by Emery Rose
The ice cube melted from the heat of her skin, so I used my ice-cooled tongue to lick off the drops of water.
Hands, tongue, teeth all over her until I landed right between her legs. I slid her bikini bottoms to the side and my tongue delved inside her pussy, the one I’d claimed as mine. She tasted like sin and the sweetest temptation, and I devoured it, feasted on it like I’d been starving, and this was my favorite meal.
I knew she was close, but I didn’t want her to come until I was balls deep inside her. I stood up, grabbed her face in my hands and drove my tongue inside her warm, sweet mouth. Lifting her up, she wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck and sucked on it, leaving her own mark on my skin as I carried her across the Moroccan tiles. We’d both be bruised purple tomorrow. I chuckled under my breath at the thought of it. I hadn’t sported a love bite since I was fifteen or sixteen and had wised up enough to warn girls that they didn’t get to touch me unless I said so.
“You’re going to pay for this,” I growled.
“Are you going to punish me?” she asked breathlessly.
“Mmm hmm.” Her back slammed against the rough stucco and I felt her smile against my lips before she sank her teeth into the bottom one.
“You’ve been calling the shots for too long,” she murmured, sucking on my bottom lip to ease the sting. “It’s my turn.”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked as she unwrapped her legs and slid to the ground, giving my chest a shove. I stumbled back a step, my hand over my heart but it was just for show. She rolled her eyes.
“Drop your shorts, Romeo.”
She sauntered over to the daybed on my Moroccan patio and plopped down on it, crooking her finger. I scrubbed my hand over my face to hide my laughter. She looked so adorable, actually believing that she was calling the shots, so I humored her. I dropped my shorts and stalked over to her, fisting my cock in my hand. “Where do you want it, baby? In your mouth? Or wait… you want me to fuck you up the ass, don’t you?”
She ignored my questions and patted the seat next to her. “Sit.”
I sat, releasing my cock and waited to see what she’d do next.
She pushed down her bikini bottoms, a wicked gleam in her eye as she lifted one leg over me, giving me a flash of pink before she seated herself in my lap.
Her warm hand circled my cock, her tongue darting out to lick her lips as she shifted forward, sliding my cock between her wet folds, cradling it in the closest thing to heaven I’d ever found. My hands landed on top of her thighs, gripping hard as she started rocking, her hands braced on my shoulders.
“Fuck, Starlet.”
“That’s the idea,” she said, her voice sweet and sultry.
She lifted up, guiding my tip to her entrance before sinking down on me, fully seated. My hands flattened on her back, pulling her closer, kissing and biting her tits. Scarlett moaned, hands sliding through my hair to keep me close. I sucked on her collarbone, her shoulder, the sensitive spot beneath her ear, leaving my mark while she set the rhythm, a punishing pace that had her grinding against me, her head flung back and neck fully exposed.
“Dylan,” she panted, her moans intensifying.
Time for me to take back the control. I flipped her onto her back, lifted her leg over my shoulder so I could go deeper and thrust into her.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” she chanted. Sweat dripped off my forehead onto her heaving chest and her nails dug into my shoulders, her cries loud enough to be heard from the canyon. Fuck, yes.
No woman had ever felt this good.
No woman had ever felt this good.
Fuck. My balls tightened, and I wasn’t going to last much longer. I pulled out and sat back, jerking myself hard and coming all over her stomach.
When my eyes met hers, she lowered her lashes but not before I saw the flash of hurt. “I told you I’m on birth control. You don’t trust me, do you?”
Something on my face must have told her that I didn’t because she climbed off the daybed and turned her back to me, pulling up her bikini bottoms and grabbing a towel from the deck to clean herself off.
“I’m not Sienna,” she said, like I needed a reminder.
She tossed the towel in my face and I watched her walk away and disappear inside the house before I pulled on my boardshorts and parked my ass on the daybed. Fuck. I scrubbed my hands over my face. This was the kind of shit I was bad at. What could I say?
Yeah, well, your sister assured me that she could be trusted but look how that turned out.
Somehow, I didn’t think that would cut it.
I was the asshole who knocked up Sienna when we were seventeen. She told me she was on birth control, so we had nothing to worry about. The worst part? She’d never even told me she was pregnant. Hadn’t even thought to consult me or ask what we should do about it, just like it didn’t concern me and I had no say in the matter.
One day in August, I was cleaning their pool and her father confronted me.
“I had your mistake taken care of, you little shit. Do you really think I’d let my daughter bring your worthless bastard into this world?”
As if a human life was so disposable you could have it ‘taken care of.’ What had really pissed me off, on top of everything, was that I’d had to find out from him and not Sienna.
So yeah, that was the last time I’d ever had sex without a condom. Lesson learned the hard way. Not even birth control was enough to prevent accidental pregnancies. So I always wrapped it up.
But why would Scarlett think this was about Sienna? She’d only been eleven at the time and the way her family operated, all cloak and dagger, I highly doubted anyone would have told her about it.
I needed a cigarette. But I got my ass off the lounger and went in search of Scarlett. I found her sitting on the kitchen counter, eating Cherry Garcia straight from the container. She jammed the spoon back into the carton and set it aside.
“Sometimes it’s just hard, you know? Thinking about you with Sienna.”
The big difference between her and Sienna? Scarlett didn’t sulk or hold it all inside, letting it fester. She just came out with it, plain and simple, and stated the problem. And fuck if I didn’t appreciate that because I was not a mind reader and I couldn’t deal with passive-aggressive bullshit.
I stood between her legs and rubbed my hands over her thighs. There were a million things I could tell her that would make her see that she had nothing to worry about. But it didn’t seem right to trash her sister or dish the dirt on our relationship. “How did you know?”
“I overheard my dad talking to you. I was in the kitchen getting a snack and the doors were open.”
I tucked a lock of sun-bleached hair behind her ear. When her hair dried, it was a mess of crazy waves and I loved it that she never tried to tame them. Not only was she completely unlike Sienna personality-wise, they didn’t even look alike. “I don’t think about her when I’m with you. Or ever, really.”
She nodded and chewed on her bottom lip. “It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“I love you,” she blurted out.
Her eyes widened and for a few seconds there was nothing but silence and the dull thud of my heart dropping to my stomach as her words hung in the air between us and I said absolutely nothing. Three little words but they packed a powerful punch.
I opened my mouth to speak, maybe to say the words, but we’d never know because the doorbell rang.
She hopped off the counter and turned her back to me, stowing the ice cream in the freezer, and I suspected she was trying to hide her face from me. It was easy to read. She wore her emotions and rarely hid behind a mask. “It’s probably Cruz and Nic.”
I groaned on my way to the door. “What are they doing here?”
“We invited them, remember?”
“No.” I hadn’t invited anyone. Must have been Little Miss Congeniality who excelled at socializing.
I answered the door to a smiling Nicola and a sm
ug-looking Cruz. It was his usual expression these days, like he’d figured out the secrets of the universe and they all pointed to one person. Nicola. These two were so loved up it was nauseating. A few days ago, I’d caught him signing a text with the smiley face heart-eyes emoji. What self-respecting man uses a heart-eyes emoji?
I was convinced he’d grown a vagina.
“Did you fire up the grill?” Nic asked me.
“No.”
She put her hands on her hips. Her hands were free to do that whereas Cruz was loaded down with about a hundred bags. “I texted you and told you to get the grill ready.”
I snorted. Who did she think I was? Cruz? Which was exactly what I told her. She rolled her eyes and breezed past me, cursing me out for not following instructions while Cruz trotted behind her like a dutiful puppy dog, his eyes glued to her ass.
“She’s got a whole menu planned. Do as she says, stay out of her way, and nobody will get hurt,” he said.
“She’s got you pussy whipped,” I said, shaking my head.
“I need a cold beer,” he said, unloading his bags onto the kitchen island and helping himself to a beer from my refrigerator.
“And a set of balls.”
He gave me the finger and took a long pull of beer. “Fuck, it’s hot today.”
Scarlett greeted Cruz with a hug and chatted for a few seconds, completely ignoring me, then sauntered out to the pool in her tiny bikini to join Nicola who was no doubt acquainting herself with my grill. I rubbed the blank space over my heart, thinking about her words and our unfinished business. But now that Cruz and Nic had crashed our party for two, there would be no further discussion of love or sex without condoms. Which was a relief.
I wasn’t ready to say the words. Without actions to back them up, words were meaningless. I’d rather show her than tell her.
“Does she know you’re planning to take down her father?” Cruz asked, cutting into my thoughts, his voice low so as not to be overheard. Not that anyone would hear us over the music blasting.
“You’re not even supposed to know that.”
“But I know you. Your back’s against the wall. You’ll come out fighting.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. Simon Woods was going down and yours truly was going to do the honors.
“He’s so much like Jimmy, isn’t he?” Remy said as I watched from my poolside lounge chair.
I’d normally scoff at that. Kai was only three months old. But I got what she was saying. Kai was one chilled-out little dude, and nothing made him happier than being in the water, kicking his chubby little legs, a gummy smile on his face.
Remy’s phone alarm went off and I shut it off. Must be feeding time. Sure enough, Remy propelled Kai to the side of the pool and stopped in front of my lounge chair.
“Hey Dyl, can you take him? I need to get his bottle ready.” She had him on a strict schedule and had read every parenting book on the market. I got it though. She wanted to make sure Kai’s life was structured and organized so he would know that food and sleep and bath time were all taken care of, just a part of his regular routine.
I got off my chair and crouched at the side of the pool, ready to accept my nephew from his mother’s arms. Kai was slippery wet, and it made me nervous as shit that I’d drop him. I stood up with him in my arms and carried him over to the chaise lounge. Remy dug around in her giant bag of baby tricks and handed me a diaper and a onesie. I got him out of his wet trunks and swim diaper and into the dry diaper and clothes without a hitch and lifted him into my arms again.
“You’re an old pro now,” Remy said and flashed me one of her big-ass smiles. I knew what was coming next. Sure enough, her camera was aimed at me and Kai and she was snapping photos like a madwoman.
“Enough with the fucking photos already. Your kid’s starving. He’s going for my nipple.”
Remy laughed but I wasn’t lying. Kai was rooting around, his gums latching onto his hand and that spurred her into action. “Be right back.”
When she disappeared inside, I nuzzled the top of his head with my nose. “Hey little buddy. You’re a lucky little dude, you know that? Your parents love the shit out of you. I kind of like you too,” I said with a chuckle.
I kept him snuggled against my chest and kicked back in my chair, giving him my finger. He latched on and sucked the shit out of it. The kid wasn’t stupid though. It didn’t take him long to figure out that my finger wasn’t what he wanted or needed. By the time Remy came back with a bottle, his cries had reached ear-splitting decibels and I was bouncing him up and down as we paced the pool deck.
Remy jammed the nipple in his mouth and like magic, the crying stopped.
“Do you want to feed him?” she asked, smoothing her hand over the blond peach fuzz on the top of his head.
“If it’ll help you out,” I said, like it was some great hardship. She smirked as I took the bottle from her and repositioned Kai, so he was in the crook of my arm and we were back on the lounge chair under the shade of an umbrella, so he wouldn’t get sunburn.
“I feel like I never see you anymore,” Remy said, lounging on the chair next to mine, out of the shade of the umbrella so she could soak up some afternoon sun. She was wearing a black bikini, and you’d never know she’d given birth two months ago. If anything, she was too thin.
“I see you all the time. Are you eating?” I asked.
“I eat like a horse. It’s the breastfeeding. I pumped enough for today because I know how weird you get when I whip out my boobs. Breastfeeding is supposed to shrink your uterus--”
“Yeah, okay. Spare me the fucking details.”
She laughed. “What I meant is that it’s been a while since we’ve talked, just the two of us.” Oh hell no, here we go. Question time. She didn’t pull any punches either. “So what’s the deal with you and Scarlett?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.”
She sighed loudly. “Yeah, I know. You never even talked about Sienna. But this… it’s different. I care about Scarlett. I don’t want to see her get hurt. You do know that Sienna will hate her for this when she finds out, right? She’s going to lose her sister over this so if you’re not serious about her—”
“You think I’m just playing her?”
“No. I just… you know that all I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy. Do you love Scarlett?”
If I hadn’t told Scarlett yet, I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell my sister.
We’d been spending all our free time together. Fucking, talking, laughing, hanging out. I liked being with her and I missed her when she wasn’t around. This morning, we’d gone for a sunrise surf before she went to work, and we’d most likely see each other later tonight. So yeah, guess you could call this a relationship.
But love? That was all kinds of complicated and I was bad at shit like that. As proven by my first and last disastrous relationship. It had not all been Sienna’s fault. Not by a long shot. But we’d practically destroyed each other and getting over Sienna, the idea of Sienna, hadn’t happened overnight. Plenty of booze, plenty of weed, random hookups, and too many long hours in the office. It had been a slow, painful recovery. Who the hell wanted to put themselves through that again?
“Dylan, seriously. Sienna is going to find out eventually. If you’re not serious about her—”
“I wouldn’t have gotten involved with her if I didn’t care about her.” Subject closed as far as I was concerned.
I pried the bottle out of Kai’s mouth—he was sucking on air now—and the nipple released with a pop. Setting the bottle on the table, I put him over my shoulder and lightly thumped his back until he let out a satisfying burp and dribbled some warm milk on my shoulder.
“Can I just say one more thing?” Remy asked. Kai had drifted off to sleep and we were just chillin’ on a sunny May day. Or trying to.
We both knew the question was rhetorical. Remy wasn’t waiting for my permission to speak. She’d say whatever she wanted whether I liked it or not. So I kept
my eyes closed, my hand rubbing Kai’s back as he slept on my chest.
Don’t grow up, kid, I told Kai, imparting my wisdom telepathically in hopes he got the message. It’s a big, bad world out there. Stay young and innocent. Don’t take that first sip of beer or try drugs. Fucking ever. Don’t fall in love with the wrong girl. And whatever you do, don’t take after your big bad Uncle Dylan. No fistfights or asshole behavior for you.
It’s a slippery slope, little dude. If you run into any trouble, call me. I’ll take care of your dirty work.
Remy was talking. I realized this as I was startled awake by the sound of her voice. “What’s that?”
My arms were empty, and for a second I panicked until I saw that Remy had put Kai in his car seat, her big-ass bag of baby tricks packed and ready to go. “I need to go. I have some errands to run.”
“You can leave him here if you want.”
“Thanks. But I’ll take him with me.”
She had never let anyone except Shane look after Kai. A bit extreme, if you asked me. “Careful there. You’re turning into a helicopter parent.”
“I don’t care. I’m not letting him out of my sight until he goes to school and I’m forced to be separated from him. I don’t want to miss a thing, Dylan. Not a single thing.”
Couldn’t fault her for that. She wanted to be a good mother, unlike our own. It surprised me that she’d never mentioned our mother since the night I delivered the news, but I guess she had Shane to bounce shit off of which was fine by me. I’d rather not talk about it anyway. I stood up and grabbed the car seat by the handle. These things were surprisingly heavy and awkward as shit to carry.
“I’ve got him. Get your Mary Poppins bag.”
She laughed and slung the bag over her shoulder, collecting his swimming trunks that were drying on the lounge chair. It was ridiculous how much shit one baby needed. I walked her out to her Range Rover and clipped Kai’s seat into the frame, making sure it was secure and he was safely belted in before I closed the door and circled the hood. Remy rolled down her window and called me over.