by Piper Rayne
“Oh, come on. There's no one around. You said so yourself, ‘it's dead out here through the week.’” I stand and begin to unbutton my shorts and his eyes track my movements. “Mr. Kent,” I lower my voice a few octaves, shimmying the shorts down my legs.
He bites his lip, his eyes smoldering as he takes in my bra and panty clad body. Reaching around, I unhook my bra and it falls to the rocks, joining my shirt and shorts.
“Cat,” he says my name with a warning. I love the way his normally controlled façade is slipping away.
I shake my head, my fingers dipping into either side of my panties and sliding them down my legs. Leaving them on my toes, I fling them and they drop in his lap.
“Come and get me, Mr. Kent.” I step to the edge of the rock. I shouldn't dive because I have no idea how deep it is here. Honestly, I should slowly wade into the water until I'm sure, but I look over my shoulder, finding Marcus still sitting, an amused grin on his face. He knows all the questions filling my head right now. Damn him.
I let one foot dangle into the water and retract it right away.
What is this glacier water?
“Cold?” he asks.
I turn back around. “No.”
Do this. Come on. You can be sexy, Cat.
With my back turned, my eyelashes fluttering and my teeth chattering, I step into the water, every inch forcing my toes to curl a little more. And not the kind of toe curling I enjoy.
By the time I'm fully submerged, goose bumps cover me from my head to my toes, trying to warm the body I'm punishing.
“Come join me?” I say, trying not to let my teeth chatter.
“Need someone to warm you up?” he asks, an I-told-you-so smirk on his lips.
“No. I just thought maybe we could do some stuff to scare away the fish.”
“There's no fish in there.” He raises his eyebrows.
Smartass.
“Fine, I'll just enjoy the water myself.”
Truth is the longer I'm in, the warmer the water becomes. Or maybe it’s just that my skin is frozen and I can’t feel it anymore.
“You sure you aren't cold?” he yells out to me, but I swim to the other side of the water, and prop up my elbows up on a rock ledge so my chest is completely exposed.
“Do I look cold?” I say, thankful the sun has decided to shine down through the trees.
“Either that or you're remembering the way you rode me last night.” He stands and toes off his shoes, then removes his socks.
“Changed your mind about joining me?”
He shrugs. “Maybe I'll just put my feet in.”
Pulling something out from behind his back, he drops it in the picnic basket.
“Only your feet?” I question, sinking lower into the water.
He looks at me long and hard, and the goose bumps return, but this time it isn't the temperature of the water.
“Do you want me to join you?” His hands are resting on the button of his pants.
“Nope. You know exactly what I want and if you don't want it, then that's your loss.” I circle around, back floating and acting like I don't really care if he joins me or not.
I'm back to the other side, wondering how long he'll let this go on when I hear a splash seconds before waves rock me back and forth. A small smile crosses my lips and then two hands grab my hips and a big, hard body pulls me flush against it.
“Fuck. It's freezing!” he yells, shaking his head from side to side. “You definitely need a big strong man to warm you up.” He pulls me even closer, so there's not even a millimeter between us.
“Were you really not going to join me?” I hate the smallness of my voice, but in my mind, I've twisted this game back to six years ago when he refused me.
He chuckles a deep throat laugh. “Oh, Cat, sometimes the guy has to play a little hard to get, too.”
“I think six years is long enough,” I deadpan.
“Hey, no one ever said big strong men were smart.”
With that comment, his mouth descends on mine and I hang on to the rock ledge for dear life because I could easily forget that we’re in the water—the outside world just falls away when we’re together.
After a minute, he pulls away. “Come over here.” He leads us farther down the rock ledge and I realize it’s getting deeper. By the time he stops me I’m not able to touch the bottom, but he is.
Without warning, he grips my waist in his hands and props me up on the edge. I let out a yelp of surprise that quickly fades when I see the way he’s looking at me—like he’s a starving man and I’m the buffet.
“Spread your legs and scoot all the way up to the edge,” he orders and I do as he says.
Because why the hell wouldn’t I? This can only mean good things for me.
He wastes no time, licking his lips he glances up at my face and watches my reaction as his mouth descends on my clit.
“Oh fuck.” I buck up into his mouth, unable to stop myself.
“Not yet, but soon.” He winks and continues to rain pleasure down on me. Alternating between sucking and flicking until I don’t think I can take much more.
His blue eyes watch me intently the entire time, missing nothing. When he can tell I enjoy something he gives me more of it. I’m a panting, writhing mess within minutes and all I want is for this man to fuck me into oblivion.
When he pulls hard on my clit I fall apart, moaning and arching up off the hard rock as I ride out my climax. I come on his face and he moans, taking his time licking up every last drop of my pleasure.
“Back in the water. Now.”
His command makes my pussy clench and I quickly hop back down into the water, unfazed this time by its temperature. I can’t reach the bottom so I grip the side and tread water.
“Turn around and face the wall. Hold on to the side.”
Marcus lines himself up behind me and I let out an eager moan the moment I feel his hard cock press against my ass.
“I’m not going to be gentle. Make sure you tell me if I’m hurting you.”
I nod so that he knows I’ve heard him and seconds later feel the mushroom tip of him push into me. He continues until he’s fully seated and pressed up against my back and I let my head drop back onto his chest.
The feeling of him filling me up isn’t something I can describe, it’s just…pure bliss. He begins thrusting in and out of me, dragging his hard cock from me and hitting every nerve ending in the process. Water splashes around us and the sound of our grunting and panting and moaning fills the air around us.
He hammers into me and I manage to put enough resistance into my arms that I’m not crashing up against the rock ledge I’m white knuckling. His feet are planted wide and I let my legs drift back and around his waist. There’s something to be said for weightless fucking in the water.
Marcus angles his body in a different way and I cry out each time he thrusts because he’s hitting a spot that steals all control from my body.
“Come on, baby. I want us to come together.”
A few more thrusts and Marcus gets his wish as I moan and he growls, holding himself against me while he empties his cock inside of me. My pussy milks his cock as I finish and a minute later we’re both left shaking and panting from the strength of our orgasms.
He leans over my shoulder and kisses my temple. “Told you that you needed a big strong man to keep you warm.”
I let my head fall back behind him. “Remind me never to doubt you again.”
We both laugh and afterward we continue our swim, happy to enjoy whatever this is that’s developing between us.
27
Marcus
“You are thirty-four fucking years old. You have a daughter and a successful business. You don't need his approval, nor does it matter if he likes the idea that you're dating his daughter.” I repeat the same lines that I've been telling myself the last few days into the mirror.
“We're going on a yacht?” Lily runs into the bathroom in her t-shirt and shorts. I've don
e her hair in braids and gave her a bath this morning. She looks like the perfect little girl.
“We are.”
I pick her up and plop her on the bathroom counter. She grabs my cologne and knowing the drill, spritzes one squirt onto my neck.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Daddy?” she says my name with that tone where I know a bomb is about to drop in my lap.
“Yes, Lily…”
“You said later, and it's later.”
I wrinkle my forehead. “I'm sorry, what?”
“About Cat being my mom. Can she be my mom? Mallory's mom cooks and bakes and plays games and she used to sleep in bed with her daddy just like Cat does.”
I blow out a stream of air. “Oh, Lily Lu.” My shoulders droop and I swear I can feel the weight of the entire solar system on them. I knew this moment would eventually come at some point in Lily’s childhood. “Cat did those things because she's a good friend of ours.”
“So, good friends sleep in your bed?”
“No.” It's amazing how fast an image of your college-aged daughter letting some weasel sleep in her bed because of some dipshit thing you told her when she was five, can flash through your mind.
“Cat slept in your bed the other night.”
My jaw drops to the floor. “No, she didn't,” I argue and for the first time, I outright lie to my daughter.
“Mmm-hmm,” she nods her head. “I saw her.”
I look up at the ceiling. I can play this a few ways—claim she must’ve been sleep walking, or that it was a dream, anything but admit that Cat was in my bed.
“When do you think you saw this?”
Though I know when.
“The night she watched me, and Uncle Dane and Uncle Garrett brought you home. I woke up in the middle of the night and I was gonna crawl in with you.”
Damn it all to hell. I remember thinking I should lock the door, but the last time Lily got up to sleep with me was six months before when she was so congested the humidifier didn't work and she couldn't sleep. Other than that, my little girl is on a routine schedule and never wakes up in the middle of the night.
“Well, she had a tummy ache.” The minute I hear the sentence out loud, I could face palm myself. That’s the best I can come up with? I’m screwed when she asks me about sex.
Lily's nose scrunches and I wait for her to call me on my bullshit. I'm not bragging, but she's a helluva lot smarter than to think an adult with a tummy ache needs to sleep with someone.
Instead of saying 'Daddy, that's crazy', she hops off the counter without saying anything else.
My heart stops thundering in my ears and I'm thankful I dodged a bullet on that one. But that doesn't stop me from coming to the haunting realization that I’m going to have to come clean with Lily sooner than later. As soon as I figure out what the hell Cat and I are doing, I’ll be sure to do that.
A half hour later, Lily and I are at the marina in town. We’re waiting on a bench watching a couple of my employees put the finishing touches on Bill’s boats while the Santora's finish up breakfast at Double D's. Bill and his wife Bree came in last night with their other daughter and son-in-law.
Cat and I already decided that maybe this isn't the time to talk about us with her father, so although it's completely chicken shit of me, I agreed we'd hold off.
I sip my coffee from Steaming Hotties and Lily sits on the bench, swinging her legs back and forth downing her frozen hot chocolate. Sometimes when it’s an already stressful day, you gotta pick your battles. Fighting with Lily in the middle of the coffee shop on why she can't have a frozen hot chocolate at ten o'clock in the morning wasn't one of them.
“Jack,” I call out as he walks out of the boathouse. He's got the rags and spray ready to do one last swipe of every surface before the Santora's climb aboard. We put one of the boats in the water last night and while we're out for the day, Jack and the guys will go ahead and get Sweet Tahlia out of the shed and into the water to sail out tomorrow.
He turns in my direction and makes his way over to us so I stand.
“Hey, Lily!” He raises his greasy hand to high five and Lily doesn't miss a beat, slapping his palm. “You're going to have a blast today.”
Jack is like a kid himself. He's the youngest of three and if it wasn't for having to look after his ailing mother after his two older brothers left town, I wonder if he would’ve stuck around here.
“I'm going to make a new friend,” she says with a smile from ear to ear.
He winks. “Man, scratch a blast, and make that a super duper stupendous day.”
Lily giggles. “You're silly, Jack.”
He nods and taps her on the head. “I know.” Then he turns to me and Lily throws her now empty frozen hot chocolate in the trashcan. That was a record finishing time. “What's up, boss?”
“Can you make sure there are two bottles of champagne chilled in the fridge? I have it on good authority that Bill likes his toasts.”
Jack nods with a smirk across his lips. “You sure you aren't thinking of popping the question?”
I laugh. Well, I laugh and choke at the same time. “Don't know what you're talking about.”
He looks at me long and hard. Now, Jack is about my height but probably has an extra twenty pounds of muscle on him. “You do remember that the Climax Cove gossip chain is still in full-force, right? That you can't go parking your truck outside a certain someone's apartment on the regular without someone else noticing.” He raises his eyebrows up.
“She's my daughter's camp counselor.”
“And she makes house calls?” He walks away backward, knowing this is a useless conversation. I'll dodge his comments as much as I can.
I glance from Lily and back to Jack. “Let's just keep it on the down low for right now.”
“Sorry, boss, gossip is at a full five-alarm forest fire level. You're the talk of the town and so is that blonde coming up behind you.” He nods his head and I turn to find Caterina walking up with a small boy at her side.
She smiles and I smile, then she diverts her footsteps to Lily.
“You stress me out. We'll be leaving in fifteen,” I say.
Jack salutes me with two fingers, which he knows I fucking hate and then he walks down the pier to the yacht.
I didn't think it would be a secret, but I did think I’d been more discreet. It's not like my truck sat outside her apartment every night and when she comes up to my house, there's no one that comes up that high on the hill unless they're there to see me.
“Hey.” Cat’s sweet voice says from beside me and that warmth that hits every drop of my blood in my veins, warms my entire body.
I glance to my side. “Hey. How was breakfast?” Looking further off, I spot Lily and Cat's nephew sitting on the park bench, not really talking.
“It was good. They're paying now. Tahl had to go to the bathroom for the fifth time since we sat down.” She pauses for a second before continuing. “So, we'll still keep us quiet?” she asks.
“Yeah, it’s for the best, right?”
She nods a few times, and even though she was the one who brought it up to me last night, if I had to guess right now, she's upset we're not coming out as a couple. “For sure.” She smiles and her sad frown disappears.
“So, you do remember each other.” Bill's voice disrupts us before we have a chance to talk anymore. He wraps his arm around Cat's shoulder, pulling her into his side. “You guys met years ago when you had just taken over the shop,” he says to me, as though I don't remember.
I nod, eyeing Lily. “Yes, we did.” I smile and glance over at Cat. She has a horrible game face. If her family really knows her they'll know something is going on with us.
“You’ve met these two as well, but just in case, this is Lucas and Tahlia.” He lets Cat go and she fists her fingers together.
He points to a guy an inch taller than me and looks like bicep curls are his usual daily gym routine including weekends and holidays. He looks like the classic
all-American guy and he smiles and holds out his hand.
“Marcus, right? Nice to see you again.” We shake and he doesn't do the whole alpha handshake some guys do. Next, he places his hand on the back of another blonde's back. “My wife, Tahlia.” I'm not sure I've met a man before where I could see how enamored he is with his wife within the first few minutes of knowing him.
She takes my hand and leaves her other one on her protruding and very pregnant belly.
“Nice to see you.”
After we all say our hellos we’re all standing around making small talk and I try not to look at Cat, but it's like trying not to look at a car accident.
“Where's the Mrs.?” I ask, rolling back on my heels, stuffing my hands in my pockets.
“She got distracted by some shop. You know how women are,” Bill says.
Truth is the female species I know best these days are the five-year-old versions.
“So, that's your daughter?” Tahlia asks, observing the two kids talking on the bench.
“Lily, yes. How old is your son?” I ask.
“Caleb is four,” Cat answers the question and Tahlia looks quizzingly at her sister.
“Yeah,” she says slowly. “He's four.”
Caleb and Lily look like they belong on some high-end kid's clothing magazine with their matching blonde hair and light eyes. Lily's blue to Caleb's green, just like his father’s.
“And one on the way?” I ask.
Tahlia places her hands on her stomach, staring over at Lucas.
“Yeah, I'm about two months away from having control of my body again. And this one,” she points to Lucas with her thumb, “wants to spend it on a boat this summer.”
“I'm a firm believer that spending time on a boat when you're little makes you less prone to seasickness,” Lucas says.
Tahlia rolls her eyes at him. “You're just lucky I don't get nausea. Remember Lennon? She had a rough go.”
“I'm pretty sure people still remember her bitching about how uncomfortable she was. Didn't stop her or Jasper for getting it on though. Jasper's one helluva a guy, I tell ya.” Lucas chuckles.
She slaps his shoulder. “Stop it, she's my friend.”