That One Summer (The Summer Series), Page 21

  He broke away from his drugging kisses, his lips hovering close. “Is this what you want?” Chris breathed into my mouth.

  He grabbed my leg and hooked it around his waist. I gasped as he pressed against me.

  This was what I wanted, he was what I wanted – of this I was certain, even if just for one night.

  I wanted Chris in every way.

  I bit my lip, answering his question by skimming my hand along his shoulder, down his chest, over his stomach and dipping below the water.

  Even in the shadows I could see his face transform – his eyes fluttered closed and he breathed out a long, shuddery breath across my neck. He wrapped his hand around mine, guiding me up and down below the water.

  This was madness. Our intensity for one another, the way our mouths found each other as if we fitted together so perfectly there was no question what was going to happen.

  “Tammy, look at me,” Chris said, his voice raspy.

  I lifted my eyes, almost shy, despite the way my hand slid across the most intimate part of him. He swallowed hard, stilling my movements.

  “Are you sure?”

  My lids were heavy and my body shivered against every sensation, against the slide of Chris’s palm over my belly as he brushed the backs of his fingers over my breast.

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  “Because if you want, I’ll stop,” he whispered, cupping my breast and kissing my neck.

  Like hell I wanted him to stop.

  I hooked my other leg around his waist, leaving nothing to his imagination. He claimed my mouth, kissing me so fiercely and rocking his hips against me. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

  This was really happening; it didn’t get any closer than this. Chris drew back a little and positioned himself to glide his way inside me. He was teasing, gentle, soothing me for what was to come before he pushed, and just before he did, panic twisted in my stomach.

  “Chris, wait,” I said.

  He froze. “What’s wrong?”

  I bit my lip, feeling awful for stopping right before, but better than after.

  “Do you, um, do you have … protection?” I asked, my voice small. I inwardly cringed, hoping it wasn’t a mood killer. My gaze lifted, expecting to see his face crease with disappointment.

  Instead he backed away a little, which was almost worse. His brows lifted and his eyes, once cloudy and deep with need, blinked as if clearing the fog.

  “Shit, Tam, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think.”

  This was what I had been afraid of, the sudden burst of reality slamming home. I braced myself for more apologies, for mutterings that what we had done was a mistake and it wouldn’t happen again.

  I cursed myself for stopping him, but some things were just non-negotiable.

  No part of him was touching me now. I wrapped my arms around myself, my body aching as the heights of the pleasure and heaven I had felt a mere moment before were ripped from me.

  “Hey, Tam.” His hand touched my cheek, forcing me to look at him. “It’s all right, we just got carried away is all, but we stopped in time.”

  I closed my eyes, feeling the hot moisture pool behind my lids.

  “Yeah, stopped before you did something you would live to regret,” I said, pushing away from the wall and moving to pass him.

  “Whoa, wait a sec.” His hand snaked around my wrist and he pulled me back. “This isn’t over, not for me,” he said seriously.

  I stared up at him, my mind whirring in maddening circles, fearing to hope.

  “What are you saying?” I whispered.

  He pulled me closer, circling his arms around my waist. “What I’m saying is I want to go to the ends of the Earth with you.”

  He swept a wet tendril of hair away from my brow, cupping my face, before lowering his mouth against mine so tenderly I melted against him.

  “And, furthermore, if we’re going to do this, we have to do it right. In every way.” His thumb brushed tenderly across the seam of my kiss-swollen lips.

  My heart swelled; I was falling for what could be the most amazing person I had ever met. It was almost impossible to comprehend that I was once so intimidated by him, hiding under tables and dreading the hours spent by his side on this trip. I knew this tender side to him was not always front and present, that it was often overshadowed by the equally brooding, bossy, moody part of him. But I couldn’t help but be completely and utterly in awe of all that was Chris. To me, he was bloody near-on perfect.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  I had never felt more alive.

  Chris turned around as I stepped out of the water and grabbed for my bikini. I slipped into it lightning fast. I glanced anxiously toward Chris’s back as he looked out over the ocean. My lips tilted up at the endearing gesture, considering the heat and passion of only moments before.

  Securing the knot at the nape of my neck, I scooped up Chris’s shorts.

  “All done. Here!”

  He turned in time to catch them.

  “Lucky they didn’t get swept away,” I said.

  “Well, that would have been awkward,” he said, pulling them on under the waterline. “I don’t see any fig leaves I could have used in their place.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I said, looking out at the dunes. “We could have gotten creative. Worst-case scenario we could have made you a nice mankini out of my bikini top.” I laughed.

  Chris grimaced, lifting himself out of the water. “I think I would have opted for a moonlight nudie run, for both our sakes.”

  I combed my fingers through the knotted tendrils of my hair. I may have been refreshed from the swim, but as the salty seawater dried on my skin it certainly didn’t leave me feeling clean.

  As if reading my very thoughts, Chris grabbed my hand. “Ready for that shower?”

  My eyes narrowed; he was just teasing me, and a shower was an impossibly cruel taunt.

  “You should never joke about such things,” I said, looking at him sceptically.

  “I wouldn’t dare,” he smirked and led me up the concrete steps. We reached the very top and stopped.

  “See?” he said, tilting his head forward.

  There it was – an outdoor beach shower. “Does it work?” I asked, trying not to dance on the balls of my feet.

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Before his last words had left his mouth the race was on.

  Not only did it work – and sure, it was cold, but I couldn’t have cared less – but it was clean, fresh water that flowed over my salty body and I had Chris by my side, playfully nuzzling my neck and skimming my ribcage in tortuous, ticklish circles.

  No one had ever made my heart pound so hard just by the look in their eye before. My body flooded with heat even after an ice-cold shower.

  The second thing I wanted perhaps more than a clean shower was to get back to the van and fast.

  ***

  Even walking back up the sandy dunes to the track seemed more manageable when Chris was holding my hand. I had to fight the urge to stop him in his tracks and kiss him like crazy, but he strode a long, determined path back to the van – so determined I struggled to keep up. As we made our way through the clearing, my heart rate spiked as I saw the panel van in the distance. We closed in and I instinctively moved to the back doors but Chris stopped me. Instead, he pulled me toward him and lifted me onto the bonnet of the car.

  I squealed at the unexpectedness of it. The engine still felt warm underneath me as Chris pushed his body between my legs, cupping his hand behind my neck and drawing a deep, passionate kiss from me. My insides were on fire and adrenalin coursed through me at the thought that he was going to do me on the bonnet of his car.

  Oh, how my life had changed.

  His hands rested on either side of my hips, and he leaned forward and stole another kiss.

  “Wait here,” he said against my lips, before he drew away and walked to the back of the van. I pressed my fingers to my lips, and, still tasting the remnants of hi
s salty kisses, I smiled. I hoped that he was searching for something in particular. So when he returned holding a … towel? I couldn’t help but feel bitterly disappointed.

  He threw it toward me, catching it before it engulfed my face.

  “Thanks,” I said, smiling weakly as I started to towel dry my hair. “What’s that?” I eyed the folded square of black fabric in his hand.

  “Oh, I thought you might want to do away with the flanny PJs tonight. I have a clean T-shirt.” He handed it over to me. “It will swim on you, but it will be more comfortable.”

  This time my smile was genuine as my fingers traced the soft black material in my lap. Here I was, like a sex-crazed nympho thinking about nothing but wanting him to grab a condom, and his first thought was getting me into comfortable clothes, not pulling me out of them. Chris had even changed into a dry pair of board shorts.

  I blanched at my wicked thoughts.

  I towel dried the end of my hair in a daze, my bones weary from a long day as I pushed my wanton desires aside.

  “Here.” He laughed, taking the towel from me, and, draping it over my head, rubbed vigorously, to the point that I complained.

  If he thought this was sexy …

  “Ow-ow-ow!”

  He pulled the towel away, breaking into a fit of laughter as he looked over my tousled hair, rubbed into the consistency of straw.

  “Shut up,” I said, glowering at him as I ran my fingers through the untamed mass.

  Chris smiled so brilliantly I couldn’t be mad for long. He grabbed for the T-shirt, flicked it out, and bunched it up to the neckline.

  “Arms up,” he announced.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “Well, I don’t fancy my chances of explaining to everyone how you managed to get pneumonia in the middle of summer,” he mused.

  I lifted my arms straight up, allowing him to drape the over-sized T-shirt over my head, yanking it free with a forceful pull as I poked my arms through the sleeves.

  Under the T-shirt, Chris’s hands skimmed around my back as he pulled the strings to my bikini free. A thrill shot through me. I may have been covered by the T-shirt, but it didn’t make what he was doing any less exciting. He moved up to the nape of my neck and gently tugged the cord with expert ease. The bikini fell away as he pulled the material free.

  I watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, his hands skimming along the edges of my breasts and down my ribcage to the bikini strings at my hips. My breath caught in my throat. He stilled for a moment, carefully watching my face for my reaction, before he slowly started to slide my bikini bottoms off me. I leaned back on my hands, lifting my bottom so he could free them and slide them down my legs.

  I had never felt sexier, perched up on the bonnet of a black car in nothing but an oversized black T-shirt, with Chris’s hungry eyes on me.

  I knew what was to come; I sensed it in the intense way we looked at one another, in the way our chests heaved, the way my body arched toward Chris at the slightest touch. Blame it on the summer holidays, the full moon or the moonlight swim. I didn’t know exactly what was to blame but all I knew was my blood burned with need for him.

  Regardless that in the light of day it could be a colossal mistake. I didn’t care; all I cared about was the next instant he touched me or kissed me. I slid slowly off the bonnet.

  He had made the most important first move tonight, so now it was my turn to make the last. I grabbed his hands and laced them with my fingers, pulling him toward the van. Stepping past the passenger door he stopped me dead in my tracks and my heart sank.

  “Tam, hang on a sec.” Chris let go of my hands and pulled open the passenger door. “Don’t want to cover the mattress with sand,” he said, tilting his head with a cheeky grin.

  My eyes fell to our bare feet caked in wet sand. Relief flooded every part of my being as I dived into the front bucket seat and slid across.

  Chris followed me in and closed the door.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  We were, once again, just two people in the front seat of a car.

  Well, a little bit different than any way we might have occupied the front seat before.

  I straddled Chris’s lap, his fists gripping the material of the T-shirt at my hips. Our hot, delving kisses stole the ability to breathe from us both as we frantically clawed at one another. I ran a trail of kisses teasingly down his jaw line and neck to his collarbone. He groaned with approval and grabbed the backs of my knees, pulling me closer to him still. I gasped at the friction. Chris kissed me so passionately, murmuring words between his draw of breath as he tauntingly skimmed his hands under my T-shirt.

  “Let’s get in the back,” he breathed into my mouth.

  “What about the sand?”

  “Fuck the fucking sand,” he said, motioning for me to lift off him. We frantically manoeuvred our way over the back seat and crashed clumsily onto the soft mattress in a heap.

  We couldn’t help but laugh at ourselves; we had finally made it here, to the darkened, secluded van. I took the moment to mention the main issue.

  “So, um, do you still have Ringer’s … you know?” I asked, feeling heat flood my already flushed face.

  Chris sat up. “Shit, yeah, hang on a sec …” He stilled. “FUCK!”

  I flinched. “What?” My eyes widened and I sat up.

  Chris ran his hands through his hair in despair.

  “How could I be so freaking stupid?” He threw himself back on the mattress.

  “Chris? What the hell?” I shifted onto my knees, alarm rising in me more every second that passed.

  He sighed deeply, hitching himself onto his elbows. “I put it in a really safe place,” he deadpanned.

  “H-how safe?” I asked, fearing to know the answer.

  “I tucked it in one of the shoes you brought back last night.”

  My eyes widened, horror overriding my worry.

  Toby’s shoes? The shoes I had thrown against a tree in a fit of rage?

  “Why would you do that?” I asked.

  “Well, I didn’t want it swimming around the back of the van, I wanted to hide it, so I just shoved it in there when I was packing up the van.”

  “You know, wallets are also handy places to stow such things,” I said.

  “Yeah. Well, I didn’t think of that at the time, obviously.”

  I cupped my face with my hands before something dawned on me. “Wait a minute, you watched me take those shoes from you, knowing I was going to return them to their rightful owner, knowing full well that …”

  “I swear, it completely slipped my mind. There is no way I would have let you. I just … I don’t know. Got distracted.” He sighed, before the lines in his face transformed into pain. “Whose shoes were they, anyway?”

  “Toby’s,” I said.

  Chris scoffed. “Well, he’s going to get a nice surprise next time he tries them on.”

  Um, yeah. About that …

  I chewed on my thumbnail. I looked at Chris eating himself up over a foolish mistake. I could have kept it to myself, but thought better of it.

  “He’s going to get a bigger surprise than you think,” I said, cringing at what I was going to say.

  Chris’s brows lowered. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, they didn’t exactly make it back to Toby,” I confessed.

  Chris lifted one brow. “Oh?”

  “Before you get too excited, they’re not here,” I said quickly.

  A bemused tilt formed in the corner of Chris’s lips. “Where are they, then?”

  I squirmed under his gaze. “They may or may not be up a tree, back in Evoka.”

  Chris blinked, as if he wasn’t fully comprehending.

  “Why are they up a tree?”

  To tell Chris why meant explaining why I’d been so pissed at him and I really didn’t want to have to revisit this morning’s fight. Not tonight. I just wanted to forget; in these glorious moments in
Chris’s arms, I wanted all the worries and the weight of the world to melt away.

  “A prank gone wrong, you might say.”

  “That’s an understatement.” Chris sighed, throwing himself back onto the mattress.

  I lay down next to him and placed my head on his chest. “Is now when you tell me not to stress because you have one in your wallet, anyway?” I asked, hoping against hope.

  Chris scoffed. “Well, to be honest, it was originally going to be an all-mates’ fishing adventure; I didn’t see the need to stock up.”

  I felt both disappointed and relieved. I lifted myself onto my side, staring down at him.

  “What, no woman in every port?” I teased.

  “What?” Chris asked, confusion etched on his face.

  “Nothing,” I said, settling down, resting my head back on Chris’s bare chest. His heart pounded hard and fast against my temple; it was soothing, as was the familiar feeling of Chris folding his fingers through my hair.

  I still didn’t know whether to laugh or scream – against all the odds of trying to forget the disaster of this morning’s run-in with Toby and Ellie, my actions had only led to completely backfire tonight.

  Was this the universe’s way of punishing me for being a coward and wanting to leave the trouble behind me, to avoid confrontation for as long as I could? Maybe it served me right – my fence-sitting ways in the past hadn’t exactly gotten me far. If anything, the moment I stepped out of my comfort zone, look what happened: I was lying in Chris Henderson’s arms, and I had never felt more alive.

  I wanted to hold onto that, and I wanted to release the burden I carried with me. Maybe by talking to Chris about it he might be able to help. He had known Toby all his life, after all.

  I lifted my head off his chest. “Chris?” I whispered, touching his shoulder.