Easton: The Casanova Club #3

by Ali Parker

  I raked my fingers through my still-wet hair that was sticky with salt from the ocean. “I’ll figure it out. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be a downer.”

  “You’re not a downer, Piper. You’re real. It’s refreshing.”

  I grinned. “In that case, pass me another piece of bread, will you?”

  Easton chuckled and passed me the bread basket. Despite being full to max capacity, I buttered another piece of bread and nibbled on it.

  “There’s more to you than meets the eye, you know that?” Easton asked. I licked butter from my lips and shook my head. “I knew it the first time you walked into the conference room. That you were different.”

  “Was it a bad thing?” I asked.

  Easton studied me for a moment before answering. “Neither good or bad, I guess. Just different. Your own woman. Someone with bigger problems than picking out a dress to match her new shoes.”

  “I did have a hard time picking out an outfit for the first cocktail party,” I said.

  Easton laughed that deep laugh of his that vibrated through the air. “And you’re funny. I like that.” He leaned forward, closing the space between us. “Can I say something? Something that might not be my place to say?”

  I leaned forward too. “Yes.”

  He dropped his gaze for the briefest moment. When his eyes locked back onto mine, they were burning with something fierce. Something I hadn’t seen in them before. “If you don’t want to get stuck at that restaurant, you need to bust your ass and work hard to escape. Nobody is going to do it for you. And nobody will ever care as much as you do. Change won’t just fall into your lap. Regardless of how the Casanova Club ends for you, your parents will still expect you to come home and take over the restaurant. You owe them honesty as much as you owe yourself the effort of trying to find your path. Your future. And—”

  I was on my feet and leaning in before I processed what was happening. I cupped his cheeks in my hands, and he gazed up at me as I leaned in and pressed my lips to his. Easton’s eyes closed, and he wrapped an arm around my waist to pull me down into his lap.

  Chapter 11

  Easton

  Piper hooked an arm around my neck and held herself close to me as she parted her lips and slipped her tongue between my teeth.

  I inhaled, breathing her in.

  She smelled like coconut. And ocean water. And sunscreen, sunshine, and champagne. She tasted like butter and salt, and my senses were bombarded with her. Her bare legs were smoother than porcelain as I ran one hand over her knee and up her thigh to rest on her hip.

  Piper kissed me like she needed the kiss to survive. Tiny sounds escaped her, short and sweet and just enough to make my head spin. She was more intoxicating than the wine we’d been sipping.

  She slid her hand up the back of my neck to run her fingers through my hair. I practically purred her praises and held her closer to me as the kiss deepened. Her breasts crushed against my chest felt unreal, and she rocked forward on my lap to run a finger along my jaw.

  I caught her wrist to stop her. Our kiss was cut short, and she pulled away about two inches to stare into my eyes.

  “Is everything okay?” she whispered.

  I nodded. Words were temporarily out of my reach as I struggled to figure out what the hell I was doing.

  One of the sexiest girls I’d ever had the pleasure to spend time with was sitting in my lap, kissing me. And she was the one who had initiated it.

  I still had her in my arms. I could keep the moment going if I wanted to, but for some reason, it didn’t feel right.

  I was rushing something that I didn’t want to rush.

  “I think we should slow down,” I managed to say through clenched teeth.

  “Oh.”

  “I don’t mean it in a bad way,” I hurried to say as Piper put both hands on my chest and pushed herself away to create space between us. I put a hand over hers. “I mean it. I just… I want to enjoy our time together.”

  Hey eyebrows drew together, and her lips turned up in a smile.

  I was blabbering like an idiot, and every word out of my mouth was dumber than the last. I hung my head and let out an exasperated groan.

  What the hell was wrong with me?

  I wasn’t the guy who turned girls down, especially girls as beautiful, smart, and funny as Piper. She was quick as a whip, and I’d never found myself laughing as much as I was with her. I liked everything about her, and as much as it surprised me, I couldn’t help but be glad for this unforeseen attraction I felt toward her.

  It was powerful. Almost all consuming. And I needed to pump the brakes for the first time in my life.

  I met her confused gaze once more and took a steady breath. “Let me try to say this better. I’m enjoying spending my time with you, and I think we should slow things down a bit so we can get to know each other before we introduce this into the mix.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Kissing?”

  I swallowed, and for the first time since high school, my cheeks started to burn. “No, but what this was about to lead to.”

  A cocky smile washed over her face, and she covered her mouth as a giggle escaped her. “Oh dear. Easton, did you think I was going to fuck you right here and now?” She whispered the word “fuck” like someone might hear her.

  The heat in my cheeks rushed to my groin, and my cock stiffened. I hoped she couldn’t feel it as she twisted around in my lap to face me more directly.

  “Uh,” I stammered.

  Piper hooked both arms over my shoulders and giggled. “For the record, you’re not what I expected either. I’m pleasantly surprised, Easton. Honestly.” She hopped off my lap. Her bare feet were soundless on the deck of the boat, and she spun away from me while she tightened the towel around her waist.

  Then, like a carefree Goddess, she padded to the bow of the boat and stood on the mattress, gazing out at the darkening sky over the horizon. Stars had begun to appear in the sky, which looked purple as the glow from the already sunken sun lit up the horizon with a stripe of pink.

  She looked back at me over her shoulder. Neither of us said anything. We didn’t need to. I was certain that we were both on the same page, and that set me at ease.

  I stood up and left my towel on the seat. Then I walked over and joined her, standing close enough for her to lean into me and rest her head on my shoulder.

  The closeness felt good. Intimate.

  I wrapped an arm around her lower back to rest my hand on her hip. I held her to me, and we watched the sky darken steadily over the next several minutes. She looked up at me, a content smile curling the corners of her lips. “I had a great day with you. Thank you.”

  “Me too.”

  I couldn’t help but notice the goosebumps on her arms and stomach. She was cold. Her nipples poked through the thin fabric of her bikini, and I tried not to stare.

  Even though I wanted to slow things down, I couldn’t stop my mind from imagining her naked, lying under me on the white bed beneath the stars as I slid myself inside her and rocked her world. A girl like Piper deserved all the wonders sex could offer.

  And I was a man who could offer a lot.

  “Should we head back and get you some place warm?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  I informed the crew to turn us around and head back to shore. During that time, Piper went into the bathroom and changed back into her dry clothes. She emerged once more in her sundress and sandals. I’d grabbed her a blanket from the lower cabin and draped it over her shoulders.

  We sat together while we sailed back to the marina. The lights of the city twinkled far away like stars at first, and as we drew closer, they lit up the waves down below and cast a warm glow over Piper’s skin.

  “Can I ask you a question, Easton?” She tipped her head back to look up at me. She looked sleepy and content, like a woman who had thoroughly enjoyed her afternoon out in the sun. Her cheeks were pink, and her skin was a good shade darker than it had been when we first set sail
.

  “Sure. Anything.”

  “It’s kind of personal. About something you said earlier.”

  “Shoot.”

  She rubbed her full lips together thoughtfully, and I wanted to kiss her again. “You told me I had to work hard to escape the restaurant. That nobody else would care as much as I did, and it was up to me to make the change happen that I want.”

  “Yes. And?”

  “And is that what you had to do? Is that what football is for you? Was it your escape?”

  “I do believe that was three questions.”

  She smiled and shoved me playfully.

  I chuckled and stared out at the ever-approaching Miami Beach. “Yes. That’s what football was for me. And still is, I think.”

  “Can I ask what you felt you had to escape from?”

  That was something I hadn’t talked about with anyone—not even my agent Jerry, who had tried time after time to figure out why I was the way I was. Guarded. Closed off.

  Angry.

  But here, with Piper, I felt no pressure to answer. And therefore, I wanted to.

  I cleared my throat. “I grew up in poverty. My mom and dad were constantly fighting. She tried to spare me from hearing or seeing it, but my dad didn’t care. He was an angry man. He always had a bone to pick with someone. And if there wasn’t someone, well, there was always me.”

  “I’m sorry, Easton.”

  “It’s not your fault. And I’m not sorry.”

  Piper cocked her head to the side. “Why?”

  “If I hadn’t hated him so much, I might not have worked so hard to get here. When I started high school, my gym coach asked me to join the football team. I’d hit a serious growth spurt over the summer prior to starting my freshman year, and the coach wanted muscle on his team. I fit the bill. So, by a total fluke that wasn’t at all related to any of my skills, I joined the team.”

  Piper pressed herself up tighter against me and drew her blanket closer under her chin. “And let me guess. You loved it?”

  I laughed. “Fuck yeah, I loved it. It was this bright shiny thing at the end of a shitty day. It didn’t matter how rough my night at home was or how long the day at school was. What mattered was those two hours on the field after school when it was just me and my team and my coach. It gave me something to chase. And people to impress, I guess. People to rely on who couldn’t let me down.”

  “Family,” Piper said simply.

  I glanced down at her. “Yeah. You get it.”

  She nodded earnestly.

  “I had some help from my coach and a couple other teachers who wanted to see me pursue a career in football. I don’t think I really believed it was possible at the time. All these people had so much faith in me, and my own old man thought I was a joke. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I might actually have a shot at this. And then I got scouted by a coach from the NFL in my senior year, and it all started to get very real. I got my scholarship. And the rest is history, I guess.”

  Our conversation was interrupted when we got back to the marina. The crew tied us to the dock as we gathered our things together. Then we got off the boat. We walked arm and arm back to the beach and to the parking lot where we found Raj waiting for us with a bright smile. He asked us about our day on the drive home, and Piper told him everything—well, minus the kiss. Raj caught me watching her as she spoke, and he gave me a this-is-going-better-than-you-thought-it-would sort of look, which I did my best to ignore as I stared out the window and Piper talked.

  We got back to the house shortly before nine in the evening.

  Piper yawned three times on the walk from the driveway up to my front door. I held it open for her, and she slipped inside ahead of me, stifling another yawn as she went.

  I smiled at her. “I think the ocean tuckered you out. Shall we call it an early night?”

  “I hate to bail on you so early, but that bed in your guest room sounds really good right now. After a nice hot shower to get this salt water off my skin.”

  “I’ll walk you to your door,” I offered.

  She blushed and nodded, and we held hands like we were two high-schoolers on our first date as I walked her down the hall to her bedroom door. She stopped outside of it and opened it up before turning back toward me. “I had a really wonderful time today, Easton. I’m looking forward to learning more about you.”

  “Same,” I said.

  “That’s a bit self-absorbed, don’t you think?”

  I blinked at her.

  She laughed. “I’m kidding. I know what you meant.”

  I let out a nervous laugh. She kept me on my toes. I liked that. “I’ll see you in the morning? I have a game, and I’d love for you to be there.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  I leaned in and gave her a small kiss. When I pulled away, her eyes were still closed, and her cheeks were flushed. I could almost count her eyelashes, we were so close.

  “Goodnight, Piper.”

  Chapter 12

  Piper

  I closed the bedroom door behind me and pressed my ear to it, listening to Easton’s steps echo down the hall as he made his way to his bedroom.

  My heart thumped wildly in my chest. My palms were sweaty. Every muscle in my body was tight, anxious, ready.

  Ready for what?

  The swirl of butterflies in my belly told me what. I was into him. Easton Price had changed my opinion of him in just a day. Sure, he was still a bit rough around the edges, but the way he’d looked me in the eye when he told me to fight for what I wanted let me see right through him into his core.

  I knew how passionate he was. And strong. And determined. And I liked all of those qualities. I liked them so much that I was leaning up against my bedroom door, trying to catch my breath after a little peck on the lips.

  Had he let me, I would have pulled him into my room and pushed him down on the bed to climb all over him. But he wanted to take things slowly. That had been a bit of a shock.

  Smiling to myself, I padded to the bathroom where I turned on the shower. Steam filled the room as I undressed, and the water was nearly scalding when I stepped under it. It chased away the stickiness from the salt water and left me feeling relaxed and squeaky clean. I massaged my scalp with shampoo and conditioned my hair.

  Then, when I was good and ready, I dried off, brushed my teeth, and braided my hair once more to let it dry overnight.

  I climbed up into the super-high king-sized bed and slipped under the blankets, where I found myself lying on my back, staring up at the ceiling, and thinking about my day with Easton.

  I thought about how good his body looked when the water rolled down his back as I followed him up the stairs after we went swimming. I thought about that smile of his, his laugh, and the way he watched me when I spoke. And I thought about what I felt when I was sitting in his lap.

  He’d been aroused. Very aroused. And yet he had the guts to slow things down a bit. To maintain his control. That might have been the biggest turn on of all. I had no idea why. But it was.

  Another feeling joined the fluttering of butterflies in my stomach as I lay on my back thinking about Easton. More somber thoughts that I wished I could push to the back of my mind and forget about entirely.

  Joshua.

  As soon as his name went through my mind, I knew what the other feeling was. Guilt. I had betrayed him in a sense. Sure, the Casanova Club put the expectation out there that I would be with other men in various ways, but now that it had happened, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling incredibly guilty.

  The fact that I had enjoyed it and was willing to bring Easton into my bed only made things worse.

  I covered my face with my hands. What was Joshua doing right now? Was he lying in bed too, thinking about me, wondering whether or not I was having a good time with the second bachelor? Was he already moving on and taking other women on dates?

  I doubted it.

  I believed him when he said he would wait for me, and at the
time, I had no doubt that if I were to choose love over the money, that he would be my choice. Now I wasn’t so sure.

  If I was able to feel this kind of attraction for Easton on our first full day together, there was no telling what might happen when I was in the company of the other men. What if they had just as much to offer? What if they had more?

  I swallowed to fight down the sadness gathering in my throat. I couldn’t think like this. Not right now. This was out of my hands. And I knew what I was getting myself into when I started this process.

  If only I had Janie to talk to, then things would be easier. If it wasn’t so late, I would have called her.

  Maybe tomorrow.

  For now, I needed to sleep. In sleep, I could forget the guilt. At least until I woke up again.

  * * *

  Easton ran a finger up my stomach from my navel to my chest, where he traced a small circle between my breasts. I sucked in a deep breath as he traced his finger back down, this time diving down lower than my navel. I flinched when his soft touch lingered between my legs. He nudged the inside of my thighs to get me to spread them.

  I did.

  He teased me by running his fingers up the inside of both legs to my knees and then back down, where he would get so close to where I really wanted him to touch me before moving away again.

  I let out a soft, desperate little moan.

  “What’s wrong, baby girl?” Easton cooed.

  He gazed up at me. His chin was nearly resting on my belly button. He leaned down to press his lips to my skin. I closed my eyes.

  Why did this feel so good?

  Easton finally catered to my breathless moaning and ran his finger over my clit. I gasped. He chuckled. And then he did it again.

  The pleasure was electric, and I bit down on my tongue to stop myself from moaning his name. He moved down to settle between my legs, pushing them back and holding them open with the weight of his forearms pressed to the inside of my thighs.

  The first lick nearly sent me over the edge. The second had my toes curling.