Page 63

Charlise

Zayne takes my bags to the room he plans to sleep in. I know it’s his room because it’s his bag that is laid out on the corner chair and what he was wearing earlier is in a small pile on the floor. He lays back against the headboard and props his arm behind his head to watch me. “Go ahead and put on that sweatshirt. I want to see my work again.”

“What happened to you keeping your hands to yourself?”

“Do you see me touching you? My hands are even tucked behind my head just to prove my willingness to keep my word.”

“Oh really?” I decide to wear the bikini. I have the perfect one… it’s a dark red string bikini that he will be so tempted to untie the entire time I’m wearing it. I could never wear this in front of my brother because it’s too revealing, so I’ll have to wear a cover up if I go through with this plan. That’s if we make it out of this room before he fails. My boldness starts to waiver while I contemplate how to handle Zayne and the whiplash he’s giving me. Or am I the one giving myself the whiplash, hating him one second and fucking him the next. I truly shouldn’t be alone with him until I figure it all out. My only saving grace about this is the fact that we’ll have other people on the boat with us.

I kick off my shoes and lower my jeans slowly, shimmying to get my feet out of the legs of my pants. Next, I turn so that my back is to him to take off my t-shirt. I slide my panties down my legs, making sure to look back at him in the process. He’s focused on my ass, so I do a little jiggle just to torment him a little more. He grips his cock as he watches me and for some reason that gives me enough confidence to drop my bra and turn to face him.

“Oh, fuck me.” It was more of a ‘shit I’m in trouble’ than a request for me to actually fuck him, but I think he would take that too.

I purposely move and shift more than needed to get the string bikini out of my bag. He closes his eyes tight when he sees the red strings come into view. “Do you need help tying those?” His voice is raspy and seeing the look in his eyes makes my insides twist and turn.

“No, that would be you not keeping your hands to yourself.”

“I would sacrifice for the cause.”

“I bet you would.” I start with the bottoms and make sure to tie the bows on each side perfectly. It takes longer than it usually would because I’m enjoying tormenting him. I use the tiny triangles to cover my nipples, knowing there is so much cleavage, side and even part of the underside not covered by this bikini. He will never let me out of this room with this on but it’ll be fun to see him sweat a little about how he’s going to tell me no.

“You can’t wear that. I’ll be fucking you the entire time, to hell with who’s around.” I guess he’s just going to go right to saying no.

“Zayne.”

“Under your sweats then.” I work to tie the top, knowing I would never wear this in front of my brother. He would have a coronary. My hopes were to wear it in place of being naked while skinny dipping when everyone decides to do that at tonight’s beach party. That seems to always happen at the beach parties my friends have. “Do you always wear this in front of the club?”

“No. They’ve never seen me in a two-piece bathing suit. This is the first year.”

“They won’t see you in it this year either. Believe me when I tell you, they’ll be seeing you getting fucked before they see you in this. I’ll have to cut all of their eyes out if they see you in this.” He adjusts his cock before he stands up and takes my hand to walk me to the bathroom that’s adjoined. “Look at us.” He slides his t-shirt over his head as we both look into the mirror. His tattooed, tan skin behind me is a contrast to my blank white canvas. “Do you see how perfect we are together. How fucking hot you are and how mean I could be if anyone so much as looked at you wrong?”

His intensity has increased over the years. He was never this territorial before. Obviously, because if he was, he wouldn’t have left without saying a word.

“Why did you leave me?” I swallow around the lump in my throat and hold back tears in both eyes.

He slides my hair off of my shoulder and begins to trail kisses across my skin, sending goose bumps in every direction. When his lips reach my neck, he responds to the question I’ve wanted to know for entirely too long. “I had to. It was hell and I’ll never do it again.” I turn to face him, his vulnerability punching me right in the heart and making me want to comfort him.

“What was hell?” I decide he owes me more than a passive brush off answer about where he’s been for the past four years.

He lowers his forehead to lean on mine and exhales. “Can we do this later, if I promise to tell you as much as I can? I want to enjoy the weekend and that shit is so heavy and I can’t deal with it right now.”

I place both palms on his cheeks to get him to look at me. “What happened to you?” I whisper, knowing it’s not a question he’ll answer right now but wishing like crazy that I could take his pain away. It’s the first time I’ve allowed myself to think that he wasn’t living it up somewhere, having the time of his life after ghosting me and everyone else in his life. I was selfish to think him leaving was about me and now my mind is circling with all of the possibilities of what he could’ve been doing for so long that he either can’t tell me or he’s afraid to.

“I will wait. Tell me when you’re ready.” This time I use my hands to guide him to kiss me. I’m not sure that’s ever happened before but it works. We’re just about to escalate it when there’s a bang on the bedroom door followed by a few more a few doors down the hall.

“It’s lake time, bitches.” I can tell that it’s Grady yelling by the loud screeching howl that follows.

“It’s decision time. Do you trust that bikini enough to wear it bouncing on a boat when I try like hell to get you out of it? I’ll fly across that water looking for every wave just to see your tits bounce.”

“I thought you weren’t going to allow me to wear it.”

“I didn’t say there would be anyone else with us. If you’re wearing this, I’ll make sure we don’t have anyone else with us.” He starts kissing my cleavage and tracing the outline of the bathing suit with his tongue.

His dominant energy hasn’t wavered yet and I can’t say that it doesn’t feel good having someone other than my brother be demanding and focused about protecting me. “Mmmm. How about I put on a cover and you can imagine what’s going on underneath.” He grips my ass cheeks and lifts me around his waist once again, making sure to slide me over his hardened cock and reminding me of the piercings I will have to investigate the next opportunity I have.

“Deal. I’ll still get rid of anyone who tries to come with us. Don’t forget your sunscreen. You’re going to need it.” He gives me one last kiss before lowering me so that I’m standing in front of him once again. I forgot how tall and massive he can be when I’m in his arms. He’s all consuming and everything I remembered him to be. He’s just a little older now and all of those features are more defined and prominent now. I don’t know if I can allow my walls to fall completely after what happened in the past but dammit if he’s not already reminding me how much he feels like my safe place. My home. It’s nice to be home again.