“Sure. Surfing sounds great. Cork would love it.” She shrugged, and I knew there was more behind her agreement than she was letting on. “But don’t you have to go into the studio today?”
“Not this early.” I pointed upstairs with my chin. “Is Cork already up?”
“Not yet,” she said. “But he was stirring when I slipped out and came down here.”
“How about I go get him and your gear while you finish up here?” I raised one brow. “Sound good?”
“Yeah, it does actually.” Her eyes shone bright. “Here.” She slipped a bracelet key ring from her wrist and handed it to me.
“Great,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I tightened my abs, which caused her cheeks to blush. I wanted to give her something to think about—me—while she gardened. As I jogged up the stairs, my mood was lighter than before.
Lotus might be with Saber, but she wasn’t unaffected by me. I could work with that. I had to. While she remained with him, it was my only play.
Lotus
MY EYES BURNING, I stared at Journey. He was impossible to ignore.
In the confined space under the stairs, his heat and the alluring fresh ocean-spray scent of him filled me with so much longing, I trembled. Adding in the fact that he was shirtless, and I was in sensual overload. He looked like a sea god on land with all those chiseled muscles and the sun highlighting his colorful ink. I wondered about the stories behind the tattoos, about him, as the gentle breeze sifted through his wavy hair like I wanted to.
As I stood in the entrance to my dressing cave, Journey was seated on a rock beside Cork only a couple of feet away. He listened intently, his thickly lashed eyes squinted, his brow creased. I could hear the murmur of Cork’s voice, but not what he was saying.
While they’d been talking, I’d managed to wiggle into my bright fuchsia bikini, but I’d gotten sidetracked from putting on my wet suit because of the view. Not the beach view, though it was stunning. Gray rocks, blue sea, azure sky—early morning at the cliffs was breathtaking and peaceful, but it wasn’t what captivated me. Watching the man who did captivate me, I managed to get one leg of my wet suit on.
My brother was talking Journey’s ear off, but he didn’t seem to mind. Journey was patient and attentive, just like he’d been on the walk over—after an initial moment of awkwardness where Cork had looked to me for a clue how to respond to us hanging out with Journey again. I’d smiled and said something inane about looking forward to surfing. At that, Cork had relaxed and gone right back to treating Journey like a long-lost friend, the way he did before interrupting our almost-something at the showers.
“Man, I like your brother.”
It was obvious Journey really did. In the short time he’d been here, Journey had already given Cork more attention than Saber ever had. He also respected Cork, and my brother ate up that attention and respect faster than he guzzled his favorite lime-favored mineral water. I didn’t like that my issues had come between them. I was going to have to figure out a way to control the yearning. Journey had moved on, and I needed to as well.
“You need some help?” Journey had sneaked up on me while I’d been lost in my thoughts . . . of him. He stepped toward me, and I backed up into the cave.
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve got everything under control.” Which was a lie, a big one. I was completely at a loss for control where he was concerned.
“I’m happy to be of assistance.” His voice rumbled off the sandstone walls, the acoustic vibrations almost studio quality in the confined space. He moved closer, his colossal form blocking most of the sun streaming in the entrance, but what remained silhouetted him, lending more mysticism to his already godlike aura.
“I don’t think you touching me is a good idea.” I gulped, remembering what had happened the last time he’d offered to help me.
“Probably right.” He came closer, beams of light cascading into the darkness in his wake as if he commanded it. Not a sea god, but a sun god. “If I touch your soft skin, it’s not going to be surfing that I’ll have in mind.”
“Don’t,” I said, breathing hard. If he touched me, I would give in.
“Don’t tell you how sexy you are.” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell you how much I want you. Don’t tell you I couldn’t sleep at all last night because I was thinking about you.”
He placed his hands on my arms, gripping them firmly. The skin-to-skin connection sizzling, he swept his appreciative gaze over me. My body reacted as if he’d stripped me naked. Beneath my bikini, my breasts swelled, my nipples puckered, and my pussy throbbed.
“Journey, I—”
“I want you back in my bed, Lotus.” He growled low, and I felt it between my legs. “Don’t you want that too?”
“Yes, I do.” I responded honestly without thinking, a problem for me whenever he was around.
“Right.” His eyes flaring, he walked me backward.
With only one leg inside my wet suit, I dragged the rest of it along with me. It would have been comical, except I was too turned on to be amused.
“Gonna kiss you,” Journey said, and my body flashed hot in anticipation.
I placed my hands on his chest, a wall harder than the sandstone one behind me. Drawing me to him by my upper arms, he lowered his head. I aimed my mouth for his chiseled lips. His thick mustache brushed my skin first, making it tingle, and then my lips.
His mouth touched mine, a press of his firm lips to my softly compliant ones. Together, they were a seamless perfect fit. I closed my eyes, giving in to the sensations. My entire body was molten, my skin stretched too thin to contain all the heat inside me.
“Open,” he said softly, and I did.
His breath was a stream of air in my mouth before his tongue filled it. My legs trembled as our tongues danced together to an erotic tune. I clutched his arms. His muscles were solid steel, his skin coppery but hot, like it had absorbed all the heat of the sun.
“Lotus!” Cork shouted.
Journey and I broke apart. Well, our mouths unfused, and I stared up at him in wonder. Every kiss he gave me was more potent than the last. Holding me by my upper arms, he stared down at me as if he were starving. For me.
“This isn’t over,” Journey rasped.
His grip on my upper arms was even tighter than it had been before. His hair shadowed his eyes. But even with the shadows, I could tell that they glowed with an intensity that matched my own.
“C’mon, guys!” Cork shouted again. “Let’s surf!”
“No, it’s not over,” I said low to Journey, not shying away from the truth. His desire was my desire. Why shouldn’t I kiss Journey or do whatever the hell I wanted while Saber considered whether I was worth his time or not? “But not here.”
“Come to my apartment tonight.” Journey’s eyes narrowed. “After Cork’s asleep.”
His apartment. I remembered Tess. Was it my turn tonight?
“I don’t think that would be—”
“Don’t think,” he said quickly. “Come. I’ll leave my door unlocked. You won’t even have to knock, just come on in. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Storm
LOTUS POPPED UP into her stance, her form on the board nearly as flawless as her brother’s. Straddling my board, I floated on the surface of the water like Cork did, both of us watching her.
I followed her intently, noting everything. Her long braid, the crease of concentration between her brows, her outstretched slender arms, her shapely legs slightly bent, and the turn of her hips as she cut back hard, unleashing her fins.
“You like my sister,” Cork said.
“Yes, I do.” I gave him an emotionally honest reply like she would without glancing away from her. Currently, she was hopping on her board, pumping the last bit of power from her wave.
“Thank you for being honest.”
I turned away from watching Lotus’s tits bounce to look at her brother, feeling a little guilty about the direction of my thoughts. “I promised
you I would be.” It was as simple as that. “I’m not in the habit of making promises I don’t keep.”
“Not everyone takes promises seriously.” Cork’s brow creased, deepening the scar between his eyes.
“Meaning your mother returning to Thailand?” I asked softly.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I don’t really remember all that, but Lotus does. I’m surprised she told you about it. She doesn’t talk much about it anymore.”
Did Lotus tell me . . . Journey . . . about it? Or did she tell Storm? I thought back, replaying our recent conversations. I wasn’t sure.
“My dad being gone hurts her more.”
“She cared about him deeply.” I put enough question in my tone that I wouldn’t get trapped into knowing something Journey couldn’t know.
“They were close. She loves growing things like he did. Plus, she’s Lotus, open and caring like our dad was.” Cork’s eyes narrowed, searching mine.
“I know she is. It’s not only how pretty she is that intrigues me,” I said, not shying away from his gaze.
His eyes brightened. “She’s beautiful like our mom, but with a heart like our dad’s. A lot of guys are into her. She doesn’t usually notice, but she’s noticed you.”
“There’s something between us, Cork. It’s difficult to explain.” I couldn’t tell him about LA, but he probably already suspected something, based on the animosity between Saber and me. “She steers wherever anything goes between us. I’m not taking from her anything she doesn’t want to give.”
“Too often she overconnects with people.”
“How so?” I leaned forward, my hands tight on the rails of my board. Lotus had finished her ride and collapsed backward into the waiting embrace of the sea.
Oh, to be the sea right now.
But I shifted my attention from her to concentrate on her brother. Any truths Cork was willing to share about his sister, I wanted to know.
“She gives away too much of what’s inside her heart, what she thinks, how she feels.”
I could see that. She was the opposite of me. I’d noted it when we were kids. Though her tendency to overshare seemed accelerated now.
“She doesn’t say so.” Cork’s blue-green gaze took on a thoughtful glow. “But I think she feels like she has to make up for some shortcoming she doesn’t have. Maybe it all goes back to our mom leaving.”
I stilled, my muscles as solid as my polyurethane board. That was an insightful observation coming from anyone, especially a boy his age. But then again, Cork had been through a lot at a young age like me. In many ways, he reminded me of myself.
I’d been isolated in my own family, never really fitting in, then isolated by choice while out in the world on my own. Cork was isolated because of his accident and only close to his sister. Consequently, he knew her well. Better than Saber, for sure. As well as I did, once upon a time.
“I think abandonment stuff like that affects girls more than boys.” Though after I spoke, I felt a check inside myself.
My father’s rejection had affected me deeply. My mother had tried to make up the difference, lavishing me with her affection when she thought he didn’t notice, but he noticed and it hadn’t helped. In fact, I think her extra attention had made my old man hate me more, and made both my siblings resent me. I was shocked Saber remembered me fondly. But maybe my perception had misconstrued reality.
“Yeah, Lotus more than most girls, probably because of the way her heart is wired.” Cork studied me a long beat while the ocean roared steadily around us. “Just promise me that if you start something with her, and she agrees to it, that you won’t leave her feeling like less than she was before that start.”
“I promise,” I said, agreeing without hesitation. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Lotus.
Cork nodded approvingly. “I believe you.”
“Why?” I asked, my mind zipping off in another direction. “Why believe me at all?”
“I like you. You shoot straight. I can tell that my sister has you tied up in knots. For what it’s worth, you have her tied up in knots too.” Studying me, Cork tilted his head to the side, and water dripped from the ends of his hair to his shoulders. “I get the idea that you’re a lot like me. We sit back. We watch. We consider. When there aren’t a lot of people in your life, you have a lot of time to observe.”
“True.” Sadly true for both of us, observing and watching the world go by, instead of interacting with it. This was depressing, and I noticed Lotus paddling closer. “Maybe we should talk about something else.”
Cork’s gaze sharpened. “Sure.”
I think he noticed his sister too, and wondered how much he’d picked up on in all that observation time of his.
“So,” he said, his tone lighter. “OB Hardy’s new single. Have you given any thought to how to improve it?”
I shook my head. Almost all my thoughts were on Lotus. “Who told you it needs to be improved?”
“No one, really. I just heard it and can tell it’s missing something.” He shrugged, and his gaze flicked to Lotus before returning to me. “I was playing around with the chords the other day on Ash’s Fender. I think it would sound really good with an off-kilter hook at the beginning.”
“One that can be carried throughout the song.” Giving that some consideration, I nodded my agreement. “Like a Blink-182 song?”
“Exactly. Great group.” He bobbed his head.
“Do you have a hook in mind?” My music-loving heart started beating faster. I knew from our previous discussions about music that Cork played the drums and bass, and that we liked the same bands.
“I do, actually.”
“Wanna come into the studio with me today after this and show me?”
He gave me a big grin. “I’d love that.”
“Now wait a minute,” Lotus said, splashing saltwater all over my plan as she motored close, kicking her legs behind her board. “Saber doesn’t like outsiders in the studio during rehearsal. Anyway, Cork and I have stuff to do today.”
Cork’s lips flattened. “You can do that by yourself or with Sophia.”
“You trying to dump me?” she asked, her brow creasing.
“Let him come along with me, babe,” I said. “I enjoy his company, and he just might have what the song needs. How’s Saber gonna have a problem with that?”
Lotus didn’t answer, but her eyes clouded like they had several times this morning. Thinking back, I realized that she’d looked sad whenever Saber’s name was mentioned. Was there trouble in their paradise?
“It’s trash day today. I need to scan all the alleys for driftwood and discarded stuff for my business before my shift at the Deck Bar tonight.” She was rambling, and all that sounded like excuses.
My bullshit radar went on high alert.
“You do whatever you need to do,” I said. “Cork and I will hang together, and then I’ll take him back to your place after.”
“I’m going with Journey.” Cork took the matter into his own hands, and both our heads swiveled in his direction. “I might have trouble with some things, but I’m not a little kid. I can make my own decisions about how I want to spend my day.”
Storm
HER HAIR IN a wet braid, Lotus came out of her dressing room cave, wearing a denim pair of overalls and a white tube top that looked amazing with her tanned skin. Sadly, the sun was too high beyond the cliffs to spotlight her like I thought it should.
“Ready?” I asked, studying her closely and noting shadows were back in her eyes.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I just need to slip on my flip-flops.” Her footwear was on the concrete landing by the stairs. She started babbling concerns one after another about Cork as we ascended the steps single file—her first, then me, then Cork.
“Can you watch our boards for me?” I asked, making eye contact with Cork when we reached the top. I laid Lotus’s board and mine against the metal railing.
“Sure.” He crossed his arms over his chest, looking pl
eased to be given the responsibility.
“I need to talk to you a sec.” I pulled Lotus aside, dragging her by her upper arm several feet away from Cork. She glanced back at him when I stopped. “He’s almost a man.”
I put my other hand on her other arm, holding her in place. I wasn’t sure she was going to like what I said, but it still needed to be said.
“You gotta give him some breathing room, babe.”
“I know, but I can’t.” She bit down on her lip. “The edge of the cliff is just on the other side of that railing.”
“I know it is.” I searched her wary eyes, just barely able to resist skimming my thumbs over the soft skin of her upper arms. “But he has a task. He’s not going to spontaneously decide to do something dangerous.”
“What do you know about it?” She cocked her head, her expression not confrontational but contemplative.
“I watch. I observe. It’s part of my loner nature, as Cork insightfully pointed out today.”
Her lips curved, but her gaze wasn’t on me. It was on her brother.
“He’s smart,” I said, pressing my point.
“He is.”
“And you gotta give him some credit for that.”
“But—”
“But nothing,” I said, cutting her off. “He’s got his whole life in front of him. You gotta let him see what he can do, not hold him back because of the things he can’t.”
Her brow furrowed. “The restrictions are to keep him safe.”
“Too many restrictions will stifle him. Cars and surfing, I agree those activities require supervision. But too many beyond that, and he’ll get frustrated. Like he did earlier when you almost didn’t let him go with me. He doesn’t need to be restricted from hanging out with a friend.”
As she searched my features, I held perfectly still, allowing her that time. I wasn’t in a hurry. I was perfectly content just to hold her.
“Maybe you’re right,” she said.
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