by Leddy Harper
Basic human interest had me wanting to ask how he died, but I knew better than to ask. We already had one heavy conversation today about death, and there didn’t need to be another. If he wanted me to know, he’d tell me.
But he didn’t really get the chance. Moments after unsettled silence filled the car, he pulled down his driveway. All previous thought and awkwardness evaporated as I gawked out the tinted windows at the tall palm trees lining the drive. Each one was lit up with tiny spotlights circling the base of the tree in the ground, offering direction along the narrow path of packed sand. Tiny rocks, or quite possibly crushed shells, crackled beneath the tires as he slowly made his way to the house at the end.
I gawked at the sight before me. It wasn’t big or fancy by any means, but the way it sat back off the road, secluded from the world, made it impressive. It was the epitome of Carter’s fortress.
I was in such awe of it, Carter had to walk around the car to grab my hand and lead me inside. Once the front door was unlocked and open, I walked straight in, ignoring the beeping of his alarm system behind me. He tended to it while I found my way to the wall of glass, leading to the back yard. He only had on dim lights inside, which made it possible to see into the night through the sliding doors. The moon perched high in the sky, bright and undeterred by clouds. It was like a heavenly spotlight directly on the beach before me. The whitecaps on the mellow waves gleamed as they rolled to the surf and disappeared into the sand.
“You live on the water?” Wonderment swept up my excitement and turned my question into a soft breath of air. I glanced over my shoulder to look at him without completely turning away from the waves calling to me.
The image I found made me forget all about the ocean.
Carter stood before me, bare-chested, in nothing but jeans. They hung on his hips, but not in the lazy way I’d seen men wear pants before. They were perfectly fitted to his frame with his tapered waist disappearing behind his belt. Most of the ink from his tattoo was black, but it had areas of heavy shading between swirls of green and blue, scrolling up one side. More like calming patterns of tribal art than descriptive scenes. What I could only assume were Chinese symbols—left uncolored and only outlined to make them visible—were strategically placed within the full piece of art. Maybe there was no rhyme or reason for their placement, but to me, each one had a purpose. Just like in the pictures I’d seen online, they carried up his side, over half of his abs, covered his right pec, and curled over his shoulder where the colors burst into reds and oranges around his bicep. Although, the images I’d seen on my phone didn’t do it justice.
Carter was a walking piece of tantalizing art.
I swallowed with difficulty, openly admiring his body. I’d been so busy taking it all in I hadn’t realized how much closer he was than before. He carefully strutted toward me, neither of us saying a word until almost all the air in the room had been sucked out, leaving me in a vacuum of arousal.
“Wanna go out there?” His gravelly voice broke the spell his body had put me under.
I tilted my head back to see his face and noted the very subtle curl of his lips. “It’s dark outside. If we go out there, I won’t be able to embarrass myself by gawking at you. And things just wouldn’t be the same without my obvious humiliation.”
Carter kicked his sneakers off and then tossed his socks aside. After I slipped out of my sandals, he took my hand, unlocked the sliding glass door, and dragged me behind him. I’d expected the air to be muggy. I hadn’t been in Florida for that long, but the one thing I had noticed was how heavy and humid it was, no matter the time of day. I honestly didn’t know how anyone survived here. I thought summers in Linville were hot, but nothing compared to this. However, when we made our way across the threshold, I was surprised to find a breeze. It actually seemed easier to breathe this close to the ocean.
With my hand in his, I followed him off the small patio, down a path made of wood planks, and onto the soft sand. The moon was bright enough to see where we were going, but it was still too dark to really see anything. That was, until he lit the torches at the end of the gangway. Suddenly, his figure was bathed in warm light. The flames flickered in the breeze and made the shadows on his body dance and sway with erotic animation.
He stepped toward me, backing me up until the sand beneath my feet turned cold and wet. The sensation was heightened when a wave rolled along the surf to my ankles, sank me deeper into the sand, and then receded. I was lost as to what I wanted to pay attention to—Carter or the giant body of water behind me. Feeling slightly insecure beneath his silent observation, I turned my back to him and stood in the surf while wave after tiny wave lapped at my ankles and comforted me.
“I’ve been here for two weeks, and this is the first time I’ve had my feet in the ocean.”
Carter came up behind me. He didn’t touch me, but I could feel his powerful presence at my back, his warmth radiating off him in dense currents of electricity. “Why haven’t you gone? There are beaches all over the place here.”
I shrugged in response, the beauty of the ocean silencing me.
A small gasp escaped my lips when he clasped his hands over my shoulders and pulled me into him. “You seem to have something wrong with your neck. This”—he added pressure with his right hand—“flinches all the time when you talk to me. I think you might have a kink in it.” He gripped me harder and began to work my muscles in a firm yet wonderful massage.
There went the prayer that he hadn’t noticed my incessant shoulder salutes.
His hands were like magic. I was willing to bet he could’ve gotten me off without once touching me anywhere else. Contentment coursed through me as my internal body temperature rose. By the time my core began to clench, beg for him, I leaned against his chest and hooked my fingers into his front pockets behind me.
“This is heaven,” I muttered through my haze of pure happiness.
“What is? The beach or me?”
Wisps of laughter blew past my lips while I shook my head in amusement against Carter’s bare chest. “Both, but I meant the beach. The ocean. Standing here with waves covering my feet in the sand. You’re just an added bonus.” I gently elbowed him in his side. “But seriously, I may never want to leave.”
He stilled behind me, his fingers stopping mid-knead.
When I realized what I’d said, I jolted, as if my words came back to smack me in the face. I stepped away and turned to face him, sheer panic rolling through me. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant here—the beach. This.” I waved my arm behind me. “Not you. Or even your beach. Just the ocean in general.”
“Kara.” My name rumbled in his growl when he closed the gap between our bodies again. He took my face in his hands and leaned down until I could taste his next words. “Shut up.” And then he sealed the command with his lips, effectively silencing me.
His mouth opened, parting mine, and he took the invitation to sweep his tongue inside. It melded with mine in slow strokes of velvet intimacy. My hands roamed his chest, feeling every ridge and dip of his build. The pad of my thumb grazed over his hardened nipple, to which he widened his mouth and fed me an animalistic roar. He gripped my hips, his fingers digging painfully into the thin tissue over the bone, and yanked me impossibly closer to him. His erection pushed against his jeans as if searching for me, and I loved it.
I wanted it.
More of it.
All of it.
I threaded my fingers into his hair and balled my hands into fists, yanking on thick strands until I could feel the roots tugging taut on his scalp. He deepened the kiss. What started out as a sensual tasting turned into a desperate devouring of one another. He sucked on my lower lip. I nipped at his. He dug his fingers into my skin, bruising me from the inside out, while I clawed at his shoulders and neck, leaving behind marks of satisfaction.
The intensity began to taper off when he slowed it down, eventually pulling his face away. His erratic breaths blended with the soft breeze and sw
irled around me in a slow dance of lust. “I have to stop before I fuck you in the sand right here, right now.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
He shook his head and chuckled. By the sound, I knew his eyes were squinted and his smile lines creased heavily in amusement, but I couldn’t see it. “Sand and sex don’t mix, Kara.”
I bit my lip in a teasing manner, knowing it could be seen in the glow of the torches behind him. I may not have been able to see his face, but he could see mine. “So take me back inside.”
“Not yet.” His words caused my stomach to twist into knots of nervousness. “You haven’t been to the beach yet, and I’m not going back in until you’ve swam in the ocean.”
“It’s dark out, Carter.”
“That’s the best time.”
I craned my head to the side and peered at the never-ending body of black sea. “I don’t have a suit or anything to wear.” When I returned my attention to him, I noticed he’d taken another step back. He had his hands in front of him, a blanketed shadow hiding what he was doing, but I heard the distinct jingle of his belt coming undone.
“It’s a private beach.” He dropped his jeans to the sand and kicked them aside. “You don’t need clothes. Hence the reason it’s better to swim at night.”
I stood stock still and watched him lower his boxer briefs. My arousal seeped into my panties, solidifying my decision. I still couldn’t see anything other than the outline of his body, but that didn’t stop my core from clenching. It didn’t stop my clit from hardening and begging for release at what I knew stood before me.
As quickly as possible, and without looking like a wanton virgin, I stripped off my shirt, unhooked my bra, and tossed them into the dry sand. After my shorts were added to the pile of discarded clothes, Carter stalked toward me, intent on claiming his prey.
“Keep your underwear on,” he commanded in a hoarse, throaty growl.
I glanced down at my black panties and then back up at him. “Why?”
“Because I don’t have a condom. If you come near me with your bare cunt, I won’t be able to stop myself from fucking you. And I’ve been inside you before, Kara.” He ran the tip of his finger along my jaw. “There’s no way I’ll be able to pull out once your orgasm grips me the way it does.”
I’d never been more thankful for a dark sky before in my life.
He grabbed my hand, linked our fingers together, and dragged me into the water. It was cooler than I expected, but it was still better than the running creeks back home. Compared to those, this was bath water. Regardless, it felt amazing on my overheated skin. Once I got farther in and the waves rushed past my waist, it seemed to help calm down the tingling deep in my belly. But then I remembered the naked man next to me, recalling the way he stripped out of his jeans, and in an instant, I became flustered all over again.
He took me out until the water came up to my chest. We both lowered ourselves until we were covered up to our necks, facing each other. “I’d kill to have a house on the beach. This is like a little piece of paradise right here.”
Carter glanced up the beach toward his house. Dim lighting could be seen through the back windows, but other than that, you’d never even know it was hidden away on this small alcove of private sand. “It was my one big purchase after the modeling started. I bought a house years ago with the money I made from the gym, and I told myself then I wouldn’t move again until I found somewhere I could stay forever.”
“You don’t like to move?”
“When my dad was in the Air Force, we moved a total of eight times after I was born, up ‘til he retired. After that, we moved three more times whenever my parents found something with cheaper rent. Then I moved into a dorm for college, into an apartment when I dropped out, and after that, I moved into my first house. So no, I don’t like moving.”
“Then why didn’t you just stay in the first house?”
He moved his arms under the surface, swirling cooler gusts of water around me. “It was small, old, and not something I wanted to be in forever. I only bought it because I was tired of renting. I wanted something that was mine. I grew up never having four walls to call my own, and I didn’t wanna live the rest of my life that way.”
“Well, you certainly picked one hell of a house to stay in for life.”
“What about you?” His voice dipped, laden with interest. “What kinda house do you have? Do you rent or have you settled down?”
I groaned inwardly. Telling Carter about my situation as we waded in the ocean behind his house made me feel like a child. “Currently, I guess you could say I’m living with my parents. I moved all my stuff back home two weeks before I came down here.”
“Bad breakup?”
I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see it. “No. Worse. My roommate got engaged, so her and her fiancé found a place together, leaving me to find somewhere else to live. I already knew I’d be here for the summer, so it was pointless to sign a lease before I got back. That’ll be the first thing I do when I get off the plane—find my own place to live.”
For the first time since we stripped naked and waded into the water, Carter touched me. He took my hand and drew me closer, but not close enough. There was still a sizable gap between our chests.
“You about ready to go watch that movie?”
As embarrassing as it was, I sighed, “Yes.”
* * *
Before we headed inside, Carter used a garden hose to rinse himself off while I used the outdoor shower on his patio. A cabinet filled with towels stood next to the sliding doors, which made drying off and covering up much easier.
When he mentioned watching a movie, I assumed that meant have sex.
No. It meant watch a movie.
After we made it back inside, he grabbed a T-shirt from his closet and gave it to me to wear. I planned on putting my clothes back on, minus my panties, but he made an issue about getting sand on the couch. So I relented, put on his over-sized shirt, and let it fall almost to my knees, and then I curled up on his leather sectional beneath a blanket.
I still wasn’t convinced he only wanted to watch a movie. After all, he was the one who suggested I wear a T-shirt and nothing else while practically cozying up to him. But after thirty minutes into The Italian Job, I realized he had, in fact, only wanted to watch the film with me sitting next to him without panties.
Sometime before the end of the movie, I must’ve fallen asleep, because I woke up to Carter carrying me bridal style from the room. I mumbled some comment about getting dressed so he could take me home, but he responded with his own strained voice, saying, “No. You’re staying here tonight. I’ll take you home in the morning.”
I started to protest before he settled me into his bed. As soon as he climbed in behind me, pulled the blanket up, and slung his arm over my waist, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere.
CHAPTER TEN
“I swear, Danni…if he doesn’t touch me tonight, I’m going to scream.”
Carter and I had been “seeing” each other for two weeks, yet somehow, we still hadn’t had sex other than the first time in the gym. The day after our swim in the ocean, Mother Nature decided to rain on my parade, closing up shop for six days, plus an extra one for good measure. Carter spent all six days cursing himself for not taking advantage of the situation while he had it. Then he had to go out of town for four days on business and then spend the entire next day at the gym to oversee the expansion. We’d made plans to see each other the following night, only for him to cancel because he’d forgotten his mom was coming into town.
But he was taking her to the airport this afternoon and promised me the whole night.
“He better hurry up. You only have three more weeks to have all the goods you can get.” Danni packed her lunch while I sat at the bar watching her.
I glanced over my shoulder at Logan, who was on the floor with his toy cars, and then turned back to Danni to whisper, “Your censored language is starting to concern me. And no
t because you talk like a nun in church, but because I no longer find it odd.”
“Just wait until you have kids, Kara. They’re parrots and will repeat everything you say.”
“I doubt I’ll ever have any of my own. I’ll just have to spoil yours rotten.”
She zipped up her lunchbox and rolled her eyes at me. “You’re young. Don’t count it out yet. And it’s going to be hard to spoil Logan from Linville. You just need to find a good man worthy of you. It’ll happen. I believe in you.”
Frustration blew through me in a heavy sigh, which was punctuated with my harsh slap on the counter. “I’m in a non-relationship for the goods, yet I haven’t gotten any. That doesn’t give me much hope for a real relationship, considering the goods are needed to have a baby. If I can’t get any now, what makes me think I can get some later?”
“You have to find a good man first, Kara.”
“Define a good man, Danni.”
“Someone who will love you, worship you, kiss the ground you walk on,” she answered while ticking them off on her fingers. “A man who’ll support you, care about you, listen to you when you talk. Not just someone who’s only after your sugar, but who’ll spend quality time with you.”
I curled my top lip and wrinkled my nose in disgust. “And what…he makes love to me on a bed of roses while Boyz to Men plays in the background? No, thank you. Just the thought of it makes my…sugar factory…shrivel up and go bankrupt.”
“You don’t want a man who cares about you?”
“Of course I do. But not some weak sap who’ll treat me like I can do no wrong. A real man. Someone who’ll put me in my place when I need it, agree with me when I’m right, and argue with me when I’m wrong.”
“So…a jerk?” She tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows.
“No. I want someone who’ll love me. But at the same time, I can’t be with a limp noodle. I need someone with a backbone.”
