Chapter 15 #2
“Friday,” she amends. “Foster said we fly home on Friday.” She listens, and her cheeks don’t just turn pink.
They turn beet red. “Oh, um, I don’t know if it’s a meet-the-friends kind of thing,” she whispers, obviously embarrassed by her best friend’s request to meet the man she flew to another state with without telling her.
Do I want to meet her best friend? The only person in this world she considers family? Do I want her to meet mine? I can’t answer that, but I can admit that the idea doesn’t scare me away.
“Okay. I’ll check in every day,” she says, laughing softly. “Love you, too. Bye,” she says, ending the call. “Sorry about that. She’s protective.”
“Good. I’m glad that you have her looking out for you.”
She nods. “She’s my family.”
I open my mouth to ask her if she wants me to meet Carrie and her family, but our waiter appears with our food. Instead, we both dive into our meals, and the conversation moves to what’s next on our agenda today.
“I think I just want to relax. Maybe walk the beach a little?” Eden suggests.
“Sure, we can do that. Why don’t we take a drive up the coast a little, and we can find somewhere to have dinner, then we can walk the beach when we get back?”
“That’s perfect. This day is perfect. Thank you so much for everything, Foster. This has already been the most amazing experience.”
“For me, too,” I admit. “I think this is my favorite trip by far.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah. We travel to games, but we don’t really get to experience much. It’s all work and very little play. This has been nice.”
“You’ve taken other vacations, right?”
I nod. “With the guys, but this one is still my favorite.”
“You don’t have to say that to make me feel better about letting you pay for all of this.” She waves her arms around.
Reaching across the table, I take her hand in mine. “I’m being honest, Eden. This trip with you is my favorite.” I’m starting to think that this woman might also be my favorite, but I keep that to myself.
She nods, accepting my words, and we go back to our meals. We both decline dessert, but I’m sure we can find something on our ride down the coast to pacify a sweet craving, unless I can find a secluded spot to taste Eden.
“It’s so pretty. I can’t get over it,” she says, twenty minutes later, as we drive along the coast. I feel her hand land on my arm, and I move, lacing our fingers together. “Thank you for this.”
“You can stop thanking me,” I tell her. “I wanted you here with me.”
I see her nod out of the corner of my eye, and I’m tempted to pull this damn car to the side of the road so that I can kiss her. However, before I can, my phone rings. I pick it up from where it rests in the cupholder and smile when I see Reid’s name. “I should probably get this,” I tell her.
She nods, rolls up her window, and closes the sunroof. I tried to get a convertible, but there weren’t any available. Once the noise of the wind is locked behind the windows, I answer the call. “Hey,” I greet Reid.
“He’s alive!” I hear Landry call out, and I laugh.
“I’m alive,” I assure him.
“Where ya been, Vaughn?” a voice I recognize as Baker’s asks.
“Do you need an intervention?” Knox adds.
“I’m actually in Florida.”
“What?” Landry asks. “You went to Florida without us?”
“Alone?” Reid asks incredulously.
Here goes nothing. “I’m not alone,” I confess, and the other end of the call goes silent.
“Sorry, man, I think there’s a bad connection. Did you say that you’re not alone?” Knox asks.
“Yep.” I grin.
“Who are you with?” Baker asks.
“Eden. I’m with Eden.”
“Eden? Do we know an Eden?” Reid asks.
“She’s the reason you’ve been smiling?” Landry asks.
I take a glance at her in the passenger seat before my eyes quickly go back to the road. Her eyes are on the ocean, but I know she’s listening. “Yeah, she’s the reason I’ve been smiling,” I tell them. I hear her small intake of breath, and my smile grows.
“I have so many questions,” Reid says, and I chuckle.
“We’re flying home on Friday,” I tell them.
“Let me guess, we’re not getting answers until then?” Landry asks.
“Probably not,” I tell him.
“What are you doing right now?” Baker asks.
“We’re driving down the coast. We’re in Clearwater. We just had lunch after a dolphin cruise.”
“You took a dolphin cruise?” Landry asks, and I can hear the surprise in his voice.
“We did.”
“So many questions,” Reid repeats, and I laugh.
“I’ll be home Friday.”
“Dinner at our place Friday night,” Landry says.
“We’ll see.”
“Oh, he needs to check with his girl,” Knox teases.
“Like you wouldn’t?” I ask him.
“Shit,” Baker curses. “He pretty much just admitted that she’s his girl.”
“Of course, she is,” Knox tells him. “He took her on vacation.”
They bicker back and forth, and all I can do is grin. I’m not worried about her leaving. There’s no old fear of rejection, just good times and the beautiful woman sitting next to me. “I’ll talk to you all when I get home.”
“We want to meet her!” Landry hollers as I end the call.
I place my phone back into the cupholder, and even though I want to reach for her, I refrain, keeping both hands locked on the steering wheel.
“You told them I make you smile.” It’s not a question. It’s more of her working out in her head what I said about her.
“I did. You do,” I tell her honestly.
“You make me smile, too,” she whispers, before rolling down her window and letting the ocean breeze once again flow through the rental. I do the same, also pressing the sunroof button as we continue along the shore.
About an hour in, we stop for ice cream before heading back to our hotel.
We decided to order room service and relax a little, which is an excuse for me to buy some time.
I want to sit on the balcony with her and watch the sunset.
I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not it’s a better view from the beach, on the sand, or up here, and finally, I chose here, at the top floor of our hotel.
I keep glancing outside, waiting for the right time, and finally, dusk is upon us. “Want to sit out on the balcony with me?” I ask her.
“Sure.” She shrugs. I offer her my hand, grab the extra blanket I stole from one of the spare bedrooms, and lead her outside. Sitting in the lounger, I pull her onto my lap, and she comes willingly.
“Oh,” she says as a shiver races through her. “I was wondering why the blanket, but that wind is chilly.” She helps me place the cover over both of us. “Much better,” she says, resting her head back against my chest.
“Are you warm enough?” I ask, wrapping my arms around her, holding her close.
“Yeah,” she replies softly.
We sit in silence, enveloped in one another as the sun sets over the crystal-blue waters.
As the last peaks of the sun begin to disappear, I slide my hand beneath her shirt. “This okay?” I ask.
“Everything with you is more than okay, Foster,” she replies softly.
“Yeah?” I ask. “How about this?” I move my hand to slip beneath the tiny lounge shorts I convinced her to purchase last night when we were shopping. “Is this okay?” I lightly trace the waistband of her panties.
“That, too,” she breathes.
Sliding my hand beneath her panties, I find her pussy wet and warm. “And this?” I ask, running my fingers through her folds.
“Mm-hmm,” she hums.
Slowly, I slide one finger inside her, taking my time, stroking with a leisurely pace. “This?” I ask, my voice husky with desire.
“All of it, Foster.”
I stop asking as I add another finger. Her hand grips my arm that’s still locked around her waist, and her back arches away from my body. “That’s— How are you so good at that?” she asks, and despite the desire coursing through my veins, I laugh.
“I think you’re biased,” I tell her. I mean, I am the only man who’s ever touched her intimately—well, not the only, but I know for certain, my cock is the only one on this earth that’s ever felt her from the inside.
Her pussy clutches my fingers as a moan falls from her lips. “Foster.”
“What do you need, Eden? I’ll give you anything.” Not just sexually. I know without a shadow of a doubt that if it’s within my power, I’d give her anything she asked me for.
“Please—” she says, her voice cutting off as I start to move my fingers a little faster, pumping inside her.
“Are you gonna let me hear you?” I ask, my lips nipping at her ear.
“Someone might hear,” she pants.
“They might hear you, but they won’t see you. I’d never let anyone see you,” I tell her. A possessiveness I’ve never felt washes over me. Her pleasure is for my eyes only.
“Come for me, Eden. Let me feel you soak my hand.” My words send her over the edge as she calls out my name. I don’t remove my fingers from inside her until her body relaxes limply into mine. Only then do I move my hand to my mouth, licking my fingers clean.
“You did not just do that,” she says, and I can hear the shock in her tone.
“I did. Now, I’m going to carry you into our room, clean you up with my mouth, and then make love to you.” I don’t wait for the panic this time because I know it’s not going to show.
Eden is different.
I swore that there would be no one else for me. I told myself that I wasn’t man enough to fight for Violet and what we had, so I didn’t deserve another shot. I was the reject, the boy who deemed myself unworthy.
Then I met Eden.
Now, I know it’s time to change the play. It’s time to man up and show this incredible woman what she means to me. I’ve fallen completely under her spell. Eden has brought me back to life, giving me something of my own.
Her.
She gave herself to me, and that’s a gift I’ll never again take for granted.