20. Callie
Callie
I had a quote from Jacques-Yves Cousteau strumming its way over my brain while I sat at the front of Ben’s boat.
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.
Despite living so close to the beach, since becoming a single mother, I might as well have lived in a landlocked state with how much I set foot in the water. I’d been missing out.
I arched my back and tipped my head back so I could soak up all the sun I could get. The warmth on my skin made my eyes heavy and my heart full. The light spray from the sea kissed my bare legs and the salty ocean smell filled my senses. I could feel the sea casting its spell over me.
The kids were at the back of the boat with Luke and Cole and I were alone and at peace for what felt like the first time ever. I trusted them to keep Oliver safe. I trusted Ben to not crash the boat and drown us all. I just felt…content.
I fell asleep at some point and only woke up when Ben sat down next to me. I had a moment of panic when I saw it was him next to me, meaning there was no one controlling the boat.
He smirked at me while squirting a dollop of sunscreen into his palm. “I dropped the anchor so the kids could fish. Nothing to worry about. I didn’t mean to wake you up; I just wanted to make sure you didn’t burn.”
The way the three of them seemed so concerned about me burning in the sun made me want to melt. Even if they were only doing it to touch me; it still made me feel so cared for. And desired. So painfully desired when I had no right to focus on those feelings.
Ben knelt over me and held my gaze as he lowered his hands to my stomach.
His large hands covered so much of my skin and the warmth from them was somehow more powerful than the sun.
I felt his heat radiate through my body and when he stroked his thumbs over the center of my mid-section, I couldn’t suppress a full-body shiver.
“Jesus, Callie. You can’t react like that when I touch you and expect me to look at you purely as my kid’s teacher.
” He stroked one hand higher, until his fingertips caught on the bottom of my bathing suit top.
The other hand trailed lower to my hip. “Do you dream of that night? Because I do. Every fucking night.”
I couldn’t form words. I stared up at him as he hovered over me, rubbing lotion into my skin until I thought I’d die. I could hear the kids laughing from the other end of the boat and it should’ve been all I needed to push him away.
“Roll over.” His voice was rougher than normal. “I’m nothing if not thorough.”
I did as he said and pressed my forehead into the fiberglass deck. “I…”
“Hush.” He straddled my hips and put his weight into rubbing my back. The pressure, his hands, his strong thighs surrounding my hips, it was all so erotic to my deprived body. “There’s no one out here to judge you or get you in trouble, Callie.”
I almost whimpered when his weight disappeared but then I felt his hands on my calves. His hands slowly moved up the back of my legs, massaging me into a boneless mess as he went. I couldn’t even make sense of what he’d said about trouble. I just knew his hands were getting higher and higher.
“You were especially ticklish right here.” Ben trailed his finger along the bottom curve of my right cheek and a second later I felt his lips there. “All done, Cupcake. You’re good for another two hours.”
I turned my forehead to look at him. I couldn’t understand why he’d stopped touching me. “Ben?”
He adjusted himself in his shorts and winked at me. “Enjoy yourself. I’m going to go help the kids.”
I watched him leave and then let my head thump down. With each step he took away I understood more and more why it was good that he’d stopped but it didn’t take the ache away. My body was crying out for a release.
“Think with your brain, Callie. For the love of god, keep your bottoms on.” I rolled over and stared up at the sun for a few beats in an effort to fry the dangerous wants out of my head. I couldn’t touch Ben. I couldn’t touch any of them and I needed to remember that. “Dammit.”
It took forever for the ache between my thighs to ease up.
I finally cooked long enough in the sun to fall asleep again and the next time I woke up the sun was setting and we were docked back at the marina beside Ben’s.
Someone had covered me with a beach towel at some point so my skin was pleasantly warm instead of painful.
The silence was worrying so I sat up and looked around. I felt like a newborn deer as I stood up and went looking for everyone. “Ollie?”
“Back here, Cupcake.” Luke stood up from where everyone was sitting, sharing dinner. “We were just about to wake you up. Come, have some dinner.”
“It’s so good, Miss Cupcake!” Noah flashed me a bright smile and then stuck his tongue out at his dad.
“Hey. It’s Miss Morgan.” Cole shook his head and then stuck his tongue out at Noah. “Punk.”
I felt like I was in an altered reality as I sat down and found a thick sandwich in front of me.
My stomach growled so I grabbed the sandwich and took a bite.
I was halfway through the sandwich before I felt more alive and like myself.
I chugged down a bottle of water and then looked around at everyone, just to find them all watching me.
“Miss Morgan ate that sandwich like that food eating guy we saw at the fair!” Noah reached past Oliver to high-five me. “That guy would lose to you! That’s so cool!”
Ben pretended to choke when he let out a bark of laughter but it was too late. He wiped his mouth and grinned. “Sorry. He’s talking about the winner of a food eating competition we watched… Johnny James, the Demolisher. He finished an ungodly amount of hot dogs in under a minute.”
I gaped at Noah. “And you think I’d beat him?!”
He giggled and nodded. “You’d crush him, Miss Morgan!”
Cole ruffled his son’s hair and grunted. “I have a lot to teach you about women, kid.”
“You slept for so long, Miss Morgan. We thought you were dead earlier.” Emma grinned brightly at me and then pointed at her dad. “Daddy almost slipped off the boat cause he was trying to check you out so fast.”
Luke groaned. “I was trying to check on her.”
Oliver wiped his mouth and then took his time refolding his paper towel while speaking matter-of-factly. “If I understand the meaning of that phrase, I believe you were doing both.”
The guys all erupted in laughter, which thankfully made Oliver smile and duck his head.
He was already so much more comfortable around the little group we’d formed on the boat.
It warmed my heart in a way I’d never felt before.
That should’ve scared the hell out of me and maybe it would when I wasn’t so wiped from the sun but right then, I just felt so grateful to see Oliver participating and enjoying himself.
“I guess I was more tired than I realized.” I cleared my throat and reached up to rub my eyes. “You cute little munchkins are my favorites and I wouldn’t change a thing about my job but y’all can be exhausting in a group setting.”
Noah pushed a bag of chips towards me. “We’re your favorites? That’s awesome!”
I shoved another bite of sandwich in my mouth and smiled around my chipmunk cheeks. I couldn’t think about the potential consequences of admitting to the four of them that they were my favorites so I just chewed and pretended it didn’t happen.