16. Ben
“No wait,”she says, grabbing my hand as I move to walk away. “Come meet her.”
I turn back to her, grinning. “Meet your sister, huh?”
Aida rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling as she says, “Yes, she’s leaving tomorrow and she’s dying to meet you.”
“I’m sure she is,” I reply, chuckling, remembering the situation the other night when her sister arrived and the two of them sat out on the deck and enjoyed the show I put on for them. “But okay, I’m actually pretty keen to meet her too,” I add as Aida indicates I should pick up one of her drinks before leading me over to the outdoor section where her sister waits.
She’s still holding my hand and I thread our fingers together, hoping that dick Weston sees us and gets the message that Aida is off limits. I can’t believe she was fucking talking to him before.
Amanda spies us as we get closer, a huge smile on her face as Aida gestures to her sister. “Ben, meet Amanda. Amanda, this is Ben.”
Amanda smirks at us, her eyes giving me a slow once over, pausing at our joined hands, before lifting to my face again. “Hi, Ben, it’s very nice to meet you,” she eventually says in a sing-song voice, a huge smile on her face. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
Chuckling, I let go of Aida’s hand, throwing my arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. “Is that so? I trust it was all good things?”
“Hmmm,” Amanda says, still smiling as she looks at me and then her sister, taking the drink Aida offers her. “I hope you’re not trying to talk my sister out of throwing her party?”
Aida throws her arms up at this, letting out a frustrated groan as she says, “Um, wasn’t it supposed to be a secret?”
I laugh, squeezing her shoulder as I drop a kiss on the top of her head, handing her the drink I’m holding for her. “Like I said, Aida, I already knew. Not much gets past me on this island.” She pouts at this, and I can’t help but laugh at how fucking adorable she looks as I brush my thumb over her bottom lip. “This fucking mouth,” I murmur.
Amanda clears her throat. “Are you joining us for a drink, Ben? Or perhaps you’d like to take my sister home and do very dirty things to her?” She waves the invites she’s holding as she adds, “Please do. I’m happy to take over here, Aida.”
I burst out laughing at this as Aida’s cheeks flush. Ordinarily I’d be pissed about someone attempting to compete with my Fourth of July party, but in this case, I’m both intrigued and amused. Intrigued as to who exactly Aida thinks is going to show up to her party, considering she knows no one on the island except for me and my grandma. And amused that she’s taking this friendly competitive thing we have going on to a whole new level.
Little does Aida know, my Fourth of July parties are legendary and not something people turn down an invite to. Which is why I’m intrigued that she’s doing this and very interested to see where it goes next. A part of me can’t wait for the night of our parties and she comes crawling back to me because no one shows up to hers.
This is a competition she has no chance of winning.
“As tempting as that is, Amanda,” I say, turning to her. “I’m gonna leave you two to catch up. I’ll see you later?” I add, turning back to Aida.
“Uh huh,” she murmurs, swallowing hard.
With a grin, I lean in and press a kiss to her jaw, right below her ear, before whispering, “But, very happy to do dirty things to you anytime.”
I reluctantly let her go before I give in and stay. Or drag her into the bathroom to do those dirty things to her right here. I’m so fucking turned on by this girl, it’s not funny and I have no idea how she’s affecting me like this. I don’t normally get so messed up over a girl, but with Aida, I am all sorts of messed up.
In a really fucking good way.
I give a quick nod to Amanda, who is smiling widely, before I turn and head back to my friends on the other side of the bar.
The next afternoon, I’m lying on a pool float when Aida walks out onto her deck. “Hey!” I call out to her.
She looks over, giving me a wave. “Hi.”
“Whatcha doing?”
Aida shrugs, leaning against the railing. “Not much. Amanda left this morning and did some stuff in town.”
Grinning, I wave my arm around the pool as I say, “Wanna come over?”
She doesn’t answer at first, watching me as I lie here waiting for her answer. I’m not sure what’s running through her head, but the only thing running through mine is that her sister is gone, and my friends aren’t here, which means the two of us are alone again.
And holy shit if that doesn’t mean I’m totally planning to pick back up with that kiss we started on the beach the other day. I’ve literally been thinking about nothing else since that kid interrupted us.
“Aida?” I call when she just continues to stare at me, not answering. “You coming over?”
She blows out a breath and if I didn’t know better, I’d say she seemed a little nervous. “Yeah okay, give me ten.”
She disappears back inside, closing the door behind her. I don’t get out of the pool, just lie here waiting for her. I might want to get back to that kiss and more, but I’m not about to jump her bones the second she comes over. I have more finesse than that.
Eventually she walks up the path from the beach and into the yard, coming up to the deck. She’s dressed in a sundress, the straps of her bikini visible, and she’s carrying a six-pack of beer and a beach towel.
“Need another?” she asks, holding the six-pack up.
“Sure, thanks,” I say, finishing off my drink before paddling over to the side to drop off my empty can.
I watch as Aida drops her stuff on one of the lounge chairs, her back to me as she pulls her dress off, my mouth going dry at the sight in front of me. It’s not like I haven’t seen her in a bikini before, but holy fuck, it’s like every time I do, the view gets better and better.
She grabs two beers, putting the rest in the small bar fridge over by the barbecue, before she makes her way over to the pool. I watch as she walks down the steps at the shallow end, making her way toward me.
“Thanks,” I say as she hands me a fresh beer. We clink cans, both of us taking a sip before she looks around for another pool float. “You can join me on this one if you want,” I say, running a finger across her shoulder.
She smirks at me, grabbing one of the other floats and pulling it closer. She hands me her beer as she gets onto the float, mirroring my pose. I return her beer to her, lying back as my hand closes around her ankle, holding her so we’re facing each other, and she can’t float away.
“Did you have fun with your sister?” I ask, my fingers brushing the inside of her ankle.
“Yeah, was fun, nice to see her.”
“She coming back for your party?” I ask.
Aida lifts her head, hitting me with another smirk. “Yeah, she says she is,” she says.
“So you’ll have one person show up,” I tease, running a finger up and down her calf. “Although she might end up here when she sees how much better it is.”
Aida flicks some water at me. “Well, Weston said he’d come, so there’s another person. Plus, I?—”
“If he fucking shows his face around here, I will punch it,” I growl, my grip on her ankle tightening. “Seriously, Aida, the guy is bad fucking news. Stay away from him.”
Aida takes a sip of her beer, her head rolling so she’s looking at me. “What exactly is it that you hate about him?”
I blow out a breath, debating whether I should tell Aida the real reasons. “I told you, he’s bad news, a total dick.”
“Actually, you compared him to Robbie from Dirty Dancing, which for the record, the fact you even know who that character is, is a whole other conversation we still need to have, but what did he do to you exactly?”
“I’m gonna guess you’ve seen the movie, right?”
“Of course,” she says. “Love that you clearly have too and like I said, we’re gonna discuss that, but what’s that got to do with anything?”
“Do you remember what Robbie does in the movie? Knocks Penny up and then just ditches her after he makes her get a shitty abortion?”
“Yeah?”
I take another sip of my beer, shoving a hand through my hair. “So that’s what Weston did,” I eventually say. “After he stole my girlfriend from me.”
Aida sits up, the move so sudden that she nearly falls off the pool float. I tighten my hold on her ankle, pulling her even closer so we are side by side facing each other. “Seriously?” she asks.
“Yep.”
“Jesus, Ben, I’m sorry, I didn’t know?—”
“I know you didn’t,” I say, cutting her off. “But that’s why you should stay away from him. The guy’s a fucking creep.”
“A creep who now knows where I’m staying,” she murmurs, almost to herself.
I slide my hand up to her calf, squeezing gently as I smile. “Yeah, but you have me next door, don’t you? And there’s no way he’s going to mess with you when I’m around,” I say, giving her a wink.
We spend the rest of the afternoon in the pool, chatting and finishing off the six pack Aida brought over. By the time the sun is setting, we’re both out and drying off.
“Are you doing anything for dinner?” Aida asks, wrapping her towel around herself.
I step closer, hooking a finger into the front of her towel as I pull her toward me, my other arm sliding around her waist. “I know what I’d like to do for dinner,” I murmur, curling my hand around the back of her neck.
Aida swallows hard, her face tipped up to mine, her eyes dark in the low lighting that’s come on now the sun has gone down. My gaze drops to her mouth, to that full bottom lip of hers that I can’t stop fucking thinking about.
Just as I’m about to close the distance, lean in and kiss her, Aida surprises me, pushing up on her toes as she presses her mouth against mine.
“Fuck,” I groan as her hands land on my chest, my arm tightening around her waist as I pull her closer.
She deepens the kiss, her tongue teasing my lips, which open immediately, needing to taste her, devour her. I feel her fingers curl into my chest, her nails scoring my skin and it only turns me on even more, as I yank the towel from her body before sitting down on the lounge chair, taking Aida with me.
She straddles my hips, our mouths never separating as my hands move to her ass, holding her to me. Aida drops her arms around my neck, kissing me with an intensity and a hunger that I’ve never experienced before.
“Jesus, this fucking mouth, Aida,” I murmur against her lips.
“What about it?” she asks, smiling.
My grip on her ass tightens as I nip her bottom lip. “It’s going to kill me.”
Her smile widens as she brushes my wet hair back. “Wouldn’t be such a bad way to go, right?”
Chuckling, I slide my hands up her back to where her bikini string is tied, my fingers teasing the knot, itching to pull it undone. “It would be a fucking awesome way to go,” I whisper, tugging on her lip this time. “Although I can think of an even better way.”
“Oh yeah?” she asks, smiling. “What’s that?”
I pull back a little, our eyes meeting, everything about this moment feeling heated, charged, like the air is filled with electricity. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before and fuck, I just want more of it.
“Naked,” I whisper, brushing a soft kiss to her lips. “Inside you.” Another kiss. “Making you scream my name.” And another. “As you come hard around my cock.”
“Ben,” Aida groans, her arms tightening around my neck.
“What do you say, Aida?” I murmur, my lips against hers. “You want me to do dirty things to you?”
“Y—”
Her word is cut off when the entire house suddenly plunges into darkness. It takes me a second to realize it’s not just my house, but the whole street, hell maybe even the whole neighborhood. Just as I’m about to say fuck it, because who needs lights to do what we’re gonna do, my phone starts ringing.
Glancing at the screen, I see my grandma’s name and I know I can’t ignore this phone call.
“Fuuuuckkkk,” I groan, my head falling into the crook of her neck.
Aida laughs, pushing my head back as she smiles at me. “You gotta go,” she says.
“Yeah,” I say, blowing out a breath. “I do.”
“It’s okay,” she says, thumb brushing against my cheek.
“It’s really fucking not actually,” I huff. “And I take it back, it’s not gonna be your mouth that kills me, but these fucking blue balls.”
Aida lets out a loud laugh, climbing off my lap as she says, “Come on, let’s go check on Miriam.”