by Tess Oliver
His movements deepened and I sucked in a gulp of warm, soap-scented air as my pussy clenched around him. “Nix, yes, please.” My quiet plea was drowned out by the steady streams of water, but he held me tighter and continued to drive into me, holding me tightly over him.
His head dropped back and his body shuddered against me as he came. Slowly, I lowered my legs down and melted against him. Nix was my solid. He was the person to show me how to find the ground when my feet were dangling above it. His arms wrapped around me. Warm water ran in steady streams down our naked skin. I could have stood there all day.
Chapter 16
Nix
“Hungry?” I patted my stomach. “Don’t know about you, but this make-up sex stuff can really rouse a sleepy appetite.”
Scotlyn leaned up on her elbow and traced circles on my chest with her fingernails. “This might sound shocking, but I have a hankering for another one of your half-charred, half-uncooked grilled cheese sandwiches.”
“That is my specialty. Two hybrid grilled cheese sandwiches coming right up.” I reached up and placed my hand behind her head to lower her mouth to mine. Her soft, lush lips parted as she kissed me. I was hard again. “Just as soon as I can pull myself away from you,” I muttered against her mouth. I twisted to my side and my hands took hold of her waist. I tugged her toward me and her long thighs straddled my body. Her long lashes shadowed her blue eyes as she braced her hands against my chest and slid down over my cock. Her blonde hair flowed over her shoulders and I watched her face as her hot, wet pussy took in every inch of me.
She felt thin and fragile beneath my fingers, as if I could easily break her. Scotlyn’s silky body slipped up and down through my grasp until a pink blush covered her skin. A soft sound drifted from her throat as she climaxed. She dropped her hands onto the mattress on each side of my face and braced herself as I slammed into her again and again.
“Harder, baby,” she whispered. “Harder.”
I grabbed hold of her and rolled her onto her back. Long, satiny thighs tightened around my waist as I slid inside of her again. The headboard smacked the wall, making the crease in the plaster even bigger. I grabbed her to me, nearly crushing her in my arms, as I came.
I rolled down next to her.
“I guess this is what they call making up for lost time,” she said with a laugh.
“Yep, the way I’ve got it calculated, we’ll be in this bed for about two more weeks.” I turned to look at her. “Maybe no one will miss us.”
She rubbed her fingertip along the stubble on my chin. “Earlier, there was mention of grilled cheese sandwiches.”
“Right.” I sat up. “I guess you’re making up for lost food time, too. Do not know how you girls exist on air and food crumbs.” I slid from bed and headed out of the room.
She laughed. “Don’t you think you should put on some pants or at least some underwear?”
“Nope.”
“Beware of splattering butter,” she called to me.
I leaned back into the room. “Luckily for me, I’ve got an extremely hot and extremely naked nurse in my bed in case of any kitchen accidents.” A knock rattled the door as I stepped into the front room. I didn’t need to look through the peephole to know it was Dray. His knocks were easy to recognize, wild and impolite, as if he always had something important to tell me.
“Nix, it’s me,” he announced unnecessarily.
I opened the door and then headed to the kitchen. He stepped inside.
“Holy shit, cover that junk up. What the hell are you doing walking around in broad daylight buck fucking naked? You weren’t at the shop.”
I pulled the bread and cheese out of the fridge. “Nope, I’m here.”
He stood in the kitchen and watched me get the supplies I needed for grilled cheese. “Yeah, I see that, and your two best friends are just swinging in the wind. Aren’t you afraid of burning the little guys?”
“Who are you calling little?”
He bowed his head. “I apologize. No insult intended. I was just looking out for their welfare. Anyhow, Yosemite was very outdoorsy and pine treeish and all that shit. Cassie loves that stuff. But I prefer the beach, which reminds me— Clutch needs your part of the down payment for the beach house. I just had lunch with Rett to pick up his part of the money.” Dray grabbed a slice of cheese and bread. He rubbed the bread over the butter. I pointed out the butter knife, but he dismissed the idea of using a utensil. “That guy should have a permanent weekly column in Playboy.”
“Playboy only comes out once a month,” I noted.
“Really? Too bad. Anyhow, he knows stuff— I didn’t have a pen but—” He tapped the side of his head. “I’ve got it stored right up here. Going to try some new techniques, you know?”
I laughed. “And Cassie knows about these new techniques?”
“Hell no. I’m going to surprise her. I’m just embarrassed to have to learn shit like this from Rett. He’s two years younger, although, his experience puts us all to shame. So have you patched things up with Scottie yet?”
“Hi, Dray,” Scotlyn said from the family room. She’d pulled on a t-shirt and shorts. Her mass of blonde hair was piled up in a messy bun on her head, and, as always, my breath caught in my chest.
Dray’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, hey, your car wasn’t here, so I—” He kept the sandwich in his hand but backed out of the kitchen. He glanced back at me. “I guess that answers my last question. O.K. then I will be on my way.” He lifted his bread and cheese to Scotlyn. “Just stopped by for some lunch.” He took a bite. “Hmm, so good. Thanks, Nix.” Scotlyn giggled as Dray slid out the front door.
She walked into the kitchen and pressed herself against my back. “He didn’t have to leave.”
“Yes, he did.”
Her hands wrapped around me and smoothed over my stomach. “I think this could be a new cooking show, naked chef with rock hard abs and an amazing ass.” She pinched me.
“Yeah, but I think the audience might get tired of watching me make the same thing over and over again. Grilled cheese is as far as my culinary talents reach.”
“Trust me.” She kissed my shoulder and the back of my neck. “No one will notice what’s on the stove.”
Chapter 17
Scotlyn
Taylor was almost giddy as she dropped the layers of white chiffon over my head. “I figured I’d catch you before we buttered ourselves with greasy suntan lotion. Now, remember, it’s not finished.”
“Taylor, it’s all right. It’s a school project. It’s not like I’m here being fitted for the real thing.” The silky fabric shimmied down my skin like a cream filled waterfall. “I already love the way it feels.” The dress was strapless and had a slim line with a corset style closure in the back The asymmetrical bodice draped across my waist and ended in a small cluster of glimmering beads.
Cassie stepped in front of the coffee table where I was standing. “Oh my gosh, Taylor, this is amazing. The craftsmanship is outrageous.”
Taylor beamed as she fussed with the long folds on the train. “It helps to have a beautiful model.”
“No, Taylor, really.” I glanced down at the shimmering dress. It moved like buttery silk around my legs. “You are a genius. I feel like I’m in a fairytale. This bodice reminds me of my mom’s wedding dress. She had it covered up with one of those dry cleaning bags, and every once in awhile, my sister and I would sneak into her closet and unzip the bag.” Since the visit to the cemetery, I’d been reminiscing a lot about my childhood. They had been years to cherish, and thinking about that time seemed to help me cope when I was feeling blue.
“Where is the dress now?” Taylor asked.
I shook my head. “Gone with everything else. My aunt held an estate sale while I was in the hospital. She’d said she needed the money to pay for my upkeep. She made it sound like I was a piece of livestock. And, apparently, she thought I’d be eating her out of house and home because it wasn’t for clothing and shoes. She only went to
second hand stores.” I ran my fingers over the perfectly sewn ripples on the bodice. “This is just exquisite, Taylor.”
Deep voices rolled up from the cement bike path in front of the rental house. Cassie scurried to the window. “Phew, it’s not the guys.”
Taylor and I looked at her questioningly.
She lifted her hands. “What? It’s bad luck to see the bride in her gown before the wedding.”
I laughed. “Yes, but I think there has to be an actual wedding planned for that to be a problem.”
Cassie shrugged. “You can’t be too careful.”
Taylor walked around and pinned the parts that needed altering. I’d gained back some of the weight I’d lost, but my measurements were still off.
“When do you have to turn this project in?” I asked.
“In September, when classes start again. This is such a big project it stretches across two quarters. They give us all summer to work on it.”
“Well, you are simply amazing, Taylor,” I said. “I can’t wait to buy your label when it hits the stores. Which it will.”
“That would be so cool to see my stuff on actual people instead of just headless dress dummies. Well, that should do for the first fitting. Cass, help me get this off of Scottie and then let’s head out to the beach.”
I put on my suit while Cassie and Taylor filled up the ‘girls only’ ice chest. Cassie and I had each brought an ice chest, and we’d decided to put them both to use. Normally, the guys guzzled the drinks and food so fast, we girls were lucky to get a baggie or Tupperware with crumbs left behind. And what the guys considered acceptable beach food was quite different from what we girls craved while sitting in skimpy suits on blazing hot sand.
Cassie had written the words ‘girls only’ on a piece of paper and taped it to the top of the ice chest. “I already dragged the other chest down to the towels, figuring they’d be wanting something soon,” Cassie said.
Taylor and I each took a handle, and we carried it, like a little kid swinging between us, down to the patch of sand where our beach chairs had already been planted.
Clutch’s head stuck up above the rest as the three men waited for a wave. They’d gotten up at the crack of dawn to surf, but in the afternoon, the on-shore wind and droves of swimmers made surfing impossible. The afternoon was for body surfing.
“I can already see Dray’s sunburn from here,” Cassie said. “The lotion is supposed to be waterproof, but I don’t know if the manufacturer takes into consideration men who spend more time in the water than on the sand. You’d think after surfing for three hours this morning that they’d be bored of salt and seaweed and other icky, floating things.”
Taylor leaned into the ice chest and pulled out the grapes. “Hey, when are Rett and Finley coming?”
“Tonight,” Cassie put out her palm for a clump of grapes. She popped one into her mouth. “Ooh, these are good.”
“How did the article go?” I asked. “Are they getting donations?”
Cassie plucked off another grape. “Finley said the pictures are drawing a lot of attention, and I guess they’re doing well enough to hire on another full-time worker. That’s the only way they were able to get a few free days to come down here.” She reached into the ice chest and pulled out a baggie filled with cherry tomatoes. “This whole gender specific ice chest thing is friggin’ brilliant.”
Taylor glanced over at the ice chest near the towels the guys had laid out. She nearly fell back in her chair with laughter. “I thought it would say ‘boys only’.”
I rose up in my chair and read the paper taped to the top of the chest. It read ‘Neanderthal grub’. And Cassie had embellished the sign with a picture of a caveman eating a giant piece of meat.
“Speaking of the knuckle draggers,” Cassie quipped. “They finally got tired of the water.” She shook her head. “Look at that man of mine walking in those flippers. What a dork.” Cassie complained and made fun of Dray constantly, but she’d fallen in love with him the first moment she’d met him. And as different as they were, they were absolutely perfect for each other.
Clutch was the first to reach us. He dropped his fins into the sand and stared down at the ‘girls only’ ice chest. “What’s this shit?” he asked.
Taylor pointed to the other chest. “That one is for you guys.” Dray and Nix reached us too. After our rough patch, Nix and I had been flirting and having wild sex as if our relationship had just started. Frankly, I was hoping things would stay that way. He slipped me a ‘for my eyes only’ smile as he followed Clutch to their ice chest. They all stared down at the top of it. Nix laughed.
Clutch leaned down to open it. “Then there better be some wooly mammoth steaks and brontosaurus sized drumsticks inside.”
Dray lifted his towel to shake off the sand, and the three of us lifted our arms to avoid grit pelting our faces.
“Oh my gosh.” Cassie leaned forward in her chair. “I’m going in the water to wash off.”
Taylor hopped up, too. “Come on, Scottie. It’s too hot on the sand anyhow.”
Clutch stared up at us with half his sandwich already devoured. “Was it something we said?”
Dray waved us on as he grabbed a sandwich. “That’s right, wiggle on down to the water so we can watch you girls strutting your stuff while we eat our caveman lunch. Later, I might drag you by the hair to our cave,” he called to Cassie, earning himself some nasty looking glares from the two women sitting nearby.
Dray raised up his hands. “What? She loves it.” The women returned their attention to their books.
Taylor plowed right into the waves, but Cassie and I preferred to take the cowardly layered approach, getting a few more inches wet each time, until, eventually, with any luck, we were submerged to our hips. The water always seemed much colder when the air was excessively hot.
Taylor swam out farther, but Cassie and I stayed closer to shore, swaying with the constant motion of the current. Two guys were boogie boarding nearby. One was already trying to start a conversation with Taylor. It seemed she was happy to engage in conversation if it meant a chance to try his boogie board.
“She is so talented,” I said. “That dress felt like I was wearing gossamer.”
“It looked absolutely gorgeous on you.” Cassie’s bottom lip twisted, and I knew what was coming next. “Have you guys talked about the proposal again?”
A small wave slapped us both on the back, but we kept on our feet. “No, we haven’t.” The disappointment in my tone shocked me. “Nix seems to understand. That day when I went to the cemetery to visit my family, I realized that they were the reason the proposal seemed so daunting to me.”
Cassie looked confused. “I thought it was because the call about Nana came at the same time?”
“That just added to it, and it sort of kept me from figuring out why I was feeling so down about something that should have sent me over the moon.” I lifted my feet and floated onto my back. Cassie joined me.
“You don’t have any family to attend, no dad to walk you down the aisle or sister to stand next to you.” Cassie was always incredibly astute.
A bigger wave pushed us up and we laughed.
“Hey, Scottie, if you ever decide to get married, I know I can’t take your sister’s place, but I’d be thrilled to stand next to you, you know, hold your bouquet and straighten your train and all that important stuff.”
I pushed my feet down to the sandy bottom. Cassie stood too.
I reached over and hugged her. “I will hold you to that, my friend.”
We glanced toward the sand. Dray had his head and shoulders buried inside the ice chest. I laughed. “Maybe he thinks there’s a secret bottom where we stored all the really good stuff.”
Chapter 18
Nix
Dray rolled his face my direction without lifting his head from the chair. “Hey, Nix, check out the ‘girls only’ ice chest. We’re down to empty baggies and balls of foil in ours.”
“You kidding? Cassie
probably has the fucking thing booby trapped.”
“Oh, come one, you coward.” Dray leaned forward and looked over at Clutch. His long legs were stretched out in front of the beach chair, yet, he looked anything but relaxed. “Hey, Clutch,” Dray started but Clutch shook his head without pulling his attention from the water. “I’m not hungry anymore,” Clutch said.
Dray and I snapped our faces toward each other. “Did he just say he wasn’t hungry?” I looked at Clutch and then followed his line of vision down to the water. Taylor had borrowed some guy’s boogie board. She was flying over a nice little curl.
“She’s pretty good,” I said.
“Uh huh,” Clutch answered.
“What the hell is your deal? She’s just using her cuteness to get a couple of free rides on a boogie board,” Dray said.
“Yep,” Clutch answered in another terse, clipped response.
“Anyhow,” Dray continued, “I tried some of the stuff Rett was telling me about, but Cassie was having none of it.”
I raised a brow, wondering if I should ask for further details and then thought better of it. “Maybe you were just doing it wrong.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. No, I think I was doing it just fine. Although, I do believe that our boy, Rett, was born with the Midas touch. Right, Clutch?” He looked over at Clutch, who, just like the guards in front of Buckingham Palace, hadn’t flinched from his sentry position in the beach chair.
Even with the sea breeze, it was in the nineties on the sand. A lot of people, and even most of the seagulls, had migrated to the water. Cassie and Scotlyn had stayed closer to shore, letting the current take them out and push them back in, while still holding a conversation. Taylor was definitely enjoying herself with her two new boogie boarding buddies. Sometimes it seemed she went out of her way to keep Clutch focused on her. She was nineteen, and it was always obvious that she straddled the fence between her teen and her adult years. Her fairly transparent plan to garner Clutch’s attention had definitely worked. As hot as the temperature was, it was like ice compared to the glowing heat of rage circulating around my friend.