He trailed kisses down her exposed neck, and then moved back to her lips and enjoyed teasing her there, with his tongue in the deepest recesses of her mouth.
“Go ahead, baby.” He cradled his hands behind her back to taste and suck her nipples, pressing her even closer to him. “Ride.”
She braced her hands on Trent’s shoulders and whimpered from the pleasure of his throbbing flesh and hot tongue as they moved together, one body, one heart.
* * *
Trent shielded his eyes from the bright morning sun as he walked toward a two-story sprawling structure, which right now was just two-by-fours but would soon be somebody’s dream home.
His current development, Paradise Valley, which wasn’t on a valley at all but on the edge of an eighteen-hole golf course, was 90 percent leased. The pressure was on from both his mother (who’d named it) and his customers to complete the rest of the homes sooner rather than later. His father had complete faith that he’d get it done, while Steve, who rarely visited the construction sites, relied on the weekly staff meetings for his updates.
It was slated to be a normal day of meeting with workers at each of the houses under construction, checking materials and pounding a few nails himself, if he got lucky.
Since entering into a relationship with Sonya, he couldn’t get her off his mind. Their night of lovemaking had been exciting and eye opening. He never knew a woman that was more giving of pleasure than Sonya. She seemed to invoke a fire of lust and longing for her that he knew would be difficult to break.
He thought about the ties she had to her home. Why she was even considering living in an old-fashioned farmhouse, he couldn’t understand, but he guessed when someone came back from being away for a while, it was nice to have a home to come back to, even if the memories there were not what you’d expected.
After he was done with this development, hopefully, it would be time to break ground on the affordable housing project.
He’d gone to his parents’ house for dinner a few days ago, and his mother had taken him aside and flat out asked him when they were breaking ground. Although acquisition of land could take months, even years, some of the leads he’d given Steve were extremely viable.
Steve had not given Agnes an update in several weeks, and he’d been mum at the status meetings. She needed to know if she had to start thinking about hiring workers and drafting press releases.
Agnes must have conveniently forgotten that her eldest son was a secretive man. Trent wasn’t surprised that Steve had kept the details to himself. That was the way he worked, preferring to let the rest of the family know about his decisions well after he’d made them.
Sometimes, Steve discussed his plans with his father, but since he was Chief Financial Officer, his parents trusted him. So far, Steve hadn’t been wrong and had made them all a lot of money.
Trent sighed as he unrolled a blueprint on the hood of his pickup. He placed a brick on each corner and radioed for his foreman. While he waited for the man to arrive, he leaned against his pickup truck and poured himself a steaming cup of coffee from his thermos.
He’d stayed in Bay Point his entire life, and sometimes he wondered why he did. The more houses he built here, the more he anchored himself to the community.
A short time later, he was reviewing the blueprints with a couple of his electricians when he heard a couple of horn honks. He glanced behind his shoulder and saw Steve waving from the window of his silver BMW.
Trent was determined to make Steve’s exit as quick and painless as possible. He loved his brother, but he did not belong here, and they both knew it.
He got out of the car and closed the door.
“Good morning. You have to be on your way to the detail shop, not coming from, right?”
Because not all the homes were complete, the street had not been paved yet. Steve hated his vehicles to be dirty.
“I’m here because I have a very important question.”
“I’m not hiring,” he joked.
“Ha ha.” Steve replied. “I have a lead on some property for the affordable housing project. But first, I need to know if you’re hooking up with that hot dancer who’s new in town.”
Steve’s tone implied that Sonya was a stripper.
Trent clenched his fist and wanted to level him with a one-punch, but he held back. Because of his brother, Sonya probably already had a negative impression of the Waterson family. He didn’t need to add to it.
“She’s a ballerina. Stop trying to insinuate that she’s something else.”
Steve guffawed. “Her father was a broken-down gambler. What else am I supposed to think?”
Before Trent knew what was happening, his fist was gripping Steve’s collar.
Steve furrowed his brow in shock. “Jeez, man, calm down. What’s wrong with you? I know we’ve had our scrapes, but we’re not twelve years old anymore.”
“I know that, but do you?” Trent demanded, and shook his brother once more. “Do you?”
“Yeah, just let me go, okay?”
Trent paused, and then without warning, thrust his fist forward and opened his hand.
Steve stumbled backward. He almost tripped and fell on a short stack of wood.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
Except Trent did know. It was Sonya. He was falling in love with her, and he felt an overwhelming need to protect her. Plus, all the expectations, spoken and unspoken, that went along with it.
Except tying the knot, and he breathed an inward sigh of relief. Clearly, she wasn’t marriage-minded; she’d left a guy in San Francisco who had wanted to take her to the altar.
Wait a minute, he told himself as his mind spun over the words. Was he falling for Sonya?
He already had, he decided, even before their bodies moved together in passion through the night.
He knew now that there was no specific sign that he was in love with Sonya. He always had been. He’d just needed to meet her to make his dream of the perfect woman come true.
Steve straightened his collar and fixed his shirt where it had become untucked. “It’s okay. We’re both under a lot of pressure right now. Dad is on me about this affordable housing project.”
“Have you found any suitable land yet?”
“Funny you should ask. How deep are you in with this woman?” Steve asked.
Suspicion pricked at his brain. “Her name is Sonya.”
“Well, I met a lady in line at that hamburger shop.”
“You’re losing your touch, Steve.”
Steve frowned. “She was about sixty and not my type. Anyway, I overheard her talking about her niece named Sonya, and I think it might be the same girl.”
Trent arched a brow. “It might be, why?”
“She was talking about Sonya and said that she was going to be selling the home and the land with it. And when she mentioned the amount of acreage—eight hundred acres!—I nearly offered to pay for her lunch.”
He paused and gave an apologetic shrug. He had a feeling his brother was trying to elicit information.
“But I couldn’t, because then they’d have known I was listening in on their conversation.”
Trent didn’t say anything and went around to grab another mechanical pencil from his glove compartment.
“What about it, bro? Is she willing to sell? I’m not too familiar with that area, but I looked it up on a satellite map. That’s prime land! Maybe not for the affordable housing project—no, it’s too good for that, but for our custom developments, it’s quite a find.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Trent warned, not bothering to inform Steve that the house and land now belonged to Sonya’s aunt. “It’s not for sale.”
“How do you know?” Steve pressed on. “Did you ask her, or were you too busy ridin’?”
“None of your business to bot
h of your questions. This discussion is over. What about the leads I gave you a couple of weeks ago?”
“None of them panned out,” Steve muttered.
Trent got the sense that he hadn’t even followed up on them. His brother was never keen on accepting help doing his job from anyone, but especially from Trent.
“Are you sure she won’t sell? I got kind of a way with women.”
Trent held in a laugh. His brother’s arrogance was too much. “Go back to the office, Steve. You’re out of your element here.”
Trent waited until Steve was gone, and then he rolled out another blueprint. It wasn’t long before he was having difficulty keeping his mind on the drawings. He kept seeing Sonya, in his arms, in the nude, and it took everything in his power not to hop in his truck and drive over to her place.
“Snap out of it, Waterson,” he muttered to himself. Deep down, he knew that was going to be impossible. Not only did he want Sonya, he was falling in love with her.
Chapter 8
Sonya looked in the full-length mirror and held up a purple-and-black-leopard-spotted bra and panty set over her gray yoga pants and white tank top. She compared it with one that was made of the most delicate cream-colored French lace she’d ever seen.
She bit her lip, truly conflicted. To really get a feel for the look, she’d have to strip down to her skivvies, but she hated dressing rooms.
The boutique lingerie shop was the newest addition to downtown Bay Point’s growing cadre of small business retailers, and was crowded with shoppers. Sonya had stopped in to get something special for an upcoming date she had with Trent. He wouldn’t tell her where they were going, other than to wear something sexy.
After a few minutes of indecision, she shrugged and grinned at her reflection. “Guess I’ll just have to purchase both!” she said aloud.
Sonya heard a raucous “Go for it, honey!” from a female voice nearby. She turned around and it was Violet, the woman from the home repair class.
“Hey, girl, where have you been?” Violet squealed, causing a few heads to turn around. She set down two shopping bags on the polished wood floor. “I must have been in the line to pay when you walked in or else I would have seen you.”
The two women hugged tight, like they were fierce friends, and Sonya felt a twinge of guilt for not keeping in contact. The last time she’d seen Violet was at Sal’s Hardware store.
After releasing one other, Violet teased, “Or maybe should I ask, who have you been with?”
Sonya swung the two sets of lingerie in the crook of her index finger. “I’ve been a little busy.”
Violet raised a brow and laughed. “I’ll bet, and about to get busier, I imagine.”
Sonya merely smiled, neither confirming nor denying that she was in a relationship. She wasn’t even sure that Trent wanted anyone to know. Maybe he had his own reasons for staying mum, and that was fine with her. For now.
Violet folded her arms. “So are you going to tell me who the lucky man is?”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head.
“I can’t, Violet. I’m sorry.”
Violet shrugged, and gave her a knowing smile.
“I think I know who it is. You haven’t been in class lately, and I’ve had him all to myself.”
Sonya felt her face get hot. Although news would break at some point that she and Trent were dating, she wasn’t going to be the one to spill the information and spoil the secrecy.
Violet winked. “And I’m not talking about the power saw.”
Sonya burst out laughing. She’d forgotten how humorous Violet could be. “I certainly hope not, Violet. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
“And I don’t want you to get hurt,” Violet added in a serious tone. She picked up her shopping bags, looked around at the crowd and edged closer.
“Can I talk to you outside?”
“Sure, just let me pay for these purchases.”
A few minutes later, Sonya joined her and they walked to the town square, where an old-fashioned carousel was the main attraction. They each bought homemade lemonade from a sidewalk vendor and then settled back on a worn park bench.
Sonya took a sip of her drink first and scrunched up her face. “Oh, my, that is sour. Go easy.”
Violet grinned and raised hers. “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.”
She tilted her head. “Fresh-squeezed lemons?”
“No, men who look sweet on the outside, but can make vinegar out of your heart.”
“And who do you think is going to do that to me?”
“I think we both know who, Sonya. Remember what I said to you that first day in class? Trent Waterson is a heartbreaker. Remember that?”
She nodded gravely. “Yes, of course I do. And I appreciate your advice. I just haven’t seen any inclination that Trent would do that to me.”
Violet gasped. “So my suspicions were right, you and Trent are dating!”
Sonya grabbed Violet’s wrist. “Don’t tell anyone, okay? I’m so happy. I really am.”
“Enjoy it while you can get it. He’s a heartbreaker,” Violet repeated matter-of-factly. “Plain and simple.”
Sonya put her hands on her hips. “Why don’t you tell me why he has this reputation?”
“About a year ago, his brother’s girlfriend tried to seduce him. But according to her, he wasn’t interested. Then when she tried to go back to Steve, he didn’t want her, either. It caused a real rift between them. That’s why I call him a heartbreaker.”
“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”
“Ask the girl who this happened to if she thinks this behavior sounds crazy.”
Sonya studied her friend, and became aware that it was Violet who had had her heart broken by the Waterson men.
“I’m sorry, Violet. I didn’t mean to sound so unfeeling.”
She waved her comment away and slumped against the bench.
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I shouldn’t let my negative experiences influence you. We’re two very different women with one thing in common. We both think Trent Waterson is the hottest man in a tool belt.”
The two women, relieved the tension was broken, were consumed by laughter. They took long drags on their lemonades to try and calm down. But each time they did, the pinched looks on their faces from the tart drinks made them roll again.
“Both the Waterson men are extremely wealthy, but Trent hasn’t allowed money and success to change him.”
Violet draped her arm on the park bench and turned reflective.
“Maybe that’s why I was attracted to him. Steve and I dated for over a year. He never treated me badly, not exactly. He just didn’t act like I was his everything. He cared more about making the next real-estate deal than spending time with me.”
Sonya rattled the ice in her cup and confided, “I think I’m falling in love with Trent.”
She told Violet about the rose plant that he’d bought her and all the other little gifts in the weeks since then. There was a diamond ankle bracelet, a pair of gold earrings, a bouquet of flowers and a gift certificate for a day spa.
“He cares about me,” she affirmed, finally believing it in her heart.
Violet nodded. “I wouldn’t doubt it. Trent is a nice guy. He told me that he would never date another man’s woman, especially his brother’s. He told me to go back to Steve, but even when I explained that nothing happened between us, he was so hurt that I even flirted with Trent that he never spoke to me again.”
“Good riddance,” Sonya said. “A guy who can’t forgive is a man a woman should forget.”
“Yeah. The funny thing is, I didn’t even take the class to make Steve jealous. I took it because I’m actually interested in home repair.”
“You didn’t know Steve was supposed to teach t
he class? Trent only stepped in because Steve asked him to at the last minute.”
Violet dropped her empty cup. Half-melted ice cubes spilled on the ground. “You’re kidding!” She snorted. “He gets hives if the sink gets stopped up. He must have been signed up to teach just to meet girls. He probably saw me on the class list and panicked.”
The two women enjoyed another good laugh, and then made sure they had each other’s contact information.
“I’ve got an appointment at the salon, so I’d better go.” Violet primped her short bob and grinned. “You never know, the love of my life may be just around the corner. Keep in touch, girl. I’m expecting a gold-embossed invite to the wedding real soon.”
Sonya waved goodbye and headed toward the side street where her car was parked.
Deep down, she knew that she and Trent were building something special, something real. But marriage? She thought about how her father had insisted her mother put his needs ahead of her own. How she had slowly folded into herself, wallowing in a misery that weakened her immune system. The doctors could never explain the sudden onset of ovarian cancer, but even at a young age, Sonya knew her mother had simply given up.
She and Trent enjoyed a sweet give and take in their relationship that was wholly satisfying; but how long would it last? He claimed he didn’t get involved in the business side of things, but men could be very fickle. How long before she was no longer a priority and he put his business ambitions first?
* * *
Trent draped his arm around Sonya and gave a victory yell.
They’d had breakfast together and then hopped in his truck and drove to Estela Bay, located about one hundred miles from Bay Point. The cliff was accessible only by steep hiking trails. But when they made it to the top and emerged from the tall grasses that flanked them on either side, the view of the Pacific Ocean was spectacular.
“It’s gorgeous,” Sonya said. “I just wish the sun would come out.”
A mantle of dark clouds overhead threatened rain, and the picnic lunch they’d brought along.
He took her in his arms. “Oh, I don’t care. Let it pour. The rain is what brought us together.”
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