by K. L. Jessop
She turns to her daughter. “You see, it’s not so bad having family time now and again.”
“The difference is, Mom, Nora’s family are so much cooler than mine,” she jokes.
“Makenna Dixon, I sometimes wonder where you get your sarcasm from.”
“Well just look at my parents and you’ll have your answer,” she says so casually, placing a fry into her mouth.
I laugh just as Charlie turns back to me. “Anyway, Nora. It sounds like you have a fun evening planned. I hope you enjoy it.”
“Thank you, Charlie.”
“Oh, I’m sure she will enjoy it,” Makenna says, and I have to stop myself from kicking her under the table when a wicked grin tugs at her lips.
“Yes, Pete!” Grayson cheers as Dad carefully places another wooden block on top of an already small pile of them. They are both sitting at the dining table, playing one of Dad’s therapy games while Mom and I finish up the dishes after having dinner.
“Can you manage to do another?”
I watch as Dad grins, picking up another block and lifting his arm a little higher to place it on top of the pile.
“You can do it, Pop,” I encourage, thrilled that he’s managed to place six blocks on top of each other unaided. “He’s getting so much more strength in his arms,” I say quietly to Mom who has now turned to watch him, too.
“I know. Wade is really pleased with his progress.”
“Yes, my man!” Grayson cheers, “Another?”
“Easy.” He does another and the same excitement from Grayson plays out, causing us all to laugh as he grabs hold of Dad’s arm in pride. I can’t help but smile at them both, and I’m unsure who is benefitting most from our evening together. It’s great for Dad, but I know it means so much to Grayson having this family support back again after being closed off from it for so long.
Grayson’s eyes find mine, and I wink, itching to go over there and lay my hands on him, but know I can’t. It’s one of the reasons I offered to help Mom with washing up: I needed to escape the sexual tension that was smoldering between us, my parents oblivious. Dinner had been torture: trying to engage in conversations while Grayson’s free hand was under the table and dangerously close to my panties as his fingers danced circles up my thigh.
“Yes. Well done, Pop.” I beam. “Grayson is sure pushing you to work harder.”
“I think I’ve missed my vocation in life. I need to be a physical therapist.”
“He. An… Ass.”
We all laugh. “Come on, Pete that’s no way to talk to your best neighbor. Now, another.”
“Drink. First.”
Grayson helps Dad with his water, guiding the straw toward him so he doesn’t have to move from his position, and Dad picks up another wooden block.
“I’ve seen a change in him,” Mom says quietly.
“Yeah. And it’s great that he’s building his strength back up, considering how crazily life has changed for him.”
“You’re right,” she pauses. “But I wasn’t talking about your father.”
“Oh.” I turn my head to look at her to find her eyes already on me. A soft smile graces her beautiful face—the kind of smile that tells me she knows, or at least that’s what my head is screaming as she studies me.
“Before Sandie passed, I saw a rapid decline in the young man I once knew. He became withdrawn, tired and I could see the strength that Sandie was slowly drawing from him. He stopped coming for his early morning breakfast and the only way Asher could communicate with him was at the club because he wouldn’t let anyone in his house. When Sandie died there was no one that could break the seal to the cocoon that he hid himself in. Not even your brother. And as you know, it was hard because your father wanted to be there for him, but he couldn’t. Eventually, we had to watch from the side lines as he fell further into grief and walked around as if he were oblivious to others around him.”
“I knew things where bad, but I’d had no idea how bad until he broke down and told me after I kept challenging him about the distance he’d put between us. It’s just sad that he felt that he had to go it alone and couldn’t come to any of us.”
She smiles flatly. “People mourn in different ways, and at different times in their life, but what’s important is those you have around you when that time comes. The ones who are there to hold you up when you can barely hold on. And I believe you are that person to help him.”
If only she knew there was a double meaning behind what she just said—or perhaps she does, and that’s the reason my heart races in my chest.
Either way, I’m on the verge of saying that not only do I want to help him but that I’m falling for him faster than my heart can control.
“We have a good friendship, Mom.”
“You have. There’s no denying that you two are close, you’re his Shortcake after all. People drift toward each other for a reason, and sometimes it’s a blessing. It’s just...”
“Just what?” I whisper because I swear the look in her eyes is telling me she knows.
“Just be ready for a bumpy ride. Not all will see what a mother can see.”
And just like that, I’m left guessing, no clearer about what she knows, if anything, or if she even approves. However, my biggest challenge still remains in the hands of my brother.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Grayson
“Grayson, we need to stop,” Nora breathes as I kiss her senseless against the side of the pier, hidden away from those we are at the beach with, but as soon as the words leave her mouth, she pulls me back and lets me invade her once again. Her hands are in my hair, one leg is wrapped around my thigh, and in all honesty, we do need to stop because I’m getting hard from her grinding against me.
But the woman is like a fucking addiction and reels me in all the more.
“I don’t want to.”
“We have to.”
It’s been almost a month since she let me take her innocence, and from that point on we’ve been inseparable. My place. My office at work. Her place when no one has been looking. You name it.
She’s got me wrapped around her finger in the best possible way, and I’ve done nothing but smile and laugh in the weeks I’ve been with her, more than I have in such a long time.
“You expect me to behave today and not touch you when you turn up wearing a bikini like this?”
“So, you do like it then…”
I growl, hooking my fingers around the strap of her halter neck bikini. It’s both sexy and classy—a perfect combination—covering her tattoos that are for my eyes only yet dipping low enough to expose the skin I want to do naughty things to.
“Did you deliberately wear this to test me?”
“Maybe. I mean, I know you like me in red. Not to mention how much you love my cleavage and running your tongue between my breasts. However will you cope today?”
“Fucking tease.”
She laughs. “Come on. We already have eyes on us. I don’t want any one we know to catch us.”
“Let them. I thought the daring part of me turned you on?”
“It does, but I already raised suspicion in Mom when I said I needed to be with you when you made the call to Ryan.”
“It wasn’t a lie,” I breathe, resuming my position against her neck as the shallow water glides over our feet. “It was work.”
“Yes, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew I had a game plan.”
“I like this game plan. When’s the home run?”
“Later. We need to get back.”
“But I like you pressed against this pillar far too much.”
Pushing me back, she shifts from under me and I groan from the loss of her touch.
Today is going to be torture knowing, I can’t be with her in the way I want.
I’d got a call first thing this morning from Nora, practically begging me to cancel all plans because we were going to the beach. The happiness in my chest came to life at the thought of spending the
day with her was like never before, but then she proceeded to add that Pete, Fiona and Wade would be joining us. For a second, the selfish part of me wanted to roar from my chest because I’d already spent the night alone after working until the early hours, knowing she was in her own bed when I got home. But then I heard excitement in her voice when she’d said it had been Pete’s request to have a family fun day and that I was invited, too.
“Come on. Dad already has his kite flying.” She steps away from me, turning herself so she’s walking backwards. The red of her swimsuit compliments her golden skin, but I want to untie it from around her neck so the fabric falls and reveal her breasts before I take them into my mouth. Her white, unbuttoned linen shirt hangs off one shoulder, and I want to graze my teeth along her collarbone, right before I nip a little harder on the sensitive part of her neck to mark that I have been there.
Fuck. She is spellbinding. And she is mine. Every fucking part of her.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nightfall. And you, naked.”
She laughs.
I start walking slowly toward her, each step I take causing her to take one back, and I already have a game of chase going on in my head, only mine ends where I pin her down to the sand and fuck her until sunset.
“Well, the quicker we head back, the quicker night fall will come.” She grins, a mischievous look clouding her eyes as her fingertips trail down her stomach. “And you know what else you’ll get?”
“What?” It’s almost a growl as I take another step toward her.
“This.” When her fingers slide under the waistline of her bikini bottoms slipping into her heat, I’m ready to fucking combust. Knowing I can’t have her here and at the same time wanting to reprimand her for her teasing, I do the only other thing on my mind and chase her.
“Seriously. You fucking tease.”
The moment I charge toward her, a scream leaves the back of her throat and she sprints across the sand like never before, laughing out loud all the way as I’m fast behind her.
“Pop. Help!” She laughs, knowing full well that Pete can’t do anything as we approach them, but I hear him shout anyway, telling me in his own way to get her.
Picking up my pace, I’m behind her sooner than she knows. I grab her around the waist, causing a hysterical scream to leave the back of her throat, but instead of bundling her to the ground, I divert my plan, lift her over my shoulder and run toward the water.
“No. Grayson. I’m sorry!” She laughs, and the sound makes my heart beat faster because I love hearing it so much.
“You think you can do something like that and get away with it?” She wriggles in my arms in an attempt to free herself. “Can’t run from me, Shortcake.”
When I’m in a position where I know her parents can’t see us due to the number of people that surround us, I throw her into the water, right before pulling her back up and crashing my mouth on hers, savoring the moment and her touch.
“How’s he doing?” I ask Wade as I approach him, nodding toward Pete. He’s been down flying the kite with Nora most of the day, and I’ve heard nothing but joy from the pair of them as the Aquarium designed kite has dipped and dived through the air.
After taking a break, Wade had brought Pete a little further up the beach out of the way of other people who seemed to slowly invade the space around them.
“He’s doing okay. A little tired. I said I’ll come back and get him in a while once he’s had some shade.”
“I’ll keep him company for a bit.”
“Thanks.”
As Wade heads back down to where Nora and Fiona are, I head on up to Pete.
“Hey, old man. How’s it going?” I take a seat in the beach chair that is next to him, thankful for the shade I now have, too. It’s hot out today.
“Good. H-happy.”
“Yeah. Wade did good finding you a chair that runs along the sand.”
Wade has borrowed a specially adapted wheelchair that enables Pete to be pushed along the sand. It’s an impressive piece of kit, like something out of Transformers.
“So, what’s next in the adventures of Pete?” I grin. “You seem to have a bucket list going on. Is there something you’re not telling me?” I feel like an ass the second the words fall from my mouth, but my joke amuses Pete to the point of laughter.
“No. L-list… J-just. Hope.”
I raise my brows. “Yeah? What are you hoping for?”
He stares down at the others in the water, and I let him have a moment to find his words as he watches. Reaching his hand out, he places it on my arm. I flinch, not because of the contact but because of the fact he’s a lot colder than I expected him to be.
My response has him bringing his eyes back to me as he smiles. “Are you cold?”
“No.”
“Can I get you anything then?”
“No.”
“Do you feel—”
“Gray. Stop.” His eyes soften, not that they were any form of harsh before. “I. ‘kay.”
I give him a smile before we both turn to face the water. Nora is still running around as Wade chases after her. I could watch her all day. Seeing her smile, listening to her laugh. She’s intoxicating.
“I know you already know this, but you have one hell of a daughter, Pete,” I admit. “She’s changed me—filled the void in my heart that was empty for so long.”
“C-can. S-see...”
“Who would have thought a five-foot woman would be the rocket up my ass that I needed.”
He laughs. “My… G-girl.”
“She sure is something.”
“You. M-make. Her. H-appy.” He pauses, his chest rising and falling as he composes the words he’s wanting to say. “An’. S-she. M-make…”
“Makes me happy?” I finish for him.
He nods.
“She does make me happy, Pete. She makes me very happy,” I admit. “I honestly don’t know what I’d do without her. She’s always had a special place in my heart, and that’s not just because she is your daughter.” I swear every man and woman on this beach can hear my heart racing as it thunders against my chest with my honesty, but I keep going because there’s something about this moment with him that feels right.
“You know I won’t do anything to hurt her—not now she’s come back and kicked me up the ass. She is everything to me, Pete.”
He nods, squeezing my arm tighter as he turns his head to look at me. “Love. Her.”
I’m unsure if it’s a statement or a question, but neither is it something that I have to question myself. There’s no doubt in my heart when it comes to how or what I feel for Nora. She is everything I never knew I was searching for. She is my redemption. My hope. My saving grace when I am lost.
But the look in Pete’s eyes say a thousand words, and my stomach tightens with the realization. I don’t know why it comes as a shock because he’s done nothing but observe people for a long time now.
“You know, don’t you?” I question, right before his wicked smile spreads across his face. “Shit, of course you know. You watch everyone like you’re Virginia’s very own detective.”
“See. It… L-long time.”
“Jesus, Pete.” I chuckle, thinking back to the conversation we’d had in his kitchen the day he had his seizure. He knew then. “You’ve been pushing us together this whole time, haven’t you?”
He shrugs. “May…be.”
“There aren’t many dad’s that would encourage his daughter to hook up with an older guy. You’re supposed to be kicking my ass because of it.”
“Can’t,” he laughs. “Chair. B-bound.”
“God, I love your sense of humor at times.”
He chuckles a little more, dragging his eyes back to the water and watching his family. A weight I never knew I’d been carrying seems to lift from my shoulders, telling me that it hadn’t just been Asher I’d been concerned about when it came to Nora, but her father, too.
I’d always thought
the phrase ‘things happen for a reason,’ was nothing but bullshit, and I certainly don’t want to use that saying when it comes to the man sitting next to me because what Pete has been through has no rhyme nor reason—just some pure fucking bad luck—but I question now if Nora was meant to come home for a reason. Not just for her father, but in some world of twisted fate, what if she was meant to come back for me—make me change and help me breathe? Because now, I finally feel like I can. I never want to go back to the hell I was drowning in before.
“Love. Her. A-all…ways,” he murmurs, holding my stare.
I grip his hand tighter, letting him know I’ve heard him loud and clear and that I give him my word. “Always.”
With a soft smile, he looks back toward the water and I suddenly want to join them all. “You wanna head back down?”
“Yeah. More. F-fun.”
“All right.” I get up and grab onto his wheelchair. “Let’s go have some more fun, old man.”
“Ass.” He chuckles as we head back down to the rest of them.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Grayson
With Pete’s words still hanging over my head, I decide to take some time out after being down at the shore with everyone. I reassure Nora that I am fine and tell her to go and have fun with her family, but the truth is, Asher is now playing on my mind after my conversation with Pete. And this time, it’s not to do with the fact I’m concerned about his opinion of my relationship with his sister. It’s purely to do with my respect for his family and how he’s put me in a position where I’m having to hide the fact he’s only gone because he can’t handle being here. I don’t like lying. I fucking hate that.
“Fucking prick,” I spit, hating that he’s got me this way.
“Who pissed on your parade?”
I look up to find Mark strolling toward me, Charlie now having joined the others down by the shore. “What do you mean?”
“It’s been a while since I saw you looking like a miserable shit. Wanna talk about it?”
