Sweet Alibi (5 page)

“What do you do there?” I scooped the cheesy mixture into the shells and aligned them in the dish.

“Gavin and I own a cyber security company. I work from home, my boat, or a beach on the North Carolina coast.” A lazy smile spread across his face.

“Nice.”

“Yeah, allows for a lot of flexibility.” A roguish glint sparked in his eyes. My breath caught for a moment before I looked back to the pasta. My mind played over the strong features of his face. The sharp angle of his jaw, the way one side of his mouth lifted in a charming grin. He had the deepest green eyes I’d ever seen and sandy brown hair layered with golden streaks, probably from all that time spent on the boat. My mind soaked up the memory of his handsome face like it was starved for his beauty.

Kyle. Remember Kyle. Tristan is a flirt. Don't forget that, Georgia.

“Georgia is a beautiful name. Any meaning behind it?” My name sounded lyrical and sexy rolling off his lips. I had to stifle a groan. 

“Use that on all the girls?” The words tumbled from my lips before I could sensor them. 

“What?” He tilted his head in the most endearing fashion. 

“Sorry, never mind. No meaning, my parents just liked it I guess.” I poured the rest of the marinara on top of the filled pasta shells.

“What about Tristan? It's different…” I murmured as thoughts rattled around in my head.

“Tristan, yeah. My mom studied literature in college. ‘Tristan and Isolde’ was her favorite story, star-crossed lovers traveling the world to find each other.” A sheepish grin lifted his lips.

“That's beautiful.” My eyes were lost in his mossy green depths for a few beats longer than acceptable for a girl with a boyfriend back home. “So the wine's had time to breathe. Do you want a glass?” I stretched on my tiptoes to reach the wine glasses.

“That would be great,” his voice lowered an octave from behind me. I grabbed two glasses and Tristan poured the velvety red liquid into them.

“There's a vineyard up the coast from here. We should go this summer,” Tristan said.

I coughed on the bittersweet sip sliding down my throat as my eyebrows shot up in surprise. Was he asking me out?

“Yeah, maybe I can buy a few cases to keep here for guests. I'm sure Silas would be down, too.”

“Silas is down for anything,” my best friend said as he sauntered into the kitchen and slipped an arm around my waist. I rolled my eyes at the sexual innuendo.

“Need help with anything, love?” Silas slipped my wine glass out of my hand and took a sip. I glanced at Tristan who was watching us with intent.

“No, just putting the pasta in the oven. Forty minutes ’til we eat.”

“Sounds great.” Silas passed my glass back to me empty.

I scowled at him. “Wine, Silas?”

“Would love some.” He grinned at me happily. I grabbed another glass and poured more wine for him and myself.

“Tristan mentioned there's a vineyard up the coast and we should go.”

“Sounds great.” Silas plopped down on a barstool with his wine in hand before another low moan filtered down the hallway.

“So who's going to tell them dinner's nearly ready?” I scrunched my nose, not at all eager to volunteer. Just then a whimper floated into the kitchen along with a few
yes…yes…yeses.

A sexy chuckle escaped Tristan’s throat. “Sounds like they’re about done,” he said, taking another sip of his wine. Heat flashed to my cheeks at Drew and Gavin's love fest down the hall.

A few minutes later Drew sashayed out of her room, Gavin’s hand in hers and a dopey look on her face. Gavin wore a happy grin and raised his eyebrows when he caught Tristan’s gaze. I rolled my eyes at the unspoken macho gloating that passed between them. Damn Drew and her insistence on bringing her latest man candy to moan and groan with all summer.

“That's the best manicotti I’ve ever had.” Gavin rested his feet on the railing of the porch. We were lounging on the deck overlooking the ocean after dinner. Beer bottles, wine glasses, laughter, and easy conversation floated between us. Dinner had been a success
―
Gavin ate three helpings alone.

“Glad you liked it,” I said as Silas lifted the wine bottle and poured more into my glass as well as his own. Drew was perched on Gavin's lap with one arm draped around his neck, her other hand holding a wine glass. Gavin caressed her thigh with one hand while holding a beer in the other. I watched and felt a yearning in the pit of my stomach for Kyle.

Silas sat in a lounge chair and I on the floor leaning against his legs. Tristan was across from us, a relaxed grin tipping his lips. The setting sun glinted off the golden streaks in his hair. I wanted to run my fingers through his tousled locks. My eyes traveled from the high cheekbones and the stubbled jaw to the neckline of his shirt. I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers along that delicious jawline that looked like it was cut in stone and trail my tongue from his collarbone up his neck and land at the smooth skin under his ear.

“Georgia?” Drew nudged me with her bare foot.

“Huh?” My eyes bolted to the dark green depths that were watching me thoughtfully. Damn, he'd caught me.

“Distracted?” Drew arched an eyebrow at me.

“No.” I took a sip of my wine to divert myself from the Drew inquisition.

“Gavin asked when you were hoping to start renting out the house.”

“It would be great if I could get some people in before the end of the season, but if it doesn't happen until next, that's okay.”

Gavin nodded in response.

“We should go out tonight. Wilmington has a few clubs,” Silas spoke up from behind me.

“Yes, let’s go out. I want to dance.” Drew wiggled in Gavin's lap and nipped at his lips. He slid his hand further up her thigh to land at her hip.

“Looks like that's not all you want to do,” I smirked.

“Shut it.” Drew admonished. “What do you say, G?”

“I'm in for the night. But you guys should go,” I replied.

“I'm not going without you.”

“Don't be such a downer, love.” Silas shook my shoulders playfully.

A giggle escaped my throat as the wine’s effect fizzed around my brain. “Next time I will. Promise.”

“Party pooper.” Silas frowned when I turned to him.

“Did you just call me a party pooper?”

“If the shoe fits, love.” he said before Rihanna’s
Rude Boy
chimed from his phone. “Oh, something more interesting may have just developed.” He slid from his chair and answered the phone in a flirty voice. Silas had countless guys he was talking to at any given time. I’d overheard more than a few sexy phone calls that had me blushing at the memory.

I turned back to Drew and found her making out with Gavin. He'd set down his beer and both hands were caressing her body
―
from her legs, up her torso, around her back, and back down.

“I'm going to take a walk,” I mumbled as I stood.

“I'll join you.” Tristan followed me down the steps to the beach. Thoughts blurred across the landscape of my brain as I sought an excuse to bow out.
Don't get wrapped up in this charming stranger
. 

“Thanks for letting Gavin and I tag along this summer. He's not much company now, but once you get to know him, he's a pretty cool guy.”

“Sure. Drew would probably have driven me insane if she'd had to be separated from him all summer.” I took a sip of the fruity pinot coloring my glass. 

“Well, whatever the reason you said yes, I appreciate it. It's great to get away for a while. It's also the farthest I’ve sailed the boat, so that was a great experience.”

“How was the trip up?” I could see a small smile playing on his lips as he watched me.

“Pretty good. I’m glad Gavin decided to drive
―
he’s a pain in the ass on a boat.” He brought the glass of wine to his lips and I watched his throat move as he swallowed, thinking again of running my tongue up the line of his neck. Everything about him was unbelievably sensual.

He brought the glass down and held it lightly in his right hand, his thumb caressing the rim slowly. The thought of his fingers tracing across my sensitive skin…God, every movement he made seemed carnal. Each glance oozed with sex, like lava seeping into my bones and turning them to molten jelly.

Oh please, Georgia. He's a ladies’ man. Every single move is calculated, like an African cat moving in for the kill.
 

“Gavin's not experienced?” I shook the erotic thoughts from my brain and continued the conversation.

“Oh, he's experienced,” he crooked a grin my way with amusement dancing in his eyes, “but with sailing, no.”

I laughed. “Are you experienced? With sailing, I mean?” Oh my God, was I flirting with him? I needed to clear my thoughts of this ridiculously sexy man. My cheeks flushed, a little from the wine and mostly from the delectable guy walking beside me.

“Master sailor.” One corner of his mouth lifted salaciously. My stomach did a traitorous flip-flop. I turned to watch the silver rays of moonlight reflecting off the water. We walked down the beach in silence. The wet sand beneath my feet was cool and soft, the waves occasionally lapping my toes with the still-too-cool May water. Tristan laughed and shook his head every time I ran from them.

“Trade places then.” I maneuvered and gave him a playful shove into the cold water. As soon as my hand connected with his bicep, fire flared through my fingertips. My hand tightened for a breathless moment before I let go. The giggle died in my throat when I thought of the ramifications of this connection I’d had with him since we'd met
―
dangerous things could happen this summer.

“God, that is cold.” His eyes washed over me with a laugh. I tried to relax and tell myself to stay away from him to avoid the flips in my stomach whenever he was close.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, just thinking about things.”

He nodded before taking another sip of wine. “Are you and Silas…a thing?” he asked without looking at me. I coughed on the liquid going down my throat.

“Uh, no. Not ever. Never,” I laughed.

“It seems…complicated.” 

“It's not. He's like my brother…my family, for all intents and purposes. His family kicked him out at sixteen when he told them he was gay and he hasn’t spoken to them since. He's just always been there.” I shrugged thoughtfully.

“You’ve known him for that long?”

“No. We met in college. He's from Utah. His parents are pretty religious; they didn't take well to a gay son. His grandma in Raleigh took him in. He finished high school there and we met at Duke.”

“That's good that he has some family.”

“Had. She passed away our last year of college. She left him everything
―
she'd written his parents out of the will for what they did to him. He was sole inheritor to everything she had, which was a lot, and the reason Silas can afford to…float through life, I guess you could say.”

“He doesn't work?”

“Sometimes. He's tried his hand at a few things, but it's never long before he moves on to the next. He's in between things at the moment, so he was eager to spend the summer on the beach with me.”

“I'm glad he has you then. You seem inseparable.”

“Where I go, Silas goes. He moved in with us for a while; Kyle didn't love that, but he knew better than to question it.”
He didn’t question it because he was hardly around when I’d sunken into another depression and had known if Silas hadn’t been with me, I would have fallen headlong over the cliff.

“Kyle?”

“My boyfriend. He's back in D.C., trying for a promotion at his law firm, so he couldn't come for the summer.”

“Ah. You’ve been together a long time?” Tristan’s eyes turned to meet mine. Butterflies raged in my stomach. Why was I hesitant to answer this question?
Yes, we’ve been together a long time. I love him. I'm going to marry him. We’re going to have kids. We’ve planned it since we were fifteen.

I didn't say any of those things though. “Yeah, since high school.”

He only nodded in response. We walked quietly. The sun had set hours ago and only the bright light of the moon guided us along the shore.

“Drew mentioned you were escaping some lady problems in Jacksonville.” 

“She told you that, huh?” He ran a hand through his hair.

“She did.” A wry smile curved my lips.

“I was seeing someone…sort of…briefly. She wanted more and I didn’t. It didn’t go over well,” he finished. 

My mind conjured a blonde bimbo, all long legs and platinum hair, keying his car. Whatever he'd done, I'm sure he'd deserved it. Commitment-phobes irked me. 

We walked a while silently before we drifted closer and our shoulders grazed. Nerves tingled and goosebumps formed. My breathing hitched, my mind hazy with the energy that bounced between us. I slowed down and put my palm to my forehead.

“Are you okay?” Tristan placed a warm hand on my forearm.

“Yeah, the wine.” The wine plus Tristan’s nearness had my brain bubbling with arousal.