Second Chance Summer (Chance Series, #1) (10 page)

“I swear I haven’t done anything.” The “yet” is unspoken.

“Then you’re planning something.”

He doesn’t say a thing as I get in, my eyes moving warily to his. He merely shrugs a shoulder and pulls out of Luce’s drive, following Adam’s car.

“That’s a yes.” I sit back and sigh.

“That’s an “I’m choosin’ not to answer,” Kia, not a yes or no.”

“Am I gonna hate you by the end of the day?”

“You could never hate me.” He chuckles and shoots me an amused glance. I scowl. “Could you?”

“Uh, well, I strongly dislike you on occasion.”

“On occasion?”

“Yeah.”

“How often are these occasions?”

“It depends how often you want to ask me endless stupid questions.” I swat his chest lightly, and he grabs my hand. His fingers lace between mine and he settles our hands around the gearstick so he can change up. I swallow, my thumb involuntarily stroking across his hand.

I’ve fucked him in two different ways, yet he’s here acting like I haven’t ignored him for three days. He makes a big deal when I pretend we never happened but here he is… Doing that exact thing.

This makes no sense to me. At all. But if he can do it, I can, too.

“I have one more question,” he says gruffly, glancing at me.

“Go on,” I say warily.

“Are you gonna be wearing that dress all day?”

I suck my bottom lip between my teeth and look at him innocently. “Why?”

“I… You can’t answer a question with a question.”

“Fine. No, I won’t be.” I cross one of my legs over the other, my dress sliding up my thigh. Reese stretches his fingers on the steering wheel.

“You won’t be?”

“No. We’re going to the beach, right?” He nods. “Well, then. I’ve got my bikini on underneath. I’ll be wearing that.”

“Just that?”

“No, Reese,” I say dryly. “I have a trench coat in my beach bag I was planning on putting on when we get there.”

He’s silent for a second, his eyes flicking to me and back to the road again a few times before he says, “I like it when you turn on the attitude.”

“I don’t have an attitude!”

“Like that.”

“I don’t have an attitude!” I repeat, shifting in my seat. “Do I?”

“Yeah, you do, baby. And I feel like I need to respond with my own attitude.”

“The one that is supposed to sweep me off my feet, right? That attitude?”

We turn off-road, taking the shortcut we used last summer, and Reese nods. “That attitude.”

“And how exactly is that attitude going to help you now?”

The truck swerves suddenly and stops at the side of the empty road. My hand is released, and I hear the click as Reese undoes his seatbelt. He leans over toward me, one hand on the back of my seat and the other resting on my thigh.

I look up from where his hand is on my leg and straight into his eyes. His nose brushes against mine as he breathes out across my lips. My eyes shut slowly, and his fingers dig into my skin a little.

“This attitude,” he whispers huskily, his probing hand moving further up my leg until it reaches my bikini bottoms. He slips a finger under the waistband, running his finger along my skin from my hip to the clenching muscles between my legs, not touching them, and back again. His breath moves across my mouth as he breathes heavier than usual, and I can do nothing but sit here and let him do whatever. I’m frozen in place with anticipation. I’m blazing hot wherever he’s touching me, and everywhere he isn’t is ice cold.

I tilt my head back slightly, but he pulls away. I open my eyes and stare at a sea of gold flecked hazel. Hardened gold flecked hazel. Yep. He’s pissed.

“If you kiss me right now,” he breathes, his face as hard as granite. “There isn’t a chance in hell we’ll make it to that fucking beach today.”

I say nothing as he slides his hand from my panty-line and sits back in the driver’s seat. He takes my hand again and starts the car, pausing only to ghost his lips across each of my knuckles. I let him slide the gear stick between our hands; our fingers stuck together, and rest my head back to look out of the window.

What the hell was all that? I can’t even… Just what?

~

Luce folds her arms across her chest, staring at the windbreak. “I am not hitting it into the sand!”

“Why? Are you scared you’ll break a nail?” Adam mocks, grabbing it and knocking the wooden pole in with a rock.

“If I break a nail, Adam, it’ll be because it’s got itself embedded in your cheek after I bitch-slap you.” She grabs her towel from the sand next to him and sets it down a few feet away. His eyes follow her as she pulls her dress over her head and lies back, looking out at the sea. I chew the inside of my cheek, fighting my grin, and Adam looks at me.

“What?”

“Nothin’.” I release my cheek from between my teeth and let the grin take over.

“She on her period? She’s been a moody bitch ever since she got in my damn car,” Adam grumbles.

“Brothers,” I explain.

“What was it this time?” Reese pulls his shirt off, and my eyes wander the muscles that stretch across his stomach. The muscles my fingers swept across just days before. “Kia?”

“Hm?” I look up, ignoring his smug smirk. “Oh, her ass.”

“What about it?” Adam throws the rock aside.

“Somethin’ about it growing. Damn, I dunno, Ad. I tune those three out half the time.”

“Nothin’ wrong with her ass,” he grumbles. “Looks all right to me.”

“Just all right?” Luce looks up and over at him. “Not amazing? Not even a “great ass?” Just “all right?””

“Did I say it wasn’t great?”

“No, but you didn’t exactly say it was, either.”

“I-”

Reese slaps a hand against his shoulder and chuckles. “Give it up, man. She’ll just keep going until you give her what she wants – and even then she won’t be satisfied.”

My eyes narrow at him, my lips thinning. He couldn’t have added another meaning into that sentence if he’d tried. I wish he’d just come right out and say it.

“It’s true. No matter what we do, it’s always wrong.”

“That’s not true,” I throw back at him, sliding my dress over my head and shoving it in my bag. I scoop the volleyball up and look over my shoulder as I walk toward the net they set up. “You get some things right, but it’s so damn funny watching you get it wrong that we can’t bear to tell you.”

Reese’s eyes glide up body, and he might as well be burning my bikini away with them they’re so hot. “Yeah?” Our eyes meet, and in his I see pure fire of both the angry and sexy kind. “Pretty sure I know exactly what I get right with you.”

Adam makes a half-laugh, half-cough noise and clears his throat. I ignore him, keeping my eyes trained on Reese’s.

“Then you have no excuse to get it wrong, do you?”

He approaches me and grabs the ball, glancing at my chest. “Why don’t we find out?”

“We could… But if I’m honest, I like it when you do get it wrong.”

“Why’s that?” His lips quirk upwards.

“Because you hate being wrong, so I know you’ll try again, and as long as you keep trying to get it right, it means you care.” I take the ball back from him and kick Luce’s foot as I walk past her. She grumbles but gets up and follows me.

We take our positions on our side of the net and wait for the guys to join us. They both saunter over but, as usual, Adam pales in comparison to his best friend. At least he does in my eyes. I serve the ball, and we hit it backward and forward a few times until a smart drop shot from Adam draws me close to the net. I jump forward and spike it back over, scoring the point for us.

“Kia?” Reese mutters, stepping up to the net.

“What?”

“As long as you let me care, I’m gonna try. Even when you piss me the hell off.”

I smile a little and glance down at the sand. “You just wanna get in my pants again, Reese Pembleton.”

“Maybe I do,” he acquiesces. “But as much as I like being inside your pants, I like seeing you smile even more. Even when I’m pissed at you.”

“All right, you’re pissed at me. I get it,” I grumble.

He sighs.

I look at him. “Can I tell you something?”

“What?”

I hook one of my fingers through the net. “You got it right that time.”

“I thought you weren’t gonna tell me when I got it right.”

“I wasn’t.” I watch as the volleyball sails over his head and lands on the sand next to him and beam. “But it distracted you long enough for Luce to score us a second point.”

I laugh and turn, skipping away from the net. Luce puts her hand up, and I slap it in a high five.

“That was dirty, Kia James,” Reese calls.

“Oh, you know me.” I spin and put a hand on my hip, my amused grin matching his. “I like to play dirty. Besides, you’re not playing right unless you’re playing dirty.”

Luce laughs loudly, smacking the ball back to a chuckling Adam. Reese smirks, stepping backward slowly. He stretches his arms up, flexing his biceps just as Adam hits the ball to me. I do a double-take, moving for the ball but missing it by a mile. Reese drops his arms with a smug quirk of his lips, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

“You bastard,” I mutter, knowing he’s just played me the same way I played him a few minutes ago. The way we can switch from a serious conversation to sexual banter without batting an eye amazes me.

“Am I playin’ right now?” He laughs.

“No,” I call back.

He stops laughing and frowns. “No?”

I bend over and pick up the ball, tucking it under my arm as I flick my hair over my shoulder, shooting him my most innocent smile. “You’re still wearin’ your shorts, aren’t you?”

“Removal of them can be arranged, baby.” He rakes his eyes across my body again. “But that’s definitely a two-player game only.”

“You two just need to rip each other’s clothes off,” Luce puts in. “All this sexual tension is making
me
want to rip someone’s clothes off, so fuck knows how you feel.”

Adam coughs. “These are old shorts. I wouldn’t mind if they got ripped.”

“They’d be the only thing belonging to you that is ripped.”

Adam stops and stares at her for a moment. “You know what, Luce? I’ve always had this fantasy about making you really, really wet.”

I blink in shock, and his statement has had the same effect on my scarlet-haired best friend.

“You what?” she sputters.

He ducks under the net and repeats himself, “I said; I’ve always wanted to make you really, really, wet.”

She backs off as he approaches her with a mischievous gleam in his eye. “Oh, no!” she cries, realization setting in of what he actually means.

Adam takes off running, and she squeaks as she scrambles against the sand. I laugh as he chases her across the beach, finally catching her and hoisting her over his shoulder. Luce curses at him and beats his back through her laughter, only stopping when he runs into the water.

Reese grabs me from behind, and I scream. Reese tightens his arms around me and buries his face in the side of my neck. His whole body is shaking with laughter, and I take a deep breath to calm the frantic beating of my heart.

“You’re a jackass,” I breathe out. “You scared the crap outta me.”

“Maybe, but you think I’m a hot jackass,” he replies against my neck. He kisses the spot below my ear, his lips lingering there the way they did days ago.

“That’s a good compromise.”

“Mhmm.” He kisses my neck again, and I turn my face toward him.

“What are you doing?”

“Stealing a kiss. Kind of.”

I hear Luce scream another curse at Adam. I look over at the Sea and she’s standing waist deep in the water, soaking wet.

“Looks like Ad finally managed to get her wet,” I comment.

Reese’s lips leave my neck as he looks up and laughs once. “Yeah, shame it isn’t in the way he was really hoping for.”

I slap his creeping hands away from my stomach and dance toward the sea. “Is that all you think about?”

“Yep. Even if you’re in a bikini like that.”

“Like this? Is there any other kind of bikini?”

“Yep.” He grabs my hands, spins me, and tugs me into the Sea as gentle waves roll over our feet. “The kind that lives on my bedroom floor.”

“Or the one that happens to come loose in the sea and floats away?” I raise a knowing eyebrow.

His eyes light up. “Exactly. I’m glad we understand each other.”

“Don’t even think about it, Reese,” I warn him, fighting to get my hands free. His deep laugh goes right through my body as he pulls me against his chest, staggering slightly as the full force of the waves hit us.

“Think about it?” he grins. “Never.”

CHAPTER 7

“I cannot believe you actually did it. I can’t. Wait, where are we going?” I sit up straight and tap the dashboard. “This isn’t the way home!”

“I know. And I did warn you I was thinking about it.”

“Where are we going?” I repeat. “And I know you did, but I didn’t actually think you’d try to undo my damn bikini top!”

“And I would have succeeded had you not tied the bottom string tighter than a nun’s vagina,” he says. “And it’s a surprise.”

“Damn good job I did,” I mutter under my breath.

If I didn’t, the poor kid just meters from us probably would have been scarred for life.

“You’re still worried about that kid?” he laughs.

I look over at him, some of his damp hair sticking to his forehead and some curling at the collar of his shirt. “He was like, six! What would you have done if a girl flashed her boobs at you when you were six?”

Reese grins widely, looking at me as he pulls up by a load of trees.

“In fact, you know what? Don’t answer that, okay?” I roll my eyes, and he laughs. “Can you tell me where we are yet?”

“It’s a surprise, Kia.” He repeats and jumps from the truck. I do the same.

“I know that, but we’re here now.” I look at the trees stretching up into the sky.

“No, we’re not.”

“What do you mean we’re not? It’s just a bunch of trees.” I motion around us. “Not much of a surprise.”

He smirks. “That’s why it’s a surprise. It’s surprising, y’know.”

I raise an eyebrow as he steps forward and takes my hand, tugging me along after him. “’Cause you haven’t surprised me enough today,” I mutter and clamp my jaw shut, branches crunching under my sandals.