Must Be Fate: (Cody and Clover) (A Jetty Beach Romance Book 3)

by Claire Kingsley

“Oh, yes,” I say. “Do it, Cody. Pour it into me.”

  He locks eyes with me, his gaze intense. He holds himself up with one arm, his other hand on my ass, guiding me. He takes me right to the edge, my climax on the brink of bursting.

  “Tell me what you want,” he says. His eyes are unfocused.

  “Come in me,” I say, my voice barely a whimper. “Fill me, baby. Do it now.”

  His cock pulses and my pussy clenches around him, the orgasm saturating my being. We ride it together, calling out our pleasure in time with our thrusts. It’s so intense, I don’t think it will ever end.

  Cody pauses, still inside me, as the last of my spasms pass. He puts his face against my neck and kisses me while I wrap my arms around him. His weight on top of me is warm and comforting. I’m not ready to let him go.

  He pulls back and looks at me, brushing my curls off my face. “That was…” He pauses, his eyes roving over me. “It was wonderful.”

  I caress his cheek, running my thumb along his stubbly jaw. He kisses my lips again, slow and sweet. I savor every inch of him.

  He rolls off of me and takes care of the condom. We scoot around so our heads are on his pillows. He gathers me in his arms and holds me close. I lay my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. It nearly matches mine.

  I trail my fingers up his abs. “It took you long enough.”

  “What?” he asks with a little laugh.

  “I’ve been going crazy up here every night, wishing you’d just come up.”

  He lifts his head to look at me. “No, you haven’t.”

  “I have,” I say. “I kept the door unlocked for you.”

  He groans, letting his head drop back to the pillow. “I’ve hardly slept all week, knowing you were in my bed.”

  “Then why didn’t you come in?” I ask. “I guess I didn’t make it obvious enough.”

  “You were hurt, first of all,” he says. “I wasn’t going to take advantage of you like that.”

  I turn my face so I can kiss his chest. “You wouldn’t have been taking advantage.”

  “Plus, we just met,” he says.

  That’s true, but I don’t see what it has to do with anything. We’re two adults who are attracted to each other—insanely attracted to each other. What’s the point in denying that?

  “Well, I’m glad you came in,” I say.

  He lifts his head again. “Did I make you feel better?”

  I smile. “Oh my god, yes. I should dump platters of chicken in my lap more often.”

  Cody laughs, holding me tighter.

  I lay with him, enjoying the feel of his body next to mine. I think about the horoscope that sent me here. You will be faced with important decisions that will have long lasting consequences for your life—especially your love life. Wow, that was certainly spot on. I never imagined meeting someone like Cody, particularly the way we met. But here I am, wrapped in his arms, floating in bliss. I try not to consider what this means, or what will happen when I find my own place. Those are problems for later. For now, I’ll live in the moment, savoring this feeling.

  I wake up Friday morning feeling more refreshed than I have in a long time. I sleep in my own bed—after last night, there’s no point in sleeping on the couch—and don’t bother setting my alarm. Usually I get up early and I’m the first one at the clinic. Today, I stay in bed with Clover, her warm body pressed against me. She lets me hold her while she sleeps, which is so enjoyable. Jennifer was a light sleeper, and needed her space at night. Not that she stayed over very often. She always said she preferred her own bed to mine.

  Clover snuggles against me and I relax to the soft rhythm of her breathing. Her vanilla scent fills me, and her curls tickle the bottom of my jaw. I find myself wishing I could cancel all my patients and spend the day in bed with her. She arches her back just a little, pressing her ass into my groin. My cock swells against her.

  “Mm,” she says. “Morning.”

  I slip a hand beneath her shirt and cup her perfect breast. She rotates her hips, rubbing against me. I nibble at her earlobe and she giggles.

  If this is going somewhere, I need to grab a condom. I look toward my nightstand, and the time on my bedside clock catches my eye. It’s nearly eight. Shit. I don’t have time to do her justice.

  I kiss her ear. “I’m sorry baby, I have to go to work.”

  She makes a sweet moaning noise in her throat and rubs her ass against me. I squeeze her breast, feeling her nipple harden. She’s making it very hard to go.

  “I really have to get to work,” I say. My hand runs down her belly to her hips and I push my cock against her ass.

  “No,” she says. “Don’t go to work today.”

  I laugh into her hair. “I have to.”

  “Fuck me first,” she says. “I’ll make you come fast.”

  I groan. My cock is absolutely throbbing to be inside her. “That’s not fair to you.”

  “I can take care of myself,” she says, reaching around to grab me. She takes my cock in her hand and strokes a few times.

  There’s no way I can resist that. I roll to my back and reach into my nightstand, grabbing a condom. When I turn over, Clover is lying on her back, already naked, her legs open for me.

  “Oh my god,” I say.

  “Come here, sexy doctor man,” she says. “You better hurry. You have to go to work.”

  I climb on top of her and plunge my cock into her hot pussy. I don’t hesitate, thrusting into her, fast and hard. I lift up to my knees and grab the headboard with one hand. I want to see her.

  “Tell me what to do,” she says.

  Oh, fuck yes. I love being in charge during sex. It’s such a turn-on.

  “Use your fingers,” I say. I guide her hand down to her pussy.

  “Do you want me to touch myself while you fuck me?” she asks.

  “Hell, yes,” I say.

  She presses two fingers above her opening.

  “Fuck, Clover that’s so hot.”

  She smiles, her fingers searching. Her mouth drops open and she moans.

  I pound into her while her fingers rub her clit. Her hips rock up and down. Watching her pleasure herself while I thrust my cock in and out of her is the hottest motherfucking thing. My orgasm builds fast and her pussy contracts around me.

  “Oh shit, I’m going to come all over you,” she says, her voice a whimper. “Come in me, baby. Do it fast.”

  Her fingers rub faster and she leans her head back, her eyes closed. She’s so hot, her tight pussy clamping down on my cock. I can’t stand it. My cock pulses; everything goes dim. I burst into her, emptying myself, feeling the tip of my cock bottom out as I push in deeper.

  Clover’s fingers keep going and she calls out, her eyes closed. My orgasm ends as hers begins and I hold tight to her, keeping my cock deep inside. She contracts around me, filling me with fresh waves of pleasure.

  “Wow,” she says, opening her eyes. “That was short but intense.”

  I lean down and kiss her mouth. She opens her lips for me, her tongue eager.

  “That’s a good way to start my morning,” I say.

  She pushes against my chest and gives me a mischievous smile. “Go to work. I got what I wanted.”

  I laugh and kiss her again. “I see how it is. You’re just using me.”

  “Damn straight,” she says. “You keep making me come like that, and I won’t give you up.”

  I kiss her again, then get up and get ready for work. Clover’s still in bed when I finish, her legs tangled in the sheets, her eyes closed. I kiss the top of her head and she mumbles a sleepy goodbye before I head to the clinic.

  Darcy is at the front desk when I walk in. She looks up, her eyebrows raised.

  “Morning, Dr. J,” she says.

  “Morning,” I say. I feel amazing, but I try to keep it off my face. I don’t need to give the gossip patrol more fodder.

  “Is everything all right?” she asks as I walk by. “You’re usually in earlier.”
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  “Yeah, I just decided to get some extra rest,” I say.

  “Good for you,” she says. “You work too hard.”

  I smile. “What time is my first patient?”

  “Not until nine-thirty.”

  “Perfect, thank you.”

  I go back to my office, boot up my desktop, and open Lyle Brown’s chart. His case is constantly in the back of my mind. His symptoms are so alarming. His blood work isn’t back yet, but I hope it will help shed some light on what’s happening. I should have ordered a more comprehensive panel when he first came to see me. I’d have more answers for him by now if I had. I skim through a few journal articles referencing muscle spasms, hoping to find something I haven’t considered.

  There’s a knock at my door and I look up. James, my partner in the practice, stands in the open doorway.

  James and I went to med school together, and he decided to move out to Jetty Beach to help me start my family practice. He has dark hair and eyes, and he’s wearing a gray, striped button-down with a steel-gray tie.

  “Morning, James,” I say.

  “You have a minute?” he asks.

  “Sure.”

  He adjusts his dark-rimmed glasses and comes in, shutting the door behind him. He takes a seat across my desk. “Cody,” he says, then pauses. The lines in his forehead stand out and he rubs his chin. “I need to ask you about something personal.”

  That’s odd. “Okay.”

  “Did you take a patient home with you last week?”

  My back tightens. How does he know about Clover? “No, not exactly. She’s not a patient.”

  James crosses his arms. “Did you treat her for a head injury?”

  “I did.”

  “Then how is she not a patient? Because you treated her for free or something?”

  “She hit her head in the restaurant where I was having dinner,” I say, “so of course I helped her. What would you have done?”

  “Okay, I can see that,” he says. “I’m just trying to figure out how that ends with her staying at your house.”

  “She was new in town and didn’t have anywhere else to go,” I say. “With an injury like that, I couldn’t very well let her sleep in her car.”

  James regards me through narrowed eyes for a long moment. “So you’re not sleeping with her?”

  Fuck. “I’m not sure what that has to do with anything.”

  “Son of a bitch, Cody,” James says. “You’re walking a very thin line here. That could be a serious ethics violation.”

  “Look, I did not bring home a patient. She doesn’t appear anywhere in the clinic’s records. I helped a woman and, yes, I gave her a place to stay.”

  “Did you treat her here at any point?” he asks.

  “After hours and off the record.”

  James shakes his head. “That was a stupid thing to do. And if you’re sleeping with her, it’s worse. Since she’s not a registered patient, it might not come back to bite us in the ass, but what were you thinking?”

  “How do you know about any of this?” I ask.

  He shifts in his seat. “I got a call.”

  “A call?” I ask. “Who called you?”

  “Jennifer.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I say. “You talked to my ex and now you’re worried we’ll get sued or something? Jennifer’s just being vindictive.”

  “She said she came over to your house to get some things and you had a patient staying there. She said this woman answered the door in her underwear and then tried to kick her out.”

  “Did Jennifer tell you the part about using my key to get into my house when I wasn’t here, without my knowledge?” I ask.

  “Shit, no she didn’t say that.”

  “Come on, James,” I say. “You know Jen. She’s pissed because I did what I should have done a year ago and finally ended it with her. Now she’s trying to cause trouble.”

  “It’s not just that,” James says. “I’ve heard the staff talking. They said a woman came in a couple of days ago, looking for you. And that you’ve been acting strange.”

  “So now you’re listening to the gossip mill?” I ask. “You know better than that.”

  “All right, fair enough,” he says. “But you need to keep your problems with women out of the clinic. And if that woman who isn’t a patient, who you may or may not be sleeping with—because you hedged my question—is still living at your house, I’d get her out as soon as you can. It looks bad, Cody. And sometimes that matters more than the truth does.”

  James gets up and leaves, sparing me the need to come up with an answer for that.

  Shit. I can’t believe Jennifer called him. What the fuck is her problem? She’s going after my career. Clover is not a patient, and even if she was, we’re both consenting adults. We haven’t done anything wrong.

  But James has a point. Especially in a small town, things like this can get ugly if the wrong story starts spreading. If word got out that I did something unethical—whether or not I actually did—it could have an impact on the clinic.

  He’s probably right. I should make sure Clover finds a place to live sooner rather than later—and keep our relationship quiet for a while.

  The thought of her moving out is strangely disheartening, which is crazy. Clover can’t actually live with me. I met her, what, a week ago? Jennifer and I were together for two years, and I wasn’t ready to move in with her.

  I imagine coming home to that sunshine smile. Clover in the kitchen, making dinner. Her shoes by the front door. Her clothes hung next to mine, her scent lingering on everything. Even before last night, it felt good to have her there. Comfortable.

  Maybe too comfortable.

  We’re doing this all wrong. You’re supposed to meet someone, date for a while, and let the relationship progress. Playing house with a girl I just met is not a healthy plan.

  And it isn’t like I can’t still see Clover if she lives somewhere else. I certainly want to spend more time with her and see where this goes.

  I tap my keyboard to turn my monitor back on and go back to the medical journals. I’ll have to worry about Clover later. For now, I have patients to think about.

  I roll over to the warm spot Cody left in the bed. I still feel all tingly. And a touch sore, to be honest. It’s been a while since I’ve slept with anyone, and Cody is … he’s ample. I twitch at the memory of his cock inside me. Damn, he was good. Really good.

  I love the way he took charge. I didn’t expect that, but it was hot as fuck. I’m one hundred percent positive Ms. Resting Bitch Face didn’t let him do that with her. He’s probably been holding back for years. I want him to know he can unleash on me. He can be free. I want him to tell me what to do, to use my body for his own pleasure. I’ll just go along for the ride and enjoy every tantalizing second.

  Since I’m awake, I decide to get up, despite how comfortable his bed is. But first, I bury my face in his pillow and breathe deeply. God, he smells good.

  I practically skip down the stairs and go into the kitchen to make coffee. It’s going to be a fantastic day. I’ll go into Old Town Café and take care of the final details for my new job. Then I’ll come home and make Cody something incredible for dinner. There doesn’t seem to be much he doesn’t like, so maybe I’ll get a little adventurous with my cooking. I can get adventurous after dinner too.

  I smile to myself, thinking about what he might like for dessert—and I don’t mean food. What is he into? If he likes control, maybe he’ll want to tie me up. I’ve never done it, but I could go for some bondage. Why not? I think about my hand on his dick. That is what I want for dessert, his big cock in my mouth.

  “Woah, Clover,” I say aloud. My panties are getting wet just thinking about him. “It’s still morning. Let’s pace ourselves.”

  I sit down with my coffee and read my horoscope. Nothing particularly earth-shattering, just something about being open to helping people. It doesn’t really speak to me.

  I hesitate, know
ing what else I need to do. I should look for an apartment. In fact, I should call about the ones I already found. I can’t very well keep staying here, even if the thought of leaving is pretty depressing.

  I feel so comfortable here, like it’s the most natural thing in the world for me to live with a man I met a week ago. That’s a little bit crazy, even for me. I’m all for spontaneity and seeing where fate takes me. But whether or not Cody and I are sleeping together, I can’t just shack up with him. I’ve never lived with a boyfriend before. In fact, it’s been years since I’ve even had a roommate.

  I sigh, trying to push away the sad feeling that blooms in my belly. I’ll find something close, and we can still see each other.

  After doing another quick search for rentals, I write down the most promising leads. I make a few calls. One is already rented, and another has several applications, but I’m welcome to turn one in. I decide to pass. My application isn’t going to come out ahead of several others, that’s for sure. What I need is the chance to meet the owner in person, before they have a bunch of other applicants.

  I’ll be honest with them—there isn’t any point in hiding what they’ll find if they do a credit check—but I can explain my situation and hopefully convince them to take a chance on me. I’ve done it before. I’m not always great about paying my bills, but I do have a good rental history—although it kind of meanders around the country.

  But I really like Jetty Beach. It feels different, somehow, and not just because I landed in the bed of the hottest man I’ve ever met. The fresh ocean air, the buzz of visitors walking down the sidewalks, the ambiance. It speaks to me. The universe definitely led me here. Why still remains to be seen.

  I mean, there’s Cody, of course—I’m sure I was destined to meet him. But maybe it’s also this town. Is this finally a place to call home?

  I have no idea what that would be like.

  I try to ignore the deeper worry that threatens to come to the surface. I can’t think about that now. I call about the little cottage I found the day before. A woman with a pleasant voice answers and says she’ll be happy to show it to me if I want to come by in an hour. I feel that twitch, the one that means something. The timing is perfect. I can go look at the cottage before I go in to work. I tell her I’d love to, and say goodbye.