by Abbi Glines
“What are you doing?” she asked, glaring at me.
“I know you’re mad at me, but I need to show you something.” I held out my hand to her. “A couple of somethings, actually.”
She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re messing with my head, and I can’t do this,” she said, sounding tired.
I reached out and brushed the hair that had come loose from her ponytail out of her face. It gave me an excuse to touch her. “I’m sorry. But I swear, that’s done. No more. Just come with me. Please?”
She looked like she was about to waver, so I decided to keep pushing.
“We don’t have a far drive. Just give me ten minutes. I swear. It will explain everything.”
I knew I’d won when her eyes looked back up at me. “OK.”
I grabbed her hand and threaded my fingers through hers. “Let’s take my bike,” I said, leading her to where I had parked it.
I buckled the helmet on her head, even though I knew she could do it herself. Then she put her arms on my shoulders and climbed. When her arms wrapped around me, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feel of her against me.
The drive was short, just to the outside of the club property. I took the small gravel path through the dunes and stopped just as we reached the hill overlooking the water. Shutting off my engine, I climbed off, then took her helmet and helped her off.
She looked around and then back at me with a frown. “What are we doing here?”
“The Kerrington Country Club owned this property. It was meant for expansion after Woods’s father passed away, but Woods didn’t go forward with it. So I bought it. All of it. I’ve hired Grant as the general contractor. I’m building a luxury hotel here so that those who don’t want to purchase or lease a house during the summer months have another option. Hotel guests will have access to the Kerrington Club during the length of their stays.” I paused. Her mouth dropped open, but she wasn’t saying anything, so I kept going. “I met with Quinn today because I wanted to give her an idea of what I wanted and supply some different options. You’ll be dealing with her from now own. She knows that you get the last call on everything.”
Bethy held up a hand to stop me. “Wait, what? How did you afford this? A hotel is . . . big, Tripp. Really big.”
I had forgotten that she didn’t know everything. We had never discussed my money situation. I didn’t realize it until she brought up my need to be a bartender and running out of money the other morning. “My mother’s dad passed away two years ago and left everything to me. The rest of the family was upset, but the will was ironclad, and I was his only heir. When I came back to Rosemary Beach, this idea slowly started unfolding in my head.”
“So you bought this land to build a hotel? Here? You’re going to just . . . build one?” She was still staring at me in complete shock.
“You’re here, Bethy,” I replied, and then I took her hand and walked her back over to my bike. “One more thing I need you to see,” I explained. She didn’t speak. She let me put the helmet back on her before we climbed back onto my bike so I could take her farther down the beach.
When I got to the spot that overlooked a long stretch of beach, I saw the blanket I had left earlier, along with the four lanterns at each corner to keep it from flying away and to give us some light. The sun had almost set. She stared as I took the helmet off and led her there.
“This is also property I purchased. It’s got an amazing view and plenty of room to build as big a house as you want. Any house you want. We’ll build it together.”
“You want to build a house?” she asked in a whisper.
I watched as she looked around her, and then her eyes came back to me. “Yeah, I want to build a house. With you. One that you want. Whatever makes you happy, because as long as you’re in it with me, I don’t care where we live.”
She continued to gaze up at me like I had lost my mind.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small velvet box.
When I went down on one knee, Bethy gasped. This was the part that scared the shit out of me. This was what I wanted. More than anything. But I wasn’t sure she wanted it. Her words the other morning had led me to believe she did. She wanted forever with me. I did, too, and I hoped my actions showed that. No more dancing around each other, unsure of our future.
“You needed to know that what we had was forever. Bethy, it was forever with me when I was eighteen years old. You were all I could see then, and you’re all I can see now. I’ve been waiting for you, sweetheart, to heal and to come back to me. But all you had to do was tell me you wanted forever, too. I would move heaven and earth to make that happen.” I opened the box and watched her face. “Bethy Lowry, will you marry me?”
Silence.
I waited as she stared down at the ring in my hand and then back at my face.
“You did all this because of what I said?” she asked.
She was going to kill me. I managed a nod. “Yeah. I don’t think you understand that if you asked me to fly to the moon and bring it back to you, I’d find a way.”
She let out a soft laugh that turned into a sob, and my stomach knotted up. She wasn’t supposed to cry. This was what she said she wanted. Then her head moved up and down as she let out another sob. “Yes.”
No word had ever brought me more happiness. I was on my feet and pulling her into my arms instantly.
Her arms wrapped around my neck as I held her off the ground. She wasn’t in heels, so she couldn’t reach me.
“God, I love you so much. I swear, woman, I thought you were going to say no,” I said into her neck as I closed my eyes and started breathing again.
“How you think any woman on earth could say no to you and a proposal like that, I don’t know,” she said, then sniffed.
“I missed eight years with you. I don’t want to miss another day.”
She pressed a kiss to my cheek, and I let her ease back down my body. I had plans for this blanket. “Can I have the ring now?” she asked sweetly. I realized I was still holding it in my hands.
Laughing, I opened the box back up and took the ring out. She held out her hand, and I slipped it onto her finger. I couldn’t look away from the sight of it.
“Oh, wow, and I thought that possessive gleam couldn’t get any worse,” she said, smiling.
I tore my eyes off the ring to look at her face. My Bethy. “Just so we’re clear, this means you either move in with me tomorrow or I burn down your apartment complex. You decide,” I said, before tugging her down to the blanket with me. And placing her in my lap.
She threw back her head and laughed.
The sound that would never get old.
She looked back at me with a twinkle in her eyes. “Do I get morning sex every day?”
“And afternoon sex and shower sex and nighttime sex and hell, baby, even balcony sex,” I assured her.
She laid her head on my chest. “I love you.”
Bethy
Tripp’s mouth touched my ear. “I need inside you. It’s been five days of me remembering how fucking amazing that pussy is. Will you let me have you out here in the dark?”
As he asked, his hand slipped down the front of my shorts. I knew we were far enough away from other houses, but there was still the chance that someone could be out walking the beach. But then he slipped his finger inside me, and I decided I didn’t care.
I moved off of him and started tugging down my shorts and panties. His eyes flared, and he moved his hands to the zipper on his jeans. “I swear, when we get home, I’ll kiss every inch of you and take it nice and slow.”
I straddled his lap, and he pulled out his hard length and held it as I lowered myself onto it.
“Fuck, that’s hot,” he growled.
If I wasn’t so needy for him to fill me, I would have taken the time to tease him.
“There it is . . . yeah . . . sink down . . . fuuuuuck!” he roared as I slammed down onto him.
I threw back my head and c
ried out. I had known I was ready for him, but I hadn’t realized just how wet I was until he’d slipped in.
His hands grabbed my ass as I moved over him. “I’m going to lie back and let you ride,” he said before crushing his mouth to mine. I moaned as his taste invaded me.
When he finally broke away, I shoved his chest back, and he laughed before lying back. I placed both hands on his chest and began to lift my hips up and down, panting as the sensation built. The pleasure I knew was coming.
“Pull your tits out, baby. I need to see them,” he ordered in his husky voice that could make me do anything.
I pulled my shirt up and jerked my bra down so my breasts fell free.
“God, yes,” he said as his hands cupped them gently before squeezing. Praises fell from his lips as he rolled my nipples in his fingers and watched my chest bounce. “So damn gorgeous,” he whispered as he grabbed my hips and arched up into me.
“I’m gonna come,” I whimpered, pressing down harder on him. “Harder, Tripp. I’m so close,” I begged.
Tripp flipped me onto my back. “Open wide for me, sweetheart. Spread those legs, and let me sink into that sweet pussy. I’m ready to feel you come on my dick,” he said, his voice thick with need.
That was all I needed. Tripp’s dirty words sent me spiraling off, and I reached for him, crying his name as he lowered his mouth to my ear and told me just how wet I was and how sweet it smelled. When the second orgasm hit me, I was pretty sure I screamed.
My name tore from Tripp’s lips just as his body jerked over me. My vision was blurred from the climax I’d had, but I watched my beautiful man as his mouth fell open and he filled me with his release.
When he was done, he wrapped me up and rolled onto his back, still buried inside me. “I think I’ll just stay inside you all the time,” he whispered against my hair.
Right now, I just might agree to that.
Tripp
I leaned against the doorframe of our bedroom, watching Bethy sleep. She was exhausted, but then, she’d also had six orgasms before I let her go to bed. Smiling, I took a drink of the water I’d gotten out of bed to get. She was here in my bed. My ring on her finger. I had pictured this moment for eight years.
She was my world.
Unable to stay away from her too long, I walked over and set my glass down on the nightstand. She rolled over, and her eyes fluttered. She yawned before looking at me. “I’m cold,” she whispered sleepily. “Come keep me warm.”
Smiling, I pulled back the covers and climbed in. “Always, baby. Always.”
Can’t get enough of Abbi Glines?
Read on for a look at the next novel in the Rosemary Beach series featuring Mase and Reese . . .
When I’m Gone
Prologue
Reese
“Come here, girl!” My stepfather’s voice bellowed throughout the house.
Instantly, my gut twisted. The sick knot that came from being near him and knowing what he would do to me was a constant companion.
I stood up slowly from my bed and placed the book I was reading, or trying to read, down carefully. My mother wasn’t home from work yet. She was supposed to be home by now. I shouldn’t have come back from the library so early. A man and his young daughter had come up to me while I was looking through the children’s picture books. He’d started talking to me and asking me my name. He’d wanted to know if I was getting a book for my little sister.
The embarrassment that came with that question reminded me of my stupidity, as always.
“GIRL!” My stepfather roared.
He was angry now. My eyes stung with unshed tears. If he would only just beat me like he used to, back when I was younger and I brought home poor grades in school. If he would just call me names and tell me how worthless I was . . . but he wouldn’t. Once, I had wished more than anything that he would stop hitting me. I hated the belt, and the welts he left on my legs and bottom made it hard to sit down.
Then, one day he had. And I instantly wished he’d go back to hitting me. The bite from the belt was better than this. Anything was better than this. Even death.
I opened my bedroom door and took a deep breath, reminding myself that I could survive whatever he did. I was saving my money from the housecleaning jobs I had, and I would be leaving here soon. My mother would be glad I was gone. She hated me. She had hated me for years.
I was a burden on her.
I tugged my shirt down and tucked it into the shorts I was wearing. Then I pulled the shorts down so they covered more of my legs. It was pointless, really. I had long legs that were hard to cover up. There were never any shorts at the thrift store long enough.
It was only an hour before my mother got home. He wouldn’t do anything that she could walk in on. Even if she did, I wondered if she would accuse me and say it was my fault. She had already blamed me for the way my body had changed four years ago. My breasts had grown too large, and she said I needed to stop eating, because my ass was fat. I had tried not eating, but it hadn’t helped my bottom.
My stomach had flattened out, and it had only made my chest look larger. She’d hated that. So I had started eating again, but my stomach pudge never returned. One night when I had walked into the living room in a pair of cut-off sweatpants and a T-shirt to get some milk before I went to bed, she had slapped me and told me I looked like a whore. More than once she had called me a stupid whore who had nothing but her looks to get her anywhere in life.
I stepped into the living room to see Marco, my stepfather, sitting in his recliner with his eyes trained on the television and a beer in his hand. He had come home from work early.
His gaze swung to me and slowly trailed up my body, making me shiver with disgust. What I wouldn’t give to be smart and flat-chested. If my legs were short and fat, then my life would be perfect. My face wasn’t what attracted Marco. It was average enough. I just hated my body. I hated it so much.
Nausea crept up, and my heart raced as I fought back the tears. He loved it when I cried. It made him worse. I wouldn’t cry. Not in front of him.
“Come sit in my lap,” he ordered.
I couldn’t do it. I had been able to avoid him for weeks by staying away from the house as much as possible. The horror of having his hands up my shirt or in my pants again was too much. I’d rather he kill me. Anything but this.
When I didn’t move, his face twisted into an evil sneer. “Get your stupid, slutty ass over here and sit on my goddamn lap!”
I closed my eyes, because the tears were coming. I had to stop them. If he’d just hit me again. I’d take it. I just couldn’t stand him touching me. I hated the sounds he made and the things he said. It was a never-ending nightmare.
Every second I stayed back was a second closer to my mother getting home. When she was here, he called me names but never touched me. She might wish I didn’t exist, but she was my only salvation from this.
“Go ahead and cry, I like it,” he sneered.
His chair creaked and then I heard the footrest slam down. I snapped my eyes open to see him standing up. Not good. If I ran, I wouldn’t make it past him. The only other option was the backyard, but his pit bull was out there. It had bitten me three years ago and I had needed stitches, but he hadn’t let me go to the doctor. He’d told me to wrap it up; he wasn’t putting his dog down over my stupid ass.
I had an ugly scar on my hip bone from the dog’s teeth.
I’d never gone into the backyard again.
But watching him walk toward me, I wondered if being eaten by his dog wasn’t better than this. It was a means to an end: death. Which didn’t sound so bad.
Just before he reached me, I decided that whatever his dog did to me would be better than this. So I ran.
He cackled with laughter behind me, but I didn’t let it slow me down. He didn’t think I’d go out the back door. How wrong he was. I would face the pits of hell to get away from him.
But the door was bolted. I needed the key to unbolt it. No
. No.
His hands grabbed my waist and pulled me back to feel his hardness pressing against me. The sour taste of vomit burned the back of my throat as I jerked away from him. “NO!” I yelled.
His hands moved around and grabbed my breasts and squeezed painfully. “Stupid whore. This is all you’re good for. Couldn’t graduate from high school because you were too damn stupid. But this body is meant to make men happy. Accept that, bitch.”
The tears ran down my face. I hadn’t been able to stop them. He knew the words to hurt me. “NO!” I cried out again, but this time the pain was there in my voice. It cracked.
“Fight me, Reese. I like it when you fight me,” he hissed in my ear.
How could my mother stay married to this man? Was my father worse than this? She’d never married him. She never told me about him. I didn’t even know his name. But no one could be worse than this awful man.
I couldn’t do this again. I was done being scared. Either he would beat me until he killed me or he would kick me out. I had feared both for so long. Mother had told me once that all that men would do in this world was think about sex when they looked at me. I would be used by men my whole life. She constantly told me to leave.
Today, I was ready. I only had eight hundred and fifty-five dollars saved up, but I could get a bus ticket to the other side of the country and get a job. If I got out of this house alive, that’s what I was doing.
Marco’s hands slipped down the front of my shorts and I bucked against him, screaming. I didn’t want his hand there. “Let me go!” I yelled loudly enough for the neighbors to hear.
He pulled his hand out and jerked me around by my arm so hard it popped. Then he slammed me against the door. His hand punched my face with a loud crack. My vision blurred and I felt my knees go weak. “Shut up, bitch, and take it.”
