Fireworks: A Holiday Bad Boy Romance (23 page)

"Cora." His voice was tight,
questioning.

I opened my eyes and nodded. "Good.
It's good. Come with me."

"Yeah." His entire body
stiffened as he cried out. I couldn't remember ever seeing something more
beautiful.

I shouldn't have come into his room.

Those few moments had the power to change
everything.

Chapter 24

Brody

Intense
would be the word.

I let my mind wander back to the day
before as I laid out on the boat and let the sun beat down on me. Fourth of
July was finally here, and the whole town was buzzing about it. I could not
have cared less. It was just an opportunity to see Cora again, and one that
would let me remain under the guise of just looking for a good time with my
friends.

The way she enjoyed herself on top of me
the previous afternoon was fucking hot. I hadn't expected our make-out session
to go as far as it did, but I wanted it again...wanted her. Emily and Clay had
come and rescued her before I could turn her over and strip her out of her
clothes, and much to their dismay, we were both pissy with them over it.

"It's for the better. Denial makes it
sweeter." I stretched and glanced over at Daniel who was sitting on the
boat beside me, watching me. "What?"

"Do you always talk to yourself when
you think no one is watching?" A smirk lifted his lip as he reached up and
adjusted his glasses.

"Do you always stare at your friends
while they are sunbathing?" I smiled and lifted my hands to cover my face
as he splashed me with cold lake water. The other two guys were somewhere on
the island taking a piss, but there was no way in hell I was fighting the
insane crowd that was gathered there that day. I'd pee off the side of the boat
without a thought about it.

"What denial are you talking about?
You're the least likely person to accept denial." He stood up and
stretched before turning to look out toward the island.

"I've been denied a few times."
I sat up and glanced down at my chest to make sure I wasn't getting too burnt.

"Yeah, right." He moved to the
driver's seat and started the boat. "Clay and Derek are wading into the
water now. We're going to be late picking up the girls, thanks to this
insanity. There's no way in hell we'll make it in ten minutes with the number
of boats on the lake today."

"Let me drive. I'll make sure we make
it." I turned around and gave him a cocky grin. The world almost seemed to
be set right by the fact that I didn't have a doubt that Cora wanted me. There
didn't need to be any more games between us. Now the only concern I had, and
she seemed to share, was whether sleeping together would leave us wanting more
of each other or being sated. Something told me that after our afternoon the
day before, I'd always want more. It was a weird thought to entertain, and yet
I couldn't help it.

"You guys should see how many people
have packed themselves on that fucking beach." Clay grunted as he pulled
himself up onto the boat.

"I can see from here. I'm not
interested in checking it out for myself. It looks horrible." I leaned
back and looked up at the sky. "We're gonna get burnt today."

"Seeing that there are no clouds in
the sky, it's highly likely." Derek pulled himself up into the boat and
walked over, shaking like a dog and covering me in cold water.

I jerked up and turned to give him a look.
"Okay, cowboy. It's gonna be on later tonight."

"Oh, yeah? You gonna show me up in
front of the girls?" He laughed and dropped down beside me. "Speaking
of girls. I saw that pretty blonde you were with the other day. She was looking
for you."

"He's not interested. Him and Cora
are hooking up." Clay sat down in the other captain’s chair and gave me a
glare my dad would be proud of. "Right?"

"Yep. I guess." I shrugged and
turned away from them. "I'm not sure what's going on with us, but I know
I'm ready to see which tiny bikini she wears today."

Derek laughed and patted my back.
"You're not getting sweet on a girl, are you?"

"Me? Hell, no." I glanced over
at him. "All you guys have been acting like pussys for the last week. I'm
not soon to join you. It's almost concerning. All these hot girls walking
around and you guys are hooking up like you're looking to offer up some chick a
ring this summer."

"No, I just like Cindy a lot." Derek
turned to face the water and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's just
a fling, though. A fun summer thing. I'm headed up northern Arizona to take my
place with Mom and Dad at the ranch, and she's probably going east."

"And you?" I turned around,
yelling above the sound of the wind and waves.

Clay moved closer and yelled back.
"Me what?"

"Are you thinking that this thing
with Emily is going to go somewhere after the summer?" I pulled my
sunshades of my head and put them on.

"I'm hoping so. We're both staying
here in Arizona, so it should be too hard. Have you decided if you're staying
here or heading up to Seattle?"

I'd been offered a job in Seattle with my
uncle's company that was appealing in some ways and not in others. It was a
desk job, which sounded like absolute hell, but it would help me save up for a
house and prove that I was capable of making good money and being a stable
kinda guy to some woman.

A
woman like Cora.

"I don't know." I looked out
across the lake, grateful that Daniel took a turn driving. He was the most cautious
out of all of us. "I have a lot to think about, obviously."

"Emily said that Cora just got out of
a nasty relationship, so don't be offering something you can't come through
on." Clay got my attention.

"Why are you so focused on me not
hurting this girl? What if she hurts me?"

Everyone started laughing, even Daniel. I
smirked to play it off, but the fact that they didn't seem to think I had real
emotions under my cocky exterior was concerning.

"Anyways, just be careful with her.
Be honest if you start to think you're gonna want to see her after today."
Clay patted my shoulder and moved to the back of the boat. "The sun should
be setting in the next forty minutes. Let's get the girls and get to the center
of the lake to drop our anchors. It's going to be packed, but they're saying
that it's the best place to see the fireworks show from."

I ignored him and got up, walking to the
back of the boat as we pulled up to the dock. All four girls were standing on
the pier, laughing about something. Their arms were full of what looked like
snacks and drinks, and I couldn't help but hope that one of them would have
considered the fact that we were idiots and hadn't eaten lunch yet.

Cora's eyes met mine, and I smiled. Where
most girls would shy away from acknowledging the heat between us, she seemed to
be perfectly comfortable with it. I hoped like hell that she would let me take
her back to the cabin after the fireworks and finish what we started the day
before. I hadn't stopped thinking about her since she left me hard and needy
when she left me to join her friends for a girl's only night out.

"You look beautiful." I smiled
at her as we pulled up. "All of you do. You want to hang out with a band
of bad boys all evening and see if you can make good men out of us?"

They chuckled, and Emily reached for
Clay's hand. "Something tells me that there is little to no hope for any
of you."

"Hey." Daniel got up and lifted
his hands to the side. "Not even me?"

Cora smiled and reached for me, sliding
down my body as she got into the boat and moved toward Daniel.

"Maybe you, Dan, but only you."
She glanced over her shoulder. "The rest of these guys are lost
causes."

He smirked and sat back down. "That's
good with me, then. Just making sure you guys didn't label me as you do them.
I'm only guilty by association."

I rolled my eyes. "In most courts of
law, that would be more than enough."

Dedra moved up behind Daniel and leaned
over, kissing his cheek as they started in on their conversation. I made my way
to the front to get around all of our friends and find the one person I wanted
to spend the evening with.

Cora.

"Help me get all this stuff laid out
on the deck and we can make everyone a sandwich, unless you guys already
ate?" She was bent over, working to get stuff out of one of the bags. Her
shorts were short and her bikini top tiny, letting plenty of her breasts show.

I reached down and tugged her up as she
put a Cheeto in her mouth. She gave a little yelp as I wrapped my arms around
her and leaned down, kissing her softly twice.

"I expect you to come give me a kiss
or something when we see each other. I'm jealous that these other girls are
trained so well." I kissed her again and licked at my lips. "Mmmm,
cheesy."

"Yes, you are." She smiled and
ran her hands up my back. "I didn't realize you wanted attention."

"I'm a needy kinda guy. I always want
attention." I leaned down and kissed her again, taking my time until the
catcalls at the back of the boat caused me to pull back. "Shut up,
guys."

"They're just jealous." She pulled
away from me and turned back to the food. "Did you eat lunch?"

"Nope, and I think I might love you for
the simple fact that you brought food. I'm fucking starving." I leaned
over and made a quick sandwich for myself.

"We all are." Derek moved up
with Cindy beside him and muscled me out of the way to make one, too. I didn't
mind so much seeing that my new spot a little bit farther back gave me a great
view of Cora's long legs and shapely ass.

She turned and lifted her eyebrow at me.
"Are you checking me out?"

"Girl, I've stripped you already and
was working on making you my dessert." I smirked as her cheeks colored and
Cindy giggled.

"You're not right, you know
that?" She picked up a bag of chips and walked to the back of the boat,
bumping me with her shoulder as she did. "Come with me."

"There's nothing I'd rather do."
I spun on my heel and walked to the back, stopping only to grab two beers for
us. I sat down next to her and offered her one as I shoved more of my sandwich
in my mouth and tried to talk around it. "You like beer?"

"I love it." She reached out and
wiped the side of my mouth before popping the top on her beer and taking a long
drink.

I couldn't help but stare at her for a few
seconds, a little surprised at how comfortable she was around me after we'd
made a mess of each other the day before. I leaned over and kissed her cheek
before pressing my lips to her ear.

"Let's watch the action and then go
create some of our own. You wanna?"

"We'll see." She smirked and
nibbled at her sandwich. "What have you guys been up to today? You're all
looking pretty burnt."

Maybe was better than no. I'd learned that
a long time ago. "We've been out here dicking around with the other
million people on the water. Waiting on you guys while you were shopping. How
much shopping do you girls do? Doesn't it get old?"

"No." Emily sat down beside
Dedra and smiled over at me. "We went over to the other side of the lake
where the strip center was. It's pretty over there. We should have a picnic
next week or something when the Fourth of July people have finally cleared
out."

"Sounds like fun to me. I have this
new baked bean recipe I want to try, anyways. Maybe you guys could grill
burgers for us that day." Cindy licked at her fingers and glanced over at Derek,
who was watching her like a hawk.

I laughed and shoved the rest of my
sandwich into my mouth before popping the top on my beer and drinking deeply.
They were definitely more than a fling. Hell, everyone on the boat seemed to be
settling into a relationship. Even me.

Me?
Fuck. Weird.

"You look like you just saw a ghost.
What's up?" Cora's voice pulled me from my thoughts and I turned and
shrugged.

"Just thinking about that fucking
alligator we saw the other night. That thing could have bitten off my dick, and
then what?"

Everyone started laughing, and I couldn't
help but smile.

Clay shook his head. "Then the men of
Lake Havasu could rest easier. The hottest guy on the whole damn property would
be out of commission."

I gave him a smile. "Are you calling
me good looking?"

"I am." Cora moved closer and
ran her hand over my back in slow circles. "And, I'm the one that should
count. At least for the next little bit."

"Next little bit? You're already
thinking about leaving me, aren't you?" I offered up a sad face, only to
get popped in the chest.

"She's decided to go back home in two
weeks. Mom and Dad won, but they always do, right?" Emily huffed and
glanced over at Cora. "Makes life easier."

"Yeah, I guess." She pulled her
hand from me and tossed her sandwich over the edge of the boat. "Two weeks
is still a long time, though. I'm glad for whatever I get out here with you
guys."

I laid back, trying to ignore the fact
that two weeks didn't sound like nearly long enough with the stunning girl next
to me. Everything inside of me wanted to beg her to stay, but it was silly.

Besides, the chances of me wanting
something long-term with her after the chase was over was slim to none. It felt
like she might be different, like this time would prove to be the time, but
then again nothing, worked out in my life as planned. This wouldn't, either.