“I can’t imagine it gets any better than that,” I said quietly.
“Hmmm,” was his response and my eyebrows rose.
“Hmmm? You’ve had better than that?” I was a little embarrassed, immediately thinking the most intense sexual experience of my life had only been mediocre in his eyes.
“God, Lena, no.” He was laughing. “You just immediately got me thinking of all the chances we’ll have to top it.” His free hand pulled my dark hair off my neck so he could kiss me there. “That was, by far, the best I’ve ever had. Making love with you, well,” he sighed. “It defies words.”
I couldn’t help the blush that spread into my cheeks. Then I giggled. I giggled, and then I snapped my mouth shut, or tried to. My mouth wouldn’t close all the way for the huge smile on my face.
I was happy. Ridiculously, gloriously, exceedingly happy. I hadn’t been happy like that in years.
“Thank you for coming for me,” I rasped, the laughter suddenly gone from my voice. I brushed my thumb across the skin of his hand, using the motion to distract myself from all the post-coital emotions that were surfacing. “I don’t think I would have ever gone back for you. I didn’t think there was anything left for me there.”
“Shh. Let’s not think about what could have been. I want to focus on what is. And we’re here together, right now. I’d like nothing more than to sleep with you in my arms and wake up to your beautiful face, because honestly, up until a few hours ago, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to do that again.” He kissed my shoulder blade again. “And I’m very much looking forward to it.”
“Okay,” I whispered, turning my face into the pillow, smiling as Preston’s arm pulled me even closer to him.
Chapter Eight
The next morning was like a dream. I woke to his warm hand resting possessively over my belly, immediately smiling, liking the way he wanted to claim me even while sleeping. I turned my head toward him, sneaking a peek at him while he was unaware, and was treated to the view of his body, face down, and sprawled out on the bed naked from the waist up. The one hand that wasn’t on me was laying right underneath his cheek, resting between his face and his pillow.
He was beautiful. And mine.
I rolled toward him then, pressing my lips to the shoulder nearest me, and then his arm tightened around me, pulling me in, urging me closer.
“Good morning,” he garbled through his sleepy fog.
“Morning,” I whispered against the skin of his bicep.
His hand wandered over my bare skin, coming to rest just above my ass, where he trailed light fingers in the curve of my back. Then, slowly, he rolled over, his hand remaining on me as if he were afraid to lose contact, but coming to rest on his back. “You feel perfect here, in my arms, in the morning. You’re soft and warm.”
I moved so my hands were resting on top of one another on his chest, my chin propped up on them, looking him in the eye.
“You look pretty good too,” I said, smiling. He leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to my lips.
“I think,” he said as he rolled his massive body over mine, giving me no choice but to roll to my back and look up at him, “we should take a shower.” He placed a kiss on the hollow of my neck. “Then we should get dressed.” His mouth moved down my chest, pausing to kiss me between my breasts, stopping my breath, speeding up my heart. “Eat breakfast,” he said with a smirk as his mouth moved even lower to my belly, making me squirm. “Then, we should probably go check in with everyone else.” His mouth moved even lower still, making me gasp when his breath feathered over the sensitive skin between my legs.
My hips tilted up toward him, wanting the contact, needing his touch.
“Sound good, sweetheart?”
Panting, I looked down to him, meeting his gaze over the rising of my breasts with each breath.
“I’m not going anywhere with you until I feel your mouth on me.”
His eyebrows shot up, obviously surprised by my demand.
“You’re the boss,” he said with a grin. Then his mouth disappeared entirely.
An hour later, we walked into my apartment to find Sam, Piper, and Parker all sitting around the kitchen table.
“Well, look who’s decided to come up for air,” Parker said before we even got the door closed. I immediately blushed, but Preston’s hand at my back urged me forward. Suddenly, Piper jumped up from her chair and darted toward Preston. I moved to the side, trying to not get run over, and watched as Piper launched herself into her brother’s arms.
He took her in, wrapped her up, and the two of them swayed back and forth in their embrace.
“I’ve missed you,” I heard Piper mutter into his neck.
“Hey, Pipe, it’s okay. I’m here.” His voice was tender and I was reminded why all of us were here to begin with; because Piper had been in danger and because Preston had protected her. It was moving to see him hold her, a protective big brother. Although, I imagined their bond went even deeper than that. Twins always seemed to be closer than normal siblings.
When she finally pulled away, she made sure to turn away from everyone, but I couldn’t miss her wiping away the tear that had fallen down her face. I was both equally touched at the emotion she was showing toward her brother and surprised to watch their interaction. I looked back to him and his face was pained, matching hers.
Piper made it back to her seat and Parker gave her a smile, ruffling her head as she sat. Preston walked to the table and shook Parker’s hand, then slapped the back of his shoulder.
“Thanks for vacating the apartment last night. I hope you didn’t have a hard time finding a place to crash.”
Parker laughed. “No problem. I stayed here on the couch. In fact, we had a great time.”
I made my way to the table, taking the only available chair, sitting next to Sam.
“Hey, sunshine,” she said to me with a smile.
“Hey. Sorry I disappeared.”
“Listen, the three of us have been working like dogs to make sure last night happened,” she said motioning between herself, Parker, and Piper. “This is what we wanted; the two of you together.”
I smiled hard, but I blushed harder. It was unnerving thinking about all our friends and family plotting to get us back together, all of them knowing we’d spent the night reuniting. Sam placed her hand over mine.
“Are you happy?”
My eyes glanced to Preston and his smile was so radiant and beautiful. I couldn’t help the corners of my mouth turning up to match. I looked back to Sam and nodded.
“Good. Then mission accomplished.” She patted my hand again, then went back to eating the muffin that sat in front of her. Suddenly, I was starving. I stood up and went into the kitchen, searching for a muffin like Sam’s, but was halted when Preston pressed his front to my back, sweeping my hair from one shoulder, and planting a kiss right on my neck. I shivered, his kiss awakening every nerve in my body.
“Do you want a muffin?” I asked, trying to keep our interaction PG for everyone else’s benefit.
“A muffin sounds fantastic.” I tried to ignore my mind’s insistence that he was being dirty, and simply grabbed a muffin and put it on a plate. I turned and the friction caused by my front running along his chest caused my heart to speed up and my nipples to harden instantly.
“Haven’t you had enough sex yet? After last night and this morning, I would think you needed to recharge a little.” I tried to press the small plate between us, but he wasn’t budging.
“Have you had enough of me?” he asked, feigning insult. He took the small plate from me, but just to place it on the counter behind me. Then he moved in, both hands pressed to the counter, caging me in. His head moved slowly until his lips were pressed against my ear, and any space between us had been eaten up by his long hard body pressing into mine. “I only got to enjoy you for a few nights before circumstances took you away from me.” He moved down and pressed small kisses along my neck, teasing me. “So, forgive me if I wan
t to get as much of you as possible.”
“Okay,” I whispered, afraid if I spoke too loudly everyone in the dining room would hear how needy I was. “But, not in front of everyone.”
“Hmmm,” he growled in my ear, his voice so low and gravelly, my body pressed into his even more. But then he gave me what I wanted and pulled away, but not before placing a very quick, chaste kiss to my lips. Then he took his muffin and sauntered back to the table and I was jealous of his ability to look completely unaffected.
I turned back to the counter and took a few deep breaths, steadying myself before I returned to the table, taking my seat again.
“So, what’s the plan now?” Sam asked, looking first to me and then to Preston.
“Well, now that you have everything under control here, I should probably head back home,” Parker said.
I looked to him, saddened by the idea of him not being around. “Who will I run with?”
He laughed and then took a sip of his coffee. “I’m sure Preston wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see you running on the beach. And hey,” he said, lifting his hand in the air, gesturing toward me, “if you ever make it back to Portland, we can run together there.”
I frowned. Parker was a great running partner.
“Don’t look so sad, sunshine,” Sam said. “I’ll run with you while I’m here.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You’re staying?”
“Listen, I didn’t come to Hawaii to stay for a few nights. I took a couple weeks’ worth of vacation I’d been saving up. I mean,” she said, placing her hand over mine, “I hope you don’t mind if I stay a while.”
“Oh, my God, of course not!” I was nearly bouncing up and down in my seat, so excited by the thought of getting to spend some real time with Sam. “What about you?” I asked, turning to Piper.
She shrugged. “I have nowhere else to be.” She said the words with a smile, but the overwhelming emotion was sadness. I got the feeling that for the month we’d been living together, she’d been shielding me from the troubles she was facing, keeping her emotions inside. I hated how she’d been hiding things from me and I wanted to make her open up.
“What about you? What are your plans?” Sam asked, her eyes locked on Preston.
He looked to me and smiled. “I’m wherever she is,” he said, nodding in my direction, his eyes focused on mine. My heart fluttered at his words, warmed by the idea of him being near for now.
“One last run? For old times’ sake?” Parker asked me.
“Love to.”
It was hours later. Parker and I had gone on one last run, all the while he tried to convince me not to give up on Preston.
“I know it’s great right now, the reunion high is so perfect, and it’s probably hazing out all the bad stuff that hasn’t found its way in yet. Just promise me, when it does, when all the bad finds the cracks and seeps back in, you’ll believe in him and trust him enough to give him a chance.”
I was watching the sand move beneath my feet as I ran, feeling my feet sink in, then pull out, muscles burning with each step, breath panting. Listening to Parker was mesmerizing. It was so abundantly obvious he had every bit of faith in his brother.
“I promise,” I said through heavy breaths. It was such an interesting experience for me to watch Preston’s brother and sister go to bat for him, to have such unwavering faith in him. I found myself looking out to the ocean and wondering what kind of sister Nadia would have been. Would she have flown to Hawaii to make sure I was all right? Would she have seen how bad my marriage to Derrek was and tried to help me?
I’d never really felt the loss of my sister. Later in life, I knew the way my parents raised me was influenced by their loss, but I’d never considered what I missed by not having a big sister around.
“He’s lucky to have you and Piper,” I said, just loud enough that I knew he heard me, but still quietly. It always seemed sacrilege to speak over the sound of the waves of the ocean.
“Patton loves him too. He’s just less available to drop his entire life to help at the moment. You’ll meet him eventually.”
I gave him a smile and we continued our run.
Afterward, Parker found a flight, packed his bags, and took a taxi to the airport. It was sad saying goodbye to him, and I’d obviously become more attached to him and his friendship than I realized. But I knew I’d see him again; it was inevitable.
“Remember what I said,” he whispered into my ear as he hugged me goodbye. “Have faith in him.”
I nodded, smiling against his shoulder as I hugged him. “I will.”
Later that day, after everything had settled down, all four of us found ourselves on the beach. Sam and Piper were in the water, sitting together with the water lapping around their legs. Preston and I were laying on towels, soaking up the sunshine as it slowly made its way toward the horizon, the day nearly gone.
I sighed in contentment, thoroughly enjoying the relaxation the last hour had afforded me.
“I can’t believe that in the two months I’ve been in Hawaii, this is the first time I’ve just laid on the beach. I might not ever go back to work. I might lay out like this every day of my life until I shrivel up like a raisin.”
“I’d definitely sign up to watch you lay around in a bikini all day, every day.” Preston turned his head to look at me and gave me his sexy smile.
“Deal,” I said, laughing. “You’ll still love me when I’m all wrinkly?”
“Sweetheart, I’m going to love you forever, no matter what. The sooner you get that through your head, the better off we’ll be.”
“Deal,” I repeated, but this time I leaned toward him to give him a kiss. His hand slid behind my neck, holding me to him, and he deepened the kiss. In fact, he took it much deeper than I had intended and I found myself lost in his lips, lost in the way his mouth moved against mine, how possessive it was, and how much I liked being possessed by him.
My skin was warm from the sun, but hot from the way his tongue caressed mine, the way his fingers dug into the tender flesh of my neck. His other arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me to him, but he also rolled over me, pinning me into the sand between our towels.
His hand grazed the skin just above the back of my bikini bottom, fingertips sliding just barely into the elastic. My heart trampled in my chest, and even though we were on a public beach, in broad, albeit dwindling, daylight, I couldn’t bring myself to stop him. His hands felt too good on me. Thankfully, his hand didn’t roam any farther and I trained my focus on letting him kiss me.
My mind swirled with the feeling of him over me, his mouth taking everything from me: my breath, my voice, my ability to think clearly.
“Lena,” he finally rasped against my mouth, after what seemed like hours of making out on the beaches of Hawaii.
“Yeah?” I said, my hand raising up to run through his hair.
“I think we should go back to the apartment.”
I laughed at his to-the-point statement. Nothing sexy about the way he said it, but sex was all he implied. I kissed him through giggles, then laughed even harder when he pouted.
“I’ve only just come up for air. I’ve hardly spent any time with Sam.” I trailed my hand down from his hair to his cheek, trying to soften the blow of my tiny rejection. “We can go back to the apartment when it’s time for bed.”
He rolled off me and motioned toward where Sam and Piper were still sitting in the waves. “They wouldn’t notice if you left. They’re entertaining themselves just fine.”
“That’s not the point.”
“I see my plan to get everyone here to force you into listening to me is backfiring. You’re using my own weapons against me,” he said as he pressed his mouth into my neck, biting me gently.
“We have plenty of time to spend together, don’t we?”
He pulled back, suddenly looking very serious. His hand started at my forehead, then moved down my dark hair, twining through the strands, gently tugging when he got to the ends. �
�Yeah, sweetheart, we do.”
“How long before you think you’ll have to go back to Portland?” I asked the question even though I didn’t want to hear the answer. In my perfect world, Preston and I would stay on this island forever, giving not one care about what happened back in Oregon, not letting anything taint the perfection we’d found in each other. But I knew that was an unrealistic daydream. I knew eventually we’d have to sort our shit out.
“I’m not on a timeline, Lena. I know how you feel about Portland, but we don’t have to go back there. We don’t have to stay here either. I can be a private investigator anywhere. The only thing I need is you. So, what do you want to do?”
I looked at him, looked into the beautiful chocolate eyes I’d lost myself in so many times before, but would never tire of seeing. Looked at his new, hipster beard, running my hand along his jaw. Then I looked at his mouth, the mouth that was so expressive. He was always smiling, or smirking, or grinning, or even pouting. I leaned forward and pulled his bottom lip into my mouth, tugging just hard enough to get a low growl from him before I let it loose.
Before I could answer, before I could tell him pretty much what he told me, that all I wanted for now was to be with him, the location ultimately unimportant, his mouth opened again.
“I want you to know, though, Lena, the two months we were apart, I wasn’t just sitting around.”
I inhaled deeply, my hand still resting on his cheek, his eyes not meeting mine.
“I know you were here, trying to move on with your life, trying to forget everything that happened with Derrek, and I totally respect that. I could go the rest of my life and never see his face again and I swear nothing, well, almost nothing, would make me happier.”
His words were scaring me, my heart was thumping rapidly in my chest, and I could only imagine what he was alluding to.
The Private Serials Box Set Page 25
