A wide grin spread on his face when he saw me waiting on the porch, and he closed the distance between us in long strides that ate up the ground beneath his feet. “Good morning. You look great. It is a good morning, isn’t it? Great day for a drive.”
I laughed, enjoying the exuberance and excitement coming off him as he scooped me up in his arms and spun me around. Another peal of laughter came out of me as I clung to him, then grinned when he set me back down on my feet.
“It’s a very good morning,” I agreed, then glanced over his shoulder toward the fancy car. “I made us coffee in travel mugs for the road, but I totally understand if you don’t want drinks in that thing.”
He lifted the sunglasses to the bridge of his nose, those honey-gold eyes alight as he peered out at me from underneath them with an easy smile on his lips. “Baby, I never say no to coffee. Some people rise and shine. I caffeinate and hope for the best. You ready to go?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” I made to go for my overnight bag, but he beat me to it.
After slinging it over his shoulder, he looked back at me. “You get the coffee. I’ll put this in the car. Have you got any other luggage?”
I shook my head. “It’s just that, my purse, and the coffee.”
“Traveling light.” He grinned and tossed me a wink before letting his sunglasses drop over his eyes again. “I like it.”
“You mean you’re happy that my stuff will fit into that tiny car,” I teased, turning to pick up the mugs and my purse. “Does it even have a trunk?”
“Only you would make fun of a Maserati.” He smacked my butt playfully when I fell into step beside him, then slung his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side, dipping his head to plant a kiss on my temple. “You’re lucky I don’t think of it as an extension of myself like some guys do. I might’ve been offended.”
“Funny. I was just thinking about how you have nothing to compensate for. Guess I was right.”
He laughed and raised a shoulder as he let me go, heading toward the back of the car to load in my bag. “You’re damn right I don’t have anything to compensate for, but I’m glad you think about it. Speaking of, you know I’ve never been overly attached to my cars. Why even ask about the coffee?”
“I, uh…” I shrugged and bit the back of my lower lip, not really wanting to ruin the joyful mood by bringing up my ex. “It was just a reflex thing. A lot of people I know are sensitive about what gets consumed inside their cars, especially if that something is coffee. The scent can linger.”
He came around to open the door for me, hooking the aviators in the shallow V of his T-shirt. There was a knowing glint in his eyes as he reached for the handle, but the obvious knowledge didn’t seem to have ruined his mood.
“Was it the principal or someone else?” he asked conversationally, motioning me into the car once the door had slid up. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I don’t mind. Obviously, I don’t like knowing that you’ve dated other guys, but I realize that it happened. As long as you remember that I’m not them. I’m me, which means you can spill your coffee all over the damn car and I still won’t get pissed off about it. I can just get it detailed.”
Blinking a little too rapidly at his sudden, impassioned speech, I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss against his lips, smiling as I let my mouth linger against his. “I know you’re you. It just slipped out, but yes. It was Beckett. Let’s not talk about him, though, okay?”
“Suits me like a fucking glove.” He wrapped his arm around me, holding me close and kissing me properly before finally releasing me with a low groan. “Now get in the car. If we keep that up, we’re not going anywhere today.”
I hooked him closer by the edge of his shirt, nuzzling his jaw as I spoke against his freshly shaven skin. “We have the whole weekend. Patience is a virtue.”
A strangled bark of surprised laughter came out of him when I pushed him away suddenly and slid into the low passenger seat of his car. He stood outside of it, staring at me with a wicked expression in his eyes before he shook his head and walked over to the driver’s side.
“You’re mean,” he complained lightly as he shut his door behind him, then turned to face me as he buckled himself in. A devilish grin spread on his lips, and he cocked an eyebrow. “I’ll make you pay for it later, but for now, let’s not talk about that. I need to get us there safely first.”
“That seems like the best plan,” I said but met his grin with one of my own. “We’ll see who makes who pay for what later, though. Let’s go. The beach is waiting for us.”
The sky was clear and as blue as a robin’s egg. Since it was still early and the bulk of the people who were going away for the weekend had left the day before, traffic was light and the roads open.
Tristin cranked up the music when we hit the freeway, his elbow resting on the window and his hand relaxed on the wheel. He cut an incredibly sexy figure like that, the muscles in his forearm rippling with slight movement as he navigated the way. There was a bulky silver watch with a black leather strap on his wrist, and the corner of his mouth was curved into a soft grin.
When the next song came on the radio, we both started laughing at the same time. His free hand shot out to take mine, holding it on the center console as he turned his head toward me for only a moment. I couldn’t see his eyes behind the mirrored lenses of his sunglasses, but I felt him looking at me from behind them.
“Do you remember this one?” he asked. “I think we must’ve listened to it twenty million times our junior year.”
“Oh, I remember it well.” I sang some of the words at him, laughing again when he joined in. “I think it was closer to thirty million times.”
“Didn’t you also used to play it with the marching band?” There was humor in his voice, and I saw the way his mouth twitched with the question. “You being in your polyester band uniform with that flute stuck between your lips always got me so hot.”
I put my palm to my chest, batting my eyelashes innocently as I tried to hold back a smile. “You mean you wouldn’t have preferred a cheerleader getup?”
He shook his head. “Nope, I only wanted band nerds. Green polyester for the win.”
“Well, I suppose our outfits matched your rugby jersey. I still can’t believe you played for the rugby team instead of the football team.”
“I wanted to be different.” He chuckled. “It didn’t work out very well, but that was the idea behind the decision.”
“It didn’t work out very well because you were the ‘cool guy’ everyone looked up to,” I said, putting special emphasis on the words. “They only wanted to play rugby because you played it, not because they were any good at it. That’s why the rugby team got so popular in our time. All the guys wanted to play the sport you were playing, and all the girls chased you, so they came to the games.”
“Only one girl caught me, though.” He winked at me in the rearview mirror over the top of his frames.
I filled with warmth at the memories this conversation brought back. “You didn’t make much of a secret about it either.”
“Why would I?” he asked without hesitation. “You were the most beautiful girl in the whole school, and you were mine.”
“I was yours,” I agreed easily, “but I’m pretty sure Tiffany Meadows was the most beautiful girl in the school. I’d still kill for her legs.”
Reaching out, he placed his hand on my thigh and gave it a soft squeeze. “Nah, these legs are much better. Always have been. They carry you, which make them the best.”
I swatted his hand away and laughed. “You’re dangerously smooth, Tristin Ramsey. It seems your tongue has only gotten more silver with age.”
“You love my tongue,” he said, sticking it out and wiggling it around in the air. “It’s your favorite part of me.”
“Among others,” I joked, rolling my eyes at the stabbing motions he made with said tongue before he started laughing too. “How could I not love it when yo
u do such sexy things with it?”
“If you think that was sexy, wait until you see me trying to catch raindrops on it. That’ll get you wet for sure.”
I groaned. “That was terrible. I know you meant I’d get wet because I’d be standing in the rain with you if I wanted to see that.”
“Damn.” He snapped his fingers. “I’ll have to try harder to get you next time.”
The rest of our trip passed with the same ease between us. One of the things I’d always loved about Tristin—other than his tongue—was how he didn’t take himself too seriously when it was just us. Being with him had always been fun. We’d been best friends once upon a time, and now I remembered why.
When we came to a stop in front of a smallish house right on the shoreline, I breathed out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you didn’t get us some huge mansion. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this is perfect.”
“I’m happy you approve,” he said, shooting me a grin before we climbed out of the car. “It was either this one or a twenty-bedroom castle just down the road.”
It was a little more humid here than it had been at home, the sounds of seagulls squawking and the waves crashing onto the beach the only sounds interrupting the peaceful quiet. There was a flagstone pathway leading from the parking area to the front door of the house and a small front lawn on either side of it.
Tristin shouldered our bags, opened the door after inserting a code on the keypad beside it to reveal a small lockbox containing the key, and then led the way inside. My jaw dropped when we walked into the clean, open space.
“This is freaking incredible,” I breathed, taking in the magnificent hundred-and-eighty degree view of the beach and the ocean beyond it, the whitewashed wooden furnishings, and the navy blue accents everywhere.
He came to stand next to me, nodding his approval as he looked around. “The pictures did it justice. I was a little worried that the place might not look as promised, but it’s exactly right.”
I slid an arm around his waist, careful to avoid the bags, and glanced up at him, taking in the strong line of his jaw and the ridiculous length of his eyelashes from this angle. “It really is exactly right. Thank you for suggesting this weekend and for arranging this place.”
“You’re more than welcome.” He rested his head on top of mine for a brief second, humming a contented sound at the back of his throat before he stepped away. “Let’s go get some sun while the getting is good.”
“Sure,” I agreed, but I was nervous to put my swimsuit on. It had been a long time since he’d seen all my bumps and rolls in the harsh light of day, and I wasn’t sure he would like what I was packing underneath my clothes.
After he’d dropped our bags in the bedroom—which was magnificent in its simplicity and for the illusion it created of sleeping right on the beach—he disappeared into the bathroom to get changed. When he was done, he grabbed a towel and told me he’d meet me outside.
Once he was gone, I went for my bag and dug around for the two-piece I’d brought along. It showed off my curves without putting anything at risk of falling out, and the sapphire-blue color worked well with my eyes.
As soon as I stepped onto the soft sand, Tristin turned to look at me. His swimming trunks hung off his hips in a way that made my mouth water, his skin glistening with the sunscreen he’d lathered on from the bottle in his hand.
My insecurities faded the second I saw the look in his eyes. I loved seeing him looking at me like that. Like it was all he could do not to rip the swimsuit right off my body. It was very clear that he liked what he saw, which included the bumps and rolls.
Self-confidence restored, I put my hands on my hips and met his gaze full-on before turning in a slow circle. Excitement zapped through me, making my skin tingle and my insides clench.
I’d been uncertain about this weekend, but it was off to a very good start. I couldn’t wait to see what else it had in store for us.
21
TRISTIN
I couldn’t keep my eyes off Brittany in her bikini. All I wanted to do was to bury myself deep inside her and never come up for air again, but I hadn’t brought her all the way out here this weekend for sex.
Hopefully there would be some of that, or else I was in for a very long, hard, frustrating weekend, but even if nothing happened, she was still here with me. That was the important part.
Her hair had been bundled into a bun on top of her head, only some wispy tendrils loose around her face and neck. With her feet bare and a towel over one shoulder, she looked like an image out of one of my wet dreams about her.
As she completed her turn, she smiled and lifted her brows at me, her hands still on her hips. “Will you do me when you’re done?”
My eyes flew open so wide they nearly bugged out of my head, and then she started laughing and motioned toward the bottle of sunscreen. “I meant will you put some of that on me. I can do your back if you’re done with your front.”
“I’ll put some of whatever you want on you.” The sand was warm and soft beneath my feet as I made my way over to her, lifting the bottle and squeezing a generous amount of the thick white cream into my palm. “Turn around and stop distracting me. The list of things I’m making you pay for later is only growing.”
“That’s not the only thing that’s growing,” she murmured with a chuckle when she turned and I came to stand behind her, the bulge in my trunks right up against her amazing ass. “I would just like to say for the record that I’m not doing a thing to distract you. I don’t think I should be made to pay for coming out here in my bikini when you’re the one that suggested it. If anything, you should be made to pay for threatening me when I’m the innocent party.”
“Bring it on,” I said, moving my head forward so my lips brushed against her ear when I spoke. “You knew when you packed that bikini that it was going to distract the hell out of me. Couldn’t you have brought a tracksuit to swim in?”
“Are you really complaining?” Her voice was a little huskier than it had been just a minute before, but there was a playful note to it as well. “I can always go change.”
“Hell no.” One of my hands came to a rest on her hip, and my fingers flexed. “But if I drown because I can’t stop staring, will you give me mouth to mouth?”
“You’re one to talk. Have you seen yourself in those shorts? I might need mouth to mouth long before you do.”
I laughed but took a step back from her and handed over the bottle when I was done with her back and shoulders. “Maybe we should go take a swim. Cool off a little. No staring until we’re sure we won’t drown? Not that I’d mind giving you mouth to mouth. I’d just rather do it under better circumstances.”
She took the sunscreen from me, nodding her agreement as she started applying the cream to her chest and arms. Her gaze lingered on me for another moment before she yanked it away and focused on the shoreline.
“The water looks good,” she said. “I’m definitely in for a swim. Last one there has to play bartender for the rest of the weekend?”
Without waiting for me to reply, she pressed the bottle against my chest. My hand went up to take it on instinct, and she grinned at me before she took off. Motherfucker.
It took my brain a few seconds to come back online, and when it did, I dropped the bottle right there on the sand and ran after her. I was only a few steps behind her when she hit the water, squealing happily when I wrapped my arms around her from behind and dragged her in deeper with me.
We played in the waves for a while, splashing each other with water and chasing each other around. I hadn’t had such innocent, lighthearted fun in a long time, and it made me laugh so hard that my face hurt eventually.
“I won,” she called into the spray of a wave that crashed around us when I caught her, then spun in my arms and wound hers around my neck. She smiled as she looked into my eyes, wrapping her legs around my hips. “You didn’t let me win, did you?”
“Nope.” I smacked a quick kiss to her lips, h
olding her to me as one of my hands caressed the skin at the nape of her neck. “You caught me by surprise, but I’m happy to be your personal bartender for the weekend.”
Her fingers tangled into the ends of my wet hair, and her mouth descended on mine. She kissed me soundly, making me consider dragging her back to our bedroom.
“What happened to cooling off?” I managed to ask between kisses, my lips never quite leaving hers. “Making out in the water is the opposite of cooling off, but don’t let me stop you.”
“You’re right.” She groaned, closing her eyes before burrowing her face into the crook of my neck. “I can’t help it. You’ve been gone for so long, and I never thought we’d get to be together again.”
Her words wedged themselves into my rib cage, making my chest feel so much fuller just for having them there. I laid my head down on top of hers, giving myself a moment to just take it all in.
Waves lapped around us, the water a shade or two darker than the horizon where the earth met the sky. Brittany was warm in my arms, her body soft and relaxed against mine. There were other people on the beach and in the ocean, but they weren’t anywhere near us.
“I know,” I murmured finally, holding her even closer. “I didn’t know if we’d ever get the chance to be together like this again either, but we’re here, baby. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“It just feels a little surreal.” She lifted her head, nuzzling my neck before pushing away from me. Her eyes found mine as we trod water, lazily keeping ourselves up while looking at each other. “Tell me something about you that I don’t know. We’ve talked a lot about our past, but not so much about what’s happened between then and now.”
“Okay. You want to do this in the water or get out and talk on the beach?”
She spread her arms out to her side, floating for a moment before she nodded toward the shore. “Let’s head back. We can get a drink and sit on the loungers on our deck. The view should be amazing.”
Bad For You Page 14