“You ready?” he asked after he’d taken our carry-ons from the attendant.
Obviously, he was referring to getting off the airplane but, in that simple statement, I heard so much more.
Was I ready for the next step? Was I ready to commit to forever? Was I ready to try blending two very separate pieces of my life? My past and my future.
He leaned in for a quick kiss. “Come on! If we don’t leave now, we might miss the whole ‘Bye. Bye! Thanks for flying with us,’ line. That’s the best part of traveling. But you have to wait until they’ve said it about seven hundred times and start using different accents to make it less boring. You ready?”
“Yeah. I think I finally am.” Saying anything else was unnecessary. For now.
10
Carson
The best thing about Lane and me was how much we liked each other. Even before the whole love thing happened, there was a ton of like. She was fun and good and got to me in a way no one else ever had before. So it made sense all our recent drama was about the love parts—the expectations, disappointments, and stuff that screwed every couple up—at least all the couples on TV.
Thankfully, as soon as our feet touched the island, all that reality crap disappeared. We fell back into our awesome normal. No bickering, no expectations, no bullshit. Just me making fun of her oohs and ahhs as we were guided through the hotel lobby, then to our own private hut.
The hut— Fine, most people called them bungalows, but that was a stupid word so I called them huts. Plus it made me feel less like a douche who used words like “bungalow.”
Our hut was literally beachside and beach-top. Thick wooden posts lifted the floor off the white sand under the translucent, blue-tinted water. As far as the eye could see.
As soon as the valet left us alone, I ripped off my clothes. Unfortunately, Lane said we couldn’t start my non-incestuous Blue Lagoon fantasy until after my brother’s wedding, so I put on some swim trunks.
“You win this round, babe,” I said unhappily. “But there is no way we’re not going skinny-dipping while we’re here.”
“I don’t know.” She made a face. “Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is for a woman to get sand in certain parts of her body?”
Huh. Hadn’t thought of that. My mind quickly jumped to where I intended a part of my body to be spending a lot of time this week.
Sandpaper. On my cock. Fuck no. But I couldn’t give up on the dream yet.
“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll make sure you’re clean enough to eat off of. And then you can be as dirty as you want.” As long as we were talking about the friction kind of dirty, not the abrasive kind.
Just in case she didn’t understand the kind of dirty I was talking about, I took her by the shoulders, gave her a quick kiss, and shoved her onto the bed. Getting her pants off was harder than I would’ve liked, but I made it happen. I ran a trail of nibbles and licks from her bellybutton to the edge of her panties, my body forcing her legs open.
“Stop, Carson! We can’t.” Trying not to laugh, she gripped the waistband while I attempted to pull them down. We fought for a little while before I spotted a way in.
“Fine. You win.” I lifted my hands up in submission. “I won’t take them off.”
Then, just as she relaxed her grip, I made my move.
“I’ll work around them.” One stroke distracted her and made her knees flop open. One more, and my fingers were in the perfect position to get under her panties and pull the fabric to the side. I got down on her before she’d realized what had happened.
Lane protested for about thirty seconds, until my tongue turned her “No, not right now” into “Yes, right there.”
As soon as she came, I cursed and dove for my suitcase, pissed I hadn’t kept it closer to the bed.
Now, I’m not one of those people who’s afraid to eat local cuisine—pun mildly intended—or hesitant to trust the safety of resort diving equipment. The worst thing that could happen would be death. But the one thing I refused to trust in a third-world country were condoms. Because if a condom failed, the result would last for generations. So, I’d packed enough protection to ensure no child was ever conceived on this island again. Population control by Carson Bennett. You’re welcome, people of Tahiti.
When Lane saw what took up most of my suitcase, she got off the bed and came closer. “You’ve got to be kidding. Did you bring any clothes?”
“I don’t need clothes.” I ripped open a box, pulled them apart, and sprinkled them all over the bed. “I need these.” Now I’d have one within reach no matter what position we happened to be in when the time came. Actually, before I came. Lane raised an eyebrow when I laughed at my unspoken joke.
“Don’t know why, but when you said you’d packed, I assumed you meant clothes.” She crossed her arms and stuck out a hip. “Ugh. I'm not going to have to be one of those women who pack for their man, am I?”
“We could always vacation at clothing-optional places. I'm down with that, by the way.”
“Too bad I'm not.”
“You think I'm fat, don't you?” I patted the six-pack I’d worked hard for. Not at a gym, of course. Nope, this bad boy was the result of a grueling, intensive schedule of fucking Lane in one position or another. And maybe some genetics, I guess.
“Is that really the only reason you can think of for me not wanting to go to those places?”
“Well, what else could it be?” I pressed her body backwards with mine until she had no choice but to climb onto the bed again. And I had no choice but to climb on top of her, pushing condoms away from where I laid her down. “Your body is perfect, especially when you don’t have any of those annoying clothes covering it.”
“Sure, it is.” She wiggled out from under me and scooted farther up on the bed, leaving one leg outstretched. Then she lifted it until her toes were a half-inch away from my face.
“Oh, babe. It is. It so is.”
When I bit her—like she deserved—she gasped and tried to jerk her foot away, but I held on. I could feel the vibration of her laugh through her toes, then her ankle, then her knee as I slowly worked my way up her leg, alternating between caress of my lips and brushes of my tongue.
When I looked up, she was propped up on her elbows, holding one of the condoms between her teeth.
I groaned and rested my chin on her knee. “You going to open that?”
She took it out of her mouth and held it up, waving it back and forth. “You mean this?”
Damn, she was sexy, even when she wasn’t giving me what I wanted. Especially when she wasn’t giving me what I wanted.
“I’m not sure,” she teased. As I moved up her body, she spread her legs to give me room. “I need to think about it.”
“Well, while you’re thinking”—I slid one hand behind her neck—“I’ll be doing this.” I leaned down and lifted her head until our lips met. And met. And then met again, along with our tongues and our hips. Grinding against each other so hard, if we pressed any harder, somebody would’ve gotten hurt.
Eventually we needed a breather.
Okay, enough breathing for one day. I brushed a lock of her hair off her cheek and dipped my head down to kiss her again.
“Wait,” she said, pushing me away playfully. I know she was playing because moving wood and tools around all day had given her some serious upper body strength. Plus she knew where all my most sensitive areas were. And, yes, I’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“Aren’t we supposed to meet your family soon?” she asked.
I shook my head. “If I show up on time, they’ll get spoiled and start expecting it. They’re already spoiled enough and I don’t want to enable them anymore.”
“Maybe I should try that with you—not enabling you to get into my pants anytime you want to. Wouldn’t want to spoil you.” She laughed, covering her panties as if I hadn’t already gotten around them earlier.
“Spoil me, Lane. Spoil me hard.”
“If they’re mad, I’m blaming you
.”
“It’ll be worth it.”
The huts were about thirty feet apart but I would have to ask how well sound traveled over water to know how soundproof they were. Unfortunately for them, our neighbors were going to hear all about how she’d spoiled me for all others.
11
Carter
As I happily drifted off into post-hurrah bliss, Lane rolled off me and went over to a shower stall made entirely out of glass. Someday I’d have to track down the architect who designed this place and thank him.
I ogled her as she soaped herself up. The only thing that would make this better would be if she started dancing.
“We were supposed to meet everyone fifteen minutes ago.” Before her hands reached her breasts, she stopped and looked at me. “So stop gawking at me like a pervert and get in here…” She laughed. “Like a pervert.”
I’d follow directions like that any time. I stepped into the waterfall of warm water and slipped my arms around her from the back.
She turned toward me and started washing my chest. “Everyone’s meeting in the bar.”
“Says who?”
“Clare emailed the weekend’s itinerary to everyone. Didn’t you read it?”
“Nope.” Not only did I never check my email, but I never, ever checked my email for messages from my family.
Even though Clare was no longer married to my older brother, she hadn’t divorced my family for some reason, so she still counted.
“The last thing I want is written proof I’m going to be forced to spend time with my family. It’s less painful to make it a surprise—less pre-event anxiety and more in-the-moment adrenaline.”
“Makes perfect sense.” She pushed me back a step so she could rinse off. Then, trying to avoid any soap transfer from me to her, she squeezed against the glass wall to get past me and left me to rinse myself.
After drying off, she slipped a thin blue dress over her head. “Don’t you think it’s weird Hayden’s ex-wife is planning a wedding for him and his next wife?”
“You should know by now, everything about my family is weird. Weird or tragic.” It should have been engraved on the Bennett crest.
I didn’t say anything more until I’d turned the water off and stepped out from behind the glass. “For instance, my brother actually invited Renee and Anna here. If that’s not tragic, I don’t know what is.”
“It’s tragic that Hayden wants your mother and your stepsister at his wedding?”
“It’s bad juju. Renee and Anna are each walking bad luck charms for relationships, so having both of them? In one place? At the same time? Honestly, I won’t be surprised if this island sinks into the ocean tonight. We should wear masks and snorkels to bed.”
“You’re too hard on them. Yes, your mom and stepsister have…questionable taste in relationships.”
“Nope. No question about it. It’s horrific.”
“But Hayden and Andi also invited Andi’s friends, two of whom have been happily married to each other for four years or so.”
“Emilia and Rob? Sure, they’re alright. Or they hide their dysfunction well.”
“Hillary and Eric will get here tomorrow—they’re happy.”
“He’s only here to photograph the wedding, and Hillary’s pretending to be his assistant so she can tag along. Nope, they don’t count.”
She sighed, sticking one hip out and crossing her arms. “We’re here. Are you going to tell me we don’t count either?”
“Hmmm…” I hung my towel over a hook, grabbed her arm, and yanked her into me. “You have a point. But, just in case, we’re going to have to work overtime on the lovin’ parts to create enough good juju to counteract their bad mojo.”
“For the sake of Hayden’s and Andi’s future happiness, of course.”
“Obviously. Why else would we do it?”
“Get dressed.” She pulled away from me and tossed me a t-shirt. “I promised them we’d be there.”
“And I promised myself we’d use all these condoms before going home. I allocated a certain number for each day, and we can’t fall behind.” I shrugged. “One of us is going to have to break their promise, Lane. Guess what my priority is.”
“There’s another option.”
“If you’re about to suggest we split up—you go hang out with my family and I stay here alone with the condoms—I definitely vote no.”
“How about we go meet your family now…?”
I waited. Impatiently and not particularly excitedly. Whatever idea she came up with would be a step down from what I wanted.
“And then, when we come back here tonight, we stay up as long as it takes to make up for the time we missed.”
My cock instantly perked up and listened. Lane’s sex drive was never lacking, but it had been a while since we did a marathon. “What if it takes all night?”
“I said, ‘As long as it takes,’ Carson.”
I pretended to consider the idea, weigh all the options. “All in favor say, ‘Fuck, yeah.’”
“Fuck, yeah,” we said simultaneously.
She laughed as we left the hut and walked over the wooden dock that led to dry land. “I love how well our voices go together.”
“Me too.” I took her hand and pulled her closer to me. “Almost as much as I love how well we go together.”
When she looked up at me and ahhed, I realized she thought I was being romantic. Had break those expectations before they had a chance to take hold.
So I added, “Which will be happening repeatedly tonight.”
“Why do I feel like you made a big deal about your family just to get what you’d been hoping for all along?”
I shrugged. “No idea. Hope and my family are two things that have never entered my mind at the same time.”
* * *
We accidentally met Anna in the hotel lobby. She looked great—no surprise there. Looking great was one of the things Anna did best. She came up to us, smiling. After my shivers passed, I acknowledged her with a nod.
She and I had come a long way in our relationship, but I knew better than to trust her again or forgive her. She was too good at hurting the people she cared about most. Maybe someday that would change, but she still had a lot of proving herself to do.
She hugged Lane with one of those society, don’t-actually-touch-the-person-you’re-hugging hugs. She didn’t bother trying to touch, or pretend to touch, me.
“Isn’t this place gorgeous?” Lane asked, gesturing around us. The lobby was open-air so guests could enjoy the view of the water while they checked in or had a drink.
“Absolutely. My only complaint is I wish I’d thought to bring a date. I’m going to be the only one without someone.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a stand-in,” I said. “In fact, I’m surprised you haven’t already found someone unsuitable. There’s gotta be at least a couple men in the bar whose wives have gone back to their rooms for a nap. That’s usually how you find them, isn’t it?”
Both women stared at me as if I weren’t speaking the truth. If there was an unavailable man within thirty yards, Anna would find him. Especially if he was also an asshole who would treat her like shit.
“Ah, crap, sis. Aren’t you feeling well?”
She glared at me briefly. “I’m feeling fine. Thanks for asking, Carson. You’re always such a gentleman.”
“Only where you’re concerned. Promise.”
Lane put her hand on my arm and squeezed, letting me know I should behave myself.
Right. Deep breath. Keep my rude but true comments to myself.
This trip was about my brother and his bride-to-be’s happiness. Therefore, no one else’s happiness or comfort mattered. Good thing being around Anna or Renee didn’t naturally supply any of that.
“Andi made reservations at a restaurant at the south end of the island,” Anna said. “I have no idea how big this island actually is, but I hope we won’t have to walk there.”
“Me too.” Lane stuck out her
foot. “I’m not used to walking in heels.”
When Anna’s brow constricted, I figured out two things: One, her preventative Botox injections had worn off, and two, she really couldn’t comprehend why a woman would choose to wear flat shoes. The only shoes I’d ever seen her in were heels a good couple inches higher than Lane’s new ones.
Ever the unwilling gentleman, I let Anna take my other arm as we walked into the bar area just off the lobby. Andi’s whole crew was at the opposite end, sitting around a table with fruity drinks in front of them and laughing. Even Hayden had something pink in his glass. He dropped the little umbrella into it when he saw us.
“Hey, family!” he called, standing and kissing Lane and Anna hello before pulling a few more chairs over. I helped him, waiting until the ladies had seats before circling the table for the individual hello-good-to-see-you-again thing.
The group had subconsciously divided by parties—Andi and Hayden obviously sat next to each other, but her friends Emilia, Rob, and Sara sat on her side, while Lane, Anna, and I sat on Hayden’s. To my knowledge, the only other people who’d gotten invitations and plane tickets to the wedding were my mother—because Hayden felt a familial obligation I didn’t—and Hayden’s ex-wife, Clare.
“What do you guys want to drink?” Andi asked.
“I’m dying to try whatever Hayden was drinking,” I said, laughing at him.
“She forced me to,” he grumbled. “I made her a promise—one girlie drink.”
“It’s true,” Andi said. “He’s a man of his word. Now that he’s fulfilled his obligation, I’m guessing he’ll never order one again.”
Hayden shrugged. “I’m also a man who has found pleasure in doing the unexpected.”
She looked confused, everyone smiled, and I laughed out loud until everyone looked at me, including Hayden. I wasn’t going to tattle on him. He’d told me all about his kickass surprise gift for her before making the final walk-through my problem.
When Hay had been born, all my parents’ responsible genes had gone into him, leaving none for me. Every plan I’d come up with had ended with Lane unhappy or in pain—and not the good kind.
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