Brioney stretched awake, smelling the ocean. She smelled it most days, of course, living half a mile inland, but today the smell was stronger, the light was different.
She remembered where she was and her eyes popped open.
She was alone in Blue’s bed, and sunlight streamed through the open windows. Beyond, she could hear the crash of the waves against the beach, and wondered if Blue was out there already. She rolled onto her stomach in search of a clock, but of course he didn’t have one. She looked over the edge of the bed, expecting to see a tidal wave of clothes, but it was surprisingly clear. She noticed even her costume was draped over a nearby chair.
Lord, she hadn’t even thought about that. She couldn’t exactly go home in her Halloween costume. What was she going to do?
The bedroom door opened and she snatched the sheet up to her chin as Blue walked in, wearing board shorts that sagged on his hips. Despite the fact that she knew his naked body now so intimately, the sight of the ridge of muscles, the disappearing trail of hair, sent a pulse of both arousal and pride through her.
“Hey, I thought I heard you. Want to go surfing? The waves are pretty good this morning.”
“I haven’t been surfing since high school.”
“So it’s about time, then.”
“I don’t have anything to wear.”
“I think that sequined bra would be amazing out there on the water,” he said as he crossed to a dresser with its drawers were hanging out. He tugged out a T-shirt and pulled it over his head.
“Har.”
“I have an extra wetsuit if you want to wear it. It’ll be too big, but you can wear some of my shorts and a shirt beneath to help.” He pulled out another T-shirt and tossed it to her before he went to the closet and pulled out a wetsuit that would still be too big for her. She wriggled into it anyway and fingered the gap around the sleeves.
“I look ridiculous,” she said, pushing her wild hair out of her face and inspecting her reflection in the mirror.
“You look sexy as hell.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him for a kiss. “Let’s get out on the water.”
*****
Surfing used muscles she’d forgotten she had, but after a few misfires, her body remembered what to do, how to jump on the board, how to read the waves. She wished Joy was with her, and vowed to start teaching her daughter how to surf in the spring. What was the point of living near the ocean if she didn’t take full advantage?
Maybe Blue could help her teach Joy. The thought brought her up short. She was keeping the two separate for now, her daughter and her lover. But when she surrendered to exhaustion, she headed toward the shore. She stretched out on the beach, she couldn’t help watch him with admiration as he carved through the waves.
Then he ran up on shore, the board under his arm, and dropped to the sand beside her. “Great way to wake up, huh?”
“Mm. I ache in places I’d forgotten I had.” For more than one reason.
His brow furrowed, then he reached over and dragged her against him on the sand. “I can take care of that.” He kissed her, his skin salty and chilled from the water, then hopped to his feet and pulled her up. “Let’s go warm you up.” He drew her against him, full-length, until there was no mistaking his meaning.
“We’ll get sand everywhere.”
“I’ve got it covered.” He led her up the beach and through the wooden gate behind the house. An outdoor shower was enclosed on three sides. He unzipped his wet suit. “It won’t be warm, but it’ll get most of the sand off.”
He peeled off the neoprene and stepped beneath the cold spray with a yelp. She watched his skin go white, his jaw chatter, and unzipped her own wet suit. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her beneath with him, wrapping her in his arms as the icy water pounded her scalp, taking the salt and sand from her hair. He lifted her hair from her body and let the water sift through it, then shut the water off and reached for a towel overhead. He shook it out, wrapped it around her, then nudged her toward the stairs leading to the back door. She hurried up ahead of him, slipped through the unlocked door, then turned to wrap her arms around him as he came through. His momentum carried them toward the bedroom, and she laughed, dropping the towel, pressing her naked body against his. Yes, she might be sore, but she wanted him again, now.
He hooked his hands under her thighs and lifted her against him, parting her over his growing erection, nudging her soft flesh. She tightened her legs around him and wriggled until they both moaned, then he dropped her on her back on the bed, disentangling himself from her to stroke the petals of flesh, spreading her wetness around.
“Don’t make me come yet,” she protested when he lingered a bit too long. “Inside me. Together.”
He lowered his head to drop a kiss to her belly, just above her mound, rubbed his fingers lightly over her breast, then rose over her. He nudged inside her and she pressed back, taking him the rest of the way in, greedy for the feel of him filling her. He remained on his knees as he stroked inside her with no sense of urgency, and used his position to keep her open.
She came almost instantly, despite her best efforts to resist, and savored the sensation of him deep inside her as she squeezed around him.
Still, he seemed in no hurry, lowering himself over her, kissing her mouth, her jaw, her shoulder, before he followed her with a soft grunt of pleasure.
She curled into him when he withdrew from her.
“Now, that’s a good way to wake up.”
*****
Fitz’s truck was gone when Blue dropped her at the house that afternoon. She had to get to work, otherwise she’d still be in Blue’s bed. She was relieved she wouldn’t have to face her brother yet, because she knew he would ask, and he wouldn’t be happy with her answers.
She took a real shower, regretting that she washed the scent of Blue from her skin, put on her uniform and drove to the hotel. Most days she’d walk, because she could, but she’d be getting off after dark today.
Mercedes wasn’t working today, either, thank goodness, because Brioney knew she’d be facing questions from that front, too. Of course, Mercedes had been the one who insisted she go to the bonfire, then had abandoned her to her own bad judgment.
She walked into a busy hotel, people checking out, leaving a mess from their Halloween revelries behind. As Brioney moved from room to room, she wondered how Mercedes had managed to get today off, though she thought she knew why. Her friend was probably hung over somewhere.
After she clocked out, she considered going by Mercedes’s place to check on her, but Joy should be home by now, and she missed her baby girl.
When she arrived home, Fitz and Brandon were waiting on the porch, Fitz in the metal chair, Brandon on the steps.
“Hi, guys,” she said brightly, hoping to forestall the inquisition. Surely Fitz wouldn’t question her whereabouts in front of Brandon. “Joy home?”
“Not yet. Cameron called and said they’d be another hour or so.”
She pushed aside frustration. This was a problem she had with Cameron. He didn’t respect the fact that Joy had school in the morning and would be exhausted for days, all because he couldn’t keep to a schedule. “I hope he fed her.”
“He said he would. Did you have fun at the bonfire last night?” Fitz asked.
She glanced at Brandon, whose judging dark-eyed expression mimicked the blue-eyed one of his brother. “I did. Did you have fun at Whiskey Beach last night?”
“I did. But I was home just after midnight.”
“Good for you.” She wondered if poor Rachel had gotten left behind.
“Based on the clothes I found in the hamper, I’m going to take a wild guess about where you were last night, and it wasn’t with Mercedes.”
She tamped down the frustration that he’d gone through her hamper to spy on her. They hadn’t lived together in a while, and needed to discuss boundaries. “I didn’t say I was, and it’s not your business, anyway. My daughter and Brandon were out of town, bei
ng taken care of. It was my time.”
“He’s a mistake, Brioney.”
“If he is, he’s my mistake.”
“After he was Jess’s.” Fitz shook his head and rose. “I can’t believe you fell for it.”
“Fell for what? He’s a good man, Fitz, good to me and Joy.”
“And has no future.”
She didn’t know if the two of them would have a future, so she wasn’t willing to talk about it. That was her business, her and her daughter’s. She turned to her younger brother.
“Brandon, did you have fun in San Antonio? Were the haunted houses scary?”
“They were all right. The hotel was kind of crappy.”
“How’s that?” Fitz asked, immediately defensive.
“You know, one of those places that looks like it will be nice from the outside, but inside it’s got gross carpet and the bedspread that’s old and the lining is kind of falling apart, and the air never quite worked.”
“Well, then, now you have plenty of issues we’ll need to address for Fitz’s hotel. All the things we shouldn’t do.”
“It’s not ‘Fitz’s hotel,’” Fitz protested. “It’s ours. Our family. We’re all going to have a part in it. Together.”
Brandon shifted irritably. “Yeah, well, I’m not sure that’s my thing.”
“It’s going to be your thing, for the next little bit,” Fitz told him. “You’ll have some good skills by the time it’s done. You’ll know how to roof and paint and plumb.”
“Do you know how to do all those things?” Brandon countered.
“Some of them. Some of them, I’ll learn. And you can help Brioney with the paperwork and the finances.”
“And what will Jess be doing?”
“Working at the capitol.”
“So just because I’m not old enough to get out of this place, I’m stuck working for you?”
Fitz looked past his brother to Brioney, who just shrugged. She was used to Brandon’s reluctance to be a part in anything. She’d been lucky that he loved her enough to help her out with Joy, that he didn’t rebel against that. She thought it was because he loved Joy, and maybe because he felt he owed her.
“You’ll be working for us for a few months, sure. But school still comes first.”
Brandon snorted and pushed to his feet. “I don’t know why you came back here and wanted to try to tell us what to do.”
“Brandon,” Brioney said sharply, following him into the house. “You can’t…he gave up a lot for us. He had a future, but he took us all on, so we wouldn’t have to go to foster homes.”
“What, it’s not like you made it easy for him, getting pregnant when you were seventeen.”
“Just because I made a mistake doesn’t mean you should. Fitz deserves our respect. He loves us, and wants this for all of us, this success.”
“He walked away from us.”
“He didn’t. He joined the military so we would have money, so he could support us. He chose the army instead of going to college, so that we could have choices.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not giving us any.”
“We have to work so that we can have them. That’s always been true.”
Brandon set his jaw in a familiar gesture before he turned to go into his room, and she returned to the porch to wait for her daughter to come home.
*****
“Hey, how was work?”
The question lit up the screen on Brioney’s phone as it charged next to the bed where her daughter slept. She snatched it off the charger and flicked the sound off before it woke Joy up.
She didn’t even know Blue had her number, or that he liked to text. She curled into bed beside her daughter and texted back.
“Work, you know?”
“Off tomorrow?” The reply was instantaneous.
“Go in at one.”
“So, come by after you drop off Joy at school. We’ll go surfing.”
She smiled. “Is that what we’re calling it?”
“If you like. Bring your own wetsuit this time.”
She frowned. “I haven’t had one since Joy was born.”
A long pause. “You can borrow mine again, but bring something warm.”
“I thought you were my something warm.” She couldn’t believe she was so bold. She couldn’t believe she had actually missed him today, and the idea of seeing him after she dropped her daughter at school gave her a thrill. They’d have all morning to do…whatever.
She shouldn’t be having these thoughts right now. “Is eight too early?”
“The earlier the better. Good night, Brioney.”
She set the phone down and settled into bed, smiling.
*****
“You’re looking good out there,” Blue said as they headed back to the house, surfboards under their arms. “Not as rusty as yesterday.”
She was glad he couldn’t see how much she was hurting. The sport required muscles she didn’t use in her everyday life, and they were protesting coming out of hibernation. Also, criminey, the water was cold.
When they reached the shower, he pulled her under with him and kissed her, the water washing over both of them, carrying his flavor into her mouth. He curved his hand over her breast, and suddenly she wasn’t cold anymore. He reached around to shut off the water and pressed her against the wooden side of the shower, his mouth hungry and mobile.
“Thought about this all night,” he said against her ear.
“Upstairs,” she urged. “Naked.” Though, damn, it would be sexy to make love, half-dressed. Wetsuits, however, weren’t the most flexible of fabric.
He moved away from her in a flash, his hand wrapped around hers, and they were upstairs, peeling neoprene away and stumbling to the bedroom. When he would toss her onto her back, she turned and pushed him onto the mattress and climbed onto his thighs.
“Jesus, Brioney.”
The words were shaky, like a prayer as she slid her hands up his chest, stroking his jaw, before dragging her touch back down to his stomach, resting her palms in front of her own hips. She bent and repeated the caress, this time with her mouth, and he gripped her hair before she could descend below his navel.
“Not this time.”
She gave him an exaggerated frown and rose over him. “As you wish.” She took him into her, as slowly as she could, savoring the stretch of him filling her until he was fully seated inside her. His hands tightened on her hips and they began to move, finding a slow rhythm, savoring each roll. She loved the roughness of his thighs against her ass, the grip of his fingers on her skin, the way he was looking at her through heavy-lidded eyes. She stroked her finger over his parted lips, dragged her nails down his chest, traced the lines of muscle in his arms as she made love to him to the sound of the waves through the window.
“Come to dinner with me tomorrow night,” he said afterward when she was tucked under his arm, under the covers.
“Where?”
“My folks’ place. I go out there every Tuesday night.”
She shifted to look up at him. “I am not ready to go to dinner with your parents. This is…let’s just keep this between us for now, okay? Just…keep it new and exciting.”
His expression had sobered. “I get it, and I know you want to keep it from Joy for now, but I’m not used to keeping things from my parents.”
“Tell them if you want, but going out there, facing them…I’m not ready for that. Plus, how would I explain it to Joy?”
“When will you be ready?”
She frowned and sat up. “Blue, we just started this thing on Saturday.”
“What are you talking about? We’ve been…I’ve had feelings for you for, well, maybe not years, but for a long time.”
“That’s you, Blue. Not me. I hadn’t even started thinking about a relationship with anyone, much less…”
“Much less, what?” His words were sharper than she’d ever heard.
“Much less my sister’s ex,” she replied. “Don’t you see ho
w complicated this can get? That’s why it’s best to keep it between us now, until we can be sure it’s going to work out.”
“Bri, Jess and I are ancient history.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that she was in your bed first, and longer. That you followed her to college, for God’s sake.”
“And came back.”
“You’re an only child. You can’t understand what it’s like to have that kind of relationship, especially one where we grew up sharing everything.”
He scooted away from her on the bed. “I suppose that’s true. But geez, all I did was ask you to come to dinner at my parents’ house.”
“Maybe another time.” She rolled out of bed, not looking at him. “I need to get home and get ready for work.” She hoped Fitz had gone to the motel. She didn’t want to face him now. Damn, this wasn’t how she’d hoped this morning would go. She’d wanted to spend the time with him, reveling in each other, not arguing about how serious they were, how serious they planned to get. She certainly hadn’t wanted to talk about Jess.
But he was right. She was going to have to talk to her sister before Fitz did.
*****
Mondays at the hotel were generally slow, since more people checked in than checked out, and Brioney drifted into the restaurant before break time. Mercedes already sat at a table by the window with Madeline, which told Brioney that Leeayn wasn’t working tonight, or they’d all be in trouble. But there were no customers in the place.
Brioney picked up a pitcher of water and carried it to the table where the two ladies sat, turned toward the beach.
“Hey, where did you disappear to on Halloween?” Mercedes asked, craning her head back as Brioney fetched a few plastic glasses.
“Oh, I, you know. You were busy.” Lord, how had she forgotten that she and Mercedes hadn’t spoken since the bonfire. And she really didn’t want to have this conversation in front of Madeline, or the whole island would know every detail.
“You were there, what, ten minutes?”
“Longer than that.” Not much, though.
Summer on Main Street Page 50