“Because everyone else is still out there, and you made me come in,” I complained.
“Ah. You were having fun.”
“I was just getting the hang of it.” Fun was a stretch. My limbs felt rubbery, my muscles overstretched. I had bits of seaweed stuck to my cap of hair and grits of sand crunched between my teeth. Having Ash’s hands all over me for the exercise had been the payoff. Each time I had fallen off he had plucked me out of the surf and held his board steady on the water so I could climb right back on it again.
“Your suit wasn’t insulated. You were shivering. And you were taking on too much seawater there at the end. I was afraid there wouldn’t be any ocean left for the rest of us.”
“Ha-ha. Very funny.”
“You’re more than funny.” His tone was low. His gaze had dipped to my mouth. “You’re capital A-adorable with all your feisty determination, and I want to kiss you very badly right now to warm you up.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Because you’re covered in sand for one thing.”
“Oh. Hmm. Well, that didn’t stop that couple in ‘Here to Eternity’.”
“That was a movie, and you’re making my case about the implausibility of most of the shit that comes out of Tinsel Town. But the main reason I’m not laying you out on the sand right now like I want to is because the next time I kiss you I want to take my time, and I plan for you to be naked.”
“Oh.” I smiled.
“You like that plan.” He traced my saltwater sticky sandy lips with his finger, his eyes turning as dark as the surf was now. I stopped shivering as heat rolled through me.
I nodded.
“Me, too.”
“Yo, asshole. This is a public beach. Get a room.”
“Go fuck yourself, Le.” Ash used the finger he’d had on my mouth to communicate his displeasure to the bassist. He could multitask with it apparently.
I turned my gaze to the ocean watching the wave warriors with their boards under their arms emerge in a line horizontal to the shore. There was just enough light left to illuminate them. Diesel smiling his mocking smile. Ramon shaking out the saltwater from his curly hair. Karen laughing. Simone and Linc with their boards under their outer arms so they could hold hands.
“We’re going in to wash up,” Linc announced when he and Simone were only a couple of feet from where Ash and I were huddled.
“By washing up you mean fucking in the shower,” Diesel snickered.
“Busted.” Linc grinned. Diesel didn’t seem to get under his skin as readily as he did Ash’s. The cousins were as different in personality as they were at surfing. Linc free and easy seemed to go with the flow of the waves, doing tricks, laughing and smiling. Ash wore a look of intense concentration, his movements controlled, the ocean another something for him to master. “I like that idea. Too bad your partner’s gonna be your hand.”
“Uh, no. I met a brunette that’s gonna swing by my hotel room in a couple of minutes. So if I’m doing things with my hand I won’t be doing them to myself.”
“Diesel,” Karen complained, rolling her eyes. “You are such a skank.”
“So we all meet at the Deck Bar in an hour,” Ramon decided. “We bringing instruments to do a little impromptu jamming,” the guitarist asked the man beside me, “or we just eating, dancing and having some drinks?”
“Bring ‘em,” Ash replied. “It’s been a while since we played together.”
“The benefit concert in New Orleans,” Linc remembered.
“Yeah, so if we’re all agreed, and we sound decent I might be able to put the Dogs on as special guests on Ramon’s tour. Anyone game?”
“Hell, yeah,” Diesel said. “I’m going anyway. Double paycheck.”
“Me, too, obviously,” Ramon said. “But no additional stops. When Karen’s at six months I’m not going anywhere.”
“Noted.” Ash turned to regard his cousin. “Linc?”
“I’m always ready to play and hang with you guys. And the women are with us on this tour. We mainly disbanded the band for you, dude. The question is are you up for it?”
“It’s not a full tour, Linc. Just a half dozen stops to promote a greatest hits release. Add in some live recordings maybe an additional song if we can find something in the vault to dust off or something new if one of us gets inspired.”
“You’re putting out a greatest hits CD?” I asked, excitement ringing in my voice.
“Yeah,” he answered. “A double album. Vinyl pressings included.”
“Alright! So cool. Love it.”
“I forget you’re such a big fan until you do shit like that.”
“Sorry if I got a little enthusiastic.”
“There you go.” His eyes went warm. “Making me smile again.”
~ ~ ~
Fanny
“What are you doing?” I asked as Ash stalked into the bedroom, his gaze sweeping over me in my olive bikini, my gauzy skirt a white puddle beneath me and my mesh tank clutched in front of my chest. “Is it time to go already?” Had I lost too much time recapping the afternoon events to my sister? The swoon worthy kiss. My surfing experience. “Why did Hollie rush out of here as if a secret lost episode of Gilmore Girls was being aired in the other room?”
“I had an order of fish tacos delivered from the Deck Bar for her.”
“But I thought we were bringing her some after we ate.”
“That was the original plan yeah,” he said distractedly, looking at me again, sticky head to sandy toes, only slower this time. “I have a different plan now.”
“Really?” I asked, feeling short of breath, his husky voice and accompanying perusal eliciting a needful shiver.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” My nipples tight aching points beneath my damp top, I had drawn the mesh tank to my chest to hide my obvious response to him.
“Hide yourself. It’s a tease. But gliding my hands all over you in the ocean was about all the tease I could take. I had to take care of myself in the shower. Now it’s time to take care of you.”
“Oh.” My lips rounded. I was disappointed he hadn’t thought to invite me to join him. But disappointment gave way to desire as I imaged him stroking himself in the shower. One hand palm pressed flat on the tile wall, his other urgently pumping his wet cock while water sluiced all over his glorious nude body.
“Being the recipient of all that gliding was a tease for me, too,” I informed him. “And imagining you touching yourself and ejaculating…” I trailed off, licking my lips. His gaze dipped to my mouth.
“Don’t, Fanny. Don’t do sexy shit like that.”
“Like what?”
“Talk about my cum while licking your lips. Just looking at your mouth, your lush lips and hearing your breathy voice is making me hard again. And with you I need to be…I have to be…” He blew out a breath. “Later we’ll talk, and then we’ll have more time. Right now it’s about you.” His gaze dropped. “I want to see you.” His voice deepened. “All of you.” His eyes rose, and they were a darker impassioned midnight blue. “Ditch the shirt.”
I released it immediately. White and black now at my feet, he took a step closer. My breath hitching inside my chest, my gaze lifted. Indigo wash jeans, clinging in all the right places. Thighs. Hips. Other places. I resisted licking my lips. Creamy long sleeve linen shirt. His masculine hands, neatly trimmed nails, long fingers that he’d used to grip my waist and lift me onto his board. I so wanted to feel his wide hands all over my skin, his firm grip parting my thighs, his finger one maybe even two dipping inside me to see how wet I was for him.
“What are you thinking?” he demanded abruptly.
“Huh?” I asked, my gaze jumping to his face. “Just now. Your face flushed. Your lips parted. Fucking hell, tell me.”
So I did. In detail. His expression grew tight, his eyes dark and heated. His body, too. He was only a couple of inches away, but I felt warmth coming off him in waves. My chin lifted to regard him.
“Touch me,” I begged. I wanted to feel all that heat and his strength pressing against me. “Please, Ash. I want you. I want to feel your touch.”
“Yes, little rose.” He lifted his arm and laid his hand against my cheek skimming his fingers against my soft skin. I leaned into his touch, turned my head and drug my mouth across the inside of his hand, the rounded part at the base of his palm first then traveling to the middle where his lifeline began. I kissed him there, darted out my tongue and tasted him, too. Salt. Citrus. Smoke.
He hissed and jerked back his hand.
“Fanny. Fuck.” His fingers on the hand I had kissed curled into a fist. First that hand then the other at his side. “I felt that in my cock, you know.” His gaze was steamy blue, his voice a velvet growl, his expression drawn. He looked hungry. For me.
“I can feel you between my legs,” I told him wanting to feed that hunger. “When you look at me like you are now, I feel hot there. I get wet. I ache, and I need you.”
“I know what you need. Hold still this time.” His hands flexed then loosened as he came closer stripping the space between us, the edge of his Reef flip-flops against my dainty toes. His firm thighs in his jeans to my trembling ones. His pelvis a cradle for my hips. His cock thick, hard and lengthening.
I glanced up. “You’ve got to hold me.”
“I’ve got you.” He grabbed me by my upper arms as I swayed, and I arched my spine to bring that part of me that most ached to the part of him that felt just as turgid with need.
“You feel so good,” he groaned. His grip tightened on my skin. “I want you so badly.” His fingers bit into my flesh. I could feel his restraint, see the cost of it in the rigidity of his expression. “I thought I could take it slow. Come in here. Play. Tease you. Unthread those strings from that top. Separate the sides. Have you shrug it off like you did your robe this morning. See your gorgeous tits. Watch them swell and those pretty dusky nipples draw tight.”
“Yes,” I panted, imagining it, my breasts already doing those things. My entire body hot, needy and preening for him.
“But then you, Fanny. Shy and seductive. Giving and demanding at the same time. I had in mind what to do. How things should go with us. How far they could go. How much time we had, but I…”
“Hey, Ash,” Hollie yelled from the hall. “Your cell’s ringing.”
“That’ll be Karen. I told you how she is about people being late.” He sighed and pried his fingers from my skin. “Go get your shower. We’ll finish this later.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ashland
Doug, the owner of the Deck Bar was giving us the stink eye while he wiped down the mahogany bar shaped like the hull of a ship. We were regulars. He liked us coming in, sure. He liked that his place had become sort of an unofficial hangout for the band. In fact, he had our pictures with our handwritten endorsements proudly displayed on the wall. But the amount of tacos we had packed away on two for one night was definitely cutting into his bottom line. Fanny did her part. She wasn’t shy about eating which I appreciated. I had no use for the rabbit food micro meal bit some chicks did. Plus she was making up for those weeks on the street.
“Truly?” she asked Linc, leaning forward in her seat, her eyes wide behind the round rose hued sunglasses she was wearing despite being indoors at night. Like a rock star trying to remain incognito which in fact she was. I stopped wandering through my thoughts and playing with the strings on her halter. I think she wore things with strings to torture me.
“That’s exactly how it was.” I had to correct my cousin’s recounting of the band’s first real gig outside of OB. I shook my head at him across the pub table. Simone just rolled her eyes, accustomed to our sibling-like squabbles.
“Oh, that’s exactly how I remember it,” he disagreed.
“You’re exaggerating the whole thing. I was only a little nauseated.”
“Ba-ha-ha!” Ramon slapped his hand on the tabletop, jostling Karen since he had his other arm around her. She had eaten as much as Fanny had and was starting to look sleepy. “If by a little you mean two barely digested In-N-Out burgers and two fries erupting volcanically then yeah, ok.” The traitor turned his head to the side mimicking my puking. “All over the fucking stage.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yuck it up, Martinez. You wanna start down that nostalgic road of embarrassing stage stories, I can relate the one about how you extended your guitar solo for twenty minutes in Kansas City just because you didn’t want to face Karen’s wrath for going onstage wasted again.”
“That stop was bad.” Linc cringed. “People started throwing shit at us.”
“Ok. Ok. I’ll leave you alone about your stage fright.” Ramon gave in. “Shame though.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, you got it under control enough to play the drums. Too bad we’ll never get to see you singing lead again.”
“What the hell made you think of that?” Linc asked. “Ash hasn’t fronted in forever.”
“Since you joined the band. Yeah.” Ramon nodded reflectively. “But he sang great with Fanny today. Sounded even better when I listened to it on the playback. He’s got a sweet voice. I forgot how much he sounds like Bono.”
“I wish.” I made a dismissive sound. “But thanks.”
“You do,” Fanny weighed in. “I was trying to think who you sounded like. If you do a new song for the greatest hits you should do a U2 cover.”
“That’s a fine idea, Fanny.” Linc nodded his head. “There was a time when it was his dream to front the Dogs…”
“Yeah,” I cut in. “Only I got a reality check when I couldn’t even play that tiny backyard gig without tossing it. You saved the band.” I gave credit where credit was due. I would beat his ass later for spilling about my hopes and dreams.
“Why do you think it happens?” Fanny asked, taking my hand and playing with my fingers, lightly tracing them, going in and out between them. It felt good, but it was making my cock hard. I needed to get her alone soon to hash out some things. I wanted her. I wanted us at the next level. After that kiss and fooling around in my bedroom, it was practically all I could think about.
“Ash?” she prompted, peering over the top rim of her shades and batting her lashes, looking totally cute, sexy and adorable.
“What?” I replied a little too forcefully. She was testing the limits of my control.
“The stage fright?”
“Oh. I don’t like being on center stage with everyone staring at me. Too much pressure.”
“Too much you can’t control, you mean,” Linc chimed back in. “Audiences can be very fickle. One day they love you. The next they’re throwing beer bottles at your head.”
“That,” I tapped the table to emphasize, “is a prime example. And when the bottles are full it’s the worst.”
“Well, I can certainly understand.” Sympathy brimmed in her eyes. “But Ramon’s right. It’s a shame. Knowing how brave you are. Seeing and hearing today how hard you rock it.” She bumped my shoulder. “Singing is part bravado and part balance, besides not tripping over your own power cords and such.”
“Fanny,” I warned. “I see what you did there.”
“Just giving it to you like I got it about the surfing. And singing lead’s easier. You don’t even have to worry about sharks, Ash.”
“People are a lot more unpredictable than sharks.”
“Touché. But I wish you’d give it a try.”
“Thanks, but I have, little one.”
“A long time ago.”
“Not happening.”
“Give it up, Fanny,” Linc told her. “He’s immutable when he’s made up his mind.”
“You could wish on the mermaid.”
“What?” Fanny’s auburn brows lifted.
“It’s a long-shot.” Diesel swiveled and pointed to the mermaid painting on the back wall. “Legend has it that if you bring her an offering, something that reminds her of the sea and you kiss her on the lips whe
n the bar is full of witnesses, a ship’s bell will ring, and you’ll get what you desire. In my case the bell was my cell phone ringing.”
“Not this shit again.” Ramon rolled his eyes.
“Hey, it worked for me.”
“You groped the poor mermaid, too, as I recall,” Karen reminded him. “I think she just granted your wish to be rid of you.”
“Not that any of us are complaining about the results, Le,” I added. “Glad it worked. Your ex is really bad news. We’re all on your side about her. I would’ve given the mermaid a kiss before you did, if I’d have thought it would make her go away sooner.”
“Hey, speaking of cells, yours is ringing.” Fanny pointed to where it lay screen up between us on the table. I’d kept it out waiting for the lawyer to text me the specifics on the meeting about Lesowski tomorrow. But it wasn’t the lawyer. It was my dad’s face on the display.
“Hey, Dad. We still on for Mom’s birthday?”
“Ash. That’s not why I called. I need you. Your mom. She’s having one of her episodes.”
“Fuck.” My fingers tightened around my cell. It had been years.
“What’s going on?” I heard Linc ask, but I covered my ear with one hand so I could hear my dad better and waved him to be quiet with the other. “Where are you? What’s going on?”
“We’re at Stump’s Family Market. She’s…well she’s currently doing a little striptease in the produce section.”
“Oh, Dad.” I sighed.
“The audience is small. I don’t think they have video surveillance cameras in this store. I hope they don’t. I’m hoping you can help me talk her down. Maybe we can get her to stop without the police getting involved, her getting slapped with a public indecency charge and losing her spot on the city council.”
~ ~ ~
Fanny
I noticed several things right off the bat when Ash, Linc, Simone and I entered the small grocery store. One, Ash’s dad looked a lot like him only older. And two, Ash didn’t just love his dad, he really loved his dad. He went to him first and placed an empathetic arm around his shoulders while Linc moved toward his mom.
Oceanside Page 23
