“What do you mean?”
“What was your plan? After your eyes met and you determined he was the one, then what?”
She rolls her eyes. “We lived happily ever after, of course.”
“What else?”
“You mean in between that? I guess I always imagined being courted in that old fashioned way. Wooed. Flowers. Romantic dates. Wondering when I’d get that next kiss.”
“Did you ever think you’d sit around trying to come up with excuses why you shouldn't be with him?”
“Of course not.” She smirks. “Oh, I see what you're doing there. You're right. I should enjoy it. Speaking of that, I’m gonna run in the house real quick. And you should watch my brother. I think he’s showing off for you.”
I glance out at the ocean and see Aiden doing a flip on the wakeboard.
He tries another one, crashes, then gets pulled back up. He jumps the waves, getting a ton of air, and doing tricks. Turning around backwards, grabbing his board as he jumps, kicking his board up behind his butt, and doing more flips.
After showing off for a long time, he strides out of the water, plops his wet, glistening body on top of me, and gives me a steamy kiss.
“What's that's for?”
“I want you to know how I feel. And right now, I feel exhilarated.”
“Showing off exhilarates you?”
He grins. “Jumping the wakes and getting all that air is kinda a rush.”
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Speak French.”
“Besides that?”
“I can’t read your mind.
You need to start telling me what you’re thinking. Even if you think I can’t handle it.”
“I think you could handle anything,” I say dreamily.
Although the feel of his hard, wet body on top of mine makes me want to pretend to be an evil queen and banish him to my turret room.
Forever.
“So tell me what you’re thinking right now,” he says, killing my daydream of him tied to the bed.
“I don’t think you want to know what I’m thinking.”
“But I do.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. What I’m thinking is that I hate you.”
He kisses my neck, his mouth feeling cool from the ocean. “I’m lying on top of you, practically attacking you, and that’s what you’re thinking?”
“Yeah. Do you know how many freaking times it took me before I could ride into shore? I don’t think I ever would’ve gotten it right if B hadn’t come out and helped me,” I stupidly blurt out.
“Who’s B?”
“Oh. Um, he’s the Keats guy. My stepdad gave me my first board, a few pointers, and then told me the best way to learn was just go out and do it. He was wrong, by the way. It’s much easier to learn what to do on shore first. Anyway, that’s how B became my first big crush.”
“And you’re first big love.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you still love him?”
“Sometimes I think I do.”
“And other times?” he says, his eyes holding mine.
“I think I’m falling for someone else,” I say breathlessly.
Ohmigawd! I can’t believe I just said that.
Why did I say that?
Why would I do that to him?
Give him hope just to crush him in a few days.
God, I suck.
“So is there anything you've ever wanted do that you haven't been able to do?” I ask, steering the conversation back to his athletic abilities.
He rolls over, positioning himself next to me, and looks at me with fiery eyes.
“There are a lot of things I want to do that I haven’t done yet.”
“Like what?” I reply, praying it’s something like skydiving or mountain climbing.
“I’ve been dreaming of slowly undressing you.”
I stop breathing for a second as my heart jumps into my throat. “Is that something you’d like to do soon?”
He rolls me to face him, while gliding his hand downward over my hip and thigh. Then he parts my legs with his knee, putting it in the spot he does when we dance, intertwining our bodies. Then he grabs my ass and guides it even closer, my crotch now firmly pushing on his thigh.
“Yes, very soon. And I want to be just like this,” he says, placing his mouth on my neck. “Only naked.”
I grab the hair at the back of his head and push his face toward me so I can kiss him.
When his tongue takes possession of my mouth, I groan, my body purposefully pressing into his.
Damian yells from the water, “Dude, it’s my turn on the wakeboard. Come drive for me.”
Aiden ignores him, choosing instead to slide his tongue across my lips.
Then he says, “I suppose I better go.”
I’m too breathless from the kiss to even reply. I just sort of nod.
God, he is hot.
And I don’t just mean the way he looks.
It’s that strong, almost alpha male, possessiveness that I feel when he’s determined. An electrical charge backed by godly powers.
Like he’s a human version of Poseidon’s triton.
Aiden gets up and yells at Damian. “I’m gonna grab some water. I’ll be right back.”
“Grab me one too,” Damian says.
As Aiden runs up to the pool bar, Damian pulls the wave runner up into the sand, hops off it, and then plops down next to me.
“Jeez, when I said you should
have some fun, I didn't mean you should accost the poor boy on the beach.”
“Jealous?”
“Totally. Peyton has the best ass. I want to own it. Explore it's surrounding areas.”
I laugh. “You need to stay out of that part of town.” He laughs, although I’m pretty sure he’s completely serious, so I say, “Damian, if you really like her, shouldn't you want to take it slow?”
“I am taking it slow because what I really want to do is wave one of your magic wands, make you disappear, and throw her across a chaise and fuck her until she can’t move.”
“Damian!”
“Come on, don't pretend like you don't want Aiden to do that to you. You two have so much chemistry if you don't do it pretty soon you may combust and kill us all.”
That makes me laugh. “Maybe, but if she's really your future wife, you should wait a little. I mean, what would you tell your kids?”
“I’d tell them Mom’s ass looked so good in her bikini I couldn't help myself. My sons will understand.”
“And your daughters?”
“We’re not having daughters if Inga’s palm reading isn’t total bullshit. But if we did, I’d tell them the love at first sight story. Perpetuate the future generation’s obsession with fairy tales.” He grins at me. “Maybe I’d even tell them she was a mermaid.”
I smack him. “Very funny.”
“Do you think your mom and Tommy waited?”
“Ha. No. I’m pretty sure they did it on their first date. But, then, if a guy as hot as Tommy took me and my daughter on a private jet to a Russian ballet, I wouldn’t have waited either.”
“You and Aiden remind me of them.”
“What did you mean?”
“When you aren’t obsessing about your lack of a future and let yourself have fun, you just glow. Hell, you both glow.”
“Do you like him?”
“Yeah, Keats, I like him. But just as a forewarning, don’t plan on us hanging out tonight. I’m taking Peyton on our first date.”
“Where are you going?”
“We’re gonna take the jeep, drive up the mountain, and look for shooting stars.”
“In the words of your father,
So you’re taking her parking
?”
He laughs out loud. “Oh my gosh. I about died when he said that to us in front of everyone. I’m sure I looked completely guilty.”
“We both did. The funny thing is that never once crossed my mind.”
“That’s because you were hell bent on acting out some script you were writing. Where they laid on top of a mountain, held hands, and made wishes on shooting stars.”
“That seems like a long time ago.”
“Things were just simpler then.”
“Yeah, they were,” I say quietly, biting my lower lip.
“No. No. No. Don’t start with the pout.”
Aiden comes back, tosses Damian a bottle of water, and says to me, “Why are you pouting?”
“Because I’m taking your sister out tonight. She’s jealous.”
“Jealous?” Aiden says, looking a little confused.
“She loves looking at the stars.”
“I’m sure we can find some stars of our own,” Aiden says, kissing my cheek before running back out into the water with Damian.
Peyton comes wandering back out to our chaises with Sven in tow. She’s carrying a laptop and Sven has two of his wickedly strong hurricane drinks on a tray. He sets them on a side table next to us and then heads back into the house.
“These drinks are really strong,” I tell her.
“Perfect. I need to relax. I can’t relax around him. It’s like I’m strung out, waiting for the next hit. The next kiss.”
“If you break into song about how his love is your drug, I may have to smack you.”
She laughs, sipping and watching Damian on the wakeboard. “Wow, he’s good on that thing. Almost as good as Aiden. I wouldn’t think a guy that plays guitar would be so athletic.”
“Damian is like Aiden. There isn’t anything he can’t do if he puts his mind to it.” I laugh. “It pissed me off when we were younger. I was always trying to keep up with him. So what’s the computer for?”
“Tell me that you have internet here and that you won’t laugh at what I’m about to do.”
“We have internet. The password is
crabbypatties.
And I’ll try not to laugh.”
She types on the laptop. “I’m about to match our horoscopes, so I need to know his birthday.”
I laugh, not because I think it’s funny but because I did the exact same thing when I was crushing on B. Horoscope matches. Magic Eight ball questions. Fortune cookies. Numerology. Anything to give me hope that we might be together someday.
“You’re laughing,” she says, scrunching up her nose at me.
“Only because I’ve done the same thing when obsessed with a boy.”
“Okay,” she says clicking away. “I’m a Virgo and he’s a, what?”
“An Aquarius. Smart. Creative. A little bit temperamental.”
“Hmm,” she says. “This says that when Virgo and Aquarius team up they can either bring out the best or worst of each other. It seems I have a rigid and theoretical approach to life.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, I’m big on theory. And list making. And I need a certain order in my life to function.”
I watch Damian out on the wakeboard, cutting as hard as he can across the wake and then racing up the side of the wave runner, trying to get ahead of Aiden. He’s going balls out. Not once thinking about anything other than the rush. “Damian isn’t that way at all. He’s the anti-list maker.”
“This says that Aquarians are poetic.” She pauses. “I guess that would fit since songs are basically poetry. Oh, here. It says that we can thrive on our differences and grow together as we learn about each other. That’s romantic, right?”
“Yes, it’s romantic. What else does it say?”
“It says he’s passionate, modern, hates routine, and seeks spiritual enlightenment, but that he can be opinionated and stubborn.”
“Wow. That’s pretty much on target, except it makes it sound like he’s kind of a slacker. And he’s not. He’s highly motivated.”
“Oh, my gosh. Listen to the end. The most positive aspect of their union is that their combined ambition can drive them to do miraculous things together. Their relationship is enlightening and full of pleasure.”
“I think the pleasure is referring to the mental kind,” I say as I watch Peyton lick her lips.
“He’s got amazing arms, don’t you think?” she asks dreamily.
I look at his biceps flexing to hold the rope. “Yeah, he’s got great arms. All that guitar playing, I suppose. And he loves to golf.”
“Really?” she says, her eyes getting big. “Me too. Well, I like to drive the beer cart.” She stops staring dreamily at him and says, “Okay, let’s match you and Aiden.”
“Oh, no. That’s okay. I don’t even know his sign.”
“Luckily, I do. Did you know on his birthday he’ll be 18? And that I’m already 19?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“We don’t really tell people.”
“Why? Were you held back?”
“In a way. We missed a year of school when my mom got cancer. It was the worst year of my life for lots of reasons. I was scared she’d die. Pissed I had to leave my friends and move to California. Although the worst part was watching her lose her hair. She had the most beautiful hair. Anyway, we’re both a year behind and part of what made me put
Go to boarding school
on my bucket list. I couldn’t handle it like Aiden could.”
I look at Aiden driving the wave runner, laughing, and having a great time. He now appears to be on a mission to make Damian crash. He’s driving in tight circles and trying to whip him around like you would to get someone off an innertube.