Let Freedom Ring

by Weston Parker

  “Twenty-eight. Why?”

  Sofia laughed again, making another grab for my hand before dragging me to the nearest bar setup. “These people aren’t underage. It’s a college and post-grad party. They’re not that much younger than I am, and not all that much younger than you, either.”

  I cast another glance at the young and carefree crowd around us. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. One of the girls I used to have classes with invited me.” She looked up at me over her shoulder, her eyes shining in the warm orange light of the nearby fire, and smiled. “You have nothing to worry about. Drink?”

  “Sure. When in Rome, right?”

  “Right.” She stopped in front of the plastic table holding a variety of bottles, lifted two cups from a stack beside it, and mixed some kind of concoction in each one.

  When she was done, she thrust a cup under my nose. “Try it. I’ve never worked as a bartender, but I’ve dabbled in the craft at parties like this. I’m pretty good at it.”

  “What’s in it?” I took the drink but got nothing other than alcohol and soda when I sniffed it.

  Sofia stifled a laugh and shook her head at me again. “It’s good. Just try it.”

  “Fine, but I’m holding you responsible if I suddenly start acting like one of those guys.” I jabbed a finger at a group of dude-bros shoving at each other as they stumbled around and alternated between giggling and cursing.

  She inclined her head and bumped her cup against mine. “You’ve got yourself a deal. Drink up, Linc. Let’s see if we can get you to unwind a little.”

  “You’re on.” Bringing the cup to my lips, I parted them and opened my throat to toss the contents back in one go.

  Whatever it was tasted vile going down, but the alcohol burned my throat and warmed my stomach. I had a feeling it would taste better the next round.

  Sofia’s brows swept up in surprise. “Wow. You really did it. I’ve got to say, I didn’t think you would.”

  I smirked. “I may not have been to one of these things in years, but I’m no stranger to drinking when the occasion calls for it.”

  Her cup only had about the first quarter out of it, but she mixed me another before we found a free space to sit. The log we planted ourselves on was next to a bonfire nearest to the shore, and the lapping of the waves was audible now that the music was farther away.

  Bright flames licked the air and heat shimmered as it rose into the sky. We were sitting far enough not to get too hot, but it was still uncomfortable. “Do you come to parties like this often?”

  She shook her head, and her leg shifted where it was pressed up against mine. “I used to, but I haven’t really had much time lately.”

  “Being a med student must keep you pretty busy.”

  “It does, but it’s more than that.” Her head turned as she took in the surrounding scene, resting her gaze on a group dancing on the other side of the fire. “Parties like this used to be what I lived for. I’d have been right there with them not so long ago. Now…”

  When she trailed off, I finished for her. “It’s just not the same?”

  “Exactly,” she said, her voice so soft I could barely hear it before she cleared her throat. “What about you? Were you a big party animal?”

  “Nah.” I shrugged. “Most people are probably party animals from time to time, but big events like this have never appealed to me.”

  She adjusted her position to be facing me more fully, her head slightly tilted as she listened. “Do you think it’s because you grew up in a small town?”

  “Hey,” I tapped her thigh, “don’t knock it till you’ve been to the annual Lobster Fest. Now there’s a party.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it,” she said, smiling.

  Firelight softened her already beautiful features in a way that made her look almost ethereal. Shadows flickered across her face but brought out her cheekbones and the slender line of her slightly upturned nose.

  My hands twitched with the need to reach for her, but I kept them firmly to myself. For now anyway. “Why did we come here tonight if it’s no longer your scene?”

  The peacefulness melted from her expression, replaced by something much more contemplative. “I guess I needed to see for myself that I wasn’t twenty anymore.”

  “Nothing wrong with getting older,” I commented, letting my eyes drift away from her to watch the crowd. “They’re all going to get there, too. We’re just slightly ahead of the curve.”

  “If you don’t like big parties, why did you agree to meet me here tonight?”

  “For starters, I didn’t have this in mind when you said beach party. The beach parties back home were never more than maybe twenty or thirty people.”

  Her eyes widened. “Right. I should have clarified.”

  “No, that’s okay.” I smirked, motioning to the writhing bodies on the packed beach. “We didn’t have this many young people living in our entire town. I don’t think I’d have expected this even if you’d said it would be a big party.”

  That melodic chuckle of hers rang out, the sound wrapping like a nice firm grip around my dick. Between how gorgeous she looked and the easy sound of her laughter, there was no resisting her.

  Despite Eden’s warnings and my own misgivings before I’d come here, I didn’t really believe she would ever knowingly cause trouble for me. And like both of us had said on numerous occasions, Charles was retired now.

  Sofia and I were both consenting adults who were doing nothing wrong and were having a good time together. A sharp jab to my side drew my attention back to her.

  “You said that was for starters. Why else did you come here?”

  Giving in to the urge, I finally allowed my hands to reach for her. One tucked a strand of hair behind her ear while the other rested lightly on her hip. “I thought that part was obvious. I came here to see you.”

  A smile spread her full lips as she lifted her hand to catch mine when it dropped away from her face. “What are you going to do with me now that you’ve seen me?”

  “Drink apparently.” I inclined my head to my cup, standing between my feet. “Talk. Whatever you want really. This is your night, not mine.”

  Her cute nose crinkled. “What if I’ve decided this isn’t really what I want to do with my night anymore?”

  “Is it?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Just because I’m not a fan of big crowded parties doesn’t mean we have to leave.”

  “No, but if neither of us is a fan of them, do we have to stay?” There was a flash of vulnerability in her eyes.

  I shook my head. “Nope. There’s a whole beach stretching out on either side of us. Want to go for a walk?” Without waiting for an answer, I stood up and held on to her hand as I helped her to her feet.

  The smile she gave me was the only confirmation I needed that I’d made the right call. We talked about her studies and my career without once venturing anywhere near the topic of her father.

  Eventually, we found a quiet place to sit. Sounds of the party drifted on the breeze, but we couldn’t even really see it anymore. A pier reached into the calm waters beside us, and we sat down on one of the concrete blocks anchoring it.

  Sofia was so close to me she was almost in my lap, but our seat was too narrow to spread out more. I couldn’t say I minded it.

  “Do you ever feel like you changed without even realizing it?” she asked after a minute of just staring out at the dark water.

  The moon was almost full, and there were some yellow lights mounted on top of the pier but no other light or noise around here. This was much more my speed, and I found myself relaxing more than I had in weeks.

  “Sure, but I also feel like change is necessary,” I replied. “We can’t stay the same people we used to be. Some things will never change, but most will.”

  “You think?” She laid her head down on my shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world, and my arm folded around her shoulders to keep her there. “Like what?” />
  I took in a deep whiff of the night air. “Smell that? The saltiness of the sea, the faint fishiness around the pier?”

  She followed suit, then nodded against my skin.

  “That smell will always remind me of home,” I said. “So will watching the swells of the waves at night and the moon reflecting off the water.”

  “Who knew you were such a romantic at heart?” she teased, but it was gentle.

  I shoved her playfully with my shoulder, but the movement was so slight she didn’t even move her head. “It’s not romantic. It’s just something that will always remind me of home. No matter where I am in the world or where I go, it will always remind me of where I came from.”

  “You’re wise in your old age.”

  I snorted. “After witnessing that scene back there, I’m not even going to argue about being old. God, I felt positively geriatric.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with getting older and not liking crowded, drunken parties anymore, right?”

  “Right.” I rested my head on top of hers. “Plus, I think we’ve both lived a little more than our years might suggest. How old were you when you started cooking your own food, for example?”

  She shrugged in what I assumed was agreement, pausing before she replied. “Too young. After everything you’ve probably seen, you must think I’m ridiculous for caring about not liking parties anymore.”

  “You’re a lot of things, Sofia Cantor, but ridiculous isn’t one of them.” I pulled my head away, sliding a finger under her chin to angle her head up toward me. “You’re changing. That’s all.”

  “It doesn’t seem quite so scary when you put it like that.” She smiled before straightening up to press her lips against mine.

  The kiss was nothing but a brush of her lips against mine at first, but then we both surged forward at the same time, and it became something different entirely. Just like it had the first time we kissed, the air seemed to electrify around us and we suddenly couldn’t get enough of each other.

  My cock turned to steel as her hands roamed and explored my body, sliding underneath my shirt before moving up to my chest. Kissing under the stars on a quiet beach after the kind of conversation we’d just had might have been as romantic as she’d thought my comment about home had been.

  I guessed it had started out that way.

  It wasn’t that now, though. Our teeth clashed as we fought for dominance, and her fingernails scraped against my skin. What had begun as an innocent kiss wasn’t going to end that way if I had anything to say about it.

  Sofia seemed to be on the same page because the next thing I knew, she’d wrenched out of my grip and was tugging on my hand. “Let’s go under the pier. There might not be anyone around now, but we don’t want to risk putting ourselves on display for whoever might come past.”

  I wouldn’t have had much of a problem with that, but I followed her anyway. Winding my arms around her from the back, I kept lavishing her neck and shoulders with kisses. “Tonight is your night, baby. But I think here will do just fine.”

  Before I could say another word, Sofia spun around in my arms, leaned up, and kissed me again. Harder this time.

  I slid my tongue against her lips, and she let me in as she reached her hands up to tug on my hair. A low groan escaped me as I walked us back until we hit the first pillar of the pier.

  I trapped her body against the concrete with mine, kissing her hungrily. When I felt her hands moving away from me, I drew back enough to see what she was doing.

  She grinned wickedly as she shimmied against me, then reached down and produced a bright yellow thong. “I think here will do just fine, too. Hang onto those for me. I don’t want them getting all sandy.”

  “You also won’t be getting them back,” I growled as I plucked them out from between her fingers and stuffed them into my back pocket.

  When I lowered my mouth to hers again, I was done waiting. Fuck being seen, fuck getting back to either of our places, and fuck the consequences. I’d willingly take whatever the universe would throw at me because of this as long as we didn’t stop now.

  Chapter 16

  Sofia

  Lincoln’s mouth crashed onto mine in a kiss that made my toes curl. My blood itself felt like it had caught fire under his talented mouth.

  When I’d kissed him back on our makeshift bench, I hadn’t been expecting things to escalate. I’d wanted them to, but our conversation had been more of a heart to heart than a fuck-me-now kind of thing.

  With Lincoln, though, there was an edge of fuck me now to every conversation. As soon as I saw him, almost all I wanted to do was rip his clothes off. Unfortunately, the only other thing I wanted was to talk to and get to know him better.

  There was a lot more to him than what met the eye, regardless of how unbelievably handsome what met the eye was. The guy was undeniably hot, so sexy that those panties I’d just handed over had been drenched from just kissing him, and yet I’d have happily spent the rest of the night sitting there just talking to him.

  I wonder if that’s part of getting older, too.

  Before I could obsess too much about it, his fingers trailed from my hips to my shoulders. They hooked effortlessly under the straps of the cotton sundress I was wearing, toying with them but not sliding them off.

  He broke the kiss, fire blazing in his eyes. “Turn around for me, Sofia. Put your hands on the pillar and don’t move them until I say so.”

  His voice was deep and commanding as he issued the order, and an unexpected thrill ran down my spine. I complied without hesitating for a moment. It also became clear to me then that, despite his alleged lack of ambition, the man was a natural-born leader.

  And it wasn’t just because he had his hands on me. I wasn’t that far gone yet. I’d simply heard enough orders issued in my life to know the tone of a true-born commander when I heard it. Whatever it was, Lincoln definitely had it.

  He brought his hands back to my shoulders, caressing them as he slid first the right then the left strap off. The movements were painstakingly slow, like he was enjoying dragging this out.

  My back arched, and my pulse thrummed in my clit. I was aching for him, knowing even though we’d only been together one night before that I wouldn’t be left high and dry. My inner muscles squeezed around nothing, and a soft whimpering sound came out of me.

  Linc chuckled darkly against the skin on my throat, his tongue licking and his teeth grazing against my exposed flesh. When he was finally done with the straps, he tugged the material free of my arms, and the fabric pooled around my waist.

  A sharp intake of breath came from behind me when I felt his heat move away from me, his hands skimming under the dress until they landed on my bare butt. “You have the best fucking ass, Sofia. I swear. Every time I watch you walk in front of me, I get hard.”

  I doubted it, but when I made a sound to that effect, I got a light spank for my efforts. It wasn’t really my thing, but everything felt good when he did it. “Thank you. Yours isn’t so bad, either.”

  No reply came, but his fingers dug into my flesh and then trailed to my hips, over my hipbones, and to my thighs.

  He was driving me crazy. I needed him to touch me, but he didn’t seem to be in any rush.

  “Look at me,” he commanded quietly.

  Again, I complied immediately. Turning to face him, I saw that his expression was one of pure lust. His eyelids were heavy, his lips were parted, and it seemed like he’d completely forgotten about our very public setting.

  It did all the things to me, seeing him looking at me that way. My knees threatened to buckle, but he moved forward to pin me against the pillar with his hips. The weight of his body holding me against the cool concrete felt so damn good that my eyes fell closed.

  My senses were on high alert as I swam in the sea of sensation he was causing, but what got to me most was his scent. He smelled like ocean and salt and man. I knew we were right next to the ocean, but his scent was distinct from the others in th
e air, like he’d soaked up a piece of Maine and brought it here with him.

  When his fingertips grazed my skin again, I shuddered. It occurred to me that I should have been worried about getting caught. What I’d thought would be a hard and fast quickie was turning out to be anything but that.

  I was so wrapped up in every touch that I couldn’t worry, though. Nothing mattered more than his hands on me and his warm, wet mouth on my neck. He kissed a path over my jawline to my lips. I leaned into him and pressed my body even closer to his.

  I moaned loudly when I felt how hard he was against my stomach. Anticipation coursed hot and heavy through my veins, and I didn’t want to wait any longer.

  I rocked my hips, rubbing my achy core against him, but it wasn’t enough. “Lincoln.”

  My voice came out breathy, but it didn’t persuade him to give in to my body’s demands. He slid a slow hand up my thigh instead, catching my lower lip with the thumb of his free hand.

  I could only stare at him as he dragged it over my lip. I flicked my tongue out to lick around his pad.

  A low, throaty groan fell from his lips as he drew his finger away from my mouth and shook his head, giving me a sexy smirk. “None of that now. We don’t have time for teasing.”

  “We don’t?” I cupped a hand over his rock-hard erection, tightening my grip. “Then why are your pants still on and why are you teasing me?”

  Lincoln lowered his head to plant a kiss on my neck. His hands moved to my back as he whispered into my ear. “I don’t want to fuck you until you’re ready. I won’t risk hurting you, Sofia.”

  “Trust me. You won’t.” An unexpected flash of warmth flared through me at his words. I didn’t need to be made to feel like some precious princess, but it was nice to know he cared enough to even think about my comfort. “I’m so ready.”

  “Yeah?” He nipped at my lip, his hands sliding around my back to unhook my bra expertly. Letting his fingertips trail over my bare skin, he slowly explored every inch of me. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  The ache building between my thighs was becoming unbearable. Not even squeezing my ample thighs together as tightly as they could go provided much relief. “Go ahead then. I think you’ll be satisfied.”