“Stop staring at my ass,” she said, without looking up from her task.
“Just wondering if there is anything on underneath there.”
She walked back over to him, grinning mischievously, and slipped her arms around his neck. He encased her in his arms, placing his hand on her lower back, and pulled her into him. He ran his hand up and down her back, feeling for a bra, and was pleased when he didn’t feel one. He started to journey lower, when she wiggled out of his grasp and took a couple of steps back.
“Behave yourself during this dinner, and maybe you’ll find out,” she winked.
They walked into the kitchen to find everyone but Vaughn already sitting at the table. Kyle looked at his watch to make sure they weren’t late. It was seven thirty on the nose—they were right on time. The kitchen smelled fantastic, like rosemary and garlic, with fresh bread wafting in every couple of breaths. He pulled out a chair for Drea, and then pushed it in slightly as she sat down. He took the seat to her left, as if it was automatically his seat. He could get used to this.
She reached over under the table and snuck her hand into his, just letting them sit there for a moment, holding hands. Her hand fit into his so perfectly, it was like it was made to fit there. The thrill of holding her hand wasn’t new—he’d always enjoyed taking her hand in his—but there was some extra excitement in it to be secretly doing it in front of her family, knowing that it wasn’t them just being friendly.
“Sorry I’m late,” Vaughn said, bursting through the door, carrying four bottles of wine, two in each hand.
“It’s seven thirty-two,” Simone said, dryly pointing out he wasn’t exactly late.
“Yes, but we meet promptly at seven thirty.”
“You’re the only one in this family who is ‘prompt’ about anything, man,” Grayson said.
“As long as he has the wine, I don’t care,” Miller added from across the kitchen. “I’m just finishing up—give me five more minutes.”
“Yes, would you sit your ass down and open the wine, please? I spent the afternoon with the governor’s wife, and well, I just need a drink,” Simone said, grabbing for one of the bottles.
Vaughn set the bottles down on the table and pulled a corkscrew from his pocket. He opened the first bottle and poured a larger than average glass for Simone, before pouring himself something normal. Kyle motioned to Drea to see if she wanted some, and she nodded her head slightly. He grabbed two glasses and poured them each a smaller glass, and handed hers to her. She smiled brightly at him, taking a sip.
“So, how’d the cruise go this afternoon? Everyone behave themselves?” Grayson asked. Drea’s hand stopped mid sip, and Kyle tensed at the question. Could Brig have said something about what he saw? No, he said he understood that they weren’t public yet, so he wouldn’t have run off and complained. Although if someone else in the group saw something, there was no telling what the reaction would have been.
“Can I get a definition of ‘behaved’ please?” Drea said, quickly recovering from her pause. “Because for a moment today I wondered if we had become a charter for the Playboy Mansion.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Miller asked, bringing the first round of food to the table.
“All the girls on the trip ended up taking off their tops and spent the afternoon combating tan lines,” Kyle said, trying to hide a grin.
“Maybe I should have sent Dalton,” Grayson commented.
“Pretty sure he’s already seen what was on display, but he would have still appreciated it more than Drea.”
“Were they nice?” Grayson asked.
“Grayson, seriously?” Vaughn asked.
“Kid got an eyeful all day, it’s only right to ask the question!”
“You don’t have to answer, son,” Miller said.
“They were the best money could buy—I’ll leave it at that,” Kyle commented. The men all chuckled and nodded their heads in understanding. He looked over at Drea who was rolling her eyes. He would bet that if he glanced over at Simone he would see a similar reaction.
“But other than the peep show, everything went fine?” Grayson returned to his original inquiry.
“Yeah, they managed to not actually have sex on the trampolines,” Drea said sarcastically. “And despite showing up pretty hammered already, no one puked. So I’ll call it a successful day.”
“Alrighty, that should be the last of the food,” Miller said, bringing over a large platter of sliced beef. “So no more talk about puke. Let Friday night dinner commence.”
They all started to pass the food around and served themselves as they went. It was a simple meal of roast beef, with green beans, salad, and Kyle’s favorite side dish, au gratin potatoes, and the ever present, freshly house-baked bread. Kyle might have to steal some of that away for later too. It was like Miller had cooked this meal just for him.
“So Kyle,” Vaughn started, “do you know why we have Friday night dinner?”
“Vaughn, you promised not to tell this story,” Simone said. “Don’t embarrass Drea in front of her guest.”
“It’s just Kyle, and I’m only going to tell the story if he hasn’t heard it. He’s her best friend, right? He probably already knows it.”
Kyle looked to Drea who was keeping her head down looking at her plate. This felt like a trap somehow, but he wasn’t sure whether he was supposed to know the story or not. If he did, would that reveal that they were closer than her uncles realized? He decided to err on the side of caution and went with the truth.
“All I know is that it was started when Drea was in junior high, ish? Right?”
“Right, she was twelve,” Vaughn started.
“Thirteen. She was thirteen,” Miller interjected.
“You sure?” Vaughn asked.
“I raised her, didn’t I? Pretty sure I remember the milestones.”
“Okay, so she was thirteen. She was totally obsessed with that show, Gilmore Girls. You know it?”
“I have been forced to sit through an episode, or twenty,” Kyle said, nudging an uncomfortable-looking Drea.
“She wanted to be just like them, and on the show they had Friday night dinners, so she insisted that we do it too.”
“There are worse people in the world to want to be when you’re thirteen than Rory Gilmore,” Drea added. “And in my defense, we didn’t have a regularly scheduled family meal then. We could have stopped Friday dinners when we started Wednesday breakfasts.”
Kyle could feel the tension in Drea as she defended her teenage thinking. He didn’t really think the story was that embarrassing, but he also knew that her uncles had a tendency to treat her like she was still that thirteen-year-old girl, and he understood her frustration with that. He wanted to lean over and kiss her, tell her he saw her for who she was now, a beautiful adult woman with a mind of her own. But he knew that this would be the worst place to do that, so instead he tried to change the subject.
“Miller, the meal is fantastic, as always. Thank you. But I hope you didn’t make this just for me.”
“This was actually Dave’s mom’s recipe. I made it the night we celebrated our engagements to the girls, so I felt it was fitting for tonight,” he said, raising a glass in the direction of Simone and Vaughn. Simone smiled sappily and raised her glass in return, while Vaughn simply nodded.
“I know you guys were working all day, but have you talked about what you wanna do with your days off?” Simone asked.
“No, but truthfully, I’d be happy if we just anchor out somewhere and then take a long nap in the sun,” Drea replied.
“You could do that here,” Vaughn said. “If that’s your whole plan, then there is no reason to go anywhere.”
“That’s not the plan—I just said we didn’t have a plan. And yes, the whole purpose is to not be on the resort.”
“There is nothing wrong with staying on the resort. It’s safer here,” he said.
“Are you saying my boats are unsafe?” Grayson asked from around
a bite of bread.
“No, but you never know what could happen.”
“Drea and Kyle are both excellent sailors, which, you know, is why we trust them with our guests every day!” Grayson spat out.
“We’re right here,” Drea said.
Kyle wanted to jump into the conversation and defend their getaway, but was afraid to say the wrong thing. The tension he was feeling off Drea was only escalating as her uncles went back and forth, so he reached back under the table and lightly ran his hand up and down her thigh. She turned and smiled at him tensely.
“We get it, Vaughn, you don’t like the idea of her going away, but let the kids do what they want,” Miller said.
“They can relax here just as easily as they can on the boat. And we were all just in San Juan a couple of months ago. Why go back so soon?”
“Get the sand out of your vagina, man!” Grayson barked. “Just let them go. No one questions what you do with your days off.”
“Sorry I brought it up,” Simone said quietly, looking at Drea. Drea simply shrugged in response.
“No one questions because I’m an adult and—”
“So is she!” Simone interjected. “She’s twenty-six, he’s twenty-seven. Well over the adult age line!”
“The next words out of your mouth best not be that you’re the boss,” Miller stated. “Because we are all equal in this.”
“And I’m Kyle’s boss,” Grayson said. “And I’m the one giving him the keys.”
“Still here,” Drea said, louder this time.
“Well, if you two really think it’s best to just let her run off with some boy—”
Drea stood, stopping Vaughn midsentence. Everyone turned to look at her.
“Okay, as much fun as this has been—enough. We’re taking a weekend off. We’re going sailing, not to the moon. And he is not just ‘some boy,’ he’s Kyle! Who has worked here for five years! You know him, he shows up to breakfast most mornings. Yesterday he was ‘part of the family.’ So now if you’ll excuse me, I’m done with dinner. I don’t need dessert.” She turned around and huffed out of the kitchen.
They all sat there for a brief moment in silence. When Vaughn went to open his mouth to say something, Simone put her hand on his arm and Kyle was pretty sure he heard her whisper “just stop.” He pushed back from the table and stood up, placing his napkin on top of his dinner plate.
“If you’ll excuse me as well, I think I’ll go after her,” he said solemnly.
“Good idea, son,” Miller said.
He turned to go and made it halfway to the kitchen doors before he heard Miller shout, “Wait!” He turned back around to see the older gentleman rushing toward him with a small bread basket he covered with a cloth napkin.
“I know she said she doesn’t want dessert, but a man knows his little girl. Even if she thinks she doesn’t want it now, she will later,” he said, handing Kyle the basket. “Save you some trouble from having to sneak back in here.” He whispered this last part so only Kyle could hear, adding a wink at the end.
Kyle simply nodded his thanks and turned to go.
Drea swung in the hammock that was a few steps from her back porch on Big House Beach. It had always been her favorite place to come and read while listening to the waves. There had always been something kind of romantic about it in her mind, even though she was the only one who ever used it.
She heard Kyle round the house as he approached the side of her porch and slipped off his shoes. She looked over to watch him and saw him place a bread basket next to his shoes before he strode the couple of steps toward her. Without saying a word, he grabbed the side of the hammock, making her slow swing come to a halt as he climbed in. The movement of his body joining her was enough to set the netting back in motion as he snuggled her into him. Pulling her close so she was lying with half of her front side on his, he wrapped his arms fully around her and kissed the top of her head. They lay there for a moment just like that, swinging back and forth, before he finally broke the silence.
“You okay, sweetness?” he asked. She nodded, without looking up at him. “You can tell me if you’re not. I got you either way.”
“No, I am. I’m just really tired and Uncle Vaughn being in that mood just pushed some buttons.”
“Tired, huh? Someone keep you up all night?” He tickled her lightly, making her squirm.
“Yeah, just some boy,” she said, emphasizing the phrase her uncle used earlier. She couldn’t believe that her uncle had had such a strong reaction to the two of them going sailing. She told herself that it was the wedding making him act this way—after all, he’d always seemed to like Kyle. All of her uncles liked him. He’d engrained himself not only in her heart, but in her family as well. “Maybe if we told them that you’re my...whatever, he’d stop flipping out.”
“Your whatever? By ‘whatever,’ do you mean boyfriend?” he asked.
“Um, yes?”
“You questioning that because you don’t know where we stand or because you don’t like the term boyfriend?”
“I guess that depends on you. Do you like the term boyfriend?”
“I told you this morning, sweetness,” he answered, kissing the top of her head again. “You’re mine, and I’m yours. If you want labels, great. If not, then we’ll just have to figure out how we’re referring to ourselves.”
“Okay then, boyfriend,” she said, smiling. She flipped herself over so she was fully on top of him now, her breasts pushing against his hard chest. “I don’t want to talk about my crazy family anymore.”
“Then what do you want, beautiful?”
She blushed slightly at him calling her that. She loved all the little things he’d started calling her since they kissed for the first time the other night. They made her feel so special, all warm and fuzzy inside.
“I want to just lie here with you, kissing and snuggling and listening to the ocean until I forget I have a crazy family.”
She wiggled her hips slightly against his, eliciting a dark, intense look in his eyes. His hands slid down her back, over her ass and thighs, finding the hem of her sundress. As he moved them back up her thighs, this time underneath her skirt, he leaned in, touching his lips to hers. When his hands found her bare ass cheeks, courtesy of the tiny thong she was wearing, he groaned into the kiss, slipping his tongue past her lips. He kissed her long and hard. With his mouth and hands on her like this she felt like she was flying and would do whatever it took to make sure it didn’t stop. Still kneading her ass, he pulled back slightly and looked deep into her eyes.
“As you wish, sweetness.”
Chapter Seventeen
Drea woke up to the sounds of someone rummaging through her kitchen. Not just someone. Kyle, she thought. They’d spent the rest of the evening wrapped up in each other in the hammock, cuddling and kissing, with little bouts of talking in between kisses. If she had ever imagined the perfect evening, that would have been right up there. Just the two of them, curled up together on the beach, doing nothing. Part of her had wondered briefly if one of her uncles or Simone would try to come find her after they all finished eating, and how exactly she would explain being caught mid-kiss, but he had done exactly what she had asked of him, and kissed her until she lost track of all thoughts.
She must have nodded off at some point while they were out there, since she didn’t remember making it to bed last night. Her heart swelled with the idea that Kyle had carried her to bed and tucked her in. She wondered if he had slept here last night and made another early morning exit, only to come back and rummage through her kitchen. She swung her legs out of bed, realizing that she only assumed it was Kyle in her kitchen and should probably make sure. For all she knew, Vaughn had let himself in and had decided to rearrange her whole cottage.
Padding slowly into the kitchen, she smiled when she found Kyle standing at the counter pouring coffee into two mugs. She looked over to find a duffle bag sitting by her front door, packed and ready to go.
“I�
��m very glad it’s you I’m finding in my kitchen this morning,” she said, walking up to him.
“Just who did you think would be in your kitchen at this hour?” he asked, turning to embrace her. He leaned down and kissed her good morning. She moaned softly in response.
“For all I knew it was one of my uncles.”
“I really hope you’re not greeting your uncles in just your thong like that,” he said, laughing.
She pulled away from him slightly and looked down. She was indeed in just the tiny scrap of lace she’d worn under her sundress last night. She giggled and looked back up at him with a wicked little smile on her face.
“I don’t know that any of them have put me to bed in just my underwear, at least not as an adult.”
“Touché,” he said, leaning in to kiss her again. “Well, I grabbed some coffee on my way back from grabbing a few things for this weekend. And for breakfast, we have these.”
He produced a plate with two large, gooey-looking brownies on them. Her eyes went wide, as she realized in that moment how hungry she was.
“How did you manage to find those in the kitchen at this time of day?”
“I didn’t. Miller sent me home with them last night. He said he knew you’d be sad you missed them.”
She grabbed one off the plate and took a bite, letting the flavors melt on her tongue. She closed her eyes and let out an over-exaggerated moan, licking her lips to make sure she got all the chocolate. Looking up at Kyle as she licked her lips, she watched him just shake his head laughing. He reached for a little brown bag that was sitting on the counter next to the bread basket the brownies must have been sent home in.
“This, was also on the door handle,” he said, holding up the bag by the little paper handles. She put the plate down and went to grab it, but he grinned and pulled it away too quickly. “Now, who exactly would be leaving little gifts on your door, huh?”
She stood on her tiptoes, jumping a little, and grabbed it out of his hands. He laughed as she took the bag and playfully glared at him. Peeking into the bag, Drea scowled a little, just before throwing her head back and laughing hysterically. She pulled out a little note and read it out loud.
Can't Fight This Feeling (Indigo Royal Resort Book 1) Page 13