Riptide (Rock Stars, Surf and Second Chances Book 2)

by Michelle Mankin

  “She is your mamá.”

  “That whore is no mother of mine.” Ramon pushed back his chair. “Come, Karen,” he snapped like a whip. “It’s time to go.” He had only spoken to me in that tone once, at the OB hotel when he’d dismissed me. But I wouldn’t reject him in front of his family. I wouldn’t reject him in front of anyone. Especially not in front of that woman. I gave him my hand. He shot me a grateful look, his fingers tightening around mine.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Ramon

  “Stop apologizing for her. It’s ok,” Karen assured me, but I had a hard time believing that my fucked-up mother’s arrival hadn’t affected her. How was Karen ever going to see me the way I wanted her to after that? I gunned the engine, slamming the vehicle into reverse. The tires spun in the gravel before gaining traction. “Are you sure you’re ok to drive?” Karen gave me an uncertain look.

  “I’m fine,” I bit out through my clenched jaw, struggling mightily to rein in the anger. My mother always got to me. Sometimes I lasted longer than tonight, but we always ended up at the same damn place every time we were together.

  “Do you…” Karen trailed off, her hand inching closer to mine. I could tell she wanted to touch me, to try to soothe me. I wanted her to, now more than ever. Banning her from initiating touch only made me crave it more. But not right now. Not while I was this edgy.

  I flipped on the blinker.

  “Where are you going? My house is that way.” She pointed in the opposite direction.

  “I’m not taking you to your house. I’m taking you to mine. Your stuff’s in the back. I thought we had agreed.” Her words fanned my anger. Had Karen changed her mind after meeting my mother?

  “But I didn’t think you would want me to. You don’t seem to be…what I mean is…”

  “That I’m not in the mood to fuck you?” I asked crudely.

  “Maybe that’s not a good idea tonight.”

  “Did I not agree to this stupid plan of yours?”

  “Yes…”

  “No back and forth.”

  “I know, but…”

  “But what? You starting to worry about my gene pool. No wonder you said right up front that you wanted to take care of it alone.”

  “Not an it. A baby. A child. Our child,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t want one that was half you.”

  Her words didn’t register the way they should have. I was too blinded by anger and the growing fear that she would never be mine. “Don’t kid yourself,” I told her as I hit the remote for the gate and turned into the driveway. “Not gonna be a long ass line of guys signing up to make a baby with you and walk away. It’s either me or a sperm bank.” I pulled through the gate, parked the car and glanced over at her. She didn’t look at me. Her hands clenched into fists on her lap, she was staring straight ahead into the darkness.

  “You’re being an asshole. I’m going home.” She popped open her door. Luckily the gate closed before she could escape that way. I caught her in front of it and spun her around.

  “I’m so sorry, chica.”

  “Don’t touch me.” She shrugged from my grasp. “And don’t call me that. Or mamacita. It’s disrespectful. You’re thinking I’m like her when you call me those words. I’m nothing like her.”

  “You’re like her in that I’m not good enough for you to take seriously.” My dad, my brother, none of us were ever good enough to keep my mother from walking away from us over and over and over again. “You came to me at the OB Hotel,” I reminded her, my tone as hateful as my mother’s as I sliced her to ribbons instead of protecting her like I had always been so careful to do. “You would’ve gotten on your knees if I would’ve taken you up on your offer. You would’ve broken your vows if I hadn’t sent you away. Ditto with that kiss at your apartment before Patch walked in on us.”

  Her entire body folded inward on itself. Her chin dropped. Her shoulders slumped. “I know,” she rasped. “You’re right. I would have. Thanks for reminding me. I wondered when you would say those words to me. Good to have them out, isn’t it? The ugliest truths. That’s what the therapist says. If I had been a better wife, instead of leaning on you through all the long separations, I would have given him an ultimatum sooner. That’s what I told Simone in the hospital after I lost my baby.” A pained sound escaped her throat. “Yet even then I was looking for you. Wanting you. Wishing for you.”

  I clicked my tongue. “You don’t have to pretend that it’s not my fault. I heard you talking to Simone. I was there in the hallway.” My throat got tight as I remembered. “That’s why I left without seeing you. That’s why I didn’t talk to you at the funeral or afterward. I knew being there would only make things worse for you.”

  “You misunderstood. I’m sorry you thought I blamed you. I don’t. You might have been a symptom, but you were never the cause. If I had loved him better and loved you less he might still be here today.”

  My eyes widened. “You didn’t love me.”

  “Oh, but I did. Dominic suspected. He called me out on it that night after we kissed. He told me to stop throwing myself at you. That I was making you uncomfortable. Taking advantage of our friendship.” She snorted. “And here I am years later and I’m doing it all over again. I’m sorry. So sorry.” She gestured toward the gate. “Open it. I’m going home. Please don’t try to stop me.”

  Tears fell from her eyes, tears I put there. She could’ve kicked me in the gut and it would’ve hurt less. I touched her cheek, swiping away the evidence of what an asshole I’d been. But this asshole now had a sliver of hope blazing bright in the center of his warped heart. If she loved me once, I told myself, I could make her love me again.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Karen

  “Come inside, mi cielo,” he said gently, his eyes reflective. “Don’t go yet. Let me get you something cold to drink. When you’re finished with it and you’ve heard what I need to say to you, if you still want to leave, I’ll take you myself.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked as he let us in. “Mi cielo.” I followed him up the stairs, unable to resist those soft Spanish words he’d only spoken to me during the most intimate moments.

  “My heaven.”

  “But why would you call me that?”

  He raised a brow. “Because that’s the way I feel when I’m inside of you.”

  He offered that earth-shattering revelation in his usual matter of fact manner but his admission meant everything to at me. He casually turned, opened the fridge and pulled out a jug of lemonade, setting it on the bar.

  “If sex with me is so heavenly, why would you say,” I mimicked his voice, “Not gonna be a long ass line of guys signing up to make a baby with you?”

  “I didn’t mean that guys wouldn’t line up to have you.” He took down two glasses from the cabinet and filled them, giving me a heavy look as he passed one to me. “I meant that once they had you, they wouldn’t walk away.”

  “You walked away from me plenty.”

  “I did what I had to do.” Pain sliced through his gaze. “We both loved him, Karen. He was my best friend. Still, if I had known the depths of your feelings for me…I don’t know for sure what I would have done. But I do know that you aren’t to blame for his death. You’re not the one who signed up for all those tours. He had his brothers to watch his back. Who had yours when he left you here alone?” My eyes flared in response to his words and the ferocity behind them. “I think we both have beaten ourselves up enough about the past. I’m hoping that we can finally put it all behind us and move forward. Right now. One step at a time. Together. See where the path leads us. Would you do that with me?”

  I stared into his warm, familiar eyes. Did he know he was offering me the second chance I had always wanted? I picked up the glass he had poured for me. I lifted it up in the air. “A toast. To moving forward.” I brought the rim to my lips and gulped the refreshing liquid down; every last drop like it was hope.

  “Do you s
till want to go?” he asked me when I set the glass down.

  I shook my head. “Would you like me to stay?”

  “I want you to stay as long as you’d like.” His expression glowed with blatant affection that I had only seen glimpses of before. He opened his arms. I walked into the embrace and for the first time in a long, long time everything felt right.

  “Should we go out on the deck and listen to the waves?”

  “That would be nice.” I leaned back to peer up at him. “But there’s something else I’d like to do even more.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Touch you.”

  His lips curved slowly. “Yes, that would be better.”

  My heart did a full flip. I released his waist. I would come back to it later. I reached for his handsome face first, framing his cheeks and pondered the dense stubble that already covered them. “I’m glad you shaved the beard.”

  “You mentioned that before. What have you against it anyway?”

  I held his face and feasted on his dark chocolate gaze, fully realizing the true warmth and depth of him I had once overlooked. “Because it covered your mouth. I’ve always been fascinated by it.” I traced his lips, pressing my thumb into each corner. “The way it curves, like you’re slightly amused by the rest of us.”

  “Amusement is not what I’m feeling right at the moment. And there’s nothing slight about it. Feel for yourself.”

  “Not yet.” I shook my head. I placed my hands on his chest over his heart. I could feel the steady but rapid thump of its rhythm. I lifted to my toes, pressed a kiss to his firm lips, closing my eyes and taking a moment to reacquaint myself with their satiny texture and salty taste, wild like the ocean that I loved but could never tame. My eyes opened to find his hooded gaze on me.

  “You are so beautiful.” He covered my hands on his chest, pressing them harder to himself, separating them moving them across the defined contours while he watched my face for my reaction. “I crave your touch, mi cielo. Badly. But you are moving too slowly. Mind if I help out?”

  I shook my head.

  His gave me a dark smile. Removing my hands from the outside of his shirt, he placed them underneath it, against his heated toned body. My lips parted.

  He groaned with pleasure. Locking eyes, I pressed the pads of my fingers deeper into his flesh, gliding them upward over the ridges of his abs to the center of his chest then outward to skim his pecs. He inhaled sharply, pulling my hands back suddenly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. You’re driving me crazy.” Without warning, he crouched and lifted me into his arms, striding swiftly toward the bedroom. He let me slide slowly down his body when he reached the bed. My breasts pressed against his hard chest. My belly glided along his ripped abs and encountered his steely erection.

  “Oh my,” I said, glancing at him through my lashes. My fingers flexed on his forearms to steady myself.

  “I think you mean, oh my Ramon. Yes. More. Harder. Faster. Please.” His eyes glittered dangerously. He reached around my shoulders, slowly lowering the zipper of my dress with one hand and tracing my spine with the pad of his thumb. A warm shiver rolled through me. “I love when you respond to me like that.”

  “I love that you love it.” The roughness in my voice reflected the pulsing need centered between my legs. He peeled the short sleeves of my dress off my shoulders. They gathered at the bend of my elbows. I took a step back, straightening my arms so that gravity could do the rest. The light blue cotton flowed to the floor, puddling at my feet.

  Naked but for my ice blue thong, the bedside lamps glowed softly, but I didn’t ask him to turn them off as he beamed at me. No. I shifted my shoulders, arching my back, my breasts full, my nipples taut, their tips aching for him. I preened under his hungry perusal, sliding my gaze along his body as well, lingering at the impressive bulge below his waist. His cock jumped. I swallowed, lifting my gaze to see a reflection of my true self in his darkened eyes, a woman beautiful and cherished. I removed the distance between us, grabbing his larger hands as they sought to remove his shirt. “Allow me,” I said, looking up at him through my lashes.

  “Better do it fast,” he warned.

  “Bossy,” I declared, whipping his shirt upward. He had to bend so I could drag it over his head. His curls tumbled free around his face. I couldn’t resist. I lifted my arms and buried my fingers in the silky wealth of them. He glided his hands down my back at the same time, his palms hot against my skin, hotter when he reached my bottom and fondled my ass, squeezing each cheek in his grip and rocking his thick length against my pulsing pussy. “Ramon,” I moaned. “Yes. More.”

  “Fuck yeah,” he agreed, staring into my eyes, letting me feel every raw inch of his hunger. “Get in the bed on your hands and knees,” he ordered. “I’m not through with that sexy ass of yours.” Another rush of heat dampened my thong as I climbed into the bed, hearing the rustle of his board shorts hitting the floor. From that position, my heart pounding excitedly, I glanced back at him over my shoulder, a titan poised to claim his naughty naiad. Every step he took closer made me hotter and wetter in anticipation. I wiggled my rear. I wanted that glorious cock, every thick inch of it inside of me. He grabbed my thong, pulled it back and popped it. The lace vibrated against my swollen clit.

  “Please.” I moaned. He did it again. I shuddered. “Take it off.”

  “Are you wet?”

  “You know I am.” I looked at him through my lashes. He leaned close, touching me, running his finger along the outer edge of the thong front to back, his cock brushing my thigh. My lips parted as I watched him bring his finger to his mouth. Then he leaned in again, covering me with his body. I trembled. He pressed his mouth to mine. I tasted myself on his lips. He kissed me with abandon, his tongue sweeping inside my mouth, his lips plundering my own. He only broke away to draw in a ragged breath.

  “Please,” I begged. I was going to come if he kissed me like that again.

  “Yes,” he promised. “Soon.”

  “No, now,” I insisted desperately.

  “Alright.” He moved behind me, smoothing his hands over my ass and down my thighs before taking me by complete surprise, making me gasp as he gave me a measured smack on each cheek. The restrained blows stung but they made my pussy quiver. He ripped my thong down my knees, positioned himself and then slid inside me so deep that his balls slapped my clit. I tightened around him. He groaned. “Love the way you do that. You’re so tight around my cock.”

  “Move.” I wiggled, pressing my ass backward. “Please, Ramon. I want…”

  “Yes, me, too.” He glided in and out, hard steel and slick satin.

  “Harder,” I begged. “Faster.”

  He obliged, pounding his cock into me. “Karen,” he praised, and I clamped around him. “Yes. Keep doing that. You feel so good.”

  My scalp started to tingle. I heard his heavy breathing above my own. His tempo accelerated with each successive thrust. I couldn’t hold back. He kept hitting that perfect spot. He felt so good, so right, so hot. “Ramon, oh Ramon.”

  “Fuck, Karen.” His cock grew impossibly hard. I convulsed around him. Skin to passion drenched skin, his tensed thighs slapping my ass, he unleashed his full passion. I came as violently as he did, squeezing my eyes shut, bunching the sheets inside my tightened grip, and seeing stars behind my eyelids as he erupted inside of me.

  Chapter Fifty

  Ramon

  We cleaned up in my shower together. Even though I had just had her, by the end of the shower I wanted her again. So I took her, whipping the towel from her body like I had done once before, only this time, knowing that it meant more to her than just a way to get pregnant, it felt different. It felt like the new beginning. I knew this wasn’t just fucking and I had no ulterior motive. I only wanted what I had always wanted, to show her how I felt about her.

  Cradling her naked body to my chest, I deposited her in the center of the bed, following her down and takin
g my time to pay homage to every part of her. We made sweet love together, coming at the same time. I drew her head to my chest when she returned from her second shower, holding her tightly to me with one arm while unthreading her hair from her braid with the other, spreading the silken strands around her pretty face as she drifted to sleep.

  Now that I finally had her, I knew that I would never let her go.

  * * *

  Karen

  Contentment making my limbs languid, I stretched my arms wide and opened my eyes to an empty bed. A sudden unease tightened my muscles. Ramon was outside. With the pocket doors to the deck open, I could hear him talking on the phone with someone. Knowing I had a surf lesson to teach, I hurriedly located my dress and put it on. Tiptoeing outside to say goodbye, I paused, pain slicing through me as I eavesdropped.

  “Vanessa, I told you about her at the Deck Bar.” The breeze tossed his curls around his shoulders. Clad only in his board shorts, he had his face turned toward the ocean. “Yes that’s right. She’s Patch’s widow. An old friend.” He shook his head at whatever she said. “Look. I told you, I’m just fooling around with it. It’s nothing serious.” He nodded. “Yes, I understand exactly what you’re offering. Sure, we can get together again, but…”

  I must have made a noise. He whirled around, his gaze brightening. I dropped my hand from my chest where I’d been rubbing it. My heart shriveled inside it, realizing that I’d misread him once again.

  His eyes narrowed. “Listen, I gotta go.” A pause. “I’ll call you.” He stepped closer. “Hey,” he said casually. “You’re up.”

  “Sorry to interrupt.”

  He shrugged. “Wasn’t important.” He crossed the distance between us. I wanted to shrink away, but I couldn’t resist his beckoning embrace, even if it was destined to be a fleeting refuge.

  “I can’t stay.” I could feel desire rekindling inside me. “I slept too late. I have lessons to teach today.”