Besotted: An Enemies-to-Lovers Small-town Romance (Carmel Cove Book 3)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

His grunts mingled with my cries as our bodies began to slap together frantically, needing more of the fantasy that was building between us. With each thrust, he shoved so deep inside me I swore he was marking my heart, too. And, like a top that was slowly spinning and wobbling out of control, need stood poised to topple any second with the crash of release.

  Grunting my name, I felt the barest brush of his fingers between my folds before they stroked against my swollen clit, and I exploded around him with a scream.

  Unimaginable. Pure. Bliss.

  I saw stars in the starless sky as I came, my core squeezing and contracting around him in seismic waves.

  Miles shuddered under the assault before his hips pumped hard and deep, thrusting so forcefully, so mindlessly, into my body only the animal was left to him.

  A second later, with a loud grunt, he tensed and the heavy length of his cock jerked and his climax soaked my insides with long steady pumps. Warmth pooled in my belly; there was something special about the feeling of his desire filling me.

  Pulse after thick, hot pulse, he stayed buried inside me, determined to not let one drop escape outside the haven of my body.

  Finally, tipping to the side, Miles pulled me on top of him, brushing my hair from my face and doing the honor of adjusting my quirked glasses on my nose.

  “That was…” I trailed off, again at a loss for words I used to be able to find so easily—too easily.

  “A fairy tale?” he rasped, placing gentle kisses along the edges and corners of my lips.

  I shuddered at his response, and added simply, “Perfect… that was perfect.”

  Miles

  There were two things I knew for sure.

  One, last night had been incredible. Eve had been incredible, and my body had woken up hungry for more.

  And two, more of her was going to be a problem because she wasn’t here.

  My eyes flew open when my hand couldn’t feel the warm satin of the skin it now knew by heart. And the tent, it wasn’t a house. There were no other rooms. There was only this space—and she wasn’t in it.

  With a growl, I threw off the sheet and tugged on my boxer briefs, pinning my erection up against my stomach. That would have to wait.

  I opened the entrance flap. “Eve?”

  Swearing under my breath, I skated down the ladder, looking for Kona who was also missing.

  Would she have left? Would she have woken up this morning and realized that last night was a mistake?

  I froze, the realization hitting me like an unsuspecting wave. I’d demanded only one night—that Miles should’ve been happy to wake up to an empty bed and a new day. But that Miles was nowhere to be found, and this Miles only found fear, not relief, realizing she was gone.

  She was right.

  One night wasn’t going to be enough.

  “Fuck.” I rubbed my hand over my mouth, my head whipping in every direction, looking for movement. “Eve!” I yelled louder, spinning around as I heard muffled cursing followed by the distinct mayhem of Kona crashing through his surroundings.

  Walking around the back of the Jeep, I saw my big puppy come barreling through the brush at the back of the cove with Eve trailing behind him.

  As soon as she saw me, her steps paused. She was wearing my T-shirt from last night, her nipples hard bumps against the white fabric. And no fucking pants.

  “Hi.” Her eyes seemed even bigger under her lenses this morning, like last night had opened them up to a whole new world she was now able to see.

  “You alright?” I grumbled, my heart still unsteady from the thought she’d ghosted on me.

  She threw a quick glance over her shoulder and then turned back to me. “Yeah, I just really had to pee.”

  Hesitantly, she stepped out of the brush, her fingers gripping the hem of the tee and tugging it down like my mouth hadn’t licked every inch of that corner of heaven last night.

  I ran a hand through my hair, realizing that in my frantic concern, I hadn’t tied it back.

  “I woke up, and you were gone,” I said tightly, watching as her eyes widened, like she hadn’t thought about the possibility I would be upset about that.

  “You were sleeping so soundly. I just thought I’d go and be right back. Plus, Kona came with me…” She bit down on the swollen fullness of her lower lip, and my body protested with just how upset it was that we were not still back in the tent where I could kiss her.

  More fascinating than that was how her gaze left mine and traveled farther south, realizing that I didn’t have much on. And her lip popped free when her eyes settled on my groin, my boxer briefs doing nothing to hide the thick flesh that hoped to be back inside her by now.

  She jerked her attention back up, one hand releasing her shirt to tuck a wayward hair behind her ear and adjust her glasses.

  And that’s when I saw it.

  The streaks of blood on her thighs.

  “Fuck,” I swore and closed the few feet of distance between us to crouch down in front of her. I looked up at her startled face. “Are you alright?”

  Anger and disappointment course through me as I stood and took a step back. What the hell had I done?

  Fucked a virgin in a fucking tent. When there wasn’t even a sink let alone a shower for her to wash in.

  “I’m such a fucking ass, Eve,” I offered hoarsely. “I shouldn’t have…” I shook my head. “Not like this. Not here.”

  The hand that had been pinching my temples dropped when I felt her hand on my chest, the biggest pleading eyes capturing mine in their magic.

  “Please, Miles, don’t ever apologize for anything about last night,” she begged softly, and I felt like a complete ass all over again. “Last night was amazing.”

  I cupped her face, finding no trace of regret. “I should’ve taken you somewhere where I could take care of you after. Somewhere with a shower.”

  Fuck, her smile hit me hard. I may have been inside her last night, but it felt like there was a piece of her left inside me because of it.

  “Well… you do have the ocean.” She looked over my shoulder.

  “It’ll be cold,” I warned.

  “You’ll warm me,” she said confidently, her voice thickening with desire.

  I shouldn’t take her again. One, because she was probably sore as fuck. And two, because one night was over.

  But Mick was always the good twin. Not me.

  Breaking all the rules—even my own—was built into my genes.

  I picked her up, doing the best I could to block out how her hot pussy rubbed against my erection with each rugged step I took through the sand to the sea. Finally, the water splashed up my legs as I carried us in, my pace slowing when it got to the level of my hips.

  Her eyes dropped down between us curiously. “Is it really going to make that smaller? The cold water?”

  I groaned. “Not at this point. Not with you like this,” I answered honestly.

  The water could have been cold enough to freeze my dick solid, and it wouldn’t be as hard as it was right now.

  “The water feels good,” she murmured with a small sigh that shot straight to my groin.

  Gripping her hips, I grunted, “Lay back.”

  With wide eyes, she obeyed, slowly dropping back until she was floating on the top of the water with her legs locked around my waist.

  My palm slid and flattened on the water-slick plane of her stomach, drifting down to her swollen pussy. Gently, I teased her folds, feeling the difference between her slickness and the water that surrounded us.

  Need pumped steadily in my veins like the strongest analgesic, blocking out every other sensation. Carefully, I rubbed what streaks remained of her blood off her thighs.

  I shouldn’t have loved that I was her first, but I did, darkly and deliciously, with a ferocity that was so fucking uncomfortable because it felt so right. It needed to be me because the thought of it being anyone else would’ve driven me mad.

  And I shouldn’t be so damn horny and careless to t
ake her now, but I couldn’t resist.

  I couldn’t fucking resist her.

  Supporting her with one hand underneath her lower back, I reveled in her moan as my thumb began to stroke her clit, rubbing firmly until her legs squeezed around me.

  “Miles… I want you…” she whimpered softly.

  I loved when she needed me too much for words.

  “Shouldn’t be doin’ this to you right now. Not after last night,” I ground out even as my hand slid to yank my boxers down low enough to free my heavy cock, the tip bobbing up against the surface of the water.

  “Stop apologizing when everything you shouldn’t do is everything I want,” she demanded, water sloshing as her hips jerked with pleasure.

  “Never said I was sorry for this, Evie,” I hissed as I pushed the head of my cock against her slit and the flow of the ocean drew me toward her—pushing me deeper. “Never goin’ to be sorry for this.”

  Growling, my hands and the water worked her hot swollen pussy down my length, the water only partially obscuring the way my cock disappeared inside her tightness.

  Fuck. Blindsided by the pleasure, my eyes squeezed shut.

  With one hand under her back, the other on her lower stomach, I felt how I filled her, and then I let the ocean do the work.

  With each erotic ebb, the water pulled her down the length of my cock and with each rushing flow, it pushed her onto me so I filled her again. The waves built the tension slow and steady, the cool water adding another dimension to the heat that burned between us.

  “Miles,” she gasped, needing more than the power of the tide was giving.

  But I didn’t want to hurt her, so instead, my thumb found her needy little clit again, rolling and teasing the bud as the ocean set our pace.

  “You feel so damn good, baby,” I muttered, my impending orgasm tightening my balls.

  The pace was torturously slow, but the heat of her, the greedy clenching of her muscles made it such fucking delicious torture.

  “I need more, Miles,” she begged, her heels digging into my ass. “I need you harder.”

  I couldn’t say no.

  Gripping her hips, I thrust raggedly into her, the water chopping and spraying around us. I didn’t feel any of it though. All I felt was the way her tight pussy clamped down and sucked me in with each thrust.

  It didn’t take long of giving her what she wanted before I felt her body shudder through the water and her muscles seize around me as her orgasm claimed her, her cry like music to my ears. The slick velvet grip around my throbbing cock was enough to rip my own free. I slammed into her, the tip of my cock hitting her womb setting off my own orgasm. With a strained groan, I came hard inside her, my body releasing parts of my broken soul to her—the traitor that it was.

  As we both settled to gasping for air, the motion of the sea became sufficient to rock us back down to earth.

  Minutes later, with a grunt, I slid out of her, watching as the water clouded with our desire for a moment before it diffused. Lifting her back up against my chest, I pushed her wet hair from her face and was swallowed up by her sated gaze.

  I didn’t want her to leave. It was as simple—and as complicated—as that.

  Swallowing over the lump in my throat, I rasped, “Go somewhere with me today.”

  Her face didn’t hide the shadow of surprise that flitted over it; it never hid anything from me.

  “With you? You’re sure?” she gaped. “Because I know you said only one night, and I don’t want you to think you have to do something more or that I expect something more because we had sex. Twice. Incredible sex. But that’s besides—”

  “Eve…” My voice rumbled with warning. “Night… day… I just want you to go somewhere with me today. I just want more of you.”

  Her face lit up like I’d fucking proposed, which should’ve concerned me but it didn’t because it meant she was going to say yes.

  “Anywhere.” She smiled so brightly she gave the morning sun some healthy competition.

  My lips tipped up on one side in a grin. “First, I’m going to take us somewhere to shower. And change.”

  Eve

  “Where are we going?”

  We’d only made it about five minutes into the drive from Carmel before I’d asked. I couldn’t stop myself. I was brimming with excitement and happiness and hope—the kind of hope that is woven into the very fabric of fairy tales.

  “It’s a surprise,” he grunted.

  I snuck another look at him from underneath my shades. One hand on the wheel, the other on the edge of the open window, big metal aviators on his face, and his tee molded to his shoulders, I let myself for a second imagine that this was our life—driving out of town on the weekends with Kona to go exploring.

  I hummed. “Why don’t you just move into Mick’s old apartment? I doubt they’re going to use it again, even when they do move back.”

  That was where he’d taken us to shower and change after the crazy hot ocean sex. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to look at the ocean, or a wave, the same again. After rinsing off, he’d taken me back to Blooms, so I could put on some athletic clothes—which consisted of another pair of yoga shorts since it was pretty warm out today and a lightweight, pale yellow tank over a strappy sports bra. I bit my lip to stop myself from grinning, remembering the way I’d caught him checking me out as I walked up to the Jeep and climbed in.

  “And I’m sure he wouldn’t charge you, I mean, if you couldn’t—”

  “That’s not a problem,” Miles interjected with a laugh. “I could afford an apartment, but what’s the point?” He shrugged. “I didn’t get a new place because I wasn’t planning on staying.”

  I coughed because it felt like my heart had stopped for a second. “W-What do you mean? Staying in Carmel?”

  He nodded slowly. “With the tent I can just go and stay wherever. I don’t need much. I certainly didn’t need to be spending money on a place when there wasn’t anything keeping me here.”

  Wasn’t or isn’t.

  “I see,” I replied quietly, knowing I couldn’t stop him from leaving town. Knowing I could hardly ask for more than one night.

  His head turned to glance over at me before he looked ahead at the road once more. “I’ll have to talk to him this week. My last place didn’t allow dogs anyway…”

  From stopping to racing, one small question sent my heart into overdrive.

  About twenty minutes later, the drive passed in conversation about his brother and their family and their business, we pulled into a park about ten miles outside of Monterey.

  The promising morning sun had turned into a bright, beautiful day, so the parking lot was completely full, but Miles didn’t seem too concerned with the crowds.

  “We’re not going on the trails,” he offered by way of explanation as I hopped down and he let Kona out of the back.

  I was intrigued until he opened up the back latch of the Jeep and pulled out a backpack layered with hooks and ropes.

  “Are we going climbing?” I couldn’t contain the question or my excitement.

  His response was a devious grin, and I was sure that if he wasn’t wearing sunglasses, there would’ve been a wink to accompany it.

  A thrill shot down my spine. I’d never gone rock climbing before, but I loved anything that was outside. And I knew I would love this if for no other reason than it meant something to Miles.

  Following his lead and Kona’s eager tail, we walked along one of the outlined hikes for a few minutes, the trail covered in a canopy of blooming green and sparkling with flickers of sunlight.

  But it was when Miles took a turn off the path that things got interesting.

  There was a path, but only the kind made from the footsteps of a handful of adventurers through the forest brush. I walked slightly behind him with Kona by my side since the tree branches made the space too narrow for me to walk beside Miles’ broad frame.

  I watched the strong sway of his shoulders and remembered how thos
e same shoulders had looked so defeated last night. I desperately wanted to ask again about the phone call. It was one itch that hadn’t been scratched by everything that happened after we left the Pub. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know his story. It was selfish, but I needed to know what happened to him because I needed to know that I’d never do something like it.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked over his shoulder.

  My gaze slid up from where I was watching Kona who’d stopped to smell some of the flowers, and heat bloomed in my cheeks. “You don’t want to know.”

  “Tell me.” This time, it wasn’t a question.

  He faced me, waiting for an answer.

  I folded my arms over my chest and angled my chin up slightly, steeling myself for the response I would get—afraid it would end this day before it had even begun.

  “I want to know who called you,” I admitted quietly. “I want to know what happened…”

  I felt the shift in the air between us, like walking into the shade after being in the sun. Everything about him became shadowed but not distant. There was the same pain threaded with anger, but the defenses he’d had to keep me out had diminished.

  “I dated a girl for eighteen years. I thought I loved her for even longer. She was my forever. I had it in my mind from the very start,” he began hollowly as he gently cupped my cheek, staring at me like I was the lighthouse of truth in the middle of his life that had been drifting in a sea of lies. “And almost from the very start she used me… she cheated on me.”

  If it was possible for a heart to experience someone else’s pain, mine did in that moment, in his gaze, and it broke.

  Seeing my pity, he turned and began to walk again, and I thought that was it—that was all I would get. Of course, it was a lot—so much hurt for a man who didn’t deserve any of it. But I also sensed there was more, and just as I began to wish he would tell me, I heard his voice as it rustled over the faint crunching and cracking of the heart of the forest as we walked.

  “In high school, all the guys Mick had to hold me back from beating up because they flirted with her or touched her… it was because she wanted it, because she wanted them, too.” His self-deprecating laugh poured salt in the wound. “She went to college, and I believed her when she told me to stay behind because Mick and I were just getting the business started. I believed her when she said she couldn’t come home on weekends because she was too busy studying and not partying.”