Chapter Thirteen
When I wake up at first, I smile against the mattress beneath me because I feel as though I’ve been brought back from the dead. Until the arm draped over me twitches and I remember whose bed I’m currently residing in, and that makes me jump away from his touch. I quickly grab the sheet that’s laying on the floor in a puddle, wrap it around my naked frame, and stare at Brent’s sleeping form in front of me.
I take in the tattoos along his torso, along with the ones that travel from his arms to the top of his back, and my pussy clenches in response. There’s something insanely sexy about the ink that covers his skin. As quickly as possible, I head into the bathroom and take a look at myself in the mirror. My hair is sticking up all over the place, and I can imagine Mallory right now making a comment about my just-fucked look.
She would go insane knowing I had sex, but that’s something I need to keep to myself.
Speaking of Mallory. I walk toward the bedroom, hoping to grab my phone to see if Mallory sent me any messages, and Brent’s raspy voice echoes through the room. “Mack, I’ve got everything under control. How did you even find out about anything anyway?” Brent curses softly and I peak around the corner, catching his hand running down the back of his neck, before he says, “Her name is Julia,” he mumbles. “She’s my sister’s best friend. I’ve known her for years.”
What could they possibly be saying about me?
I think Mack is Brent’s manager, but it’s been so long since his career started that I space on most names any more.
If I’m correct, Mack is the one who approached Brent after a talent show competition that was held in his hometown–if what Mallory told me is the truth–and offered him a way to make his dreams a reality. According to Mallory, it had been Brent’s entire life to get into music and make something of himself before high school was over and that’s exactly what he got. I know at first he was a solo act, before he met Ryker and Evan, then he created his very first band.
I’ve always been proud of him.
When Brent drops his phone onto the bed beside him and stands bare in front of the large suite window, I clear my throat and step out into the room. He turns to me with a small smile, clearly not shy about himself, and says, “I thought you left.” I shake my head, cheeks already flaring up, and he takes a few steps toward me. “How about we go do something today? I hear there’s a great nature exploration here in St. Croix. I think you’d enjoy it, and it would be a great time for a lesson.”
“What kind of exploration?” I ask.
I’m intrigued and very much want to spend as much time as possible with Brent on my own. While he thinks about his answer, I grab my phone from the nightstand and see a few messages from Mallory with apologies laced throughout. I quickly let her know I’m okay, then click the lock button and give Brent all my attention.
There’s only one person who hasn’t made fun of me this whole time and it’s the man in front of me. I’m not going to be rude and ignore his invitation for today.
He’s looking at his phone in concentration and sighs. “Some kind of botanical garden, from what it says on my phone. Up for it?”
I smile brightly and bounce excitedly on my feet. “The St. George Botanical Gardens? Is that where you’re talking about?”
Brent chuckles. “Yeah. I take it you want to go?”
“Are you kidding? I hoped at some point while we were here that I’d be able to go there, learn about the history more than I can from the internet.”
“Well, get dressed, then,” Brent rasps while heading toward the bathroom. He snaps his fingers and smiles. “I may have also planned a night out soon, some kind of concert going on at the beach outside the resort, I think that would be something you”re interested in as well. Those kinds of settings could really help you get loose and become more comfortable with a real date.”
Right. He’s not my real anything. I clear my throat and nod. “Mhm, sure. Whatever you think will help me. You’re the master.”
His eyes heat, and he drags a hand through his hair. “Do you have everything you need to get ready?”
“Yeah, it’s all in my bag.” I go in search of my bag, then come back into the room and frown at the space Brent was occupying. There goes my plan of asking him what I should wear.
After spending a few minutes longer than necessary looking through my clothes, Brent finally pushes through the bedroom door in nothing but a pair of cargo shorts hanging low on his hips. My mouth waters, lips parting open, and I swipe my tongue along my bottom lip.
I clean my throat. “Did you know the botanical garden used to be a sugarcane plantation?”
Brent hums in response and shakes his head. “I did not, but that’s a good thing to know.”
“They also support over 1,500 native and exotic species of plant life, I found that out on their website when I was researching things to do around here when we came.”
“You’re doing it again, you know?”
“Hm?”
He gives me a lop-sided grin and reaches his hand out, brushing a thumb along my jaw softly. “Facts that I don’t care about right now.”
I swallow thickly from the touch. “What would you, uh, do you care about right now?”
“How good you look with that sheet wrapped around you as if I haven’t seen everything you’re hiding beneath it.” He drops his hand to the top of the sheet that’s still wrapped around me and dips his fingers beneath the fabric. “You’re so beautiful under the sunlight, you know that?” I hold my breath, waiting for the moment he tugs on the sheet and it falls to the ground at my feet, but a loud knock on the door forces him to step away from me. Brent leans forward, his lips barely grazing my cheek, and says, “Hope you’re hungry Buttercup.”
As soon as he walks away, I let out the ragged breath I was holding and clutch the sheet tighter against me before hurrying into the bedroom to change into my clothes.
“Maybe we can skip the botanical garden, and I can have my way with you inside the suite instead,” Brent growls out from the doorway, and I jump back, eliciting a chuckle from him. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I’m sure we will have plenty of time later on.”
Since we are going on a bit of an adventure today, I slip on my most comfortable set of clothes and a pair of sandals that won’t end up killing my feet by the end of the day. I’m trying to tie the strings of my crop top around my neck but fumble miserably, and the warmth from Brent’s body envelopes me as he reaches forward and grabs hold of them.
I can feel his breath against the back of my neck and the way it pebbles from the soft touch of it. The heat that blossoms from his fingers as they graze along my back is unnerving, and my breath hitches before he takes a tentative step away from me. “All you had to do was ask,” Brent says softly behind me, his hand still resting on my back as he says the words.
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” I mumble, then turn around to face him. “Are we ready to head out?”
He still doesn’t have a shirt on, and he chuckles, waving a hand in front of him with a raised brow. “Does it look like I’m ready? Head to the kitchen and eat the room service I ordered. I’ll be out in a minute.”
When he moves his hand away from me, I almost let out a whimper in protest, but I bite it back and make my way out of the bedroom. There are two plates sitting on the table when I walk in the kitchen, each adorned with a stack of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and two sausage links, and my stomach grumbles at the breakfast feast in front of me. It’s only a few minutes later, as I’m taking a small bite of the pancakes, that Brent walks into the kitchen and halts in front of the table with his eyes on me.
I briefly wonder if maybe there’s something on my face, but the heat in his eyes tells me something different, and my stomach responds with somersaults. He clears his throat and leans forward into my personal space. His fingers twirl a strand of my bright hair around, and he says, “I could think of a much better breakfast to have this morning.” His gaze trails down the length of my body, stopping at my covered center before coming back up to my eyes. “But this will do for now. Later though? You’re all mine.”
There’s no reason I should love the sound of that.
“Right,” I mutter with a mouth full of pancakes. “What made you decide on the garden, by the way?”
Brent shrugs. “Since you love mentioning facts, I thought this might be something in your wheelhouse. Is it not? We can do something else.”
I glare at him and point my fork at his chest. “Don’t you dare cancel on me. I’m excited.” At least it will give me a reason to constantly mention random facts that nobody else would know about.
“Great,” he says with a smile before judging his head toward my plate. “Eat up then, and we’ll be gone most of the day on the tour.”
He’s only doing this because he knows I’ll like it.
Isn’t this supposed to be a lesson? We shouldn’t be doing things that would make the other happy, yet he’s got us scheduled for the day to go to a botanical garden that he’d likely never walk in if it was up to him. Maybe he likes me more than he’s been admitting.
I’m getting too far into my head.
He’s only trying to make me more comfortable; that way, things are easier later on when he gives me another lesson – one I can’t wait for, if the way my pussy aches is any indication. It would be best if I acted as though we are two friends going somewhere together rather than more. I’m sure that’s how he’s going to look at it anyway.
After we eat our breakfast in silence, Brent gathers my empty plate and places it on the cart that came with our room service. He washes his hands in the sink, then walks over and holds out a hand to me with a smile. “Ready, Buttercup?”
Just like always, the moment my palm falls into his hand, a zap of lightning courses through my bloodstream, and I shiver from the sensation. I probably look like an idiot. It’s like one hundred degrees here and it seems as though I’m cold, even though that’s not the case at all, but I play off the reaction to his touch with a small smile. “Just a small chill,” I whisper.
What would Mallory say if she knew I was going out on another date with her brother?