Fireworks: A Holiday Bad Boy Romance (21 page)

"Oh Lord. Here we go again."
Clay walked behind us and popped Brody in the back of the head.

"What? I'm capable of that." He
licked his lips and glanced toward me. "You don't believe that alligator
was little, right? That thing was fucking huge."

"So were you, but I'm not telling
anyone that, either." I licked at my fingers and smiled as he chuckled and
moved closer.

Chapter 22

Brody

The night ended pretty soon after that,
thanks to Emily getting something stuck in her foot. The poor girl had screamed
like an animal with its leg caught in a trap. I almost felt bad for
Clay...almost. We made sure the girls got home and piled into the living room
to watch a movie, but I never made it past the previews before letting the
darkness pull me under.

I woke up the next morning to someone
pushing at my head.

"Get up. I wanna watch T.V. Go to
your bed." Clay.

Pushing his foot off my face, I pulled
myself up to a sitting position and glanced around, realizing that I was still
on the living room floor.

"Shit. Did I sleep here all
night?" I groaned as I got up. Everything hurt. I didn't need anyone to
answer my question. I could
feel
the
effects of it.

"Yeah. I guess everyone else made it
to their beds but you." He chuckled. "You look like shit. Let me take
a picture to send to Cora. Someone needs to warn the girl that you're not all Goldilocks
and smiles."

"Fuck you, too," I grumbled and
pulled my shirt off as I walked toward the bedroom. The clock beside the bed
showed that it was already past ten, but I didn't care. I was beat.

After closing my bedroom door and
stripping naked, I crawled into the bed and face planted in the middle of the mattress
with a groan. I prayed like hell that my overactive imagination would take a
break and let me get back to sleep, but it wasn't happening.

Every moment from the night before danced
behind my closed eyes, and I couldn't figure out why in the world I'd been so
timid with Cora. I would have normally been balls deep in a hot naked girl with
her legs wrapped around me, and yet...

"Ugh." I rolled onto my back and
cupped myself as need drove through the center of me. "So hot."

Her tight little body had my hormones
working overtime, which wasn't good for anyone—least of all her. I gripped my
cock and pressed my hips forward as my mind went into overdrive.

We should have fucked in the lake. A nice,
slow fuck that left both of us shaking and needy for more. Her breasts bouncing
in my face and the sound of her panting while she took me deep inside of her
would have been bliss.

My phone buzzed as I thrusted again. I
tried to ignore it, but the idea of it being her pulled me from the moment.

"Shit." I grabbed the phone,
realizing that it was a call from an unknown number. My body screamed for me to
forgo talking to whoever might be trying to sell me something and finish taking
care of business. I'd figured out that coming wasn't a problem, at all, as long
as I let myself imagine the hands on me to be Cora's. The girl had me wrapped
up in wanting her something terrible, and fighting it was a useless waste of
energy.

"What?" I barked into the phone
and ran my hand over my erection again as it twitched.

"Hey. Did I wake you up,
playboy?" Cora.

"No. Yes. Come over and find
out." I stroked myself again as my pulse spiked. "I'm masturbating.
Come help me?"

"Ha ha. As if I believe that."
Her voice was soft, sexy, drawing. "Come get me after lunch and let's
finish our friend date."

"You wanna go see a movie?" I
ran my fingers over the head of my cock, glancing down to watch my need for the
girl on the phone manifest fully. I dropped my head back, pressing my teeth
into my bottom lip. I had no shame—nor would I ever.

"No. I want to grab something to eat
and go walk along the beach together. I'm thinking maybe I might have misjudged
you on a few different levels." She paused. "You
are
masturbating, aren't you?"

"I told you I was. I can't stop
thinking about last night. You left me needy and aching." I groaned as she
laughed into the phone.

"Are you for real? Who does
that?" She laughed, but I could tell she was interested in what was going
on with me.

"Me. Come over." I thrusted
again and groaned. "Hurry. You're going to miss the explosion."

"Did I really call you to ask you to
take me to lunch?" Her voice tightened.

Fuck.

"I was just teasing with you.
Jeez." I scoffed and released myself. "I'll be there at eleven. Is
that good enough?"

"Yeah. I'll let you go so you can
continue with whatever you're up to." Another nervous chuckle.

"I'd rather you stay on the phone
with me so I can hear your voice when I-”

"Brody!"

I laughed and rolled onto my side.
"Alright. I'll see you in a little while. I'm just teasing you—or am I?"

"You're so corrupt."

"I am, but you're thinking about me
laying here naked, working myself into a frenzy over you, aren't you?" I
licked at my lips as pleasure pulsed through me.

"You know it. Don't be late."
She dropped the call, and I rolled over, taking myself back in my hand and
doing just as I promised I would: working myself into a frenzy over her.

*

"You smell good." She pressed
her shoulder to mine as we walked toward town.

"You look good." I licked at my
lips. "Can you believe just a few days ago you wanted to string me up as
the town whore? Me. Me!"

She rolled her eyes and slid her hands
into her shorts pockets as she turned to face me at the stop sign. "You're
still the town whore, and I still want to string you up."

"Tie me up? Wow. This conversation
took a fantastic turn." I wagged my eyebrows at her and reached over,
pulling at her wrist before taking her hand and walking across the street
toward the beach. "Does a taco stand sound okay?"

"What's up with you and Mexican
food?" She glanced over at me, and the sunlight played through her
chestnut locks. Beautiful wasn't strong enough of a word to describe her.

"I'm full-blooded Mexican. Hello? How
do you not know this?" I tugged her hand and nodded toward the water.
"The best stand is right over here. They have this mango salsa that will
make you want to slap your mother."

"What if I already want to slap
her?" Cora turned toward the water, keeping me from getting a chance to
read her expression.

"Then, this will only enhance
it?" I chuckled and released her hand to wrap my arm around her shoulders.
"You really think I'm a whore, still?"

"Are you?" She slid her arm
around my lower back, surprising me a little. The girl was wishy-washy hot and
cold with me. Where it should have been aggravating, it wasn't. It was almost
entertaining.

"Nope. I just like women. I love
hearing them moan." I shrugged. "There's power in bringing someone
pleasure."

"And, what about your own
pleasure?" She moved up to stand in line, but turned to face me.
"Isn't that what you're really after?"

No way in hell I was spilling my issues to
her. She'd never understand and would likely make fun of me. Even thinking
about her teasing me over my lack of contentment in the bedroom made my stomach
sick.

"There is that, too, but no... I
think it's about acceptance, right? We all want to be accepted. I'm no
different." I stepped toward her and reached out, turning her with a tight
grip on her hips. "Check out the menu and figure out what we're
sharing."

She glanced over her shoulder. "Are
you really sharing with me? A big guy like you?"

"Big? Are you calling me fat?" I
pressed my chest to her back and took the risk of sliding a hand around to her
stomach.

"Yep. You should get the skinny
tacos." She turned her face a little and took a short breath. "You're
going to ruin me, aren't you?"

"Ruin you? Never. I plan on trying to
make you better. You're awfully shy, though. We should bring you out of your
shell." I nipped at her lips before releasing her and moving up beside
her. My whole body was on fire for a long afternoon in the bed with her lips
pressed to my skin, her cries filling up my ears.

She popped me in the chest and turned to
order a taco plate from the attendant, leaving me with the opportunity to study
her. I pursed my lips and took a subtle step back as she took care of getting
lunch. Her white tank top sat against her tanned shoulders and left me wanting
to run my fingertips over the pretty spray of freckles that covered her.

"You want anything else?" She
looked over at me, looking far more innocent than she had up to that point.

"Just you." I licked at my lips
as her eyes widened.

"Stop it." She turned back to
the guy and handed him a card. I realized then that she was trying to pay for
our lunch.

"No. I have my wallet.”

"I got it." She turned to face
me. "It's the twenty-first century. I'm good paying. You bought dinner the
other night."

"Yeah, and I fucked up the evening
royally." I brushed my hand over the small of her back.

"Then, make it up to me." She
smiled and turned back to the taco cart, grabbing the plate.

I picked up a few napkins and took our
drink from her as we walked toward the sand. "And, what would the lady
like for me to do to make it up to her?"

"You could start by grabbing us two
straws." She sat the food down and nodded toward the drink. "Simple
enough."

"Almost too simple." I sat the
drink down and tugged my wallet from my back pocket. Girls liked flowers, and
the small vendor beside the taco truck had a few, single flowers dancing in the
wind from what I could see. I pointed at a pink one and smiled.

"I'll take that." I paid the
cashier, grabbed the straw and walked back to the table.

Cora glanced up from leaning over to take
a bite of the taco and gave me a look as she cleaned up the sauce running down
the side of her mouth.

"What's that for?" She took the
flower as I handed it to her and took my seat.

"You. I thought you might like
it." I poked the straws into the drink and sat back, watching her.
"You're making quite a mess with lunch. Am I supposed to eat the other
half of that after you've mangled it?"

She laughed and pulled the flower to her
nose, breathing in deeply. "No, I got two so we could each have one."

I took the other one from her and glanced
out to the water. "It's soon to be the Fourth of July, huh? How much
longer are you here after that?"

"Thank you...for this." She sat
the flower down and leaned back. "I don't know. I was supposed to be her
until the end of August, but my parents are asking that I come back early. Like
in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" I was a little
louder than I wanted to be.
Two weeks? I
only had two weeks to make a lasting impression on her? A lasting impression?
What the fuck was happening to me?

She laughed. "Yeah, if we're going to
have a fling, you need to come on with it."

"A fling? Is that what you
want?" I took a bite of the taco and licked at my fingers.

"Is there anything else to have with
a good-looking stranger that you might never see again?" She picked at the
contents of her taco, nibbling on bits and pieces of it.

"I thought you swore off men thanks
to your rotten-ass ex hurting you." I hated to bring it up, but if she was
just down for a fling, I needed to figure out how to redirect my thoughts. For
the first time in my life, I was trying to figure out how to get her to like
me...like, really like me. Not just find me attractive enough to take me to
bed, but actually want to know more about me, to invest in me emotionally.

"I did." She wiped her fingers
and glanced out toward the water. "Man, he fucked me up good. Before him,
I had a lot of fun just dating and doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted,
but then I found him."

"And?" My heart constricted in
my chest. I'd yet to find a woman that made me want to turn in my wanton ways,
but something told me that the beautiful girl in front of me would be quite
capable of doing it to me.

"And he seemed like everything I
could want in a man." She shrugged, the movement lifting her breasts and
drawing my eyes down to covet her. I'd seen enough of her in the moonlight the
night before to know that I wanted to see all of her, stretched out, eyes
closed with a look of ecstasy on her face.

"How long did you guys date?" I
finished my taco and reached for the drink at the same time she did. I pushed
it toward her as she turned her attention back toward me.

"Two years." She shrugged again.
"It's over now. I wasn't good enough, but it's okay. He wasn't,
either."

"You had to have been good
enough." I reached across the table and touched her hand. "It was
him. Men are fucking stupid most days of the week. We always think we're going
to find something better around the corner. Some great high that awaits
us."

"And, maybe it does." She stood
up and handed me the drink.