She pouted. “I’m not drunk. I have my wits about me, and I do want to date you.”
I rolled off and lay next to her, propping up my elbow to rest my head in my hand. “This is not how I envisioned our first date. Tell you what, if after our date tomorrow, you still see me as a hot guy you want to bone, then we can replay tonight minus you almost drowning.”
“Bone?”
“Jumanji?” I returned as I pinched her nipple.
Squealing, she jumped up, kissed my dick, which hadn’t lost its hardness, then trampled into the bathroom.
I sat up, shoving my hands through my hair. I was a jackass for turning her down. But as much as I wanted to be inside her, I had to be sure she knew what she was doing sans alcohol.
Chapter Seventeen
MONTANA
I opened my peepers only to slam them shut at the blinding sun pouring into the room. After a second, I bolted upright, surveying my surroundings. The living room was littered with people in sleeping bags. But the person next to me made my pulse kick into gear as though I’d had several cups of coffee.
I poked Train in the side. He groaned as he rolled over. Then he stretched out his arm, and before I could move, my front was pressed to his front, and oh my. He was as hard as he’d been last night. Oh shit. Last night. I wiggled to escape. Wait. I wanted him. He’d asked me out on a date. I swallowed the ball of fur in my throat. I’d sucked on his penis. We had gotten naked. Oh double shit. I’d almost drowned last night.
“Mmm. You smell good, even in the morning,” he said in a sleepy voice.
I gave up on my escape plans. I wanted him. He wanted me. And I wasn’t one to shy away. So I curled my arm underneath my head as I lay on my side. “Care to tell me how you ended up next to me? And what did you do with Reagan?” When I’d fallen asleep, Reagan and I had been talking. Elvira had gone home because her parents wanted her home for Sunday church service.
“She’s on the other side of me with Austin,” he said through half-lidded eyes.
I lifted up slightly to peek over Train. Austin winked at me, while Reagan slept in his arms. I could see why Reagan swooned over him. He was a looker, and those eyes of his sucked a person in.
Train tapped on my face. “I’m the one you should be drooling over.”
I returned to my position. “Jealous?”
He trailed a finger over my lips. “Something you should know about me—I don’t like when a girl’s eye strays or when a guy touches my girl.”
Whoa! “Am I your girl now?” I had been truthful when he asked me about Ferris. During my last tutoring session with Ferris, I’d given him my answer of no. In part because of Train, but also because Ferris didn’t give me a warm and fuzzy, not after I’d seen him and Nina together in the library that day.
A wolfish grin lit up Train’s handsome face. “I did a striptease for you. So yeah.”
Austin snickered. “Way to go, man.”
Train grinned.
My cheeks burned at the image of him taking off his clothes. “But we haven’t had a date yet.”
He leaned in. “You had your mouth around my dick,” he whispered. “So I would say we progressed a bit quickly to the dating phase.”
I rolled my eyes. “What now? Are you taking me surfing?”
“Nah. I need to make sure you can swim better than you did last night.” Concern filled his sea-green eyes.
“I’m sorry I scared you, and thank you again.” I rose up a little and peeked at Austin. “You too. Thank you.” I didn’t get a chance to thank him last night. Train had consumed my thoughts with how visibly shaken he’d been. Then when I’d finally dressed in dry clothes and went in search of Train and Austin, they were nowhere to be found. “By the way, you left me in your room. Then when I came out to the party, you were gone.” He’d asked me out. Then we had gotten naked. So I thought we would have at least snuggled up to the fire.
“I went for a walk down the beach. When I returned, you and Reagan were deep in a conversation. So I sat down by the fire with Austin. Then the next thing I see is you snoring on the floor.”
“Pfft. I don’t snore.”
A crease formed in between his eyebrows. “Why did you go down to the water?”
I huffed. “The area around the fire was hot, and I wanted to think. I thought dipping my toes into the water and listening to the ocean would be nice.” I shivered as I remembered getting swept in. I’d tried to get up, but the pull was too strong. Then I was under a wave, panicking, gulping down water.
I mashed by body into Train’s. “It was scary. I have this phobia of not being able to see what’s under me.”
He nibbled on my chin. “The only thing that should be under you is me.”
I wouldn’t argue with that.
He kicked off the blanket and stood, holding out his hand. “Come on.”
I skimmed my gaze over his muscled chest, arms, and abs. Yeah, he wasn’t wearing a shirt, but sadly, he was wearing swim trunks. The green swim trunks seemed to brighten his sea-green eyes.
“Baby, my hand.”
His pet name for me jarred me from my drooling state. “Baby?” I took his hand.
When I was upright, he buried his hands in my hair. “Not a fan of the word?”
“Whatever trips your trigger,” I teased. He could call me anything he wanted to as long as my body was flush with his.
He laughed.
“Hey, man,” Austin piped up. “Are you making breakfast?”
Train flicked his head at Reagan, who was just moving under the covers. “Go back to your girl. We’re taking a walk. Then we’ll talk about food.” Train ushered me outside.
Breakfast did sound good.
More bodies were cocooned in sleeping bags around the fireless pit. The sun sat slightly above the horizon, while the water was calm—a sharp contrast to the rough surf last night.
Train and I ventured down the desolate beach and walked along the shore, sinking our feet into the wet sand. The only sound for miles was the push and pull of the barely there waves that slid along the sand and, at times, over our feet. We meandered for about five minutes before I broke our silence.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked.
“You. Me. Us.”
“Again, you confuse me. You said you would tell me this morning why you changed your mind about me.”
He picked up a seashell. “If I’m being honest, you scare the fuck out of me. I’ve never met a girl like you.”
“I’m not sure how to take all that.”
His tone was genuine. He did like me. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have slept next to me. Even if he just wanted sex, he still had to at least like me. I couldn’t have sex with someone I didn’t like.
A seagull cawed overhead.
His eyes sparkled in the morning sun. “Nina was my world. I seriously thought I would marry her someday. We were inseparable. We’ve known each other since grade school, and it wasn’t until the ninth grade when we started dating. Then at the end of our junior year, I was in Charleston, visiting my dad. I was walking to my truck, when she came out of a nearby restaurant with a guy. I watched as she kissed him. When I confronted her, she said the guy was a friend of the family. You don’t tongue a guy who is a friend of the family. The kicker was I knew the guy. He’s the starting quarterback for Clemson, who wasn’t a friend of her family.”
“Elvira said you put him in the hospital?”
“After Nina and I broke up, she decided to show up to a party with the dude on her arm. I was drunk and lost my shit.” He stared out at the water.
I grasped his hand. “I can’t tell if you’re not over her or still hurt by her or both.”
He switched his gaze from the water to me. “Neither. But I was shocked when she showed up on the beach on the first day of school. Over the summer, her father took a job in Florida, but I guess that didn’t work out. I thought I didn’t have to see her at all during my senior year or ever.”
“Hence wh
y you’ve been cranky,” I said.
“I’d sworn off girls this year. But that lasted all of two weeks.” He chuckled. “Some blonde who thinks she owns the universe blew into computer class and blindsided me.”
His admission explained why he’d been pushing me away.
He snaked an arm around my back. “I do like you. You have this personality that attracts me to you, and you have a way of getting me to do things I would never do.”
A butterfly winged in my stomach, but I tamped it down. “You mean like stripping.”
“Fuck. I would’ve never done that with another girl. Not to mention that weight room scene. That’s not me, although your mom’s book spurred me on.”
I slipped my fingers just inside the band of his swimsuit. “Why did you get spooked in the weight room?”
He sucked in a breath. “I was making moves your mom wrote. It was weird.”
“So I guess we’re dating now,” I said.
“Is that your answer?” he asked.
After everything we’d been through, especially last night in his room, God yes. But just to seal the deal, I grabbed his hard-on. “Yes.”
He lowered his eyelids then quickly removed my hand. “And Ferris isn’t going to be a problem?”
I giggled. “Don’t like my hand on your boner?”
His teeth sank into his bottom lip. “I’d rather have your mouth. But back to Ferris.”
“Ferris isn’t a problem, but he is my tutor.”
He made a noise in the back of his throat.
“Train, there’s something you should know about me. I was hurt by a guy once. He broke up with me to play the field. So I’m as scared as you. Let’s date and have fun. If sex happens, then it happens. But just so you know, I love sex, and I’m not a virgin.”
He lost the jealous attitude and smirked. “You say the boldest things.”
“So how about a lesson in swimming?” I asked. “If we’re going to date, I guess I should learn to like the water, but only if you’re with me.” I wasn’t sure if I could get over my phobia of not seeing what was below me, but I was willing to try with him.
“Come on. Let’s eat first. Austin gets cranky when he doesn’t eat.”
Two hours later, after our food had digested, Train and I were in the ocean in an area where we could see and touch the bottom. We hadn’t gone far out at all. He’d been watching me swim and teaching me the different swim strokes. Again, I could swim but not to save my life. Train said that was because I was panicking. But after an hour of the doggie paddle and regular swim strokes, I was tired.
He grasped my waist and lifted me in his arms. My legs went around his waist, while I locked my hands behind his neck with my front pressed to his front. We floated out a little ways until I couldn’t see the bottom.
“Okay, time to go in,” I said.
“This is where you need to learn.”
“It freaks me out that I can’t see the bottom.”
He pulled out a set of swimmer’s goggles. “Put these on. Then take a peek.”
He held me while I slipped on the goggles. Then I dipped underwater. All I could see was a sandy bottom and nothing else. I popped up.
His cheeks were getting sunburned. “Nothing to worry about. Right?”
I lifted a shoulder as I lowered the goggles, letting them hang around my neck. “I still need you to hold me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“So I can do this.” I jumped into his arms and kissed him.
He clutched my hips, then his tongue was in my mouth. He tasted salty but oh so good. I melted into him, letting him take as much as he wanted. He grabbed a handful of my hair with one hand and gently cupped my face with the other as we floated.
My hands slid around his neck, and I dug my fingers in to hold on for whatever ride he was taking me on, and he was teasing my tongue, willing me to engage. I was in heaven, letting him have his way.
“Kiss me, baby,” he said, biting on my lip.
I mewled in time with the sound of the seagulls overhead. I sucked on his tongue until he was groaning and pressing his hips into me. As we kissed and groped in the ocean, I knew without a doubt that I would fall for Train Everly.
Chapter Eighteen
TRAIN
Football practice had finished up, and I was jogging around the track, doing more laps than Coach had ordered. Four days had passed since I gave Montana swimming lessons. She wasn’t as bad at swimming as she’d made it sound. The fun part was making out while we were floating in the water. I’d wanted to take her back to my room, but I didn’t want to rush things. And if I were being honest, I was afraid to do more than kiss and grope because the minute I was inside her was the minute I would be a goner.
I checked my watch. I had about thirty minutes before I met Montana. She was in her tutoring session with Ferris. I wasn’t exactly pleased, but I couldn’t order her not to work with Ferris. I could tutor her, but we probably wouldn’t get any work done, and I had to trust her, though I was having a hard time. Besides, Ferris had the smarts to make valedictorian. I did as well, and I understood why Salvatore had partnered me up with Montana. He wanted me to help her since her grades were nothing to write home about.
The sun burned my back as I jogged the last lap. Then I slowed to a walk, regulating my breathing as I collected my football gear. When I started for the showers, I spotted my old man waving at me on the other side of the goalpost.
He slipped his hand into the pocket of his khakis. “I talked to the USC scout.”
My heart punched my ribs. “And?”
“He hasn’t said yes yet, but your scholarship looks promising. He wants to see how the next two or three games go.”
I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my T-shirt. “Is he hung up on something with me?” Maybe I wasn’t as sharp as I should have been. I’d also gotten sacked twice in the first game, although I’d played a great game last week.
Lines fanned out underneath his green eyes. “Nothing like that, son. Scouts just like to be sure, and the football coach wants to see the tapes of your games again. My advice is to play like you did last week.”
I had thrown four touchdowns and hadn’t gotten sacked. But we had six games left in the season.
“I got to run,” I said. “I’m meeting Montana. We’re having dinner with Mom.”
His tanned forehead creased. “You’re dating again?”
“Is that a problem?”
He fiddled with his car keys. “Don’t let your head wander from the game because of a girl. You know what happened last year with Nina.”
I couldn’t argue too much with him. Nina had driven me to drink many times last year. But Montana wasn’t Nina. Montana didn’t nag like Nina. Montana didn’t whine, either.
I clutched my helmet guard. “I got a handle on things.”
His tone was even. “I hope so, son. The USC scholarship is important, and I’m not bailing you out again. I’ve used all my favors with the USC sports director.”
My insides twisted into a knot. “You know, Dad, if anyone is going to screw with my head, it’s you. You ride my ass constantly about football. ‘You didn’t throw the ball right. You should’ve thrown the ball to so and so. You can’t make plays like that and expect the scouts to give you high marks.’” My voice was shaky.
He grabbed the back of his neck, one of the signs that I was hitting a nerve or he was getting pissed. But I wasn’t hanging around to get into a huge argument. A blowout fight with my dad would put me in a terrible mood, and I had a date with my mom and my girl, although it felt good to finally get that off my chest.
“I got to run. I need a shower before I meet Montana. I’ll see you at the game tomorrow.” I jogged up to the school and went directly to the showers, stewing over how a conversation with my old man could go from zero to sixty in two seconds flat. I understood that he was busting his ass to help me get that scholarship, but man, he wasn’t about to tell me who I could or could
not date.
After I washed off the sweat and anger then dressed, I darted through the empty school halls. Montana had told me to meet her in the library. Before I went in, I glanced through the window above the door and stiffened. Ferris was way too close to my girl as he leaned in close to her, pointing to something in her notebook. I swallowed a lump in my throat as red coated my vision. Dude, don’t go ballistic. Your old man just warned you about girls and that football scholarship.
“Mr. Everly,” a deep baritone voice said from behind me. “Are you lurking?”
I spun around to find Principal Flynn heading toward me. “No, sir. Just waiting on Montana.”
He settled in front of me, his large gut protruding out while he loosened his tie. “Good. I’d planned on talking to her tomorrow, but since she’s here…”
My antenna went up. “Is something wrong?”
“Not sure. Do you know who could’ve painted your name on the locker room door?”
I thought that incident had blown over. It had happened two weeks ago. The graffiti had been cleaned, and word from Coach was that the administration had no suspects. “No, sir. Do you think Montana did it?”
He regarded me from his six eight height. “Do you know if she did?”
I didn’t get a chance to answer, when Montana came out of the library with Ferris. She swung her confused gaze from the principal to me. “What’s going on?”
Fear washed over Ferris’s face.
“Let’s take a walk, Montana,” Principal Flynn said.
Her sun-kissed cheeks paled. “Can Train come with us?”
Principal Flynn’s loafers clicked along the floor. “If you don’t mind him listening to our conversation.”
“Go,” I said to Montana. “I’ll catch up in a minute.”
She joined the principal.
I blocked Ferris. “Why do you look like you’re guilty of something?”
He pursed his lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I swear, dude. If I catch you trying anything with Montana, I’ll shave that spike right off your head.” I almost threw him up against the wall, but Montana’s voice was fading, and I was curious to hear the conversation with Principal Flynn. I sneered at Ferris before I took off.
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