A Perfect Holiday

by Riley Murphy

  By the time she turned he was holding up his hands, smiling. “It’s okay. Don’t get mad. The game’s over. One of them caved.”

  She wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn she heard him talking through his teeth to them. Yes, it definitely sounded as if he were telling them to smile and act natural.

  Ten more minutes. Ten more—now what? She saw the only girl at his picnic table burst out crying. Great. Had she gotten in the way of one of the punches?

  Sidney rushed over, expecting to have to step in. From experience she knew most men didn’t handle crying well. But when she saw Riker down on his haunches next to the little redhead and quietly talking to her, she stopped to listen

  “Aww, sweetheart, what happened? Why are you crying?”

  “My brother stole most of my oats and now my bag is different than everyone else’s.” She turned and glared at the boy sitting next to her who promptly made a face and stuck out his tongue. Sidney took a step forward, but then held back when Riker leaned around the girl and pointed right at her brother.

  “Not cool. Guys get nowhere in life when they treat girls bad. Especially when that girl is their sister. Trust me on this, dude. When she’s sixteen she’s going to have all kinds of cute friends, and if she hates your guts, all her girlfriends will hate you too. Now apologize.”

  Okay, so that reasoning wasn’t perfect by any means, but it did do the trick. The boy’s face went bright red. He looked so mortified Sidney thought he was going cry. “I’m sorry, Stella,” the boy mumbled.

  Stella sniffled and grudgingly nodded, but her shoulders remained slumped as she stared at her lap. Riker tried to get her attention and finally he had to dip and tilt his head to catch her eye. “Feel better?”

  “No. My bag is different than theirs.”

  “What’s wrong with that? Sometimes different is good. Really good. Better even. Like,” he bent, stretching until he got hold of the waste box Sidney had given him and then shifted to fill Stella’s bag with leftover oats and glitter until it was completely full. “Now. See? It’s still different, but better, right?”

  Sidney wasn’t sure whether it was the profound message buried in Riker’s words or the sight of such a big guy on his knees steadily holding a Glad bag full of cereal so a beaming young girl could tie a sparkly ribbon around it that had her all misty eyed. She only knew that when she went back to her table to see to her kids she was feeling all floaty again.

  Sometimes different is good. Really good. Better even.

  He’d said that as if he meant it. Believed it right down to the core and that idea more than anything triggered something within her. A need to explore the concept and when she did she saw something she’d always known but now from a different perspective. Sure, she’d always recognized her pegs were a little too round to fit into the square holes her peers easily slid into, but this never bothered her. How could it? It wasn’t as if she could change her whole personality. No, where the problem came in was with her parents. Her parents, just like Stella with her Glad Bag, wanted Sidney to be the same as everyone else. Sidney didn’t want to be the same as everyone else.

  So why are you trying so hard to be the daughter your parents want instead of the woman you are?

  Right then Riker’s words when they were sitting on that stool came back to her. I’d want you to be a happy well-adjusted woman who doesn’t behave according to anyone, but herself.

  “Ms. Capp? I can’t get this tied.”

  Absently she bent and tied a young boy’s ribbon for him. “There. How’s that?”

  “Good, but I’d still rather be at their table.”

  She blinked and straightened. “Excuse me?”

  The boy stabbed a finger toward Riker’s table and said, “They’re playing war.”

  War?

  She spun around and all she saw was mayhem. She’d been so wrapped up in her epiphany she hadn’t heard the squeals. She did the Steve Austin eye around the table perimeter and…? He left? Any adult with half a brain knows you don’t leave kids with craft supplies at the ready unattended.

  “All right.” she clapped sharply twice and walked forward. Only to stop dead in her tracks when Riker popped up from under the far end of the picnic table and tossed a whole fistful of glitter that showered all the giggling kids within range.

  “Riker!”

  He was on his knees and when he looked at her with a wide smile, it was difficult to get mad. He was like a kid himself and the sight made it hard not to smile back. But he shouldn’t be throwing glitter and getting the kids all riled. She was just about to tell him so when three boys on one side of the table joined forces and each threw a handful of glitter his way. They had good aim. The cloud of glitter hit Riker smack in the face.

  He didn’t miss a beat. He blinked, sputtered twice, spit once, but continued to beam when he called to her, “You wanna play?”

  When she spied the twinkling red, green and gold sparkle lodged between his teeth, it was too much for her. Screw being the patient tutor and uptight teacher in control. Fuck being the perfect daughter and good old dependable Sid. It was time for her to embrace some of her different. And that part of her had been dying to be at Riker's table all morning having fun. “Absolutely.”

  Five minutes into their free-for-all Sidney learned probably the most important thing she needed going forward in her volunteering-at-craft-table career. When the adults behaved like kids, they were very quickly relieved of their duties. Fist pump on that one. She was definitely chiseling that commandment into stone.

  “Are you mad that I got us kicked off the craft tables?” Riker took her hand as they walked through the milling crowd.

  “No, we only had a few minutes left anyway. I think Harry just wanted to make an example of us. He was a little hot under the collar about the tickets though.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that too. Actually, I’m sorry…”

  When he stopped, she turned to look up at him. There was a light in his eyes she didn’t recognize. It wasn’t so much serious as it was intense. “What’s the matter?”

  “I was going to apologize for the pile of things I did wrong this morning, but after perusing the extensive list, it’s best if I just tell you what I’m not sorry for.” He brushed glitter, no doubt, from her cheek and whispered, “I’m not sorry I came with you, Sid. I had the best time even if I almost got us a detention.”

  Her pulse picked up speed and the crowd around them was all but forgotten when she intoned, “There are bits of glitter in your teeth.”

  He pulled her up against him and dipped down to speak in her ear, “Awesome. You want some?”

  Before she could answer, he kissed her. Slow, deep and steady. And all she tasted was the hot mint and the heaven he’d told her about before. Oh, they weren’t behind the bleachers and there was no tiger-striped shade, but that didn’t matter. Right now, right here, he was her guy.

  “Hey.” He gave her a shake and she opened her eyes. “Let’s go home.”

  “Okay.” And there she was feeling all floaty again until she spotted the venders’ section and remembered. “You go get the car. I’ll meet you at the corner of Edgewater and Beltrees Street.”

  “Where are you going?”

  She turned around and walked backwards, answering, “I have to get my honey.”

  “I thought you already did.”

  She was about to say no when he smiled and she got the double meaning. It warmed her right down to her toes. She practically stumbled when she turned back around to hunt down her venders.

  Riker watched her leave and quietly let out a slow whistle. She had the best walking away ass. The longer he stared the more he remembered how those round cheeks felt cupped in his palms last night. How her curves felt snuggled up against him. How she smelled like cinnamon and sugar and tasted like the honey she was going to purchase. Damn, he couldn’t wait to get her home. But before he headed for the car there was an item he’d spotted on their walk in earlier that he had h
is eye on.

  Unfortunately, when he got to the sale tent the woman said she’d sold it to a guy just a few minutes ago and although she didn’t have another one here with her, she did have one at her shop in St Pete’s. Riker didn’t hesitate. He asked her put it aside for him. He’d pick it up first of the week.

  “Isn’t that Sidney Capp’s car?”

  He looked over the roof and saw an older woman speculatively glaring. “Yes.”

  “Where is she? And where’s Ken?” He didn’t answer right away so his silence must have prompted her to add, “I’m Monica Otum, principal at the school Sidney teaches at. I just spoke to Ken last week when he came to pick up Sidney. Her car was in the shop so he had to.” She eyed the car now. “Are you a friend of theirs?”

  Her inference was clear and so was the stab of jealousy it caused to course through him. “Name’s Riker Mitchell. I’m not sure where Ken is, but Sidney is waiting for me a few streets from here. We volunteered at the craft tables together.”

  That last statement put her at ease. She relaxed and smiled. “Oh, I’m sorry if I seemed rude before. It’s just that Sidney is special. A real sweetheart. She’s the only single teacher at our school, but not for long, I’m thinking.”

  And Riker was thinking as he went to pick up Sid that the nosey principal was going to be disappointed when she learned that Sid had broken it off with the sunset crier. Judging by the woman’s reaction when she’d looked Riker up and down, Ken was the more appropriate guy who was going to take their sweetheart off the marriage block and deliver her into marital bliss.

  When it came to women, suits always won and Ken was a suit wearer.

  Fuck.

  He wasn’t going to think about that even though it had bothered him to hear about how her parents had backed the guy. They wanted a suit for their daughter just like Brianna’s parents had. He pushed aside the awful taste that left in his mouth. Sidney wasn’t Bree and he wasn’t that broke ass handyman anymore. But hell, just last week? He didn’t know why but he had the impression that Sidney broke things off with Ken before then.

  Jesus, now who was the nosey one? It shouldn’t matter in any case.

  But it did because Ken wore a suit.

  He shook his head and all thoughts of suits, broken hearts and disappointments fled the second he spotted Sidney flagging him down. She’d taken off her sweater as the day had started to heat up and the sight of her breasts bouncing in that T-shirt got him refocused. Yeah, fuck suit wearers, exes, parents and the nosey teachers. He’s the one lucky enough to have Sidney all to himself for the rest of the day and he intended to take every advantage of it. In several different ways.

  Chapter Nine

  Sidney’s hand shook as she lined the key up to the lock. This was it, she was sure. The moment she’d been pushing for since they’d messed around at his place yesterday. Was it just yesterday they’d done that? It seemed a lifetime ago now. Not that it mattered. Given the way she was reacting, all of what she was hoping and how she was presently feeling, their time together or lack thereof meant nothing to her. Yes—she turned the deadbolt until it clicked—her relationship with Riker was a testament to quality trumping quantity.

  And now, with the ‘I’m-sleeping-with-him-too-soon’ guilt totally justified she was free to mentally move on to the logistics. Her bed with him in it was a must. As an added bonus? The sheets were freshly washed, thanks to sleeping on the couch last night. She didn’t want to think about how much that sign from God affected her. Let’s just say it was right up there with her high school nemesis, Jennifer Tidwell a.k.a “The Flash,” breaking her ankle before Sidney had to compete against her in the hundred yard dash the year all the gold medal achievement winners got to travel to St. Augustine to compete.

  “After you.”

  Riker’s voice, so low and quiet sounding from behind her, had her pulse jumping but when he laid the flat of his hand against the door and pushed it wide open, her heart raced. This was really happening. She better get a move-on setting the stage. What came next? Oh yeah, flowers. Hm. They’d be a nice addition to the clean sheets, but seeing as how she didn’t have any, her Glade Plug-ins would have to do. What about sexy lingerie? She was running down the short, as in non-existent, list in a panic. A guy like Riker probably expected a Victoria’s Secret ensemble. Something she always intended to purchase right after she lost those extra pounds. Stupid extra pounds.

  She stuffed her keys in her purse and fervently sought to come up with an alternative. She could do a lace trimmed camisole and the newer pair of bikinis she’d just bought. Yeah, that would work, although…shit. It’d have to be a mix-n-match as she was too cheap to buy a set. Maybe he wouldn’t notice if she—

  When he grabbed her she gasped, “Riker.”

  “Hmm?”

  That husky purr of his sent her thoughts, lists and all, scattering. The only thing that remained was the idea that there’d be no need for them anymore once he grabbed hold of her and pressed her against the wall. Sensually crushing her between the hot length of him and the cooler plaster, he curled down and whispered in her ear. “Fuck, darlin’, you really do it for me.”

  Thankfully, he took hold of her purse and eased it to the ground. Otherwise, she would have dropped it and made a mess with the honey. As it was, if he weren’t holding her up with his weight shifted into her, she would have slid down the wall. Her heart was pounding and her pulse was racing by the time he twined his hands in her hair and bent to capture her lips in kiss that stole her breath away.

  Like the epic kiss in the pool, this one was warm and intense. Intimate and personal as he tasted her. Teased her like he’d known her all his life and she loved it. She was drowning in the embrace, and when she felt the erotic bite on her neck, she shivered from the top of her head to her toes. She didn’t want this…this aching need to end. Ever. Never.

  “Sid?”

  They were cheek to cheek. So still and quiet except for their breathing. “Yeah?”

  “You’re strangling me.”

  Oh. My. Lord. It was true. She had her arms wrapped around him so tightly her elbows hurt. “Sorry.”

  She let go and was completely mortified when she heard him chuckle. The sound had her ready to admit that she was an awkward mess when it came to sex. Hadn’t Ken always told her to stay still and just enjoy it, which she never did. Somehow with Riker she’d thought it would be different.

  “I’m not sorry. I can think of a hundred nasty ways to die, but on my list of the top ten good ways? Dying breathless in your arms would be number one.”

  “You mean it?”

  He didn’t answer, all he did was kiss her forehead. A mere brush of his lips against her skin, but the tender gesture was powerful enough to put her mind at ease and erase every last doubt and all her fears about being too different for a guy like him.

  “I think—” he massaged his fingers in her hair as he softly spoke, “—we have a problem. We’re both covered in glitter.”

  “I know. I—Riker!” Before she’d had a chance to finish with her sentence, he’d scooped her up until her legs were wrapped around his waist and they were eye to eye. She was too heavy for him to be holding her up like this. At least she thought she was, but spying his handsome grin, he didn’t seem to mind.

  “I’m immune to you calling my name out like that, you know. In fact, I’m absolutely shocked you don’t have laryngitis right now with all the yelling at me you did this morning. It’s amazing.”

  She loved the way his eyes sparkled when he teased her. “I had to yell. You were bad, and as to me rendered mute?” She grinned right back at him and said, “You couldn’t get that lucky.”

  “Funny. I was just thinking I couldn’t be luckier at the moment. But back to our glitter problem. I think we need to shower off unless you have a better idea.”

  There was no better idea than that. A shower equaled naked and naked in water equaled sex without sheets, fragrance, or lingerie problems. Why, this was
like erasing half a dozen pesky stains with one flick of the faucet. “Great idea.”

  “Okay, hang on tight.”

  She almost fell backward when he stepped away from the wall. And then she half laughed, half gasped as he jostled her as if he was going to drop her. “Riker.”

  “Immune remember? Now pay attention. I’m sliding you around this way.” He shifted her so fast she was back to strangling him again. Now he was left gasping. For air, that is. “Relax. I’m not going to drop you. I want to give you a piggyback.”

  “But I’m too heav—I mean old.”

  He looked over his shoulder and grinned, “Riding a man’s back at any age is the best. Trust me.”

  They were halfway down the hall when she pressed her cheek against his back and whispered, “You’re right. This is the best kind of ride. I don’t want it to stop.”

  He didn’t say anything to that. He just dropped his chin and kissed her forearm because he was thinking the same thing she was at the moment.

  “We sure are sparkly.”

  That got his attention. After he flicked on the lights he looked up and eyed their reflection in the mirror. There was green, gold and red specks twinkling all over them. “Your right, but it’s kind of festive, no?”

  He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead he stepped directly to the glass shower stall, stopping to let her slide down him. When he turned he had to force himself to go slow. He’d wanted nothing more than her naked in his arms since they were in the pool yesterday, but he’d held off. Kept his distance by making sure there was some form of clothing between them at all times so he didn’t cave and mess this up. Now there was no need for the brakes. He was free to drive things forward. Although, just because he could step on the gas didn’t necessarily mean he should.

  Without a word he helped her undress. First her T-shirt and then her bra. She had great tits. No too big, but round with perfectly centered nipples that were spiking in invitation. He curled down and licked the hard peak before he sucked it into his mouth as he undid her pants. Slowly, he worked the rest of her clothes while he licked and laved. First one breast and then the other as he sucked hard enough on that one she moaned.