What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 9)

by Kristine Cayne

“Oh, God.” His shirt wore a drool mark the size of a half dollar. Shayla turned away from him in humiliation, making another pass at her mouth. “Sorry about your shirt. What happened? Did I fall asleep on you?”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault anyway. You were sleeping all crooked,”—he imitated her discomfort, hanging his head to the side—“so I tried to straighten you out.”

  A rush of color flooded his cheeks and he looked like a little boy when he grinned. “You snuggled right up next to my chest and we fell asleep that way. I woke up about an hour ago.”

  Tracy moved through the cabin. She reached into her back pocket, retrieving a picture from her phone. “You were both out cold.”

  “You didn’t put that on Facebook, did you?” Shayla questioned briskly.

  “No. We were already warned the whole trip and wedding are top secret.”

  JC reached her arm through the crack of the seat, showing off her photo of Shayla with her arm sprawled across John’s chest. Her face buried against his chest and John was sound asleep with his temple pressed to the top of her head. “This one is so cute! Do you have any idea how hard it is not post these?”

  Her lip wrinkled in shock, hit by a wave of embarrassment. Shayla absently rubbed her stiff neck. “Shit.”

  “What?” He complained teasingly. “You afraid to be seen with me?”

  Raking his fingers through his dark mink hair, John arched and stretched like a cat. Straining muscles captured her attention, spreading heat from her cheeks to her toes. Pulling her lower lip into her mouth, she bit down, allowing her gaze to travel from his bulging triceps to strong thighs.

  Their gazes met and held.

  In order to escape the embarrassment, she stood. “Excuse me.”

  John twisted, touching his hand to her hip as she scooted by.

  The warmth from his handprint on her waist stayed with her all the way to the restroom. Her breathing came hard though a trembling puff of air. She rinsed her mouth and fixed her hair. Catching a whiff of his cologne lingering in the layers of her hair, she closed her eyes and inhaled the yummy scent. “Good lord he’s hot.”

  From out of nowhere, a vision of his pants around his strained thighs while making love to her on the counter popped into her head. Her eyes rolled back as a low ache burned low in her tummy. With every fiber of her being, she wanted to grab him by the wrist and pull him into the stall.

  She splashed water on her face and pointed a finger at her longing reflection. “You need to stop.”

  Putting her hormones in check, she sauntered out to join the others. Each of the Mathews gazed dreamily out their own window as they flew over dozens of small, sun kissed islands. Kneeling on her seat, she gathered with the others in the admiration of the pristine blue waters of the Aegean Sea.

  “Have you been to Greece before?” John asked from over her shoulder, nearly resting his chin on her shoulder.

  Shayla flinched as the moist heat of his breath set a blazing trail of goose bumps over her entire body. Mother of pearl what I wouldn’t do to feel his gorgeous mouth on my neck. She managed to shake her head as her words remained strangled in her throat. Inches between their faces, he slowly and tortuously took in every speck of her face as if she were a painting hanging in a gallery. She was worried she might spontaneously combust.

  John eased back, buckling his seatbelt, giving her a chance to catch her breath.

  Arriving in Greece, Tommy and Tess met them at the airport. Shayla embraced her uncle with open arms, and observed as the Mathews greeted one another with true heartfelt warmth. It was hard not to notice the palpable differences between this family and Mat’s. Huggers. There was no ceremonial greeting or staunch pretenses, simply adoration.

  Tommy’s resort-style home perched on a cliff outside the bustling village. The stark white modern home came complete with an amazing view of the Aegean Sea, a pool and enough extra rooms for each of them. Shayla arranged for everyone to stay at an inn after the wedding, but tonight Tommy and Tess insisted everyone stay under one roof, as a family. Though she’d always hoped for it, never in a million years did she expect to hear Tommy Clemmins and family in one sentence. This was her uncle’s shot at true love and he was going to take it.

  It didn’t take long to get comfortable. After unpacking, visiting and settling in, Shayla had a minute to think. The azure blue water and afternoon sunshine beckoned from behind the glass wall. She wanted to make the most of the few days on her first trip to Greece. She changed into her bikini, shorts and a sweatshirt, and entered the living room, keys and purse in hand.

  “Are you leaving?” Tess asked with a bright inquisitive smile.

  Everyone turned, examining her change of clothes.

  JC hopped off the sofa first. “Where you going?”

  Tracy and John popped their heads up like a prairie gopher popping out of its hole on the Discovery Channel.

  Shayla chuckled to herself. She’d hoped for solitude, but judging by the fun-envy growing wider in their eyes, she wouldn’t find any isolation right now. “I’m going to the beach. Any takers?”

  JC breezed past, hollering from the hallway. “I’ll be ready in five.”

  “I’m in! And by saying five minutes, she really means ten,” Tracy corrected, retreating to her room.

  John stood from the sofa, bending to kiss his mother on the cheek. Shayla couldn’t help but take in his athletic physique. Her chest tightened as she stared at his firm ass in a pair of jeans that stretched perfectly with each movement of muscle beneath the denim fabric.

  She subconsciously stroked her neck as her head cocked slightly for a better view. Lost in her glory daze, John turned and caught her examining his assets. His eyes held a mocking glint as he moseyed straight toward her. Blistering heat layered her cheeks and she dropped her eyes to the floor, letting out a soft nervous giggle.

  “I only need two minutes.”

  The unusually warm weather made for the perfect day for exploring. Tracy and JC talked nonstop on the short drive toward the village. They’d traveled to Greece over the summer and shared everything they loved and learned about the Greek culture, architecture, and mythical history.

  Shayla stopped at an overlook where a group of locals gathered at a cliff top.

  JC squealed with delight, bolting down the path, not bothering to wait for anyone else. The only words Shayla could make out were Greek gods.

  “Greek gods?” Shayla inquired, heading down a narrow path etched along the cliff.

  Tracy rolled her eyes. “Our little sister is boy crazy.”

  “Oh,” Shayla managed.

  “She doesn’t have a lot of boyfriends,” Tracy clarified, sounding as if she didn’t want to give the assumption that her sister was easy. “She just—”

  “Flirts.” John darted an unhappy stare toward JC and a group of four healthy good looking young men.

  “I’d say flirting runs in the family.” Shayla snickered under her breath. Charm and arrogance ran rampant in her line of work, and John Mathews reeked of it.

  “Ha!” Tracy lifted her hand for a high-five. “She’s got your number, brother.”

  He scoffed, throwing his head back with an eye roll. A sexy laugh filled with playful arrogance escaped him. “Not yet she doesn’t.”

  Shayla flushed and for a moment forgot how to breathe. She swallowed. “I don’t need to find you a pair of boxing gloves, do I?” she chided.

  “Only if you want to take me on.”

  “I—”

  One of the Greek men jumped from the cliff.

  “Oh, my God! Did you see that? How far down is that?”

  “Twenty-five feet?” John said nonchalantly, obviously surprised at her alarmed reaction.

  JC stripped to her bikini before they caught up. Her long caramel hair wisped in the cool breeze as she poised at the brink of the dramatic cliff’s edge. Her breathtaking beauty and pleasant, outgoing personality drew people to her like a magnet. The Greek gods strained to kee
p their eyes from popping out of their heads, unsure of the huge powerful male tagging along behind her.

  Relief seemed to wash over the men like the waves below when she introduced John as her brother. In broken English, they gave her instructions on how to time the waves. The boom of energy crashing against the cliff face reverberated up the wall.

  “You can’t jump off that.” Shayla’s eyes bulged. “That’s way too high, JC.”

  A dangerous, defiant smile crossed her face. “Ha! Hell yes I’m jumping!”

  Groans of complaint came from John and Tracy, each rolling their eyes at Shayla.

  “The one thing you don’t ever do with JC is use the word can’t,” Tracy warned, precariously retreating from the edge.

  “That water’s got to be fifty-five degrees.”

  One of the men disagreed, pivoting his hand back and forth. “Sixty-three, maybe sixty-seven degrees.”

  Shayla grabbed John by the arm. “You’re not seriously going to let her jump, are you?”

  John approached to the rim of the black jagged rock, peering over to assess the level of danger.

  JC stood beside him, waiting for his response.

  He shrugged, giving JC all the encouragement she needed.

  She threw her hands in the air. “Woo-hoo! I’m going.”

  The young men, more interested in JC’s striking beauty and string bikini than the two story drop, gathered at her side. Excitement filled her smile as she plotted her jump, oblivious to the effect she had on them. Timing the waves perfectly, she jumped, screaming the whole way down until she hit the cold water.

  Another man joined in the craziness. He backed up fifteen feet, running down the path and hurling himself over the ledge.

  “You coming?” John taunted, tugging his shirt over his head and handing it to Tracy.

  Momentarily speechless, Shayla let her gaze linger over his perfectly defined pecs. “Me? I’m not jumping off that. I’m afraid of heights!”

  “What?” John scoffed in surprise, resting his hands on his hips. “That’s not what Tom said. He told us you jumped out of an airplane for your twenty-first birthday.”

  She grimaced at the memory.

  “He talked about you a lot over Thanksgiving.” Tracy nodded. “That’s why we’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

  Preconceived guilt pinged through her. Shayla had been dreading meeting Tess’s kids because of the way they’d harshly judged her uncle. She realized her opinion of them was made in the same haste judgment. “I suppose he forgot to mention the fact he dangled a pretty big carrot in front of me. He sent me to a personal awareness retreat, and if I graduated,”—she curled her fingers into quotes—“he’d buy me a new car.”

  Their eyes widened in surprise.

  “He didn’t force me,” she clarified. “He would’ve got me the car regardless. I felt so damn empowered by the end of the week, I had a Wonder Woman moment and jumped.”

  “Well, this is nothing compared to jumping from an airplane a mile high in the sky.” John’s fingers hooked in the band of his trunks, dipping them lower around his lean waist.

  “I…I don’t think you should go.” As Shayla’s eyes followed the descent of John’s drawstring, a riff of personal awareness zinged through her. Trepidation mixed with yearning. Her tongue seemed to be tied in the knot of his trunks. She backed away, shaking her head. “I can’t, it’s way too high.”

  “Come on, you big chicken!” JC beckoned from the chilly blue water. The gurgle of sea swells crashing against the jagged rocks below mixed with echoes of JC’s shrieks of joy.

  “Are you jumping too?” Shayla asked Tracy.

  “No way. Those two are the adrenaline junkies,” Tracy validated. She held her arm out offering to hold Shayla’s belongings. “They take after our dad and I’m more like my mom. I’ll meet you on the beach.”

  Anxiety pumped through her veins and she paced like a caged lion. Making the most of every opportunity means stepping out of your comfort zone, she repeated silently.

  “Do you really think I would let my sister jump if there was any chance of getting hurt?” John held out his hand. “I’ll take care of you,” he offered in a throaty voice sounding more like a heated promise than fact.

  Cocky! Before she had time to give it another thought she kicked off her shoes, shimmied out of her shorts and grabbed her sweatshirt by the hem, pulling it over her head and giving it to Tracy. You can do this!

  Anxiety kicked in and Shayla’s chest heaved laboriously. Holding her hands in front of her tummy, she squeezed one hand then the other, balling them into tight fists.

  “Great bikini.” John took two steps toward her. His center finger grazed along the thin brown strap of her swimsuit, lazily exploring her collarbone.

  The rough texture of his skin made her shiver. She found herself listing forward, close enough to smell the sweet scent of his minty breath. Alarmed by her own reaction to his touch, Shayla blinked repeatedly, staring upward into his gaze.

  “You look beautiful.” An impish grin twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Your freckles really stand out in the sunshine.”

  The amused gleam in his eye astounded her, spreading heat all the way to her toes. Self-consciously, she touched the faint freckles dusting her cheeks and nose.

  His smile turned full.

  “You really expect that to work?”

  “God, I hope so,” John teased, gathering her hands in his. “Flattery is supposed to go a long way. It should work for a twenty-foot jump.”

  “Hey!” JC’s lively voice echoed up the face of the rock. “Are you guys gonna make out or jump?”

  “That would be your call.” His eyes blazed both in invitation and challenge. “Wonder Woman.”

  The breeze shifted, filling her nostrils with the scent of his sweet breath. Tunnel vision set in, but she wasn’t slipping into a fading black hole. Shayla’s vision fell into the depths of his and held. Her lip caught between her teeth.

  The tip of his finger turned circles on the band of her ring, blanching his humor. “I’ll count to three.”

  Shayla shut her eyes tight, drawing in a deep breath of determination. Be brave. She clutched John’s hand. She opened her eyes and nodded. As they approached the edge, he released her hand and she hissed in a frightened breath.

  “It’s okay.” He wiped the sweat from her hand on his shorts, only to tighten his grip around her fingers. “One, two, three.”

  They jumped from the edge.

  Screams of exhilaration rang in her ears, sounding nothing like her own voice. Their hands parted before they hit the water. Plunging into the blue, she felt the bite of cold water rush over her flesh. Her descent slowed upon impact as adrenaline surged through her, stealing her breath. Shayla swam to the surface.

  They emerged from the cold water with shrieks of ecstasy.

  “Nice job!” He beamed with approval, giving her a high-five.

  His praise made her bubbly inside. “That was awesome! What a rush!”

  Tracy waited for them as they trudged onto the beach, and JC headed up the trail ready for round two. Shayla jumped twice, but John and JC jumped four times before the sun lowered over the horizon.

  JC’s new friends offered to share their towels, water, snacks and, in a show of male bravado, jokingly argued over who got to ask her to dinner. Wearing the face of a dejected puppy, she begrudgingly declined their invitation. Her spirits seemed to lift as she plodded through the sand following the tall dreamy one of the bunch toward his car. She held up a finger, signaling her siblings she’d be right back.

  “Is she giving him her number?” Shayla asked Tracy.

  Tracy nodded, divulging the information quietly so John couldn’t hear. “JC still talks to three boys in Italy she met over the summer. She’s already planning our trip back. I had to bribe her with coffee every day for a month to get her to go to Europe with me. Now, she wants to stay longer and take part in the travel arrangements.”

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nbsp; John stood at the water’s edge, his feet buried in the black sand while talking to two of the other jumpers. There were enough hard bodies and sex appeal between the three men to make any woman within eyesight stop and ogle, but Shayla couldn’t take her eyes off John. It wasn’t only his striking looks capturing her attention; his confidence and genuine ease of his smile filled her with warmth.

  Hiding behind her sunglasses, she stared on as he shook the water from his hair and ran his fingers through the short thick strands of silk. Each well-defined muscle took its turn center stage. Shayla crossed one leg over the other, hoping to ease the jolts of thunder striking her inner thighs. Chill bumps rose high on his skin, constricting his dark nipples when the breeze hit his wet body. Her breath fractured when he shifted slightly and exposed a full frontal of his wet trucks clinging to his body.

  “Can’t say I blame my little sister. There is something special about European men,” Tracy interjected, enjoying the beachside view.

  JC jogged back with a smile plastered to her face. “He’s HOT!” she boasted, flapping a piece of paper with his number written on it. She leaned in closer to Shayla, peering toward the men standing along the border of the incoming surf. “Which one do you think is cute?”

  Shayla’s mouth opened and closed. The scorch of embarrassment climbed up her neck. Shit! Her hungry gaze and smirk fell to the sand. Both girls snickered and shook their heads as if they’d seen it a million times. Shayla had no doubt the Mathews house was the high school spot for sleepovers. The entire family hit the gene pool jackpot.

  They spent the late afternoon meandering down cobbled streets of the quaint village. The close connection between John and his sisters was unlike anything Shayla had ever encountered between siblings. They genuinely enjoyed each other and their humorous camaraderie kept her laughing.

  Their father died of a heart attack a year before their mother met Tommy, and John filled every inch of the head of household position. As they perused the streets, men who took notice of his sisters or Shayla were tolerated, but John’s mere presence kept any strangers at bay. There wasn’t one catcall or indecent gesture, not even so much as an unwanted prolonged stare. He didn’t act like a bulldog bodyguard, but his rugged exterior carried a presence of sureness and conviction, strong enough to dominate any male. His sisters seemed used to his powerful persona, but it sparked a new sense of safety for Shayla.