Summer Temptation (Hot in the Hamptons Book 2) (10 page)

The world stopped. Time stopped. My heart stopped…okay, no they didn’t, but they could have, as far as I was concerned…at least for a few seconds. My body completely spent, I collapsed on top of Leigh, sweating, practically gasping for breath. “So fucking good.”

She hugged me and kissed the side of my head as I succumbed to the aftermath of pure, unadulterated pleasure.

At some point Leigh tried to slide out from under me. “Wait.” I grabbed the condom and pulled out of her.

She turned away, reaching for her clothes, not looking at me.

Not good.

“Hey,” I said. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not…” She shrugged. “I don’t usually…”

“Listen, you showed me yours and I showed you mine. We just had us some extremely hot, extremely satisfying sex. No regrets.” I leaned in and kissed her lower back. “No nerves. No embarrassment. Got it?”

She flashed me a little smile and nodded. “We did just have us some extremely hot, extremely satisfying sex, didn’t we?” She looked rather proud of that fact.

“We most certainly did.” I found my shorts and slipped them on. “Now point me to the bathroom.”

“Inside to the left, just after the kitchen.”

I walked in that direction. “When I come back, it’s my turn to lotion
you
up,” I said over my shoulder. “You’re starting to turn pink.”

On my way past my bag, I grabbed another condom, in anticipation of round two.

Leigh

T
oward the end of our third week together, Nick got us into a charming restaurant with stunning views of Sag Harbor Bay. “I love looking at the water.” Always had, ever since I was a child. “It’s so relaxing.”

“You’ve never been here during a hurricane,” Nick said, buttering a roll.

My stomach tightened at the thought of all that water churning about. I tore a roll in half and took a bite. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” when I’d thrown up over the side of the boat that’d taken us out for parasailing.

Nick reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Like I told you then, it’s no big deal. I’ve gone parasailing before, and I’ll go parasailing again.”

Pretty sure the five other people on board hadn’t felt the same way. “Thank you.” I wasn’t typically prone to motion sickness, although I had suffered the occasional roller coaster-induced nausea in the past. Up until yesterday, boating had never bothered me. Not a good sign.

A cute little blond waitress’s arrival at our table stopped my thoughts from plummeting into pregnancy paranoia. “My name’s Ashley. I’ll be your server this evening. Can I start you off with a drink?”

If only. “Just water for me,” I told her.

She turned to Nick.

“Water for me, too.”

When she left, I said, “Just because I’m not drinking alcohol doesn’t mean you can’t. I’m happy to serve as your designated driver.”

“Take it as a compliment.” He set down his roll. “Lately, before the summer, that is, most of my dates have required a pre-pickup beer primer and a two-drink minimum for me to tolerate them through dinner. But with you,” he leaned in, resting one elbow on the table, “no alcohol buzz required for me to enjoy your company.”

He had a way of warming me down to my soul. I smiled. “Thank you.” This time I reached for
his
hand, but rather than squeezing it, I held on. “I enjoy spending time with you, too. No alcohol buzz required for me, either.” Which was a good thing, considering…

He smiled back. “Last night, while you were out with your friends, I told Murphy I got laid off.”

I’d been wondering about that. “How’d it go?”

“He’s gone into crisis mode. Starting today, we’re economizing.” Nick took a sip of water. “He’s clipping coupons and wants to start planning meals around weekly specials at the grocery store. Do you know what’s on sale this week? Rump roast. What the hell is a rump roast? The name doesn’t generate a nice visual, I’ll tell you that.”

I laughed.

“And he’s considering exchanging all the light bulbs in the house for energy saving sixty watt bulbs and cutting back to basic cable.”

“Oh the horror,” I teased.

“Desperate times,” Nick teased back. “Even though I have assured him we are far from desperate. Today he rallied his friends for an emergency meeting at the house. Before I left I heard talk of a multi-family yard sale, to be held in the parking lot of the senior center, to give each of them a chance to raise some money. Someone’s got a son who owns a hot dog cart. Someone’s granddaughter can do face painting. There’s going to be kettle corn and a blow up slide for the kids.”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea. It’ll give him something to do.”

“Give
him
something to do?” Nick stared at me. “Who do you think is going to wind up crawling around in the attic? Me. Who do you think is going to have to drag stuff up from the basement? Me. Who do you think is going to have to haul all of Murphy’s junk to the senior center? Me.”

“You’re a good grandson.” I patted his hand.

“Not really,” he said, shifting his gaze to my lips. “All I want to do is ditch the old man so I can spend all of my time with you.” He reached out to where I sat on his left, cupped the back of my neck, and tugged me close. His mouth touching my ear, he whispered, “Alone.” He let out a hot, moist breath that shot tingles throughout my body. “Preferably naked.”

Sometimes his words warmed me down to my soul. Other times, they warmed other places. Since our first time together, I’d started to crave Nick’s touch. I loved the closeness we’d shared, more than once, and wanted more of it. At this point, the mere mention of ‘preferably naked,’ in that sexy tone of his, had me ready to actually get naked, with him, someplace more private. “Do you think we can get our meals to go?”

Nick sat back, pointing. “And miss that?”

I turned to see the most beautiful sunset, the sky ablaze with vibrant oranges, reds and purples, the sun reflecting on the water as it lowered into the horizon.

Nick held my hand as we both watched, the restaurant near silent as others enjoyed nature’s beauty with us.

It was as if Ashley waited for the exact moment the sun disappeared to come and take our orders.

After she left, Nick shifted in his seat and rubbed his free hand around the back of his neck, like he seemed to do whenever something was bothering him. “As much as I want to spend all of my time with you, clothes on
or
off,” he gave me a little smile. “And as much as I didn’t want my job search to impact our ‘Summer of Fun,’ I think I need to go on a few interviews, if for no other reason than to put Murphy’s mind at ease and show him there are employers out there interested in hiring me.”

“Of course.”

“So you won’t be mad if I have to head into the city for a day or two?”

I shook my head. He didn’t get mad whenever I headed to Westchester. “Let me know when, and if I don’t have any plans with Storme or Kelsey, and my dad is free, I’ll go home on those days.”

What followed was the best dinner date I’d ever had with a man close to my own age. Conversation flowed easily. I enjoyed watching Nick talk, so animated when he told a funny story, so sincere when discussing his grandmother, his love for his grandparents as evident as his frustration with his parents for leaving the area and basically washing their hands of Murphy since he’d refused to move with them.

After dinner, as with every other evening we’d spent together over the past week or so, Nick and I ended up taking a stroll on the beach, shoes off, hand in hand.

“You’re awfully quiet tonight,” I noted as a wave rolled in, the deepest part hitting me mid-calf.

“Thinking,” was all he said.

“About what?” Remembering those fish that’d slithered around my feet on our first beach walk, I switched positions so he’d be the one to walk in the deeper water.

“A woman.”

A woman, huh? “Tell me about her.”

“She’s about five-feet-six or seven inches tall, has light brownish-reddish hair, and a great figure.”

I was five-feet-six-and-a-half inches tall with light brownish-reddish hair. “Her looks are all that matter to you?”

“She’s also sweet, kind and forgiving.” He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it.

“She sounds boring.”

“Not boring at all. She’s fun and likes to play in the water, which I like to do, too. She’s smart and very sexy. But even more important, she has a high level of tolerance for a certain senior citizen who loves chocolate cake and television game shows.”

I bumped my shoulder into his. “Murphy is a great guy.” I brought Nick’s hand up to mine and kissed it. “Like his grandson.”

We continued on in silence.

When it had gone on long enough, in my opinion, I asked, “So what has you so deep in thought about this particular woman?”

“I want to ask her something, but I’m not sure exactly how to go about it.”

I took two quick steps, turned, and jumped in front of him. “You mean she’s so difficult to talk to, you don’t feel comfortable just coming out and asking?”

He shook his head as his hands landed on my hips and pulled me close. “I’m worried she may think it’s too soon. We haven’t known each other very long.”

Too soon for what? We’d already had sex twice, once on the pool float and a second time, earlier this week, against the side of Murphy’s house. It’d happened when Nick had walked me out to say goodbye after another family barbecue. In the dark, gentle kisses had turned hungry and fierce. The next thing I knew my back was being slammed up against the vinyl siding and I was wrapping my legs around his waist, our movements frantic, our desire for one another out of control. It’d been the best sex of my life. “Maybe she won’t.” I leaned in, loosely wrapping my arms around his back. “Maybe she wants what you want.” More.

“She’ll worry about what my granddad will think, which is one of the reasons I like her so much, by the way.”

“Just ask.”

“Leigh.”

“Yes.” To anything. Everything.

“I’d like to—”

“Yes.”

He nuzzled against my ear. I could feel his smile. “…spend the night with you, the whole night, in your bed.”

A flare of arousal shot through my system at the suggestion, arousal and something else…something good that I couldn’t identify. In such a short time, he knew me so well. Under normal circumstances I
would
have been concerned about Murphy’s opinion of me, knowing Nick had spent the night. But right then, I wanted Nick more than I wanted Murphy to think highly of me. Before I could convince myself to say, ‘No,’ I said, “Yes.”

I didn’t remember the walk back to Storme’s house, only that I felt winded by the time we reached the stairs to her lower deck. While hurrying along, in the glow from the pool, I saw Kelsey and Sean making out on a lounge chair.

They didn’t notice us.

We didn’t stop to chat.

In my room, I flicked on the light while Nick closed and locked the door.

“Tonight we take it slow,” he said, as he turned and walked toward me, his voice deep and seductive. “I’m going to take my time.” He slid his hands to my butt and squeezed, smoothed them up my sides, lifting my shirt, skimming over my ribs to my breasts. “Explore every inch of you.” He pressed his hips against mine, the bulge of his arousal hitting most pleasurably between my legs.

I loved the feel of his hands on me, so confident and skilled, knowing just what I liked and where I liked it. He undid the front clasp of my bra, sliding both hands beneath it, rubbing his knuckles over my nipples.

I couldn’t contain a groan. “God, I like that.”

“You like this even more.” In one swift movement he removed my shirt and my bra and put his mouth on me, sucking my right nipple…hard.

Sooooo goooood. No joke, I literally thought my knees might give out from the overwhelming intensity of the yearning coursing through my body. I grabbed on to Nick’s shoulders to hold myself up as he moved over to my other nipple.

Eyes closed, my head dropped back, and I groaned again. “If your plan is to take things slow, you might want to stop doing that.”