The Sterling Boys (21 page)

He grins as I struggle to do things like breathe and stand. It's rather frustrating to let him continue spelling out his delicious punishment for me when all I want to do is get started.

"We'll argue, but we'll always get through it because we love each enough to make it through anything. You'll have to go out on dates with me even after your name is Sterling. And you'll also have to let me take you on vacations, even after we expand our family. My favorite part of growing up with the Sterlings was a family vacation. It's why I was always so close to my cousins."

My tears come out harder as the promise of my dream future keeps getting better, and I look up to see him smiling down at me.

"Yes. I'll marry you," I choke out, hiccupping again.

His throaty chuckle is one of amusement, and he thumbs away a few of my tears. "Of course you will. It's your punishment. You can't get out of your punishment, after all," he jokes, bending down to kiss me softly, but I break the restraint he has when I jump up to wrap my legs around his waist.

The kiss becomes hungry, and I forget about the exhausting day, or the fact that I'm standing here in a pair of hideous black shorts that touch my knees, a shirt that has three coffee stains, and the fact that my hair is in absolute shambles. I also ignore the fact that Dane looks sexy as hell while I look like a complete wreck. I'm back in his arms, and his ring is on my finger.

"I love you, Rain. Don't leave me again," he murmurs against my lips, and my tears fall harder while my smile gets bigger.

"I'm not going anywhere," I promise.

Before I can even process what's going on, we're out on the balcony that I'm thankful is private, and he's dropping me to the oversized chaise lounge. My ugly shorts slide off as Dane works over me, keeping me under him as he kisses me.

My shirt peels off next, and my breath goes hoarse when he starts kissing his way down, paying attention to every bit of my body in his slow descent. My legs tremble when he reaches the apex of my thighs, and his breath teases me in all the most neglected places.

He places a sweet, gentle kiss on the inside of my thigh, and the waves crashing below drown out my sharp intake of air. He moves to the other side, showing it the same attention, and I start the medley of whimpers and gasps, becoming a repetitive machine as he works his way up. Then it all turns into strangled moans and girly cries. Bless him and his tongue.

When he finds the most sensitive spot on my body, his name comes out in a prayer-like whisper.

I can feel his grin against me, and I rock my hips, urging him on. Every flick of his tongue is more amazing than the last, and within minutes, I'm screaming loud enough to let everyone outside know what's going on as a powerful, stomach-clenching sensation rips through me, carrying me to a place I've missed.

I'm glad only the ocean can see me right now. The beach is fortunately not in view from this corner. And it's really dark, thankfully.

As he starts to come up my body, I stop him, pushing him into a standing position as I sit up on the chaise. He starts to speak when I jerk his pants open, and unveil the hard piece of his body that I have truly missed. The second I take him into my mouth, his body trembles against me, giving me power.

I twirl my tongue around his tip, tasting the small bud of wet excitement, and then I take him deeper, reveling in the way his hands go to my hair and his grip gets desperate. Each stroke makes his throaty growls more carnal, and each twist of my tongue has him pushing harder into my mouth.

But before the finale can happen, he has me picked up and pushed back on the chaise as his body covers mine. He's inside me with one hard thrust, and my eyes roll back in my head as our bases collide.

His breath of reverence resonates in my ear, letting me know how much he's missed me, and I swear I love him even more in this moment. He stays still inside me, making me squirm with need as his lips slowly claim mine, and I rock my hips against him, urging him to move.

Finally, he does, and a harsh grunt slides through my lips when he pushes in hard enough to jolt my body. I cling to him as I relinquish all control and get lost in his incredible rhythm.

The sweet mist of the ocean kisses us even though we're so far up here, giving our bodies a sheen of salty moisture as Dane reminds me just how good we are together. My nails slide against his back when he finds that spot deep within me that no other man has ever touched, and my toes curl almost painfully as my body prepares for the wave of ecstasy that is sure to follow soon.

It feels so good that it's almost painful when my body erupts, close to causing me to black out from the overwhelming sensations surging through my body. He tugs my hair back, muffling my scream as he devours my lips, his tongue sweeping around with familiarity as he drives me out of my mind. My body shakes with aftershocks that would leave earthquakes envious as the tingles spread from my scalp to the tips of my toes.

His thrusts quicken and his grip tightens just before he says my name in a whisper that's almost swallowed up by the sounds of the waves below. He stills inside me as I continue to tremble, still struggling to catch my breath and come down from a high like I've never had.

"I love you," he says breathlessly, laughing when I try to mumble it back, but fail miserably because words are too hard to form right now.

He kisses my cheek, my nose, and my forehead, making me giggle lightly, and he pulls me closer. And we just lie there for minutes or hours, I'm not sure. But it's peaceful, and I'm scared if I move too soon, the dream will end.

"I take it my punishment has started," I finally murmur, though I sound a little drunk.

"Yep. But I'm not done punishing you tonight. Want to try to make it to the bedroom this time?"

"You'll have to carry me. There's no way I can walk."

He laughs as he stands and scoops me up, making it seem effortlessly, and I smile as I stare at my ring. I'm marrying Dane Sterling.

One week later

DANE

"When are you planning the wedding?" Raya asks Rain, sounding excited as Kade comes to rest his arm across her shoulders.

"Next month," Rain answers, her beautiful grin reminding me just how fucking lucky I am.

"Wow, that's soon," Raya says in surprise.

I come to sit down beside Rain, but she crawls into my lap and rests her head on my shoulder before pressing a kiss to my neck. Really can't handle all that. Everyone is still here, and all I want to do is drag her out of here.

"What about you two? When's the big day?" I ask, taking a sip of my beer as Rain gets comfortable in my lap.

"We're thinking in the spring. Raya wants to have the wedding at the vineyard."

She grins as she leans in and kisses him. Now I understand why he went so insane. I also apologized for kicking him out of my club, considering I would have gone just as crazy to talk to Rain. Hell, I flew to Florida.

"This is really pissing me off," Maverick says as he joins us, his eyes on the open book in his hands. "Mr. Harrison's cat was
not
my fault. Corbin's the one who had the chainsaw."

Raya's eyes go wide as she swings her head toward the brooding man in our living room. "What?"

Rain laughs while shaking her head, but she ignores Raya. "You were the one who had the chainsaw. Corbin had the pole saw. Neither of you idiots should ever work with tools. The chainsaw hit the cat's tail. Not the pole saw."

"We dropped them at the same time. It can't be proven that it was the chainsaw that cut off that cat's tail."

"A cat's tail?" Raya prompts, turning puce.

"The cat lived," Rain says dismissively. "I paid to have it taken to the animal hospital while those fools gave up on cutting down the telephone pole."

"You were cutting down a telephone pole?" Kade asks, his interest clearly piqued.

"We were fifteen and Mr. Harrison threatened to call our parents to tell on us for having a party. He didn't have a cell phone, so we thought we'd cut down the telephone pole," Maverick says, shrugging as though it's not a big deal.

In retrospect, I probably should have intervened during that fiasco.

"Neither of them could work their tools," Kode jokes as he walks in, his pun fully intended.

Maverick glares at him as we all laugh at his expense, and Kode just smirks.

"The point is, you gave me all the blame for the cat. You need to fix that before the movie goes out."

Rain grins teasingly, and Maverick scowls. "I mean it," he growls.

"Uh huh. And if I don't?" she taunts.

"Don't push me. The prank wars ended on a truce. I'd hate to rip up that piece of paper."

"For the love of God, Rain, make it Corbin. Don't let Maverick start that shit again," Kode groans, causing all of us to laugh. "It took me a month to get rid of all the blue dye he put in my hair."

It took Rain longer to get rid of the green dye.

Apparently the same thought crosses her mind, because her adorable scowl forms as she glares at Maverick. "Don't threaten me, Maverick Sterling. I can sneak into your house just as easily as you once snuck into mine."

The silent standoff between Maverick and Rain ends when Kode grows bored and steps in between them on his way to Rain. I tense, still not fully over what he did, but trying my damnedest to get there for the sake of the girl I love.

He kisses her cheek, and pulls back quickly to offer me a tight smile. "I'm gone. See you guys tomorrow."

"You're not staying for steaks?" Rain asks.

That makes my scowl form. Damn Dale stole my spot at the grill.

"Nah. I've got to go to New York in two days, and I haven't read anything about the business that wants me to invest. I should probably at least know if they're legit before I fly out there."

Rain frowns but nods as Kode makes his way out. Then she gives me all of her attention.

"What about the country club? It's nice, accessible, and it'll be the perfect venue for a wedding. Not to mention, I'm sort of screwing the owner, so we can get it pretty cheap."

I cough on my beer as everyone laughs, and I roll my eyes at the girl grinning at me. She loves embarrassing the shit out of me.

"We can fly out to Vegas and get married tonight for all I care. We'll get married anywhere you want."

"Vegas," she says to herself, her eyes wandering off to the vacant air above her. "I'll think about that."

I smile as I bend to kiss her shoulder, and the door opens. Rain's neck is just inches away, so I start kissing that instead of seeing who just came in.

"Damn! Oh my gosh! When did you do that?" Rain gasps, practically rocketing off my lap as she rushes to greet someone.

I look up to see long, dark hair, but the face is covered by the blonde of my dreams.

"I needed a change, so I changed... a lot of things. Even my house. This is just part of the new package," Tria says. Whoa, wait. Tria?

I stand up to see around Rain, and sure enough, it's Tria. The girl I've never seen as anything but a platinum blonde is standing here with hair that midnight would envy. It's a jarring change, and I laugh as Rain runs her fingers over her sister's hair, inspecting it as though it's a wig.

"You moved? Why didn't you tell me?" Rain asks absently.

"I was going to. I was worried you'd... well, I just wanted to handle it."

Maverick frowns as he walks over to me and whispers, "She was afraid Rain would ask us to help her move her stuff. That's what she was going to say, isn't it?"

"Probably," I mutter dryly. It's not like they've put forth any real effort to make the girl less skittish around them.

"Come, sit, eat. Dale's finishing up the steaks, and there are people all over the yard. Uncle Paul and Aunt Margaret are out there with Raya's dad."

"And Uncle John is busy making Eleanor grin," Raya adds with a wide grin.

The man is definitely smooth, but then again, all of Raya's family is smooth. That's worrisome.

"He wouldn't do anything like that," Raya says, her eyes on me. I swear she can read minds sometimes. "They don't choose marks so close to home, and even if they did, my family wouldn't cross that line. They've only stolen Kade's watch once, and that was just because he was an ass."

Kade laughs lightly while leaning back, putting his arm around her waist. Raya is constantly torn between scolding her family and defending them. I don't envy her for that. But they are definitely interesting people.

It's funny to see only her family sitting at the poker table. I suppose everyone has learned their lesson; if you see a Drivel with cards, stay away. Raya doesn't have the Drivel last name, but she does have the powerhouse punch with a deck of cards. I've definitely been burned.

"They're having a major poker tournament later. Only Raya's family. It gets nasty," Kade says, grinning when he sees my line of view.

"Peachy," Raya grumbles.

"Britt kicked Joey's ass in poker earlier," Maverick says.

"She kicked Uncle Joey's ass?" Raya asks in shock. "How? The man stacks the deck."

"She has an eidetic memory. She was counting the cards and realized he was cheating, so she started paying attention to his sleight of hand. He's in awe right now. Wants to take her to Vegas to count cards and stuff."

"Not happening," I chime in, quickly shutting that down.

"Britt already told him no. Said it wasn't for her," Maverick adds.

I can't help but grin. Britt's the easiest teenager in the world. It's hard to believe no one ever took the time to love her. It's everyone else's loss.

"You want to meet some of Dane's friends?" Rain asks Tria.

"Actually, I'm about to go. I've got some work to do on my new line. I just came by to see you. I'll call you later, though."

Rain frowns, but she lets her sister walk away. Tria offers a few weak smiles on her way out the door, and I feel bad that she's so uncomfortable around my family.

"You guys have to start trying harder," Rain scolds as soon as Corbin walks in, his mouth full of cheese and crackers.

"What'd I do?" he asks, his voice muffled by the food, and he raises his arms.

"Tria is scared to damn death of all of you. I want us all to be close."

"Hey, I've invited her out with us, and she turned me down," Maverick says, pouting a little as though his oversized ego is wounded.

"Of course she said no. She's terrified of you. You have to show her the sweet Maverick that tried taping Mr. Harrison's cat's tail back on, even though the crazed thing tried to claw you to pieces."

"He did cut its tail off, so it had a reason to be clawing him up," Corbin chirps, prompting a few laughs.

Maverick turns his glare on him. "I didn't do that. It was you."

From there, the cat-tail bobbing goes into a heated dispute of
it was you, no it was you.
Rain rolls her eyes and sits down when she sees it's a lost cause.

She resumes her place on my lap, and I sigh happily as chatter erupts everywhere. It's easy to ignore the rest of the world when I've got exactly who I want in my arms. It's even easier when she's looking at me the way I only ever thought I'd get to dream about.

I used to wake up thinking I was happy enough. Now I could rewrite the Webster Dictionary's definition to the word happy.

Thunder crackles outside, and everyone stops talking.

"Ah, hell. Is it really going to rain today?" Maverick groans.

I can't help but grin when Rain gets giddy in my lap. Nothing better than a rainy day.

The End.

Coming Next in The Sterling Shore Series,
Loving War.
Sneak peek available.

Chapter One

Kode

Maverick and Corbin are completely wasted, and while I'm entertained, I'm also incredibly annoyed. They'll end up in jail tonight. No doubt about it.

I laugh as one of the girls rolls her eyes and walks away from Maverick after whatever he whispered in her ear. He holds his hands up, confused by her walk-off response.

He recovers quickly and finds a new girl to stalk, so I return to sipping my beer and scanning the scene. I came out tonight to have fun, and all I've done is think about Rain being with Dane. I know he's the one she wants, but it doesn't make it any easier to fucking swallow.

We drove all the way to come to a bar where the women didn't know the two idiots I call cousins. They've really ruined their chances of picking up women in Sterling Shore. Not even Rain can save them anymore.

Rain. Fuck. I have to stop thinking about her, and everything I think about is somehow tied to her. There's nothing I can say, do, or even think that doesn't trigger some sort of connection to the girl I chased for too many years. I need to get drunk. And I need a distraction... a female distraction. Someone who doesn't look the least little bit like the girl who refuses to leave my dreams.

As the beers keep coming, I get a little drunker. The drunker, the better. It'll numb my mind.

My distraction serves itself up on a mouthwatering platter. Dark hair that touches a small waist, crossed tan legs that are beautifully exposed, and a tight little short dress catches my eyes. That'll fucking do.

She looks to be alone, which is perfect. That means I won't need a wingman to distract her friend, and I won't have to deal with some guy she might be with.

She's all the way at the bar, and I'm in the far back. This booth is perfect, because I can view her sexy profile. I can't see her face from this angle because her hair is in the way, but judging by the way every guy in here keeps glancing her way, trying to gather the courage to approach her, I'm confident she's going to be just as hot from the front as she is from the side.

She dismisses the first guy who finally has the balls to take a shot, and I grin. She's not going to be easy prey. All the better.

The bartender slides a drink in front of her. It’s from one of her admirers most likely, because she shakes her head to refuse it, and he carries it over to a sulking guy. My grin only grows. This is going to be fun.

***

TRIA

Why did I come here? I don't know. I guess I just wanted to be out of Sterling Shore and away from everyone who knows me. It's fun to be someone mysterious instead of the girl everyone acquaints with Dane and Rain.

I love my sister, and I'm so thankful we're getting along—finally—but I'd like for someone to talk to me about something other than the beautiful couple. I get it. I really do. They are a dream match, and she wrote an entire book about him. Several, actually. I doubt there has ever been a romance she wrote where Dane wasn't the lead role in her mind. But still... It would be nice if someone was genuinely interested in
just
me.