Coming Home to You (The Rockport Beach Series Book 1) (6 page)

“Yeah, but I’m just gonna drop Bella off and
then run to the supermarket. I have nothing to eat.”

Finn sighs hard and I see the exhaustion of
all of this come through. His job is tiring enough, but when you add in the
stress of constantly having to keep tabs on me, I can’t even imagine.

“Would you mind just checking out my house
before I drop Bella off? You can head home after that.”

“You sure? I really don’t mind going to the
store with you,” Finn says, as I hear the fatigue in his voice. I don’t think
he’s slept since Jason wrapped his hands around my neck and these damn bruises
are just a reminder of it all. Every time Finn looks at me he sees them and his
protective nature takes over.

“I’ll be fine, Finn. Just go through the
house and once Bella’s in there, it’ll be all good.”

He nods his head and I smile at him trying
to ease his worries and the stress he carries with him.

A few minutes later Finn has done a sweep
of my cottage and Bella is resting comfortably on the couch. Nothing was out of
the ordinary, so I feel a little bit less anxious about returning home for the
night.

I thank Finn for all his help and tell him
to go home and get some rest. He flashes me a tired smile before getting in his
car and driving away.

Feeling just as exhausted, but far too hungry
to forego the trip to the supermarket, I grab a few canvas bags and hope to
make this a quick run.

As I’m wandering the cereal aisle, looking
for Lucky Charms even though I already have a cart full of crap, I nearly
collide with Mrs. Holmes. She’s a sweet old woman, who was born and raised in
Rockport and can’t help but find her way into the lives of everyone in this
tiny ass town.

“Oh, Kelsey, dear, I heard what happened to
you,” she says sympathetically, as she eyes my neck. My hand immediately moves
to cover up the bruising, although I know there’s no hiding the marks. “How did
you get involved with such an awful gentlemen?”

“I don’t know, Mrs. Holmes, but…” I try to
sound casual while trying to avoid this conversation, but this old woman is
quick and she cuts me off.

“It’s such a shame. You and Beck, he was
such a sweet boy; you should have ended up with him. You know the whole town
was certain you’d be married, especially after we all found out you two had
been,” she whispers the next word like she just said ‘fuck’ in a room full of
nuns, “fornicating.”

“Oh, sweet jesus,” I mumble under my
breath. Shit, it’s times like this that I don’t blame Beck for bailing out of
this town so fast it was like his ass was on fire. “It was nice to see you Mrs.
Holmes,” I say, as I forget the Lucky Charms and ditch her before she can say
anything else.

After a speedy check out and an even hastier
loading of my groceries into my car, I’m on my way home, where I fully intend
to put this bullshit behind me by gorging myself on chicken pot pie and Ben and
Jerry’s ice cream. I know Finn and his guys are doing all they can, and I have
to let that be enough for me or else this is going to consume my life.

As I drive home, I can’t help but laugh at
Mrs. Holmes and her nosiness. It always drove Beck crazy, but I understood the
town’s obsession with us. There was little going on in this town and Beck and I
were a break from the boredom and monotony of it.

There’s nothing better than first love and
Beck and I made it no secret that we were infatuated with each other. The
gossip drove him crazy, but I found it kind of sweet. All the talk about us
getting married and having babies and Beck taking over as police chief had me
dreaming of a quiet life that had a ring on my finger and Beck by my side. In
the end it was all too much for him. He wanted more and I couldn’t give it to
him.

I wish I could say I don’t think about it
often, that I don’t think about him or what could have been our future, but
that would be a lie. There isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t cross my
mind.

I pull into my driveway and grab my bags
off the seat next to me as I make my way to the front door. When I open the
door, there he is sitting on the couch. The one person I never thought I’d see
again.

Beck.

“How the fuck did you get in here and what
did you do to my dog?” I ask through clenched teeth. I can feel my jaw tighten
and my teeth begin to ache.

Beck is on the couch his leg crossed and
his foot resting on his knee. He’s wearing a navy blue suit that looks so damn
good on him that I hate myself for even thinking it. Bella, my stupid guard
dog, has her head resting on his lap. What. The. Fuck.

Without moving off the couch or even
attempting to greet me, not that I expected it considering the way things ended
ten years ago, he says, “Even after all this time, some things never change.”
His tone is smug and his face impassable.

“What’s that, Beck?” I question with my
eyebrows raised and a harshness to my voice.

He smiles and I nearly lose it. My grocery
bags slip from my hands and hit the ground prompting Bella to look up at me,
but she still returns her head to Beck’s lap.

That smile. That fucking smile. He’s so
goddamn beautiful and it almost makes me forget why I’m so angry with him.

“Your alarm code,” he says casually. “And
what can I say, the bitches love me.” He shrugs his shoulders as he looks down
at Bella and then back at me.

My mouth twitches involuntarily into a
smile and I bite down on my bottom lip to stifle it. He’s always been a cheeky
fucker.

Before I can pick up my groceries, Beck is
there doing it for me. He carries them into the kitchen and sets them down on
the island with Bella trailing closely behind him. I storm into the kitchen
after the two of them, already hot and fired up.

“Some guard dog you are, you whore,” I
snarl at Bella, taking my anger out on her.

“Ah, see. That’s the girl I love,” Beck
says and something inside me snaps.

“Get out of my house!” I scream, and I can
feel my face heat up and the tears pool in my eyes. “Get out. Now!”

“Kels, baby, don’t be that way,” he says.

“No! You don’t get to come back here after
all this time and act like nothing’s changed. You don’t get to fuck with me.
You don’t get to have me, Beck.” My hands are shaking as the tears fall down my
cheeks.

“Kels, please,” he practically begs and
something in his voice stops me. “Just hear me out.” His eyes lock with mine
and my breath catches in my throat. He’s far more gorgeous than I even remember.
Time has been good to him. He’s more muscular and defined than when I last saw
him. He’s filled out and the suit he’s wearing hugs his body perfectly, like it
was made for him. But I can’t get distracted by all of this. I have to remind
myself that he left me.

“Why are you here?”

“Why do you think I’m here?” he responds
back and it just annoys me.

“I’m too tired for games, Beck. Stop
dicking around.” I run a hand through my hair and sigh.

“I’m here because I know you’re in
trouble.”

I purse my lips and shake my head, the more
he speaks, the more pissed off I get. “So what are you gonna do city boy? Swoop
in here and save me? Where were you ten years ago when I needed you? You think
you can waltz back into town, throw your big city police muscle around and I’m
just gonna fall to my knees and thank you?” I suddenly can’t look at him; I can’t
even be in the same room with him. I storm into the living room, ready to leave
the house and take myself as far away from him as possible.

I wipe at the tears that have dried on my
cheeks as Beck reaches for me, grabbing hold of my elbow. I yank away from him
and when I turn around I see the hurt in his eyes and I almost cave.

“You think you’re the only one who gets to
be hurt in this?” he demands, his voice loud and echoing. “Do you have any idea
the fucking hell you’ve put me through for the last ten years? Not to mention
this,” he says gesturing at the obvious finger imprints on my neck.

“Me?! Are you fucking kidding me?” By now I’m
fuming. If I were a cartoon character smoke would be pouring from my ears.
“You. Left. Me.” I say each word slow and deliberate. He can’t possibly blame
this on me.

“You didn’t come with me!” he screams back.

“It’s the same goddamn argument. You weren’t
kidding when you said some things never change.” I shake my head knowing
neither one of us is willing to give in and admit fault. “You need to leave,
Beck.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he says and
reaches for me again. I recoil, but that doesn’t stop him. He grabs my upper
arms and pulls me towards him. I’m powerless to fight him. Exhausted and
defeated, I let him.

His arms encircle my small frame and for
just a second I let myself find the comfort and safety in him that I’ve missed all
these years; that I’ve needed since all this started with Jason.

“I’ve missed you, Kels,” he says, and it
nearly ruins me.

Fuck me.

Fuck me this is something I never thought I’d
get to feel again. Kelsey is pressed against my chest, her tiny body, flush
with mine and everything about it feels so goddamn fucking perfect that for the
first time in a decade, I start to question why the fuck I ever left this place.
I’ve been kidding myself if I thought I was over this woman, if I thought the countless
random and meaningless fucks I’ve had over the years even came close to
replicating what I had with her. There is no getting over Kelsey; this woman
owns me, she’s always owned me and no matter how hard I try, there’s no
changing that. I don’t think I’d ever want to.

I nuzzle her hair, pressing my nose against
her ear. I’m about to whisper that we should head to the bedroom so I can get
her naked as soon as possible, when she suddenly pushes me away, her hands on
my chest and shoving me back.

“Fuck off, Beck,” she says, her eyes glistening
with tears. “You don’t get to come in here and save me.”

“Kels,” I say, stepping towards her again.
“Don’t do this.”

“Don’t do this?” she says, incredulously.
“Don’t fucking do this? How about you?” she screams jabbing me in the chest
now. “Don’t fucking do
this!
”

“What?!” I yell, throwing my hands up in frustration.

Kelsey stands there, hands on her hips,
face flushed, hair wild and her don’t-fuck-with-me face on. I have to bite my
lip so as not to smile because it’s the same look she used to give me when we
were kids. I usually got it when I told her I was going out with the boys
instead of her and she wanted to tell me she wasn’t happy about that. It’s the
look she uses when she’s trying to be little miss tough girl and get her own
way. It used to work on me every single time, because it’s also the look that
would lead to the wildest sex we’d ever had.

And because of that, it’s the look that has
always turned me on so fucking bad. And tonight is no exception. I haven’t seen
this girl in ten years and even though she’s screaming at me, she’s scared and
in trouble, and she’s just pushed me away, I’m hard as a fucking rock.

And I wanna fuck her so bad right now.

I take another step towards her.

“No!” she screams again. “Don’t, Beck. Ten
fucking years ago, I needed you, but you weren’t here,” she says, her hand on
my chest again. “Five fucking years ago, when Dad died, I needed you, but you
weren’t here. I’m done fucking needing you, Beck,” she says, her face red from
yelling. “So fuck off!”

My blood is coursing through my veins now.
My cock, which is harder than it’s ever been, is pulsing in my pants. I have an
urgent, almost desperate, need to be buried inside her before I come in my
pants like a teenage boy.

Last night when Finn had called, I thought
I’d be able to come up here and sort this shit out in a weekend and then head
back to Boston. I’d only gone into work this morning to finish off the
paperwork on the Jane Donovan/Dixon case, so that I could drive back late
Monday morning. But when Kelsey had walked in ten minutes ago, all that had
been shot to fucking shit. I’d thought missing her in Boston was bad enough,
but it was nothing compared to how I felt when she was standing right in front
of me.

And now, as Kelsey screams at me, her chest
heaving and her gorgeous tits straining against her tank as she tries to get
all up in my face, I know I’ve got no chance of walking away. Because watching
all of this, knowing everything it’s doing to my body and how I still feel
about this woman, I’m wondering if I’m ever going to be able to leave this town
again.

Well, isn’t that a big fucking turnaround.

I realize I haven’t said anything and as
Kelsey stands there with her hands on her hips, chest still heaving, the only
thing I can say is, “Well I fucking need you, Kels.” And then I close the
distance between us and press my mouth hard against hers, stopping any more
discussion.

She whimpers against me, almost as though
she doesn’t want to give in. Her body is stiff in my arms and I can feel her
heart pounding as her chest rests against mine. But then I do my thing, the one
move that never failed to get Kelsey naked and beneath me. I run my hand slowly
down her back until I reach the bare skin at the waistband of her shorts. I
feel her body immediately respond to my touch and as I push my tongue into her
mouth, I slip my fingers under her tank and run them all the way up her spine.

Kelsey groans into my mouth now and I can’t
help but smile, knowing I’ve got her. I grind my erection into her hip, walking
us towards the couch where I intend to strip off all her clothes, take her
across my hips and have her ride me until neither of us can walk.

“God you feel so fucking good,” I murmur,
my mouth leaving hers as I kiss a path down her neck. I pull one of the straps
of her tank and bra off her shoulder and kiss my way down to her breast,
pushing the cup roughly aside as I take her nipple in my mouth, biting and
sucking. She groans again, pushing her tits higher as though she wants more.