Besotted: An Enemies-to-Lovers Small-town Romance (Carmel Cove Book 3)
Page 7
“Oh, yeah? Is that what you think?” He arched an eyebrow.
Yeah, because it wasn’t his beach.
I opened my mouth, prepared for another volley, when Miles took another step toward me and the water sunk lower on his groin, revealing more dark hair and the thick root of his cock.
My frustration tripped and fell, dissipating like a bottle of spilled marbles, rolling away from me too fast in every direction before I was able to scavenge them all.
Don’t look. Don’t look.
I put my hands up like it would stop him. “Don’t,” I commanded, looking over my shoulder, relieved that the girls couldn’t see him with the twilight and me blocking their line of sight.
“What are you doing? Y-You can’t come out now. Like that.” I heard how my voice climbed higher as each frazzled nerve hit a new note. “Get… go back in there,” I demanded, pointing to the water, trying to keep my eyes above board.
His laugh was the kind that came from deep inside his stomach, rolling over each hardened ab as it left his mouth and made the ache between my legs spread warmly into my underwear. Crap.
“Now, why would I do that, Evie?” he drawled slowly, his twang rubbing over all the parts of me that were desperate for his touch. “Why would I go back when comin’ toward you gets you closer to vacating my beach?”
I glared at him with my sternest, most threatening stare to not move another inch closer… and he just laughed, and I knew I was done for.
The water pulled higher as Miles took one more step in my direction, and then the seas parted.
Don’t look. Don’t you dare—
Oh God.
My mouth fell, and my traitorous eyes dropped to his groin.
What had I done?
Even though it was fairly dark out, I’d never seen a guy’s dick so close before. I’d never seen a guy’s dick before period.
Miles’ hung long and thick between his legs. For a moment, the water still covered the tip of it, teasing me with glimpses of the blunt bulb as it sloshed around him.
I wanted to touch it.
Just like I’d wanted to kiss his lips.
I wanted to know if it felt hard or soft. I wanted to know if it tasted salty like the sea or had a distinct flavor all its own.
I wanted to know too many things for my own good—too many things for a girl who was holding out for her forever about a guy who was only interested in tonight.
This was my punishment, wasn’t it?
This was the consequence of being the girl with the lofty notions of finding Prince Charming and saving herself for marriage: the most gorgeous man I couldn’t stop fantasizing about—the one man I couldn’t have—completely naked and dripping wet in front of me.
“I thought it was supposed to be small when it was cold?” I blurted out, clapping a hand over my mouth as my eyes whipped to his in mortification.
Shit. Shit double shit.
At least, he couldn’t see the fire in my cheeks.
But, as though all parts of him were made to spite me, his dick lengthened.
Maybe he felt just as hot as I did. Maybe that was why this was happening. Because we might as well have been standing in a hot tub for all I felt the cold water around my legs.
His eyes flared as he chuckled and waded closer to me. I’d never felt so unsteady on my own two feet. The water falling to reveal all of him, every long inch right down to the reddened tip that jutted toward me.
“Eve.”
My eyes jerked up to his with a small gasp. He was right in front of me, within arm’s reach. Within lips reach.
“This is the part where you should start running.”
“I’m not going to run. I’m not letting you b-bully me,” I said even though my voice was soft and breathy, and all I could think about was having his mouth on mine again. “This isn’t your beach. I have every right to be here, too. And I’m going to keep coming back. To teach my class.” I wasn’t sure if I was clarifying that for his sake or for mine.
Because I definitely wasn’t coming back so I could get another view of the gorgeous and impossible man in front of me.
His face darkened, desire burning hotly in his stare—desire I knew he’d fulfill elsewhere while I went home alone to my bed and the torture of my dreams.
“If you come here, I can’t guarantee what you’ll see,” he warned roughly and even though neither of us moved, his body came closer to mine.
Shivers felt like earthquakes down my spine, my eyes flicking down to the hard chest, glistening abs, and hard length of him—all within my reach. But all for just one night.
“If you come here I can’t guarantee what kind of villains will rise from the ocean nor what will happen to you and your future when they do.”
The words should’ve been a threat, but they weren’t. Not from him.
My chest sucked in a harsh breath, and I felt the tight peaks of my nipples straining against my sports bra, wondering what they would feel like pressed up against the coarse hair on his chest.
“Are you going to take advantage of me? Because you don’t know how to share a beach?” I demanded in a hard whisper.
Miles’ head drifted closer to mine, so close that I couldn’t focus on his eyes. Ever so gently, I felt a finger trace down the curve of my jaw, settling underneath my chin and lifting it up like he was going to kiss me.
He smelled like the ocean, like deep depths I ached to drown in. There was so much to him, so much more than what was on the surface… so much more than one night could possibly do justice to. His jaw clenched in time with the heavy thud of my heart.
The world spun and tilted with each breath. Yet we were immovable. Unchanging. Each unwilling to give an inch.
“No, Evie. I’m not going to take advantage of you, but I can’t guarantee your body won’t take advantage of your mind,” he rasped with his lips so close that every ‘r’ brushed them against mine. “I can’t guarantee you won’t end up forsakin’ forever for right now.”
Truthfully, I couldn’t guarantee it either.
“I told you,” I insisted weakly. “I’m not interested in a one-night fling.”
I swore I wasn’t, but my body was definitely interested in him. More than interested. It was jealous of the droplets of water that clung to his body. It was jealous of the oxygen that infused his lungs and flowed through his blood. It was jealous of the moon that got to look on him every night.
It was jealous of all the things that got to have any part of him with some sort of permanence.
He hummed, and my tongue darted out to lick my lips like I could taste the savory sound of it catching on them. I was hot, yet chills ran through me. Full of need yet utterly empty. My eyes drifted shut as I swayed toward him.
It was going to happen again. Just like at the wedding.
I felt the anticipation put a halt to every other effort in my body—seeing, breathing, heart beating. It all waited for his kiss to restart it.
And then he was gone.
Not gone.
He still stood right in front of me, but he might as well have been ten feet away because the pull between us evaporated, and I was left, once again, with the embarrassing look of expectation blanketing my face.
The infuriating Poseidon smirked like he hadn’t felt a thing. No pull. Not even a single flicker of unfathomable need like the kind that made every one of my cells tingle. “I think you’re a little too unreasonable in your expectations, Evie.”
“Of you?” I scoffed.
“Of yourself.”
I sucked in a breath.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I began to back slowly out of the water, willing my eyes to stay locked on his face and ignore the other parts of him that tempted my periphery.
“Well, I think you are a little too confident in your charms, Mr. Madison,” I retorted with a throaty rasp.
His eyes trailed down over my body like he was drinking in one last sight of me before I walked away. “Just stay off my
beach.”
It wasn’t—
My mouth clamped shut for a second as I steeled myself and replied, “I’m holding my yoga class here, with or without your presence. And with or without your clothes.”
Turning with a huff, I strode out of the water and back toward my group of girls who’d congregated in a circle, watching our exchange from a distance. Thankfully, I knew they couldn’t hear, but it was hard to miss that Miles was naked even if they couldn’t see every detail.
I just hoped none of them told my siblings. That was the last thing I needed right now.
Miles
Grunting, the tension in my body went slack as my release shot out onto the tiled shower wall. My shoulders heaved, air returning to my lungs.
Fuckin’ hell.
I turned the temperature up to scalding and washed the white streaks of my cum off of my brother’s old shower before flipping the handle in the opposite direction, dousing my body with the icy spray.
I was going to have to figure out a better shower situation especially after a day like today. I’d spent hours climbing, trying to work out my frustration from the night before, but the tile was streaked with reminders of my failure. Clearly, a whole day of exertion hadn’t made a difference.
When Mick and Jules moved to Monterey, he’d left me to keep an eye on their old condo. Their plan was to turn it into a rental property once they were settled in their new spot. The apartment was empty which left me with the feeling that Mick was taking his time to rent it out thinking I might need it.
Damn brother of mine. He got all the good.
I hadn’t told anyone I was letting the lease go on my old apartment. I hadn’t told anyone I was buying a fucking tent for my Jeep and debating leaving this town altogether.
I’d thought Carmel would be a fresh start. Now, I saw that it was only the first step in a lifetime of leaving. The longer I stayed, the more everything around me—my friends, my family—became something that was bound to leave me, too.
And the longer I stayed here, the more I had to see her.
Eve Williams.
My temptation.
Grabbing the towel I’d brought over, I quickly dried off and changed.
She was the reason I was here, jerking off in the fucking shower before heading down to the Pub. She was the salt in my wound, her presence a painful and burning reminder of the mistakes of my past, though the nagging thought that maybe she could heal those wounds wasn’t lost on me.
Seeing her on the beach yesterday, her pert body wrapped up tight in her yoga pants and sheer top was a punishment I didn’t deserve. I’d stayed in the water for another twenty minutes after she’d stalked off yesterday because the cold water was the only thing that would keep my desire at bay. It had only been the adrenaline of the moment, the need to see how far I could push her, that kept my dick from standing rock solid during our whole conversation.
Wanting Eve was like wanting to taste the proverbial apple. Years of Sunday school in Texas had taught me the consequences of that decision well enough. One fuckin’ taste, and I knew she’d destroy me.
Another groan escaped as I locked up my brother’s place, tossing my towel over my shoulder and making my way up the road to the crosswalk that led to the parking lot and subsequent path down to the cove.
God. The open intrigue… the blatant desire in her eyes… she was truth personified. There was no guile with Eve. No filter. She was like a raw, uncut diamond, shining in her natural beauty.
When we first moved, I stayed away from women altogether. I was angry, and it was easier. Then Laurel came back, and Eli was the first to fall. In that process, my brother met Jules and found his heart spoken for. And I was left with the reminder of what I’d lost.
I believed that forevers existed. I just didn’t believe they existed for me. I’d found my forever, and she’d fucked me.
Since celibacy wasn’t a viable long-term option, I began my string of casual flings. They were enough to keep me going without the threat of taking more. And it had been working fairly well until I found myself thinking about the vibrant four-eyed barista from Roasters long after my coffee turned cold.
Eve wasn’t the kind of beauty that stopped you in your tracks. She was damn pretty, there was no doubt about that. Her caramel-brown hair and honest honey eyes were enough to stop a grown man in his tracks, but it was her kindheartedness and unabashed innocence that changed everything. They were addictive. Infectious. Gorgeous. And it was those things that latched on to something deep inside me, changing the way I saw her—and the way no other woman began to compare.
She was younger and worked for Eli and Laurel, so I kept my distance, thinking I’d get over it. I should know by now that my instincts about women are always wrong. And while she was open about a lot of things, she’d never made her interest in me crystal clear until the night of their wedding. I’d kissed her and thought ‘fucking finally,’ we’ll have a great night and then I could move on.
Then she’d mentioned the F-word, and I realized how royally fucked I was.
Grunting, I adjusted my dick that was already hard again thinking of her and tossed my dirty clothes into my Jeep on top of the rest of my laundry that I’d take to the laundromat tomorrow. Shutting the door, I headed for the other exit of the hidden cove that would take me to the Pub. After yesterday, I needed a very stiff drink. And a mindless screw.
She may have invaded my cove, but at least the bar would be a safe haven from all things Eve.
“Where are you from? I just love your accent!” the woman with the cropped bleach-blonde hair said as she took another sip of her drink.
“Born and raised in Texas, doll.” I let my accent linger a bit with each word.
Jill was visiting down from Seattle for the weekend, I’d learned, and she was meeting some friends tomorrow afternoon for a wine tour. She’d been sitting at the bar when I walked in, her sizable tits on display in her tight black top and her short white skirt riding up to reveal long, shapely legs. She was the exact opposite of Eve: short light hair compared to Eve’s long, dark locks. Large, probably fake, tits compared to Eve’s perfect handfuls. Pale to Eve’s sun-kissed skin… Nothing compared to Eve’s everything.
Biting back a curse, I tightened my hair in its tie to the point of pain, hoping it could pull the frustrating-as-hell reminders from my head.
Normally, I would’ve taken a moment to scan the room before picking out the woman I wanted to talk to, but I didn’t want to leave any more free time for a certain tempting barista to trespass even farther into my night. So, I’d walked up next to Jill, ordered myself a drink and struck up a conversation with her, seeing no man and no ring on her finger. She was pleasant enough, if a little ditzy—and a little too good of a drinker.
I looked down at the Manhattan she’d ordered not even ten minutes ago and the glass was almost completely drained.
Jill was the type of woman I came here to meet. Good conversation, here just for a trip or vacation, and not looking for anything more than a good time. I wasn’t a dick looking for a quick fuck for the sake of a fuck, I just wanted to meet a woman who had similar, non-committal needs, who was looking to enjoy the attraction and leave it at that.
“Can I get you another drink, doll?” I offered politely.
She glanced to her glass and giggled. “Wow, that went down easy.” Her eyes that were far more lucid than the amount of alcohol she consumed suggested they should be slid back up to mine. “You aren’t trying to take advantage of me, Texas, are you?” she asked coyly, with the inflection that said she wanted my answer to be ’yes.’
My mouth opened but nothing came out, my reply assaulted by the memory of last night. Of a similar conversation with a very different woman.
I wanted nothing more than to take advantage of Eve… to take advantage of her desire she so obviously didn’t know how to handle. It made my pulse pound and my cock thicken to know she was so thrown off by it. Naively. Innocently. Addictively.
Why I needed to keep myself away from her.
“How ‘bout I’ll order you another drink, and you only drink it if you want to be takin’ advantage of?” I replied with a low voice and a wink.
I felt the wave of lust roll off of her as she let out a throaty laugh and relief settled in. At least something was going to go right for me this weekend.
“Well then, by all means.” Jill licked her lips. “I’m pretty thirsty.”
Grinning, I looked up as she excused herself to use the restroom while I called for Benny.
Since he was the only bartender at the Pub it wasn’t hard to miss the fact that he’d disappeared from his post behind the counter. Strange. Slowly, my eyes scanned down the lined of filled stools before I leaned back to check over by the booths and see if he was delivering a drink over there. Still, no sign of him.
“Benny—”
The glass I’d been holding in my hand slipped from my grip and landed with a rattled thud on the bar a few inches below it. My fist tightened on itself as my eyes focused on Benny coming out from the back room of the Pub.
Followed by Eve.
I’d been the first to see her, so she’d missed how my body faltered when she was around. She was wearing black yoga pants again and the same Keds she’d had on under her dress at the wedding. Her black tee wasn’t nearly as lowcut as the one on the woman next to me—the one whose name I couldn’t even remember at the moment. And her hair was pulled back and braided onto her back just like it had been on the beach.
I wanted to unravel it. Just like I wanted to unravel her fairy tale idea of forever. I wanted to thread my fingers into its silken depths like I wanted to bury myself inside her and never leave.
As soon as she saw me, I was treated to the pink tint that crept up over her neck and into her cheeks as she met my gaze.