A Taste of Summer

by Beverly Preston

  Catching a glimpse of Carrie Ann, he stuck the blade of the axe into the stump with a loud whack. Summer wiped the remnants of loose bark and splinters of wood from his forearms and stomach, leaving a trail of smeared grime along his wet glistening skin.

  The vision of his well-exercised body, wet and dirty, weakened her tenacity one cut ab at a time. Bending to gather an armful of firewood, his stomach contracted, showing off yet another row of defined muscle. She couldn’t stop the goofy grin from gathering at the edge of her lips as he approached.

  “Morning,” she said breathily.

  He ambled by her, adding the freshly split lumber to a large stack of firewood lined up against the cabin. “Morning, beautiful.”

  The direct compliment caused a brief internal struggle between her conscience and temptation. The little guy with horns and a tail sitting on her left shoulder, encouraged her to say Thank you, tell me more. While the winged guardian on the right insisted Set him straight. However, the disgruntled hooha riding dead center between her thighs seemed to be honing in on the lead waving frantically saying, Hello, my old friend.

  Feeling a bit timid, she tucked a dark strand of hair behind her ear. Tipping her head to the left, she slyly inspected his strong thighs and firm ass as he stacked the last log.

  Fuck, he looked tantalizing.

  And he damn well knew it.

  Summer sauntered straight toward her. His low rise jeans accentuated his V, framing his package, as if artfully presenting an exquisite meal at a fine dining establishment.

  His gaze fell upon her face, slowly taking her in. “Sleep good?”

  “Yes,” she gulped a swig of the pale yellow drink. “Did you?”

  “Nah. I was lonely.” His eyes smiled from his cheeks. “You’ve stolen my best buddy. She usually sleeps right beside my bed, but she hasn’t left your side since we got here. How’s your smoothie? I added powdered protein, hope that’s okay?”

  Protein? Ha ha very funny. Jerk! There was a time in her life when nothing would’ve given her more pleasure than to go down on him, take him in, taste every inch of him. Carrie Ann had always been a fan of oral, but it bordered on an obsession when it came to Summer. She’d never quite understood why she loved it so much more with him, but something about him was insanely divine. They shared a deep sensual connection that penetrated her soul with contentment.

  Until he screwed up.

  Playing chess with Summer could prove to be far too risky, but the need to put him in check escalated. She countered boldly, mustering a snide, but wispy voice, “Umm, delicious.”

  It was a dangerous maneuver, but it was worth a try. Or at least that’s what she told herself. Judging by the satisfaction darkening his eyes, it only encouraged him. His focus locked on her lips sending a pleasant shudder through her.

  “Pineapple’s your favorite.” A hungriness flickered in his eyes. “You reminded me several times on the way here. You even grabbed an extra from your place when we stopped to get your things. Insisted we’d be needing it.”

  Checkmate.

  Fuck! Fuckity-fuck!

  Testing the man was like playing with fire. It would only get her in trouble. Trouble she didn’t need. Trouble she didn’t want. Trouble she’d have a hard time turning down.

  Backing off a bit, she waved aimlessly at the log cabin and surrounding property. “How long have you had this place?”

  Understanding shone in his eyes. Damn him. Damn him for knowing me so well.

  “Okay, then. We’ll table the discussion of the flight here. For now.” Aspen drug the football, which was nearly as big as her, to his feet. He gave it another toss. “I bought it last year. Do you remember Redford from college?”

  She could scarcely breathe. “This was Redford’s place?”

  “It was his grandfather’s place. His health isn’t good, so he had to give up flying a few years ago. Luckily for me, he finally decided to let go of this place.”

  “Why do you want a place in the middle of nowhere? I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful. But being so far removed kinda limits the time you spend here, doesn’t it? How far is…”

  Her words trailed off watching as he held his hands under the rain cascading off the roof, using it to remove the dirt from his arms.

  “I love being in the middle of nowhere. The cabin is kinda small, but I think that’s part of its charm. Everything is top of the line. The barn’s more like a guesthouse. It’s got plenty of rooms for friends or family to stay.” A proud catch in his smile bared a thread of satisfaction. “Plus there’s a natural mineral pool. This place gets me away from all of the bullshit. I feel like I can breathe here. I need the balance in my life, everyday situations where people aren’t fucking catering to my every whim. Believe it or not, it’s nice to wash my own dishes, do my own laundry. Being normal is kind of a victory.”

  Carrie Ann couldn’t manage one word. The vision of him cupping two hands beneath the waterfall, and splashing it on his face made her feel as if she were in the middle of a very vivid dream. He raked his fingers through his thick short hair, leaving it in glossy chunks. Chill bumps raised across his skin. Water streamed down his glistening torso in silky ribbons.

  “When Tommy and I first started collaborating on the film he told me about this shack he’s got in Bora Bora. Let’s be honest…it’s Tommy, so I’m sure it’s no shack. It’s probably the most badass beach bungalow in French Polynesia. But, it’s a private island, totally off the grid. He swears it’s like stepping away from the world and leaving your worries with it.”

  His eyes glazed over, drifting off to some faraway place in mind, exposing a vein of adversity that came with fame and fortune. A ping of empathy knocked at the door to her heart. Living in the public eye undoubtedly came with its own breed of difficulties.

  “God, the way he describes it…total privacy, no media, no TV, no internet, no interruptions. Just nature at its finest…” Muscles near his eyes relaxed, softening the fine wrinkles. “And a woman he loves more than life by his side. Sounds like heaven. They love it.”

  His words carved through her heart, striking with precision. Her head slowly twisted side-to-side, taking in a full rotation of the vast dreamy piece of real estate before landing on her feet.

  Her feet planted on his porch in his private little piece of heaven.

  Carrie Ann frowned warily. Suddenly, the dampness saturating the air clung to her skin like a wool blanket on a winter day. He can’t possibly think that…

  “Then I ran into Redford one night at dinner. One thing led to another. A month later it was mine.” His tan muscular arms folded across his chest. “I tried to call you, but you didn’t pick up. Or call back.”

  “I remember,” she admitted quietly, shifting from one foot to the other. Over the years she’d ignored several calls, expecting to find an intoxicated Summer on the other end of the line. The risk of not being able to turn him down left her far too vulnerable. She didn’t trust herself or him for that matter. “Why did you call me?”

  “I was just thinking about you. Wanted to bring you here.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah, you.” He seemed shocked by her surprised reaction. “Remember when we drove up to Big Sur for the weekend? We stayed at that great little cabin. The one with the hot springs?”

  The skin between her brows pinched into a deep groove. She definitely remembered. Big Sur was only one of many amazing weekend getaways they took, but it was the first time he told her that he loved her. A small smile warmed his face. Summer’s steady relaxed gaze lingered, provoking her responsiveness.

  “Maybe you should’ve considered bringing someone else instead of me.”

  He moved closer, lowering his face to hers. “Who would you prefer me to bring? Hmm? Tell me, Red. Because that’s not the tune you were singing on the way here.”

  Her common sense ignored the double question, yet her knees still wobbled. Tightening the safety net around her heart, she laid on a heavy
dose of insinuation and sarcasm, bolstering a rejection. “Oh, I don’t know, Summer. Maybe a real girlfriend! Not one you had to kidnap.”

  He recoiled at her harshness, but quickly recovered. “You wanted to be here. And other women all have the same fuckin’ problem, Red.”

  “Let me guess. They’re all after your millions?”

  “That’s not the problem I’m referring to.”

  “Too beautiful? Too thin? Too crazy like that one voodoo chick you dated?” There was no need to go into detail. He knew exactly who she meant.

  “None of them are you, Carrie Ann.” His voice was soft and soothing, slipping past her defenses, caressing old wounds hidden deep inside.

  Every tiny muscle in her face softened. Heat rose from her heaving chest, striking fire to her cheeks. He inched closer, shifting restlessly, turning her heartbeat unruly. Energy spiked between them. She sensed his need to reach out and touch her, practically feeling his hands ghost over her flesh.

  Backing away slowly, she barely twisted her head once, indicating no. Her throat constricted, sealing her words into silence.

  “You don’t need to act all tough. It’s me you’re talking to, Carrie Ann. I see right through it. The only reason you’re being so stubborn is because you’re scared.”

  “That was a long time ago. You don’t know anything about me anymore.”

  “You’re wrong and you know it.” His tone gentled into a rasp. “I bet that if I slip my hand beneath your dress, there’d be clear evidence of your true feelings.”

  Carrie Ann’s jaw jutted forward and she seethed through gritted teeth, “I guarantee that if you even try to slip your hand anywhere near my panties…you’ll be crying like baby. And in an immeasurable amount of pain.”

  Her agitation only encouraged him. Easy charm clung lazily to his full lips. “Why don’t you try being a little more honest with your feelings, Carrie Ann?”

  “Me?” Her screech echoed through the basin, skipping through the range of mountains. “Remind me again. Why did we break up?”

  “If I remember correctly, you broke it off with me.”

  “Of course that’s how you’d remember it! Typical Summer. Blame it all on me!”

  Summer remained eerily calm. His piercing stare never left her face. He’d prepared for this, all of it, and suddenly she found herself at a complete disadvantage.

  “You want to know why?” Casting aside all humor, he sobered. “Because I lost my mind after losing football. I drank too much. I was an all-around jerk, Carrie Ann. I’d invested everything into football for my future…our future, and I hated myself for failing. I had no idea how the fuck I was going to give you the life you deserved. I pushed you out. I drove you away when you were trying to be there for me.”

  Stunned by his admission, wetness needled the corners of her eyes. “All I wanted was you. I never cared about anything else. The money, the fame, those were things you wanted.”

  “Back then…that was easy for you to say. You came from money. I had something to prove.”

  “I never asked…”

  “You never asked, but your father made it perfectly clear.” His voice refused to waver. Summer’s stare locked on her face. The amber in his eyes turning the color of honey behind his perfectly tan skin. “I lost the most important thing in my life…and it wasn’t football.”

  The urgency in his tone, the desperate need for her to understand, disarmed her. Fighting back the urge to immerse herself in his closeness, she pushed back tears. Channeling her defenses, she retorted tersely, “Funny how you seem to forget about me finding your dick shoved into some other chick’s navel.”

  “I’m not going to hash over this bullshit with you again, Carrie Ann.”

  His brazen attitude seemed designed to perpetuate the assumption they were an item.

  “Of course you’re not. Because you’re just as chicken shit now as you were back then! How bout you try the truth for once.”

  “I told you the truth a hundred times and you didn’t listen!” A long heavy silence lingered between them. “You want the truth?”

  “That would be a nice change.”

  “I never lied to you. Ever. I apologized a hundred times for something I had no control over.”

  “So, you’re still sticking to the ‘I swear. I woke up with my dick in some chick’s mouth and I thought it was you’ bullshit story?”

  “It’s not a story. I did think it was you…for a minute. Until I realized…”

  Unraveling at the seams, she unloaded on him, “Go ahead! Say it! This is my favorite fucking part…‘her blowjob just wasn’t as good as yours.’ God, you haven’t changed one bit!”

  Her voice shredded, lost to the heartbreak. She turned her back to him, refusing to let him witness the pain, raw and unprotected. His hands came to her shoulders. The pads of his fingers pressed into her flesh, raising the hair on her body to spiky points.

  “I realized it wasn’t you, because no other woman can make me feel the way you do. And you’re right…that still hasn’t changed. No one’s even come close.” The heat of his touch coaxed a small gasp from her lungs. “I went to bed alone that night. Yes, I was trashed, but I wasn’t even at the house party that night. You’d just broke things off with me the day before and I’d been drinking with my brother for two days. When his wife found us at the bar, she drove me home and left me on the lawn. The next thing I remember was waking up with…”

  “Yeah, well, I still don’t really give a rat’s ass about how you remember it.” Her stomach turned and twisted, wrenching at the memories that had trampled her heart. She held back the bile climbing up her throat. “When I walked into your room, you were kissing her…” Carrie Ann’s face scrunched in disgust and hands tangled around each other. “Your hands were shoved into her hair. And! Your dick was poking her in the stomach.”

  “She was kissing me. I was trying to get her off me.”

  “Whatever, Summer. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “Bullshit. It matters. Speaking of chicken shit…maybe you should take a look in the mirror. Because right at this very second you know damn well you want to be with me and you’re throwing it away. Why are you so scared to admit you want to be with me?”

  His soft voice pulled at the threads binding her heart. Carrie Ann was more than scared. She was terrified. A deep intimate conversation would only lead to rehashing the past, open old wounds, and threaten to reveal haunting secrets that were best left buried.

  “What’s it gonna take, Red? Hmm? You were an open fucking book when you were drugged. You may not remember it, but I heard every word. Loud and clear.” He spoke with such a quiet intensity that her eyes swung around to meet his. They burned bright of their own illumination, desire and longing in every color on full display. “Time is ticking by. I’m tired of fighting it. If we don’t fix this now, we’re going to grow old apart from each other because at one point or another one of us was too damn stubborn to admit we were wrong.”

  She felt trapped in the center of his attention, drowning in painful memories of the solitary confinement that followed their breakup. Grief and loss flooded to the surface. Tears sprung to her eyes. Clenching her fingers to the edges of her jacket, she wrapped it tightly around her body, charging off the porch into the pouring rain.

  The sound of his stomping feet, sloshed in a wake behind her.

  “This isn’t done, Red. We’re going to talk about what you said to me on the flight here. You can’t keep it tabled forever.” He came to an abrupt halt. His voice raised, yelling over the weather, “I can’t bring back yesterday, Carrie Ann! Neither one of us can. You’re not the only one with scars ya know. And there’s damn sure something you’re not telling me! So how about you try being honest…with yourself!”

  The storm brewing inside her body grew far darker than the one looming overhead. The wetness on her face had nothing to do with the rain. She stumbled blindly through a torrent of tears and thickets of long grass toward the
steam rising above the hot springs not far from the cabin. Steam hovered at ledges of three natural waterfalls, pouring over the edge in sheets as hot water cascaded from one tier to the next, dropping into limestone soaking pools.

  Carefully, she scrambled over a few boulders, seeking shelter beneath the pines along the pond’s edge. Wiping excess water from a large flat rock, she lowered herself to the slick surface. Carrie Ann stripped off her boots, testing the temperature with the tips of her toes before dipping them into the healing waters. Aspen climbed into her lap, licking at the salty drops on her chin.

  She’d never been able to forgive Summer. He wasn’t there when she needed him the most. Nor could she escape the guilt she endured for the events following that marked day. Shayla was the only person who she dared to share her grief with. Her best friend refused to leave her side, helping her through the depression she suffered after the loss. Carrie Ann didn’t have the nerve to revisit the hopelessness she worked so hard to get past. The scar still rested too close to the surface.

  There was no time limit on the feelings. She still mourned for what had been stripped from her life. The numbness still haunted her soul like the veil of mist suspended above the hot mineral water, capable of vanishing in the slightest breeze yet always there, drifting and hovering in a transparent shroud.

  The fact that she’d never been able to move on to pursue a future with another man bothered her for years. She desperately wanted to find a love, deep and true, the kind that would last a lifetime. But, after Summer, she never let anyone get close enough to try. Not that she didn’t try to fall in love. She endured a few long term relationships, wished upon a shooting star, prayed for a good man, drank in her sadness with a one-night-stand, but nothing worked. Over time, her love for the Have A Heart Foundation filled the empty void, helping to heal her damaged heart. Or so she thought. Simply being near Summer brought back the disorienting feelings of shock and anger, aching for the love she’d lost.

  Shivering from head to toe, she cuddled Aspen to her front, sinking her feet further into the silky warmth. Carrie Ann sat there for what seemed like an hour, stroking Aspen’s fine golden fur turned wavy from the moisture thick air. Tiny clear droplets gathered on the tips of each needle sprouting from the branches suspended above the clear pond. Staring out, she watched them fall upon the water sending perfect ripples across the surface.