by Vivian Wood
“I just figured I would say that I’ve noticed,” he says with a shrug.
I roll my eyes. “Noted.”
We chat about the bar on the way down to the beach. As we get closer to the cluster of Cure employees, Emma turns her head and notices us. She quickly looks away, but I catch the secret smile on her face.
I have to admit, my heart beats just a little bit faster when I see that smile. I fucking love seeing Emma smile.
I freeze, there on the beach. Oh, shit… do I love her?
No.
I can’t love her.
I can’t. We’ve only been fucking for a handful of weeks. It’s way, way too early.
Right?
“Hey,” Gunnar says, stopping and looking back at me. His expression is impatient. “What?”
There’s no time for deep introspection, so I shake my head. “Uh… I just thought I left the stove on at home. But I didn’t.”
Gunnar gives me a weird look, but Forest comes walking up to us, unwittingly saving my ass.
“What can I grab?” he asks, looking at me and Gunnar.
“Nothing,” I say, moving forward. “I think we got everything.”
I partially jog the last sixty yards to the group. Maia and Evie are setting up umbrellas, Asher is firing up a little charcoal grill he brought out here, and Emma is looking awkward as hell.
It looks like Asher has invited everyone to join us, even people who work super part-time at the bar. Brandon, Sarah, Alice, and Derek are all digging a hole for another ice chest.
Asher looks up as I put down my chest. I can’t see past his Ray-Ban sunglasses, but he is a dick to me right off the bat.
“I didn’t think you would actually bother to bring anything,” he says, eyeing the liquor boxes and ice chest.
I give him a hard look, ignoring the slight. “I brought everything I need to make a big-ass container of boozy punch. And I brought ice, and bottled water.”
“You heard the man! Another hole, coming right up!” Sarah cries cheerfully. Her bright pink hair and bright yellow bikini are almost as loud as she is.
She directs Brandon to start digging another hole while Alice and Derek heave Asher’s ice chest into the first hole.
I settle into making the punch, which turns out great, if maybe a little boozier than I had intended. I pour everything into a big Tupperware jug, and pass out red solo cups. Everybody but Evie and Brandon takes a cup.
“I overdid it last night,” Brandon says, waving off my offer.
“Yeah, me too,” Evie says, a little too quickly. “Where’s the La Croix?”
Maia takes her first sip, and goes, “Whoa! There is… so much liquor in this!”
Gunnar grins and winks at her. “I’ll take that as a good sign. Let me top us both off.”
Maia rolls her eyes. He drains his red solo cup, and reaches for the jug to refill his drink. Someone busts out a soccer ball, and most of the party moves onto the beach.
I hang back, along with Asher and Emma. Asher is puttering around with the grill, putting on one of the leather aprons we wear at the bar. I refuse to let myself fall into the trap of staring at Emma, so I just sit under an umbrella and sip my punch quietly.
I glance at Asher a few times, but he seems to be deliberately keeping his back turned to me. His little game of finger-pointing has really gone on for way too long at this point, but I’ll be damned if I am going to beg for him to listen to me.
“Do me a favor?” Asher asks Emma. “Open the food cooler and pass me that Tupperware full of chicken, will you?”
Emma follows his instructions, wrinkling her nose at the huge container of chicken. “What’s that weird brown stuff?”
“I marinated the chicken in teriyaki sauce, because I’m thoughtful.” His expression turns sour. “Unlike some people.”
I glare at him. “Fuck you, Asher.”
He sets the chicken aside, looking grim. “I’m sure that somewhere, someone’s fiancee is drunk and vulnerable. Shouldn’t you be there to seduce her?”
I sit my cup down in the sand. “I won’t tell you again. I did not come onto Jenna. For fuck’s sake, I didn’t even like her when she was your girlfriend.”
“You liked her enough to try to steal her the night before my wedding!” Asher growls.
“Guys—” Emma tries to intercede.
I get to my feet, clenching my fists. “Say it one more time, and I will destroy you.”
He rips off the leather apron, squaring off with me. “You ruined my life!”
“That’s enough!” Emma yells. “I am so sick of you both right now, honestly!” She stands up and comes up to me, pushing me away from Asher. “Come on. He’s making the food. You need to take a walk with me.”
I glare at Asher, sneering. Emma grabs my face, forcing my gaze down to meet her eyes. It’s an oddly intimate gesture, but it does actually force me to calm the fuck down.
“Move,” she orders me, giving me a little shove.
Fuming, I take off in the direction of the parking lot. Emma hurries to keep up with my long-legged strides across the sand. I’m furious, ready to rip into anyone who crosses my path.
21
Jameson
“Slow down!” Emma begs as I hit the wooded trail that leads back to the cars. “You’re making me run, practically. I’m not built to run on the sand.”
I slow my pace, but don’t stop. Instead, I take a sharp left turn, away from the parking lot, and onto a faintly used trail into the woods.
“I want to smash his face,” I grit out as I walk along the path.
“He’s your best friend,” Emma reminds me. “He’ll get over it. You both will. This too shall pass, as they say.”
“I guess they aren’t friends with a complete fucking lunatic,” I seethe.
We stumble upon a clearing with a few sagging picnic tables, and Emma grabs my hand, jerking me to a stop. I look at her, the storm within still churning.
“Please stop,” she says. “Just… talk to me.”
Looking down at her, I feel so much conflict going on inside my head. With Asher, sure. But also with myself, over the fact that I might have real feelings for this girl… the one person that I shouldn’t come close to loving.
Emma looks up at me, her eyes scanning my face.
I lunge for her. Her lips are soft and taste wild, yet familiar. I taste whiskey too, although I know it’s from me.
Emma makes a small squeak and weakly pushes me away. It just makes me want her more. When I kiss her a second time, there is no resistance. Instead, she parts her lips and welcomes my tongue against hers.
We kiss for several long moments, my heart beginning to beat faster. Fuck… if possible, I feel even more for her than I did a few minutes ago.
“Emma—”
“Shut up.”
In one swift motion, she pulls off her t-shirt to reveal perky tits with hard nipples that begged for my mouth. I descend on her mouth again, grabbing the hair at the back of her head to control her movements. I back her up against a tree, sealing my hand over her mouth.
If she wants to fuck on the sly, I can do that. She’s about to find out just how well I can fuck her silently. I kiss her again, holding back my own groan. The feel of my mouth against hers, my tongue as it flicks across her teeth, it is all too much.
Emma slips her arms around my neck, not resisting in the slightest. I reach down for her little shorts, tearing them down and off her legs with ease. When Emma reaches for her underwear to pull them down, I grab her wrists and stop her.
I walk her back until I’ve got her against the rough bark of a tree. I grab her and drop to my knees, kissing her breasts, her flat stomach. I grasp her ankles, and spread her legs a little. She whimpers.
“Shhhh,” I remind her, squeezing her thigh. “If you make any noise, I’ll stop. So you’ll have to be quiet.”
She looks down at me, wide eyed, and nods quickly.
She’s in nothing but her panties, which are quickly becoming s
oaked. I stop, taking a moment to whip her crop top up and over her head, barring her breasts to me.
Goosebumps break out across her flesh as I lean down for a kiss. Her nipples are hard, and I tweak one lightly. She stiffens, but doesn’t cry out.
“Good girl,” I rumble. I nuzzle into her neck and begin to trail my tongue down her collarbone.
As I move down, she thrusts her chest out, desperate for my mouth on her nipples. I kiss her breasts and outline her areolas with the tip of my tongue.
I tease her and she makes a muffled moan, clearly frustrated. Finally, when I pull a nipple into my mouth and started to suck, Emma’s whole body quivers and stiffens.
I work toward her other breast and she winds her fingers through my hair. I kiss down her stomach, getting on my knees. Emma starts to pant as I near the hemline of her panties.
I kiss her clit through the lacy material and she moans, on the edge of explosion already. When she looks down at the sight of my head between her legs, my big hands wrapped tight on her thighs, she lets out another muffled moan.
I chuckle.
“Please,” she whispers.
“Please, what?” I murmur, but I don’t look up at her. “Tell me what you want. Quietly.”
“Come on,” she says, needy. She pushes her center toward my face.
“Tell me what you want,” I repeat.
She gripped my hair tighter. “Rip my panties off,” she says.
I release her thighs just long enough to oblige. The chill in the air instantly hit the warm wetness of her center, and I can faintly catch the scent of Emma’s warm body in the air just around her.
“Now?” I ask.
“Yes!” she insists, writhing.
“And then what?” I ask, and blow lightly on her clit.
“I want you to lick my… my clit,” she whispers. A glance up at her tells me her cheeks are on fire.
Immediately, my tongue is on her clit. Without the buffer of the lace between my tongue and her pussy, the pleasure hits hard. She closed her eyes and lifted her head upward.
“What else do you want?” I ask between kisses and sucks.
“Put your finger in me,” she demands.
I laugh quietly at her change in tone. I released one thigh and easily slid a thick finger through her wetness, until I slide it deep into her pussy. She moans and presses against it.
“Two fingers,” she murmurs, biting her lip. I slip a second finger into her warmth.
Emma opens her eyes and she looked down at me. The power of having her telling me exactly how to fuck her is intoxicating. She starts to play with her breasts, to pinch her nipples.
“Here,” she says. She takes my hand that still grips a thigh and brings it to her breasts. I start to roll one nipple back and forth between my fingers.
“Yes,” she says, and spreads her thighs wider. I like seeing her like this, naked and splayed out and begging for me to give her pleasure. “My G-spot,” she says, her voice shaking. “Hit my G-spot.”
I shift a little and try to hit the spongy patch just inside her, making a come here gesture. In seconds, she is bucking her hips against my face, covering her own mouth with her hand to keep from making noise.
Emma is so close to coming, I can taste it and feel it. I slow my movements, stilling my hand. I want to feel her come on my cock, greedy as that is. I kiss her inner thigh, and she makes a frustrated sound.
“God, get up here and fuck me,” she says, her words angry.
“I think you’re starting to like telling me what to do too much,” I tease, pulling her down instead. “I’m going to fuck you from behind, and you’re going to get off on being silent. Isn’t that right?”
Emma’s eyes go wide and she nods.
“Good girl.” I spend a second shucking my clothes, and then get back on my knees. Emma bites her lip and admires my swollen cock. She reaches for it, but I pull away.
“Uh-uh,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m in charge now. Get on your hands and knees.”
She gets onto all fours, watching me from over her shoulder. Her ass and pussy are right there, waiting for me. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a more beautiful sight.
“Fuck me now,” she demands.
I smack her ass, hard. “Quiet. Any more noise, and I will punish you.”
The excitement I see in her eyes at my words is almost too much. I grip her hips, positioning my cock at her entrance, and bury myself deep inside with a silent shudder.
“Oh, fuck,” she whispers. I smack her again, then grab a fistful of her hair.
My length presses hard against her G-spot and her clit begins to throb. As I start to find my rhythm, she squirms.
“Wait,” she says, and I stop immediately. “Like this.”
Emma pushes me onto my back. She rises onto her knees and perches on top of my thighs with my cock deep within her. At this angle, the pressure against her G-spot is almost too much for either of us to take.
“Harder,” she whispers, and I bite down just enough to make her yelp. One of my hands reaches for her clit and the other runs across her breasts.
She’s so perfect and tight like this. I start to bounce her while I stimulate every sensual part of her body. I suck at the delicate skin of her neck, needing something to distract me from how fucking good her body feels against mine.
“Emma,” I whisper into her ear. “Fuck, you feel so good.”
“Make me come,” she says, though I can tell that she is already close. I begin to fuck her harder.
“Make me come,” she demands again, dropping her head back. “Fuck, Jameson. God, yes. Just like that.”
“I’m close,” I say, trying to think of anything but how badly I want to spill inside her.
“Make me come with you,” she says. “Come inside me.”
“Emma—”’
“Come with me!”
With a final flick of my slick finger against her clit, I nip at her neck and slam her down onto my cock.
“Fuck, Jay,” she cries out, clenching and trembling. The rush of my orgasm explodes inside her, my cock pulsing thick jets of cum. I push her over the edge. She calls out my name and comes hard against my cock.
For a long minute, we just stay like that, breathing hard. Then I hear faint voices in the distance, and she starts to slide off of me.
I pull her close, kissing her hard. “This isn’t over.”
Emma swats my chest playfully, hurrying to redress herself. I do too, but I never take my eyes off of her. She’s just stunning, no matter how much clothing she takes off or puts on.
The voices come closer. As I pull my zipper up, Forest and Maia burst into the clearing, Maia giggling. Forest’s hands are on Maia’s hips, and Maia has to push him away rather forcefully when she sees us.
“Oh!” Maia says, blushing.
“Uh, here they are!” Forest says. “Err… we came to find you guys.”
Emma arches a brow. “You did, did you? Well, here we are.”
I look at Forest, and he makes eye contact with me. Something passes between us, brother to brother, and both of us widen our eyes. Forest is definitely fucking Maia, or at least he’s trying to. At the same time that I realize what he’s doing, Forest is figuring out that Emma and I have been up to more than just talking.
It’s quiet for a moment as we give each other long looks. A little how could you do that with her? Mixed with some please don’t tell anyone about your suspicions.
Maia clears her throat. “Um, since we found you guys… why don’t we all go back to the beach together?”
I eye Forest. “You girls go ahead. I uh… I need to talk to Forest about… guy stuff.”
Maia and Emma both flash me bemused expressions.
“Oh yeah?” Maia says.
Forest coughs into his hand. “Err… yeah. It’s okay, we’ll catch up with you… soon. Or whenever.”
Emma grabs Maia by the wrist, towing her toward the parking lot. “Okay, see you later!”
/> Maia glares at Forest, but she allows herself to be led away. I watch her and Emma until I’m sure they’re gone, then I turn on Forest.
“You can’t tell anyone about—” I begin, then censor myself. “Emma and I were just talking.”
Forest crosses his arms. “Bullshit.”
“I’m serious!” I lie. I never lie to my brothers, as a rule, but just now I don’t even feel bad about it. “And what about you and Maia? I saw you, with your hands on her hips.”
Forest looks a little embarrassed. “Nothing happened.”
We stare each other down for a few seconds, then Forest shakes his head.
“Whatever, man. I just need to know that you’re not going tell anybody. Especially Gunnar.”
I squint at him. “I won’t talk if you won’t.”
He extends hand to me, and we shake.
“Deal,” he says. “Now can we please get back to the beach and never talk about this again?”
“Lead the way.” I follow Forest down the path, back toward the beach, lost in thought.
22
Emma
As I’m lying in my bed, I hear Jameson’s heavy steps on the front porch. I sit up. We have some serious stuff to hash out.
When he swings my bedroom door open, I cross my arms and cock my head.
“I didn’t know if you were going to show up here tonight,” I say.
He closes the door behind him. “And yet, here I am.”
“We have to figure out what to say to people,” I say firmly, pursing my lips. “Forest and Maia know. It’s only a matter of time before everyone else does too, and that includes Asher.”
Jameson shakes his head slowly. “I’m not interested in that.”
He comes over to the side of my bed. I feel as though I’m being stalked.
“What do you want from me, Jameson?” I ask, a little breathless.
“You know what I want.”
“No,” I say, and shake my head. “Jameson—”
He closes the distance between us with ease and grabs the bottom of my shirt. With a single hard tug, the snap buttons of my shirt fly open to reveal my bare breasts. I gasp into his mouth, but don’t resist. No, I like what he is doing too much for that.
