Hard Edge (9 page)

Chapter 16

Caden

I climbed out
of the bed and followed the aroma of butter to the kitchen. Kenna was standing at the stove stirring eggs with her long legs trailing out from my beneath my shirt. She heard my footsteps and smiled at me over her shoulder.

“Hope you like them scrambled,” she said. “I started with sunny-side up, but the eggs had a different plan.”

“Funny, so did I.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and pressed my chest against her back. “Just so you know, you’ve unleashed a monster.” My cock pressed against the shirt fabric covering her ass. “See what I mean? I’m pretty sure I’m never going to have enough of you, so you should prepare yourself.”

“The eggs will burn.”

“Better them than me.”

She dropped the spoon as I spun her around in my arms. “But I’m hungry.”

My hands slid under the shirt. “That makes two of us.”

Kenna laughed. “Are you going to be talking in puns all morning?”

I wrapped my hands around her ass cheeks. “That depends, Trinket. Is it turning you on?” I pressed my erection against her belly.

“It’s obviously working for you,” she teased.

“Then I’ll have to try a different tact.” I took hold of her hand to lead her out of the kitchen.

“Wait, or the whole place will burn down.” She reached back and turned off the stove. “Those eggs were going to be tasty too.”

“Then I’ll make sure this is worth your while.” I led her back down the hall to the bedroom. “This is all your fault, by the way.”

“My fault? I was cooking eggs,” she protested.

“It’s got nothing to do with eggs.” I grabbed hold of her waist, and she squealed with laughter as I tossed her gently onto the bed. “And everything to do with the fact that you are so fucking hot.”

Her brown eyes glittered as she smiled up at me, licking her bottom lip in anticipation.

“I warned you, Trinket, you’ve unleashed a monster.”

“I can see that.” She propped herself up on her elbows and looked pointedly at my cock that was rock hard and slick with wanting her.

“Damn right. And there’s only one thing that can stop the beast.” I knelt down on the bed and took hold of her ankles. I placed her feet on the bed and pushed the shirt, my shirt, up to her waist. “Just so you know, seeing you in my shirt, knowing that your naked skin is rubbing against it—” I reached up and stroked my thumb over the fabric stretched across her breasts. Her nipples hardened beneath the shirt. “Can only lead to one thing.”

I lowered myself between her legs and pressed my mouth against her inner thigh. Her giggles and smile faded and her eyes drifted shut as her head dropped back. I moved my mouth up her thigh. Her legs parted as I reached her pussy.

“Relax, baby, I’ve got this.”

She rested back against the pillows with a long, sensual moan. I slid my hand beneath her ass to lift her pussy higher. My tongue explored the hot, wet folds, stopping to pay special attention to her clit.

“Cade.” My name bubbled off her lips. The fluttery sound of it made my cock stiffen more.

“You’re like fucking honey, baby.” I held her ass with one hand and slid my fingers into her with the other. She tightened her pussy around my hand as she brought her legs up. Her thighs pressed against my head. She lifted her hips to writhe against my mouth and fingers.

“Oh, Cade, yes, more.” She clutched the sheets and braced herself against the pressure of my tongue and hand. “Yes, right there, yes!” My fingers impaled her deeper as the heat of friction warmed her pussy more. “Yes!” Her whole body trembled. I stroked her with my tongue as she came against my mouth.

Kenna reached her hand toward me. “Now, please, Cade. I want you to fuck me right now.”

I gazed hungrily down at her as I reached for a condom. Her skin was flushed pink, and her eyes were glassy. She was everything I’d ever wanted all wrapped up in a package that made my cock hard just thinking about it. For so many years, I’d dreamed of being with Kenna, and for so many years, I’d told myself to forget her for good. I’d worked hard to convince myself she wasn’t meant for me. What a waste of some good fucking years. Now I was sure I would never have enough of her.

I rolled on the condom, and she reached for me. I took hold of her wrists and pinned them above her head. I held her captive with one hand as I settled in between her legs. I stared down at her. “Say it again. Tell me what you want.”

“Cade, I want you to fuck me right now.”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to fucking hear, Trinket.” I covered her mouth with mine. She wrapped her long legs around me as I jammed my cock into her.

“Your pussy is pure fucking ecstasy, baby.” I held her hands as I thrust into her.

She moaned as I moved deeper and harder inside of her until I couldn’t hold back anymore. I released her hands, and she wrapped them around my neck and held me as I came.

There was a long, quiet lull as our heartbeats slowed. I stayed in Kenna’s arms with my face pressed against her shoulder as she stroked my back. We’d spent the morning flirting and messing around like two people just out for a good time, but suddenly the mood had changed.

I lifted my head and kissed her before dropping next to her on the mattress. I rolled to my side and looked at her. “You all right?”

Kenna turned onto her side to face me. “Physically, I’m way past all right. But I’m kind of feeling like we opened, for lack of a better term, Pandora’s box. Seems like we’ve really complicated our lives with this new
branch
of our friendship.”

“That’s because we were never meant to be just friends.” I stroked her face. She took hold of my hand and kissed my palm.

“I know you’ve got this whole other life going on, Caden, with motorcycle racing and swimsuit models and—”

“And you’ve got law school and New York and . . .”

She pushed up to sitting and combed my hair off my face with her fingers. “Right, I guess we can’t let this get in the way of our lives.” There was a hitch in her voice. “We’ll just pack up after this and head our separate ways. I don’t want to get in your way.”

I sat up and faced her. “Would you stop with that shit. I wanted this. I wanted you, remember? Even if we both have places to go and things to do after this, I don’t want it to be the end. We just need to work a relationship around our lives. We’ll figure it out.”

I leaned over and kissed her to wipe away the pout on her lips. A tiny smile flickered back at me.

“There. Pandora’s Box fucking closed.” I reached up and smoothed her hair back off her face. “We’ll figure it out, Trinket. I promise.”

Chapter 17

Kenna

It was just
before dusk on the beach. Most of the day trippers and families had packed up their umbrellas, blankets and ice chests and headed home. A handful of surfers, including the incredibly hot hunk who had my undivided attention, all waited patiently for a good set of waves to break. Caden’s long, wet hair was smoothed back off his face, and the muscles in his chest and arms rippled like the water rolling under his surfboard.

I pulled my legs to my chest and rested my chin on my knees as I watched him take off on a wave. His powerful arms pulled through the water. Seconds later, he was on his feet, gliding over the wave toward shore. Everything about him was mesmerizing.

Caden and I had spent the day snacking, talking and falling in and out of bed. I was still tamping down bittersweet sparks of worry, concern about how this time together would end. But between the bouts of uncertainty, I was having the time of my life with Caden. For two years, I had convinced myself that I was in love with Jeremy. Enough so, that I’d accepted his offer of marriage. But now I knew what real love felt like. It meant moments of unexplained dizziness and heart flutters, it meant forgetting your words just seconds after they’d formed in your head, it meant going to sleep thinking about the person and waking up with their name on your lips. Jeremy had represented all the future goals I’d set for myself put together in one handsome package. It seemed I had been more in love with the idea of Jeremy than I had been with the man himself.

Caden’s bright white smile stood out starkly in his tanned face as he glanced my direction. I waved and blew him a kiss. He spun the board around and dropped down to paddle out for another ride.

Caden’s phone was sitting next to the bowl of grapes I’d carried out to the beach. It buzzed with a text. I glanced at the phone but decided to disappoint my curiosity and ignore it. Seconds later, another text. My curiosity tapped on my shoulder like an annoying, persistent pest. A third text. I let my gaze sweep down over the phone. For a fleeting second, I saw the picture that had come through. I’d only needed the quick glance to recognize that it was a picture of naked breasts, an extremely nice pair at that.

“Damn you, curiosity,” I muttered to myself. I, of course, had no idea who had sent the boob selfie. I had no doubt that Caden had a long list of women friends. I was betting on the swimsuit model just because they were exceptional breasts. It was a cold splash in the face. Yet, I couldn’t be angry at Caden.

The picture had flustered me enough that I hadn’t noticed Caden had ridden his board into shore. He was carrying it under his arm as he tromped toward me with that same sparkling smile plastered across his handsome face. I had to force my lips up to return the smile.

Caden jammed the end of his board in the sand and dripped cold water onto the towel and me as he sat down. “Best waves yet,” he said as he reached for his shirt. He wiped off his face and glanced at his phone as he combed his wet hair back. He tossed the shirt away and reached for the phone. He kept it hidden behind his leg as he looked at it.

“Anything of interest? It’s been buzzing like crazy.” I decided a little fishing wouldn’t hurt.

He put the phone down. “Nothing too important. What should we do about dinner? I’m fucking starved.”

“Not sure,” I said curtly, even though I hadn’t planned for it to sound that way. I stared out at the water pretending to be interested in the other surfers. I sensed Caden staring at the side of my face.

“You saw the picture, didn’t you?”

I took a deep breath. “O.K. yes, but I wasn’t being nosy. It’s just my eyes sort of drifted that way because, well, because the damn thing was going off like crazy. I thought it might be something important. Which, apparently, it was, because sending a flash shot of boobs is not just an everyday text.”

“It’s not?”

I looked over at him.

His smile returned. “I’m kidding. They belong to Shelly, a woman who I sometimes hang out with. She got a boob job, and she was just showing them off. I’m sure she sent a group text. That’s just the way she is. It’s no big deal, Trinket. Besides, there is only one pair of tits on my mind right now.” He looked pointedly at mine. “I’m thinking we should go inside so you can flash them my direction.”

“Damn, you’re just as smooth as a bowl of cream, Caden Stratton. Here I am sitting stiff and a little pissed at the naked picture on your phone, and you manage to morph it into dirty talk and a suggestion that I strip for you.”

He leaned on one elbow and squinted up at me. “Did it work?”

I sat and stared out at the water for a few seconds, then jumped to my feet. “Fine, but I’m only going to enjoy it a little bit.”

He got to his feet and picked up his board. I swept up the towels and took off at a run. He was behind me the second I stepped inside the beach house. I tossed the towels at him with a scream and ran toward the hallway. He grabbed my hand and stopped me.

“Told you I’m not ever going to have enough of you, Trinket.” He pressed me up against the hallway wall. “Never.” His skin was cool from the ocean as he closed in on me, trapping me between his hard body and the wall.

“Your shorts are wet,” I said between breaths.

He continued to kiss me as he reached down and untied his shorts. They dropped to his feet. His erection found its favorite place between my legs. “Now it’s your turn, baby,” he growled against my mouth.

I reached between us, unbuttoned my shorts and pushed them down to my feet. I stepped out of them and kicked them out of the way. He pressed his forehead against mine. “Trinket, I don’t want that fucking condom between us. I want to feel you, all of you.”

I peered up at him. “I just saw a half naked picture of a woman on your phone. I’m on the pill, but—”

“I always wear a condom. Always. But, with you, it’s different, Kenna.”

I looked up at him with an unmistakable dose of skepticism.

He straightened. “You don’t believe me.”

“Just wondering how many girls you say that to.”

He dropped his arms and stepped back. “Only you. But I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t believe me either.” He turned to walk away, but I grabbed his hand.

“Listen, buddy, you don’t slam a girl up against the wall, ask her to drop her panties and then walk away.” I pulled him back to me. “You finish what you started, Caden Stratton.” I kissed his mouth. “No condom. If I can’t believe you, the only man I’ve ever truly wanted, then there’s no hope for me or my heart.”

“The only man you’ve ever truly wanted?”

“That’s right. So my entire happiness is in your hands. No pressure.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands wrapped around my ass, lifting my feet from the ground. I swung my legs around him. He braced my back against the wall as he pushed his cock inside of me. A guttural sound of erotic pleasure rolled up from his chest. It made me ache even more for him.

I knew I was getting myself in deep and falling hard for him, but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.

Chapter 18

Kenna

I carried the
grilled cheese sandwiches outside. Caden was sitting on one of the two lounges drinking a beer and watching the water. Moonlight made the surface of the ocean look like shiny black slate. A pale gray, ghostly looking mist loomed in the distance.

I handed him a plate. “Grilled cheese, my specialty, which isn’t saying much since all it takes is the ability to smear bread with butter and turn on a stove flame.”

He picked up half the sandwich and took a bite. “Hmm, but you smear well.”

I straddled the second lounge and sat down. “Is it just my imagination or is there a massive wall of fog out there on the horizon?”

“Cool, isn’t it? I keep expecting some ghost ship to pop through it. That explains why my leg feels as if an elephant is standing on it.”

The only real remnant of his broken femur was a thick scar on his thigh. I rarely saw him take a misstep or complain about pain. It seemed he’d been lucky.

“I never did hear many of the grisly details, which is probably for the best. Grady called me a few days after to let me know that you’d been hurt and that you were in the hospital. He was really worried about you.” I thought back to the conversation. Grady’s voice had been shaky as he told me that Caden might walk with a limp for the rest of his life.

My mention of Grady had quieted him. He gazed out at the ocean again. “I had a dream last night. I was in the desert, a few of my army buddies were there, and”—he shook his head— “we were playing some weird video game with tigers and sharks, only there was no television. They were all holograms, and I looked over and Grady was playing the game too, teasing me about be a fucking loser because my shark turned into a marshmallow. No fucking idea where the hell the dream came from, but Grady was alive and well and laughing. When I woke up, it took me a few seconds to remember that he was gone. I closed my eyes hoping I could get back there to the dream. It seemed so real. He seemed so real.”

“I imagine we’ll both have plenty of those dreams for a long time to come. Have you talked to your dad at all?”

“Yeah, he’s doing all right, considering. Sally’s a mess though, and my dad doesn’t function well on his own. Talked to my mom too. Walt’s son, Jack, is moving to Vermont with his wife, so Walt needs someone to help at his lumber yard. Of course, my mom is already devising a scheme to have me take over the business for Walt when he retires. Can’t you just see me running a damn lumber yard?”

I swallowed a bite of sandwich. “There are worse things to consider.”

Caden nodded but didn’t look too convinced. “Anyhow, my main reason for bringing it up is that my mom and Walt are going on a trip to Georgia to see Walt’s family next week. She asked me if I could housesit, feed the cat, water the plants and whatever else she puts on the list.” He looked over at me. “I was hoping you’d be sticking around Mayfair for awhile. Maybe we could use the time to sort stuff out, see where this is heading.”

“I know my mom could use the help. I have to get back to New York soon though.” I laughed. “Jeremy has probably already shoved all my stuff in the elevator and sent it to the parking level.” I leaned back against the lounge. “I’m going to have to find a place to live in New York, and that is no easy feat. School starts mid September.”

“So you’re going to finish law school?”

“I’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it already. Not to mention the huge loans,” I said, abruptly mostly to convince myself that it was what I needed to do.

“Hey, not judging. You need to do what you think is right, Kenna. I know that’s how you roll.”

Without lifting my head from the lounge, I faced him with a scowl. “Yes, I know. I always choose the
right
thing to do, but not necessarily the thing that’s right for me. It seems like we’ve been down this road before. I can’t be like you, Caden, and just throw all reason to the wind to do what I
feel
like doing.”

He looked over at me. “I guess I should just take the job at the lumber yard because it’s the
reasonable
thing to do.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Not in so many words.”

I sat up with a laugh. I turned my legs around on the lounge to face him. “I just realized something. You know that sparkly, feel good time in the beginning of a new relationship where two people are just getting to know each other and everything is peachy, only the sex can be questionable because—well, because two people are just getting to know each other? I guess our long history has made it so that we skipped that sparkly period and went straight to the bickering like an old couple.”

Caden laughed. “Fuck, if that doesn’t take the fun out of it all. But the sex?” He lifted a brow at me.

“Oh, the sex is spot on, like we know each other so well, we skipped any awkwardness.”

“Except, up until this week, we’d never even kissed.”

“No, but good sex comes from in here.” I pressed my hand against my chest. “From the heart. We were already connected there.”

Caden smiled. “You will make a good lawyer, Trinket. Maybe the fact that we’re different in our approaches to life is just what we need. We can balance each other out.”

“Well said.” I pulled my sweatshirt closed. “That fog is cold. Let’s go inside and see if I can do something to make you forget that pain in your leg.”

He rubbed his thigh. “Yep, it’s hurting something fierce right now. I think I’ll definitely need some tender loving care.”