Beach Side Beds and Sandy Paths (10 page)

“Spring b
reak, baaaay-beeee!” Nate flicks his fedora up, and Kaylee hops on his back as they sprint to the door of the beach house. Nick gets to the porch and pulls his brother into an awkward hug, especially since Kaylee is still on Nate’s back, and he waves at me. I give him a nod. I don’t know Nick that well—there’s a bit of an age gap between him and Nate—but he still is brotherly and shit. So there’s that.

“Oh no,” Lex says, curling under my arm as we lean against the Lincoln. “It’s started already.”

I chuckle, remembering the PDA marathon from Nate and Kaylee on our senior trip.

“Promise me we find a room when we get horny,” she says, squeezing my side.

My eyes flash to hers, and she’s joking, but there’s a bright shade of pink splashed across her cheeks.

“Yeah, I second that.” Brett pops from the backseat, pulling out his earbuds. “Nothing screams fifth wheel more than sharing a
spring break with two sex-crazed couples.”

Lex shakes her head and laughs, and her and my brother share a look I’m not real thril
led about. I lean through the window and pop the trunk.

“Get your shit,” I say to Brett, then pull Lex to the porch.

“Ryan…” she says, giving me a glare.

I sigh, running my hand through my hair. “Sorry.”

“Vacation, remember? We
both
need it.” Her hand runs down my back and sneaks into my pocket. She pinches my ass before dodging away from my noogie.

“I thought you said we’d find a room for that stuff,” I tease.

“Well, let’s go find one then!”

The inside of the house smells salty and musty. Nate and Kaylee have already switched on all the lights on their way to whichever room they picked. Outside, through the large floor to ceiling window in the main room, the ocean glimmers in the moonlight. I remember sitting here two years ago looking out that window and thinking about Lex and what she’d look like in a bikini.

My fantasies didn’t do her justice.

Her arms wrap around my waist
, and she leans up on her tip toes to reach my ear. “What are you thinking about?”

“You.” I smile, running my hands over hers.

A cough in the background breaks us apart, and we both turn to see Brett handing Lex one of her bags. “Here. Your ‘entire closet,’” he says with a smirk.

“Oh, thanks.” Lex hops over and take
s the bag. My body starts shaking as I push back the heat zooming through my chest just by looking at his face. For the millionth time I ask myself why he’s here.

Brett doesn’t give me a second glance. Keeps his eyes locked on
Lex as she tries to lug the hundred pound bag across the floor.

She’s such a goof.

“Hey, I’ll take it to your room,” he offers, snagging his hand under the strap again. And in all “Me man, my woman” glory I march over and yank it from his fingers.

“I got it.”

His hands go up like I’m the one who’s being the dick. Lex lets out a grunt, rips the bag from both of us, and tries to stomp down the hallway and up the stairs with the thing. The looks she’s giving me keeps my feet planted in place.

“You know,” Brett says, hiking his own duffel on his shoulde
r, “you keep being an ass to me it may not end well with your girl.”

“Leave her alone.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault if
she
wants to talk to
me
.” He smirks, that same one I have when I know I’m doing something on purpose to piss someone off.

Before I lose my shit,
I turn on my heel and go right back outside to get the rest of the stuff from the car. I don’t want to hear those things he said repeated over and over, and the best solution is to sleep this off.

When I get back inside, Brett’s gone. Probably off to find a bed and I hope he stays there all week. I drag my bag up the first landing, wondering how the hell Lexie did this without hurting herself.

It takes three tries and one very embarrassing walk-in on Nate and Kaylee halfway to Nude City, to find what room Lex picked out for us. She’s ditched her jacket, her brown hair is retied into a messy ponytail that looks hot as hell, and I see the straps of her bright green bra peek from her tank top. She bounces back and forth to the different sides of the bed, and all I can do is stare down the front of her shirt.

“Hmm…” she says a
fter a minute. “I want the left side.”

I laugh. “What if that’s the side I want?”

An evil grin goes across her mouth, giving her two dimples. “You’ll have to fight me for it.”

The corner of my mouth perks up, and I drop all our bags and leap on the bed, trapping her underneath me. She squeals and laughs and struggles to get out of my hold as I tickle up and down her sides and nibble on her neck.

“Stop! Stop! Or I’ll pee on you, I swear, I’ll pee on you, Ryan!”

My fingers turn from tickling to stroking and my nibbles turn into soft kisses against her skin. She stops struggling underneath me, arching her body into mine.

“Maybe we can… share the left side,” she says in very breathy gasp that’s so sexy I move my mouth to hers, answering her question with my tongue.

My mind tells me there’s no one but me and her
in the entire world right now. As insane as it sounds, I believe that feeling. The heat from dealing with Brett transforms into something that makes me want to pull Lex into me so she can feel it too. This heat, building through my chest and spurting through my bloodstream, screaming at everything that’s touching her.

“Ryan,” she breathes into my mouth. I relax my hold on her waist, rest my forehead on hers, and listen to her heart beat in tune with mine.
She pulls me down so I’m flat against her, and her boobs push against my chest, and next thing I know, our shirts are soaked.

“What the…?” I say, leaning up on one arm
.

Lex’s eyes bulge. “That wasn’t you, was it?”

I can’t help but laugh. “Not exactly the spot that happens, Lex.”

“Then what the crap…
?” She shifts underneath me, and I get back to my knees and rip my shirt off. I’m sticky all across my chest.

Lex strips her shirt, and I’m trying real hard not to think about her stomach, her cute bellybutton, her sexy as hell cleavage, and her green bra… that seems to be…

“Uh…” I mumble as I point to the goo oozing from the left side of her bra. She swipes a hand underneath it, jelly-like crap collecting on her forefinger.

“Oh
my gosh…
what is this
?”

I’m laughing
, and she shoves me back on my ass. She grabs my shirt and starts cleaning herself up, and I try to get it away from her so she doesn’t completely ruin it with whatever is leaking from her bra.

“Okay, okay,” she says when I finally get my shirt from her grasp. She rolls off the bed and pulls her tank top back over her head. “I’ll be right back.”

“What? Where are you going?”

“To talk to Kaylee.” She opens the door. “Maybe she’s had an exploding bra before.”

“Well, be careful. I walked in on them about ten minutes ago, and it was not pretty.”

Her nose crinkles and she says, “Ugh, got it.
”

She shuts the door behind her, and I jump in the adjoining bathroom to wash all that crap off.
I’m smiling that stupidass smirk at myself in the mirror for about two seconds. Then it disappears from my face. I looked like Brett just now. Shit.

My brain goes from Lex high to Brett low, and I pinch the bridge of my nose and push back the wave of blood rushing to my face. It’s pounding through my ears and making my eyes prickle.

Why?

It’s the only thing going through my mind. A bunch of “Why’s”. Why did my mom sleep around? Why did my dad die? Why did she choose my family only to cheat on him the whole time they were together? Why didn’t my dad say anything? Or stop it? Why is Brett
here?
Why did he show up? Why did he say the things he said the day we met?

The mix of emotions going from one extreme to the other makes my head spin. I blow out a breath, fingers still pinched against my nose, and I slide to the floor.

“Okay,” Lex says as she bounces back in the room. “Apparently when you wear gel bras there’s a danger of this happening.” Her two-dimpled smile dwindles to one when she sees me on the floor. “Are you okay?”

I clear my throat and attempt a grin, but it reminds me of my brother
, and I just can’t keep it on my face.

“Yeah.”

Her eyes narrow. “Liar.”

“I’m fine, Lex.” I jump to my feet, and she crosses her arm
s over her chest. She’s in one of Kaylee’s shirts. Looks like she’s ditched a bra altogether.

“Lying again.” She tsks at me. “So I’m just going to guess it’s a Brett thing, and I’m going to ignore it right now because I want cuddle time.”

I smile, and it’s real and feels good this time. My fingers reach out to tickle her, and she jerks back as she heads to the bed.

“I still
get the left side.” She grins.

“I thought we were sharing.”

Her hand tucks into mine, and she pulls me down to the right side of the mattress. I laugh, flick the light off, and fumble my way under the sheets.

Lex is
right here. I could kiss her and not stop. I
know
I could. I could erase everything, the pain in my body, in my mind. She’d take it away. Make it disappear while we touch and swim in each other in a way we haven’t before. This time, we do have protection. There’s nothing that would stop us.

Except… me. I’m going to stop us before it starts. Because Lex deserves more than that. More than me and who I am right now. She deserves someone who won’t use her like that.

Her lips drag across my jaw before she swivels in my arms so her back presses against my front. Already things are starting to disappear again. The anger and pain, frustration and confusion, it’s flitting away like it never existed as she pulls my arm to drape across her waist. She pops her rock hard and completely sexy ass against my junk, and the auto response I have to that makes her giggle. But what can I say? That part of my body has a mind of its own.

I’m still not starting anything.

“Ryan?”

I clear my throat. “Hmm?”

She twirls around in my arms so we’re not spooning anymore. I don’t know if it was my boner or what that makes her want to turn around, but I don’t think about it anymore as her leg props up on my hip. She yanks my knee smack in between her legs.

I’m not going to start
anything
!

“Thank you.” Her breath hits my face
, and I push back a groan wanting to rip through my throat. She smells like cinnamon—her toothpaste.

“For…?”

“You made it a whole nineteen hours in the car with your brother without starting a fight.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.” I don’t mean for it to come out clipped like it does, but even in the darkness I can tell Lex is frowning at me.
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, tugging her close so her face is pressed into my bare chest. “I’m just tired. You know, the all day drive, and it’s late.”

Good thing for the dark because I’m pretty sure my face is purple from those lies that sprouted from my mouth.

“Okay.”

“Lex? Can I…can I just hold you?”

A smile pulls her lips, and it sends shivers across my stomach. She squeezes my middle and flexes her legs on mine. If there was a moment in time I could freeze and live in forever, it would be right now.

“Anytime you want to hold me, you can.”

There’s something about waking up in Ryan’s arms with the ocean crashing right outside our window.
Serenity I haven’t felt in a long time. Between college apps, SATs, Mom’s crazy withdrawal symptoms and everything else this is exactly what I need.

I pull Ryan’s arm tighter around me,
and he grumbles—never a morning person— I giggle, but he doesn’t resist. His body presses against mine, and strong arms pull me even closer. Perfect. I really could stay here forever.

No! Wait! I didn’t even see the ocean yesterday. I haven’t seen it since I was ten. What the heck am I waiting for
? I push Ryan off of me, and he grumbles again.

“What are you doing?” he says in that sexy sleep heavy voice. Oh man if I brushed my teeth I would totally attack him right now. But ew.

I jump up on the bed and bounce off. Ryan’s body flings up and down as my weight leaves the mattress.

“It’s official,” he says rubbing his eyes. “You’ve lost your mind.”

I flash him my cutest smile even though I doubt he can see me and whip the curtains open. His arm flies to his face, shielding himself from the light.

“I hate you.”

He’ll get over it, and I would tell him that but instead my eyes are glued to the gorgeous sandy shore. The rolling waves crash against it and pull back, leaving a clean slate.

Warm arms engulf me, nose trailing from my ear down my neck only stopping to kiss the sensitive spots. “Come back to bed.” Lips move back up, his finger gently tugging my chin towards him.

Instead of succumbing to the overwhelming desire to jump his bones I peck him fast and jump away. “Let’s go swimming!”

“We can swim
…” He does that sexy eye squint and walks towards me hands out ready to grab. “Later.”

I slap his hand away and shake my head. “No. And don’t give me that puppy dog look. Because you know darn well if I get back in that bed
, we’ll never get to the beach.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“The last time I saw the ocean I was seven. We drove hours to get here and I just want to experience it again. With you. Out there.” I point to the window and towards the sun reflecting off the rolling waves.

He rolls his eyes, but as they go back to normal his lip curves up. “Sounds perfect.”

Ten minutes later I’m washed up and ready to feel the hot sun against my skin. But first I have to take my pill. I pop it out of the packaging, toss it in my mouth and swallow it down.

I step out of the bathroom and wait for Ryan to turn. I packed a special surprise for him.

“Ready?” I ask and lean against the door frame. He’s bent over his duffel bag, skin pulled tight across his back.

“Y
e—” his words falter when his eyes settle on me.

I do a cute turn and look back at him. “Remember this?”

Dark eyes shrink back to normal, but a flash of sin passes through. “How could I forget?” He moves closer, happy trail peering out over his board shorts. “After that night in the hot tub I dreamed about you and this bikini every night for weeks.”

“Told you it was worth every penny.”

He nods, eyes focused on mine. “Let’s go before I throw you on that bed, and we never leave.”

Do
esn’t have to ask me twice. I bounce out of the bedroom and down the hall into the kitchen. Then Ryan drapes his big zipper hoodie over my arms.

“What’s this?” I ask
, but when I see Brett at the counter with a bowl of cereal in front of him and a newspaper open to his side, I don’t even need to hear his response. Normally I would fling the sweatshirt on the floor and walk over his request. But this whole brother thing is hard enough. The last thing he needs is his brother checking out his girlfriend. So as much as it pains me to let Ryan win, I accept defeat without a battle.

I zip the hoodie up and then push the sleeves to mid
-arm. “Morning!” I say and hop on the stool next to Brett. “Applejacks my favorite!” I grab the box and pop it open. “Where are the bowls?”

Brett points. “Third cabinet on the right.”

I hold the box up and shake it. “Ry, you want some?”

He grumbles
, and I take it as a yes. I get two bowls down and fill them up. Ryan sits on the furthest stool away from Brett. I plop back where I was and tap Brett on the shoulder. “So you’re a morning person I take it.”

“Military dad,” he says not taking his eyes off
his tablet. I lean over to see what he’s looking at, and my heart sinks when I see it’s an article about troops killed in a helicopter crash.

I lost my dad years ago
but not to death, and it was a pain I carried with me for years. I couldn’t imagine going through what Brett is going through. The not knowing, the fear that you may never get the chance to see each other again or worse you do but only in a casket.

“Kaylee and Nate didn’t keep you up all night?” I scrunch my nose. “Sorry you have to have the room next to them.”

“Headphones,” he says and shovels another spoonful into his mouth.  When he’s done chewing, he looks towards me. “I would’ve made a real breakfast, but there’s nothing in the fridge. We should hit up a store later. I make killer bacon and eggs.” He folds the newspaper closed and waves his hand towards Ryan. “I can make you tobacon or whatever they call that fake meat crap.”

“That’s very considerate. Ry, don’t you think?” If my eyes could extend a manicured finger and poke him in the chest
, they would.

“Yeah. Whatever.” I stare him down harder
, which gets me an exaggerated, overly irritated look.  Like that’s going to make me let it go. No way. I stare harder. “Thanks.” He finally mutters.

When he invited Brett into the hotel room to watch TV the other night, I thought we were pas
t this. I guess not.

I turn back with a satisfied smile, and dig into my cereal. I hear her before I see her. For a small girl she makes a lot of noise when she bounces down a hallway. Scrawny arms wrap around my neck and she presses her warm cheek to mine.

“Morning, bestie!”

“Applejacks?” I offer the box over my shoulder.

“Perfect.” She turns away, blond pigtails swing around as she skips over to the cabinet. Nate’s not making her put on a burlap sack to cover up her hot pink bikini.

As Grams would say,
“Sweetie, choose your battles wisely.” Yeah, yeah, yeah.

“Where’s Nate?” Ryan asks when Kaylee plops down next to him
with the box of cereal.

“He kicked me out so he could put his suit on. Said I was a distraction.” Ryan glances over at me and gives me the told-you-so
look.

I’m about to fling a soggy Applejack at his forehead when Nate walks in and reaches in front of Ryan to grab the box of cereal.

I’m so used to Nate and his Fedora it’s weird not to see it. Or his suspenders or bow tie. Okay maybe not the bow tie, he’d look like a confused stripper. His hair is a disheveled mess and his eyes are so blood shot it doesn’t look like he slept at all last night. If Kaylee kept him up all night, how is she all bright eyed and bushy tailed? Oh my God I sound like Grams! I need some major young people time. Overworked and dealing with Mom has turned me into a sixty-five-year-old lady.

A white ball catches my eye
, and it’s settled.

“Eat up everyone. We have a volleyball game in our future.”

Out in the hot sun I toss the ball, catch it and twirl it on my pointer finger. I ditched the sweatshirt as I walked out the door. “Remember from gym class, three hits per return. The lines Brett so kindly outlined are out of bounds. Now time to make teams.”

I go to point to Kaylee when Nate
jumps in front of her. “There are five of us—would’ve been six if Nick wasn’t so hungover—and we all know Kaylee would rather work on her tan.”

Kaylee pushes Nate’s shoulder and rolls her eyes. “I can tan on the court.” She steps from behind him.

“We need a ref.” Nate turns to Kaylee a pleading look in his eyes. Those two are so bizarre.

Kaylee’s arms slump, her head fall
ing to the side. “Fine, I’ll ref.”

Ryan goes to walk over to me
, and I know he’s going to call us a team, but it’s time to mix things up. “That settles it then. Nate you got Ryan, and I got Brett.”

Brett nods and walks to the end of the court. Ryan’s mouth drops and God only knows what’s going on in his head. I have to damage control on top of damage control.

I walk up to him smack his butt and kiss his cheek. “I just want to kick your ass.” Before I turn away, I lean and whisper, “Plus you’ll have a better view of the bikini with me across the net.”

“I wouldn’t have minded the backside,” he mutters as I walk away, so I give him a little wiggle.

Brett takes service so I stand up against the net. I try to get Ryan’s attention but he’s too busy giving Brett the stink-eye. A small group of teeny boppers walk up in bikini’s they barely fill out. The brunette cups her hand and whispers to her friends, her eyes never leaving Ryan’s abs. I laugh it off and get my game face on.

With a smack
, the ball goes over my head, over the net and right to Nate. He sets the ball and Ryan bumps it back to him. Nate jumps and so do I, but who am I fooling? There’s no way I can block his spike.

Nate’s arm reaches a foot over my outstretched hands and he smacks it down. I turn just in time to see Brett on his knees the ball a direct hit to his perfect form. The ball sails up and I set it for him. He winds up and spikes it down
almost on Ryan’s head. 

I’m ready to break up a fight, but by some miracle Ryan gets the ball back up and over to Nate.
Holy crap!
That was awesome. That’s right ladies, he’s all mine.

We volley a few times
, and when Brett sets the ball to me, I do my best impression of a spike. The ball goes right to Ryan and he misses.
What
? How can he save that ball when Brett knocked it over, but not my dainty, poor excuse for a spike?

With hands secure on my hips, so I don’t go off and hit him, I walk up to the net. Ryan throws the ball over the net to Brett who takes his position to serve.

“What the heck was that?” I ask.

Kaylee hears me and holds up her hand. “Time out,” she calls with a flip of her pigtail.

“What was what?”

“You missed on purpose. I might be a girl
, but I’m not incapable of playing. You don’t need to give me special treatment. May I remind you of how awful you were on the ski slopes and how awesome I was?”

“Lex, I missed the ball. It was a good spike.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“For you! Yeah it was. Totally wasn’t expecting it to even make it over the net.” His eyes narrow and in the sunlight specks of gold shine through. “Besides when have you ever known me not to treat you like you were better at everything than me?”

I purse my lips and loll my head to the side. “Good point.”

“Now can you”
—Ryan reaches under the net and wraps a hand around my waist—“come over here and kiss me so we can get this game back on.”

“No kissing the enemy,” I say with a wink.

His hand tightens, and he ducks under the net until there’s nothing between us. “I believe it’s sleeping with the enemy, and I’m willing to make an exception.” He lowers his mouth to mine, and since we have an audience, I make it quick then push him back to his side.

“Are you two done?” Brett asks
, ball now propped under his arm.

“Go for it,” I say and take my position.

Brett throws the ball up and smacks it over the net, without a volley Ryan hits the ball back over. I go to set it for Brett, but he whacks it over the net before I can get to it and right to Ryan.

Ryan spikes it back to Brett
, and Nate throws his hands up. The ball goes back and forth, neither Nate nor I touching it once.

Nate walks off the court and over to Kaylee. I wait for him to pick her up and spin her in circles then toss her over his shoulder. Instead he gently places his hand on her side and kisses her forehead. Kaylee’s gaze flicks upward when she tries to pull Nate to the water and he won’t budge.

This trip is not going how I thought it would. And this display of macho-ness between these two jackass brothers needs to stop right now. As Brett hits the ball back over the net, Ryan winds up to spike, and I push Brett out of the way. I stand in the line of the ball; Ryan’s eye is set on the spike. I don’t even think he saw me push Brett down.

“Enough! I’m going in the water. I don’t need your permission!” I turn to Kaylee as she pulls away from Nate and
smack
!

Pulsating heat shoots through my cheek and I fall. My hand goes to my face and I try to fight the tears. Try to push the pain away, but it hurts so
badly. Tears pour out. I bite my lip to prevent the sobs that curl up my throat.

I hear my name, commotion, but I can’t focus on it. All I can focus on is the throbbing.