.”

  Finally, Friday dawns. I’m already packed—I always pack the night before—but I go through my bag a second time, then a third, wondering if I’m bringing the right clothes. I decide to put the negligee from my photo shoot in with everything else. I imagine the look on Finn’s face when he sees me wearing it. That thought is enough to get me all tingly between the legs.

  I close my suitcase and my phone rings. I grab it, suddenly worried it’s Finn and he’s canceling.

  Worse. It’s Jacob.

  I stare at my phone, his name lighting up the screen. Why is he calling me? I decide I don’t want to talk to him again, and hit ignore. He doesn’t leave a message.

  Shortly after noon, there’s a knock on my door. My heart skips and I get a little rush of excitement. I open the door to find Finn, dressed in a button-down flannel over a t-shirt, and jeans. His smile does funny whirlpool things to my tummy, and it hits me just how much I missed him all week.

  So much. Maybe too much.

  “Hey.” I move aside for him to come in, but he just stares at me. “Are you okay?”

  Finn blinks. “Yeah, sorry. I told myself all week that I must have imagined how beautiful you are. But I definitely didn’t.”

  My face warms. “Wow, thank you.”

  He comes inside and for a second, I wonder if things are going to be awkward. Are we picking up where we left off? Is kissing hello on the agenda? I don’t know how to navigate this… whatever this is.

  But Finn grabs my waist and brings me in for a kiss. It’s soft at first, like it’s going to be quick. Then he presses his hands into my back and holds me tighter. I part my lips. His mouth opens and he deepens the kiss, his tongue sliding along mine. My body reacts and I’m overwhelmed with a rush of desire. I grab his flannel and yank it down his arms. Finn groans.

  “Do we have to leave now, or do we have time?” I ask.

  “I don’t know and I don’t give a fuck.” He hauls my shirt over my head, then cups my breast while he kisses me again.

  We make it as far as the couch, tearing our clothes off as we go. He has a condom in his pocket—fuck, it’s a turn on that he’s prepared. He lies down on his back and I straddle him. He grabs my breasts, teasing my nipples while I ride him. Neither of us lasts very long. Having him inside me again is so intense, my orgasm comes out of nowhere. I slide up and down his cock a few more times once I finish, and he’s done for. He comes hard inside me, holding tight to my hips as I grind on top of him.

  He touches my face and brings me in for a long kiss before I get up. “Sorry. I meant to be much more of a gentleman when I got here.”

  I laugh. “You never have to apologize for giving me an orgasm.”

  “Hopefully this is the first of many,” he says. “We have a record to break.”

  “We’re going to a wedding with your family,” I say. “Somehow I don’t think it’s going to be that kind of weekend.”

  “Are you kidding?” He raises an eyebrow. “I intend to fuck you as many times as possible, sprinkles.”

  The drive to the resort takes about an hour, and the closer we get, the more the butterflies in my tummy multiply. Finn seems completely relaxed, but I’m about to meet his family. I tell myself to chill out. He’s never once hinted that this is anything more than us having fun together. The fact that it’s a family wedding is just a coincidence. He wanted to hang out again because the sex is so great, and he had to go to this wedding. That’s the only reason I’m here.

  The resort is a beautiful lodge with wood beams and a huge stone fireplace in the lobby. Finn doesn’t seem to see anyone he recognizes when we go to the front desk to check in. He gets our room keys and we head for the elevator. I’m so nervous, glancing around at the people walking by. Is he related to any of them? What’s his mother going to be like? What is she going to think about her son bringing some random woman to this wedding? Did he tell them I’m coming? He won’t call me his girlfriend, will he? How is he going to introduce me? His friend? Date? Fuck buddy?

  No, that last one is ridiculous.

  The elevator dings and a voice comes from behind us.

  “Finn? Is that you, honey?”

  Maybe I’m imagining things, but it seems like Finn tenses up. He turns and plasters a smile on his face.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  My shoulders tighten. Oh god, here we go.

  Finn’s mother is beautiful. She has piercing brown eyes and dark hair streaked with gray. She’s a bit shorter than I am, wearing a floral dress that accentuates her ample curves. The resemblance to her son is strong; Finn looks a lot like her.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she says. Her accent is interesting—it reminds me of an Italian guy I knew in college, but she almost sounds Irish too. “I was wondering if you were going to show up.”

  “I told you I was coming, but it was a long drive.” He puts a hand on my lower back. “Mom, this is Juliet, the woman I was telling you about.”

  She flashes me a wide smile and holds out her arms. “Juliet, it’s so lovely to meet you. I’m Elena.”

  I step in to hug her and she kisses me once on each cheek. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

  “See, Finn, I told you this would be a good thing for you,” she says. “We’re all meeting for dinner at seven. We’ll see you there.”

  “Maybe, Mom,” Finn says. “We literally just got here. At least let us get settled in our room before we make dinner plans.”

  “Of course, of course,” she says. “Where’s your room?”

  Finn glances at his room key. “Three ten.”

  Elena turns to me. “And what about you?”

  My eyes widen and I look at Finn. She thinks we’re staying in separate rooms? This is awkward.

  “Um, Mom, Juliet is here with me,” Finn says.


  “Of course she is, but—” Elena stops and arches an eyebrow at him. “Finn…”

  Finn’s eyes widen and he hits the elevator button again. The doors open and he ushers me inside. “We’re going to head up now. See you later, Mom.” He pushes the close door button a few times.

  The doors close and the elevator starts moving up.

  “Sorry about that,” he says.

  “Your mom assumes I’d have my own room?”

  “She’s just old fashioned. It’s really fine. Plus, it’s not her business anyway.”

  “Then why did you rush us into the elevator like that?”

  “Oh, no, that wasn’t because of my mom,” he says. “I saw a few of my crazy cousins coming through the lobby. I’m not ready to deal with them right now.”

  I’m here with a man I barely know, mostly because our sexual chemistry is ridiculous, his mother thought I’d have my own room, and he has crazy cousins. I have a feeling I might be in for more than I bargained for this weekend. “Do you need to debrief me on your family situation before I start meeting people?”

  “They’re just a little intense,” he says. “My mom has five sisters, and they all have lots of kids, and they just… tend to talk a lot and ask embarrassing questions. Everyone likes to be in everyone else’s business.”

  “So you have a pretty big family?”

  The elevator door opens and we walk out into the hallway.

  “Yeah, you could say that,” he says. “I’m the anomaly, being an only child.”

  “So, five aunts. How many cousins do you have?”

  He pauses in front of our door and looks off to the side. Is he counting? “A lot of them are married now, but without counting their spouses, nineteen.”

  “Nineteen cousins?”

  “Yep,” he says. “Three are guys, but the rest are women. My aunts all had a lot of girls.”

  “Wow. Are they all here this weekend?”

  “I think so, yeah.”

  He opens the door and holds it for me while I walk in. The room is cozy, with a king-sized bed covered in crisp white linens, and a big window. There’s a bathroom with a separate shower and an enormous bathtub. Finn pauses, looking into the bathroom, then quirks an eyebrow at me.

  “That tub could be fun.”

  I roll my suitcase in and stop in front of the closet. “I can’t do anything until I unpack.”

  “Mm…” He comes up behind me and rubs his hands up and down my arms. “Unpacking. So sexy.”

  “I know it’s silly, but it relaxes me.”

  He moves my hair and kisses my neck a few times. “That’s fair. Do you want to unpack mine too, or do you care if I just live out of my bag all weekend?”

  I glance over my shoulder at him and raise my eyebrows. Is he teasing me?

  “I don’t mean I expect you to do that for me,” he says. “I just thought it might make you more comfortable if our room is organized the way you like it.”

  It would make me more comfortable. How did he know that? “I don’t want to be intrusive, and it’s not that big of a deal. But yeah, that would be nice if you don’t mind.”

  He gives me another quick kiss, then smiles and flops down on the bed. “Unpack away, sprinkles. Make us at home.”

  I get started with my bag, letting the familiar rhythm of putting things in their places calm me. I hang some things in the closet, and find places for the rest of my clothes in the dresser.

  Once my stuff is situated, I open Finn’s suitcase. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye, but he’s just relaxing on the bed, his hands behind his head. Suddenly I wonder if I should go through his things. It feels so intimate. So coupley. But he obviously doesn’t mind, and my hands are twitchy with the desire to have everything organized and neat. I put his clothes away in drawers, and hang up the suit he brought for the wedding. In the bathroom, I set out our toiletries. Our toothbrushes look so cute together, sitting side by side.

  I pause, looking at myself in the mirror. I’m getting carried away with this playing house thing, and we’re in a hotel, not even a house.

  We’re just having fun. Go with the flow, Juliet.

  I come out of the bathroom and Finn’s mouth turns up in a lazy smile. I love the way he looks at me—like he’s really enjoying the view. I’m not dressed in anything special—just a gray and white striped shirt and jeans. But he has a hunger in his eyes that makes my heart flutter. Being with him again is doing things to my insides that I’m not sure should be happening. I need to keep my head on straight this weekend.

  “Come here, beautiful.”

  I bite my lip as I walk over to the bed, and he pulls me on top of him. His hands on my skin and his lips against mine make me feel like I’m melting, turning to liquid at his touch.

  Nope. Not keeping my head on straight. Not at all.

  18

  Finn

  I can’t stop kissing Juliet.

  I pause outside the room and kiss her while I pull the door closed. I lean down and kiss her in the elevator, soft and sweet, not a care in the world for the older couple standing nearby. They scoot away from us and hurry out when the elevator doors open. I kiss her again outside the elevator, just my lips against hers. I guess I should probably stop. We’re about to be surrounded by my family and I shouldn’t make out with her in front of everyone. But I kind of don’t care right now. She feels so good, and she tastes so good, and for some reason, I can’t get enough of her.

  Juliet is the only thing making this weekend bearable. Being at this resort again should be bothering me—I certainly don’t like thinking about what happened the last time I was here. And knowing it’s crawling like a fucking anthill with my aunts and cousins would usually be enough to send me straight to the bottom of a bottle just to get through it. But instead of gritting my teeth and doing what I can to survive the weekend, I’m totally relaxed. Even my mom’s awkward assumption that Juliet wouldn’t be sleeping in my room didn’t get under my skin.

  All I want to do is spend the weekend touching Juliet. Kissing her. Making her eyes flutter closed and those sweet soft moans escape her lips.

  Unfortunately, I can’t blow off this dinner. My mom texted me to “remind” me about it, and I decided it would be easier to just go. We had a little time after Juliet finished unpacking, and we certainly made good use of it. She’s so fucking adorable. I don’t give a shit where I keep my stuff, but I had a feeling it would make her happy to organize our room. I love how quirky she is.

  I did enjoy watching her change into a dark blue dress that hits her just above the knees. She fixed her hair and makeup a little, but she didn’t need to. She looked beautiful already.

  We walk toward the Cascade Room, where my family is gathering for dinner, and I take her hand in mine, twining our fingers together. A low hum of voices carries through the double doors as we approach. Juliet hesitates.

  Shit, I probably should have asked her if she wanted to come to this.

  “Hey.” I pull her aside and kiss her again. “If you don’t want to go in, it’s okay. I should make an appearance, but you don’t have to. I should have asked you up in the room if you wanted to come.”

  “No, it’s fine,” she says. “I’m just a little nervous.”

  I take her hand and squeeze it. “Don’t be. We’ll go in, have a quick bite to eat, and get out of here.”

  She nods, and we head inside.

  Instantly there are aunts and cousins surrounding us, grabbing and hugging and kissing cheeks. I hug back and smile and say hello and try to introduce Juliet. But everyone acts like they’ve known her for years, exclaiming how great she looks (which is true, she does), and how nice it is to have her here.

  They usher us to a table and plunk down two plates overflowing with food. This is not surprising. My mom’s family is Italian through and through—they love to feed people. I find my mom over on the other side of the room, but she seems to be sequestered with my aunt Carina, the mother of the bride. She
smiles and waves, and I wave back. There you go, Mom. You saw me here. Now I can eat and get the fuck out.

  Getting the fuck out proves to be harder than I’d like.

  A steady stream of people rotate past our table, coming over to chat. Just when I think I can extricate us and we can go, someone else comes over and strikes up a conversation. There are more than just cousins at this thing. Second cousins, old family friends, former neighbors, and pretty much anyone connected with my mom’s side of the family for the last twenty years seems to have decided to come to my cousin Mary’s wedding. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Weddings are a big deal in my family.

  My cousin Rhonda comes over to the table, squeezing in another chair. I try not to groan. Rhonda is one of the biggest gossips in the family.

  “Hey, Finn,” she says. “You actually came.”

  I’m pretty sure she’s not on her first glass of wine. “Yeah, I did. Have you met Juliet?”

  “Oh my god, you’re dating again!” Rhonda says, much louder than necessary. “Good for you.”

  “Uh, thanks.”

  “So what is up with you?” she asks, punctuating each word with a poke to my shoulder. “Still living out at the beach?”

  “Yeah, I’m running my dad’s pub.”

  “That’s right,” she says. “Pouring drinks for a living. So, is that what you do now? Or are you going to go back to the psychology stuff?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m just taking things one day at a time.”

  “Well yeah, but I’m sure you have plans,” Rhonda says.

  I notice Juliet smile. I slide my hand under the table and squeeze her thigh. I think plans is one of her favorite words.

  “Plans are fine, but I’m just living for the present,” I say. “I don’t want to worry about things too far in the future.”

  Rhonda nods slowly, like I just said something profound. “Yeah. Good. That’s smart.”

  “Um, thanks, I guess?”

  “So how did you two meet?” Rhonda asks.

  I tell her about Juliet’s friends getting food poisoning while they were in Jetty Beach for a girls’ weekend. Was that really only a week ago? Rhonda listens with rapt attention as I talk.