Pathetic.
Maybe I’d walk around the pier. Yeah, that could be a decent option. I hadn’t spent much time on it since I was a teenager.
I lifted my hand in a wave. “A’ight then, Sammy. I’ll see ya.”
The pier was busy. It made sense, though. The summer was coming to a close and everyone was making the most out of the time before kids went back to school and vacations were over.
I saw families and couples and, for the first time in my life, that caused a hollow emptiness to settle in my chest. I’d never given much thought to settlin’ down. Maybe that had just been because I was young, but I was startin’ to think that, at least subconsciously, it might have something to do with thinking anyone I fell in love with would be cursed.
Shit. It was a lot to think about, and I wasn’t sure I was goin’ to get to the bottom of it tonight.
I’d just finished walking to the end and back when it happened. Like something out of a movie. Surreal.
The crowds parted and I saw her.
If I’d been unsure before, now I was even less convinced that she was real, and not a figment of my imagination. Maybe she was a mirage that I’d manufactured out of thin air and onto the pier because I’d been obsessing over her so much all day.
I wasn’t sure how long I would’ve stayed there, gawking at her like she was an apparition. Thankfully, though, I didn’t have to find out.
Moonlight shone down on her like a spotlight from heaven, glinting off of her long, lush brown hair as it fell over her shoulders, framing her heart shaped face. Her golden complexion was damn near iridescent in its glow. Her full red lips matched the scarlet sundress she wore.
And her legs… damn. I wasn’t sure how a woman who was close to a foot shorter than my six two could have legs that were a mile long. It defied the laws of physics.
Our eyes met and a shy smile spread over her face. The sight was like cupid’s arrow shooting straight into my chest.
She was real.
She dipped her head the same way she had earlier that morning on the boat, when I’d called her Bella. When she lifted her gaze back up, I saw that her cheeks were flushed.
My feet started traveling toward her without running it past my brain. They were moving totally independently from the rest of my body. I was drawn to her. She had some sort of magnetic force that I was helpless against.
When I reached her, I said a lame, “Hi.”
It wasn’t the smoothest line, but it was all I could manage at the moment. My brain was still recovering from wrapping itself around her “real” status.
“Hi.” She lifted her arm in greeting and I noticed that she had cotton candy in one hand and a churro in the other.
Looking at Bella, I would’ve never taken her for a junk food junkie. This woman surprised me at every turn. “Hungry?”
“I wanted the full carnival experience.” She licked her lips and I saw that she had a tiny piece of cotton candy in the corner of her mouth. Her tongue didn’t quite reach it before she smiled with a sigh. “But I’m full now.”
I lifted my hand, cupped her chin, and swiped the pad of my thumb across her bottom lip, catching the offending sugary fluff from her mouth before lifting my thumb to my own lips and licking it off.
Her pupils dilated and her cheeks flushed.
Damn.
“Well, if that’s what you want, that’s what you shall have. Shall we?” I held my arm out and, to my great relief, she dropped her treats in the trash and then threaded her arm through mine.
Was it presumptuous of me to assume that she wasn’t here with anyone? Maybe. Was it bold to assume that I could touch her, even if it was to remove a piece of food from her mouth? Probably. But considering my dick had been in her mouth less than twelve hours ago, I figured I was alright.
“So how was your first day in Firefly?”
She turned her head toward me, her brow scrunched. “How did you know it was my first day?”
I couldn’t tell her the truth. I couldn’t tell her that if she’d been here before today, I would’ve known it in my bones. Just like I knew that she hadn’t been to the bar, and that I would see her again.
It was on a different level than logic. It was something else.
Something I wasn’t sure I even believed in, when it came down to it. Fate. Destiny. Because If I believe in those things, then why wouldn’t I believe in a curse?
“It’s a small town. I would’ve seen ya around,” I answered. Best to keep it simple.
“Yeah, but you have over a half a million tourists visit every year.”
I had to grin. I knew that she’d read that in one of the pamphlets.
“Then let’s just say it was a lucky guess.”
Her left shoulder lifted in a coy shrug. “It was nice. I’m here visiting an old friend.”
I almost asked who, since the odds were good that I knew them. But I’d learned at a young age never to ask a question that I didn’t want the answer to. And hell if I wanted to hear that she was in town visiting a male friend. Maybe even an ex.
Never in my life had I felt any sort of jealousy, romantic or otherwise. When my friends would get the new brightest and shiniest toys for Christmas, or actual birthday parties when I was lucky to get a store-bought cake and pizza, I never envied them.
And I was never one of those kids that didn’t share, either. I’d give away what little I had to anyone in need.
I didn’t have a possessive bone in my body. I’d always loved seeing the people around me happy. I got off on it. But right now, the thought of Bella visiting a man from her past made me want to beat my chest like Tarzan, throw her over my shoulder, and swing from vine to vine with her.
Since I couldn’t do that, I figured the next best thing would be to change the subject. “So, Bella, what would you like to do next? For your full carnival experience?”
“Ferris wheel!” Her eyes danced with enthusiasm.
It was sweet, endearing even, to see someone so excited to ride on it. I supposed I was jaded since I’d taken hundreds of trips around it in my lifetime. But, just like sailing around the gorgeous coastline of my island home, it was a whole new experience seeing it through someone else’s eyes. It made it fresh and exciting.
And that was magnified a hundred fold because that person was Bella.
My dick jumped in my pants at the thought of being snuggled up close to her, seated in a tiny cart. I tried to communicate to him that just because I was thinking thoughts that brought him to life didn’t mean he was going to get to make an appearance, but he was having none of it. Every step we took toward the attraction, more blood was headed down to my southern regions.
By the time we got up the steps to board the enormous, metal circle, I was at a full half-chub.
“Jimmy Comfort! What are you doin’ here, kid?” Calvin had been running the wheel for at least a decade before I was even born. When he caught sight of the woman behind me, he smiled wider. “Oh, I see. Evenin’, young lady.”
I slipped my hand to the base of her back. “Calvin this is Bella.”
“Isabella,” she corrected as she reached out to shake his hand.
Shit. Maybe she actually didn’t want me to call her that.
“Nice to meet you, Isabella.” He tipped his hat. “Is this your first time on the wheel?”
“Yes. It is.”
“Well, darlin’, you’re in good hands with Jimmy boy here.” He slapped me on the shoulder. “I can’t tell you how many trips he’s made on this thing with lovely young ladies like yourself.”
The second he said it I could see from his expression that he knew he’d put his foot in it.
Instead of being put off by the comment, Bella just teased, “Really? That many, huh? Good to know.”
“Thanks, Calvin.” I shook my head and held Bella’s hand as she stepped into the cart.
Calvin mouthed, “Sorry,” and gave me a wink, indicating he had me covered. Since I’d been on the ride so many
times, I knew exactly what he was going to do, and I wasn’t mad at it.
As soon as I got in, Calvin pushed the steel bar down on my lap. “You kids have fun.”
He moved down the row to secure the couples behind us in their carts.
“I’m sorry about introducing you as Bella, I won’t call—”
“No,” she cut me off, cheeks flaring with color. “I like it when you call me Bella.”
The way she said you had my heart fluttering like I was some junior high kid with a crush. I’d never had this sort of response to someone. I still wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.
When the cart started to move, Bella gripped the bar and sucked in a startled breath.
“You alright?” I asked.
She nodded, staring straight ahead.
As the wheel turned, the higher we got, the whiter her knuckles turned. All the color drained from her skin until her complexion matched her knuckles.
“Breathe,” I instructed her.
She let out a breath I didn’t even think she’d been aware she was holding.
Fuck. I knew what was coming, I knew that wink Calvin had given me meant that he was going to stop the ride when we were at the top to give us a little privacy and some extra time. But it really didn’t look like she was up for that. If there was any way that I could signal him not to do that, I would. But there just wasn’t.
The only thing I could do was try and distract Bella. I was trying to come up with some sort of sparkling conversation starter when she blurted out, “I’m afraid of heights.”
I’d figured as much, but I had to ask, “Then why did you want to go on this thing?”
“Because…I’m facing my fears.”
“Well, listen. Calvin wasn’t lyin’, I’ve been on this thing a lot of times, and I promise you, you are perfectly safe.”
She nodded, but I could see the abject terror in her eyes. The higher we got, the more intense her stare. When the cart stopped at the very tiptop, she was in full panic mode.
“Do you want me to keep talkin’?”
She nodded again.
“Well, Bella, what is your favorite movie?”
“Fear,” she answered.
“I know you’re scared. I was trying to—”
“No, that’s my favorite movie.”
“The one with Mark Wahlberg?”
She nodded faster. “And Reese Witherspoon.”
I’d only seen the movie once and it was when I was probably around eight. Actually, thinking back on it, it wasn’t really a movie that was appropriate for a kid to be watching. But since my father never gave a shit about actually parenting me, and my brothers were basically kids themselves, it didn’t surprise me that I had.
Wahlberg was a psycho who started dating Witherspoon’s character. He showed up at her house and terrorized her family. The scene that stood out in my mind was the one when Wahlberg gets her off while they are on the roller coaster. It was the first thing I’d ever seen that made my willy feel funny.
“Do you remember the scene on the roller coaster?” Her eyes met mine.
Had she read my mind? “Yeah, it was hot.”
Bella held my gaze and the look in her eye made me realize that she hadn’t just mentioned the scene arbitrarily. Without breaking eye contact, I slid my hand over her smooth thigh. When I did, Bella did exactly what Reese had done in the movie with Wahlberg. She covered my hand with hers, parted her legs, and guided my hand so it covered her damp, satin-covered sex.
Holy shit!
Heat radiated from her core and I began running my fingers up and down her center. She pressed her fingers into mine causing me to apply even more pressure to her. With each pass of my hand her panties grew wetter and wetter. We never broke eye contact.
Before long, a small whimper sounded from the back of her throat and I knew that she was close. As hot as it was bringing her to climax with a barrier of material between us, I couldn’t help myself from slipping my fingers beneath the material and touching her bare skin.
At the contact, Bella’s eyes shut and she gripped my wrist and forearm, holding me in place.
Her delicate folds were coated with her arousal and I easily slid my fingers between them and found the swollen nub at the top of her mound. Within a few flicks of my forefinger back and forth over it, she was gasping for breath as her body began to shiver. I continued the ministrations as I watched pleasure wash over her face. Her thighs trembled and her mouth opened in a silent cry. Her belly clenched and my fingers grew damp with her release.
I continued touching her, lighter, softer, barely a brush as she drifted back to the here and now. When she opened her eyes, it was perfect timing since the cart was moving again. I made sure to remove my hand before any onlookers could pick up on what had just happened.
And since I knew the ride was going to be over in just a few short minutes, I focused all my energy on getting the soldier that was standing at full attention in my pants to stand down. If I couldn’t get myself under control, I would have to let Bella get off, no pun intended, while I took another trip around the wheel on the solo tip.
But I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t want her to slip away again. So I made sure that not even my knee was touching her. I kept my gaze straight ahead and thought about baseball, fishing, even Pop’s funeral to try and get all the blood that had congregated in my southern region to disperse throughout the rest of my body.
Luckily, I’d managed to get myself somewhat under control when we pulled up to the deck.
“Well, young lady, how was your first time on the wheel?”
She held Calvin’s hand as he helped her onto the platform. “You were right, I was in very good hands.” She glanced back at me, her blue eyes lighting with mischief.
Damn. If I wasn’t already falling in love with her, I would be now.
CHAPTER 6
Isabella
As I wandered down a path that ran beside a canal, I found myself checking out every guy I passed by. Not because I found them attractive. Just because I hoped they’d be Jimmy.
I’d been trying to decipher whether my newly acquired obsession with the boatman was truly about him or whether it was about the experience of being wild, free, and completely uninhibited when I was with him. It was difficult to distinguish between the two since each of our encounters had been so sexual in nature.
Last night, as soon as we walked down the ramp coming off the Ferris wheel, Jimmy was approached by a group of beautiful women who appeared very happy to see him. Between their squeals, I’d been able to gather that the group came to Firefly Island every year and Jimmy was one of the reasons why they made the annual trip. I’d slipped away when he was distracted.
It was the second time that I’d pulled a disappearing act, but in my defense, both times had been after very intimate encounters where I’d been out of my depth. It wasn’t that I regretted them. Far from it. I couldn’t have been happier that they’d happened, and I was even proud of myself that I’d initiated both of them.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I did have one regret. Yesterday, we’d both had orgasms at the hand, or mouth, of the other and we hadn’t even kissed yet. My experience was definitely lacking, I realized that—but, still. I didn’t think that was normal. And even if it were, I just wanted to know what Jimmy’s lips would feel like pressed against mine.
But I had no regrets over my out of character behavior. I’d wanted something and I’d asked for it. It was liberating. Not to mention very pleasurable. It made me wonder how different my life would’ve been if I’d always been living it like this.
For so many years, I’d lived in a world of worry and fear. Fear that I would disappoint my father, worry that he would never love me. And none of it had made him love me, or stopped him from being disappointed in me.
It was no way to live. This was much better.
“Isabella?”
I heard my name and looked up.
I blinked several t
imes before recognizing the person who’d called my name. It wasn’t that I hadn’t known who it was, it just took my brain a few moments to place her in this unexpected environment.
“Cheyenne?” I hadn’t seen the girl standing in front of me in at least ten years.
We’d both attended St. Finbar’s, an exclusive private academy for girls. I’d left school in my sophomore year because my father felt my education was lacking, or so he’d said. I’d had private tutors come to the house from then on.
I’d been devastated when my father pulled me out of school. I’d felt so alone. So isolated. Not that I’d had many friends at school. Most of the girls at the academy weren’t very nice to me, although I couldn’t say that I blamed them. I was definitely socially awkward.
Added to that was the fact that my father had taken being strict to an entirely different level than most parents. I hadn’t ever been allowed to hang out in the mall or participate in any afterschool activities. There was an unspoken rule that I was not to have guests at my house.
Unspoken, yes—but it was written down. I started to get suspicious when each and every time I broached the subject with whoever was running the household staff, I was told that it wasn’t a good idea. It didn’t matter if it was their first day on the job or their last, if they worked for my father, they were under strict instructions that I was, “not to fraternize with my peers.”
I only knew that because I’d found a contract that one of my last handlers had accidentally left out, and I saw the words in black and white.
Because of my lack of social engagement, most of the girls at the private school had treated me like an outcast. I was ostracized, either because they didn’t like me or they thought I was standoffish, I never knew for sure.
But Cheyenne had always been different. She was kind. If she saw me sitting alone, she’d invite me to sit with her and her friends. If I missed a day of school, she made sure I had the correct homework assignments. And no matter how many times I turned her down, she always asked me to go to the ice cream shop, or the movies, or wherever she and her friends were hanging out on the weekends or after school.
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