Come Together (39 page)

“You let me in before you could stop yourself,” he murmured. He pressed his lips to mine, and my body reacted instantly, melting into him. “I hate to think what would’ve happened to you if we hadn’t found each other.”

“I had a good life, David. I never would’ve known anything else.”

“I can’t think of anything worse than nobody loving you as much as I do.”

My heart throbbed painfully with his words. I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve him, to deserve words like those from his mouth, but I promised to be good every day of my life to keep him.

He took my hand again, and we continued walking. When we arrived, he left to grab his bag from where he’d left it on the back porch. Though the rest of our group had already cracked open a round of beers and were hanging in the kitchen, David and I said goodnight and went upstairs.

In the hallway, he dropped his bag with a loud thud and embraced me, dipping me slightly for a kiss. My arms automatically went around his neck. I was happy to see, and feel, that despite his fear of hurting me during sex, his desire hadn’t waned in the slightest. But I had yet to see if he would still be able to let go with me.

With a low moan, he deepened the kiss while fumbling with the door to our room. I heard him kick his bag in without slowing the pace of our kiss. He backed me into the room and into the nearest wall before slamming the door shut with his foot. “I need you,” he growled between breaths. “It’s been too many days.”

“I tried to tell you,” I whispered back.

His lips devoured mine greedily as he pulled me away from the wall and closer to his body. He tugged the hem of my dress up around my waist as my hands plunged into his hair. His fingers hooked into my thong, and it dropped around my boots. I kicked it away, and his hands slid under my ass. He pried my cheeks apart while pulling me against him, inspiring a feverish heat between my legs.

His fingers found me wet, and I shivered against him when they massaged me. He slid two in and out slowly from behind, pulling out every few seconds to reach deeper and fondle my clit.

I writhed against him as his other hand wrapped around my shoulders and under my hair to hold me still.

“I want to be buried deep inside you where I belong,” he said into my mouth.

He fingers continued to leisurely probe into me as I hastily undid his pants. My impatient hands found him impossibly hard, and he sucked in a breath. I stepped back to tug his pants and underwear down, and when he squeezed me back to him, his erection dug into my stomach.

His fingers withdrew, and I hopped up suddenly so he had to catch me. He smiled into my mouth right before we effortlessly came together. We were frozen as we adjusted to each other, exchanging charged breaths. My arms and legs wrapped tighter around him, and I moaned from the way he completely possessed me. His hand ran up my back and gathered my hair before pulling lightly. I drew back from his mouth to look at him.

He didn’t say anything, just looked into my eyes as we stood, immobilized by the overwhelming connection. There were no words so we remained that way, breathing and kissing and feeling each other. We were so lost in each other that once we started to move, it didn’t take long before we were both climaxing. I held onto him as my orgasm swelled through me like my love for him: steadily, no end, no beginning. He rested my back against the wall right before he came with shuddering intensity, pulling my hair gently and groaning against my neck.

Later, I fell asleep with him hugging me so tightly, he was almost crushing me. I didn’t ever want it any other way.

CHAPTER 25

I THREW AN ELBOW OVER MY EYES and groaned. “What time is it?” I asked when I heard David shuffling around the room.

“Six o‘clock. Sorry, baby.” The mattress dipped, and I lifted my arm. He climbed on top of me in only his board shorts and kissed his way up my neck until he reached my mouth. I moaned sleepily and closed my eyes. “Smell that ocean breeze?” he asked.

I smiled. “Mmm.”

He laughed. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be back in a few hours.” And then he was gone, so I rolled over and pulled his pillow between my arms.

I woke up after nine to a knock at the door. “Who is it?” I asked, disoriented.

“Me.” In that one word, I heard Gretchen’s voice crack.

I sat up quickly and grabbed David’s undershirt from the floor. “Come in.”

Her face was bright red, and she lifted her eyeglasses to rub her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I exclaimed.

She burst into tears and climbed onto the bed to sit cross-legged in front of me. “He’s gone,” she said between sobs.

“Greg? Why?”

She shook her head and once her shoulders had stopped quaking, she continued. “I don’t know. When we went to bed last night, we were fooling around and he wanted to have sex. I wanted to also – we haven’t done it yet, and it’s been months. But I couldn’t bring myself to, Liv. I don’t know why. I said no, and he got aggressive so I kicked him out of the room.”

My teeth ground together. “He got aggressive?”

“A little. This morning I heard a commotion, so I went downstairs. David and Greg were face to face, arguing about Jordan. Greg looked at me when I walked in, and I felt . . . I don’t know. I didn’t feel sympathetic or anything. So I said, ‘David’s right. You were out of line.’ He called me a frigid bitch and before I even had a chance to respond,
Brian
grabbed him by the shirt. Greg said ‘fuck this,’ gathered up his stuff from the couch and left. Just left.” She looked like she was about to laugh, but she burst into tears instead.

My mouth fell open, and I scooted close to embrace her. “Oh my God. Have you been crying all morning?”

“Yes, but I’m not even sure why.”

“What do you mean?”

“Greg wants for everything to go back to the way it was, but . . . it can’t.” She looked at me. “He acts like you and Lucy are still his best friends.”

“Me? I’ve barely seen him since he moved to Chicago.”

“I know,” she exclaimed, “and he’s only seen Lucy once!” She pulled her glasses away and rubbed her eyes again. “I don’t know. The fact that he left without talking to me makes me wonder if he’s changed at all.”

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

She sighed and wiped another tear away. “Gross. I’m sitting right where you guys had sex last night.”

“Pfft. No you’re not. We rarely ever make it to the bed.”

She made a strangled noise, and her face crumpled. “Even fooling around wasn’t that great. I remembered it better.”

Just then we heard loud footsteps running up the stairs.

“Crap.” She stood up.

“Don’t go,” I said.

“They’re back, and I’m a mess. I need to change.”

David’s wet, shirtless frame paused in the doorway. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi, honey. How was surfing?”

“Good, fine. Everything all right?”

Gretchen dropped her face in her hands and shuddered with her back to the door.

“Yes,” I said, “but can you just give us a minute?”

Brian appeared behind David and peered in. “Gretchen,” he said softly.

“Just go away, Brian,” Gretchen muffled from her hands.

He ignored her and pushed David aside to enter the room. “He’s not worth it,” Brian said. My mouth fell open when he wrapped his arms around her. Gretchen stilled, and I was afraid she would push him off, but instead she turned into his chest and unleashed a fresh set of tears. I glanced at David and mouthed,
Oh my god.
He shrugged.

“You guys ganged up on him,” Gretchen said into Brian’s chest.

David crossed his arms over his chest, and his expression hardened. “He crossed a line.”

“He was right,” she continued. “I was frigid not to sleep with him and a bitch not to defend him.”

“Hey!” Brian cried as if he was offended. He lifted her chin with his finger and looked down at her. “That’s a load of shit. He was disrespectful to David and Olivia and to you. You were right not to defend him.”

“He’s a coward,” David added, still in the doorway.

Gretchen laughed softly and pulled away from Brian. She removed her glasses and wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “I’m sorry, this is embarrassing.”

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Brian commented.

“Contacts,” she said, nodding.

His eyes darted over her as she cleaned the glasses on her t-shirt. She was red and puffy, but her eyes were shining blue. Just like Brian’s. It struck me then how similar-looking they were. Soft blond hair, tan complexions and striking Windex-colored eyes. How had I never noticed before?

“How about a surfing lesson?” Brian asked her. “David’s taking Olivia, I can take you.”

“What about your girlfriend?” she asked with a sniffle.

“She doesn’t want to get wet. Go figure, we’re at the beach.”

“I guess,” she said, looking at the floor.

“Atta girl. Go put your bathing suit on, and I’ll meet you downstairs in ten.”

She smiled with her eyes still downcast and nodded before leaving the room.

“Thank you, Brian,” I said. “I know you two don’t get along, so I really appreciate that.”

“No worries. She’s not so bad underneath it all,” he said to himself.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

He looked up. “Nothing,” he called over his shoulder as he left.

David sighed and finally entered the room. “I say good riddance.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Did you wake Greg up from the couch just to yell at him?”

“Yep.”

“Do you feel macho now that you’ve put him in his place?”

I expected him to get angry, but he puffed up slightly. “Yes.”

I laughed.

“Brian likes her, you know,” he said. “I can tell.”

I crinkled my nose. “Gretchen? He does not. She made a pass at him, and he turned her down.”

“He’s into her.”

“David, they hate each other.”

“There’s a fine line between love and hate, baby.”

Still, I shook my head. “Nope. I believe ‘pompous prick’ is how she once described him.”

“You and your dirty mouth again, Miss Germaine. I never did give you that spanking.”

My eyes widened. “Give it to me now, then.”

He laughed. “No, not now. We still need to talk anyway. You seduced me into forgetting that I was supposed to be restraining myself.”

“So let’s talk.”

He shut the bedroom door and came to sit on the edge of the bed. “I don’t have an answer.”

I crawled over to him and set my hand on his wet trunks. “I meant what I said. I trust you, and I promise to tell you if it’s too much. I should have said something the other night. I was confused because I liked what you were doing to me even though it hurt a little.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Your pleasure turns me on; you taking what you need from me. I love knowing I can give you that.”

“Only you.”

“You won’t go overboard because you know, and always have known, exactly what I need. But I promise, if you ever do, I will tell you.”

“Just say stop, and I will, no matter what. I’ll never get so far that I can’t stop.”

I smiled and rose on my knees to kiss his cheek. “I know. Now, are you going to spank me, or are we going to surf?” My laugh turned into a squeal when he grasped my waist and dragged me facedown across his knees.

“Like this?” he asked. Since I was only wearing his t-shirt, he pushed the fabric up and exposed my backside. His hand ran over it tenderly before giving me a hard slap. I groaned with a quick exhalation, and he began to knead my skin, running his hand over the backs of my thighs. “Okay, up you go,” he said suddenly, lifting me onto my feet.

“No,” I protested.

“Yes. It’s time to surf. Let me see that itty-bitty bikini. Although, no, not with Brian around. Actually, do you have a one-piece?”

I giggled and shoved his shoulder before dropping to rifle through my suitcase.

Brian was waiting by himself when we arrived downstairs.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am, just waiting for your friend.”

I noticed Brian’s girlfriend standing by the door. “Oh. Morning, Kat, didn’t see you there.”

“Hi.”

“Are you getting a lesson too?”

“No,” she said. “I burn easily.”

“Oh.”

David’s face brightened as if that reminded him of something. He grabbed a bottle of sunscreen from the counter and passed it to me. “Don’t argue,” he said.

I didn’t and was just finishing rubbing it in when Gretchen appeared. She was all shiny again with her hair and makeup fixed and her contacts in. “Let’s hit the beach,” she said cheerily.

David and Brian stuck longboards under their arms as the four of us made the short walk to the water. “The waves are small right now,” David observed. “We can just practice in the whitewater.”

I shrugged. “Whatever. Let’s go.”

“Not so fast,” he said. “First you have to practice on land.”

I crinkled my nose. “Why? Can’t we just do it?”

“No.” He set his board on the sand next to Brian’s. “On your belly.”

“Oh, yes, sir,” I teased, but his expression was serious.

“And these have to go,” he said, sliding my sunglasses off and tossing them with our stuff. “You need to be alert out there, Olivia. No messing around. You could get hurt.”

I saluted him. Gretchen and I giggled, but his jaw hardened. We stopped laughing immediately and dropped onto the boards. He demonstrated how we should paddle and pop up. We both imitated what he’d done and held our poses as instructed. He and Brian squatted next to us, fixing our stances by adjusting our legs. I tried in vain to flirt with David as he corrected my back foot.

“What is all this?” I heard Brian ask Gretchen. When I looked over, he was waving his hand near her face.

“What?”

“All this hair and makeup just to get in the water. It’s ridiculous.”

She shrugged. “Who cares?”

“I do. You don’t need all this. You looked prettier this morning. Bed hair, no makeup and pajamas.”

Her lips drew into a line. “Shut up, Brian. Why do you have to be such a dick?”

His brows knit. “I’m being serious.”

“Well, then, I don’t need your pity.”

“No need to get defensive,” Brian said. “All I asked was what the point is. It’s going to get ruined anyway.”