Sweet As Sin

by Ana Jolene

  Dacey came over and checked the bags in his arms. “What did you guys buy?” She made a face at him when she finished rummaging through the bags. “Wait. You didn’t get me my green juice?”

  “God, no. We’re not drinking green juice at this bonfire!” Beside him, Greyson chuckled.

  “Oh fine!” She then stomped back to her seat beside Maison. While the girls chatted, Hutch went to stand by Greyson by the fire. Man, he couldn’t recall the last time he and his family had done something like this and he almost felt guilty about not inviting Hunter, Owen, and his father.

  “Should I call the others?” he offered.

  Greyson took a swig of his beer. “Sure, why not? We’ve got enough food to feed a village.”

  Hutch pulled out his cell phone and was surprised when his older brother answered on the first ring. “What do you want, nerd?” Hunter said by way of greeting.

  “Hey, who you callin’ a nerd?”

  “You, dumbass. I thought nerds were smart.”

  Hutch rolled his eyes. For being the eldest of his siblings, Hunter sure knew how to act immature. “I’m not getting into this with you.” If he did, a full-on fight would occur.

  “Fine,” Hunter said. “Is there a reason why you called me?”

  Well, at least Hunter’s mood had lifted since the last time he’d seen him.

  “I called to say that I’m at Dacey’s and we’re having this epic bonfire party. But I’ve changed my mind. You guys can’t come.”

  “Screw you,” his brother snarled. “Owen and I are heading over.”

  “What about Dad?”

  “I don’t think bonfires are his thing. But I can ask.” Hmm. Guess he was right. Hutch tried to imagine his father with them all, singing and laughing with the glow of the fire on his face but he couldn’t see it happening. His father was too serious, too stern of a man.

  “Did something happen between you and Dad?” he asked. Although Hunter had been teasing him just a few minutes ago, Hutch noticed that his brother had been keeping to himself a lot recently.

  “No. We’re good,” Hunter replied. But Hutch wondered if he was lying.

  “Bring him,” he said, surprisingly himself. “He deserves a little outing every now and again.”

  “Okay.”

  About a half hour later, Hunter, Owen, and his father arrived. Dacey jumped to her feet as she saw them walking down the beach before pulling them into her arms. Maison stood then, walking over to him. “This bonfire has become quite the party. Are you enjoying yourself?”

  Hutch patted the spot beside him and Maison lowered herself until she was curled against him. “I am. What about you?”

  “I love it. Thanks so much for doing this for Rissa.”

  Hutch glanced at the kid. Rissa was still on the opposite side of the fire, now playing with Owen. She had a big grin on her face and it made him happy to see her enjoying herself so much.

  A few minutes later, Hunter came over to greet everyone. His gaze intensified as they landed on him and Maison holding hands, but he didn’t comment on it. The last thing he needed was his big brother hassling him over having a girlfriend. Even Matthew looked unbothered by their PDA.

  Hutch stood, going over to the icebox to pull out a beer. He ripped the cap off and brought it over to his father. “Here you go.”

  Matthew looked surprised. “Thank you,” he said as he took the bottle from him.

  “Want some food? There’s plenty to go around.”

  His father nodded. “Thanks, I’ll go get some myself.”

  That was enough, Hutch thought. If the man was hungry, he was more than capable of getting his own food.

  For a moment, Hutch wondered if Matthew ever got lonely or if he ever thought of his mother. Since Camilla’s death, he’d never taken a day off work or tried socializing with others. Was he using a busy schedule as an excuse to cover up his grief? It shamed him that he didn’t know. In fact, Hutch didn’t know what was going on with his father because he’d never bothered to stop and ask how he was doing. He’d been too caught up in his own grief to notice that other people were hurting around him too.

  Hutch turned around and sat back down beside Maison. As everyone else ate and danced to the music, Hutch simply sat back and enjoyed the soft curves pressed against him.

  Never in a million years did he ever think he’d be happy at Moonrise Beach, but he was starting to see why so many flocked here. It wasn’t just because of the hot beaches or the small-town feel. It was because of the people.

  Moonrise Beach was filled with captivating individuals, and right now, Hutch felt like he was surrounded by some of the best of them.

  Used to be, he wanted to get out of this place. Now Hutch was wondering how he could ever leave.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Maison was pleased to note that they’d gotten Rissa back home safe and sound before her mother’s designated curfew. The girl didn’t have to express how much fun she’d had; it was written on her entire face.

  She could only hope that Rissa never stopped smiling like that. The girl had a big heart and she was smart; she could go far if she wanted to. Maison was just glad that her mother was finally taking notice of that too. “She’s great, isn’t she?” Hutch mused as he pulled out of the teen’s parking lot.

  Maison beamed. “Yes, she is.”

  “Girl’s smart too. Just like someone else I know . . .” As he trailed off, Hutch’s gaze slid to hers, a teasing smirk curling those luscious lips.

  Maison felt her face go red. God, she would never get used to Hutch’s compliments or his flirty remarks, and she hoped it would always be that way. “Where do you want to go now?” she asked him.

  “I thought you might want to go home, but we don’t have to if you don’t want to.” No, she wasn’t ready for the night to end. She’d had a wonderful time with Hutch’s family. But she didn’t really know where she wanted to go either. When she told him that, Hutch said, “That’s cool. We can head back to my place for a little bit if you want.”

  That sounded like the perfect idea. Soon they were both sitting in Hutch’s bedroom, watching Netflix. “There’s nothing good on,” Hutch groused as he flipped through the movie selection.

  “There must be something you like in there.”

  “I’ve watched everything already.”

  “Really?”

  “Screw it!” Hutch dropped the remote and turned to her, planting his mouth over hers. “I’d rather be making out with you instead.”

  He’d acted so quickly that she’d been caught completely off guard. Her mouth opened in a gasp and Hutch took that as an opportunity to thrust his tongue in her mouth. He groaned. “You feel amazing.”

  No, he did. She’d never get enough of his big, hard body on top of her. It almost felt like a wall against the world where she could pretend it was just the two of them.

  When Hutch kissed her again, she groaned out loud. “Shh,” he said. “We have to be quiet.”

  Dammit! It hit her then that they weren’t alone. Hunter and Owen were probably already sleeping and his father—her boss!—was working downstairs. “Oh my God. We can’t do this in here!”

  Hutch gave her a mischievous smirk. “It’ll be okay.”

  “Okay? Hutch Happa-Hewitt, you are a bad influence!”

  “Bad?” Hutch lowered himself until he was draped over her again. “I’ll show you bad.” He took her mouth in a scorching kiss. “Take your top off.”

  With a smile, Maison slipped out of her blouse, letting it fall to the ground before Hutch mounted her again. He was so big, and so muscular, that all she wanted to do was run her hands all over his body. Maybe if he was lucky, she’d follow that with her lips and tongue . . .

  “What are you thinking about?” Hutch asked as he painted imaginary circles with his finger around her navel.

  Frowning, Maison caught a hold of his finger. “What are you doing?” Her stomach had always been a part of her body that she wasn’t comfortable
with. She didn’t have the flat tummy or the six-pack abs that a lot of the other girls on Moonrise Beach had. So she didn’t like that he was focusing on it now.

  Hutch seemed oblivious to her anxiety as he drew up the length of her body and began to kiss her breasts. She liked that he liked them, but that didn’t entirely erase the anxiety she felt when he focused so much on them.

  Hutch abruptly pulled back and stared down at her. “Okay, stop. I can tell you’re not into this, so why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you? Is it because of my family? Do you want to go somewhere else?”

  Maison shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I’m just wondering what we’re doing.”

  Hutch arched a brow at her. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “What I mean is, why are you doing it with me? You’re gorgeous. You can have any woman you want. Why are you here with me?”

  “You’ve got it all wrong, Snowflake. Why do you still think you’re unattractive? Haven’t you noticed the way men gawk at you at work? I promise you every one of those men would love to be in my place right now.”

  His smooth words were doing a good job of making her feel better about herself because she managed a small smile. “You think so?”

  “God, yes. Just look at you! You’re a wet dream come to life. I’m getting hard just looking at you.” Her gaze dropped to his crotch and she realized that he wasn’t lying. Hutch was practically bulging out of his pants.

  Maison crawled over to him, swatting his hands away when he tried to reach for her. “No, let me do this.”

  She wanted to apologize for interrupting what he’d started, but instead of using words, she had a better way of doing it. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to fix the problem.” She reached for his zipper, easing it down slowly. And then she wrapped her hand around his length, squeezing tightly as her hand went up and down.

  Hutch let out a whine.

  When her mouth engulfed the bulbous head, Hutch growled. She loved the sounds he made and he looked absolutely gorgeous spread out before her, staring down at her with dark, obsidian eyes. When he couldn’t take it any longer, Hutch pushed her away before reaching for a condom.

  As he slid it on, Maison removed the rest of her clothes. Hutch raised himself over her. “Ready?”

  She nodded, widening her legs until he was between them. Maison gasped as he slowly entered her and then groaned as he started to move.

  As Hutch rocked into her body, his hands gripped her hips. She knew she was fleshy there, but he didn’t seem to mind as he lifted her up, further impaling her on his cock. She wrapped her arms around him, wanting to have him as close as possible to her heart.

  Hutch chuckled in her ear. “You’re so beautiful.”

  Suddenly, all her insecurities were gone. All she could think of was how good Hutch was making her feel. As he continued to rock her body on his cock, Maison closed her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the sensation.

  Soon she was clamping her hand over her mouth to try and muffle her cries. The pleasure had built to a sharp point, pain and pleasure mixing together until she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  She moved faster against him, chasing the pleasure until she burst into flames. As wave after wave of bliss bombarded her from all sides, Hutch gripped her harder. “Oh God!”

  She melted against him, feeling boneless as he laid her out on the bed. Wow. That had been different to all their previous lovemaking. In the past it had been about exploration and chasing pleasure. This time, it felt a lot more like devotion. Hutch had worshipped her body and, now, she felt spent.

  The only problem was Hutch was still hard as he jerked himself off with his hand. An idea popped into her head. “Come here,” she said as she pressed her breasts together. Because of their size, she knew it wouldn’t be hard for him to understand what she wanted.

  His eyes lit up. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” She had fantasies of doing this but never had the confidence to actually carry it out. Having Hutch here, however, was making her want to do everything.

  Slowly, Hutch straddled her, pushing his hard cock between her breasts. Maison held them together, watching as the wet tip appeared and disappeared between her breasts. He’d taken the condom off and she loved the feeling of skin on skin.

  The long groan he let out made him sound like he was dying and Maison tried to hide the satisfied smile on her face.

  When his thrusts got shorter, Maison knew that he was close and so she urged him on, saying dirty things she never thought she knew until this moment.

  Hutch’s body seized up and his thrusts grew more uncontrolled. “Ahh!” His seed spurted over her breasts and stomach. “Fucking hell,” he breathed, forcing her to look at him. His dark eyes seemed to glimmer with gold as he stared down at her and tried to catch his breath. In that moment, Maison felt like the prettiest girl in the world.

  They both got up to clean off before falling back onto the bed in a tangle of limbs. With Hutch lying on his back, Maison rested her hair against his chest, feeling the soft rise and fall of his breathing and the steady thumping of his heart.

  She loved this man, she realized. Despite how she had initially felt about him, Maison was quickly realizing that no one else had made her feel this way. No one else had made her feel beautiful and desired like Hutch did. And her world felt so much better for it now.

  They dozed off together, both blissfully happy and sated. Only the shrill sound of Maison’s phone ringing in the early morning woke them up.

  On a tired groan, Maison forced herself up. What the hell? The screen showed that someone from her house was calling. How could that be possible? She lived alone. Who could be calling her cell phone from her house?

  “What’s wrong?” Hutch asked.

  “It’s my house,” she explained. “Someone is calling from my house!”

  Hutch frowned. “Answer it.”

  Maison hit the Accept button. “Hello?”

  “Maison?”

  Her stomach plummeted as she recognized the voice immediately. “Mom?”

  “Where are you?” her mother said. “For heaven’s sake, we were waiting outside for you for so long! Why aren’t you at home?”

  What the hell? “What are you doing at my house?” When she’d first moved in, she’d given them a spare key to use in case of emergencies but they’d never used it before now.

  The voice on the other end of the line sounded annoyed. “I’m your mother. You act like I can’t come visit my daughter.” But it’d been so long since she’d last seen them. Why would they show up out of the blue?

  Her parents had always been like that. They didn’t care about what was best for her. They only cared about what other people thought. Her repressed anger at them returned in a flood. “That doesn’t mean you can just come into my house whenever you want!”

  “I can come whenever I want,” her mother snapped. “And show some damn respect for your parents, Maison! Or have you lost that too since I last saw you?” Maison gritted her teeth, trying hard not to snap back. She couldn’t believe this was happening right now. “I expect you to return immediately. Your father and I want to talk to you.”

  The words caused her stomach to churn, tightening into knots. “Why? What’s going on?” But her mother had already hung up. “Ugh!” Maison threw her phone away and flopped down on the bed.

  Hutch was by her side in the next instant. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s my parents.” She got up and started to get dressed. “They’re here.”

  “Here? What are they doing here?”

  “They’re at my house. Waiting for me.”

  “But I thought—

  “Wait for me,” Hutch said as he shifted off the bed. “I’ll drive you over.”

  “It’s okay. I’ve got—” That was when she remembered that her car was still at the garage.

  Dammit! She’d totally forgotten all about it! She forced herself to slow down and t
ake a breath. “Okay. Thanks. That would really help.” She really needed to calm down. Just because her parents were in town that didn’t automatically mean that something bad was going to happen.

  Hutch came over and kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry, Snowflake. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together.”

  She smiled at him but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She loved that he was willing to be there for her. But he didn’t know her parents. Didn’t know how toxic they could be.

  All she knew was that whatever slice of heaven she had made for herself here with Hutch was quickly going to come to an end.

  * * *

  On the outside, her house looked the same as always. But Maison knew the moment she stepped into it, it’d be a whole different matter. After taking a deep breath, she started to walk towards her front door when Hutch caught a hold of her wrist.

  “Do you want me to come in with you?” He looked so worried about her that it melted her heart. Maison offered him a smile, but she knew it came out strained.

  “Thanks, but no. It’s probably best if I face them alone.” She still had no idea why her parents were here so she wanted to be sure before she involved Hutch.

  “Okay. Will you call me later?”

  This time, her smile was genuine. “Of course.” She loved that he wasn’t pushing her on this. The last thing she needed was to have an argument with him in front of her house where her parents could see. Maison stood up on her toes and kissed him.

  When she turned around, however, she realized that they were no longer alone. Her mother stood in the doorway, a look of disapproval on her face. She kept glancing between them, as if what she was seeing was a mirage or something.

  “Uh oh,” Hutch whispered against her lips.

  “I better go,” she said before she turned away and started walking towards her mother.

  “Where the hell have you been?” her mother scolded as she approached. “Were you with that guy all night?”