by KB Winters
A little prick of guilt stung me. Since she’d arrived, I’d relied heavily on cold cut sandwiches left over from the cafe, with some occasional takeout sprinkled in as needed. “Thanks, Leash.”
“This reminds me of when we’d be home, waiting for Dad to get back from work…” her words trailed off, but the memories they invoked hung between us.
After our parents’ divorce, I’d taken somewhat of a motherly role in the house. Alesha had barely started school and our dad worked round the clock at his high powered finance job. I had a driver’s license, car, and access to my dad’s credit card. It had fallen on me to make sure the cupboards were stocked and that there was something for dinner for me and Alesha every night. My cooking and baking skills hadn’t been born from pure interest—but from necessity. It wasn’t until later in life that I’d learned to love it.
I nodded. “Who knew it would turn into my whole life.”
Alesha smiled. “The Siren is a really cool place. I don’t think I’ve ever told you that.”
I stopped halfway to my mouth with my next bite and returned her smile. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
“I wish I knew what I wanted to do,” she said glumly, staring down at her next bite before popping it into her mouth.
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged as she swallowed the bite. “I mean…next year is my senior year. Dad and Kelli yammer on endlessly about going to college. I’m pretty sure Kelli just wants me out of the house, preferably on the other side of the country, so she can finally get Dad to knock her up.”
I pressed my fingers to my lips to keep my mouthful of iced tea from shooting out.
“I’m just saying…sometimes she’s like a dog in heat.”
“Charming,” I replied with an eye roll.
“Just sayin…”
“What is it that you want to do? If not college, then what?” I asked, desperate to scrub the mental images she’d conjured from my mind.
“I want to go to college. Or, at least, I did. I applied to the same one that…my ex goes to.”
“Brian, right?”
She nodded. “Now it seems stupid.”
“I don’t think it’s stupid. What do you want to study? Surely that hasn’t changed just because you’re not with him.”
“They have a business program. I think it would be fun to have my own place someday, a clothing boutique, or maybe work as a buyer for a boutique.”
“Wow, that sounds really good. A business degree can take you a lot of places. I think you should go for it.”
She nodded and chowed down three more big bites, clearing her plate.
“Do you want some more?” I gestured back at the stove. “Have you eaten anything today?”
“No. I didn’t feel good this morning…”
I bit back my retort about hangovers and stood to get her another serving.
Hopefully it was a lesson she’d learn on her own.
After dinner, she helped me clear the plates, and then we both headed upstairs, full and sleepy. She paused outside her door. “Carly?”
“Huh?” I stopped and looked over my shoulder at her.
She frowned down at her bare feet. “I really am sorry for what I said…about Nick.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“I’m happy for you. He seems like a good guy.”
She disappeared into her room before I could find a reply.
I smiled to myself as I crossed the hall to my own room and as I got ready for bed, I marveled to myself. The day had certainly started off much differently than I’d imagined, and it had ended even more strangely—in a good way—than it had started. A butterfly of excitement swept through my stomach as I settled into bed, wondering what the next day would hold.
Chapter Fifteen
Nick
When I stepped into The Siren the following morning an unexpected face was waiting to greet me.
“Good morning, Nick,” Alesha called over to me as I hesitantly approached the counter.
“Morning. Uh, is Carly here?” I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck.
Alesha thumbed her hand over her shoulder, pointing towards the kitchen. “She’s back there. Listen…” she paused to look around the shop. I followed her nervous glance and spotted a few elderly people sitting around a table by the window, all bundled into track suits like they’d just done a power walk. “I need to tell you something.”
My eyes returned to Alesha as she leaned closer. Her cheeks flushed with a tinge of red. “I’m listening.”
“I wanted to tell you I’m sorry. You know…for what I told Carly. About you and me and the other night…”
“Aha.” I pocketed my hands and shifted my weight back into the heels of my work boots.
“Can you forgive me?” She batted her lashes and I wondered if by this point it was an automatic trick, as though she didn’t even actively think about how to look and act to get herself out of trouble, it just came naturally to her. Her lips in a pout, thick lashes fluttering, and a pleading, doe-eyed look.
“Only after you answer a question,” I replied.
Her innocent look faltered, cut through with a splash of surprise. Clearly it was one of the few times someone hadn’t crumbled before her. “Okay?”
“Why did you lie to Carly? Why did you tell her we’d messed around? Or whatever it was that you said,” I kept my voice low, not needing any further attention on the delicate conversation. “I’ve never really said much more than a few words to you and the other night, when you showed up tipsy and giggling, I told you that you needed to get your shit together and I got up and left when you tried to sit in my lap.”
They were the details that I hadn’t shared with Carly and normally wouldn’t have dragged up for Alesha, as I wasn’t one to rub someone’s face in their less than shining moments, but Alesha had pushed enough of my buttons that it was hard to keep a grasp on my anger over the entire situation. Things with Carly might be back on track, but it infuriated me that Alesha had even been able to plant such a foul seed of doubt in her mind.
And for what?
That’s what I wanted to know.
I crossed my arms, waiting for Alesha to patch together whatever story her mind was working to fabricate before my eyes. “Waiting. Just tell me the truth. Why?”
She sighed. “I was jealous. Okay? There.”
“Of what?” My eyebrows knit together. “You’re seventeen. Even if I wasn’t interested in your sister, it wasn’t like you and I would have ever been a thing. I’m a grown man. You get that, don’t you?”
She nodded, then tucked her chin and stared down at the counter. With her long, most likely fake nails, she drew a circle on the black surface. “I know. I was…I just wanted to spend time with my sister and it seems like whenever she’s talking to me, she’s pissed off. I didn’t want her to go off with you and leave me alone all the time.”
My arms loosened and then dropped from my chest. I braced them on my side of the counter and leaned over. “Alesha. Look at me,” I paused, waiting for her to bring her eyes up to mine. I wasn’t surprised to find a sheen of tears coating the deep blue irises that were nearly identical to Carly’s. “If you want to spend time with your sister, you need to tell her that. I have a feeling that she wants to spend time with you as well. But so far, you haven’t exactly been showing her. Showing up drunk, stumbling around the streets, causing problems. Come on, you’re better than all that shit. I know you are.”
Alesha nodded and a tear slipped free. She quickly wiped it from her cheek and swallowed hard. “You’re right.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. In some ways she reminded me of a younger version of myself, and now my own brother. The theatrics and temper tantrums were easy ways to get attention. I didn’t know the story of Carly and Alesha’s home life, but the pieces I’d gathered fit together into a complicated mess that almost made Alesha’s antics excusable.
“Tell you what, Carly and I have plans to go ou
t tonight. Why don’t you come with us? We can all hang out, get some dinner or something.”
The offer must have surprised Alesha. Her eyebrows shot up and her eyes went wide. “Really?”
Truthfully, the words came out of my mouth and shocked me a little as well. But I didn’t regret them. It was the right thing to do. When summer was over, Alesha would be back with her dad and stepmom, and if all went according to plan, I’d still be in Holiday Cove and have all of Carly’s attention to myself. One night spent facilitating some sibling bonding wouldn’t be the end of the world—even if it meant holding back from wanting to steal Carly off to see what she looked like naked.
“Really,” I said, smiling down at her.
She nodded. “That would be fun.”
“Okay.” I cut a glance at the mermaid shaped clock on the wall above the counter and cursed under my breath. “Listen, I gotta get up to work. Tell Carly I’ll call her later.”
“I will.” Alesha nodded, then reached behind her and poured a full to the brim cup of coffee and snapped a lid on it. “Here. On the house.”
“Thanks.” I lifted the cup and inhaled the sweet, freshly roasted brew and then hustled out of the shop.
If I had any hope of staying in Holiday Cove past the summer, I had to spend just as much energy impressing Aaron Rosen as I did Carly.
* * * *
“You continue to surprise me.”
I grinned over at Carly as we walked down the pier, leaving the lights of the beach side carnival behind us. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
She returned my smile and I watched the lights reflecting in her eyes as she stared up at me. “I figure most guys who had their reputation and morals called into question by some teenaged drama queen wouldn’t be eager to spend time with their accuser—let alone invite her on the date they’ve been angling for, for weeks.”
“Angling for?” I laughed. “Baby, I’ve been working my ass off.”
Carly laughed and shook her head at me, clearly amused. “Well, thank you. It means a lot.”
“You’re welcome.” I glanced over my shoulder, back to the small carnival that we’d just walked away from. “You think she’s staying out of trouble?”
Carly followed my glance. “Yeah. I think so. She was eyeing the kettle corn more than the guy working the stand, so that’s a good sign.”
We’d driven up the coast to a neighboring town that had a summer festival set up along the pier. A large, illuminated Ferris wheel that offered spectacular views from the top served as the central focal point, but around it were a variety of other carnival rides, games, and of course, vendors selling t-shirts, novelty toys, and just about every carnival food imaginable. Carly, Alesha, and I had worn ourselves out playing skee-ball and a balloon popping game, but walked away losers, with only a couple of small, plastic trinkets to show for our troubles.
And cash.
I didn’t mind at all. Carly and Alesha smiling and laughing together was more than worth the hole in my wallet where a wad of bills had been stashed at the beginning of the night. After Carly and I settled on ice cream cones, Alesha had gone off to find her own snack, and I’d taken the chance to get a little time with Carly one-on-one by the water’s edge.
“God, it’s gorgeous out here.”
I turned around at Carly’s comment and surveyed the way the sun was dipping down over the Pacific. The lights and colors from the sunset and carnival rides bounced off the glassy surface and lent an enchanted feel to the atmosphere. We came to a stop at the wooden railing and both planted our elbows on the railing as we finished our ice cream cones.
“You’re killing me, you know that right?” I teased, watching Carly’s tongue scoop and swirl up the side of her cone. The entire thing was enticing and making my pants uncomfortably tight.
Carly rolled her eyes but instead of backing down, she made an erotic pattern in the soft serve, keeping her eyes wide, locked with mine as she worked.
I groaned, but couldn’t look away. Fuck, she was sexy. Her blonde and pink hair swirled around her face in the evening breeze, the smell of her perfume mixing with the sweet smell of the ice cream residue on my lips and the salty ocean air. Her blue eyes were wide and dark in the ever-dimming light as the day faded to night and her full, perfect lips wrapped around the tip of her ice cream was enough to make me forget where I was.
“You’re trouble,” I announced, stepping in closer to her, so my leg pressed into her soft hip. I reached for her hair and brushed it away from her face. “Beautiful, sexy, trouble.”
She laughed softly and stopped torturing me with her dessert. “You’re delusional. Or just really horny. I’m not sure which yet.”
“Are you always so damned hard to compliment?”
She shrugged. “Figured you were up for the challenge.”
“Always.”
Our eyes locked onto each other and the humor faded away, a startling intensity taking its place instead. Her eyes bounced between mine, as though she were looking for something, and then they dropped a few inches lower and settled on my lips. “Carly,” I breathed, my voice barely strong enough to carry over the soft roar of the ocean. “I want you.”
I wrapped an arm around her waist, my hand sliding low on her hip to turn her towards me. She shuddered at my touch and a fleeting question passed through my mind, wondering how long it had been since she’d let herself go completely. Since she gave herself to someone else.
Her lips parted as I dropped my face to hers and I made a slow study of them, every moist ridge and curve before I captured them with my own. She tasted like vanilla and strawberry and her tongue was still cold from the ice cream. The heat between us rose quickly and melted the lingering chill away in a sweep of passion and smoky lust.
My hands couldn’t touch enough of her. My body couldn’t get close enough to hers. My lips wanted more of her to taste. My eyes wanted more of her to devour. My fingers wanted more of her skin to caress and tease and touch.
“Carly, I’m so crazy about you.”
I took a step forward, putting my foot between hers and pushing her back against the railing of the pier. Carly arched back and I dragged my fingertips down the softness of her neck and over her lips before crushing them back against mine. A soft moan vibrated from the back of her throat as I parted her lips with my tongue and swept over the tip of hers, lingering over the silky softness of her mouth. My body went rigid and my cock went ramrod straight, straining against my jeans as I imagined how her mouth would feel wrapped around it.
God, she’d look sexy on her knees.
Unable to help myself, I pressed into her, pushing myself against her. Carly pulled back a fraction of an inch, her eyes wide and a deeper blue than the midnight blue ocean behind her. I dropped my mouth to her ear and nipped at the soft lobe. “That’s how much I want you, Carly,” I growled into her ear.
I didn’t give her a chance to respond, dragging her lips back to mine and getting another taste.
The pier, with its loud music, laughing crowds, and sweet and salty treats faded to black.
It was me and Carly.
This was it.
This was all that mattered.
Chapter Sixteen
Carly
A voice pulled me from the fog, and in the back of my mind, I yelled at it to go away. But as the voice grew nearer and louder, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
“Carly! Nick! Check this out!”
I was in Nick’s arms, his lips inches from mine, and my entire body was on fire with wanting him. “Shit,” I whispered. Nick pulled back and smiled.
“God you guys, get a freakin’ room,” Alesha groaned.
“I’m game if you are,” Nick growled into my ear.
I pulled away from him, shooting him my best dirty look—no easy feat considering seconds before, I’d been so lost in his kisses I hadn’t realized—or cared—we were on a public pier, going at it like wild animals at the peak of mating season. “What did you say, Leash?”
“Check this out,” she said, grinning from ear to ear as she hoisted up a small puppy. It was some kind of terrier mix, a marbled blend of black and brown speckled through short, wiry fur. It wriggled in her hands, lunging as best as it could to get at her face with its tiny pink tongue.
I reared back. “What the—?”
“Isn’t she the sweetest?” Alesha gushed, holding the puppy close enough that it was finally able to lap at her face.
I shook my head, trying to clear it like an old Etch-a-Sketch. What was happening? Ten seconds ago, I was locked into the hottest kiss of my life, and now, stared at a puppy.
“Where did she come from?” Nick asked, reaching to stroke the tiny furball’s head.
Alesha jerked her chin over her left shoulder. “There was a guy with a box of them by the ticket booth.”
“And…he forced you at gunpoint to take one? What the hell, girl? You can’t just pick up a puppy from some carny!”
“Why not?”
Nick laughed and I shot him a dirty look. “Not helping.”
“She’s cute,” Alesha said.
“Oh, well then case closed,” I replied, my voice thick with sarcasm. “Alesha, you can’t even take care of yourself. Why on earth would you think you could take care of a puppy?”
Alesha’s eyes darkened as she turned them on me. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of her.”
I shook my head. “Come on, we’ve got to hurry if we’re going to get her back to her owner,” I tugged at Alesha’s sleeve.
She planted her feet and cradled the puppy to her chest. “No, Carly, this is my puppy now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh really? And what’s Dad going to say about that? I’m pretty sure Kelli isn’t going to be okay with having a puppy around to piss all over her designer duds, and I’m sure as hell not getting roped into keeping her if—no, when—Dad says no.”
Alesha looked down at the puppy and my heart broke. Why did I have to keep being the bad guy?
“I’ll take her,” Nick said. “If your dad says no.”
