Chapter Eight
Kylo
She was shaking like a fucking leaf by the time we had our life vests on and were strapped to the canopy on the back of the boat.
“Do you want an opt-out, or do you want me to tell you that you can do this?” I asked.
Rue was sucking in giant gulps of air but looked more and more flushed by the second. I was a little worried she might pass out before the boat could even get moving.
“I. Want. To. Do. It,” she huffed out between breaths.
“Okay. Then we’re doing this,” I said, taking her hand, sliding my fingers between hers, closing tight, then nodding at John, the boat captain.
We took off like a shot.
Rue hardly had a moment to suck in a breath before the canopy was filling with air between us.
Then we were yanked violently backward.
My stomach bottomed out.
I imagined Rue’s did the same.
She let out a shriek of terror as the world fell away. Her fingers crushed mine until the skin went white. Her legs kicked wildly.
“Open your eyes,” I yelled over the whoosh of the wind. “It’s better if you open your eyes.”
She squeezed them half shut for a moment, her palm sweaty in mine.
Then, little by little, her legs stopped kicking, her fingers loosened, and her eyes slid fully open.
“Oh,” she exhaled, eyes going round as John kept us moving through the sky. “Oh, wow.”
“Amazing, isn’t it?” I asked.
“It’s… beautiful,” she said, a smile threatening to break her face.
“Yeah,” I agreed, watching her. “Definitely beautiful.”
“How long does this go?” she asked.
“Ten minutes or so. Soak it up while you can.”
That was exactly what she did, looking around, leaning back, smiling the whole time.
I took my free hand, digging around in my side to pull my phone out of my pocket.
I was risking dropping it into the ocean, but, fuck, I had to capture the moment for her.
I held out my phone.
“Move in!” I called.
She leaned close enough for her face to press into mine, still smiling huge, and I snapped several pictures, then a short video.
The whole time, I might add, her hand was still holding mine.
I wanted to stay up there with her forever.
But it was the expected ten or so minutes before John turned and made the winch start to slowly draw us back down.
We dropped down onto our butts on the sun deck, Rue letting out a laugh that had John looking back and trying to suppress a smile.
I reached out, removing my straps, then reached over to do hers. It probably look chivalrous. In reality, I just wanted an excuse to touch her again.
Fucking John and his terrible timing.
Standing outside the cabanas, I saw the interest in her eyes; I felt the way she’d trembled at the barely-there touch on her shoulder strap.
I knew if I’d reached for her, she would have melted into me. I could have pulled her back into a cabana, and we could have gone a few rounds until we were both panting and boneless.
Begrudgingly, I had to admit that it was probably for the best that John showed up when he did.
Letting things get physical before I knew what her connection was with our rivals would be a bad idea.
I couldn’t imagine Huck would be forgiving of it if he found out and she did turn out to be in bed with them.
“Give me your number, and I can send them to you,” I said as John slowly turned the boat around to head back to Teddy’s place. “Then you can send it to whoever is in charge of making sure I don’t kidnap you,” I said, getting a surprised bark of a laugh out of her.
“Traeger. My grandmother seems to think it would be a great idea for me to disappear for a day or two.” Something about the way her cheeks went pink made me think her grandmother assumed the two of us were going to hook up.
“He seems like a good friend.”
“He’s amazing. And makes the best coffee known to man.”
“His pottery is great too.”
“Right? I’m so proud of him. His parents aren’t exactly supportive, but he has done so much so quickly. I know I’m on borrowed time with him. So I’m just trying to enjoy it while I can.”
“Well, even if he leaves, you will still be friends,” I said. Her gaze moved away at that, like she didn’t think that was the case. When, clearly, the guy cared about her if he was keeping an eye on her while she was with me.
She couldn’t even see that the people she did have around genuinely wanted to be there, and weren’t just obligated to be.
I got the feeling that Rue was really fucking lonely. Whether she recognized it or not. Maybe that was why her grandmother was clearly worried about her.
“Thanks for being so calm,” she said as we neared the dock. “I, uh, get panic attacks sometimes. Well, more than sometimes. I’m working on it, but things like this are big triggers.”
“It’s nothing. I had a neighbor —who is now my friend’s wife—who had a lot of anxiety. I get it.”
“Are you afraid of anything?” she asked, watching my profile.
“Meat in a can,” I said, getting another huff of laughter out of her.
“Meat in a can?”
“How the fuck can something that goes bad even in the fridge be okay in a can?” I asked.
“I have eaten a lot of tinned meat,” Rue said. “I’m still here.”
“Better not to risk it,” I said, getting another smile out of her. “Thanks for this, John,” I said when he jumped off to tie down, then helped Rue off the boat.
“Anytime,” he said as I hopped out.
“Can you imagine living this close to the beach?” Rue asked after taking off her life jacket, then heading toward the sand.
“I’m gonna see if she wants to order some food. If not, she might want a lift back to the bike.”
“I’ll be in the staff room after I clean all this up. Pick up any of the tablets and you will find a button for staff. You can reach me through there.”
“Thanks again, man.” I pulled off my life vest and handed it to him.
“She’s sweet,” he said, nodding over toward where Rue was dipping her feet into the aqua water.
“She is,” I agreed, clapping him on the back, then following Rue toward the water’s edge.
“Would you want a waterside property?”
“Honestly, it sounds like a hell of a lot of stress during storm season. Guys like Teddy have staff to handle battening down the hatches. But if I had to do it myself, I think I’d rather be a little inland and just visit.”
“That’s true. And I like having more of a yard,” she agreed, moving a little further into the water. “But this is nice. Oh,” she said, whipping around. “Should I not be going in? Do we need to get going? I don’t want to get the car all wet.”
“We have all the time we want.”
“In that case,” she said, throwing her arms out, then falling backward.
The splash soaked me.
“You’re gonna pay for that,” I said as she surfaced.
Then I was running into the water, remembering to toss my phone onto the sand before getting in.
With a squeal, she ducked under the surface and swam.
As I pursued her, catching her leg only to be kicked off, starting the chase over again, I could actually understand Caymen’s little primal kink.
I lucked out when we were in waist-deep water, running rather than swimming. She got a little cocky, thinking she was outrunning me, and turned to grin at me, not anticipating how close I was.
I snagged her around the waist, hauling her up against my chest.
“Got ya,” I said as she let out a little yelp.
For a second, it was all light, fun, just a little cat-and-mouse game that had run its course.
But the second we both seemed to notice the crush of our bodies, the lack of layers between us, the way her nipples had hardened from the cool water, both our smiles slipped away.
Rue’s gaze slid helplessly to my mouth, then back up again, not seeming to notice that her own had parted, as if she was already imagining my lips on hers.
Need flooded my bloodstream. The only thing I seemed capable of thinking right then was about how well her body fit to mine, how her breathing had gone fast and shallow, how her lids were heavy with her own desire.
I let my hands splay across her lower back, the tips slightly dipping under the waistband of her shorts.
When she didn’t try to pull away, I pulled her more firmly against me.
The press had her letting out an involuntary little whimper.
There were a dozen reasons to make my hands drop, to step away, to put some distance between us—both literally and figuratively.
But for some reason, none of them materialized in my mind.
So there was nothing stopping my hands from slipping down, sinking into her ass, and pulling her pelvis against mine. There was no way she wouldn’t feel the thick press of me, the evidence that she wasn’t the only one affected by the moment.
Another one of those sounds escaped her.
Until, of course, my lips sealed to hers, swallowing it (and the moan that followed) up.
Rue’s hands slid up my arms, paused, then wrapped around my neck.
Her lips were pliant for just a second before they were responding, pressing, demanding more.
And me? I was happy to give her that.
My teeth nipped her lower lip, making her let out a little moan, and giving my tongue a chance to move inside and toy with hers.
A whole-body shiver moved through her.
My hands slipped lower then, grabbing her behind the knees, then lifting her off her feet. The water cascaded down as her legs eagerly wrapped around my lower back, holding on tight as I turned and walked toward the shore.
My lips stayed on hers as I carried her up the beach, scaled the little wall, then made it to the pool. I lowered down onto one of the loungers with Rue straddling me.
She was shameless in her need then.
Her hips dropped fully down until my cock was pressed against the juncture of her thighs.
Her moan vibrated against my lips.
My hands moved down from her hips to grab her ass, using it to drag her against me again.
Her thighs clamped to the sides of my legs, her hips doing a little roll as she whimpered.
All it took was to rub her against me one more time before her need overcame her insecurity. Then she was rocking against my cock, her movements getting faster with each passing moment.
Her breath was coming in frantic gasps as her lips got wilder, more needy, all tongue and teeth and desperation.
My hands slid back up her back, teasing the sides of her breasts, then sliding between to squeeze.
Her head fell back on a throaty groan, and I leaned in, teasing my lips and tongue up the column of her neck.
Her hips were frantic then, rocking, rolling, as her breath got tight, strangled.
Sliding my tongue downward, I yanked her cup to the side and sucked her nipple into my mouth.
With that, and one more little rock of her hips, she cried out as she came, her body shuddering hard, her fingernails digging crescents into my shoulders as she held on.
She fell forward afterward, her forehead to my shoulder, her warm breath washing over my skin.
I slid her cup back into place, somehow knowing that the second the post-orgasm clarity came over her, she was probably going to panic and want distance.
My cock ached at not getting to finish what we started. But with the rival gun crew hanging over my head, I knew it was probably better not to have to tell Huck I fucked the woman who might be working with them.
This? This was nothing to him.
It wouldn’t be a lie if he asked if I’d been with her and I said no.
Dry humping on patio furniture was teenager shit.
It was nothing.
Or, at least, that was what I told myself even as my hands drifted up and down her sun-warmed skin.
I could feel the uncertainty creeping through her. Muscles tensed one by one. Her heart, which had started to calm, was hammering against my chest again.
I was trying to think of a way to be casual about it, to calm her anxiety.
Then the fucking sprinklers clicked on.
Ice-cold water shot across Rue’s back, making her squeal in surprise and hop off of me.
A yelp escaped her as another sprinkler head ticked in her direction, splattering her front.
“Cabanas,” I said, hopping up only to get a stream of water in the face.
Uncertainty abandoned, a laugh escaped Rue as we both ran through the minefield of high-powered sprinklers, trying (and mostly failing) to avoid the water as we made a dash for the safety of the cabanas.
She shot me another of those big smiles of hers before she rushed into the safety of her cabana.
I could have followed.
I could have pulled off that bikini top, yanked down her shorts, and buried myself deep inside her like my cock was begging to do.
But instead, I carried myself into the shower, stripped, turned on the tap, and stepped under the spray, taking matters into my own hands, hearing the low echo of Rue’s voice as she, I assumed, called Traeg to tell him I hadn’t murdered her.
I wish I could say I felt better after rubbing one out, drying off, and getting back into my clothes—sans anything under my jeans since my board shorts were still wet—but the fact of the matter was I felt just as desperate to get more of her as I’d been on that damn patio furniture.
Soon, I promised myself. Soon, I would have answers. Then I could take Rue to bed for a week fucking straight.
With that in mind, I moved out of the cabana.
“Is it safe?” Rue asked, peeking out from the crack in the door.
“Yeah, they’re off. You want to order some food and have a tour while we wait?” I asked.
She looked conflicted.
Then, throwing the door open, she exhaled hard.
“Traeg wants a picture of the primary bathroom,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Let’s get him a picture then,” I said, waving out toward the house.
And just like that, all the potential awkwardness was thwarted… by a fucking sprinkler system.