Coming Home to You (The Rockport Beach Series Book 1) (23 page)

An hour later and I’m showered, have said
goodbye to Pop, and am now standing beside my truck trying to make myself leave.
“You’ll take Kels to work?” I confirm with Finn.

He rolls his eyes. “Yes, Beck, I will. Just
like I said I would the last fifty times you asked me.”

Kelsey laughs and I shoot both of them a
filthy look. “Yeah, yeah,” I say. “I know I’m being a pain.”

“You’re being a drama queen,” Finn says. “A
total fucking girl actually.”

“Hey!” Kels says, whacking him across the
chest and making me laugh. Finn sticks his tongue out at her and I exhale,
knowing she’s in good hands.

“Come here, baby,” I say, my hand reaching
for her. She steps towards me and I pull her against me, wrapping my arms
around her shoulders. “I’ll keep in touch,” I say to Finn, meeting his stare
over her shoulder. “And I should be back in two days, three tops.”

Finn nods. “Drive safe and I’ll keep you
posted on anything that happens, okay?”

“Thanks, bro,” I say, smiling at him. Finn
smiles and then disappears inside to give Kels and me some privacy. “I’m gonna
miss you, baby,” I say, cupping her face in my hands.

“Me too,” she says, smiling up at me as she
slides her hands down to my ass. “I’ve kinda gotten used to falling asleep and
waking up beside you, I’m not sure how I’ll do without it.”

“Kinda gotten used to it?” I tease, smiling
at her.

Kels grins as she pushes her hips against
my dick, before pulling back and sliding one of her hands around so she’s
cupping me. “More than used to it,” she whispers, squeezing her fingers and
making me groan. “I love waking up to your hard dick.”

“Fuck, Kels,” I moan, my eyes closing. “You’re
killing me here, baby.”

“Just giving you something to think about
while you’re back in Boston,” she says, her voice breathy in my ear. “Something
to remember me by.”

I slide my hands down to her ass and pick
her up, her legs automatically wrapping around my waist. “Fuck that,” I say,
marching her towards the garage on the side of the house. “I’ve got a better
idea.”

Pressing her back against the wall, I slide
one hand up her thigh and under her skirt, grazing my fingers against her
pussy. I can already feel how wet she is through her panties, her juices
soaking the thin fabric. I remove my hand and quickly undo the zipper on my
jeans, palming my hard cock and giving it a quick pull before sliding her
panties over and positioning it against her entrance.

“Speaking of remembering things,” I say,
reminding her of this morning in my childhood bedroom. “I think a fuck against
the side of this house is in order.”

Kelsey laughs as I push my dick inside her
tight, wet pussy. Both of us groan, forgetting about the fact that we are
standing outside in broad daylight with my dick buried balls deep in her pussy.
Most of the time we did this, it was dark, both of us stumbling home from
somewhere and unable to control ourselves before we got inside the house and
snuck upstairs.

“I always did like it when you did this,”
she breathes, her mouth at my ear, sucking on my lobe. “Pounding into me while
everyone around us was sleeping. I always kinda hoped we woke a few people up,”
she says, biting down hard. “That everyone knew Beck O’Loughlin, son of the
police chief, knew how to treat his girl.”

“Fuck, Kels,” I say, groaning at the
memories and her words. “You get me so fucking hard, baby,” I say as I start pounding
into her, hard and fast, against the side of the house.

Lucky for us, the side of Pop’s garage is
sheltered by a high fence and plenty of bushes, because that nosy old biddy
Mrs. Holmes lives right next door. Mind you, I’m not opposed to give her an
eyeful of me fucking Kels, especially after she cornered me yesterday and gave
me the third degree about not having a ring on Kels’ finger yet.

“Beck,” Kelsey suddenly moans, her legs
squeezing my hips. “I’ve missed this so much.”

“Me too,” I groan, covering her mouth with
mine as I continue to pound into her, not giving a shit who sees us.

Thirty minutes later and I’m finally
driving out of Rockport, on my way back to Boston. Despite reservations about
leaving Kelsey, I feel good knowing that Finn and Pop will both keep an eye on
her. Plus, a couple of good fucks hasn’t hurt. I’m pretty sure I’m wearing a
permanent I-just-got-laid grin on my face these days.

Fuck, several weeks ago I’d thought this
would just be a quick trip back to Rockport. A swoop in and save the day kinda
thing before I walked away again, pretending once more that Kelsey and the
people in this town meant nothing to me.

But of course that all changed the second I
saw her again. Even before I was inside her, I knew I was never going to be
able to leave her again. I didn’t just still love her, I needed her, ached for
her, wanted her with everything that I had. And as soon as all of this shit
with Jason is sorted, I’m going to make sure she knows that. Knows it in a way
that means she’ll never doubt me again.

“Fuck me,” I say to myself, stealing a
quick glance in the rear view mirror as the town disappears behind me. “Haven’t
you fucking changed?”

It’s only been a day since Beck left, but I’m
finding myself falling back into old habits. Completely consumed with work at
the inn, I’m left with little time to fixate on his absence. It’s not that I
don’t miss him terribly, because I do; it’s just that today The Rockport Beach
Inn is hosting a wedding for the daughter of a Boston politician and it could
mean huge publicity for my tiny inn.

I spent yesterday making sure everything
was delivered and set up to the specifications I discussed with the bride and
her soon-to-be husband. The white wooden folding chairs arranged in rows
overlooking the water and the ivy-covered trellis with the hand chosen pale
pink roses slipped in periodically; all of it centered perfectly on the
entrance to the dock.

It was around midnight last night that the tent
was finally put up and the paper lanterns hung. All of this accomplished with
my hard-working team of employees and Erin.

It’s times like this that I am forever
grateful to have Erin in my life. She doesn’t have to help me, but for some
reason, she never says no. I realize how lucky I am to have a friend like her,
even if she won’t just admit she might be in love with Ryan.

The thought makes me giggle as I picture
the two of them getting married in a ceremony just like this, and even though
they just met, I have a feeling about the two of them. Just like I did with
Beck and me when we met back all those years ago. Sometimes it’s just right.

I stand back and take it all in. It looks
amazing, exactly as I pictured in my head and I close my eyes and breathe a
sigh of relief just as Erin walks up next to me and gives me a little bump with
her hip.

“Hey, girly,” she says, smiling. “Looks
beautiful, but we gotta get moving. The florist just pulled up and we gotta get
these tables and chairs dressed.”

I chuckle a little before giving her a
questioning look. “I thought I was in charge here, bossy pants.”

“Looks like you’re just standing around to
me.”

“Pfft, what, need someone to boss around
since your boy’s been gone?” I ask as I link arms with her and walk back
towards the inn.

She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, but
tosses in a, “Maybe” and a wink and I immediately feel myself grinning like a
kid on Christmas. This is the closest she’s come to admitting she actually
likes Ryan and it makes me giddy.

Convening in the kitchen, I begin to give
my staff directions on dressing the chairs and tables, while Erin barks out
orders to the florist. A few minutes later, everyone has dispersed; working
dutifully as Erin and I meet up in my office.

“Shit, your job is a lot of fucking work. I’ll
take five year olds over this any day,” Erin says as she falls into a chair in
front of my desk.

“Thanks so much for all your help. I
seriously couldn’t have done any of this without you. Have I told you lately
that I love the shit out of you?” I ask, while fluttering my eyelashes at her.

“Don’t mention it and no, you haven’t
professed your love for me lately, but I feel the same way.” She winks again
and pulls herself up from the chair. “We should probably head home to shower
and change before the wedding.”

I nod in agreement. With the ceremony
taking place at dusk and the reception to follow, we only have a couple of
hours before this wedding is in full swing.

“I have to check in with the kitchen staff
and my servers before I go. I need to make sure everything is running on time
and that they don’t need anything. After that, I’ll head home.”

Erin stops in the doorway and gives me a strange
look; it almost appears like she’s nervous. She wets her lips and then asks,
“You sure you’ll be alright alone? I can stick around.”

“Nah. I’ll be just fine. The house is
secure now; it’s been checked a million times over. Things have been pretty quiet
around here lately and with half the force on tonight for the wedding, nothing’s
gonna happen.” I shake my head, dismissing Erin’s concerns. “And I’ll give
Bella a seek and kill command before I send her into the house.”

“Sounds good, but I’m not sure Bella could
hurt someone if she tried. I’m not entirely sure she’s as much of a killer dog
as you think.”

Upon hearing Erin say her name, Bella
instantly sits down on top of Erin’s feet, her tail wagging obsessively as she
looks up at her with those big eyes.

“See?” Erin says, flipping a hand at Bella.
“Sweet as sugar.”

“She’s bred to kill, Erin. She just likes
you.” And to prove my point, I give Bella a command and she immediately leaves
Erin’s side and stands next to me, baring her teeth and letting out a low
growl. “Now you see,” I say, poking back at Erin.

“Got it,” Erin says, backing away and
shaking her head.

“I’ll see you back here in a bit,” I say as
Erin heads out of the office.

“Later, sweets,” Erin responds, giving me a
wave over her shoulder.

I check in with the kitchen staff and the
servers and everything seems to be falling into place. I watch as one of the
kitchen staff places a few more roses onto the already decorated cake, while
another continues chopping strawberries for the strawberry poppy seed spinach
salad that’s on the menu. There doesn’t seem to be a thing out of place, but
like always, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s just a hazard of the
job.

And just as I’m about let out the breath I
feel like I’ve been holding for the last two days, I’m hit with it.

“Kelsey, I don’t know how this happened, I
swear I checked the invoices and ordered everything,” my head chef, Marco says,
looking down at an invoice he has in his hand. “But somehow we’re short the two
pounds of fresh mozzarella for the herbed tomato and mozzarella bites.”

“Shit, Marco,” I say, and he cuts me off.

“Kelsey, I’m so sorry, I know this is the
last thing you need. I swear I made sure everything was ordered and checked in
correctly. It was all here yesterday morning.” I can hear the panic in his
voice and I feel terrible.

“No, no, Marco, this is my fault,” I say,
reassuring him and I see his body relax almost straightaway. “I had one of the
chefs make up a batch of Caprese salad yesterday for Erin and me. I meant to
pick up the missing mozzarella this morning; I just forgot. I’ll head over to
the supermarket right now. I already called ahead to make sure they put it off
to the side for me.”

“No, Kelsey. Go home and get ready. I’ll
pick it up,” Marco says before wiping his hands on a towel he has slung over
his shoulder.

“I owe you. I really should pay you more,”
I say, giving him a playful swat on the arm.

“You tell me that all the time,” he says,
smiling as he strips off his chef’s coat. “And there’s a reason I stick around.
You pay better than any restaurant within a twenty mile radius.”

“Thanks, Marco. I’ll be back soon. Call me
if you need anything.”

“Will do, boss,” he says flashing me the long-range
walkie-talkie he has clipped to his pocket.

This was something Beck implemented before
he headed back to Boston. He didn’t want more people than necessary having
access to my cell number, so he purchased ten long-range walkie-talkies for my
staff at the inn to use to get in contact with me. He was concerned about my
number possibly getting back to Jason somehow and he didn’t want to take any
chances.

So far they have proved somewhat useful and
somewhat comical as Erin and I have now made up call names for ourselves. She uses
them regularly to torment my staff at the inn with her inappropriate humor.

“Breaker, breaker one-nine, this is Ginger
Snap. I’m looking for my pussy. Has anyone seen my pussy? Hairless and answers
to the name of Sugar Lips,” Erin said as it echoed on every radio throughout
the inn, prompting a riot of laughter from my kitchen staff and the teenage
boys I hired to re-stain the front and back decks.

Sometimes I wonder how she ever got her job
shaping the minds of small children, but I figure if she had to behave like a
kindergarten teacher twenty-four seven, I’d probably really hate her. She
definitely makes life interesting.

A couple of hours later, I’m freshly
showered, changed, and waiting on the front porch of the inn for Erin. The
wedding is set to begin in an hour and I’ve already done a sweep of the
property to make sure everything is in place and ready to go.

When she walks up, my jaw nearly drops. She’s
wearing an emerald green halter dress that makes her flawless pale skin stand out
and her eyes glow. Paired with sky-high yellow heels and Erin’s signature
smile, she looks stunning. I’m going to have to beat the guys off her with a
stick tonight.