Jami stifled a cough. Oh, man. She’d certainly gotten to know a lot more about Beck than she had a few days ago. Well, he knew her body a lot better now. As if on cue, Beck appeared at the top of the stairs. He stood for a moment and surveyed the patio. He stopped on Jami, and he smiled slowly as if he had a secret.
Jami returned his smile and hoped no one noticed that her nipples had tightened into nubby peaks. Beck made his way across the pool deck.
“Beck, sweetie, will you get me a fresh drink?” Elaine waved her now drained glass at Beck.
“Your wish is my command, oh lady of leisure. What else are little brothers for?” Beck smiled wryly at all three women but winked at Jami. A dart of tension clenched between her thighs. She exhaled slowly. One look from Beck and she was panting.
“We’ve finally got him trained.” Mandy chortled.
Jami smiled to herself. Oh, yes. Beck was well-trained. He knew his way around a woman’s body. A shiver shimmied down her spine.
Beck returned with a full round of drinks for all three women, and as he handed them out, his fingers lingered on hers and sparks of desire erupted all along her flesh. Beck’s eyes were dark and smoldering for a brief moment before he turned and stepped away.
Mandy snagged the tail of his untucked shirt and tugged on it. “Sit with us. We need entertaining.”
“We do,” Elaine said.
Beck smacked Mandy’s hand away, but he pulled out a chair, facing Jami, and joined them. Jami inspected her drink before looking up at Beck through her eyelashes. A flock of butterflies seemed to have taken up residence in her belly.
“Did you two notice Mom and Caitlynne in deep conversation?” Mandy asked.
“It cannot bode well for any of us.” Beck raised his eyebrow.
“The snark sisters have found each other after being separated at birth.” Elaine’s eyes got big, and she mouthed, ‘I’m sorry’ to Jami.
“Don’t be shy around me. I’m not exactly a fan of my stepmother.”
“She’s horrible to you.”
“Caitlynne is an equal opportunity dispenser of sarcasm.”
“She isn’t sweet or cuddly, is she?”
“Not exactly.” Jami shrugged but smiled. She sure didn’t need to defend Caitlynne. Let the woman’s actions be judged on their own.
“At least you’re not related to her.” Elaine sighed. “I live in fear of turning into our mother.”
“You’re not going to.” Mandy flicked her hand dismissively. “You’re like Dad. I think I’m in more danger of turning into the Queen of Interference.”
“You’d better watch out, Beck.”
“You know I avoid Fiona whenever I can.”
“I think she’s decided she needs some more grandkids.”
“I doubt that.” Beck shot a hard look at Elaine. “It would only remind her that she’s getting older. If she could, she’d probably tell everyone we were still teenagers.”
Jami snickered. It was reassuring to know their family was almost as messed up as hers.
“Nevertheless, Fiona has been busy thinking about your lack of a wife.”
Beck choked. “My what?”
“I think she has someone in mind for you.”
“I’m going to rebook my flight and leave in an hour.”
“She keeps harping on about the daughter of this movie director.”
A fist of jealousy hit Jami in the solar plexus.
“Is she dating this guy?” Beck sounded wary.
“I think she’s targeting him for her next spouse. Through his daughter.”
“Poor man.”
“You’d better get yourself a new girlfriend, or you’ll find yourself saddled with this woman.”
“You know Fiona has the powers of Satan at her beck and call.”
“Be nice,” Beck scolded his sister, but she ignored him.
“Are you dating?”
Beck shifted in his chair and studied his glass of water. “I might be.”
Jami’s eyes narrowed. Did he mean he had someone back home or that she was a maybe? She wasn’t sure she like the direction of this conversation.
“I think you should let it happen. Fiona might pick better than you.”
“Meaning?” Beck’s tone was crisp.
“You need a new type.”
“And just what do you think my type is?” Beck said with irritation.
Okay. Now this was getting interesting. Jami kept her gaze on her cocktail.
“You’ve never even been engaged, so you must be picking the wrong women.” Mandy sounded exactly like a bossy older sister. “From what I’ve seen, you only date artistic, touchy-feely women.”
“Wasn’t there a yoga instructor?” Elaine chimed in helpfully.
“I also met the Feng Shui consultant with a part-time witch gig.” Mandy fluttered her eyelashes and smiled angelically.
“I liked the dog trainer. She was hot.”
Jami laughed, and Mandy shot her a triumphant look.
“Are you guys finished?” Beck grunted.
“We haven’t even begun.” Elaine leaned over and toasted her glass toward Jami as if encouraging her to laugh at their little brother harassment.
Jami’s gaze bounced from one sibling to the next in amusement and almost horror for poor Beck.
“What about you, Mandy?” Beck’s tone was deceptively mellow. “Isn’t your biological clock ticking or something?”
“Mom gave up on me last year, so now you’re it.” Mandy didn’t miss a beat.
“Wonderful.”
“Isn’t it?”
“We’ve been talking, and we think you’re dating the wrong type of women.”
“And?” Beck scowled.
“You’re big time logical and analytical, so you must be going for the soft, cuddly, creative types.”
“You need a woman who competes with you. Challenges you.”
“You know, there was Alicia. She was competitive,” Elaine ruminated.
“That was a thousand years ago.” Mandy turned to Jami. “Beck broke up with her within a year of college graduation.”
“You’re not still carrying the torch for her, are you?” Elaine shot an accusing glance at Beck. Jami held her breath.
“You two are killing me.”
“She was exactly like you. Tough. In-charge. Needs to be first.”
“You guys are painting a flattering picture of me, but I’m not a sad sack who’s still in pining for an old college flame from ten plus years ago. I’m happy to report she’s on her second husband in the last five years and has twin sons who are three.”
“You know a lot about her.”
“Her husband is one of my investors. I like him a lot, much better than Alicia.”
“Fine. But that doesn’t answer the question.”
“Which is?”
“You’re thirty-five, and you haven’t had a serious girlfriend in ages. Why?”
“It’s not some ginormous secret, Miss Nosy Pants.” Beck ran his hand against the grain of his close-cropped hair at the back of his head. “I’ve been two thousand percent wrapped up in BKI for the last five years. It doesn’t leave much spare time for dating.” Beck’s gaze flicked to Jami, but it was unreadable.
“That does seem legit.”
“I won’t accept it as an answer.” Mandy folded her arms across her chest. “We need to turn his no into yes, or Fiona will turn her attention back to me.”
“Let it go, you two.” Beck scowled at both his sisters and then gave Jami a resigned look.
Jami gulped her drink and couldn’t meet Beck’s gaze. Was Beck telling her they were having a fling or that she was number one on his dating list. She fidgeted with the pink party umbrella stuck in the pineapple wedge on the side of her glass. One false move and Elaine and Mandy’s attention would be riveted on her, and she was confident her eyes would betray her secret.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MANDY AND ELAINE cackled like a pair of matchmaking
aunties on the porch, and Beck groaned.
His two sisters were too much like Fiona, not that he’d ever say it to their faces.
“All right, you two, I’m done with your little brother abuse.” Beck laughed and winked to take any sting out of his words, and he threw an extra smile to Jami. She had a quizzical look in her eyes, and Beck wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she was thinking.
Elaine popped to her feet. “Which way are you headed?”
Beck knew it didn’t matter what he responded. It was clear Elaine was going with him. He extended his arm out, and she locked her arm through the crook of his elbow.
Beck glanced back at Jami as Mandy launched into some story about her divorce. Jami’s expression was neutral, but Beck saw her shoulder twitch as if she was itching to get up. Beck wished it was to join him, but after the exposé of his previous dating life, he wasn’t so sure Jami would give him the time of day.
Elaine matched his stride, and Beck took a calming breath. This was likely going to test his patience.
“Are you having a good time?” Elaine’s tone was oddly smooth.
“I’m having a perfectly lovely time. Thank you for asking. Now, out with it. What do you want?”
“Nothing. How can you say that? I’m genuinely interested in helping you avoid the wrath of Fiona. Besides, you’ve been acting funny lately. Are you currently seeing someone?”
“There is no one waiting for me at home. I’m in the middle of relocating my business if you hadn’t noticed. I haven’t been on a date in months.”
“What about one of the Barrett sisters? They’re all pretty, and there’s a lot of them to choose from.”
Oh-ho. Elaine was on a fishing expedition. Something had beeped on her radar. She wasn’t going to get shit out of him. “Isn’t that incestuous?”
“Puh-lease. We’re so not related to the Barretts.” Elaine laughed and continued as if she hadn’t heard Beck’s groan. “I would think Sam is more your type. I’m trying to imagine you with Jo. I think you two would be pistols at dawn in the space of a week.”
Beck visualized Jami’s wet hair streaming down her back and her thin, damp cover-up clinging to her breasts. Yes, one of the Barrett sisters gave him a serious hard-on, and it wasn’t Jo or Sam.
“Enough, dear sister.” Beck disentangled his arm, spun her around and pushed off in the opposite direction.
“I’m only trying to help.” Elaine propped her hand on her hip, and her eyebrow shot up.
“Thank you. I’m a grown-up now. I can find a date on my own.”
Elaine laughed again and blew him a kiss before she started humming a tropical song and swaying her hips as she moseyed along the path back to the pool.
Beck shook his head but laughed. Elaine was incorrigible, but lovable all the same. He was being treated exactly like a brother. And for the first time, he didn’t feel like a half-relation. He was fully Fiona’s child, and he shared that burden with all his siblings.
Maybe this wedding and the enforced fraternization wasn’t such a bad thing after all. In an odd sort of way, he felt loved by all of the teasing and harassment from Mandy and Elaine.
As he entered his beachside cottage, Beck checked his watch. He had enough time to head out for a run and clean up for dinner. After a quick change of clothes, he loped down the path toward the golf course that ultimately made a wide loop around the greens and ended up on the beaches in front of the resort’s main high rise building.
As he ran, his legs moved automatically, and the soft shush-shush of his feet hitting the ground filled his ears.
A jumble of images of Jami flashed through his mind. Jami’s wild joy as she jumped over the waterfall. Her easy smile as she came up for air after flying off the Jet Ski and cartwheeling over the ocean. And the shadowy outline of her full mouth as he’d pleasured her on the hammock.
The late day heat and the heavy moisture in the air was a challenge to plow through, but Beck pushed until his breath came hard between his lips. His blood pulsed in his ears, and his adrenaline seemed to roar within him.
He churned through the dry sandy beach. When he looked up, he huffed an extra breath. He’d overshot the pathway back to his bungalow.
Beck darted up the next pathway and circled back. He eased to a trot and then a walk. He checked his watch for time and mileage, and when he glanced up, there she was.
Jami’s hair was wet and slicked back from her forehead. She had a towel wrapped around her waist, and only a skimpy, black ruffled bikini top. Water dripped from her hair down her shoulders, and one lone rivulet careened down between her breasts.
Beck’s lower lip dropped.
Jami said his name. It was only a simple word, but it held a universe of meaning. As if he alone knew the answers. As if he was the only person on the island. As if she couldn’t breathe without him. Beck melted.
Neither moved. A breeze burrowed down the path from the beach, and Jami’s towel flapped around her lithe thighs.
Beck extended his hand and waited. A tentative smile slowly curved on Jami’s lips, and her eyes crinkled in the corners. She slipped her fingers into his palm. Her touch was soft, assured.
With a glance in each direction, Beck keyed open the gate and pulled Jami through it to his bungalow. No one had seen them. He wasn’t ashamed. He just wasn’t ready for their secret to be front page family news.
The gate clicked shut behind them, and the world disappeared. Only the coral orange last streaks of sunlight penetrated the thick palm fronds shielding the bungalow. One lingering ray glinted on the blue and green glass tiles on the walls, and a shattering rainbow of colors danced in the air.
Jami was illuminated like a mystical sea nymph rising from the ocean’s depths. Another droplet fell from Jami’s hair, traced a path along the black edge of her bikini top and the generous swell beneath it.
With a gentle finger, Beck traversed the same trail the droplet had traveled. Jami quivered and leaned her head back with her eyes only half-open.
“That feels oh-so good. Don’t stop.”
“Are you sure? I am the enemy.” Beck nibbled on her earlobe and teased a kiss behind her ear.
“Don’t worry. This is my secret plan to destroy the competition and win the deal.” Jami’s hands slid down his back and gripped his ass. His cock was hard and tight against his shorts.
“I think you’d have to seduce one of the commissioners for that.” Beck traced hot kisses along her collarbone.
“They’re all over seventy, I think.” Jami’s voice was breathy, faint, but still laughing.
“You’d really make their day.” Beck moaned as Jami grazed one hip into his groin.
Jami laughed as Beck ran his tongue along the line of her top while his thumbs rubbed small circles over the firm tips of her nipples. “I think I like this game better.”
“We might have a win-win scenario here.” He squeezed and stroked the nubs until they were tight little knots. He pushed the fabric aside and gazed at the soft white skin and darker areolas. He bent and flicked his tongue across the tip.
Jami inhaled and slipped her hands beneath the waist of his shorts and cradled a handful of his ass cheek.
“I like the way you negotiate.” Jami ran her tongue along her lips. “I think you might need to up the ante.”
“How about this?” With his mouth, he suckled her breasts while one hand untied the bow behind her neck and then the one at the small of her back. The fabric drifted to the tile in a small black puddle, unheeded. He showered kisses down the center of her belly and licked tiny swirls around her navel, dipping in for a teasing taste.
Jami arched her hips near his face, and Beck’s erection ached. He stood and then scooped her into his arms. Her skin was heated, and she seemed to melt into him.
They tumbled through the French doors and sprawled onto the bed in a tangle of arms, legs, and lips. Jami shoved Beck’s shorts down his hips and encircled his engorged cock with a soft palm. Beck closed his eyes as fi
re and electricity shot through him. She stroked and rubbed the silky skin of his shaft until she bent and licked a lazy circle around the head of his cock.
Beck’s eyes fluttered open. Her brown hair formed a curtain on one side. She glanced up at him with a wicked, questioning gaze as she slid his length into her mouth. He moaned and wove his fingers through her hair. She sucked as she slowly pulled back and then let her tongue weave whorls of pleasure as she played with his arousal.
His need grew, and his muscles tightened. Jami was perfection. He wanted to slide inside her and pound out his desire. But not yet.
“Now it’s your turn.” Beck pulled back.
Jami looked up, and her eyes were darkened as she blinked slowly. Beck rolled Jami onto her back as he kissed and massaged her breasts. He moved and claimed her mouth. They tasted, teased, and bit and played. With a last tug on her lower lip, Beck eased down her lush body in a string of kisses.
Jami dug her fingers into his hair as Beck slid between her legs and moaned as he cupped her mound. He pressed the heel of his hand against her fullness and let his thumb graze the tight center of her need. He bent his head, suckled her outer lips, and flicked his tongue along her clit. Jami’s hips thrust up as his tongue slid down. Beck licked and sucked until Jami cried out with need as she twisted the sheet into her fist. Beck raised up, and Jami protested until his mouth silenced hers.
With one last, long caress, Beck shifted away from Jami and whispered, “Wait right here.”
She protested, but understanding filled her eyes when he returned with a small, square packet. A sensual smile played at the corners of her mouth, and her eyes were heavy-lidded with her desire. She reached her hand to him.
He explored and teased. He flicked his tongue wickedly across the pebbled tips of her nipples, and then closed his mouth and suckled and nipped. Jami ground her hips into his.
He kissed her until the world spun around them and the air disappeared from the universe, then he plunged into her. Jami bucked against his thrust, and sensation splintered through his flesh.
She cried out his name as they matched their rhythm. They moved as one. Jami’s need tightened around him and then pulsed in an endless ripple. Jami trembled and her muscles clenched in a melting release.
Two Reckless Hearts (Barrett Ridge Book 1) Page 10