Kristen Blooming (8 page)

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Kristen admitted as she settled down on the foot of Cybil’s lounger. “I’ve never been that…that honest before.”

“It’s liberating, isn’t it?” Cybil asked with a knowing look.

Over the past two days, the older woman had taken Kristen in under her care, helping her relax at her new job and settle in enough that Kristen considered Cybil a real friend. That was something else Kristen had never had before.

“Oh, my mother would be so ashamed,” Kristen whispered, wondering if that were true. After all, her mother never hesitated to stand up for what she thought was right. That, of course, led to an even more horrifying thought. “Unless, of course, I’m turning into her!”

That had Cybil laughing once again. “Oh, please. You are way too young to start worrying about that. Besides, Dylan Singer is a player, and it’s about time a woman told him no.”

That might be true, but Kristen still didn’t feel like a woman. She felt like a child. That was what came from keeping her clothes on. While she might have let Gwen force her into wearing a bikini, Kristen had sworn there was no way anybody would get to see her in it, but as the day warmed up and everybody else stripped down, including her friends, she began to feel a little like a sore thumb sticking out sitting there in an oversized T-shirt and shorts that went all the way to her knees.

That, of course, might have been a justification for the tempting little voice whispering through her head, leaving her wondering what it would be like to be so unclothed around so many people.

Brandon smirked as he watched Kristen all but dismiss Dylan. The woman had some spunk in her. More than that she was the first woman to ever turn Dylan down, which explained the boner tenting his swimming trunks. That was bad news, but mostly for Dylan unless he actually figured out he needed to lighten up his approach.

Brandon had already figured that out, and he was plotting his move when Kristen surprised him. After exchanging a few quick comments with the older lady Brandon recognized as one of the clerk’s down at the city offices, Kristen stood up and finally reached for the hem of her shirt.

Silently placing a wager on a one-piece with a skirt, Brandon felt his breath catch as her shirt slid up to reveal a creamy, smooth stomach and unleash a set of breasts bigger than he’d imagined, barely contained by the two tiny cups strung together with a whole lot of string.

His Miss Kristen had been hiding a whole lot in those oversized outfits she’d been wearing. Hiding a whole lot, and Brandon’s mouth was beginning to water. There was no way a woman who looked that good should be saving herself for anybody but him. Something primitive and possessive stirred within him as he watched Kristen accept a bottle of lotion from her friend.

That was his woman…and Duncan was making a move.

Without paying any attention to the woman sitting beside him prattling out some boring story, Brandon just got up and started around the pool. He hadn’t even made it halfway through the throng growing bigger by the minute when Duncan lifted her right off her feet and sent her flying, screaming, into the pool.

She hit with a splash, flailing about while everybody laughed as she went under. Brandon wasn’t laughing. He didn’t think Kristen would be either when she came back up…if she came back up. It hit him after about ten seconds that she probably didn’t know how to swim, and then he was moving on instinct, diving into the pool and going down after her.

The chlorine stung his eyes, but he could see Kristen clearly still kicking and fighting to make it back to the top. Her motions were like that of a deranged animal, desperate and panicked. She wasn’t going to make it. Not without his help.

In an instant, Brandon was on her, wrapping an arm around her waist and hoisting her back to the surface. He got kicked and hit for his effort but barely took note of the blows. Kristen didn’t have the strength to do any real damage. Neither did she have the breath left to fight as they finally broke through the water to a circle of concerned faces.

Everybody had caught on that there was trouble, just not as quickly as he had. That was particularly true of Duncan, who he would be dealing with later. Right then, Brandon’s first priority was to get Kristen out of the water. She was clinging to him now, coughing up water as she still fought to clear her lungs.

She was so small and frail in his arms, and Brandon’s anger grew with every painful-sounding retch coming from her lips. By the time they made it to the edge, where Dylan waited to help haul Kristen out of the water, Brandon was fuming.

He didn’t say a word, though, simply allowed Dylan to take Kristen’s wrists in his hands and lift her straight out of Brandon’s arms. He followed her right out of the pool and had her back in his arms before Dylan could object, and then he was cutting a path through all the concerned looks and questions that started to circle around him.

Brandon ignored them all, not even bothering to talk to Kristen as he carted her into the house and cut through the kitchen to aim for the bedrooms down the hall. He’d been to Duncan’s rental enough to know the layout. There were four bedrooms, but Brandon carried Kristen into Duncan’s, figuring she at least owed him the wet sheets.

Kristen didn’t ask where they were headed, didn’t make a single sound as she buried her head in his neck and clung to him. She didn’t say a word. The way she was trembling said it all. She was in shock. He set her down on the bed gently, only to turn around and realize he’d picked up a trail.

Kristen’s friends, along with Dylan, Duncan, and several of the other guys, crowded around, flowing past Brandon as he headed toward the bathroom to collect a towel. By the time he got back, she was surrounded, flanked on either side by two women with Jimmy Mathews kneeling before her, taking Kristen’s pulse.

A paramedic by trade, he checked Kristen completely over before declaring she’d be fine. As he rose up and stepped back, Duncan stepped forward to offer an apology.

“Listen, Kristen, I’m sorry.” Duncan sounded and looked sincere, but that didn’t buy him a pass in Brandon’s book. “I didn’t know you didn’t how to swim.”

“Well, maybe you should have asked,” the dark-haired woman sitting beside Kristen snapped back before Kristen could say anything.

Coming off the bed, the woman actually poked Duncan in the chest, backing him up toward the door as she lit into him. That didn’t buy Duncan a pass in Brandon’s book either. They’d be having their own words later.

Right then, Brandon took advantage of the situation to sit down next to Kristen and wrap her up in the towel he’d brought back. He wrapped it around her and left his arm slung across her shoulder. Without a word, he tucked her into his side, and they sat like that in a silent moment of perfection.

Words weren’t needed. Brandon just knew. This was where he belonged, by Kristen’s side watching the world with her as everybody started to slowly migrate back outside. Eventually even Kristen’s friends left her with her assurance she was all right, but Brandon could hear the lie in her tone. He waited, though, until they were completely alone before finally speaking.

“Want me to take you home?” Brandon glanced down as he asked that question, struck by how clear and smooth her skin was as she lifted sad gray eyes up to meet his.

Kristen hesitated for a moment to lick her lips and draw his gaze down to their perfectly arched bow before whispering an answer that about broke his heart.

“I don’t want to go back out there…but I have to get my stuff.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll go get everything,” Brandon assured her but didn’t make a move to leave.

It was almost impossible to tear himself away from her side, a part of him needing to feel her warm and safe and tucked into his side.

Brandon didn’t question the needs swirling through him. He simply accepted them. After all, how could anything that felt this good be wrong?

It couldn’t be.

Kristen shifted beneath his arm, lifting her head finally to gaze up at him with such longing Brandon felt his heart quiver and clench. Her words about broke him. They came out with a soft, whispery voice filled with shame and embarrassment.

“I made a fool of myself, didn’t I?”

“No,” Brandon answered instantly, irritated that she would even think such a thing. He put the blame exactly where it should have been placed. “Duncan was being an ass.”

Her cheeks pinkened slightly at that word, and Brandon knew instantly he should have chosen another word.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I just get a little worked up when jerks pick on such pretty girls.”

Kristen blinked, and he expected her to take the compliment with a soft smile, but her brows gathered in a look that was more disapproving than pleased.

“So, if he’d thrown an ugly girl into the pool, you would have let her drown?”

“No! Of course not.” The suggestion was insulting, but Kristen didn’t back down. She just sat there staring up at him, waiting for an explanation he really shouldn’t have to give. “It was just an expression.”

“Then you don’t think I’m pretty?”

“Yes, of course I do. I think you’re very pretty. The prettiest girl here.”

“Now you’re lying.”

Brandon felt himself growing red as she flustered him with her blunt honesty. He wasn’t lying but knew he sounded it as he tried desperately to convince her of the truth. “No. I am not. You are the prettiest girl here, to me.”

“Really?” Kristen blinked, and he sensed her doubt. It had him smiling as he lifted a hand to brush a stray strand of hair that had curled and stuck to her cheek.

“Really.”

Their gazes caught and locked, and he felt hypnotized almost instantly. Despite the fact that the time and location were all wrong, Brandon couldn’t resist taking a little taste of the paradise that awaited him. When his head dipped, he felt Kristen shift a little closer, her own chin lifting so that her lips met his for a gentle brush before starting to pull back, but Brandon wasn’t ready to let go.

He tightened his arm around her, letting his hand slide down over the smooth curve of her shoulder and glide across the graceful arch of her back. He pulled her in closer as his mouth broke open over hers. The tight purse of Kristen’s lips gave away beneath the strength of his own, and before she could respond, his tongue swept out to claim possession of her mouth in a carnal mating that only fueled Brandon’s desires.

He wanted her. He needed her. Right then and there.

He’d never been hit so hard by a bolt of lust, and he lost all control, knew that he was scaring her. Brandon felt Kristen tremble against him and expected her to push him away when suddenly her arms were twisting around him as her tongue finally began to lift and twist against his in a duel as old as time.

* * * *

Only it was all new to Kristen. She’d never felt anything like this. The feel of the deputy’s warm, callused palms sliding up and down her back set off sparks of pure delight that had her squirming against him. Each motion ground the naked skin of her upper torso against the hot, hard cut of his chest, unleashing a searing heat that had her going up in flames in the deputy’s arms.

A voice deep in her head screamed that this was wrong, but Kristen didn’t care. This felt too good for right or wrong to matter. He tasted too good. She was drowning in the intoxicating flavor of his kiss. He was like the shot of pure molten whiskey she’d once tried but without the after burn.

At least, her throat wasn’t on fire. Other parts, though, were warming in ways that she’d never felt before. A restlessness filled her that had Kristen lifting and grinding against the deputy in a wanton invitation that would have shocked her if she’d been thinking clearly. She wasn’t.

She was just loving the thrill, especially when the deputy growled and yanked her right up onto his hard lap. He turned with the motion, pinning her to the bed as he tore his mouth free of hers. Leaving Kristen gasping for breath, Brandon began to suck and nibble his way right down her jaw and over the sensitive arch of her neck. Kristen flexed into the tender pleasure, her breasts swelling, her nipples hardening in a rush of excitement as the deputy’s big hands lifted to cup them.

The thin scrap of fabric of her bikini top offered protection against the hard, rough caress of his fingers as they rolled her tender tip, making Kristen cry out with the pleasure growing so intense it was nearly painful. Then his mouth was there, his fingers pulling her bathing suit out of the way as his lips closed in over her nipple in an electrifying kiss that had her jerking hard and bucking beneath him hard enough to send the deputy flying over the edge of the bed.

Kristen heard a loud crash followed by an even louder expletive.

“
Shit!
”

The deputy’s hard curse awakened her to the realization of what had just happened, or had been about to happen, and suddenly, Kristen was horrified.

“Fuck, man…
damn!
”

Time to go.

Without even looking back to see what had the deputy cursing, Kristen leapt off the bed and went racing out the door, only to almost slam into Cybil.

“There you are. I was coming to see…oh, honey. What happened?”