Chapter Eight
Killian
Kiera is the best thing that ever happened to me—and I don’t think I get to keep her.
It’s been almost a month since I saved her in the surf. Days and nights of completing her to-do list have made for the best time. I am teaching her to surf, which she is a natural at, she is teaching me how to cook, and we’ve gone on a dozen adventures together since this started.
I have made love to her in the ocean, in the shower, in my bed, in the jeep, out in the open, anywhere she will let me have her. I cannot keep my hands off her, which seems fine with her, since she can’t keep her greedy hands off me either.
“Behave,” I tell her, as we sit on a board, her mouth kissing a path down my throat. My greedy little thing knows once she puts her mouth on me, I am ten toes down to bury myself inside her and get lost in the bliss we find together.
“Behave, he said,” she mocks me, biting playfully at my shoulder. “He always tells me to be a good girl.”
Laughing, I slid my hands up and down her thighs as they bracket mine. I do not tell her to be a good girl. I very often beg her to be a bad girl, in fact. I can never say no to her, but she rarely says no to me either. If I told her to come sit on my cock on this board so I could fuck her while we wait for a wave, she would do it. Not just because I want it, but because she wants it too.
If it were just that, if this was just hunger, greedy need, then it would be fine. I could breathe when I think about the summer ending. But it is a hell of a lot more than having a summer fling with some hot bird who comes to town. I am doing everything I can to convince her this can be her home.
“We going for tacos later?” she wonders, kissing the bite marks she left on my shoulder.
“We are. The best fish tacos in Sunset Springs, just as I promised. Let’s get a wave or two in before we go stuff our faces.”
“Hmm, you can stuff my face,” she taunts, her hand sneaking out to grasp my cock, making it hard with just a touch.
“After we catch some waves, but before tacos,” I tease back, my hand joining hers to rub my hard-on.
Laughing, she kisses my neck, making my heart stutter in my chest. Jesus, when she is dirty, it turns me on until it hurts. But when she is soft and sweet, telling me secrets in the dark or letting me cross off another of her wish list things, I fall for her a little more. It has been the best summer of my life, but I am terrified the sun is going down on our time together.
Anytime I talk about what comes next, where she sees herself after summer, she remains vague. I cannot get her to commit to being here longer than a few months. There is no way I can ask her to make the move here, even if she has nothing to go back to in True Ridge.
“Stop thinking so loud,” she whispers, kissing my ear gently.
“How much do we have on that list of yours, Kiera?”
“Hard to say. You know I add something to it almost every single day.”
Turning on the board, I frown at her in confusion. No, I did not know she had been adding to it. This is good news. If we keep working on that list, she will stay here to mark it all off. I have busted my ass getting that list done with her. If there is still plenty to do on it, maybe I have more time.
“You have? What sort of things?”
“Lots of things. Mostly with you. Going on a hot-air balloon. Play beach volleyball. Doing the list with you makes it better, makes it count.”
This puts that caged beast inside of me at ease. For now, at least. Talking about crossing more things off that list even while she keeps adding to it is good. It means she is not ready to leave Sunset Springs. If I can keep adding to that list of hers, I might get her to stay here for good.
We ride a few waves, me keeping her steady as I hold her close, her laughing when I try to kiss her and we wipeout. In the water, I kiss her deep and hard, even as the waves crash down on us. I can’t get enough of her. She is my new addiction. The thing I need a hit of a taste of, every single day, even more than being on the water.
“Didn’t you say you had clients today, baby?” she asks as we sit on the board facing each other, my hands all over her.
“Yeah,” I sigh as I glance towards the beach as the sun sits high in the skies overhead. “Quite a few. Which is good. I just...I rather be here with you.”
Cocking her head at me, she slides closer on the board. “Killian, I am here. Right here, with you. I am not going anywhere. I am not going to take you from your business. I want you to get that shop. You deserve it, Brody deserves it.”
Grumbling at her mention of him, I remind myself to kick his ass later. Knowing damn well I was trying to keep her to myself, he showed up at my place a few nights ago. They hit it off famously, which is great, but now I will have to deal with his supportive bullshit if she winds up leaving town.
Brody told me he does not think she plans to leave. They talked about the shop all night over beers and pizza, laughing as she drew up sketches for what the shop could be. I love her ideas, and he does too, but I hate the idea that we might get it going and then she leaves. I would have that constant reminder of her all around me. I will have to tear the shop to pieces if that happens.
“Stop thinking so loud,” she whispers again, brushing her mouth against mine. “I am right here, baby.”
“Yeah, right here,” I husk back, closing my eyes as I draw her even closer. I cannot stand the idea of her leaving town, but I also have not had the guts to ask that she stay. I am worried I dove in with her, but she just dipped her toes in.
Sighing, she kisses me softly, and I let her. I hold her close and kiss her back until Brody whistles to tell us to knock it off. We paddle for another wave, but I am in no mood to surf. I’m in no mood to be on the water at all. On the shore, I kiss her goodbye with an emptiness in my gut.
Something tells me it is our last day on the water, we’ve caught our last wave, had our last day in the sun together. I watch her go, trying to ignore the ache in my chest as she gets further and further away. Part of me wants to go after her, tell her not to go, beg her to promise me she will stay here with me.
“Brah,” Brody is at my side, watching her go, too. “Be cool. That girl is crazy about you. Just as crazy as you are about her. She is going nowhere.”
“Nah, not this time, man. Once summer is over, we’re over too.”
“You don’t see what everyone else sees then, man. That woman looks at you with stars and rainbows in her eyes. If you think she is going to bail, it is because you haven’t let her see that you look at her the same way. If you think she might go home, you’re just going to let her?”
“What can I do? What, do I ask her to just start a life here with me?”
“Uh, yeah, idiot, you do just that. You tell her you want her for keeps. You tell her you do not want her to go. Tell her to start a life here, in Sunset Springs, with you. What is hard about that?”
“Because what if I ask that....and she says no? What if I tell her how I feel and that I want her for keeps...but she just doesn’t want me back?”
“But she does, Killian. This is not some summer fling for you and it ain’t a fling for her, either. Anyone who sees you two together sees that. That might be my MO, it has never been yours. Neither is being scared to take a risk.”
“Well, this is a risk I can’t take, man,” I tell him, shaking my head as anguish overwhelms me.
“What does that even mean? You can’t take the risk, or you won’t?”
“I won’t . I am not going to make a fool of myself. It’s going to be hard enough if she bails on me, man.”
“Jesus, listen to yourself, man. You have the girl of your fucking dreams, a woman you never could have drawn up if you tried, here, with you, wanting to be with you. But you won’t tell her how you feel?”
“Why is this up for debate? What does it matter to you?”
“Man, screw you. You’re my best friend and I know you’re going to regret it if you don’t tell her how you feel. You’re treating it like some summer fling, so that is all it will be if you don’t tell her different. What happens when we open the shop, man? That has been our dream for half our lives. If you get everything you want, will you bail on me? Will it be too much for you?”
Shaking my head at him, ignoring how right on he is, I stalk off towards the surf shack. I grab a board and the client list for the day so I can get this day over with. Two clients in and I am still out of it. I could not tell you their names or how well they did. I have no idea if they wiped out or stood up on the boards.
By the time the sun is setting, I am past miserable and well into being pissed off. Not just at Brody. I am pissed at myself, too. Mostly, though, I am pissed off at Kiera. For coming here and disrupting my life. It was all smooth sailing before I saved her that day. If anyone else had saved her, I might not be in this mess. I might be out on a board, catching a wave, not giving a damn about anything else in the world.
“You doing anything tonight? Because I would love to be doing something with you,” offers my busty, blonde, airheaded last client.
Any other time—hell, every other time—I would ignore her. I would turn her down to avoid the headache of getting tangled up with someone who will not stay. Now I am entangled, and I can’t undo it. I cannot unwrap the grip Kiera has around my heart, around my head, around all of me.
“No, I am not,” I answer with a smile, ignoring how wrong it feels.
“Yes, you are,” Brody cuts in between us. “Your girl is having a girls’ night out with Maribell. You ought to go nip that shit in the bud, brah.”
Frowning, it takes a few seconds for his words to register. Then I can’t think of anything else, most definitely not the busty blonde throwing herself at me. Anything I said before, any of that bullshit I fed him about not being willing to say something, does not matter. All I can think about is doing just what he said, just what I need to do.
I think I need to put an end to my girl going out on the town without me.