Fireworks: A Holiday Bad Boy Romance (27 page)

Chapter 28

Brody

Cora didn’t come over on Tuesday night,
and then she came down with something that had her swearing me off for a few
days. I kicked around the house, hating how badly I wanted to see her. It
wasn't something I was used to, and yet I felt like I could get used to it.

"You still pouting?" Clay
smacked me in the chest as I stood at the kitchen sink, looking out at the lake
at all the activity going on.

"What? Yeah, I guess." I ran my
fingers through my hair. "She only has a week left out here. Not seeing
her for a few days is fucked up."

"You like her." He poked me in
the side.

I glanced over at my best friend and
snorted. "Yeah, dumb ass. You just getting that vibe?"

"I think it's great." Daniel
walked into the kitchen and hopped up onto the counter next to the sink.
"Are you going to try to keep things going with her after this next week?
Is she staying here in Arizona?"

"I think she is. It sounded like her
parents were somewhere close from the side conversations I've heard her have
with her friends and the few times we've talked about the future." I
rubbed my chest and turned to face my friends. "Let's get out of here this
afternoon. There's a big party down on the dock by Clint's house. You guys
wanna grab some beers and just go hang out?"

"I do." Daniel hopped off the
counter and opened the cabinet, pulling out a bottle of suntan lotion. "I
say we forgo inviting the girls and just go have some time to ourselves."

"You tired of Dee?" I asked.

"No, not at all. We decided we're
better friends than anything else we could be." Daniel sat the sunscreen
down and pulled off his shirt. "I'm thinking it’s for the better, anyway.
Med school is going to require all of my attention, you know?"

"Yeah, I can imagine." I moved
to the fridge and pulled out a six pack of beer. "Where the fuck is Derek?"

"He's still asleep. I think Cindy
stayed over last night. You wanna draw straws on who's going to go wake him up
and get her outta here?" Clay laughed and walked to the pantry to get the
cooler out.

"Um, no. Emily interrupted me and
Cora the other morning, and she's lucky she's so cute or I'd have bitten her
head off." I chuckled as Clay growled at me. The boy was in love. I had no
doubt that he and Emily would be together for a long time, and I was almost
jealous.

Some part of me couldn't help but wonder
if Cora was really sick or just too upset over the situation with Tinsley to be
around me. My fucking sister and her lies. I couldn't believe it, but after
talking with her, she'd confessed. I sat in shock half the afternoon after
talking with her. She'd been nothing but a prude from what I knew, and it was
crazy how you could live with someone your whole life and not know them, at
all.

Cora was struggling with all of it. Her
stomach might be upset, but she was struggling, too. Her lack of texts after
Tuesday left me with two options: to step up and sweep her off her feet, or let
the relationship fade away like she seemed to be trying to do.

I couldn't fathom not having another night
with her. Or a day. Or a few hours.

"Hey. Did we lose you?" Daniel
waved his hand in front of my face. "You go get Derek up."

"What? Really?" I glanced over
at Clay, who was loading up the cooler.

"Come on, dude. You're the only one
that he listens too. Go get him, shit." Clay gave me a look.

"Fine." I walked to the cooler
and grabbed a beer. "But next time something comes up, one of you
limp-dicks is up to handle it."

"Whatever." Clay scoffed at me
and closed the cooler. "Daniel, help me lug this shit out to the
porch."

I turned and walked down the hall,
stopping outside Derek's door to listen. No fucking way I was going in if they
were still getting it on. A soft whine caught my attention, and I pressed my
ear to the door to hear the sounds of lust pouring from the other side of it.

"Shit, fuck that," I mumbled and
walked back to the front as my cock twitched in my swim trunks. I was used to
having sex a few times a week at minimum and quite a bit more than that when I
went on vacation. The situation with Cora had changed that drastically, yet I
still felt myself needing her, wanting her time and attention.

"What's up?" Clay glanced up as
I closed their door.

"They're still fucking. I'm not going
in there. No matter the size of the stick I drew." I rolled my eyes and
grabbed one side of the cooler as Clay got the other.

"I'll leave him a note and he can
text us later." Daniel walked back toward the house as I let my eyes move
across the beautiful scene before us. The lake was a dark blue, and the
brilliant green pine trees almost hovered over the edge of it.

"I love it out here. My dream house
would be tucked into those large pines over there." I pointed before
taking another drink of my beer as we wrestled the cooler down toward the dock.

"I couldn't agree more." Clay
stopped at the edge of the pier and sat the cooler down. "Let's grab some
lunchmeat and bread so that we're not starving later."

"Alright." I ran my fingers
through my hair and walked back toward the house with him.

"Did you decide on whether you're
going up north after this summer yet?" He gave me a sideways glance.

"No, I think it's going to really depend
on what happens by the end of the summer. If I'm still single and not tied down
to the thought of being with one girl, then I'm headed out of here. If by
chance someone steals my heart…”

"Steals your heart?" Clay
laughed and patted my back. "Where the fuck is my best friend? What have
you done with him?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I
mean. Don't throw that shit at me, either. You know you and Emily are talking
long-term stuff and you barely know each other."

He nodded. "Yeah, we are. We just fit,
you know? It's an amazing feeling."

"I can't imagine." I opened the
door as Daniel walked back out.

"We ready?" He took his glasses
off and started to clean them.

"Yeah, just grabbing food." I
walked into the house and let out a sigh. My eyes moved to the darkened hall,
and I couldn't help but wish it were me and Cora wrapped up in my bed together.
Desire raced through me, but I shoved it back down. I was going to go over
there in the morning if she hadn't called or come over first. There was too
much between us that I wanted to explore to let things fall silent. Did she
want that? For me to leave her be and let things just fizzle out?

"Have you talked to Cora about the
possibility of you leaving here after the summer?" Clay's voice behind me
jolted me. I'd assumed he's stayed out on the porch with Daniel.

"What? No." I smirked.
"We've barely started talking. It's really not that serious yet. I like
her. A lot. A lot more than any other woman I've been interested in the past,
but that doesn't mean that she feels the same way." I grabbed a few things
from the fridge and shrugged. "She's probably just looking for a fun fling
over the summer, and with her leaving in the next week, if that's all she
wanted, then it'll be time for me to move on."

He rolled his eyes. "You're not
moving on. Stop talking that psycho-babble-bullshit to yourself and ask her
out."

"I have asked her out." I
grabbed the bread and tossed it to him. "We've been on two dates, and both
were a load of fun."

He rolled his eyes and walked to the door.
"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Right." I closed the door
behind me, juggling the meat, cheese, and mustard while Daniel stood aside
quietly. "I don't want to force anything on her, Clay. She's got a lot of
baggage from the last guy she was with, and I found out on Tuesday that Tinsley
was the girl that was fucking him when she walked in on them."

Clay jerked around. "Our Tinsley?
Your fucking sister?"

"Yeah." I shook my head.
"Unbelievable, right? I swear that girl's going to hell for lying and
doing it really, really well."

"Damn. All those years of making sure
not to look her way because she seemed so innocent and-”

"Hey." I glanced over at him,
cutting him off. "She's still my little sister. Watch it."

Daniel laughed and took the cheese and
mustard from me. "You guys are so easily duped. Your sister's been as
active as you are all these years, Brody. Anyone with half a brain would know
that."

"Oh yeah, doctor Dan?" I pushed
at his shoulder as we stopped by the cooler. "What else have we missed?
You know...us idiots."

He turned to face us, and I swear he aged
ten years in front of my eyes.

"For one, you need to stop waiting on
Cora to come over here. Someone who's been cheated on isn't just fighting the
sadness of losing someone they loved. They're battling the idea that they
aren't good enough for anyone. I'm not sure how the fuck the girl every decided
to let her guard down with you. You're the biggest whore we know."

"True." Clay shrugged and
reached for the cooler. "We're jealous, though...aren't we?"

Daniel nodded and took the cheese from me.
"Hell yeah, we are, but you gotta see this from Cora's perspective. You're
not a safe bet, at all. While she's obviously attracted to you, she has to
protect herself. And, I'd lay money on it that she's doing that right
now."

I shook my head and walked down the dock.
"Why are you telling me all this, Dan? You know I'm a simple guy. I don't
over-analyze anything, and I like living that way."

"Me, too. Give me some skin over that
shit." Clay sat down the cooler and lifted his hand to me. I hit it and
turned at the sound of someone calling my name.

Damn. Dina.

"Oh crap," Clay mumbled and
dropped down into the boat. "Get rid of her, Brody. We don't want company
today."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved a hand
back at them as I walked toward her. She was breathtaking to say the least, and
yet I realized what it meant to want one woman. I didn't see her as an object,
but just as a friendly face. Too bad she didn't seem to feel the same.

"You look good enough to eat."
She slid her hands up my chest and pressed herself to me as she bit at her lip
seductively.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you look great, too.
We're just about to-”

"Head out? Good. I'm coming with you.
I found this great alcove the other day and I kept thinking about which guy I
wanted to take out there with me. It's a little risqué, but it would be so hot
to fuck in. Let's get rid of your friends and go out there." She pressed
her hips to mine and moaned softly. "I've yet to feel you inside of me,
really. That blow job didn't count."

"Brody. Come on, fucker," Clay
yelled from behind me. "Let's go."

"Maybe another time, Dina. I'll find
you in a few days, okay?" I gripped her shoulders softly and stepped back.
"Have fun today."

"Really? What the fuck?" she
barked as I turned and jogged back down the dock. "Are you really not
going to go with me out there?"

"Nope." I jumped down into the
boat and gave Daniel a look. "Watch closely, doc. This is where you'll see
humanity at its-”

"You sorry mother fucker." She
walked toward the deck as Daniel pressed the gas. "I don't want anything
to do with your shrimp dick, anyways!"

She was ugly when she got upset. I glanced
down at Daniel and smiled. "Humanity at its worst."

He echoed the last word with me and rolled
his eyes. "I'm sure as hell glad I've deciding to wait for the right girl.
You idiots have it all wrong."

"Only sometimes." I walked to
the back of the boat and dropped down, letting my thoughts go back to Cora.
"One more day. Then, I'm coming after you."

Chapter 29

Cora

I'd avoided him for a few days under the
guise of a stomach bug. Where I wasn't necessarily feeling too hot, it was more
due to with the situation and less to do with coming down with something. I
needed to think through my next steps with him anyway, and that was impossible
to do with him tucked up underneath me. I'd gotten in a huge fight with my dad
the night before and cried half the night, which didn't help my mood much.

"One week," I mumbled and
flopped back down in the bed. It was Friday and everyone was gearing up for a
great weekend of partying, but I wanted nothing more than to find a quiet place
on the lake to ignore life in.

A knock sounded at my door, and I glanced
at the clock. The only person who would be up at nine in the morning was Cindy,
and though I didn't want to deal with her sunshine attitude, being a bitch to
my friends was out.

"Come in." I tugged the cover up
and turned on my side as the door opened and closed. I glanced up as someone
jogged around the bed and jumped on it behind me.

"You are playing hooky with me,
aren't you?" Brody.

A million emotions raced through me, but
lust won out. He pressed himself to my back and tucked his face against the
crook of my neck.

"What are you doing here, crazy boy?”
I wrapped my arms around his as they held me tight.

"Trying to find this really sexy girl
that gave me a glimpse of what pleasure could really look like and then
disappeared. I got her glass slipper at the house. You think you might know
where I should start looking?" He pulled at the covers and slipped beneath
them as I turned over and swatted at him. "Maybe under here?"

"Brody, get out of there." I
reached down as he pressed his mouth to the front of my panties and flicked his
tongue across me. "Or don't. God, that feels good."

"Where have you been, Cora? You not
interested in me, anymore?" His tongue drug by the side of my panties,
slipping under the tiny patch of silk and causing my blood to light on fire.

"I'm sorry. I've been trying to
figure things out." I ran my fingers through his hair and pulled at his
shoulders. "Come here and talk to me."

He crawled up to lay on top of me, looking
sexy as sin itself. I tugged at the bottom of his t-shirt and he pulled it over
his head before rolling us over.

I pulled my shirt over my head, leaving
myself in nothing but panties. His eyes widened as he reached up and palmed my
breasts. "I've missed you."

"Fuck. You've got no clue." He
slid his hands down to my hips as his eyes raced down to where our bodies met.
"I kept thinking you would call or respond to my texts."

"I'm sorry." I moved back and
worked him out of his shorts, loving how beautiful he looked laying there
against my dark sheets. Not seeing him for a few days had been a mistake. One I
was ready to move past. "I'm scared by all of this."

I tugged my panties off and crawled back
up his body as he gripped his cock in his hand and reached up to grip the side
of my neck as I slid down onto him. My pulse raced as the most delicious
pressure gripped me.

"Me, too, baby, but stop running. I'm
the one that supposed to run, and I can't seem to find any place to go where I
don't think about you." He lifted his hips, impaling me and sending a
shock wave through my center.

"I just don't know if I want this to
end." I leaned over and let out a groan as he pulled at my arms and forced
me to lay flat against him.

"It just started, Cora. Can we wait
for the heavy shit until later? Rest against me and let me make love to
you." He ran his hands over my back and pressed his lips to mine before
gripping my ass tightly and fucking me from beneath. The pressure of his thick
cock left me tumbling toward an orgasm within a few minutes, and I pressed my
lips to the side of his neck, just beneath his ear as I cried out and let my
body explode.

"So beautiful," he whispered
against my hair. "I need this in my life. All the time."

He rolled us over again as I slowed down
and panted softly. "Me, too. I want more. So much more."

I wrapped my legs around him as he drove
into me while making love to my mouth and moving down to lick at my breasts. I
arched my back and tightened my thighs around his waist as he grunted deep and
low in his chest.

"You can have all you can take."
He drove into me again, and I turned my face toward his, falling in love with
the passion in his eyes. He didn't wanna be anywhere but on top of me. I was
trying to judge him again and push him into the same category as his sister, as
Brandon, but he didn't belong there. He might have a few weeks back, but not
now.

"I'm not her," he whispered
roughly and moved back. "I need a condom. I'm too close to coming to hold
back. You turn me on so fucking bad."

"In the drawer to the left of the
mirror." I dropped back in the bed as tears burned my eyes. "I know
you're not her. I'm sorry that I keep trying to force you into that mold. I'm
not good with this fling shit. I want to be, but after feeling the effects of
love with Brandon, I want it so bad again. I hate that I want it, but I
do." I covered my face with my hands and took slow deep breaths as I tried
to force the torrential flood of emotion that threatened to drag me under.

"Don't hate it, okay." He
crawled back in the bed and pressed himself to the front of me as his hands
moved across me lovingly. "Hold onto my neck and let me take us over the
edge together. We'll figure this other stuff out, but no more ignoring me or
shutting me down, okay?"

"We only have a week." I reached
up and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, baring much more than my nakedness
to him in those moments.

"No, we have as long as you
want." He pressed into me and let out a groan. "How the fuck are you
so tight?"

"Come closer." I pulled him to
lay flat against me and wrapped my legs around his as I bucked my hips and
worked him as best I could.

He pressed his elbows on either side of my
head and brushed my hair back as a smile lifted his lips. "Oh,
man...you're so insanely beautiful. I swear I feel like I have butterflies
tearing up my stomach each time I see you."

I laughed, unable to help myself. The sexy
thing thrusting himself deep inside of me had never really felt any of the
effects of love. Could that be true?

"Ignore them. They're a pain in the
ass." I nudged him to turn us over, and he did, letting me sit on top of
him. I pressed my hands to his chest and glanced down to watch us fuck as I
rolled my hips and massaged him.

His panting was delicious, but nothing was
better than the tight grip he had on my ass combined with the expressions of
pleasure that moved across his face.

"Slow down. I'm so close." He
gripped my hips, trying to slow me, but I fought against him, bucking hard as I
lifted up on my knees and slamming back down on him. "Cora."

"Shut up." I pressed into his
chest and looked down at him. "Come for me."

"Shit," he groaned and closed
his eyes as his entire body went stiff.

I worked him hard and fast as he cried out
several times. If things didn't work out between us, I would be crushed. Where
sex was important in my life, passion was required. Never in a million years
would I expect to find someone as passionate as Brody again.

I hadn't until that point, for sure.

*

"Eww, you really like mint-chocolate
chip?" He scrunched up his nose at me.

"Yeah. It's the best. Try it." I
extended my ice cream cone toward him as we sat out on one of the little
rod-iron tables on the strand later that afternoon.

"No way." He turned his nose up
at it and moved his chair closer to mine. "That doesn't even look
appetizing. It's green with brown flecks in it. Gross."

I laughed and brushed my hair out of my
face. "I'll give you a great blow job later if you try it."

"Give me that. I'll eat the fucking
thing whole." He smirked and gripped my wrist as he leaned over and
dragged his tongue over my ice cream. Chills raced down my spine as he watched
me with a sexy look on his handsome face.

"It's good, right?" I pulled my
wrist from his grasp and licked at the ice cream.

"Wow. That's really much better than
I thought, but nothing beats creamy French vanilla." He licked at his slow
and sensually. "So good against my tongue."

"Stop it." I moved closer and
slid my hand up his neck as I pressed my lips to his in a long, drawn out kiss.

"You like it. I'm not stopping
anytime soon. Not to mention that whatever I did just scored me a kiss from the
hottest girl at the lake. I might not be a genius, but I'm doing something
right." He moved back and ate at his ice cream as he turned to look out at
the water. "So, I don't suppose there is any way that your folks are going
to let you stay longer, right?"

"I need to go back and see these
cases with them, but I'll try to get back out here when I'm done." I slid
my hand over his leg and squeezed softly. "We're not a couple, Brody. Find
someone else and enjoy your summer. The real world is waiting just beyond these
few months to bore the fuck out of us, I'm sure."

He gripped my hand tightly and smirked.
"Find someone else? Is that supposed to be funny? We just talked about
wanting more of each other. Am I the only one that really feels that way? Is
this just a fling to you?"

"I don't know what it is." I
pulled back and let out a long sigh. "What do you want it to be? Are you
even staying in Arizona after the summer?"

"I'm not sure, but if we decide we're
going to try this thing out between us, then I'm willing to consider it."
He licked at his ice cream a little more as he watched me intently. How easily
I could fall in love with him.

"I don't want you making decisions on
your future based on a week-long romance. That seems crazy." I chuckled as
a smile lifted his lips.

"I think you're trying too hard to
smooth out all the bumps that could get in our way, and you really don't need
to. We'll enjoy this week, and then you'll come back, or maybe I'll come stay
in the city with you a little. I'm getting sick of this place, anyway." He
snorted, and I knew he was lying.

"You are not. No one could get tired
of this place." I glanced out at the water. "I love it here. I would
give anything to have a little log cabin tucked into those big pine trees over
there one day. That would be really living."

He chuckled. "I just said the same
thing to Clay yesterday."

"What are you wanting to do with your
life? Are you going to go into business or coaching?" I licked at my cone
one more time before getting up to throw it away.

"Give me that, silly girl. We don't
waste ice cream." He smiled and took the cone, eating his and mine in a
few bites.

I waited for him where the sidewalk met
the sand. The serenity of the place was easy to find, even in the middle of all
of the people milling about.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind
and squeezed softly. "I want to be a coach, and I think I would be great
at it, but it's a big commitment. I'm not sure I want to take the risk of
putting my career above my family until things took off."

"Would you have to? Is that part of
the contract to be a coach?" I laughed and turned to face him, sliding my
arms around his waist.

"No, but that's just the way it
usually works out." He leaned down and brushed his lips by mine.
"Would you be willing to support a man who wanted to follow his dreams,
even if they didn't make sense?"

"If it would make him happy and help
solidify our relationship, of course. Would you do the same for a woman you
loved?" I asked, brushing my nose by his. How far we'd come in the course
of a few days, and yet that alone was the reason I wanted to hold back. It was
scary as hell. I could feel the compatibility between us before it ever
started.

"I'd bend over backwards for her and
support anything she wanted to do." He nipped at my lips. "Let's go
take the boat out to the alcove and feed the gator. Live a little?"

I laughed and moved over to take his hand.
"This isn't living?"

"Oh yeah, but this is the chick-flick
part. We gotta get in a little bit of horror, too. It makes for better snuggles
later." He wagged is eyebrows.

"I'm telling the guys you just said
that." I tucked myself against his side as he laughed.

"You unruly witch. You better
not."

"Never."