Chapter 20
After brushing my teeth, combing my hair out, and washing my face, I look at myself in the mirror.
It’s the day after Christmas, and for the first time in I don’t even know how many years, I’m not hungover from drinking alone while trying to numb the sadness from the night before.
Instead, Ridge and I spent the entire night naked, in front of the fireplace, giving each other orgasm after orgasm—always coming together too.
To be honest, I’m a little sad that the power is back on because I had such a good time in the dark.
There was just something about the fire and us being the only source of keeping each other warm that was so sexy and intimate.
But there’s an aching in my gut, and I know it’s because tomorrow, I’m flying back to the city.
Walking out of the bathroom, I head into the kitchen to find Ridge sitting on a barstool, drinking his coffee with a second cup beside him. Steam flows from the top, and I smile as I walk around the island and plop down beside him.
“Happy to have the power back?” I say, leaning toward him and pressing my shoulder to his.
“Kinda.” He cranes his neck to look down at me and smirks.
“Though I gotta say, that whole … sex all night long by the fire was pretty hot.” He raises his brows up and down.
“I didn’t know my dick was capable of coming that many times or staying hard that long.
” He winks. “Kinda think I have a superpower.”
I roll my eyes but laugh. “Or maybe it’s me with the superpower for making you capable of doing that.” I shrug. “Ever think about that?”
“Oh, is that it?” he drawls, tickling my side. Or attempting to. “Are you seriously not ticklish?”
“Nope,” I say flatly. “Not even a little.”
“That’s … kind of creepy,” he utters. “So, you’re leaving tomorrow.
Aside from all the snow, it’s fairly warm out today, so I figured I could show you a few things in the area before you have to go back to the big city and forget all about this place.
” He nudges me playfully. “Some … local treasures, I guess you could say.”
“That sounds perfect,” I answer, trying not to think about what it’s going to be like to leave here tomorrow. “What’s first on your list?”
“You’ll see,” he says cryptically before he slides from the stool, tugging me up with him. “Get your ass ready, woman. Time is ticking!”
As I rush toward his room to get ready for the day, I force myself to ignore the ache in my chest. I need to enjoy what time I have left with a man, who, not many days ago, I couldn’t stand. And now? All I want to do is have more time with him.
Maybe it’s a good thing I have to leave Holiday Harbor tomorrow. Any more time spent here, and I’d fall for this fisherman. And Lord knows that it would never work between us.
I tell myself that I’m just showing her around the town to be nice and to give her the full Maine experience, but the truth is, I think a part of me is hoping she’ll love it so much that she won’t want to leave.
I don’t know why anyone who visits here would want to leave.
It’s beautiful. And peaceful. But I suppose the things I love about my home state might be things that she doesn’t love.
That’s why she loves the city, which is just another reason it could never work between us.
Still, I don’t know how tomorrow is going to go when I drop her off at the airport.
I know that it’ll be hard as hell to say goodbye to her.
But will she be sad? Or maybe secretly happy to get back to her life?
I don’t fucking know. All I know is, I like having her here. I’m not ready for her to go.
Maybe it was meant to be a short-lived fling, but that’s not how I see it anymore.
We walk along our first stop, which is a beach that sits on my cousin’s land. It’s the next town over from mine, but where most of our oceanfront is rocky, his has an actual sand beach. But the beach isn’t the best part; it’s the old shipwreck that’s on the tiny island in front of it.
“That is so cool,” Stella whispers, staring out at the water. “When did that happen?”
“Back about thirty years ago or so. It was a rough night, and the ship broke free from its mooring and went up on its side out there.” I wave toward it. “They decided to keep it there for history reasons because the boat belonged to a rich guy who owned a big chunk of the town.”
She looks from me and back to the shipwreck before, suddenly, she laughs. “That story isn’t nearly as cool as I thought it was going to be.” She tilts her head to the side. “Here I thought, you were going to tell me that it was a pirate ship or something off the wall.”
“Well, fuck you then,” I deadpan. “I’m sorry; let me make something up.
It was people looking for treasure two hundred years ago.
Pirates saw them and realized they were looking for the same thing, and they decided to fire at them, making the ship capsize and eventually wash up.
” I shrug my shoulders. “Not a single survivor, and they say, sometimes, their bones still wash up on these shores.”
She stares at me. Then, slowly, her lips turn up, and she pats my arm. “All right, that right there was the story I was looking for. Thank you. Now, I’m satisfied, and anyone who asks me about the shipwreck in Maine, I’m sharing that story, not the lame-ass first one.”
“Yeah, okay,” I murmur, poking her side. “Speaking of satisfied, you seemed satisfied last night.” I pause. “Many times.”
“Oh, pfft. Get over yourself.” She narrows her eyes, but when I hold her gaze, she rolls them. “Fine.” She throws her head back, holding her arms out. “I was highly satisfied. Happy now?”
“I will be if we can repeat it again tonight.” I flash her a small grin. “And maybe in the morning before your flight leaves too. After all, I need to fill you so full that I’ll be with you after you’re gone.”
Amused, she looks down before grabbing a few flat rocks and holding them up. “If you can skip a single rock six times, you’ve got yourself a deal.” She passes me two of them. “I’ll give you two tries.”
“And if I can’t do it?” I ask, knowing damn well I can do more than six skips, but wanting to play along with her little game.
“Well, I guess you’ll have to satisfy yourself,” she coos.
“That’s fine; I’ve been doing that in the shower every day since you got here.” I shrug. “Only the first few times, I had to picture a fantasy. And now, well, I’ve fucked you so many different ways that I have all kinds of material up here to use when I stroke my dick.” I point to my head.
Her eyes widen as her mouth hangs open. “You’re gross!” She attempts to pretend to be offended before waving toward the water. “Go on, big guy. Show me what you got. Let’s determine if you’ll get your spank-bank version of me or the real thing.”
I do my best to seem unsure of myself, not wanting to lead on that I’m stupidly competitive.
Growing up, I was always the rock-skipping champ against my brothers.
Maybe it’s from having siblings or playing sports throughout my high school days.
Either way, I can’t stand to lose, so I try to make it a point to never do that.
Walking to the edge of the beach, I turn to the side, curve my wrist just right, and skim the rock against the water. I stand there and watch circle after circle appear at the top of the water.
“Eight?” she yells. “Eight on the first try? I feel hustled.” She shakes her head. “That doesn’t count. That was a practice one.”
“You never asked if I was good at it.” I shrug, taunting her. “Care to make it ten skips?”
Her mouth hangs open, and she puts a hand on her hip. “Ten?” she gasps. “Fine. You know what? Ten it is!”
Taking the other rock into my hand, I get in my stance. But this time, instead of looking out at the water, I lock eyes with her. “I’m so nervous,” I say sarcastically in a smart-ass tone. “So much on the line here.”
Keeping my gaze on hers, I haul back and skip the rock. Her eyes dart from mine to the water, and she gulps again. Her lips move as she counts the skips.
“Who are you, Nathan Scott? Trying to lock eyes while taking an important shot?” she barks out. “Twelve. You freaking got twelve.”
“I have no idea who Nathan Scott is, but if you tell me how many rocks he skipped, I’ll make sure I put him to shame,” I say truthfully. “Was it some crazy number like thirty though? If so, I may need more practice rocks.”
“He’s from the television series, One Tree Hill, you moron,” she says, shaking her head. “Anyway, you got twelve. Now you can stop showing off.”
“Oh good. I thought he was my competition or something,” I admit. “And first, you said six. And then ten. Since I got twelve, I think I should get a little something extra.”
“Oh, yeah?” She folds her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes, but it’s clear as day she’s fucking excited. “Like what?”
I tap my chin. “Like … a blow job in the truck. Or maybe I can eat your ass.”
I watch her shiver, and I know it’s not from the cold air. She’s a filthy girl, and I wish she could stay longer so I could see just how fucking dirty she likes to get.
“What do you say, Fireball?” I prod, stepping closer to her and putting my arms around her waist. “You’re leaving tomorrow, and I still haven’t gotten my fix.”
I say it like we’re both treating this whole thing like it’s light and a joke, but something about what I just said actually fucking hurts too.
There’s an elephant in the room. One that needs to be addressed.
But I guess we’re both too proud to say it out loud and ask where the fuck we go from here.
Her expression grows somber, and she gazes up at me.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you hadn’t gotten any skips. I still would have been in your bed—or on the living room floor—tonight.”
Standing on her tippy-toes, she waits for me to bend down and kiss her. I don’t keep her waiting long before pressing my lips to hers. And when I’m done, she slides her hands against my sides.
“Next destination?” she whispers.
“Next destination,” I say back. Excited to show her so many places, but also dreading each one because it’s that much closer to her leaving.
I take her hand in mine as we walk back toward where my truck is parked along the road.
I’m glad she has the boots on that I got her because even though the snow didn’t amount to much once it got blown around in the wind, there are still some drifts, and since it’s above freezing today, everything is melting, making it a wet mess.
Exactly like I hope she is for me tonight.
As we reach my truck and I go to open the door, a voice stops me.
“Just on a romantic walk, coz?” the deep voice calls out, and I grin when I see my cousin walking toward us.
“Holy shit,” Stella whispers. “That’s Knox Carter. As in … retired NFL player Knox Carter.” She looks up at me, eyes wide. “He’s your cousin?”
“He is, but don’t get too excited. He’s married, and I’m suddenly a jealous man,” I murmur playfully just before he reaches us.
“Yeah, now my big-shot cousin is here to show me up!” I grin at him. “How’re Sloane and the kids?”
“They’re good,” he says proudly. “They’re up at the house, taking down the Christmas tree. As much as Sloane loves to decorate—way too fucking early, like before Thanksgiving early—that woman hardly lets the last present be passed out before she starts putting shit away.”
“That’s better than my mother.” I laugh. “She’ll leave hers up well after New Year’s. Loves it.” I chuckle again before I turn slightly toward Stella. “Knox, this is Stella. Stella, this is my hotshot cousin—”
“Knox Carter,” Stella says, cutting me off while she stares at him. “I am a huge football fan, and though your time in the NFL was short, you certainly made an impact.”
I try not to laugh as she completely fangirls out on my cousin.
Everyone around town is used to him being out and about, but for her, I’m sure it’s insane to run into him like this, and I know she just made his entire day.
He gave up football a while back so that he could be there for his kids while they grew up.
I know he’s always been more than happy with his decision, but leaving had to have been hard for him too.
“Thank you, thank you,” he drawls, flashing her a pleased grin before he looks down at her boots. “My wife has those boots. Along with about … five other colors.”
She smiles at me. “Thanks. Ridge forced me to get them, and now I think I also need, like, five more pairs.” She laughs. “I’ll admit, I can see the appeal. Comfortable, warm, and cute.”
We chat for a few minutes before he takes a step back.
“Well, I’ve gotta run to the store, but I saw you down here and just had to say hi.” He shakes my hand again. “I hope you two had a good Christmas.” He winks at Stella, and then his eyes dart between ours. “It’s nice to see my cousin finally settling down.”
We look nervously at each other, both cringing.
“Oh, we’re not …” Stella says, but stops.
I don’t bother trying to explain anything. Instead, I just hold my hand up and wave goodbye to him, and once he turns and is walking away, I pull her in for a hug.
“Next stop?”
Smiling up at me, she nods shyly. “Next stop.”