“Can you see now?” he was saying.
I jerked and looked down. Thank God he couldn’t see my face; surely my cheeks would be red. Using both hands, he showed me the inside of the burger.
He was right. It was done to perfection.
“Fine,” I bit out. “They’re done.”
Laughing, he pulled away. “Of course they are. I’m always right.”
“Whatever,” I muttered and sidestepped so I wasn’t so close to him.
“If you’re so worried about your meat, then you finish cooking them.” I thrust out the platter I’d brought out to put the burgers on.
His amused smirk made me want to hit him in the head with it.
He took it from my hands. “Fine. I will.”
“Fine,” I bit out and then stomped away toward the house.
Inside, Rimmel was standing in the kitchen with a huge container of strawberries in front of her. “Please tell me those are for daiquiris.”
“You get the alcohol; I’ll get the blender,” she said.
I wasn’t going to get so drunk I’d forget anything. But I was going to drink just enough to maybe forget the feeling of Braeden against me.
Chapter Three
Braeden
I wasn’t sure what time it was when I stepped out of the house and onto the deck. It was late, well past midnight, and everyone else had gone to bed hours ago.
I couldn’t sleep. I felt restless and a little bit caged up.
The moon was heavy in the velvet sky, the bright rays glistening off the ocean waves and making the water look like it was dancing with glitter. The sounds of the surf crashing against the shore were loud, so loud they could drown out a man’s thoughts.
I draped my forearms over the railing and gazed out across the beach. It never stopped moving, even while everyone else slept, and for some reason, the constant it represented soothed whatever was going on inside me.
There were more stars in the sky here than I’d seen anywhere else. They filled the night with dots of light, breaking up the otherwise inky darkness.
Tomorrow, we’d all pack up and get on a plane. Sadly, the beach and stars would be replaced with cool spring air and semester finals. Romeo would be leaving for training camp soon, and most everyone else would be leaving for the summer, back to wherever they came from.
Then there would just be me.
And probably Rim.
Next fall when classes started, Rome would be off with the NFL, and college life would go on, but everything was going to be different.
I felt it changing already.
Wind blew off the water, pulling at my shorts and brushing against my skin. It also brought with it a sound other than the calmness of night.
My body went rigid and I pushed off the railing, looking down at the sand.
I saw nothing.
But someone was there.
A scream bounced around with the whipping wind. It sounded close, but was it a trick of the wind?
Another shrill scream pierced the night.
Without another thought, I tore across the deck and raced down the set of private stairs that led to the beach. The sand was a lot cooler without the sun’s rays to heat it, and my bare feet sank in even as I darted off in the direction from which the scream had come.
Down here, I saw the shape of a woman darting through the dark across the sand. I knew the second she saw me because she angled her body toward mine and quickened her pace.
“What—” My question was cut off when she leapt at me.
The crazy bitch literally threw herself on me, practically climbing up my body and winding her legs around my waist.
“Whoa,” I said, even as my arms locked around her. “What’s wrong?”
“Braeden, thank God you’re here!”
My head snapped up at the familiar voice. I caught a flash of blond hair billowing out around her before she ducked her head into the crook of my neck.
“Ivy,” I growled. What the hell was she trying to pull? God, this chick was a piece of work. I grabbed her around the waist to pull her off me, but she made a sound and tightened her arms and legs.
It was then I felt the slight tremble in her arms.
Okay, maybe this wasn’t an act. Maybe something had happened.
“Hey?” I murmured. Without thinking, I rubbed her back gently. “What’s going on?”
Her voice was muffled against my skin. All I heard was, “—attacked me.”
My entire body went rigid. Someone fucking attacked her? Oh, hells no. Ivy and I might not like each other much, but she was Rimmel’s best friend. And beyond that, we’d all been hanging out for months now.
Ivy wasn’t all bad. She sure as hell didn’t deserve to be attacked.
“Who?” I demanded, scanning the beach for some guy who was about to get his ass beat.
“It hurts,” she whined.
My glare snapped back to her and she stared up at me with wide eyes. Something in me shifted. “What hurts?” I asked softly.
“My toe.” I swear her lower lip jutted out in a pout.
Wait. What?
I shook my head. “Did you just say your toe hurts?”
“Haven’t you been listening?” she demanded. “Some angry crab attacked me!”
I blinked.
A crab attacked her? This girl was off the fucking chain.
“You mean to tell me you’re clinging to me for dear life because a crab pinched your toe?”
“I think it’s bleeding,” she replied seriously. “It was a really big, angry crab.”
I laughed and the wind carried the sound down the beach. I hoped the crab heard. “It probably took one look at you and attacked.”
“It’s not funny!” she snapped.
It sure as hell was funny. I palmed her waist, enjoying—a little too much—the way it dipped in on each side, like it was built just for my hands, and tried to pry her off me again.
Shrieking, she grappled to hang on.
“Now what?” I sighed.
“I’m not putting my feet down there again.”
“You mean down there on the ground where people walk?” I asked dryly.
“It’s dark. There might be more crabs.”
“Well, we are on the beach,” I reasoned.
She reached up and pulled my hair.
“Ow!” I yelled.
“Stop making fun of me!” she demanded. “It hurt and I refuse to walk.”
“And you think I’m going to carry you?” I scoffed.
This chick had a serious wakeup call coming.
“Please?” Her fingers, which were still in my hair, reached out and smoothed where she just pulled. Chills scattered down my bare arms. The wind out here was getting cold.
“Fine,” I muttered. It would be easier to cart her curvy ass back up to the house than to stand here and argue with her about walking. Besides, the second I put her down, she’d probably start screaming again.
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
She sighed like the fact she didn’t have to walk was a great relief and leaned forward to wrap her arms around my neck. Her chin rested on my shoulder, and she wiggled her ass a little closer, tightening her legs around me.
I didn’t like Ivy.
But I was a guy.
She was pressed all along my bare chest and her legs were wrapped around my waist.
Obviously, all thought went down south, and a lot of blood started rushing that way, too.
“What the hell are you even doing out here this late?” I asked gruffly as I started to walk.
“It’s our last night. I wanted to spend as much time on the beach as I could.”
“How’d that work out for ya?”
“Ha-ha.”
I was just about to tell her she needed to go on a diet when she turned her head so her cheek was pillowed on my shoulder and a sigh rushed out of her mouth. I felt her breath dance along my skin.
She really wasn’t that heavy.
When I re
ached the stairs to the house, I hesitated, figuring she could walk up the damn steps herself.
But I didn’t put her down.
I kept walking, still supporting her weight and my own.
At the top, I walked a couple feet across the deck to the sliders that led into the house. Inside was completely dark and still. But everything else around us seemed to be charged with energy.
“You gonna need me to carry you to bed?” I asked, the words coming out a lot huskier and a lot less sarcastic than I intended.
She pulled back, some of her body losing contact with mine. Her hands were on my shoulders and mine were still wrapped around her back.
“I think I can manage.” Her voice didn’t sound quite as mocking as it usually did, either.
My gaze dropped to her mouth. She had full, heart-shaped lips. Usually, I didn’t notice just how kissable they were because they were usually hurling insults my way.
The tension in the air seemed to spike. The wind blew around us, grabbing a thick strand of her hair and blowing it across her cheek. As she reached up and pulled it back, our gazes collided.
“Braeden?” she whispered.
I was on her before my name even fully left her lips. It echoed through a hollow place inside me I hadn’t realized was there.
We were like two sides of Velcro that fused together to create an unbreakable bond. I was the rough side and she was the soft. Normally, I wouldn’t say there was one soft thing about Ivy Forrester, but tonight was different.
Tonight, it was all I could feel. There wasn’t a single, solitary rough thing about the girl in my arms.
All the insults, snide looks, and barely contained dislike we slung at each other over and over again for months piled up. It created a stack of tinder, a mound of kindling that up until this moment had stayed cold and dry.
But no more.
The second she pulled back and her blue eyes landed on mine, the second she wrapped her legs around my waist and sighed against my neck, we were a forest fire waiting to happen.
All the pent-up angst between us turned from hate to desire and combusted in one great explosion.
The force of emotion that erupted pushed us even closer together, and now here I was ravaging her mouth like a wolf who hadn’t been fed in months and was being offered a thick cut of juicy, rare meat.
I pulled her tightly against me, close enough I could feel her ribcage dig into my chest. I kissed her so fiercely our teeth banged together, but instead of pulling back, I licked my tongue over the spot and kept kissing, kept going back for more.
Her hands slid up the back of my neck and into my hair. It was short, but she still found a way to tangle her fingers in, to grip my scalp and return my kiss with an intensity that matched my own.
I’d never had anyone kiss me back with the same kind of roaring passion as this.
Not ever.
It was so heady, my brain lost focus and pure instinct ruled. Two great steps brought us up against the house. Pinned between the wall and me, Ivy raked her hands across the back of my shoulders, her nails leaving a tingling trail.
I growled, once again feeling more wolf than man, and sank my teeth into her lower lip and pulled. Her flesh filled the inside of my mouth, and I sucked at it, wanting even more.
A small mewling sound slipped from her mouth, and she wiggled her hips in a circular motion, rocking the center of her thighs against me.
Holy fuck, I was so hard it hurt. My hips surged forward, but she was up too high, so my cock didn’t collide with the part of her it wanted.
I ripped my mouth away and dragged in a ragged breath.
Ivy collapsed back against the side of the house, her chest heaving and her nipples so hard they poked through her clothes. I reached between us and rolled one between my fingers. When she gasped and bit down on her lower lip, I damn near came in my pants.
Keeping one hand on her breast, I grabbed her hair with the other and pulled her close again, taking her mouth and owning it.
Our tongues danced together, and I swear I explored as deep into her mouth as I could go.
It just wasn’t enough.
Bringing her with me, I moved into the house. Because we’d been here a week, I knew the pattern of the furniture well enough that I was able to maneuver around it even as I continued to assault her mouth with my own.
The way her legs tightened as I walked made me feel like I was on fire. Burning up from the inside out.
We reached my room, and I all but kicked the door before rushing inside. Behind my head, she grabbed the door and pushed it closed.
Ivy was so tightly wrapped around me that when I let go and crawled over the bed, she stayed right there with me. When I settled, her legs loosened and I pressed my body along hers, and we sank into the mattress together. Two bodies as one, making a single indent in the center of the bed.
Her hands skittered across my back muscles, squeezing and rubbing as she went until they slid into the waistband of my basketball shorts and over the bare skin of my ass.
I ripped my mouth away from hers and shoved my face into the pillow just above her shoulder. All my limbs were quivering with need and my heart beat so fast I genuinely thought it might be in danger of bursting.
Ivy’s teeth sank into my shoulder, and her hands palmed my ass and pulled it in. My hips responded instantly, thrusting into her center. My erection was hard and unforgiving and practically demanded entrance.
She moaned, the sound causing her teeth to release my skin, and her chin tipped up, exposing the pale, creaminess of her neck.
I left my rod right there where it was—teasing her core— even rocked a little so she would shudder as I sucked my way down her neck to her collarbone.
“Oh my God.” Her words sounded more like a prayer than anything. Her voice was almost unrecognizable to my ears. Her hands pulled free of my shorts and dug into the flesh on my back.
I took her lips again. She tasted like strawberries, and it reminded me of the daiquiris that were flowing freely at dinner and then later when we were all playing cards.
I ripped my mouth off hers and did a pushup so my body was raised up off hers, parallel to the bed. “Are you drunk right now?” I demanded.
I could’ve asked nicer, but just pushing out the words was difficult. The only thing I wanted to push right now was my cock inside her body.
“What?” she gasped, her eyes totally unfocused.
I let out a string of curses and shoved myself off the bed. I didn’t even bother trying to hide the huge-ass tent in my pants. She’d already felt it anyway.
She pushed up onto her elbows and looked at me, a little awareness coming back into her expression.
But then her eyes dropped, down to the place I wasn’t bothering to hide, and her teeth sank into her lower lip.
I groaned. “Don’t fucking do that.”
“You’re wet,” she murmured.
I glanced down. It was dark in here, but with the light from the moon coming through the window, I could see a dark spot on the front of my shorts.
I glanced back up at her thighs that were still spread.
She was wearing a dress thing, which meant when I was between her legs all that had been between us were her panties. Panties that were clearly soaked with her need.
Need so strong it soaked me too.
I moved fast, surprising us both, and clamped a hand around her ankle. Slowly, I towed her down the bed, toward me.
“Look. At. Me,” I ground out and held her chin so I could look into her eyes. “Are you drunk?”
Her eyes cleared a bit, enough that I could tell the only fog in her eyes was from what was going down between us.
“I had some drinks,” she said. “Hours ago.”
“So you’re not,” I surmised.
She shook her head slow. “They didn’t work.”
“Excuse me?” I said, impatient as my fingers left her ankle and started climbing up her calf.
“Turns out
tequila isn’t enough to drown out the way you felt against me.”
My eyes snapped up.
Earlier at the grill. She’d been affected by me just as I had been by her.
“I’ve seen you looking,” she confided. “You like the way I look.”
I groaned. “God help me, I fucking do.”
Her eyes took in my bare chest, and I admit I puffed it out a little to give her more to see.
“I’m not drunk. Not even close. I know exactly what I’m doing right now, Braeden.”
Well, if that wasn’t a fucking hand-carved invitation, then I don’t know what was.
I dropped to my knees right there in front of the bed and dragged her down until her legs dangled off the side, her dripping center right near my face.
She pushed up onto her elbows and fisted a hand in the hair above my forehead. “Hey, what about you?”
“I’ve had some beer,” I murmured and slipped a finger inside the edge of her panties. Holy shit, she was shaved bare and soaking wet. “But don’t you worry, sweetheart. I’m still more than able to perform.”
She collapsed against the mattress and arched her back into the air. My finger dipped inside her, finding her hot and tight.
“I’m not stopping.”
“No one asked you to,” she shot back.
I pulled my finger back and reached beneath her dress for the waistband. My fingers met string. She was wearing that damned bikini that drove me nuts all goddamned week.
I pushed to my feet and took her hands. I knew she was surprised when I yanked her to stand. Hell, I preferred her on her back, too.
But I had to do this.
I ripped the cotton dress over her head and threw it onto the floor.
My upper lip curled when I took in all that skin covered by nothing but triangles of fabric and strings.
Her bikini was red.
It was barely there.
And the way her body looked in it…
More than once this week, I had to stop myself from pounding some random guy for staring.
It didn’t matter who stared at her.
Ivy wasn’t mine.
I didn’t want her.
But tonight… tonight I did.
Tonight she was mine.
I dipped my finger beneath the feeble string and followed it all the way around to the back of her neck where it tied. The goose bumps that rose across her skin weren’t lost on me.
#Selfie Page 2
