Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
JAYSON
July 4
Making Our Own Fireworks
I glance over at Ryder. I understood Liz’s intentions last night when she silently slipped out of the room, leaving me and Ryder alone for the first time since our fight. But I also understand that the rift between us will take a lot of long, hard work on my part before it mends. I’ve asked myself a million times if I would’ve done things differently if given the chance. Yes and no. Having Liz as mine? Fuck no. No regrets. Not a damn one.
Overhead, bright flashes of red, gold, green, and blue explode across the evening sky and reflect upon the ocean’s surface. Sitting between the vee of my legs, Liz leans back and watches the barrage of fireworks put on a dazzling show. From our spot on the southern end of Topsail Island, we can also see fireworks going off in Wilmington and Wrightsville located miles away. The boom and thunder of each explosion reverberate like a heavy drumbeat, and Liz makes a little gasp every time one detonates.
“Oh, I love that one,” she voices in wonder and points to the cascade of golden sparkles showering down like a waterfall.
Figuring we have another twenty minutes before the big finale, an idea takes root. Between the morning parade, the cookout, and now fireworks, I haven’t had one minute alone with her. Not to mention she’s currently wearing that damn bikini top, and I’m at the point where I will lose my ever-loving mind if I don’t get my hands on her soon.
“Come with me,” I whisper in her ear.
She tips her head back and cocks an eyebrow.
“Come on, Princess,” I urge in a hushed voice, standing up and bringing her with me.
I look around to make sure no one’s watching, and luckily for us, all attention is still on the fireworks. Holding hands, we crouch down and race behind the dunes until the coast is clear.
“What are you up to Jayson Jameson?” she asks, clearly suspicious.
I pull her along between the dunes to a secluded spot I found earlier this week when Julien and I were out exploring.
Thankful that I had the presence of mind to grab a towel before we snuck off, I spread it out on the sand.
“I figured we could make our own fireworks,” I tell her with a cheeky grin.
Liz makes an indelicate snort. “I think that’s probably the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet, baby.”
She tries to come up with some clever comeback, but I don’t give her the chance because my mouth greedily takes hers. I couldn’t wait another second. Liz’s response is immediate, and her lips part for me.
We haven’t done much more than kiss, and the need to take things further has been building between us. I know it’s merely a matter of time when we’ll need to have the talk and decide how far and how fast we want to go. But not tonight.
Lips melded together, we sink to our knees onto the towel. Liz lifts the hem of my T-shirt up and runs her hands over my back and up to my shoulders.
“I love how your body feels,” she whispers.
A loud bang of a nearby firework goes off but we don’t notice, our focus on each other so intense it blots out the rest of the world.
Gently lowering her onto her back, I position myself between her bent knees, running both hands up her smooth thighs, her torso, and then around to finger the strings of her bikini top. How my shaking fingers are able to untie the back bow, I don’t know.
I see in Liz’s gorgeous green eyes when the sensual fog begins to clear, and reality comes crashing in.
Her hands clutch my shoulders and push. “What if someone sees?”
I raise my head to look around. Another firework explodes. We’re surrounded on all sides by tall dunes and far enough from the houses and the road that no one will be able to see us unless they walk right on top of us.
“We’re good. No one can see.”
“Are you sure?” She looks doubtful.
I kiss the hollow of her bare shoulder where her pulse pounds a fast beat and hum my answer against her soft skin. My lips trail a path down her neck to her clavicle, her little moans of pleasure lighting the way. She arches her hips and instinct takes over, telling my good intentions that say to take it slow to take a hike.
“You’re so beautiful.”
I slide her bikini top to the side to expose her breasts to my eyes for the first time. My cock goes rock hard in an instant and pride swells inside my chest. I’m the first guy to see her like this.
I take a moment to look at her, wanting to memorize every detail. Her skin, kissed by the sun this week, is flushed and glistening. Her nipples are a pale pink, the tips tightening into puckered buds. I’m the first to touch her like this , I think, as I circle my fingers around her nipples. I’m the first to taste her like this. My tongue mimics what my fingers are doing, and I close my mouth around a taut peak. The breathy moan Liz lets out drives me to devour her.
“ Oh, god , Jayson.”
Liz’s hands are everywhere, frantic as she claws my back, then lower. Lower. I jolt when I feel her hand cup my hardness and squeeze, and every fiber of me wants to rip off our clothes and sink into her. Luckily, there’s a sliver of my good conscious still working that tells me our first time together can’t be on a towel outside in the middle of some sand dunes.
“Liz, we need to stop.” I reach down between us and bring her hand away from my crotch and place it over my pounding heart. “Not here, Princess. We need to stop.”
Her knees tighten around my prone position. “Jayson, I ache. I don’t know what’s happening, but I ache. Please, please ,” she begs.
I may not be sexually active, but I’m a guy who hangs around a bunch of other guys, so I know enough about sex to understand what she’s talking about. And yeah, I admit it, I’ve watched my share of online porn, so I know what she needs and how to fix it.
I suck a nipple into my mouth and slither a hand down her stomach to tease the top of her shorts. Her eyes flutter closed as a round of fireworks go off in the distance, casting a rainbow of colors over her face. Liz’s breath falters when I pop the button of her shorts and ease the zipper down. I can feel the heat of her, the first tickle of her pubic hairs against my fingers.
I kiss her slowly, my hand slipping lower to find her wet and swollen.
With only touch to go by, my fingers stroke her hot softness. My mind takes a mental snapshot that I’ll be using the next time I jerk off in the shower. I find the little knot of her clit and tease light circles over it with my thumb.
Liz’s eyes pop open, an endless sea of green, and just as the finale of the fireworks begins, her muscles lock, and she moans out my name, her cries of pleasure drown out by the cacophony detonating above us.
The most gorgeous smile spreads across her face. “You were right,” she sighs, coming down from her very first orgasm, one that I gave her.
I roll us over on the towel and hold her in my arms. “Right about what, baby?”
“We did make our own fireworks.”
I chuckle and kiss the tip of her nose.
“What about you?” she asks.
“What about me?”
“I, um, you didn’t get to…” Her voice trails off.
“Yeah, I did.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.”
The stickiness of my release dampens my underwear. I’ll need to take a shower as soon as we get back to the beach house. Totally worth it.
“Oh.” She sounds dejected.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just that I…I wanted to make you do that.”
“Liz, it’s not like I could help it. It just happened. Seeing you, hearing you moan—you were so goddamn beautiful.”
That seems to make her happy.
“Oh, okay.” She hooks her leg over me, scooting closer, our joined hands between us. “Next time?”
The hopeful look in her eyes lights another fire in me, but I tamp it down, knowing we need to go back soon. Everyone must be wondering where the hell we got off to.
“We have years and years, Princess. So many years of next times.”