by Kelly, Erika
“Oh, I think I’d like her. She doesn’t happen to go to school on the West Coast, does she?”
“You’d love her, but no, she’s a freshman at Wilmington.”
“Really? Wow. Smart girl. What’s she studying?”
“No idea.”
He must’ve noted her surprise, because he shrugged. “I’m not close to either of them.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Soph?” His arm banded around her, and he hauled her closer to his chest. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself. He watched her with an unnerving intensity.
“Yes?” she said, barely able to speak. Was he going to kiss her?
But he just leaned his forehead against hers and let out a slow breath. “I’m about to defile my body, and I need your support.”
“Crazy Hearts are all about the lovin’.”
He fought a smile. “We’ll see about that.” He brought the cookie to his mouth and took a small bite. Immediately, his mouth puckered. He coughed, blowing the powdered sugar all over the desk. “That’s terrible.”
“No, it’s not. It’s beloved.”
“It’s like eating a mouthful of sugar. Is that the only ingredient?”
“Of course not. There’s also corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, artificial coloring, and some benzoate preservatives.”
“Jesus, Soph. You trying to kill me?”
“And, look, it’s not just a cookie.” She pulled his hand toward her, licking her lips before pressing them into the confectioner’s sugar. “It’s lipstick, too.”
He looked at her like she made him happy. “Everyone used to do that in middle school. I don’t know why it didn’t have this effect on me then.”
“What effect?”
“Makes me want to kiss you.”
“I know. I’m a sexy beast.”
“You are so fucking sexy.” He leaned in, lips parted, and he stayed right there, so close she could smell the cookie on his breath. Was he asking for permission? She didn’t know. All she knew was that one moment her breath was trapped in her throat and the next his tongue swept along her lips. Arousal streaked through her so hot and fast the soles of her feet burned.
“Delicious,” he murmured, before tipping her chin. And then he kissed her. The moment their mouths met, he moaned, his arms wrapping even more tightly around her. “You light me up.”
His mouth opened hungrily, his tongue sliding in and seeking hers. She couldn’t resist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right back.
Yes, oh, yes. Sensation spread from her center, a warm, thrilling rush that pulled her under. His hand went to the small of her back, pressing, and his kiss grew hungrier, more carnal.
“Damn.” His other hand gripped her thigh, and he shifted her, spreading her legs so she straddled him. And once he had her right there, pressed up tight against him, his hips rocked up.
And, God, the heat of his body, the silky softness of his hair. The urgency of his kiss. She slid her hands under his T-shirt, caressing the smooth skin and hard muscles of his chest. His stomach contracted, his arms tightened around her back, and his kiss turned voracious. She moaned into his mouth because nothing had ever felt so good.
And then his hands cupped her ass, and he lifted her. Air rushed over her and she started to tip, but before he could lower her to the bed, she twisted away from him.
A new kind of energy blew through her, turning her cold. “Stop.”
His forehead rested on her shoulder, as he drew in quick, shallow breaths.
Gently, she pulled out of his arms. He cupped her elbows as she found her footing, keeping her close.
“I don’t want this,” she whispered. And even as she took a step back, her body cried out for him.
No, she didn’t want a hookup, but she wanted him. It was an ache, deep and raw, and nothing she could ever fulfill.
Because she couldn’t give herself away like that. Not without getting something in return. And Ryan O’Donnell had nothing to give beyond this one moment.
Moving to the door, she unlocked it, held it open. “I’ll see you around, okay?”
For one brief moment, his expression revealed everything. Confusion, regret, and a yearning so vivid she felt it in her own her heart.
And then he shut down. Erased everything. “Sure. Yeah.” In three quick strides he was at the door.
But instead of leaving, he stopped. Thumb softly stroking her jaw, he said, “Goodnight, Sophie Valentine.”
CHAPTER SIX
Hitting the sand after a twelve-mile run around the golf course, up the road a ways, and back again, Ryan leaned over, hands on his knees, to catch his breath.
A solid twelve miles. So why the hell did he still have all this fucked-up energy?
He’d tried to block shit out, but he kept remembering that kiss. The grip she’d had on his hair, the rhythmic friction of her hips. This thing they had—it was intense. He’d never felt anything like it before.
But, yeah, he got it. She didn’t do hookups.
Spying a chaise, he headed toward it. A strong breeze cooled the perspiration on his skin, and he looked up at a blue sky. But he only saw Sophie, her lips coated with sugar. And then he remembered swiping his tongue across them, tasting that sweetness, the flood of heat that had rushed his body.
A familiar laugh spiked his pulse. He propped up on his elbows to find Sophie on a Hobie Cat, grabbing hold of the mast as the guy at the boat rental stand launched her into the water. She waved at the attendant, kneeling on the trampoline in her red bikini, and then turned to navigate her way into the ocean.
She pushed the tiller, watching the sails until they snapped and billowed. Her hair lifted in the breeze, whipping around her face. All alone on her Hobie, laughing like that—man, she didn’t need anything or anyone to make her happy.
Christ. He had to stop thinking about her.
Besides, he had to deal with his shit. Reaching for his phone, he tapped the screen to find yet another text from Emma.
Coming to see you. We need to talk.
She pulled this shit all the time. Never listened to a damn thing. Well, screw it. He was not getting into this drama with her. He’d already told her not to come.
One last message, and then he was done. I told you I can’t see you this week. I’ll talk to you after the break.
He kept his gaze on Sophie, as she struggled with the choppy water. The wind looked a little rough out there.
He forced himself to look away. Not only didn’t she need his help, but he needed to take care of his own mess. He still hadn’t called his coach back.
Time to man up. But something stopped him. He wasn’t ready to go back yet, and as soon as he came clean with his coach, he’d have to get his ass back there. What would it hurt to take the weekend off? They didn’t have another game until Tuesday.
Ryan didn’t confide in many people, so he didn’t have many to turn to for help. But he did have his dad. He punched his dad’s speed dial.
Big Bill answered on the second ring. “Yello. Bill here.”
“Hey, Dad.”
“Ah, my favorite son.” His dad called all of them his favorites. “Saw you lost the game against Oregon.”
Wind whipped his hair across his face. He’d kept it short all his life, so he still wasn’t used to this new length. “Yeah. About that.” He’d never let his dad down. Always had good grades, always made MVP, treated everyone with respect. He was the kid adults patted on the head, as they told his dad what a great kid he had there.
“I’m listening.”
How come he knew he could count on his dad, and yet he never talked to him? “I fucked up.”
After a pause, his dad said, “Go on.”
“I’m in the Caribbean.”
“You’re…” He let out a breath into the receiver. “Okay.”
“I told Coach I had a family emergency.”
“There something I don’t know about?”
&
nbsp; “No.” Not about his family anyway.
“Okay. You tellin’ me this because I’m about to get a call from him?”
“No. I’m telling you because I feel like shit about it.”
“Ah. Got it. You wanna tell me why you skipped out on your team?”
The punch of guilt made him wince. “Not really.”
His dad barked out a laugh. Ryan pulled the phone from his ear. A gust of wind plastered his gym shorts to his thighs, reminding him about Sophie. When he looked up, he saw her skidding across the water—heading toward open ocean. “Hang on a sec.” Lowering the phone, he called out to the guy at the boat stand. “Hey. She knows not to leave the lagoon, right?”
“Of course.” The guy shielded his eyes with a hand to look for her. “Whoa. Wind picked up.”
While the attendant stepped around the counter and hoisted a red flag up a pole, Ryan made a quick scan of the water. A couple pulled in the furling line, as their leeward pontoon dug into the water. But they had each other, so if their boat flipped, they’d be okay. Sophie was out there alone.
“Ryan?” he heard his dad shout.
Hopefully, she’d notice the flag. Not his business. “Yeah, sorry.”
“You called me for a reason. So what’re you looking for here? Me to kick your ass? Or to be okay with it?”
“I don’t think I can get you to be okay with it.”
“Nope. You got a responsibility to your coach and teammates.”
He knew that. “Yeah.”
“Lotta people dependin’ on you. You can’t just bail on ‘em.” His dad blew out a breath. “This isn’t like you at all. You worked your ass off to get to this point. What’s going on?”
Anxiety thrummed his nerves. He sat forward, curling his toes in the sand. “I just…”
“You just what?”
“I just needed a break. For once in my fucking life, I wanted a break.”
“Three months before the draft?” His voice was like a sonic boom in his ear.
Ryan let out a shaky breath. “Pretty much.”
“You been dreading this?” His dad’s tone gentled.
“Yes.” Energy rushed through him, blowing out the dark, heavy clouds. His dad got it. “Yes.”
“You got any sense of why? Something happen?”
“No. Nothing happened.” He closed his eyes against a spray of grit. “What I know is that I like baseball. I like my coach and my teammates. I like winning. But I just don’t want to be on the field. And I came here to figure out why.”
“Got you.”
When his dad didn’t say anything more, Ryan kicked the sand off his foot. “What do you think?”
“I think right now it’s not about you. You’re in the middle of your damn season. You’re the star of the team.”
Not helping. “Yeah, I know that. But I’m the reason we lost to Oregon. And it wasn’t just that game. It’s been getting worse. I’ve been getting worse.”
“So you didn’t want the scouts to see you screw up?”
“Yeah, that, too.”
His dad chuckled.
“Dad, I…I think I was having a panic attack.”
“You talk to your coach about it?”
“No.”
“Shit time to blow yourself up. Not a lot of kids get this shot, so you gotta think hard about skipping out on this week. You blow it, and there won’t be any going back.”
“Missing this week won’t kill my chances in the draft. The scouts think I had a family emergency.”
“You gonna keep lyin’ to your coach?”
“No.” Shame slammed him.
“Look, son. You need to call him right now and let him know what’s been going on with you.”
Noticing Sophie’s Hobie bouncing over growing chop, Ryan shot off the chaise. Oh, hell. She was too busy trying to keep the bow out of the water to notice the flag had gone up.
And why the hell was she heading for the ocean?
“Dad, I gotta go.” He headed down to the boat rental stand. “But, yeah, I’ll call Coach. Let you know how it goes.”
“You do that. I’m here if you want to talk.”
“Thanks, Dad.” He slapped his phone on the desk and quickly read the guy’s name tag. “Hey, Sam. You think you can take me out there? Looks like she’s having a hard time.”
“What? Who?” Sam looked up from his cell phone, scanning the ocean. “Yeah, that wind’s knockin’ all right.” He leaned down and pulled out a sign, setting it on the counter.
Closed temporarily due to weather.
“I need to get to her.” Now. “Before she leaves the lagoon.”
Shielding his eyes, Sam tracked Sophie’s progress. “Nah, she wouldn’t do that. She said she’s done this a hundred times.”
“Look, she’s out there alone. If she flips, she’s not gonna be able to get the boat back up by herself. Can you just get me out there?”
The guy watched her for a few moments, and then scanned the water. Several boats were already heading back to shore. “Okay, but let’s make it quick.” He pulled up his walkie talkie. “It’s Sam. Wind’s picked up. You want send someone down here to help me out?”
“Copy that.”
Ryan jumped into the dinghy before Sam. Once in, the guy locked the lift level, put the engine in neutral, and shifted the throttle into position. Ryan pulled the starter cord, and they took off.
Rough seas made the ride choppy, and they caught air a bunch of times, slamming down hard enough to rattle teeth.
As they neared the Hobie, Ryan waved to get her attention. “Sophie. Soph.” But her features were scrunched in concentration, her arms pulling the ropes taut, trying to get control of the sail. “Dammit, Sophie.” He watched her stand up on the trampoline.
He hoped like hell the Hobie didn’t tip. If it did, she’d…Fuck. He had to get to her.
“Hurry up.” The wind swallowed his shout to Sam.
And then the Hobie flew a hull. With a hand on the tiller, Sophie clung to the rail.
Anxiety ripped across his skin like fire, and he wanted to dive into the water right then. “Sophie!”
But she dumped wind and slowed down—and thank Christ—the hull dropped back to the water.
“Close one,” Sam said.
Ryan needed to get her attention. Needed to get on that boat with her.
“Almost got her.” Sam had the dinghy almost parallel with the Hobie.
She was heading out of the lagoon. “Get me closer, dammit.” Once she got caught in the pull of two opposing currents, she’d lose control of the boat. “Sophie.” He barked so loudly, he finally got her attention.
She whipped around toward him, eyes wide in shock.
“Turn into the wind now.”
After a moment of alarm, she quickly turned and pushed the tiller away from her body. The boat came around and instantly stopped. Ryan dove into the water. Momentarily lost in the quiet and blur of submersion, he imagined her ignoring him and just continuing into open ocean.
Panic had him powering to the surface. Shaking his hair out of his eyes, he found her watching him with concern. “Dammit, Sophie.”
“Hey,” Sam called. “You need me?”
“No, thanks.” Ryan stroked hard until he reached her.
She stood up, and the lightweight boat rocked. “What’re you doing here?”
Lunging forward, he grabbed the fiberglass hull and hoisted himself aboard. “Sit down. I don’t want you to flip this thing.”
Surprise turned to anger. “I’m not going to flip it.”
His heart pounded like a drum. He grabbed the tiller, adjusted the sail, and turned the boat back to shore.
“Hey. You can’t just take over.”
Wind batted his ears, and cold water crashed over the trampoline.
“I’m not going back yet. What is your problem?”
“See the red flag?” He gestured to shore. “It’s too windy out here for a Hobie, and you were heading out of the lago
on.”
She looked at him like he was crazy. “No, I wasn’t.” One hand pulled the hair off her face, the other pointed toward the beach. “I was going into that inlet.”
He glanced over his shoulder to see the odd little cove that looked like a giant had shoved a finger into the sandy coastline. The water glowed a brilliant turquoise. He hadn’t seen the inlet from shore.
But that wasn’t the point. “It’s still too windy to be out here right now.” He drew in a deep breath to settle his nerves but got another jolt when he recalled how close she’d come to the riptide. “And you got way too close to open ocean.”
“I was turning.” She crawled over to him, unsteadily. As she reached him, she tried to pull on his arm. “Can you please let go? I’m going into that cove.” But when he wouldn’t budge, she shouted, “What is the matter with you?”
“What’s the matter? Jesus, Soph, you scared the shit out of me.” When he saw her baffled expression, he forced himself to calm down. “It looked like you were having a hard time controlling the boat. The wind’s bad enough, but you were getting way too close to the rip.” He blew out a breath, as he managed the light craft in a strong wind.
“Are you out of your mind?” She sounded incredulous.
The Hobie pitched deep, right up to the crossbar. “Up on the hull, Soph. Hold on and lean back.”
As soon as the craft stabilized, he cast a glance over his shoulder, relieved to see she’d done as he’d asked. She’d also lost some of her outrage. “Okay, yes, I was definitely struggling there for a minute, but I was heading into the cove to get out of the wind. So, thank you, but I’m fine now.” The choppy water had her breasts bouncing wildly.
Now was not the time to notice her breasts in the red bikini. Unlike most women at the resort who wore little scraps of material, Sophie’s swimsuit had decent coverage. But nothing could hide the fullness—the absolute ripeness of hers—the hard points of her nipples, the beads of water on her skin. He had to look away. With a chin lift, he said, “Everyone’s heading in.”
“Okay, cool, but I’m heading into that nice, quiet cove over there. So please get off my boat. Go swim back to shore. I’m serious, Ryan.” She crawled toward him and pushed his shoulders. “Get off.”
