“Oh, look at the lovebirds,” Casey cooed as she approached wearing a sexy zebra-print sarong and beaded black wedge sandals. On top she wore a vivid red halter-topped swimsuit.
“Don’t you look classy, Sis!” Connie complimented her. “Did you bring me a drink?”
The older of the two sisters was holding a fruity-looking frozen drink decorated with a yellow and pink paper umbrella. “Hell no, this one is mine!” She took a sip and beamed at her sister. Connie did what any little sister would do and sent a wave of water splashing up onto her big sister’s feet.
“How dare you!” Casey shot her an evil look.
“Where’s your man? I thought he was coming back today,” Connie changed the subject.
“He is. He’ll be here later tonight.” The smile that spread across Casey’s face revealed her excitement.
“Her man?” Luke bent down to whisper in Connie’s ear. “She has a man?” Then he remembered Cap had told him as much that first night he visited the club.
“Yeah, her boyfriend Josh is returning from visiting his daughter out West. He’s been gone for two weeks. She was moving from one house to another, and he was helping out with her kids.”
“Oh, I see.”
“She went through a divorce,” Connie said, frowning.
There was that word he had been thinking about all week. Up until he met Connie three weeks ago, he never thought a divorce was actually in the cards, no matter how much he was certain he wanted one. It was some sort of mythological quest, a holy grail. The better part of him firmly believed he and Barbara would just tolerate each other for the rest of their natural lives. Till death do us part, he thought grimly. The turn of events when she left their home and failed to return was like being forced to serve a life sentence for a crime you didn’t commit, and then suddenly finding out you’ve been exonerated.
“So, Luke, I need another judge for the bikini contest,” Casey said, interrupting his train of thought. “Are you interested?”
“Me? I’m not exactly—”
“Bullshit,” Casey said, grinning wide enough her teeth showed. “You’re a doctor. Who could be more qualified to judge the female physique than a physician?”
Luke rolled his eyes and chuckled. “My specialty is ear-nose-throat. I don’t generally examine south of the border...the border being the neck.”
Both sisters cracked up. “Come on, it’ll be fun,” Connie encouraged him.
He sighed. Apparently persuasiveness was another trait that ran in the family. “Alright. I guess I can help out if I’m needed.”
“Well, Joshua was going to do it, but he’s running behind.” She glanced down at her phone, which she’d tucked in the waistband of her sarong. “Traffic on 50, naturally.”
“On a Saturday afternoon, imagine that!” Connie retorted.
“Can you get dried off? We’re starting here in just a few!” Casey prodded him.
“Okay, okay.” Luke accepted the beach towel Casey handed him and lifted himself up using his hands on the concrete lip of the pool.
“Damn, look at those arms,” Casey remarked to her sister. “He’s in damn good shape!”
“I am pretty lucky, if I do say so myself,” Connie agreed.
Luke dried off and followed Casey over to where the judge’s table was set up next to the DJ, who had a little booth with a laptop and microphone. Seated at the table were Calvin, Cap, Paisley, and Jessie. “Looks like I’m in fine company,” he said, taking a seat next to Jessie.
She glanced over at him with wide, dark eyes, her long hair piled on top of her head in a neat bun. “Here’s the judging form—one for each contestant.”
“Thanks!” Luke smiled at her, but she seemed rather serious about the task at hand.
Once the music started up, a bevy of beautiful ladies of all shapes, sizes, and ages paraded out, making a lap around the pool and finishing with a trek right along the front of the judge’s table. Luke was impressed. These ladies were all knock-outs, and they were all confidently strutting their stuff.
For a split moment, he tried to imagine Barbara ever doing anything like this. He hadn’t even seen her body fully nude in ten years. A few months ago, he’d walked in on her naked in the shower, and she’d screamed.
Screamed!
After the parade, the ladies returned in a single file line to the gate, where they then approached one at a time for a walk along the “runway,” which was just the length of the pool in front of the judge’s table. The DJ rattled off short bios including their first names and some of their interests and hobbies.
He wasn’t surprised to see Sirena gliding across the concrete, adeptly balancing her tall stature in spike heels. She was so exquisite and moved with such grace, he hardly even noticed her black thong bikini. After her came a tall, voluptuous woman with cinnamon-colored curls reaching almost to her waist and pale, freckled skin. She was beautiful too, but in a completely different way. This was going to be one hell of a hard job.
After the twelve contestants finished their individual walks, they did another parade as a group. Then Cap gathered the judges around to deliberate. Luke glanced over to the pool-side tables and noticed Casey and Connie were deep in conversation, not paying any attention to the bikini-clad women, the DJ, or the judges. From the look on Connie’s face, Luke was a little worried about the topic of the conversation—he had a fairly ominous feeling it was him, and it wasn’t good. Connie kept shaking her head, then looking down at her nails and back up again. At one point, it even looked like she might have tears glistening in her eyes.
Luke didn’t want to deliberate about the winner of the contest any longer. He agreed with most of the judges’ assessment that Sirena should probably take the crown—she looked as though she was born to wear a bikini. But a debate ensued about whether or not she should be eligible since she worked part-time at the club as the social media manager. Jessie, however, thought excluding her was unfair.
“Why did you tell her she could participate if she didn’t have a chance of winning?” she argued. “She bought a whole new bikini just for this contest.”
Cap took a deep breath. “I know, it’s my fault. I should have thought of rules before we got started, but I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants here. I didn’t really think about it till Paisley said something.”
“Sorry,” Paisley interjected, but her tone made it sound like she wasn’t actually very apologetic.
“What are we going to do, then?” came Calvin’s deep, masculine voice. He sounded so much like his father, Luke was taken aback. He was just missing the slight gravelly rasp that his dad had. It made Luke wonder if Calvin Sr. had been a smoker at some point in his life. Luke had heard that same rasp in patients who were smokers or former smokers.
For some reason, the other judges all turned toward him. Even Cap. Luke was surprised to see that anyone would value his opinion being the newcomer to the group. “What if you said it’s a tie?” he suggested with a shrug.
“So...Sirena and who?” Cap questioned, glancing around from one judge to the next.
“I’d say Olivia,” Paisley ventured. “She really looks fantastic in that gold lamé number, right?”
Luke’s gaze shifted over to the tall sienna-skinned beauty with long blonde dreadlocks and the most mesmerizing metallic two-piece suit hugging her lush, generous curves. “Oh, yeah, definitely Olivia,” he agreed. “She looks amazing.”
“I think we have our winners then,” Cap said, dimples appearing at the edges of his beard. He stood up and shouted over to where Connie and her sister were still in a heated discussion. “Casey, you want to make the announcement?”
Next thing Luke knew, Connie stood from the table and bolted toward the club. His heart smacked against his ribcage like it had just done a belly flop into a pool of acid. With it still recovering, he turned to the others and announced, “Hey, sorry, I have to go.”
Paisley gave him a perplexed look as his metal chair scraped against th
e concrete. Calvin’s eyebrows raised and seemed to be asking if he needed help. “Sorry,” he repeated as he rushed toward the gate and fumbled with the lock to let himself out. He sprinted across the grass and up the short sidewalk to the main entrance of The Factory.
What on earth had Casey told her?
“Connie?” He scanned the lobby for her but didn’t see her. He made his way into the bar, stage, and dance floor area but still didn’t find her. Then he went down the hallway, peering into each of the themed playrooms. He finally found her in the dungeon, collapsed on the bench where he’d fingered her to orgasm the week before.
The week before? he asked himself. It felt like a month ago, so much had happened between then and now.
“What’s wrong?” his words rushed out. He filled his lungs with air, trying to calm down his racing heart.
She’d buried her face in her hands, her blonde hair veiling the rest of her features. Her shoulders shook with sobs, and her bare legs were shivering. The air conditioning in the room was blasting, and she hadn’t been out of the pool long enough to dry off completely. Luke grabbed one of the folded flat sheets from the cabinet on the other side of the bed and sat down beside her on the bench, wrapping her up in it as he embraced her.
She finally glanced up at him, the white parts of her eyes filled with red cracks. A solitary tear rolled down her cheek, which he wiped away. “Please, babe, tell me what’s wrong,” he implored. “Is it something your sister said?”
She blubbered a little bit as she nodded. “She just told me some terrible things about you.”
He felt a stab to his heart that went clear through to the other side. Casey had just invited him to judge the contest and was acting completely normal, like nothing was wrong. “What? What kind of terrible things?”
Connie sat up and scrubbed her hands down her tear-streaked face. “So...Casey knows just about everyone in Ocean City. She didn’t know you or your wife, but apparently she has friends in common with you guys.”
“Okay?” Luke leaned in, wishing he could get the churning in his stomach under control.
“So I guess she asked around about you guys—you know, to make sure I wasn’t making a horrible decision to pursue something with you—and she told me your wife has a terminal disease. And that instead of taking care of her, you’ve blown through a ton of money on drugs, gambling and—” She choked out the last word: “prostitutes.”
Luke leaped up from the bench. “What? That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
Connie stood up too and took a few steps back toward the door. “Casey said the sources—whom she says are reliable—told her you’re a sociopath. You know, a real manipulative-type person. She’s worried you’re pulling something over on me... Were you lying about your wife’s medical issues?”
That’s why she had me judge the bikini contest, Luke realized. She wanted a chance to talk to Connie alone.
Her blue eyes bored into him, pleading for answers. He never thought he’d have to defend himself from such outlandish accusations. “Barbara does not have a terminal illness. They don’t even really know what’s wrong with her except for some nerve issues and maybe fibromyalgia. I’ve never lied to you about any of her medical problems—or anything else, Connie, I swear.”
“Then what about the other stuff? How do I know she really stole your money? How do I know you’re not trying to make it look like she stole it to cover up your own shit or make her into the bad guy here?” He didn’t know what was trembling worse, her voice or her hands.
“I didn’t realize Barbara was capable of all this,” he admitted. “I really thought she was just a hypochondriac control freak. But I really think if she’s out there spreading these lies about me that she must be the sociopath. Or there’s something else going on. It’s not right. I just don’t know where all this is coming from all the sudden.”
“How do you know it’s all the sudden?”
“Maybe it’s not.” He blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I think some of the transactions in the bank accounts go back several months, maybe a year. I don’t know how I didn’t notice what was happening before.”
“Because you’re busy with your job maybe?” she conjectured.
“Yeah...look, Connie, I have never gambled, so I don’t know where the hell that came from. I went to Vegas for a conference last year and didn’t even stop to look on my way through the casinos. I have never done drugs, and I have never hired a prostitute. Come on, you have to know that my first time in ten years was with you on Tuesday night. I’m not that good of an actor.” The creases between his brows deepened. “Why would Casey believe that stuff?”
“I don’t know that she did believe it, but she’s very concerned about me. She said dating a married man is playing with fire,” Connie explained.
“She’s known that I’m married for a couple weeks, and she’s just now concerned?”
“She did tell me to be careful after that night when you told her about your situation, but then I guess she did a little investigation of her own, talking to people she knows. I don’t know folks around here, so I can’t do it myself. She’s like my own Detective Mitchell,” Connie said as the corners of her lips just barely turned up into a half-smile. She was beginning to calm down, and Luke was relieved.
Luke took her hands into his. “I understand her concern. I do. But I’m not really a married man anymore. I’m separated, if you want to get technical about it. She left me, Connie—after threatening to ruin my career and my relationship with our kids. You have to believe that part is true.” He looked deep into her eyes, hoping she could see his sincerity, his truth.
“I want to believe you.” Her voice was so soft, nearly a whisper. “It’s been a really long time since I’ve wanted to believe someone as much as I want to believe you.”
“What can I do?” he pleaded. “What can I do to prove it to you?”
More tears glistened at the edges of her eyes as she shook her head. “I wish I knew. I guess it will just take time...”
He squeezed her hands in his. “Time is on our side. I know things are crazy right now, and we don’t have answers to what is going on, or what Barbara’s next move will be. But trust me when I say that I care very much for you, and I don’t want to see you get hurt. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you stay safe.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Do you think I’m in danger?”
He didn’t want to lie—not about anything. And he didn’t want to misrepresent the truth either. But the way Barbara was acting was frightening, really out of character for her. That’s why Luke didn’t put anything past her. And why he and Connie hadn’t been hanging out together anywhere but the club. At least at the club, discretion was expected. Whoever thought he’d be using a swing club as a shelter? A safe haven?
“I don’t think you’re in physical danger,” he said, “but if Barbara figures out we’re together, I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to screw with you—”
“We’re together,” she repeated as if the words were novel to her ears, her tongue.
He pulled her over to the bench where he sat down, and she toppled onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to his chest, breathing in the scent of her still-damp hair, which was a mixture of coconut and chlorine. It was such a summery smell. And she was summer to him: breezy afternoons lounging on the beach, puffy clouds sailing past the sun, live music blaring on the boardwalk, and the most radiant sunsets blooming over the bay.
He cupped her face in his hands and pierced her eyes with his own. “Connie, we’re both of an age where we know ourselves pretty well, right?”
She slowly nodded.
“I know myself, and yet I have never felt this way before. I feel like a stranger in a strange land. What is developing inside me...inside my heart for you...along with this every time I’m with you,” he shifted her on his lap so she could feel his erection rising beneath her, “I’ve
never known this intoxicating combination before. I know it sounds impossible. I know it’s too soon. I know things are batshit crazy right now, but it doesn’t change what’s happening inside me.”
She looked on with wide eyes.
“I think I’m falling in love with you,” he shared, his eyes bouncing between hers, filled with hope she wouldn’t reject him, wouldn’t run away. “Oh, god, please don’t bolt. I need you so badly right now.”
She stroked a finger down his cheek. “I need you too,” she softly whispered. “I’m scared of what I’m feeling for you too. I don’t know if I can say the words yet, but it’s happening...”
He didn’t allow her to say another word, but instead he claimed her lips with his own, delivering every other sentiment on his mind and in his heart in the form of sweet, deep, hungry kisses. His hand entwined in her damp tresses and pulled her head back to expose her throat, where he began to nibble and tease as she moaned and writhed beneath him.
The club was completely silent. No one would be coming inside until the pool party was over. He had been planning to wait until later in the night to practice some of the BDSM elements he’d learned in the workshop and from the book Bry suggested, but he didn’t think he could wait any longer to take her. His cock was straining urgently against the seam of his swim trunks, and from the way she was grinding her hips into him, he didn’t think she wanted to wait either.
With her legs still wrapped around him, he stood up, bracing her from sliding down with his hands under her ass. Then he walked her over to the bed and laid her down. Up until this point, he had made love to her gently. But she seemed so turned on by the domination stuff they’d done the night before, not to mention the time he’d pushed her up against the wall outside Calvin Sr.’s office and aggressively claimed her lips.
“Take off your swimsuit.”
She wordlessly complied.
He didn’t know if they were going to slip into the roles they’d played the night before, but the lust in her eyes urged him to take control. After everyone left the workshop, he’d taken her into another room and had his way with her, but he’d lost his dominant edge somewhere along the line. It was only their second time together, and he knew he needed to gain the confidence. She seemed to want and need that side of him, and he just needed to harness it. He felt it was in there too, dying to break free. It had been buried for so damn long; so many years of dumping layer and layer of guilt and denial upon it had nearly choked it out.
Turning the Tide (Eastern Shore Swingers, #5) Page 15