Stone (The Elite Forces Series Book 3)

by Kathy Coopmans

  What the fuck ever. I’m ready for this talk whenever he is. The sooner the better. Like I said to myself earlier, our situation may be entirely different than the way he was when he first demanded I keep my distance from Jade. I’m fucked up, I’ll admit it to anyone, but he will not interfere with this.

  We make it past the deck and gated entry to our private little bungalow, then we’re surrounded by beach and naked bodies, but even more so the sound of water rushing up the beach. The sun will be setting soon, and it shines very proudly across the water.

  “It’s breathtaking.” Emmy sounds amazed by the view, and in all the times I’ve watched her, seeing her take all of this in makes me smile. She’s obviously never seen anything like it, and even though I’ve been all over the world, this would be listed as one of the most captivating scenic memories to date.

  “Let’s set our stuff here,” Jade proclaims after we walk down a small wooden bridge that leads to the sandy beach. The beach is crowded as fuck. I feel my heart thunder in my chest as I take them all in. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around people other than at the compound, but I’ll be damned the minute I look around seeing the happy couples I feel better. Although some of them are naked with their junk hanging out, a few with sculpted bodies, while most aren’t, others are covered up in everything from scraps that barely cover their bodies to fully clothed. I find it doesn’t bother me seeing how carefree they are. How easily they mill about like they should be. Happy, in love, and having a damn good time.

  “Don’t you have to rent these things or something?” Emmy asks, then unties some see-through thing from around her waist I never knew she put on.

  “If you would have read the brochures in the room that stated these are reserved for guest of the hotel on a first come, first served basis and instead of heading straight for the bed, maybe you would have noticed.” Kaleb scowls at me as he responds to Emmy. Yeah, our talk needs to happen now, or this sour puss with his forehead all crinkled is going to fucking blow.

  I direct my head toward the water when Jade looks my way, hoping she gets the hint to take Emmy down there. She nods, then closes her mouth that was ready to strike out at Kaleb. Emmy on the other hand says, “I love you, Kaleb, but one more goddamn remark like that and I will knock you on your ass. Come on, Jade. I need a drink, my toes in the sand, and a walk.” We both watch them walk away. The minute they’re out of our earshot, I let out a laugh I didn’t even know I was holding in.

  “I’m not sure why you’re laughing, you asshole.” He folds his arms over his chest as if he’s supposed to be intimidating me.

  I shrug before I speak and sit down at the end of one of the lounge chairs and tell him like it is. “Listen, Kaleb. I get the need for you to want to protect her; in fact, I’d think less of you if you didn’t. I won’t lie to you either, man, she knows where my head’s at and I’ve made sure to be upfront and honest about what I can be. She also realizes I’m not sure I can give her what she deserves. Emmy’s a good woman. I can tell she wants more from me than what my heart is willing to give her right now. Don’t be a dick and ruin the few days we have to have fun. Who the hell knows what kind of shit storm is in store for us when we talk to this woman. Let it go for now.” He stands there watching the two of them as do I as they walk from the bar with a fruity cocktail in their hand, not looking our way once as they head straight for the water.

  “It’s easy for you to sit there and tell me that, Harris. She’s my sister. Once this is over, I’ll be the one picking her broken heart up off the ground if she falls for you. Not you. Not Jade. Me.” He points at his chest. “On top of all that, we work together. I need you on this team. You fuck her over, and I don’t give a shit how good you are, you’ll be gone.” I want to tell him that’s bullshit. She won’t be hurt and she’ll go back to school where she’ll find a man who appreciates her and forget about me. I can’t though. He knows it.

  As far as my place on this team, it’s a risk I’m going to take. I sit there letting his words soak in before I say anything more. We watch her walk right into the water with no fear as the waves crash into her, making her giggle. She’s far enough away to where I can’t hear her laugh, but in my mind I can. That’s when it hits me like a solid brick to the head. She’s the first person who has drawn a laugh out of me since my life fell apart. The first person I’ve wanted to spend time with. And honest to fucking God, the first woman that after hearing those words from Kaleb, I would give anything to not have her heart crumble to the floor for the simple fact I would much rather keep it beating in her chest and a smile on her face.

  “Give me time, brother. I need time to get to know her and time to figure this whole thing out. I’m not the type of guy to dump her on your doorstep and say, ‘Here you go, clean up my mess.’ I like her, and that’s all I can give you until I find out who stole my soul from me. Until then, I don’t have one to give to her or anyone.” I glare up at him, taken aback by the strange look on his face as he’s standing there staring down at me.

  What the hell kind of look is that? He sits and lowers his head. I feel his pain for me and this whole fucked-up situation. It’s fucked up, all of it. From to the reason we’re all here right down to the fact I’m sitting here telling a brother I may or may not be using his sister for sex. I half expected him to go off on me and try to beat my ass. I sure as hell can’t blame him if he takes a swing at me right now. He doesn’t though. He exhales, lifts his head, and looks at me.

  “You know what I think?” He lifts both of his brows, while one corner of his mouth quirks up in some fucked-up, cocky lift.

  “Not really.” I challenge him. It doesn’t matter if I don’t want to hear what he has to say or not. He’s as stubborn and bullheaded as I am, the type of guy who says whatever the hell he wants to say whether you want to hear it or not.

  “Tough shit, fucker. I saw the way you were watching her just now. You can’t keep your eyes off of her. In the past few minutes, you told me you didn’t have a soul. A man with no soul would not be sitting here with an older brother trying to convince him to give him time. He would say, ‘Fuck you, Maverick.’ So here’s my take on you not having a soul. I think my sister is good for you. You may have started off by using her, but you’re full of shit if you think you’re trying to tell me you’re only using her now.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  EMMY

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on between you two?” Jade snaps her fingers in my face, drawing my attention away from Kaleb and Beau. I can see from where we’re standing at the beachfront bar that they’re talking. Beau is sitting, while my brother is staring out into the water. His stiff shoulders are unyielding. If he starts a fight, I swear I will knee him in his crotch and try to drop him to the ground. I haven’t done it in years, but I won’t hesitate to try. He wouldn’t fight me on it anyway. He never did.

  “We’re fucking,” I tell her truthfully.

  “Well, no shit. What I want to know is where your head is in this, Emmy. He’s messed up. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Her hand gestures toward the two of them.

  I sigh. It’s hopeless to try and hide the way I feel from her. Besides, it would do me good to be able to talk to someone, especially now that they both know.

  “I may get hurt, Jade. It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I like the guy. I also know he’s living in hell. How could he not be? That man will never get over the loss that some sick people caused him. He never will.”

  “You can’t push him,” she cuts me off before I spill those exact words out of my mouth.

  “I’m not. Look,” I say, then grab my Margarita from the bartender and turn back around to face her. “He and I have done as much talking as we have fucking. I know where he stands, he knows where I stand. I’m taking it one day at a time. Right now, what I’m going to do until we get down to helping him find the closure he needs, is take his mind off of it all. I may be a bitch for doing so, but that man over there, I
take that back, both of those men over there deserve to have a good time. Now, I appreciate you caring about me, I really do. It makes me love the relationship you and I have more. If I need you, I promise to come to you. Right now though, I have a plan to get those two to have some fun. Are you with me?” I grab her hand away from the prowling eyes of the bartender. His gaze is glued to my chest, and I smile tightly as we turn and walk away, my toes stinging from the hot, white sand.

  My voice is exceptionally low as we laugh over how to get those two in the water with us. This is me venturing into a territory I’ve never thought about before. The idea itself sends heat that doesn’t come from the sun down my spine and spots in the center of my core. It’s daring and erotic, and I’m ready to see what the two of them will do.

  “You ready? I may not see you until tomorrow morning after this.” Jade juts her hip out, places her empty hand on her hip, and drains her drink. I watch my brother out of the corner of my eye. His head follows her every move as she takes my empty cup from me, and I dip my body into the water and untie the string from around my neck, giving it a slight tug to loosen the string at my back.

  She nods her head, walks up the beach, and tosses our cups into the trash, then starts to run toward the deserted part of the beach. I laugh my ass off as her top flings in the air right along with my brother jumping up like a brute force to be reckoned with. She really wants to be spanked like she said. I cringe, my mind not going there, because, well, it’s my brother.

  “Don’t you dare stand up, or I swear I will bare your ass right here and turn it as red as half of these people’s burnt skin.” Kaleb is yelling at Jade, while Beau just crosses his arms over his chest. His stance is wide as my eyes roam down his body, landing on the ridge of his thick cock through his board shorts.

  A wise teacher once told our class to never taunt an angry bear. I never listened to her boring speeches about animals in biology class. At the time, I was more interested in the natural science of the teenage boys in my class. This man standing at the edge of the water is definitely not a boy. No. He’s all man. Thick, bulging arms, abs that have my mouth dry and desperately wanting to lick the salt from the ocean that’s splattering on them the closer he gets to me with every step he takes.

  “You wouldn’t dare.” I challenge him with a gleam in my eye that says I crave for him to slap my ass red.

  “I would, and you damn well know it.” He’s within touching distance of me. I taunt him by leaning back into the water, submerging every part of me except my painfully swelled breasts. My nipples are hard in spite of the heat beating down from the sun.

  “Fuck.” He reaches for me before I get the chance to stand, a wave crashing over me, towing me under. He lifts my coughing body right out of the water, tosses me over his shoulders, and slaps my ass hard as he stomps through the throes of people who seem to find this funny.

  “You asked for it. I told you to keep that on. No one, and I mean not even the old, wrinkled-up man over there with a bright-yellow speedo on is going to see this body. I’m going to fuck you until you listen.” His words storm out of his mouth all the way to our room. They’re still rumbling out even after he rips my bottoms off me, tosses me on the bed, and fucks me until I promise him I won’t take it off again.

  Fine. I promise…For now, anyway.

  ~~~~

  “I’ve never been on a Jet Ski before. Are the two of you sure you can handle them?” Kaleb extends a hand to Jade, guiding her on the back of his like the instructor told him while my comment lures a teasing smile out of the guy who is rapidly stealing my breath away.

  Last night flashes through my mind. Not the sex, although we did that enough times that I can say I shouldn’t be turned on by his flashing smile or the way he scopes out my body. This skimpy black bikini I bought in the resort shop to replace the one he tore from my body actually looks better on me anyway. I’m so sore I can barely stand. Riding on the back of this isn’t going to help the throb between my legs, that’s for sure, but for him I’ll endure the delicious pain as long as it keeps that magnificent smile growing.

  “I handled you last night, quite thoroughly,” he whispers, then reaches for my hand.

  “You did? I thought it was the other way around.” I grip the handles on the side and scoot my ass back far enough to allow him to hop on. My body fits against his perfectly.

  When Kaleb starts his up, the roar of the engine drowns out Beau’s next words that should make me blush. Instead, it zips a reminding pleasure so achingly painful through my body that if he doesn’t start this damn thing, I’m changing my mind so we can go back and do it all over again.

  “I’m not the one who lay spread eagled with her hands and feet tied to the bed and a towel stuffed in her mouth to stop her from screaming while I ate her sweet pussy for an hour straight before I untied her legs, whipped her around on all fours, and fucked her until she came twice, then marked her ass with my cum. That was you. Now hold on.” I take in a sharp breath and let out an even harsher one when we speed off away from the dock. My arms slide from the handles to tightly wind around his waist.

  “Oh my God,” I scream loudly after we slow down enough to break over the waves and hit the dark-blue water. The Jet Ski flies through the air over a wave caused by a boat, which scares the shit out me. We land hard on the water, and my ass smacks against the plastic. An explosive laugh rumbles from underneath the lifejacket Beau has on. The thing is plastered to his body so tightly I can’t touch his skin. I may look like a cheesy, stupid fool with my own smile across my face, but I really don’t care. He can’t fake this. He really is having a good time. I glance over to Jade, who like me has a smile on her face as she stares with happiness at her best friend. We glance at each other briefly, both obviously thinking the same thing.

  There are boats everywhere. Beau and Kaleb are soaring past them all. We head farther out and away from all the hustle of the touristy beaches and the potential agony that awaits us tomorrow when we all sit down for this meeting. All of it is left behind as I let the wind whip my hair out of my ponytail with my arms hugging him and my lungs inhaling the fresh, salty air.

  I let go of him briefly to push my hair out of my face at the exact same time my brother slows down, signaling Beau to do the same.

  “Jade and I are going to head this way.” Kaleb hikes his thumb to the left of him.

  “Go ahead. We’ll go the other way,” Beau hollers back. We wait until they’ve whipped around before he tells me why he decided to go in the opposite direction.

  “I found a cove on the map when you were in the shower after breakfast. It’s secluded. They need privacy too. You good with that?” He covers my hand with his. God, what am I doing? Even the smallest gesture, like him asking me if I’m okay with doing something he wants or the way he touches me has my heart leaping out of my chest.

  “I’m good with it. Let’s go,” I say truthfully.

  “Secluded is right.” I look back behind us to see in the far distance and can barely make out the hustling atmosphere we left only a half hour or so ago when he slows down to a crawl the closer we get to the small, sandy beach. It’s surrounded by a jungle of forest with a lot of foliage. It’s primitive and definitely off of the power grid and hidden away from civilization.

  “Did you bring me here to fuck me? If so, you know I’m willing.” He laughs as he helps me off once we hit the sand. The water feels cool when I hop down into the ankle deep water.

  “No, but if you’re offering…” He lifts his hand to cup my face, pushing my hair out of his way, and gazes intensely into my eyes. I watch them magically turn from playful to heated to scorching dark.

  “I saw this place in a brochure on the desk in our room. When Kaleb said he wanted to go the other way, it opened up the opportunity for me to bring you here. Alone. Here’s your nude beach, Emmy. So strip.” Oh fuck, oh shit. Is this really happening?

  He moves quicker than I do, unsnapping his life jacket and tossing it on the
ground. He tugs off his board shorts, leaving him naked with a very hard cock. I lick my lips and quickly mimic him as I strip myself bare. I’m throbbing with needy desire in spite of the aching between my legs and how badly I want to straddle him in the sand.

  I bend over and pick up all of our stuff, then push him lightly backward until I have him close enough to a rock and out of view if anyone were to come upon us.

  “Have a seat, Captain,” I command him as I forcefully guide him back to where I want him. He sits down in the sand, and I toss our stuff to the side. I’m wet, he’s hard, and all I want to do is keep making him smile, so I bend over and let him get a view of my pussy.

  My nipples are hard, and I’m aching to feel him inside me. It’s my mouth that gets him when I separate his stretched-out legs to crawl in between them.

  “Fuck, Emmy.” That’s all he manages to say when I wrap my lips around his cock. I twirl my tongue across his tip, teasing him in a way that has him pulling the elastic entirely loose from my hair. He grips a handful of it and then begins to thrust his cock into my mouth, hitting my throat as he does.

  “If you don’t finger yourself and give me a fucking show, I will blister your goddamn ass.” The way he speaks to me is like I’m one of his soldiers. His domineering voice is a turn-on that has me reaching for my clit with one hand and guiding my movements on his dick with the other.

  I thought I was turned inside out, boiling over with lust for him last night, but today is even worse. He already has me topping the edge of a release. We may be playing dirty here, and I don’t mean because I’m sucking his cock in the sand. I mean because of the situation we are in. His heart belongs to another, but I don’t care anymore.

  I’m past caring if I end up crying myself to sleep every night after he tells me he can’t build a relationship with me. We’re backwards, doing everything opposite of what a normal healthy relationship would start as. Fucking first, getting to know each other later.