Chapter 29
chapter twenty-nine
Summer
Even though he never responded to me, saying we could be “just friends,” Dayton still organizes a day for us to go out on his sailboat, Penelope, with Cal, Silvie, Josie, and Juniper.
Cal is helping Dayton with the sails while I pass out plastic champagne glasses to the ladies. I pop open a bottle of sparkling rosé and start filling each of them up.
The weather is perfect. It was warm all day, and I lay out on the beach for hours, earning an even deeper tan on my skin.
I’m wearing a low-cut halter-neck white cotton dress. It’s backless, so I’m not wearing a bra. Dayton’s eyes have been roaming over me for hours, leaving a trail of heat in their wake.
I’m regretting telling him that what happened between us was a two-time thing because I want him again … already.
What is wrong with me?
Hooking up with my former bully/stepbrother is bad enough, but wanting a repeat of the experience makes me question my mental stability.
I haven’t told a soul. I can’t admit it out loud.
Silvie sighs contentedly, sipping on her rosé. “There’s just something about Coconut Beach, isn’t there? It’s unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been.”
Josie nods. “Can’t beat these views.” Her eyes are roaming over the muscled shoulders of Cal and Dayton.
Silvie and Juniper laugh at her, shaking their heads. The sun is beginning to dip down, cooling us off when it hides behind a fluffy cloud.
“I brought snackies. Let me grab them really quick.” I go down below to where there’s a queen-size bed, a small kitchenette and table, and a little bathroom. The mini fridge has a tray of premade quarter-cut sandwiches, a fruit bowl, and fruit dip.
Dayton also got a bag of white cheddar popcorn and pretzels. I gather it all up in my arms and head back up above. Silvie takes the tray from me, and I set the rest of the food down on the small table near the back of the catamaran, where we’re sprawled out.
“Oh, I forgot the plates.” I turn to head back down to the cabin area.
While walking back toward the stairs, the boat catches a wave and pitches me toward the edge. I yelp, attempting to grab the railing and failing. I careen forward, smacking my head against the side of the boat.
I immediately feel woozy, my vision blurring. A strong arm wraps around my waist.
“Summer, baby, are you okay?” Dayton’s voice is panicked.
I groan, my eyes fluttering open to see his eyebrows pinched in concern.
My vision refocuses, and I also notice four other sets of eyes studying the way Dayton is cradling me to his chest, like I mean much more to him than the annoying little stepsister he’s stuck dealing with to get his inheritance.
Josie’s jaw is on the floor, Silvie’s eyes are wide, Cal is attempting to hide a smirk, and Juniper is covering her mouth to either conceal her shock or a smile.
I sit up quickly, brushing him off. “I’m fine! I just slipped. I wasn’t holding on. Silly me.”
He’s not convinced, and he’s not letting go of me. His fingers are sending sparks over the surface of my bare spine. I try pushing him away again, and his eyes narrow on my face.
“Summer, you’re bleeding.”
I feel it then, the liquid dripping from my eyebrow. He doesn’t hesitate then. He just starts unbuttoning his striped shirt and tugs it off his shoulders.
Great. Now he’s shirtless, and I’m bleeding, and there’s no denying what we’ve done. He dabs my eyes with the fabric, and I can smell him.
He smells so good; it’s not fair.
“Silvie, can you go down below and get some ice from the freezer?”
Silvie nods, immediately disappearing in the cabin. Cal follows her.
Oh no. They’re going to talk about what we’ve done.
I try sitting up again, but Dayton supports me the entire time, and I hate that I don’t hate it. He lifts me up to help me walk toward the seating area at the back, where I set the food down.
“Is it just your head?” he asks.
I nod. Once I’m seated on the bench, he slides in next to me. Juniper and Josie slide into the other side.
“Do you want some water, Sum?”
I nod. Juniper digs in the built-in ice chest and hands me a cold bottle. I take a sip before daring to look at their faces.
They’re both attempting a neutral expression. But I know them well enough to know their minds are swirling with questions and theories about why the hell Dayton is suddenly acting concerned and taking care of me.
Cal and Silvie finally return with ice in a cup. Dayton takes it, wrapping it up in his shirt and pressing it gently to my eyebrow. I take the compress from him, my cheeks so warm that I’m sure I look sunburnt.
“I feel much better. Thank you.”
He waits for a few more seconds, eyes scanning over my entire frame from head to toe before he gets up.
“Call me if she starts feeling lightheaded or dizzy,” he says to the girls before walking back toward the front of the boat, Cal on his heels.
Silvie slides into the space he just vacated, eyes wide. “What the hell just happened?”
Okay, I have four choices. Either deny, deflect, gaslight, or confess.
I sigh, noting the looks of curiosity and confusion. Josie pops a grape into her mouth, smiling as she chews.
“So, uh, we thought that guy kind of hated your guts.”
“I haven’t known you that long yet, but, uh, you’ve only ever talked shit about him ninety-nine percent of the time.” Silvie refills her glass, leaning back against the bench.
I can tell by the interest shining in their eyes that I’m not getting out of this without some kind of explanation. Finally, I remove the cold compress from my head and lean forward, placing my forearms on the table.
“So, he might not hate me quite as much as I previously thought.”
Silvie gaps. Juniper snorts, shaking her head.
Josie leans forward, her gaze intense on my face. “Spill.”
I get distracted when I see the tan, muscled shoulders reeling in the sail. The sun is shining on his glowing skin, and suddenly, I’m transported back to the image of his shoulders under my fingers when I was riding him this morning.
“Oh my gosh. You had sex, didn’t you?” Josie blurts out.
I jerk my head back to the girls, right as Silvie gasps. Juniper is stunned into silence for a moment, and I attempt to stutter out a denial.
“We—okay—so what happened was—”
“You nasty bitch! I didn’t know you had it in you!” Silvie scoots closer, and the other girls lean in.
“Tell us everything!”
“How did it happen?”
“Was it good?”
“Is he hung like a horse?”
They start bombarding me with questions at once. I shush them all desperately, not wanting Dayton to overhear.
“First off, I did not initiate it. He did. And I do feel like I will need therapy for being masochistic enough to have sex with someone who hates me.”
“For the record,” Josie interrupts, “I never believed he hated you. Wendy and I have always been convinced he’s secretly in love with you. Cheri told her that years ago.”
I gape at her, struggling to make sense of what she’s saying.
She shrugs. “But continue.”
“Anyway … that’s a whole other can of worms I can’t open right now. He—well, okay, it started when he insisted on staying with me in the studio to check on the house. I sort of accidentally started touching myself while he was sleeping, and then he woke up, and he realized it, and … yeah.”
Their eyes are like saucers, but they’re dialed in. Josie motions for me to continue.
“So, after that, he ended up going”—I lower my voice to a whisper—“down on me.”
Juniper’s eyes nearly bulge out of her head.
“But when we were teens, he would always play that Are You Nervous? game with me, so I just honestly thought he was messing with my head. Until last night, at Chaos. He came up to me, grabbed the back of my neck, and just kissed me. Then we went back to the bungalow, and … yeah. Things escalated from there …”
“I know you’re not about to stop right when we get to the good stuff,” Josie screeches.
Cal and Dayton both look over at us. Dayton’s eyes roam over me protectively before he turns away.
“What do you want, for me to describe every position?”
“How many times?” Silvie asks.
“Twice.”
“Did you finish?” Josie presses.
I nod, cheeks turning pink. They wait expectantly.
I throw up my hands. “Okay, fine, you wanna hear it? It was the best sex of my life! I’d never come that many times. I hadn’t known sex could be that incredible. He was … fuck, he was so intense.” I shake my head, exhaling slowly. “I just don’t think we can ever go there again.”
Silvie grabs my hand. “Why not? If it was that good, why not keep having some fun?”
“Aside from the obvious?” I start ticking them off on my fingers.
“He lives in New York, and I live here. After the house is done, we’re selling it, so he’ll have no reason to visit anymore.
He’s still been very rude to me for the past thirteen years.
He’s—he’s just not my type at all. Great sex doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have love and affection and kindness in the grand scheme of things.
I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me. I don’t know why he did it, but for me, it was just some twisted trauma response. ”
“Trauma response to what?” Juniper asks gently.
“Like the years of bullying, and breaking up with Axel who never wanted me sexually, and all the bickering about the house. I don’t know, just all the shit I’ve been through and me wanting to feel good about myself and desirable for one freaking night with someone who’s always made me feel terrible about myself. ”
I look over at him and see that Dayton is watching me, his expression unreadable. Cal says something, and he nods in response.
“He definitely owes you a huge apology and should begin groveling, like yesterday,” Silvie says.
The other girls nod.
“And with him being a man, I wouldn’t be surprised if he thinks the mind-blowing sex was phase one,” Josie adds.
“Phase one?”
“Of winning you over.”
I take a sip of my wine and stare at her, waiting for her to continue.
She smiles softly. “Honey, you can’t see it, but that man has always looked at you like you’re the sunrise.
You have every right to be upset with the way things have been, but if there’s even a part of you that wants to explore it and see if he’s sincere about burying the past, actually apologizing and making changes, I think you should consider it. ”
Juniper nods. “Agreed. And great sex should not be taken lightly. It is hard to come by, trust me.”
I shake my head, finally cracking a smile. “I don’t know. He’s still my stepbrother.”
“Oh, stepbrother, my ass. You’re not blood-related, and you met him when you were fifteen. It doesn’t count.” Silvie laughs.
“Are you serious?”
She rolls her eyes. “Girl, yes, I’m so serious. No one cares at all except you.”
I stare at each one of their faces in the golden light, seeing amused smirks and emphatic nods all around.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Josie laughs, lifting her glass. “Let’s drink to it.”
We lift our glasses to hers.
“Drink to what?” I ask.
“To Summer having the best sex of her life … with her brother!”
“Stepbrother,” I grumble.
We clink our glasses and down the contents. I look over at Dayton one more time. He’s laughing with Cal. The sunset is creating a silhouette around him and the sail that would make an incredible postcard.
Maybe they’re right. Maybe I’m missing out on a relationship that has potential.
Maybe I should see if this could lead somewhere.