I nodded. “Yup. Searing born and raised. You?”
She nodded. “Same. We’re pretty lucky, aren’t we?”
I looked out at the water. The sun reflected off the surface and forced me to squint my eyes. Derek was out there somewhere, bobbing gently on the waves, his line floating in the water off the side of his boat. He was living his dream.
And I was living a version of my own.
“We definitely are,” I agreed.
“When I was a teenager, all I wanted was to get out of this place. I wanted to live in the big city. Honestly, I would have been happy living anywhere but here.” Mel smiled and lifted her face to mine. “Funny how much changes sometimes. If someone had told me back then that I would never leave and that I’d be happy, I never would have believed them.”
“Why did you want to leave so badly?”
Mel shrugged. “All the typical reasons any teenage girl wants to leave her hometown, I guess. I wanted to start over someplace new and fresh. I wanted a trendy little loft apartment in New York, or San Francisco, or Los Angeles.” She laughed to—or at—herself. “I thought I’d be one of those young women who worked in fashion or something and had a small dog with a stupid name and did yoga on my four by four foot balcony.”
I laughed. “What sort of name for the dog?”
“I don’t know.”
“Liar,” I said. “You had names picked out. Come on. Lay one on me.”
Mel looked at me out of the corner of her eyes. “It was a toss up between Lady and Benji, depending on if it was a boy or a girl.”
I chuckled and accused her of having bad taste in movies.
“I was a fifteen-year-old girl. Of course I had bad taste in movies.”
“Fair enough. So what changed, then? Why did you end up staying here?”
Mel looked down at her feet moving through the water. “I grew up, I guess. I started wanting different things and having different priorities. All my friends were here, and none of them wanted to leave. I was pretty dependent on them, especially Tara, and I didn’t have the nerve to actually pack up and move when it came down to it. I chickened out and stayed here. And I’m so glad because now my daughter gets to grow up in one of the best places on earth.”
“Searing is a great place for kids to grow up. That’s true.”
Mel nodded. “It’s like this little time capsule almost. All the craziness of the outside world hasn’t really seemed to touch us yet, you know? Everyone here can kind of just go on with their lives. We can keep doing what we love. And it’s safe.”
“I liked growing up here too,” I admitted. Mel looked over at me and encouraged me to tell her more with a pretty smile. “This place is a part of me now. All the memories. Good and bad.”
The boardwalk was only another hundred feet away or so. Mel moved up to the dry sand and walked in it to dry off her feet. “I heard something from one of my customers yesterday that I’ve been wanting to ask you about,” she said.
“Uh oh. Hopefully nothing bad?”
She giggled. “Is there really anything bad about you, Hayden?”
“You’ll never know.”
She giggled again and shook her head. “No. It wasn’t bad. But they told me that you used to play football in high school and that you were on track to be drafted in the NFL. That’s pretty crazy. I had no idea.”
We stepped up onto the boardwalk and paused so Mel could put her sandals back on. I slid my hands into my pockets as we started walking again. “Yeah. Football was sort of my life when I was a kid. As soon as I started high school, my dad had me try out for the team. And then my fate seemed like it was sealed. I lived for the sport. Everything I did was for the sport. And my dad.”
Mel was watching me as we walked along the boardwalk. I could feel her eyes on me. I was also very aware of the fact that she felt bad for me. Clearly, she knew about my injury.
“So,” I continued, “when I blew out my knee during a game that a scout was at, that whole dream sort of crumbled. Football was off the table for good, and I had to start over when I was eighteen. It sucked.”
“Most people still don’t know what they want to do with their lives in their twenties, Hayden. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
I blinked at her. Nobody had ever said something like that to me before. Something so… supportive. “Yeah. Well. At the time, it was rough. But then I found the fire academy, and everything sort of fell into place. I’m glad it’s what I ended up doing.”
Mel paused and turned to the railing to lean her elbows on it. She looked out over the water as I stepped beside her. Her hair blew all around her shoulders, and she pulled a stray strand away from her mouth. “Well, if you ask me, fighting fires is much more noble than trying to get a ball past the touchdown line,” she said.
Try telling my father that, I thought. I’d wanted him to say those words to me for ages, and I was starting to lose hope it would ever happen. But hearing it from Mel felt good. It felt really damn good. “Thanks,” I said.
Mel sighed deeply and nodded down the boardwalk. “How about an iced coffee before we go the rest of the way?”
“Sounds good,” I said, and we left the railing to duck into a coffee shop on the other side of the pier. I treated her to what she ordered, which was some iced vanilla concoction of some sort, and she thanked me. We stuck straws through the lids and emerged in the sunshine, sipping on liquid caffeine.
As we walked, we talked about all kinds of things. She told me about The Glade and how far it had come, and that it was now everything she had always dreamed it would be. She talked a bit about Kylee’s teacher, Ms. Moony, and how much Kylee liked her. Then she said, “Before you came to visit her school, Kylee had a crush on one of the boys in her class. His name was Nelson.”
“Before I visited?” I asked, urging her for more information.
Mel nodded and sipped her coffee. “She came home with me that day and told me that Nelson didn’t help her when she fell. She said you did. Then she told me she wants a boyfriend like you, not like Nelson.”
I was surprised enough to choke on my mouthful of coffee. Mel laughed as I coughed and sputtered and thumped my chest with my fist. “How old is Kylee again?”
“She’s five.”
“You are going to have your hands full.”
“Don’t remind me. She’s too smart for her own good, and soon enough, I won’t be able to keep up with her.”
I shook my head. “Nah. You’re smart. You’ll do a good job when things get complicated and she starts dating boys.”
“I sure hope so. I try not to think about it too much. That scares me a bit.”
“You know why?” I asked.
Mel looked over at me, and her eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “Why?”
“Because you’re smart. Like I said. Teenagers are scary, and teenage boys are the worst of it. At least, some of them are.”
“Were you?” Mel asked coyly.
I laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I would. I most definitely would.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I was a bit of a player. Yeah. I’ll admit it. It sort of came with the football territory. And cheerleaders. And—”
“And poor impulse control?” Mel asked.
I shook my head. “No. I just attracted girls like a magnet. It wasn’t my fault they found me cute.”
Mel threw her head back and laughed. The sight and sound of it had me laughing too. She was so carefree and light that I felt like I was walking beside a goddess. The goddess of sunshine and warmth. Of kindness and compassion.
“You are so humble, Hayden.”
“Thanks.” I smiled sheepishly.
She shook her head at me and finished her coffee as we reached the end of the pier. We found an empty bench and sat down facing the open ocean. Mel’s thigh was pressed against mine, and I casually draped my arm over the back of the bench behind her. She didn’t say anything.
“Kylee
will be just fine,” I said.
Mel looked over at me and leaned into my side a bit. “I know.”
I stared out over the horizon. “Can I ask you something, Mel? If you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to.”
“What is it?” she asked, sitting up a little straighter so she could look at me.
I glanced over at her. “What happened to Kylee’s father?”
Mel licked her lips but held my gaze. She took a deep breath and picked at a loose thread at the hem of her dress. “He died three years ago.”
“Oh,” I said lamely as my heart constricted in my chest. “I’m sorry.”
She gave me a sad smile. “It’s all right. There wasn’t anything anyone could have done. And time has a way of numbing old wounds. I’m all right.”
I wanted to hug her. I wanted to pull her in and kiss her lips and make all her troubles go away. But I had to take things slowly. Our day had gone so well, and I didn’t want to spoil it. Besides, hugging and kissing a girl after she told you the father of her child died a few years ago was most definitely in poor taste.
“Should we head back?” Mel asked, glancing at the time on her watch. “I have to get the restaurant opened up pretty soon.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Let me walk you back.”
Our walk back along the beach was pleasant. We talked about lighter things, things that didn’t involve death, and we had each other laughing easily. It felt good to be in her company. She rewarded me with smiles and laughter, and by the time we got back to The Glade, my heart felt weightless in my chest.
“Thanks for today, Hayden. This was really nice.”
“Thanks for coming. Actually, thank your friend for agreeing on your behalf.”
Mel blushed and laughed. “I will. She knows when I need a little push. I’m glad she intervened.”
“Me too.”
Mel smiled up at me.
“Hey,” I said, taking her hand. “I’d really like to see you again. If you’re up for it.”
Mel bit her bottom lip and nodded once. She was being bashful as she lifted her shoulder to her chin. “I think I could find a way to make some time for you, Hayden.”
“Good,” I said. And then I reached out and cupped her cheek. She froze as I went in to kiss her, and when my lips grazed hers, she relaxed. Her hands rested lightly on my chest as our kiss sent little waves of need through me.
I stopped myself and pulled away. “Have a good night, Mel. I’ll see you around.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice a little weak and husky. She lifted her hand and waved as I turned and walked back to the parking lot, doing everything in my power not to let her see the spring in my step.
Stay cool, man. Stay cool.
20
Mel
Everything in the room was crisp and white. The walls were floor-to-ceiling windows covered in sheer white curtains that billowed in a breeze that never touched my skin as I sat upon the middle of a canopy bed, also draped in thin white curtains that cascaded down over the floor.
I was wearing a lace bodysuit that was also white. Matching stockings hugged my thighs and were attached to garters on my hips. A long sheer shawl hung from my shoulders and fanned out all around me. My hair was down, my breath was short, and the air around me buzzed with something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Until I saw him.
Hayden was standing in the open doorway. He was naked from the waist up and had one arm above his head resting on the doorframe. My eyes wandered over every ridged muscle, every vein, every mark on his perfect skin, until I met his dark gaze.
My breath caught in my throat.
That buzzing in the air was lust. Pure, unhindered, desperate lust.
“Hey, beautiful,” Hayden said. His voice sounded very far away.
I couldn’t speak, so I merely watched him. He was wearing the same black pants he always wore when he and the guys on his crew stopped by The Glade. They hugged his body, and the deep cut of the V of his hips had my mind thinking all kinds of things.
I bit down on my bottom lip when my panties grew wet, and I stretched my legs out in front of me, creating a long line with my body in an attempt to draw him toward me.
Hayden pushed himself up off the doorway and stepped into the room. He reached down to undo his belt with agonizing slowness as he walked to the bed. When the buckle was open, he pulled it out of his belt loops and let it fall soundlessly to the floor.
My tongue darted out between my lips as butterflies took flight in my stomach.
Hayden undid the top button of his pants and then his zipper. Then he came up on to the bed with me on his hands and knees and crawled over my legs and up my body. I could smell the richness of his musky cologne as he leaned in to kiss me.
The kiss was soft and gentle—until it wasn’t.
His tongue pushed between my lips, and I opened up for him, letting him explore my mouth with ravenous need as he pushed me onto my back beneath him. My body burned as his bare skin grazed mine, and he ran one hand up my thigh to unbuckle one of the garters. It popped free, and he ran his thumb over the bare skin between the top of my stocking and the beginning of the sexy lace suit.
Then he did the same on the other side.
I held his face in my hands as our kiss deepened, and he worked to slowly rid me of the layers of clothing I was wearing. The shawl fell from my shoulders, and he ran one hand down my waist and over my hip. He lifted my ass off the bed and held me against him as I rolled my hips in eager submission.
“Fuck me,” I whispered.
Hayden smiled and rained kisses down my throat and over the top of my breasts. Then he pulled the straps down, and before I knew it, I was completely naked beneath him, except for the stockings on each leg.
I spread my legs for him, and he laid between them as he kissed my breasts and sucked my nipples. I propped myself up on my elbows and hung my head back as he rolled his tongue over the sensitive tips and then planted kisses along my sensitive flesh.
I didn’t want to wait anymore. I wanted him inside me. But he was demanding patience from me as he inched steadily down my body, taking his time to kiss every part of me. Each and every time he pressed his lips to my skin, I was more sensitive. He nibbled gently at my hip, and I sighed softly.
Soon, he was between my legs, looking up at me. He ran is hands down my thighs and then slid them beneath me to hold my hips. I moaned before his tongue even touched me.
When it did, I let myself fall back upon the mattress and closed my eyes. The swirl of his tongue was absolutely delicious. It touched me so lightly that I thought I might go dizzy with pleasure. He took his time, warming me up until all I wanted was for him to get rough with me.
But he didn’t. Instead, he drew my clit between his lips and sucked. I pressed my arms flat to the bed on either side of myself and gripped the white sheets. I whimpered in ecstasy and lifted my ass off the bed. Hayden tightened his hold on my hips and held me in place as my body started to tremble.
When I came, I saw stars behind my eyelids. The room tilted and spun when I opened my eyes to try to catch my bearings, but Hayden wasn’t going to give me the time to fully recover. He licked me from the bottom to the top of my pussy, rolling his tongue over my clit and then plunging it inside me.
I sucked in a sharp breath of surprise and moaned his name through clenched teeth.
“That’s it, baby,” Hayden purred into my pussy. “Just let go.”
He sucked my clit again and slid a finger inside me. I was messy wet, and Hayden groaned with satisfaction as his finger pushed in deep. He worked it in and out of me while sucking on my clit and rolling his tongue over my swollen nub.
“Oh God,” I whispered as my back arched.
He lifted up and pushed another finger inside me. When he started thrusting, I came undone. I let go, as he’d said, and let my body take over. My thighs trembled as pleasure burst through my center, making my whole body feel warm and light and tin
gly.
Hayden sat up between my legs and kept his fingers in my pussy. He pressed the heel of his hand to my clit and gently flicked his fingers inside me.
I writhed beneath him. How was it possible that he could make me feel so fucking good? What power did he have over me? It was like he knew my body better than I knew it. He knew all the places to touch, to bite, to kiss, and he did it in the right order to make me come completely undone in his hands.
I came again. Hayden smiled down at me with pride.
Then I was empty and reaching for him. He slid off the edge of the bed and took his pants and boxers off. I sat up and soaked in the sight of his nakedness; his chiseled body and swollen cock.
“Come here,” Hayden said, pointing at the edge of the bed.
I shuffled to the edge, messing up the blankets beneath me as I went.
When I was sitting in front of him, he put one hand on my chest and gently pushed me down on my back. He lifted my legs with a hand under each of my knees and tugged me right to the edge—so close that my ass was basically hanging off. Then he stepped in close, his cock hovering above my pussy.
He pressed it to me and ran his length up and down my opening to coat himself in my juices. I moaned greedily.
“Are you ready, baby?” he asked. He still sounded so very far away. But it didn’t matter. We were here, in this moment, and all I wanted was to feel him inside me.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He pushed in until I took all of him. I moaned against the pressure, and he waited until I was comfortable before he started to gently thrust his hips.
I gripped the sheets. He pulled me even farther off the edge of the bed. His thighs slapped against my ass as he quickened his pace.
“Touch yourself, baby,” Hayden ordered.
I let a hand wander down my stomach until I was rubbing my clit. Hayden groaned with desire and watched me. The way he looked at me had me aching all over. He fucked me harder, until all I could do was scream his name to the canopy and ride out my orgasm as he came inside me.
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