“The Ocean Front, in Santa Monica.”
“Oh. I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s a small place, a boutique hotel, very nice.”
She was sure it would be, knowing Jason. More excitement
tingled in her veins.
Her cell phone rang again as they were checking in. She
moved away from Jason in the lobby, her boots clicking on the bamboo floor. She
needed to get out of these winter clothes. “Hello?”
“It’s me again.”
Kyle. She sighed.
“Look, I didn’t tell you the whole story when I talked to
you earlier.”
She slowly walked past white upholstered furniture and palms
in chrome pots. “What’s the whole story?”
“I was sick yesterday.”
“Oh. Why didn’t you say that? Are you okay now?”
“Yeah, I feel fine now. But I couldn’t write that exam. I
was just too sick.”
“Well, in that case…I suppose I could talk to the dean. Was
it the flu?”
“Yeah! Yeah, it was the flu.”
Remi’s bullshit radar pinged. “Kyle, are you being honest
with me?”
“Of course! Would I lie to you, Remi?”
“Yes. You would. You have. Many times.” She sighed. She’d
bailed him out of situations more times than she cared to remember. Helped him
with homework. Loaned him money. Jason was right. He was eighteen. He needed to
take responsibility for his actions.
“I’m busy right now,” she said, seeing Jason turn from the
reception desk. “I’ll call you back later.”
He lifted a brow as she moved toward him. “Kyle again.” She
filled him in on this conversation as they rode the elevator to their room.
“He was hungover and missed his exam,” Jason said.
“He was not!”
Jason lifted one eyebrow and gave her a crooked smile as the
elevator rose.
“You think?”
“I know. I know teenage boys. I used to be one.”
She sighed. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. Then
thoughts of Kyle scattered as she walked into their room.
“This place is amazing!”
Their room—or rather, suite—was immense. Sliding doors
opened on to a balcony overlooking red tile roofs interspersed with green palm
trees and, in the distance, the pale sand of the beach, the azure Pacific
Ocean.
She trailed her fingers along the creamy duvet that topped
the king-size bed and flopped down onto the chocolate brown couch facing the
balcony. “Wow.”
He stored their suitcases in the massive closet and went to
shut the doors.
“Wait! I want to change.” She extended her legs. “I can’t
wear these boots when it’s so warm here.”
But it took longer to change than she’d thought because once
she started taking her clothes off, Jason attacked her. Or maybe she attacked
him. Whatever. It didn’t matter, they were hot for each other after a couple of
days apart.
Down to her black lace underwear, she went to take the boots
off and he said, “Leave them on.” He knelt between her legs, admiring her in
her bra and panties and stiletto boots. Her body heated up.
“Now that is a fantasy come to life,” he said with deep satisfaction.
Her toes curled inside her boots.
“Very hot,” he murmured, hands on her thighs. “Like a baby
dominatrix.”
“You want to be dominated?” Her heart hammed ferociously.
She wasn’t sure about…
“Not really.” He bent over to lick the sensitive flesh of her
belly and she shivered. “How about you?”
Oooh. Her breath sighed out of her. She moaned.
He lifted his head. “You do, don’t you?”
She bit her lip and met his eyes.
“Oh, Remi, you naughty girl. My whips and chains are…uh…”
She laughed and pushed at his big shoulder. “You don’t have
any whips and chains.”
“I can get some.”
“That’s okay.” She kissed his shoulder. “I don’t need that
much dominating. I just need…”
“This.” And he rolled her on top of him and laid a firm pat
on her butt. She moaned and turned to liquid. “I know you like that.”
She just moaned again and he pulled her face down for a
blistering kiss. He gave he a couple more sharp little taps, sending heat
shimmering over her buttocks, then rolled her to her back again. “And this.” He
clasped both her wrists in one hand and held them over her head while his
weight pressed her into the mattress and he kissed her, his tongue sliding in
and out of her mouth, so sexy. He sucked on her tongue, bit softly at her lips.
Molten pleasure spread inside her as he rubbed his body against hers,
mesmerizing her with his heat, his strength, pinning her there, helpless.
“I missed you,” he breathed in her ear. Then he rose up and
gazed down at her again and her breath caught in her throat at the expression
on his face. “So pretty,” he whispered. He released her wrists and dragged a
hand down from her shoulder, between her breasts, over her stomach. “Let’s take
these off.” And he tugged the panties down over her thighs. She lifted her
knees to her chest to help. The lace snagged on one sharp boot heel as he
pulled them off and he freed them, then tossed them aside.
They exchanged a heated smile. “That’s what happens when you
wear boots to bed,” she said in a breathy voice. “I’m just hoping I don’t stab
you in the balls.”
He winced, but laughed. “Maybe we’ll take them off.” And he
tugged the boots off too, one at a time, tossing them to the floor with one
soft thud, then another.
Air on her bare legs felt so sexy and she kept her legs bent
like that, feet crossed, and lifted her arms above her head on the bed. He
kneed her legs farther apart, his own spread wide on the bed, his cock jutting
long and hard over her. “Oh, Remi.” His eyes devoured her and then he directed
his cock into her, his index and middle finger on each side of it. He filled
her so perfectly, so beautifully. Her eyes fell closed and he moved over her,
one hand going to her forehead and tipping her head back. He kissed her mouth,
her cheek, her ear, all the while rolling his body against her, inside her, in
a drugging rhythm. “You feel so good,” he said, rubbing his face against hers. “So
hot and wet. So perfect.”
Heat spiraled through her, flames licking over her body. “So
good,” she moaned. “Oh, Jason, it’s so good.”
He pushed up on his arms, then knelt between her legs. He
reached for the lace cups of her bra and tugged them down, exposing her
nipples, playing with them with his fingertips, his face intent, dark, aroused.
Sensation shimmered from her nipples to her pussy and she lifted her hips up to
him, whimpering with pleasure and need. God, he knew how to make her hot.
He pulled out then and she made a little cry of protest, but
he rubbed the head of his cock over her pussy. Her clit throbbed and ached for
more and when he pushed back inside her and reached for her waist, holding her
steady with both hands as his thrusting grew harder, she slid her hand down
over her belly and to find her clit.
“Oh yeah,” he groaned. “So hot, baby. Do it, make yourself
come.”
“
You’re
making me come,” she whispered, and it was
true, the sensation of him inside her combined with the touch of her fingers on
her clit threw her headlong into a hard, shuddering orgasm. She cried out, letting
his thrusts prolong the ecstasy, drawing it out until he came too, falling over
her again, sliding one arm beneath her shoulders and holding her tight.
* * * * *
After christening the king-size bed with afternoon sex, they
went for a walk on the beach and did a little shopping.
“I love this place,” she said, doing a little spin on the
sidewalk. Jason laughed. “Seriously. I’ve never been anywhere. The ocean, the
palm trees, the sun…I love it.”
“You’ve never been anywhere?”
She shook her head and made a little face. “No. My parents
were the ones who travelled. I’ve always wanted to see different places, but it
just didn’t happen.”
“I get sick of travelling.” His eyes danced though, as he
took in her enjoyment. “But with you it’s fun again.”
“Where will we go for dinner?”
“The rooftop restaurant at the hotel is supposed to be good.”
He took her hand as they strolled back toward the hotel. “And the view is
spectacular.”
They went for a swim, a lazy, sexy swim, then showered
together and changed for dinner. They were just sitting down at their table
when Remi’s cell phone rang again.
“Kyle, I said I’d call you.”
She rolled her eyes apologetically at Jason, but he just
laughed.
“Okay, so I wasn’t
sick
sick,” Kyle said. “But I
still have to write that exam.”
“If you weren’t sick, why’d you miss it?”
A pause. “I was hungover.”
Oh, God. She met Jason’s eyes, which crinkled with
amusement. She sighed. “Kyle.”
“I’m sorry, Rem, but we went out the night before…”
“When you should have been studying!”
“I did study! I swear I did. I was ready for the exam. I
just went out for a while and a friend had some beer and…”
“Kyle. I can’t believe you want me to bail you out because
you got drunk and slept through your exam.”
She caught Jason’s eye and he made a face at her that
brought a smile despite the serious conversation.
“Remi! You have to! Please.”
She wavered. She sank her top teeth into her bottom lip and
looked at Jason, whose face had grown serious. He slowly moved his head from
side to side.
“What?” she mouthed at him, frowning a little.
“Don’t do it,” he said. “He needs to stand on his own two
feet.”
Torn, she still hesitated.
“Remi?” Kyle said.
Jason shook his head again. “Remi, you have to let go,” he
said.
“He’s just a teenager,” she whispered.
“What?” Kyle said. “Remi, come on.”
“He’ll never learn if you keep bailing him out.”
Who was he to tell her how to handle her family? He was
nothing but a big kid himself, with no responsibility whatsoever. What the heck
did he know about being a parent?
He watched her, though, head tilted thoughtfully, his steady
eyes full of intelligence and concern. Hell. She felt pulled in two directions,
her love for Kyle and guilt about not being there for him warring with the
logic of what Jason was telling her. Finally she spoke into the phone.
“No. Sorry, Kyle. You’re old enough to be on your own at
college, you either get yourself out of this or you face the consequences.” Her
stomach clenched. Even though she knew it was the right thing to do, it was
hard, gut-wrenchingly hard. Her insides cramped up.
“Good job,” Jason said when she hung up. She bit her lip and
looked at him across the table.
“I hate that,” she said. “I know I have to do it, but…the
stupid thing is, I’m the one who’s going to pay the consequences of the extra
tuition for him to do the course again.”
“Make him pay it. Tell him to get a part-time job.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I guess he could. But I want him to do
well at school.”
He shook his head, but smiled at her. “You love your brother
and sister, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“And you like to be needed.”
She eyed him warily. “I suppose.”
“D’you ever think maybe you enable them by helping them out
all the time?”
She frowned at him. “What are you saying?”
He lifted one big shoulder and turned his water goblet in
his hands. “I’m just saying that you’re not doing them any favors by bailing
them out. Kids have to grow up and be independent and deal with the
consequences of their actions.”
“What do you know about it?” she snapped, stung by his
words. “You’re not a parent.”
“Neither are you.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Not technically! But I’m
responsible for my brother and sister…”
“Remi, they’re legally adults.”
She blinked at him.
“You don’t need to take on responsibility for them.”
“Yes, I do,” she whispered. “I love them. They’re my family.”
She glared at him. “You don’t understand.”
“I have a family,” he said quietly. “I love my brothers. I’d
do anything for them. I’ve fought for them when I had to. And just because I’m
not a parent myself doesn’t mean I don’t know anything about growing up and
learning how to take responsibility for my actions. I’m not always good at it,
but I’m learning. I had to learn, when I was young, if I wanted to succeed in
my career goals.”
She studied his face, the intensity in his expression, the
blaze in his eyes. There was no questioning his dedication to his sport and all
that he’d achieved and she supposed she’d never really thought much about what
he’d had to do to get there. Her chest squeezed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I
guess I just didn’t like someone telling me how to deal with my family.”
“I’m sorry too, then,” he said. “For interfering. I care
about you.”
She sucked briefly on her lower lip. “I know.”
“You’re going to be an awesome mother someday.”
She blinked at him and sat back in her chair. Her deepest,
most secret wish, to someday be a mother with children of her own, was not
something she was going to share with a guy she was having a fun little fling
with. But his compliment pleased her and made her heart swell in her chest and
her eyes sting a little. She shook her head and reached for her water goblet. “Maybe
someday.” She gave him a bright smile. “Sorry for all the drama. This doesn’t
happen all the time.”
“Uh…I beg to differ.”
She tipped her head to one side.
“The first night we met you used tae kwon do moves on me and
took me down. Then the cops showed up at your place. Then your sister had a
meltdown and you had to go home to her. Now your brother’s got a crisis. But at
least your life’s never boring.”
She stared at him. Was he making a sarcastic joke? It didn’t
appear so. She shivered. Her life was nothing but boring compared to his! What
was he talking about!
“Let’s order,” he said.
* * * * *
The nighttime sex in the king-size bed was even better.