Tagged & Ashed (The Sterling Shore Series #2) (7 page)

“Just... not like you.  Going swimming?” he asks, changing the subject while clearing his throat.

“Huh?” I ask in confusion.

He reaches over and flicks my bikini-top strings that have crept out of the collar of my low-cut shirt.

“Oh,” I murmur softly.  “Thought about it.”

“Me too,” he says while giving me his heart-stopping, carefree grin.

He pulls his shirt up to show the top of his swimming trunks peeking out above his shorts.  Sadly, I can't even tell you what color they are, because I'm focused on the skin he just revealed - not the material.

Damn that sexy V.

He knows exactly what he’s doing right now.

“Ah.  Well.  I guess we think alike.”

***

Tag

She seems timid, unsure of herself, and a little caught off guard, as she drools over the bit of skin I'm showing her.  It’s absolutely adorable, and I finally let my shirt fall back into place to relieve her of her burden.

I know what I have to do.  I’m going to have fun doing it, too.

“How about a game of truth or dare?” I ask while leaning over the counter as she tries to focus her attention on her bowl of cereal.

I hate cereal.

She lets a sweet laugh free while shaking her head.

“I don’t think so, Tag.  I don’t trust the dares you would throw my way.  How about a game of just
truth
instead?” she counters while bringing the spoon up to her delicious lips that are turned up in a sexy smile.

Damn those lips.

“Truth?  That doesn’t sound like very much fun,” I say while pursing my lips.

“It is if you raise the stakes.”

The excitement in her eyes is intriguing.  What is this vixen up to?

“Elaborate.”

“Well,” she says while pushing her bowl back, "for every
truth
you won’t tell, you lose an article of clothing.  Shoes don’t count, by the way.”

She's bolder than I thought.  Fucking mixed signals.

“Sounds good to me.  I’ll lie until I’m naked.”

She lets her head fall back to laugh, and I smile involuntarily at the very sexy sound of her sweet giggles.

“That’s the fun part,” she continues.  “If you get naked first, then you have to leave me alone for the remainder of the weekend - well, today and tomorrow.”

I frown as I tilt my head.

“That doesn’t sound fun at all.  You don’t know how to deal out incentive very well.”

She laughs again and stands to slip in front of me, pressing her body between the counter and me, and making my cock burn and pulse to feel her.

“If I get naked first, then you can do any debasing, scandalous thing you want to with my body.”

A weaker man would have just shot his load right then and there.  I'm almost a weaker man.

This just got interesting.

The knot in my throat becomes a hellacious beast as my hand slides around her waist before pulling her against my arousal, desperate to show her just how bad I want her.

“I like this game a little better now.  Should we take this to the pool?”

“Sure.  I like getting wet,” she jokes, making my jaw drop as I follow her twitching ass outside.

Damn that ass.

“I think you’re enjoying toying with me,” I mumble, and she smiles sweetly before stretching out on a lounge chair.

“I think you enjoy dodging any real conversations, so this should be interesting.  Should I go first?”

I sit down beside her, and I rest my elbows on my knees as I study her tempting body.

“It seems you have one more article of clothing than me.  What should we do about that?”

She smiles and stands to her feet while removing her shirt and tossing it to the ground.  My mouth does its best to not drop to the ground as I stare at her glorious body - curvy in all the right places.

Her chest is… oh it’s phenomenal, and that’s just what I can see of it.  Her slick, perfect stomach has just enough definition to stay feminine, making my mouth drool puddles.

“Better?” she says while blushing lightly under my appraising eyes.

“Much,” I strain out as my pants tighten.

“I’m assuming that means you’re not wearing any underwear under your swimming trunks?”

I smirk while shaking my head.

“Never do.  Now, what about that question?”

She sits back down to face me, her eyes glowing mischief, while leaning back and propping up on her hands.

“What’s your notch count?” she bluntly asserts with a devious grin.

Christ.

That’s not the question I was expecting.  I thought that sweet little mouth was going to ask something mundane, not reach under the table and cut me off at the knees.

I grimace as I think back to my countless affairs and meaningless one-nighters.  I can’t tell her I’ve been with so many girls that I don’t have a notch count anymore.

With a sigh and a cheeky grin, I stand up and pull my shirt over my head before lowering myself back down to the seat.  Her triumphant grin glows as she stares at me with a successful beam.

“That was easy enough,” she pokes.

Rolling my eyes, I lean forward again as she takes in my shirtless body.

“Your turn.  Same question.”

Time to get out of those shorts.

She gives me a wicked grin, and then she leans up while undoing the top button of those tiny little jean shorts.

“Three,” she says while ending her teasing display.

I look up, a little shocked at first, and then I burst out laughing.

“You might as well finish taking off those shorts, babe.  There’s no way
you’ve
only been with three people.”

I laugh harder, and her grin grows.

“I didn’t start dating until I was almost eighteen.  The first guy I slept with had been my boyfriend for over a year before we took that step.  After we broke up, I got involved with another guy, and after a few months, I slept with him.  Then after him... well, you get the picture."

***

Ashiara

He looks very suspicious of me, and I really don’t blame him.  It is rather low for a girl my age, considering I’ll be twenty-one next month.  These days, that's too low - that's actually a sad fact.

“There’s no way you would consider doing this game - where the end result could have you under me - if you were that innocent.”

I grin deviously.

“First of all, I never said I was innocent.  Just because my notch count is low, doesn’t mean I’m inexperienced - it just means I’m not as easy.  As for the game, well, as you can see, I’m not afraid of losing.  One question in, and you had to remove your shirt.  The one thing you’re not so good at, Tag, is being real.”

He sits back, his smile fading and seriousness coming to his eyes.

“You’re for real?  Three?  That’s it?  How did you manage
that? 
I mean... look at you.”

“Because I haven’t always looked like this.  Now, it’s my turn again.  Ready to lose your shorts?”

He flashes an uncomfortable grin, and then motions his hands in a bring-it-on gesture.

“What’s the longest relationship you’ve ever had?”

He inhales deeply and then winces.

“A week.  Now, my turn to ask you something.  How many of those three guys brought you to orgasm
during
sex?  And that doesn’t include oral sex.”

Oh shit.  Frigging eh.

I can’t tell him I’ve never had an orgasm during sex.  He’ll think I’m broken or defective or something.

Crap.

Standing up, I slip out of my shorts and drop them to the ground, bringing a wolfish grin to his face.

“Interesting,” he murmurs as if to himself.

Please don’t know.

“My turn,” I grumble as his eyes scour my newly shining skin, lingering over the orange fabric barely covering me.  “What’s the one thing in life you feel guiltiest about?”

I have to give him tough, unanswerable questions so he gets naked first.  There’s no way I can hand myself over to him, knowing damn well I'm not a one-and-done kind of girl.  Sex means something to me... usually.  I think.  He's really screwing with my head.

He purses his lips, and then he leans back and rests his body fully on the lounge chair while staring up at the sky.

“This will probably make you hate me, but, last year a girl I had messed with came to me. She claimed to be pregnant.  She showed me doctor statements, ultrasounds... everything.”

I hold my breath.  I’ll definitely get over him if he has a child out there he isn’t taking care of in some way. 
Asshole.

“And?” I prompt softly.

“And I believed her at first.  I always wear a condom.  But I thought something might have gone wrong.  So, I gave her money, paid for the entire pregnancy, and when the child was born, I was there the way I was supposed to be.

"The thing is, the amount of money I have affords me a lot of lawyers with good advice.  They insisted on a paternity test, and I went along with it.  It took a court-order to force her to oblige.  Come to find out, I had been duped.  I cut off her financial aide from my account, obviously, and I cut her out of my life.

“I never planned on getting back with her, but I was coming over regularly, keeping contact with Rick - the little boy - and talking to her like a person instead of some random girl I screwed.  I can say now she’s the person in this world I hate the most.”

He looks a little heartbroken, and I want to go over, wrap my arms around him, and comfort him.

“That’s pretty shitty on her part, but I don’t get why I would hate you, or why you feel guilty.  It’s not like the child was your responsibility.”

He studies the air above him, not meeting my eyes.

“If a kid has that sort of woman for a mother, think of the shit he’ll be put through growing up.  He’ll be a joke at school, he’ll have stepfathers who don’t give a damn about him because they’ll be groping bastards getting some for cash, and he won’t ever have anyone to help him out when he needs it.”

I’ve never looked at anyone the way I am him right now.  My heart has damn near stopped beating, and I’m almost aching.  This wasn't supposed to get real.

***

Tag

After a few seconds of silence, I turn to see if I’ve scared her off.  She’s not gone.  She’s staring at me in a way I’ve never had anyone look at me before.  It’s almost as if she’s in… awe?  But not because she’s marveling at my body.

I don’t really get that, but I rise up to face her.  I can’t believe I just told her that.

“I’d appreciate silence on this.  Wren doesn’t even know.”

She nods, and then she wipes a tear away while lowering her eyes to the ground.

“You okay?"

“Yeah...  It just... caught me by surprise.  I almost wish that kid was yours.”

My heart jumps in my chest when her stormy eyes rise up, glistening with adoration seeping through.  The way she’s looking at me - it’s not something I'm used to.  It's not something I deserve.

“Sometimes I wish it, too, but I’m
not
father material.  That's the part I feel the worst about - I wasn't ready to be a dad.   I doubt I ever will be.

"I did, however, set up a trust fund for him.  He won’t know about it until he’s twenty-four, and by then, I’m hoping he won’t have any ties to his mom.  I also have someone who will be checking in on them - covertly of course - to make sure he’s not being neglected or abused in any way.”

Another tear falls free, and then she gets up to come sit beside me.  Her body brushes against mine as the fresh, fruity scent of her hair catches me and makes me breathe in deep.

“Your turn,” I murmur softly while nudging her a bit.  “Same question.”

She winces slightly, and then shakes her head.

“After you having shared that, I hate to deny you an answer, but my guiltiest moment doesn’t have such a good spin.”

How could this girl have something in her past that makes her face distort in shame?

“No judgment.  I have no right.”

As bad as I want to see her lose her top or bottoms, I also want to know what jaded secrets she has.  I need her to not be so perfect.

“Well, remember the first guy I had sex with?” she asks while cringing.  “He was married.”

Whoa. 
Even I draw the line at engaged or married chicks.

“Um, wow.  So… I don’t know what to say.”

She leans over and grips her head.

“That’s the same way I felt when I found out.  I was young, naïve, and too damn trusting.”

Oh thank fuck.  She didn’t know he was married.