Hard Edge (8 page)

Chapter 13

Caden

The inside of
the beach house was hot and stuffy. I opened the front window. The ocean breeze ushered in, cooling the place instantly. It had only been ten days since I stood in the kitchen listening to my mom tell me that Grady was gone. I’d left in such a hurry, I hadn’t thought to check that everything was turned off. The bathroom light was still on, and I’d left towels on the floor. I’d been in such a fog, I couldn’t even remember leaving the place or getting into my truck.

I switched off the bathroom light and picked up the towels, while Kenna put the milk and eggs into the refrigerator. She was reading a business card as I returned to the kitchen. It took me a second to recognize Mindy’s card, but before I could start with any kind of explanation, Kenna dropped it onto the counter.

“Paris, huh? Nice.” She glanced down at the card again. “And who is Mindy Eaton? Does she live in France?”

“She’s there on a modeling shoot. She’s a swimsuit model.”

“Figures.” She glanced around to make sure everything cold made it into the fridge. “I guess I’ll go put on my tunic and leggings so we can head out to the sand.”

“Tunic and leggings?”

She pointed at the card. “If your last guest was a swimsuit model, then I’m pretty sure me and my out of fashion bikini will be a grave disappointment.”

I walked around to where she was standing in the kitchen and stood only inches from her. It took all of my self-control not to touch her. It was all I had thought about since the kiss. “You have to be kidding? Either that, or you haven’t gotten a good look at yourself in the mirror lately, Trinket.”

Fuck self-control. I reached up and brushed her hair off her face, pushed her chin up and kissed her lips. She gazed up at me with those brown eyes that made me forget everything else.

My heart stopped mid-beat as she reached up and pressed her palm against my face. “I’m having a hard time believing that I’m standing here with you, Cade. I’ve imagined it so often, but I never thought—”

“For every time you imagined it, I’ve imagined it ten times more.” I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her again. My hands slipped under her t-shirt and my fingers trailed over her silky skin. She snuggled against my body so that there were no gaps between us, just body against body. My cock pressed urgently against the front of my jeans, begging to be freed. But I moved cautiously. The last thing I wanted was to scare her off.

Her lips parted, and a soft moan vibrated her throat as my tongue invaded her mouth, stroking her lips until she was nearly limp in my arms. I kissed her long and deep until she drew her mouth away and looked up at me with heavy lids and an unfocused gaze. “What about Mindy?” she asked, breathlessly.

“She’s in Paris.”

Her long lashes fluttered as she blinked up at me in question.

“She’s just a friend. We get together occasionally, but we live our own lives.” I gazed down at her. “Do you want me to stop?”

Kenna shook her head.

My hands continued to explore the skin on her back and shoulders. She felt just as I’d expected under my fingers, soft and silky and fucking intoxicating. I pulled my mouth from hers and turned her around in my arms so that her back was against me.

She leaned her head back against my chest.

“You feel so right in my arms, Trinket. You should have been right here, next to me, for all these years.”

“Cade,” she said softly. “I never knew. I never knew how you felt.” Her voice nearly vanished on the last words as I slid my hand down beneath her shorts. She sucked in a quick breath, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she parted her feet some, giving me room to slip my hand between her legs. 

“That’s it, baby. I want to touch you. I fucking need to touch you.” I couldn’t stop a groan as my fingers slipped into the moisture pooling in her pussy.

She grabbed hold of my arms to steady herself. “Cade, I—I’ve had a hard time—” Her voice trailed off again, and she moved her hips so that her pussy rubbed against my hand.

I dipped my finger into her, waiting for her response. She opened her thighs wider, in a silent plea for more. I pushed my fingers into her as she ground her clit again the heel of my hand. It took her only seconds. She clutched my arms and her erotic whimpers floated around the kitchen as she came.

Kenna rested against me with a satisfied sigh. I removed my hand and turned her around in my arms. She pressed her face against me as I held her.

“You were saying something about having a hard time?” I asked.

“Oh, shut up.” She cuddled closer. “Guess it wasn’t me, after all.”

“Let’s see if teaching you to surf is just as easy.” I kissed her again. “And no tunic and leggings. Bikini only, Trinket. And it better be fucking skimpy.”

“It’s not,” she teased as she walked over to her duffle bag. “I believe in leaving something to the imagination.”

“Said the girl who just parted her legs for me in the kitchen.”

A pink blush covered her cheeks. “Oh my god, you haven’t changed one bit. In fact, if it’s possible, you might be even more cocky.” She picked up her duffle and looked down the short hallway. There were two bedroom doors. She looked back at me over her shoulder. “Which room were you entertaining your last
guest
in?”

“The one on the right.”

“Great. See you in a few minutes.” She walked down the hallway, making sure to wiggle her ass as she walked into the bedroom on the left.

Chapter 14

Kenna

To call it
a wave would have been generous. It was more just a mass of frothy sea water that had bulged up above the surface. Still, I’d managed not only to hop from my stomach to my feet, like Caden had shown me, but somehow, I’d stayed balanced on top of the surfboard as it coasted to shore. I jumped off before getting too close to the people wading near the shoreline. The leash yanked at my foot, and the board sprang back my direction.

I turned the nose of the board back around and smiled proudly at my extremely hot surf instructor. He waved for me to come back but then swam to meet me half way. I was thankful. My arms were fatigued from all the paddling. In fact, my whole body, including the skin on my belly which was now chafed from the sand on the board, and my sinuses, now sore from sucking in cold salt water, seemed to be telling me it was time to head to shore.

It felt as if everything had been turned upside down this morning after I’d broken it off with Jeremy and then had to confess the news to my parents. I’d climbed into Caden’s truck asking myself just what the hell I was doing. But it didn’t take long for me to tuck away those nagging questions. I was having a blast hanging out with Caden. I refused to feel guilty or bad about it.

Caden reached me and the unwieldy surfboard just before I lost my last bit of strength. I was dead tired from it all. He seemed to sense it the second he reached me. He grabbed my board and patted the top of it. “Climb up here, Trinket. You look bone weary. You did great for your first time on the board. Of course, I expected it.”

I used my hands to hoist myself up, but my arms were shaky. Caden pushed his hand under my bottom for a boost.

I straddled the board and smiled down at him. “You’re a good instructor. Who knew? Maybe you should be a teacher. You’ve got a lot of patience.”

He had a good laugh at my suggestion.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said. “All the girl students would be sitting up front gazing dreamy eyed at the teacher and not learning a damn thing.”

The sea, salt and sun were causing the rash on my belly to burn. I looked down at the bright pink skin. Caden noticed it for the first time.

“Jeez, Kenna, I didn’t see that rash. I should have had you wear a t-shirt. Guess I was having so much fun looking at you in your bikini I forgot.” He was genuinely upset. Jeremy would have given me a lecture about it. He would have feigned concern, but he would have lectured me anyhow.

“I forgive you, even if you had a slightly wicked motive. Actually, I forgive you more because you had a slightly wicked motive. But my arms are feeling like wet noodles, and I’m pretty darn tired. I think I’ve had enough surf for the day.”

“I will pull you in, like a dolphin leading you to shore.”

I looked down at him and couldn’t hold back a laugh as I thought about Kenna’s Life Plan. Caden was a man who looked just as incredible soaking wet as he did dry. Possibly even more so because in the water he was shirtless and glistening with salt crystals.

“What are you smiling about, Trinket?” He moved swiftly through the water with me and my board in tow. I almost could have believed he had a dolphin underneath him.

“Oh, nothing. Although, I might as well tell you since my cover was blown anyhow. Even my parents were on to me.”

“Not understanding a word you’re saying.”

“You weren’t meant to. I was thinking aloud. I won’t tell you what I was smiling about because you’ll make fun of me.”

“Would I do that?”

“Yes, you would. As I recall, you spent most of your teen years making fun of me.”

“That’s the way a boy shows that he likes a girl.” He squinted up at me as salt water splashed his face. A rush of water rolled beneath the board lifting me up and causing Caden to tread water for a few seconds before continuing the journey to shore.

“I’m still having a hard time believing that you liked me. I mean, boobless, skinny freckle-nosed brat that I was, I was hardly Caden Stratton material.”

“Guess you didn’t know me as well as you thought.”

“I knew you plenty. I knew that you always ate the ham off your sandwich and rarely the bread. And you only ate the cheese if it was cheddar . . . or orange, as you called it, Mr. Cheese Connoisseur.” I added an eye roll. “I knew that you hated to wear socks of any kind in your shoes and that you only liked cherry flavored Slurpees.
And
I knew that spiders scared you but that you’d pick up a big, scaly lizard without a second thought. Oh, and your favorite television show was Lost and your favorite ride at Disneyland was Space Mountain, although that’s an easy one because it’s almost everybody’s favorite.”

We reached the shore. I stepped off the board. My legs were as wobbly as my arms. “Oh my God, I’m in terrible shape. My muscles are rebelling. That’s what studying for a law degree does to a person, makes them all fluffy and weak. So, did I get all the quirks of the teenage Caden right?”

“Pretty impressive. But spiders and I have come to an agreement. They stay out of my way, and I don’t throw my shoe at them.” He combed his long, wet hair back with his fingers and tucked the surfboard under his arm. His tattoos looked exceptionally hot over his tanned skin and muscled arms. Even with dark hair, he really looked the part of the quintessential California surfer. “I’ll bet I can list a few of the Kenna quirks too.”

The sand grew hot, and we picked up our pace.

“Should be easy since they are numerous.” I hopped onto my towel, happy to get my feet out of the burning sand. I sat down and reached into the ice chest for two water bottles, while Caden stuck the surfboard in the sand.

He took hold of the water and sat down on his towel. He drank most of the bottle in one hit and sighed with satisfaction as he lowered it. “I know you wanted to be a marine biologist, mostly because of the seals and the fact that you could wear a bathing suit and sandals to work. You hated onions, unless they were deep fried in the form of a ring. When you were in fourth grade, you wore a ballerina costume for the Halloween parade and you regretted it and swore that you’d never wear a tutu or ballet slippers again. In the fifth grade, you were saving all your allowance to buy a horse, which you planned to keep in your dad’s garage. And at the high school swim meets, you used to tap the railing on the spectator stands for luck just before your heat.”

It took me a second to find my tongue. “You remembered all that? And all that time I thought I was just this little pebble in your shoe, getting in your way and causing you irritation.”

“Well, you were that too, Trinket.”

I laughed. “Thanks. I forgot about my horse buying scheme. Grady used to shake his head at my plan, but he never discouraged me. He used to just say ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’. I really had all the bases covered as far as I was concerned. I was going to clean out the garage and buy some straw so that the horse would have a place to sleep. And then I’d used the back lawn for grazing, because I was sure our little postage stamp yard was going to be plenty of room for the horse to play. And then, of course, I was going to ride my perfectly trained horse around town, showing off to all my envious friends.” I leaned back on my hands and let the sun warm my face. “I still dream of having a horse and a swimming pool filled with seals and otters.”

“When you’re a high-caliber lawyer, you’ll be able to buy those things. Of course, most big shot lawyers opt for the penthouse and the Mercedes Benz, but you always had your own ideas, Trinket. It’s one of the many things I’ve always admired most about you.”

I lifted my head and looked over at him. We’d been kidding around, but his expression was sincere.

“I’m glad I came with you to the beach, Cade.”

“I’m glad too, Trinket.” He motioned to the rash on my stomach. “I’ve got some lotion to put on that. Maybe we should get you out of the sun.” He stood up and lowered his hand for me.

He pulled me to my feet. With my legs still feeling shaky from the surf lesson, I fell forward. He caught me in his arms and took advantage of my clumsy step by kissing me.

I peered up at him. “Still can’t believe I’m kissing Caden Stratton. And, I might just add, all the high school rumors about your kisses are true. You leave a girl senseless and wanting more.”

“Yeah?” He picked up the ice chest and the surfboard, and I picked up the towels. “Senseless and wanting more? That’s what they were saying, huh? Shit, guess I underestimated myself.”

Chapter 15

Kenna

My afternoon on
the water had drained me of energy. I took a cool shower, pulled on my panties and bra, rubbed lotion on my stomach and fell fast asleep on the bed.

The cool ocean breeze made the window curtains dance, and the noise woke me from my nap. I lay there staring at the fluttering shadows on the ceiling and thought about the last few days. Caden and I had found each other again, after all this time, brought together under the worst of circumstances. I felt as close to him as ever, as if we’d never parted.

Caden knocked on the bedroom door.

“Come in. I’m awake.” I sat up and leaned my back against the headboard. I drew the sheet up over me, but after what’d happened earlier in the kitchen, it seemed rather silly.

Caden walked in with a glass of wine. “Not sure if I bought the right kind. I know wine about as much as I know cheese, but I thought you might want a drink to ease the soreness in your muscles.”

I took hold of the glass and sipped the wine. “Good choice. This should help.”

I scooted over, and he sat down next to me. Warmth flowed from his body and the scent of soap lingered on his skin. I offered him a sip from my glass.

“No, thanks. I downed two beers while you were sleeping.”

“Sorry I pooped out. That surf lesson and everything else zapped me of energy.” I took one more drink and reached over to put the glass on the nightstand.

I leaned back against the headboard again and took hold of his hand. I brought it to my mouth and kissed his knuckles. “I always figured you just tolerated me because I was with Grady all of the time.” I looked over at him. “How come you never told me how you felt?”

His profile looked even more handsome in the shadows of the room. “There were a lot of reasons, but mostly because of Grady.”

I nodded as if I understood, but there were a lot of ways to interpret his answer. “If Grady did like me, in
that
way, he sure never let on.” My voice trembled as it always did when I started thinking too hard about Grady. “I think you might have been confusing our closeness for love.”

“I don’t think so.”

I leaned my head against his arm. He squeezed my hand in his.

“I knew you were destined for far better than me, Trinket. I would have been in your way.”

“That’s not true. I spent half my teenage years dreaming about being
that
girl, the girl who would finally steal the most elusive heart in town. You wouldn’t have been in my way. You would have been right there next to me.” Without a moment’s hesitation, I tossed off the sheet, climbed up onto his lap and rested my head against his shoulder. Tears burned my eyes. “I loved Grady. He was my best friend. He made me laugh and cry and do stupid things and understand how important it was to have a best friend. But you were the guy who made my head spin and my knees wobble. I loved you both, but in very different ways. But when it came to you, I had to keep my feelings tucked away.” A sad laugh fell from my mouth. “Although, much to my chagrin, my parents knew.” I lifted my head and trailed my fingers along the side of his face to push his hair back. “Apparently I used to sit at the kitchen table and watch for you to walk by.” I kissed him lightly on the mouth. “You were always dragging back and forth between houses with your backpack in tow. You always looked about as angry as you were sad that you had to split your life in two. Starry eyed dreamer that I was, I always thought if I had Caden Stratton, I wouldn’t share him with anyone. I’d keep him all to myself.”

“That sounds like a much better deal than I had from my parents. And, conveniently enough, if there’s one person who owns me, heart and soul—”

He kissed me as he lifted me off his lap and lowered me onto the bed. His mouth traveled down my neck and shoulders. He slid down my bra straps, exposing my breasts. My nipples hardened as his thumb drew circles around them.

He gazed down at me. “Every inch of you is kissable, Trinket.”

I arched my back to lift my breasts as he lowered his mouth to them. My hands got lost in his long hair as his tongue flicked against my nipple. He suckled each breast and then lifted his mouth to my lips again. He halted the kiss briefly to sit up and pull off his shirt.

I gazed up at his incredible body. “I just hung out with this chest and these shoulders on the beach for two hours, but I still have to touch you right now to see if it’s real.” He watched my hand as I trailed my fingers down the hollow of his chest to his tight stomach muscles.

“Eat your heart out, Kiki Dinklefrost.”

My hand continued downward, and as it moved, his chest rose and fell as his breath quickened. I stopped at the button on his shorts. His erection strained against the fabric. I looked up at him with a teasing smile. “Yep, I’m going for it. I want to see it all. Let’s see what all the hype is about.”

“The hype?” His deep laugh echoed off the walls. “Hope, after all this time, I don’t disappoint,” he said with a hefty dose of confidence.

I opened the button and unzipped his fly. His shorts slipped off his slim hips. I hooked my fingers over the waistband on his boxer briefs. I had a pretty good indication just from his briefs that there was no chance of disappointment. I pulled the underwear down, and his cock sprang free. It was thick, hard and shiny with nature’s lubricant.

Suddenly I wasn’t sitting on the bed with my teenage crush. I was sitting there with a man, who stirred all my senses and who I wanted badly.

“Cade,” my voice sounded whispery and foreign to my ears. “I want this. I want you.”

A breath caught in Caden’s chest as I ran my fingers along his cock.

“Do you have—” I didn’t need to finish the question.

He got up off the bed, left the room and came back. He lifted his hand and showed me a stack of condoms. “I brought extra. Just in case.”

“Good thinking.”

He dropped the condoms on the nightstand and knelt down on the bed next to me. The heat and intensity in his gaze as he slid off my panties, made my entire body tingle with the thought of him touching me, fucking me.

“Turn on your side, baby.” His deep voice felt like warm cream over my naked skin. I followed his order. His fingers grazed my skin as he unhooked my bra and took it off. I was completely naked. It felt deliciously erotic to be lying there completely exposed. We were no longer the two teens, hiding our true feelings and secretly dreaming of being in the other’s arms. We were two consenting, experienced adults, who knew exactly what they wanted. And I wanted the hot and hard man knelt on the bed next to me. There was no past, no old feelings, no hidden emotions. There was just the two of us naked in bed.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so aroused. For the longest time I’d thought something was wrong with me. Sex with Jeremy was off, no longer fulfilling. But every inch of my body was alive with wanting Caden.

Caden leaned down and ran a trail of hot kisses along my side, my hip and my thigh. I could hear his breaths and my own racing heartbeat as he tore open a condom package.

He rolled me onto my back and the mattress shifted from side to side as he lowered himself between my thighs. He kissed each breast and then brought his mouth up to mine. His tongue stroked my bottom lip as he reached down between our bodies. I groaned in pleasure, as his fingers slid between the folds of my pussy.

His warm breath tickled my lips. “Baby, you feel so good to the touch, so hot and slick.”

I held my breath as he slid his fingers out. He pushed his hand under my ass and lifted me higher. Propped on an elbow, he gazed down at the core between our two bodies, the place where we were about to join as one. His eyes were fevered with lust as he teased my pussy and clit with the fleshy tip of his cock.

I tightened my hold on his arms and lifted my hips more to urge him on. He continued to watch as his cock slowly disappeared inside of me.

I was losing patience with wanting him. “Oh, Cade, please. Please.”

He kissed me hard and deep as he pushed inside of me. I wrapped my legs around him, to take in more of him. With each pass, he lifted his body in a sweeping motion toward me, digging his cock deeper into places where the sensations nearly overwhelmed me. The friction created by his movements, warmed my clit, massaging it into a frenzy. My pussy clenched against his cock, like fingers holding a massive erection. I didn’t ever want to let go.

He gazed down at me with an intensity that made me want to melt into a puddle. He rocked against me slowly gaining in speed and in strength. Each time he plunged deeper and my pussy tightened around him. I wanted to feel every inch of him.

“Oh, Cade, yes, fuck yes,” I cried as my body tightened and then crumbled into tidal waves of ecstasy.

“Yeah, baby, that’s it. I can feel you come around my cock.”

My head spun and my entire body heated with the flush of an orgasm. I tightened my legs around his waist and clutched at the sheets to lift my hips higher. The headboard vibrated against the wall as he moved faster and harder. “Fuck, your pussy is tight,” he groaned as his hold on me tightened and he came.

Caden stopped to kiss me gently afterward. I realized that was something I’d never had with Jeremy. There was never an afterthought of tenderness to seal it up nicely. And somehow, with Caden, it felt like far more than just some pleasant afterglow kisses. There was emotion behind it.

He lifted his mouth and gazed down at me. “Trinket, not going to lie. You’ve got my head spinning.”

I reached up and curled my arm around his neck. “Huh, I’m feeling a little dizzy myself. Maybe a tornado picked up the house, and we were just too busy to notice.”

“Maybe,” he kissed me again. “Or maybe this is what comes from years of wanting each other.”