The Morbid and Sultry Tales of Genevieve Clare (21 page)

He pulled away, but only to lie me down on the smooth bottom of the boat.

“Have you ever had sex on the water, Gen?”

I shook my head as he reached into a large duffle and produced a blanket. He silently arranged it then moved himself against me.

“I bought this canoe always thinking it was too big for one person. Really glad I did.” He took my chin in his fingers and turned my face to his. “That was huge, asking Bryce to do that.” I closed my eyes as his fingers moved through my hair. His lips opened over my neck, right below my ear lobe as he whispered, “Keep your eyes closed, just listen, feel the movement of the boat and let go of everything else.”

I did exactly as he instructed. His other hand, which had been resting on my hip, moved to the button of my shorts.

“I’m glad to see you wore shorts and sandals,” he commented proudly.

“I’m probably going to be responsible for helping people lost in the forest. They’ll cry out, ‘Look, there’s a bright light over there!’ And then they’ll get close and realize it’s my legs and laugh.”

I said this in an attempt to make Ahren laugh, which he did, but he also moved his hand over my panties and gripped me hard between my legs.

I fucking loved it when he did that.

“I…oh my God…” I breathed out as his fingers moved in a circle over the fabric.

“Love it when I soak your panties, Gen,” he whispered, his nose moving across my cheek bone.

“Me, too. You don’t have to try very hard.”

“It makes my cock ache to fuck you.”

“I know the feeling…kinda.”

I giggled as his fingers moved my panties between my folds and he drew one fingertip up and down the delicate outer skin. I used my hand to shimmy my shorts down. Then I reached over to feel him, rock hard, pushing the limits of his cargo shorts, no boxers. I brushed my fingers against the hair at his waistband and popped the first two buttons, knowing they would easily slide down.

“And I love your hand around my cock, baby.” His mouth was now just a breath from mine, his eyes closed as he said, “I’ll fuck you later, right now, just use your hand.”

I took my hand from him briefly and moved it between my legs, working my fingers along with his as they dipped inside me. He never stopped watching me. His already dark brown eyes were even darker with desire. I moved my wet fingers to slide down his cock in my hand.

“Jesus,” he said on the breath he was holding. “Fuck, Gen.”

I kept his gaze as his fingers slid from inside me, over my clit and back, the rhythm a sweet torture as I matched his movements with my own. “I’m c…close,” I stuttered.

“Don’t close your eyes, Gen.”

“I won’t,” I promised, not sure if I was going to be able to keep it.

“Fuck.” His jaw clenched.

“Oh my God,” I rushed out.

He came with a shudder and I followed right behind, and not once did either one of us close our eyes. It was intense and beautiful and right then, I chose to tell him. “I already went off the pill.”

He stared at me a moment. Then he looked down at the mess we’d made. He looked back up with a grin and said, “All that potential, wasted.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, not caring if the occupants that lived along the river heard us. I was probably much louder when I came.

“I went to see the gynaecologist, and he said it can sometimes take a while to get out of your system. I don’t care if I’m drunk at anyone’s wedding, Ahren. I know you wanted that, but it’s not important to me.” I quickly added, “But you go ahead and get sloshed. I like drunk jiggy-jiggy with you.”

“When?” he asked.

“When what?”

“When did you go off it?”

“I just kinda stopped this morning. Well, not kinda. I just didn’t take it.”

“Good.”

“Yeah?” I was worried there for a sec.

“Yeah, baby. Because I have a surprise for you, and I’d hate for it to go to waste. Tonight’ll be our last drinking night for a while. And we can both have sloshed jiggy-jiggy.” He smiled.

“Amazing to me how you can say those words with a straight face,” I commented, loving him even more.

“Barely, Gen. It takes great concentration, but I say it because it makes you smile, and because of that, I’ll say whatever ridiculous phrase you want me to.” He reached behind him into the duffle and pulled out a tee, first cleaning me up, then himself, and took us down the river to our secret destination.

Ahren could have taken me anywhere. Northern California was not short on romantic destinations. Hell, in a few hours, you could be in Yosemite. So when I stood on the steps of Ahren’s cabin, I was far from disappointed, and definitely surprised.

“Come on,” he said with humor in his voice then gave me a gentle push toward the door, reached around, and opened it. What lay beyond the door was the real surprise.

“Wow.” I had no other words.

He began to set food from the picnic basket on the table, which was expertly dressed with a runner of jewel tones. “Hungry?”

“Yeah. I could eat.” I blinked, took a look at him, and saw he was trying not to laugh. Again. “Ahren?”

His entire body now shook with silent laughter. “Yep?”

“What the hell happened in here?” Since my last visit to the cabin, which had been many months before, he had completely redecorated. New linens, new kitchen, new furniture, and the old stuff had been really nice, too. But now, it was magnificent. Like a five-star luxury cabin getaway.

“Do you like it?” He handed me a plate of antipasto. Little olives, cheese, prosciutto, bread, and some kind of pesto dip.

“Uh… yeah. It’s pretty fuckin’ awesome.” I grinned approvingly. I was trying to visualize the same décor at Eden Hills.

He sat in one of two big cushy arm chairs. How he got them through the door should have been my first question. Before I could ask though, he had his bare feet on one of two matching ottomans and said, “Take a load off, Gen.”

I sat with my plate and just took the place in. “It’s very romantic.” By the time I saw his house in Mill Valley, most of his stuff had been packed up, so I never really knew what his style was. One thing I did notice was a mobile which hung in front of the kitchen window. It was the focal point and determined the décor of the entire place. The remaining daylight came right through the glass and cast blue and green hues on the wood floor.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“Gen?”

“Did your dad make the window in Delilah’s house?” I could still see it perfectly, and the memory hit me with a sudden stab of melancholy.

“Yeah.” The way he answered told me he understood my reaction, because he’d had it, too. “He used to hang those mobiles in the woods, on the walk here. Things he’d find on the river or in people’s gardens. I asked him where he got his inspiration, and he told me one day he’d hiked a few miles north of Bodega Bay. He noticed these stacks of stones, man-made of course, but someone had left their mark there. They didn’t take away from nature; they added to it.”

Yeah, Adam was a special guy.

I remembered his dad made recycled art. I also remembered that I loved it.

“So, I have a business idea,” he said excitedly, breaking my train of thought. “You ready to hear it?”

I looked at my plate, shoved off my sandals, and pushed my body back into the big, comfy chair. “Yeah. I’m ready.” I smiled as I closed my eyes in pleasure.

“Good chair, huh?”

“God, yes. Tell me your idea. If I drift off, you can wake me up with your hand in my shorts.”

He chuckled. “Will do.”

I heard a drink being poured and a glass set down between us.

“Wine,” he explained.

“Nice.” I balanced the plate in my lap and reached until I felt the stem. “Continue.” I sipped with my eyes closed.

Again, he chuckled, but I listened with rapt attention.

“The guy from Delilah’s funeral, Mir? He owns those beautiful holiday cabins up the river from us. During spring break and summer, the place is sold out, some cabins booked five years in advance. But the winter, he usually has to close down. I spoke with his grandson, who pretty much runs everything now. There are five cabins farther up the river, bigger, an open plan like this. Spread out and private. He needs an investor to upgrade then advertise them as a kind of a honeymoon destination.”

“And are you that investor?” I knew the answer, but what fun was a one-sided conversation.

“Yeah, but here’s the interesting part.”

I stared at him and silently waited.

“Delilah’s house?”

“Yesss,” I replied.

“I asked around. I wanted to buy it. The garden, you know, it feels really…”

“Personal,” I finished for him.

“Yeah. I found out she left it to us, Gen. Everything still has to go through the normal legal crap, but eventually, it’ll be ours.”

I sat straight up in the chair, then promptly fell back into the cushions against my will. The chair was just that lush. I shook my head. “I can’t believe that!”

“Yeah, you can. She loved that we were finally together. She had no one else.”

I had a pretty good idea what his plan was. “We’re keeping the house, of course.”

“I want to make it a rental. Maybe a holiday rental. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t want it to get trashed though. I also want to make it seem like we’re investing in those cabins, but really—”

“We’re giving it to him.”

He smiled warmly at me. I’d said exactly what he was hoping to hear.

“Yeah. However, I like the idea of turning over old places, doing them up, making them into rentals. Just river property. And…” He looked at his feet, then back to me. “We could open the office in town again. Cosmo has his license. I’m in the process of getting mine. I’ll deal just with local listings and holiday rentals, and Cosmo will take care of everything else. It’ll keep me from going nuts.”

I pulled my feet up and exchanged my plate for my wine glass. “I thought you loved being outdoors.”

He looked around the cabin and looked back at me. “From the time I was a kid, I wanted to work with my dad, Gen. In a lot of ways, I’ve been doing what you’ve been doing, trying to keep him with me as long as possible. I decided when I sent Rocky that email, if you agreed to come here, it was time to let him go. I just wasn’t sure what to do instead.” He took in the cabin, a cabin his dad had built and Ahren had transformed. “This is something we can do together. Entirely up to you, but I think you could put your touch on each property. We can do up small places like this, guarantee privacy, leave an order form for the guests, they fill in what they want, and I’ll deliver them in the morning. You’d still have time for your oldies, as you call them, and whoever else contacts you for a funeral. I think it’s important, what you do, and I know why you do it. I don’t expect that to stop. But most important of all, I want you to be happy.”

I looked at the empty wine glass in my hand then back to Ahren. It all sounded wonderful actually. We were in the process of creating our own lives, not ones dictated by what our parents did or the grief they left us with when they passed.

“And,” he added, “I know you’re wondering who decorated this, and it wasn’t me.”

I was suddenly going through my list of women he knew and wondered who he could have given this task. Coming up empty, I was fighting a pang of jealousy, thinking he’d hired a woman, met her here in a space that, when you walked through the door, felt intimate. A space where he and I shared some pretty significant moments in our history.

“Gen?” He snapped me from my spiralling thoughts and informed me, “It was Rocky.”

Yeah. When it came to making something beautiful, Rocky had a knack. She didn’t even have to try hard; it just kinda happened.

Ahren rose from his chair and pushed my legs apart to sit between them on the ottoman. “Look at me, Gen.”

“I am looking at you.” Guilt was written all over my face though, I was sure of it.

“You don’t trust me?” It really was disconcerting he could read me like a book.

“I do, which is why I probably have a look on my face that says ‘asshole’ in big bold letters.” I smiled sheepishly.

“Baby, I gave Rocky the keys and told her how to get here. She and Cosmo came here together and set everything up for us to have this night. She wants to do something besides work in her mom’s shop. She thought you might be interested in working for Guava a couple of days a week. Between the two of you, you can both have a flexible schedule and—”

“Yeah,” I interrupted, giving him a soft smile to convey my gratitude and embarrassment for doubting him. Still, I needed to explain. “I’ve never really been faced with the jealousy thing yet. Sorry.”

He leaned into me, his face just inches from mine. “When that day comes for me, it’s gonna get ugly. I trust you, but it’s still gonna get ugly.” He grinned and touched his lips to my cheek. “Love you, Gen,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” I said and closed my eyes as his lips brushed slowly down the side of my neck. “Are we having sex now?”

He chuckled against the top of my shoulder as he pulled down the straps to my bra and tank top. “Yeah,” he replied.

“Hang on a minute.” I leaned around him and grabbed the wine bottle. “Drink,” I commanded.