Chapter Eight
Abby arched her hips, and the bulge she straddled grew thicker beneath her. Connor met her thrusts, his breath getting faster the harder he grew.
“A redo?” he asked.
“Why not? We’ve both changed…grown up.”
And from the feel of what was between her thighs, he was bigger…everywhere.
She thrust her fingers into his shaggy, dark blond hair and kissed him. No hesitant kiss this time. She was certain she wanted him in her life.
Did he feel the same way?
He growled and opened his mouth to kiss her, his tongue hot and wild as it intertwined with hers in a desperate duel for more. Rough hands slid under the hem of her dress, and he lifted it enough to cup her exposed cheeks.
“I’ve been fantasizing about you in a thong,” he said, his voice gruff and sexy. “It’s all I’ve been able to think about since yesterday.”
“Then it’s a good thing I wore one.”
When his fingers made their way to the front and swiped across her clit, she shuddered. “Keep going, Con.”
He slid a finger under the elastic and stroked her. “You’re soaked, darlin’.”
She wanted to answer, but then he slid two fingers between her slick folds, and she gave in to the tension building in her. She moaned and moved against him, urging him to go faster…needing more.
With his fingers buried deep inside her, she captured his mouth until, with a final press on her clit, she cried out and fell apart in his arms.
“You take my breath away when you come.” He trailed open-mouthed kisses down her neck, tugging the neckline of her dress down past her breasts.
She sucked in a breath when he slid a hand beneath the lace and cupped her breast before pulling the scrap of lace away. When he captured her nipple between his lips, her body started to climb again.
But this time wasn’t only about her.
“Wait, Con.”
He raised his head. “I’m sorry. Too fast, right?”
She shook her head and climbed off him. “Not fast enough.”
Then she reached under her dress, yanked off the thong, and tossed it in his lap. Feeling like the carefree girl she’d once been—one who wasn’t afraid to take chances—she gave him a saucy smile and walked backward into the water.
She waded out until she was waist deep and dipped under to get her entire body wet. When she surfaced, Connor sat frozen in the same spot.
She curled a finger, gesturing for him to join her. He blinked twice before he shimmied out of his shorts and shirt and charged into the water. The laugh bubbled out of her as he caught her around the waist, making her feel younger and freer than she had in years.
Ocean-sprayed strands of hair fell across his face in a sexy shag.
He kissed her long and hard, his hands busy under her dress. She pushed at his boxer briefs, freeing his cock and causing him to groan while he pressed into her hand.
Thankful that the water was relatively calm, she wrapped her legs around his back and guided him inside.
“Dear God, Abby,” he murmured as he thrust up, filling her. “You’re killing me.”
Tilting her pelvis, she pulled back before sinking back down on him.
“Don’t have a condom,” he said.
Powerless to stop, she kept moving, taking him in deeper with each thrust.
He slowed down and held her face. “Abby, I don’t have a condom on.”
She gulped in air. “I’m on the pill, and I’m clean.”
“I’m clean, too.” He pushed her hair out of her eyes. “You’re sure about this?”
“I’m sure, Con. Make love to me. Here. Now.”
He swore and kissed her, his hands moving to her hips and setting a mind-crippling pace. Abby kept up, her legs shaking with the exertion. He reached between them and stroked her, and she shattered, taking him along with her.
They held each other until the gentle sway of the water pulled them in toward shore. She wrung out her dress the best she could while Connor dragged on his shorts, slipped her thong into his pocket, and swept her into his arms.
She laughed. “What are you doing?”
He started toward the boardwalk. “Carrying you. You’re going to need energy when we get to your place…and do this again.”
She hugged him tight all the way to her apartment, where he made good on that promise and made love to her until they both fell asleep a little before sunrise.
Connor entered Mbr using the back door, hoping he could slip upstairs and grab a quick shower before the morning meeting. His clothes were still damp and wrinkled due to them lying in a pile on the floor all night. But Connor was still riding the high from his night with Abby too much to care what anyone thought.
“Look who’s doing the walk of shame,” Jason said, leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee.
“No shame here,” Connor deadpanned.
Definitely no shame. Not the first time he and Abby made love in the ocean. Nor the second as they showered off the sand and sea. Nor the third less than an hour ago before he left.
Jason studied him. “I can see.”
“Going to grab a shower. Be down in ten.”
As Connor passed Jason to get to the stairs, his brother reached out and put a hand on his forearm. “You know what you’re doing, right, bro?”
After getting out of rehab, Connor looked at each day with a new appreciation. Determined to get his life on track, he worked hard and liked the fame that came from co-starring on a hit reality TV show. People recognized him when he went out, and it wasn’t because he was that poor kid. Strangers recognized him for his accomplishments and the success of the show, which helped build up his confidence.
However, after the incident with the unintended sex post, Connor had lost faith in people and his own judgment. Almost a year later, he still avoided any entanglements.
Now, he spent his free time meditating, doing yoga, surfing, and playing his guitar, which helped him think about what he wanted long term. He wanted more than a one-night stand with someone who only wanted to say she fucked a celebrity.
Been there, done that. Not going back.
Connor wanted to feel alive and whole with someone who cared about him…someone he could build a future with. Last night with Abby had gone a long way to helping him achieve both.
“I know what I’m doing,” Connor said.
“Okay.” Jason relaxed his grip. “If something changes and you need an ear, you know I’m there for you. Anytime. Anywhere.”
As one of the three people who knew what it was like to grow up in the Maguire household, his brother would always watch out for him. One hundred percent. They’d stuck together through thick and thin. Through drunken fights with their father, having to ask the neighbors for a couple of eggs so they’d have dinner, Connor’s drug addiction, flipping their first house, celebrating their contract for Beach House Flippers, starting their business on Pelican Bay. No matter what, they had each other’s backs.
“I know, bro. Thanks.”
“I’ll have another coffee ready when you get down.”
Connor nodded and jogged up the stairs.
Twelve minutes later, he entered the conference room, notebook in hand. “Where are Jenna and Ev?”
“Seems everyone is off to a late start today,” Jason muttered.
“Someone’s cranky this morning,” Jenna said, sauntering in and dropping a Shore to Please bakery box on the table and heading toward the kitchen.
“I’m not cranky,” Jason called after her.
Connor pounced on the box, in dire need of calories to restore the energy he’d spent during his night with Abby.
Evan entered the conference room, a chipper smile on his face despite the early hour. “Morning.”
“Who are you?” Jason asked. “Usually, you’re half-asleep when we drag your ass in here before nine.”
“Maybe I’m getting used to your crazy hours. And what’s with you? You didn’t get any last night?”
Jenna walked in with two mugs of coffee. Connor caught the flush in her cheeks and the slight linger of hands as she handed Evan a mug.
Perhaps Evan’s streak of celibacy had also been broken last night.
Good for him.
“Let’s get started,” Jason said. “I got a call early this morning about more vandalism at one of our properties.”
“What the hell,” Connor said. “Which?”
“The museum.”
“We haven’t started any work there except marking out the space,” Connor continued.
“Thankfully, they couldn’t do much more than childish pranks with silly signs and trash. Can you stop by there this morning, Con? We’re starting renovations on the mini-golf site this morning, and I need to be there,” Jason said.
“Sure, no problem. I’ll go before I head over to Abby’s. Need a couple hours to finish the floor before the furniture can be put in place,” Connor said.
“This vandalism is becoming a problem,” Evan said. “It started with the break-in during the Erickson Pier reno, then the mini-golf, and now this.”
“I talked with Ethan about that last night. It’s not only our properties. There’s been a couple of incidents at Harrison’s and a few other places,” Jason said.
“Spreading the love,” Connor said. “Stupid-ass punks.”
“Do the cops have a suspect?” Jenna said.
“Maybe, but Ethan can’t tell us who,” Jason said.
“You think we should install cameras like we did at the pier?” Connor asked.
“May be a good idea,” Jason said.
“Tell me what you need, and I’ll take care of it,” Jenna added, making notes on her iPad.
“Will do,” Jason said.
“In other business, I should have a decent draft of the Dunes property by the end of the day,” Evan said.
The Dunes was what they’d named the area they were going to renovate in their old neighborhood. Hurricane Samantha had ravaged the entire area, and it needed a serious overhaul. They’d kicked around several possibilities, and Evan, as their contracted-out architect, was putting together a couple of options.
“Perfect. Let’s review them at tomorrow morning’s meeting,” Jason said. “Assuming we start on time.”
“Do you hear something, Ev? I hear an annoying sound,” Connor said, rising and grabbing another donut.
“I hear it too, but can’t make it out,” Evan agreed.
They all laughed and headed their separate ways.
Jason caught up with him. “You want to meet up here at six, before driving over to Dad’s place?”
Connor had forgotten today was the day he and Jason had dinner at their dad’s apartment. Since reuniting with him a couple of months ago, after his release from prison, they’d started weekly dinners to work on their relationship.
Not the most exciting of nights, but they’d promised their mom, who’d been traveling back and forth from Tampa, that they’d put forth the effort. Surprisingly, Allen Maguire had been true to his word and appeared to be clean and sober.
“Sounds like a plan,” Connor said.
After grabbing a few things from his apartment, Connor texted Abby an approximate time he’d be at her shop, and drove to the lighthouse.
Five minutes later, he pulled into the parking area. The lighthouse area didn’t draw the tourist crowd like it once did. The idea of building a museum had been Jason’s. Emma had paintings and photographs she’d done over the past decade. Plus, old pictures she found in the attic of her house. Those, along with other things she was gathering from townspeople, would be displayed to share the history of the town. Combined with the nature trail and enhanced picnic area, it would provide a nice tourist stop.
Connor grabbed a trash bag and pair of work gloves from the bed of the truck and headed to the future site of the museum and nature trail. Trash littered the area that only yesterday he’d marked off with painting spray and string. Now, the string and the sticks lay broken, as though someone had run over them with a bike.
What kind of person thought so little to do this on town property? And was it connected to the other vandalism?
Connor frowned at the words spray-painted in fluorescent orange.
GO HOME
That exact phrase had been painted in several spots on Erickson Pier and also at mini-golf. No points for creativity.
Connor took a few pictures before picking up the trash. About halfway through, he caught a flash of something against the sunlight. Bending down, he picked up a necklace half buried in the rubble. A cheap stainless-steel chain with a baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies’ P on it.
He and Jason had been all over this area multiple times and never seen this. Could one vandal be a kid?
Connor placed the chain in a pocket of his cargo shorts. He’d mention it to Jason later tonight, and they could give it to Ethan. It may not mean anything, but if it could help them find whoever was responsible for the vandalism, Connor was all for it.