Love Left Behind (21 page)

Mia sat down next to me
and handed me a cold beer.

"Thanks," I
said, taking a long sip. I sighed, looking around. "Life doesn't get much
better than this, huh?"

Mia nodded, the slight
breeze causing her dark brown hair to flutter around her face. She propped the
heel of one foot on the edge of her chair, leaning her head against her folded
leg.

"It really is
perfect. The crazy city seems so far away here. I love New York, but sometimes
the pace can get tiring. Sometimes I just want to look up and see trees. And
not just when I'm in Central Park."

"Would you ever
consider leaving?" I asked. I was surprised hearing this from Mia. I
thought of her as a diehard New Yorker and couldn't understand how someone
could get sick of New York. Then again, Mia had lived here a lot longer than I
had. I could imagine how the pace and crowds could get tiring after a while.

Mia smiled ruefully.
"Probably not. Don't listen to me. After a couple of days, I'll be itching
to get back into the city."

I nodded towards Claire
who was on the beach, close to the water's edge. I wasn't sure why she was off
on her own when the rest of us were on the porch. Her figure looked solitary
and lonely. "Is Claire okay?"

"I'm sure she's
fine," Mia said, rolling her eyes. "Like I said before, she's moody.
She'll be the life of the party thirty minutes from now."

Mia and I chatted about
her favorite places in the Hamptons since she was a frequent visitor until
Jackson and Nathan announced that dinner was served. Nathan called Claire over
to join us and we settled around the table on the back porch. Nathan and
Jackson had grilled steaks, as well as some potatoes and asparagus.

"Everything tastes
amazing," I said as I dug into my food. I smiled at Jackson.
"Compliments to the chef."

Nathan cleared his
throat and I turned to him, my smile widening. "To both chefs, of
course."

Nathan grinned widely,
but Mia groaned. "Don't encourage him, Emma. If Nathan was left to his own
devices, he would have burned everything and called it Cajun style."

"That was just one
time," Nathan protested. "And it did taste kind of Cajun after you
cut away the burnt parts."

This led into a
discussion about whose culinary skills were the best. I was content just to
listen, feeling happy and full as the voices chattered around me. Jackson
caught my eye every now and then, giving me an amused wink as Nathan's defense
of his cooking got louder. Claire was sitting on the other side of me and had
been silent for most of dinner, just picking at her food.

"Are you
okay?" I asked in a low voice, although it wasn't necessary since the
others were talking so loudly.

"I'm fine,"
Claire replied, smiling. "Just a little tired. It was a long drive and I
think my fatigue is killing my appetite."

"I wish I had that
problem," I said with a self-deprecating laugh. "Nothing kills my
appetite."

Claire just nodded and
turned back to her food, although she didn't do much besides poke her steak
with her fork. I decided to let her be. She didn't seem to be in the mood to
talk and nothing was more annoying than having someone bug you when you kept
insisting you were okay.

After dinner, Nathan
suggested taking a walk on the beach but Claire claimed exhaustion and went to
her room, saying she was going to bed early so she would be refreshed for
tomorrow.

"I'm pretty beat
too," Jackson said, stretching his arms above his head. I opened my mouth
to say I wasn't tired at all, but Jackson just grabbed my hand.

"Goodnight,"
I called out to Nathan and Mia as Jackson dragged me up the stairs, not leaving
me much choice in the matter.

When we got to our
bedroom, I crossed my arms against my chest. "I'm not tired," I said
with a frown.

Jackson waggled his
eyebrows. "Neither am I."

I couldn't help
giggling at Jackson's silly suggestive gesture, but when he pulled me onto the
bed and slid my panties down my legs, I was no longer laughing. And I wasn't
laughing when we had the wild crazy sex that I had been looking forward to
earlier.

The next morning we
decided to go to a local cafe for brunch on Mia's recommendation. She raved
about the food there and she was right. The apple cinnamon waffles I ordered
were out of this world and Jackson promised to try to replicate the recipe back
home.

Claire seemed to be
back in good spirits and she and Mia decided to spend the afternoon shopping. I
insisted that Jackson go to the beach with Nathan while I went back to the
house to work for a few hours. He wanted to go back with me, but I knew he
would just be a distraction. Besides, the last thing I wanted Jackson to do was
waste time sitting around just because I had to work.

Back at the house, I
powered up my laptop in the living room and got to work. The changes in the
presentation were time consuming and I had to go over it again and again to
make sure it flowed correctly. I breathed a sigh of relief when I was finished.
I emailed a copy to Janet and saved a copy to a disk.

I checked the time and
saw two hours had passed. I was about to pick up my phone to call Jackson to
see where he was when I heard the front door open. Claire walked in with several
shopping bags.

"I see you had a
successful shopping trip," I said, indicating the bags in her hands.
Claire set the bags by the couch and sat down with a tired sigh.

"Most of these are
Mia's bags. She went on a shopping spree."

"Where is
she?"

"She wanted to
join Jackson and Nathan at the beach, so I told her I'd bring her bags back
since I was tired and wanted to take a nap." Claire rolled her eyes.
"I didn't realize all those pairs of shoes she bought would feel as heavy
as bricks."

I laughed as I stretched
my back, tight after being hunched over the computer so long. "I think I'm
going to go join them on the beach. Do you know where they are exactly?"

Claire nodded, pointing
to the back porch. "They're on Main Beach. Just go out and take a right.
You'll be right on top of them in about a quarter of a mile."

"Thanks," I
said, closing my computer. "I'm going to go change. Are you sure you don't
want to come with me?"

"No thanks,"
Claire said. "I need a nap if I'm going to be able to keep my eyes open tonight."

We had been invited to
a lobster bake on the beach by one of Mia's friends and I was ecstatic at the
prospect. However, I had plenty of energy to last me well into the evening and
I was eager to see Jackson.

I went upstairs, taking
my laptop and papers with me, and quickly changed into a bathing suit, throwing
shorts and a t-shirt over them. I had bought a new bikini with Jackson in mind.
It was red and mini, scraps of fabric barely holding in my curves and generous
chest.

It was easy to find
them on the beach and Jackson's eyes lit up when he saw me. I felt a warmth
inside me as I approached him, soaking in his gorgeousness. His dark hair was
wet and slicked back and there were beads of water on his muscled arms and
chest, probably from having just gotten out of the water. I had to resist the
urge to lap up the water with my tongue and pull down his green swim trunks to
see what else I could use my tongue on.

I tried to clear my
head of those thoughts, especially since Nathan and Mia were stretched out on
towels next to him. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy at Mia's body.
Years of being a ballerina had obviously given her an amazing figure. She was
long and lean and her blue bikini showed off every asset. Nathan was no slump
in the body category either, his heavy muscles gleaming with sweat and suntan
lotion.

"I was just about
to head back to see if you were done," Jackson said, pulling me into his
arms. I squealed as droplets from his wet hair splattered against me.

"You're all
wet!"

"And you're
wearing too many clothes."

I shook my head in
exasperation, but I obliged as I pulled my t-shirt over my head and shimmied
out of my shorts. Jackson's eyes darkened as his gaze traveled down my body and
then up again. He quirked his mouth as he met my eyes.

"Am I supposed to
be able to control myself with you in that bikini?"

"Shh," I
whispered, looking past him at Nathan and Mia. Mia had opened her eyes and
waved at me, but Nathan seemed to be fast asleep.

Jackson rested his
hands on my hips, just above the strings of my bikini bottom, his grip
tightening. He smiled, but I could tell he only had one thing on his mind.

"I think we need
to go into the water and cool you off," I said wryly. I grabbed him by his
hand and guided him to the water. The beach was crowded, as well as the water,
but we were able to navigate toward a deserted spot. Once the water was deep
enough to reach Jackson's chest, he pulled me against him, his eyes gleaming.

I rationalized that we
had relative privacy since we were pretty far out in the water and no one was
around us. I wrapped my legs around his waist, the buoyancy of the water making
it easy. Jackson supported me with his hands splayed against my back and he
wasted no time in plundering my mouth with his. I forgot about the sun above us
and the warm water lapping against us. I just clung to Jackson, our mouths
doing what the rest of our bodies couldn't do since we were in public.

"This is
torture," Jackson groaned when we pulled apart. "I'm rock hard for
all the world to see."

I wasn't able to
suppress a laugh at Jackson's expression of pained indignation. His eyes
gleamed as he watched me.

"This is funny to
you, huh?"

I nodded, a wide smile
stretching across my face.

"Sweetheart, I
wouldn't laugh if I were you. I'm not the only one that's obvious right
now."

Jackson looked down at
my chest and I followed his gaze. My nipples were erect and pushing against the
fabric of my bikini top, clearly showing their state of arousal.

I crossed my arms
against my chest and gave Jackson a triumphant smile. "Problem solved.
What's your solution?"

"My ideal solution
is sliding into you right now, but I think we'd both end up drowning."

"What's your other
solution then?" I asked with a smug smile.

"Distracting
myself."

With that, Jackson cupped
his hand and skimmed it across the water, splashing me.

"Hey!" I
exclaimed, trying to act outraged, but it was hard since Jackson had taken care
not to splash my face so really all he had done was splash water on my already
wet body. I decided not to be so considerate.

I grabbed his hands and
pulled him underneath the water with me. Instead of resisting, he went down
easily and pulled me closer to him. He cocked an eyebrow and then reached over,
pulling the fabric covering one of my breasts to the side, exposing my nipple
and tugging it between his fingers. Even underwater, I felt an arrow of desire
shoot through me.

I pushed myself up
above the surface and Jackson followed suit.

"No fair!" I
said breathlessly as I quickly adjusted my bikini top back in place, water
streaming off of us. "I was just trying to cool you off."

Jackson looked at me
innocently. "I was just trying to help you out too. I didn't want your
nipples to look so obvious so I thought touching them would help." He
waggled his eyebrows exaggeratedly, reaching towards me. "Maybe my problem
was that I didn't use my mouth."

I squealed and swam
away with Jackson in pursuit. We spent the rest of the afternoon acting silly
in the water interspersed with lying out on the beach. Nathan produced a
Frisbee from his bag so we also spent a good portion of the day lazily throwing
it around. For all of Mia's athletic abilities, she seemed unable to catch the
Frisbee and we couldn't help bursting into laughter every time she looked
bewildered when she made a grab for the Frisbee and it just whizzed past her.

It was already starting
to get dark when we got back to the house. Claire was still in her room, the
shopping apparently having really worn her out.

"I need to take a
shower," I announced when we got back to our room.

"Not so
fast," Jackson said, grabbing my hand. "I need to see you in that
bikini again now that we're in private."

I purposely took my
time taking off my shorts and t-shirt, trying to tease him. I hooked my thumbs
into the strings of my bikini bottom, looking up at him coyly.

"Should I take
this off or do you want to fuck me while I'm still wearing it?" I asked
innocently. Jackson practically growled as he threw me on top of the bed and
climbed up, hovering over me. He pulled down my bikini top, exposing my nipples
that were still wet from my damp bathing suit. I lost my train of thought as
Jackson flicked his tongue against a hard nipple and then sucked on it, pulling
it forcefully in his mouth.

"Harder," I
moaned, needing to feel Jackson brand me with his touch. "Suck me
harder."

Jackson obliged,
sucking hard and abrading my nipple with his teeth. His fingers were twisting
my other nipple as I felt wetness rush between my legs. Jackson kissed his way
down my body, pushing aside the thin strip of my bikini bottom between my legs,
moving it out of the way so that I was totally exposed. He latched his mouth
onto my engorged bud, slipping two fingers deep inside of me. I cried out in
pleasure but it wasn't enough. I needed him inside of me.

"Please," I
begged. "I need you inside of me."

Jackson made a guttural
noise as he flipped me on my stomach.

"Get on your
knees, sweetheart. I want to fuck you from behind."

I immediately obliged,
pushing my bottom towards him eagerly, desperate for him to slide into me. I
whimpered as he pushed into me, stretching me to my limit. He guided my hands
onto the headboard of the bed.