The Secret: A Forbidden Love Romance (Magnolia Grove Book 4)

by J. B. McGee

  Holden shifts his attention to my cheek, then my ear. He lightly caresses it with his tongue. Squirming, I try not to let my giggle escape. When I can no longer hold it together, I move my head slightly, and our eyes latch much like our bodies did when we were in front of the mirror. He’s still kissing me, but there’s mischief in his eyes, a smile on lips. Running my hands up and down his sides, I lightly strum the crevices and natural dips of his abs.

  He chuckles before grabbing them. “Have you had any other fantasies about me over the last ten years?”

  “Well, there was the obvious one when I kissed the mirror pretending it was you.”

  He moves his lips back to mine, pushing his hips down on me, and I can feel his cock is ready for round two. “Any others?” he asks, dipping his tongue into my mouth.

  Sucking it, I breathe in his moans before pulling back. “Honestly?”

  “Well, yeah.” He slowly starts to move again, teasing me with the friction I so desperately crave. “I always want you to be honest with me.”

  “After you left the night I wore that bikini, I dreamed about being bent over in those short shorts like I was when I picked out the movie—when I glanced over my shoulder and caught you looking with that sexy grin of yours.”

  One of the corners of his mouth lifts into the lopsided smile that’s always turned me to a puddle of goo. “This one?”

  I realize in this moment it’s not just the way his lips curve, but the way his eyes drink me in, lids hooded, pupils dilated, and azure irises pooled with desire. My mouth dries, and I pull him closer to me. Lifting my head so his ear is in front of me, I assault his lobe the same way he did mine a few minutes ago. “I didn’t just dream about your grin. I mean, that was an almost nightly occurrence.”

  He growls against my neck. “You’re killing me.”

  “Making up for all the torture you put me through for ten years.”

  “What was the other part of your dream?”

  “First,” I say, sliding my hands up and down his back—tracing the muscles of his shoulders. “We were alone. No Amie, Brody, Vi, or Wells.” I immediately regret mentioning her. I’m still unsure how he’s going to react to that.

  He picks up his pace, grinding harder against me, putting the perfect amount of pressure on my clit. “Uh-huh. I’m not into having an audience. Keep going, tigress.”

  “You came up from behind me.” Keeping my eyes open is becoming difficult. Coherent thoughts, forming words, a challenge. “You slipped your arm around my waist, your fingers delicately slipping under the sheer shirt. Your thumbs deftly, ever so slowly, undoing the button and zipper to my shorts before tugging them all the way down. Except, you kissed every inch of skin they exposed as they puddled in the floor around my feet. “And you said, ‘Fuck. No panties.’ Obviously, there weren’t any bikini bottoms in my dream.”

  “Fuck yeah,” he says as he exits me, leaving me breathless and needy. “I didn’t really say that word much back then, but it’s my favorite now.”

  Before I can protest the loss of our connection, he has his hands on my hips, flipping me.

  “On your knees.”

  I laugh. “I love it when you boss me around.”

  “Did I do that in your fantasy?”

  “I don’t remember. You told me I was beautiful.”

  “You. Are.” He kisses my back. “Beautiful.” His arm does exactly what I just described to him, but instead of removing clothing since there aren’t any, his thumb finds a different button, rubbing up and down and all around.

  I gasp, collapsing forward, my ass in the air, and bury my head in one of the pillows as I scream out until it’s jerked from beneath my head.

  “I wanna hear you.”

  “Don’t stop.”

  He chuckles. “Oh, I don’t plan on it.”

  “It’s so good.” My mouth gapes as I pant, my heart soaring to the sky, tiptoeing in a cloud. But beneath it, I now know there’s a trampoline. And I know our hopes are going to go crashing down sometimes, but it’s only temporary before we’re propelled back up. “I’m about to.”

  He changes what he’s doing. Dammit. “What happened next?”

  “You took me from behind, of course.” I grin. “Whispering about what a damn tease I am, how I make you crazy.”

  “That’s all totally accurate. Mmm.” His baritone voice is husky. “Did you scream my name?” he asks, teasing my entrance with his cock.

  “Of course.”

  He pushes the tip in, and it twitches. “Fuck, Cam. Did you have a wet dream about me? Did you come?”

  I nod. “Hard. It was the first time it ever happened.”

  He slams into me, his lips on my neck, then his teeth graze my lobe. “I’m glad I was your first something. The first time it happened? Were there others?”

  I swallow. I wish he were my first everything. “So many others, Holden. And you’re my first and only true love.”

  He chuckles. “Sounds like a fucking fairy tale.”

  “That’d be all totally accurate then,” I repeat his words back to him.

  He threads a hand in my hair as he controls our pace. “Touch yourself. Rub your clit for me.”

  “You like that, don’t you?”

  He moans as my fingers dip down to the sensitive flesh. “Fuck yeah, Cam. My fantasies are making all your wet dreams come true.”

  We don’t say anything else as the pressure builds, as Holden pounds in and out of me, like we’re releasing ten years of sexual frustration, each time we’re making love chipping away at all the regret, hurt—the past. The only thing I can see is right now, this moment, and a future that only contains him by my side.

  When I’m about to reach my climax, my moans and his groans become feral. “Holden,” I shout. “Please.”

  He’s teasing me. Every time my pussy starts to clench around his cock, he slows. “I was waiting for you to scream my name.” He releases my hair and turns my head, his lips connecting with mine as his pace becomes steady. The position is so deep, and he’s hitting my G-spot perfectly. He disconnects our kiss, and immediately my lips feel naked. “That’s it,” he says, urging me on. “You feel so fucking good.”

  When he talks about me like that, it gives me all I need to tip over the edge. “I’m going to.”

  “Yeah.” He grunts, wrapping his arm around my waist and putting his hand underneath mine. And together, we fall before the wings of our love catch us, sending our shaking bodies soaring toward euphoric bliss—the closest place to heaven I’ve ever experienced.

  He stills inside me as his orgasm sends quakes throughout my body. Finally, he pulls us both down and snuggles me, his front to my back, his head nuzzled into my neck. “I love you so damn much.”

  I smile as my lids close. I’m completely and utterly sated. “Love you, Holden Jaxon Masters, you sexy thing.” He laughs and playfully smacks my ass, causing me to jump. “You should put the bikini back on,” he says, and I know he’s quoting himself from ten years ago. I haven’t worn it since that night. “But I can assure it won’t be better than nothing.”

  Grinning, I roll over and squeeze his tight ass. “Would you rather snorkel and have dinner? Or would you rather stay here, dive back into me, and feast on each other? What would you say would give you the most…bang…for your bucks?”

  He ducks his head and laughs. “You drive a hard bargain, but we’re going on this date come hell or high water.”

  “We’ve already left hell. And they make boats for water.”

  He kisses my nose. “You’re right. You’re smart. You’re beautiful. And I can’t believe you’re mine.”

  “Someone, hurry, write it down,” I say, glancing around like we have an audience. “He says I’m ri—”

  His lips are on mine, silencing me. “I have so much more to say about you. But I need to stretch it out to keep your ego from inflating too much.”

  Giving him a playful slap, I grin. “Says the cocky bastard.”

  S
o as not to smell like Cammie, Holden, and sex, we showered and leisurely donned our swimsuits. Holden had, at some previous point, already packed the car. We made it to the marina an hour later where we took a boat to a private island. I’ve snorkeled before. At some of the most fascinating places in the Caribbean and Virgin Islands. But not once had I ever had Holden to look at in addition to the marine life. And that made all the difference. He has one of those cases for his phone that allows it to be submerged in water, so we took videos and selfies even though Holden is usually pretty opposed to being in any kind of photography. He entertains me most of the time. His modesty for a cocky bastard is refreshing. Maybe it’s not modesty since he walks around the house naked all the time. Maybe it’s humility. Whatever is the reason, it’s one of the things I love about him.

  We’re lying on the beach, soaking up some rays. Apparently, he switched up my date a bit. The only manmade thing on this island is a small cabana with a bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. When we arrived, he took our stuff inside. There were rose petals covering the floors. I almost didn’t want to step on them.

  “This place is beautiful,” I said.

  He smiled. “I know it’s not exactly the date I bid on, but I wanted something special just between the two of us.” He didn’t have to say it. Something that wasn’t tainted with Oliver.

  “It’s perfect. It’s better than what I envisioned.”

  “I packed you a bag. Dinner will be on the beach later by candlelight. And then, I’m going to carry you up the beach and into this cabana, and well, I guess I should enjoy the ability to keep good secrets.”

  My stomach flipped, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I think we should make sure the bed works okay before we go snorkeling.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. We have someone meeting us to help with the snorkeling. It’ll have to wait,” he says, his hand slipping under my shorts, a finger sliding over my clit.

  “Ah…”

  “But as soon as he leaves…” Holden arched a brow and tilted his head. “I’ll finish what I just started.”

  “You’re cruel.”

  “And you love it, tigress.”

  Love it and you.

  My eyes pop open from my daydream reflection. Rolling over, my arm reaches out to nudge him, but he’s gazing at me like I’m the most precious thing in the world. “How long have you been staring at me?”

  He shakes his head. “Dunno. Not long enough.”

  I smile. “You never told me why you started calling me tigress that day when we were playing laser tag.”

  His lips curve up. “That’s one of my secret reveals for the day.”

  “There’s more than one?”

  “Yep. But I’ll go ahead and let you have this one.” He reaches his hand over and pulls me to him. I hike my leg over his, and he puts his hand on that part between my ass and my thigh. I love it when he holds me like this. “I went to see Kung Fu Panda with Brody the week before.”

  “O…kay.”

  “You clearly never saw it, did you?”

  I shake my head. “No. You know I’m more into romantic chick flicks than cartoon action movies.”

  He smirks. “That’s a shame. If you’d watched it sooner, you might have saved us both a lot of frustration.”

  When he looks at me like that, it feels like I’m melting into a pile of goo. “You’re going to need to expand your thoughts a little more.”

  Holden stares at waves rising and crashing down. “Well, first, it should be noted that Tigress was voiced by Angelina Jolie. That automatically qualifies her as a badass.” He glances over at me with a smug smile. “Need I elaborate more on that or are we in agreement there?”

  I swallow. He nicknamed me after a cartoon character voiced by Angelina Jolie. “No, we’re not good. I have some questions about that.”

  His brows arch. “Oh, really?”

  I nod. “Yep. First, how many times have you jacked off to Angelina Jolie?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. They sounded so much better in my head.

  Holden chuckles, but then he stops abruptly. His Adam’s apple bobs and his eyes rake me over. Despite the flimsy material covering my body, I swear he can see all of me. Fully exposed. He has a way of making me feel naked. “Not as many times as I’ve jacked off thinking of you.” My core clenches, and I suck in a breath. “Next question, or did that clear everything up for you?”

  My heart is racing so fast it feels like it’s in my throat. “And did you know prior to watching the movie there was a character voiced by her?”

  He nods. “Hell yeah.” His lips twitch and his eyes dance. “Next.”

  Other questions evade me. My thoughts are no longer coherent. Every time Holden opens his mouth or looks at me makes me want to straddle his lap like I did for the first time in the cabana five months ago. “That’s all…for now.” The waves get closer and closer to us as the tide comes in. “Other than what made you call me tigress at the laser tag place?”

  “Well, Angelina played a character named Tigress, who is, obviously, a…wait for it…tiger. She is part of the Furious Five. The panda, whose name is Po, was not. Initially, she’s very skeptical of him. Flat out tells him he doesn’t belong there, that basically he’s not good enough.”

  Shit. Did he actually think I thought that about him when we were playing laser tag? “But that day, it was before everything else.” Before Violet and his father, before he smashed cars and acted like an asshole to everyone.

  He shakes his head. “That’s not why I called you that.”

  “Then why?”

  “Didn’t you learn anything all those years ago when we did story time at the library in the summer?”

  I glare at him playfully. “Don’t change the subject.”

  He rolls his eyes. “I already told you I was going to tell you this today.” His smile gives away that he’s anything but annoyed. “I’m not changing the subject. Why would I? I’m just saying, you always wanted to ask questions before the story was over. But if you had just waited, had some patience, you would have gotten the answers without wasting your breath.”

  “You’re a smartass.”

  He furrows his brows. “I thought we determined I was not the definition of an ass as per Webster.”

  “Have you learned nothing about women since you were a kid? We change our minds.”

  He lets out a roar of laughter that gives the thunderous crash of the waves a run for their money.

  I jab him in his chiseled side. “A lot.”

  “Well, I admit hearing that word come out of your mouth while my cock was buried deep within you was the strongest form of aphrodisiac I’ve experienced so far with you.” He shrugs and winks. “So, it’s clearly not just women who change their minds. And maybe we should submit an amendment to Webster?”

  I don’t say anything to that. I’m all out of retorts. That’s a first, I think.

  “Oh, and I’ve learned a shit ton about women and what they want since I was a kid.”

  “I didn’t argue you know a shit ton about what women want. I said we change our minds.”

  He traces his lip with his tongue. “Hmm. Okay. Now look what you did. Made me go off and lose my place in story time with your distractions. Guess you’ll have to wait until I can remember it all again.”

  “Oh no, you don’t. You’re not going to torture me, punish me with a story half-told.” His hand squeezes me, pulling me closer, like he’s challenging me to let it go and try some other things to pass the time. “I remember where you were. About Tigress thinking Po didn’t fit in. The time has come to finally release the secret meaning of the nickname tigress. Spill.”

  Taking my hand in his, he brings it to his lips. “I always wanted to wait for a special time to tell you. In my mind, we’d be in love. Maybe you should just watch the movie.”

  He wants to play games. I can too. Climbing on his lap, I press my semi-wet chest into his. My hips roll and grind against his bulging erec
tion. “In case you don’t remember from childhood story time, I don’t mind spoilers.”

  Hands grip my hips, pulling me tighter against him. Eyes as bright as the sky stare at me like I’m the sun and he’s a planet that revolves around me. “Since you don’t care about skipping around, let me say that it was three years before the next Kung Fu Panda came out, but I’ve watched all of them because watching Tigress reminds me of you, of what we had before all the shit went down. What I hoped we’d have again. Us.” He fingers between us. “This is even better than I thought it would be.”

  My body slows into a synchronized rhythm with the ocean. I dip my lips down to his. “That’s really sweet. And to think I thought you were cocky.”

  “If you really want to know this story, dammit, you need to be still before I take you right here on the beach because you know just how damn cocky I am. And beach sex, Cam, is not what it’s cracked up to be.”

  “You always call out cock blockers, and I guess now is no different. Because that was one. So, you’ve had beach sex to know? Do I even want to know who it was with?”

  “Don’t ruin the moment, or I’ll make you wait because the moment has to be perfect when you find out.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  His eyes are bright. “All I’m saying is it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that sand and sticky bodily fluids would make for a fucking mess. If you really want to find out what it’s like, I’m happy to oblige. But story time will have to be put on hold.”

  “Are you actually turning down sex in favor of talking? What guy does that?”

  “I’m definitely going to lose my place.” He squeezes my ass cheek. “I’m not turning down sex. I’m postponing it because it’ll be better after you hear this.” He arches a brow. “Delayed gratification.”

  I nod. “I’m still here on your lap. Your gratification can be delayed, but this is working really well for me. I get to find out this little secret and feel your cock between my legs.” He inhales sharply. “By all means, keep going with your story. I’ll be still…for now.”

  “Fuck. How did I get myself into this position?” He shakes his head. “Where was I? I can’t think for shit now.”