Eversea: A Love Story

by Natasha Boyd

  “You’d better stop that,” he said, his voice husky.

  I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to kiss him again, but I didn’t want to be so forward. So I shook my head.

  “No?” he asked.

  “No.”

  I leaned back and rested my elbows behind me on the ledge, mimicking his stance. A challenge. I almost didn’t recognize this new me.

  His eyes narrowed as if he was trying to suss me out. I realized my position had thrust my bikini-clad chest forward, but it was too late to suddenly get shy.

  “Come here,” he commanded, quietly.

  I held his eyes. “You come here,” I countered.

  His dimple reappeared as he shook his head slightly with a small lopsided and bemused smile, and then he swam four strong freestyle strokes to stand in front of me.

  Breathe, Keri Ann, breathe, I reminded myself for the second time that day. I stayed perfectly still as he held my eyes. His wet skin and hair made his eyes startling. Then he stepped forward between my legs, pushing my feet apart. My pulse tripped over itself.

  “This is a good spot,” he murmured, echoing my unformed thoughts exactly. His hands came to my bare waist, the water allowing his skin to slide across mine. It was exquisite, and despite the warmth of the sun, goose bumps formed all over me as the fine hairs of my body reacted to the sensation. I wondered briefly what it would feel like to be fully naked and pressed against his skin.

  “What was that?” Jack asked with a grin.

  “What?”

  “That thing you do when you suddenly bite your lip and you blush furiously.”

  “Um ...”

  “You did it when I was giving you a tour of the house the other day and a few other times.”

  There was no way I was telling him the truth. “Uh... it’s just when I’m feeling nervous,” I offered, staring at his mouth. I sounded way too breathy. Ugh, it was like some bad movie. Except Jack was starring in it, so I was riveted to the spot.

  “I thought you became bitchy when you were nervous,” he answered, his face inching closer to mine. “I think you were thinking about something ...” his lips came closer still “... else.”

  I shook my head slightly.

  “Liar,” he whispered.

  “Arrogant ass,” I whispered back.

  “Ahhh, there she is.” He chuckled slightly, his eyes never leaving my mouth. Then one hand left my waist and trailed down my hip and thigh just as warm fingers from his other hand drifted to my belly and trailed up between my breasts to splay on my chest.

  My breathing hitched as it got shallower and more rapid. I was sure he could probably feel my heart about to pound out of my chest.

  His hand continued its journey up to my throat and around to cup the back of my neck at the same time as he pulled my thigh up against his body and pressed against me.

  I let out a whimper as sensation jolted through me, leaving a hot, molten and needy ache at my center. Holy shit, I thought. And then any coherent follow up was lost as his lips crashed into mine.

  If I had thought the fire he had ignited in me during our first kiss had been intense, it was nothing compared to the inferno now billowing through me.

  It was like all of me, all of my childish yearning and wanting, all the emotional trauma and denying myself feelings like this, every single moment of every single book and movie that had made me quietly wish for more, while studiously avoiding anything that would bring it to me, was swept up and out of me in a tidal wave of longing. And yes, I thought, yes to it all.

  Jack’s hands roamed along my skin leaving a scorching trail before his fingers worked the knot at my nape. His hot mouth left mine and trailed kisses down under my ear. A really sensitive spot, I’d discovered.

  I moaned and rocked against him without thinking and heard his sharp intake of breath as his fingers fumbled and he cursed. I wanted to do it again, to relieve some of what I was feeling. But I wasn’t so innocent I didn’t know what that might entail.

  “God, Keri Ann,” he rasped, and his mouth claimed mine again, his tongue sliding against my own. I kissed him back with everything I was feeling, wrapping myself around him.

  He pulled his mouth from mine a few moments later as my bikini straps came loose in his hand and slid down my chest. We were both breathing hard. His eyes looked glazed, I’m sure mine must have too.

  I was solely and completely aware of him and of every single part of my body that was in contact with his.

  “We have to slow down,” he whispered roughly, as his gaze involuntarily dropped to where the small white triangles covering my breasts were a second away from revealing me to him.

  “I have to slow down,” he said again but instead kissed my lips slowly, his tongue sliding along my lower lip in a way that did nothing to make me want to stop. In fact, I swear I thought I felt it in other parts of my body. I wanted his hands on me. But he took my bikini straps and pulled them back behind my neck fastening them as he pressed small chaste kisses along my face and cheeks.

  Oh no. Don’t stop.

  He was right, of course. Twice in the same day and the first time I had ever kissed anyone like this, and I was ready to throw caution to the wind. Strangely enough, I wasn’t as horrified with myself as I had been this morning, but I also knew I wasn’t ready. I already knew, despite my inexperience, that anything more happening with Jack would push my precarious heart over the edge. And he still had unfinished business with his ex. That should be a deal breaker—but at that moment, with every part of my body throbbing, I had trouble remembering why it should be so important.

  The distant chime of the doorbell broke through our haze.

  Jack tensed, and pulling away from me, turned to the edge of the pool. After several moments of mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like “dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies”, he lifted himself out.

  I raised my eyebrows, and he winked at me with a grin before reaching for his shirt.

  S E V E N T E E N

  Jack pulled his shirt on and went to check if it was his anticipated delivery from his assistant in California.

  I offered to sign for it, but he said he’d arranged for deliveries to be dropped at his door.

  After he left, I toweled off and lay back on the lounger to catch my breath. Checking my phone, I found a text from Jazz.

  Jazz: Leaving campus now, back in 30. Headed to you. So excited ... SQUEEE!

  I checked the time and quickly tapped a text back to her before she got to my place.

  Me: not home, at his, come here ...

  I wondered if I should ask Jack first, then I decided if Jazz knew about Jack, she may as well know where I was, too. I sent her the address just as another phone beeped from the other chair. Jack’s phone.

  Instinctively, I reached for it, then froze. I wanted to look at it so badly. At the very least I thought I should probably take it to him ... and if I happened to see his text on the way? What if it was from Audrey? It was none of my business, except that the Audrey angle really affected me ... I struggled with the temptation to grab his phone and realized I was staring at it like it was a coiled up Copperhead snake.

  I needed to talk to Jack about what his plans were with Audrey. I knew he had contractual appearances with her and stuff, but surely the rest of their relationship was over. Jack had intimated as much, and surely now ... I banged my head back on my lounger as I realized how naïve that last thought was. A few kisses and handholding did not a boyfriend make.

  I wondered if Jack had even spoken to Audrey since he’d gotten here. Probably. And here I was acting like we were ‘going steady’ just because we’d both acknowledged our mutual attraction and shared a couple of kisses. God, I really was acting young.

  I needed to remind myself that whatever this was with Jack, it was temporary, it had to be. Firstly, he would be leaving, and secondly, I had no business opening my heart up to any more agony. It was going to be hard enough to say goodbye when the time came. Throw
in a few more kisses and feelings, or worse ... ending up in his bed, and I may never get out of my bed again.

  Just then I heard voices. The sound of Jack’s deep and amused voice as well as the lilt of my best friend’s laugh.

  Damn, but I really should have been there to witness Jazz meeting Jack Eversea for the first time.

  I couldn’t help grinning as I stood and threw on my cover-up. Grabbing our towels and seeing Jack’s phone again, I finally gave in and picked it up, careful not to look at the screen. My eyes caught Audrey’s name though, and I glanced down again despite myself. I literally couldn’t help it; it was like a magnet. Words like “fix this,” and ... “thank you,” and ... “I love you too,” swam in front of me not making sense. Too?

  Either I was having a head rush from standing too quickly, or it was the words I was reading, but suddenly my vision blurred around the edges and I felt sharply nauseous.

  The issue wasn’t helped by the fact that Jack chose that exact moment to come out of the patio door above me. He was in mid-sentence when he saw me with his phone.

  I quickly held it out, swallowing the bile that threatened to come up.

  His face, that had initially flashed with concern, probably due to the fact I looked like I’d seen a ghost, went carefully and swiftly blank. He came down the stairs and slowly took the phone from my hand.

  I needed to leave and think about what I’d just read. Glancing at Jazz, I saw her smile fade, her eyes snapping back and forth between Jack and me in confusion.

  “Uh, Jazz. I was just getting ready to go.” I looked at her pointedly, hoping she would go along with this and not point out I had literally just told her to come over. “And ... uh ... ” I searched blindly for something that was important enough, when Jack stepped in.

  “Yeah, I got a bunch of scripts I need to read through,” he said, his tone polite, but agonizingly cool. “It was nice to meet you, Jazz. I’ll walk you guys out.”

  I tried to catch his eyes, but they skated over mine as he headed back the way they had come. Oh my God, he totally thought I’d been looking through his phone on purpose. I guess he interpreted my reaction as getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

  Well, I hadn’t meant to snoop. I wasn’t going to feel guilty about that. I thought maybe I should apologize anyway, but the other part of me was rationally saying he wouldn’t be mad if he had nothing to hide. Then again, this was Jack Eversea, who had to keep everything in his life hidden and private due to the nature of his work. I had a small twinge of understanding for him before my thoughts landed back on the text. He should be feeling guilty right now, and I had every right to feel the way I did.

  We got inside and I headed straight for the front door, pausing only to grab my backpack and shove my feet into my sneakers. My clothes in the laundry room would have to stay. I definitely wasn’t coming back for them. My hands shook. This needed to be over.

  I shouldn’t have been so surprised, but it turned out I had fallen hard and fast for Jack, and that one text had totally punched me in the gut. I was definitely not cut out for this. It would be tough, but I had to end this now. Regardless of Audrey Lane, I would never fit into his life so there was just no point in trying to save this situation. I shouldn’t have let it get this far. It was my own fault. It had been me who closed the distance and crossed the line.

  As I grabbed the bag and swung it onto my shoulder, I turned to him, and my stomach dipped. “I wasn’t snooping, Jack. I was bringing you your phone, but I couldn’t help read the text since it was right in front of my face. I apologize for whatever breach of privacy you think that violates. Clearly, I wasn’t aware of my boundaries as they pertain to you and your girlfriend while you’re trying to patch things up.” My heart squeezed as I made it over those last words. I went on, “So, I apologize for this morning.”

  Jack cocked his head to the side.

  “In the laundry room,” I clarified, in case he didn’t get exactly what I meant. “And in the pool,” I added, and saw his eyes narrow and his jaw tighten.

  Jazz cleared her throat. “I ... uh ... um, Keri Ann, I’ll wait for you outside. Nice to meet you again, Jack,” she said to him and turned for the door.

  “No, it’s okay, Jazz, I’m on my way out, too.” And I swung around to follow her. I half expected or hoped Jack would argue with me, but he didn’t.

  Then I remembered something and stopped. After digging around in my backpack, I pulled out the flyer I’d found at The Pig about their new online ordering and home delivery service. I held it out to him.

  Jack glanced at it, enough to read it, and didn’t move. He just stared at me, his face expressionless, a muscle ticking in his cheek.

  I set it down on the small glass coffee table and headed out the front door, stepping over the mound of boxes that had arrived.

  E I G H T E E N

  “What the hell was that about?” Jazz hissed at me as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

  I did the thing where I just look at her and hope to heck she gets it. She had seen a look of emotional pain on my face enough times to recognize the signs. I’m sure I probably resembled a kicked dog, but hey, I needed to lick my wounds.

  “Oh,” she said. Thank God, she was giving me a temporary pass on an explanation. “Hop in my car. I’ll borrow your bike to come back and get your truck ... because I freaking love exercising in eighty-five degree weather.”

  I stomped around to the passenger side of her yellow car and sank inside. Flinging the door closed, I dropped my head between my knees.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled toward the floor before I flopped my head back against the seat and buckled in.

  As we made our way the whole long three minutes to my house, Jazz glanced at me repeatedly.

  “Soooo ... awkward,” she sang. “You wanna tell me what just went down, coz for the love of roast fish and corn bread, I swear you just broke up with Jack-freakin-Eversea back there.” She paused, and then when I didn’t answer, slapped my knee. Hard.

  “Ow! Jeez! What was that for?”

  “Well, you weren’t talking so I was just checking. Oh, and also ... for ruining my first ever celebrity meeting. With Jack Eversea!” she yelled and then grinned. “I’m just kidding. Kind of. No, seriously I am,” she added at my raised eyebrows.

  I smiled in spite of myself. “Yeah, right.”

  “I know, I know. I still can’t believe he’s here in Butler Cove, first of all. And then that you met him, had an almost thing with him, and then dumped him before I even got a chance to ask him what he had tattooed on his glute.” She huffed. I knew she was trying to calm me down and cheer me up while still staying on the topic of Jack.

  “How do you know he has a tattoo on his glute?” I asked. I thought of the ink I had seen peeking out of his shorts when we were carrying the paddleboard down to the beach. Well, I wouldn’t be finding out either. I felt sick and a little bit empty, like I’d just lost my mother’s wedding band. And I knew that feeling because I did misplace it once. Now I wore it most days on a chain around my neck.

  “Apparently, he had it done during the filming of the first Erath movie, someone got a pic of him at the inkshop. But no one’s talking about what it is, not even the guy who did it. It’s a mystery. Although, obviously, Audrey Lane knows what it is. Shoot, sorry,” she added, at my slight wince.

  “It’s fine, I’m just annoyed you know so damned much about him. Ugh.”

  We were at the stop light by the Snapper Grill. There was no way I could sit around at home tonight. I needed to stay busy. I craned my neck to see down the side of the grill through the bushes to where the courtyard was and saw Brenda outside bussing a table.

  “Nuh uh!” said Jazz. “You are not working. We’re putting the lime in the coconut tonight and watching sappy movies.”

  Making margaritas and watching movies sounded like heaven and totally what I needed. Nothing with Jack Eversea in it, obviously.

  “Nothing with Jack Eversea in i
t. I know,” Jazz muttered like an echo. I turned to her and slapped her hard on the knee.

  “Ow! What was that for?”

  “For knowing me too damned well, too.” I grinned at her to show her I was okay. At least until we broke out the margaritas.

  She huffed dramatically and pulled onto the gravel of my driveway behind a van with a big flooring sign on it.

  That was odd, I thought I was doing roofs today. I looked over to Mrs. Weaton’s and saw a brand spanking new roof. Man, those guys worked fast. Not a moment too soon either, I thought, seeing the ominous clouds gathering overhead. I guess it was time for some tropical rain. I climbed out and went to investigate why there was a flooring company here.

  With the day I’d just had, nothing would surprise me. Or so I believed until I saw two men hauling a large piece of equipment out of my front door.

  “Um ... hi ... who are you?” I asked the big one closest to me.

  “I’m Chuck, this is Andy,” he responded with a jerk of a fat thumb behind him, as he informed me they had just finished sanding my floors.

  “Excuse me,” I managed. “I live here, and I didn’t hire anyone to sand the floors.”

  “Oh,” said the smaller one, I assumed this was Andy or whatever his name was. “Well, we got a prepaid order to do it, and that nice lady who lives in the cottage was expecting us. Anyway, we’re almost done, and we’ll be back to finish up and start the staining tomorrow. You just have to approve the color. Do you have somewhere you can stay during that time? You won’t be able to walk on the floors for about three days.”

  “What?” I was totally confused.

  Jazz came up and stood next to me. Apparently, she was the only one thinking clearly because she asked to see the invoice.