Page 35 of Tides Of Your Love (Riviera Shores #3)

Owen

“THIS ONE!” RIO TRACED her fingertip on my lips.

“This one what?”

“This smile.”

“What about it?”

Her grin widened like she was about to drop some great revelation. “I call it ...”

“Call it what?” I smoothed my palm up her back, fingers gliding into her hair as she lay naked on top of me.

“Your secret smile.”

I huffed a laugh, my lips twitching.

“Aaaand it’s gone.”

“I have a secret smile, and now it’s gone?” With my hand still tangled in her hair, I pulled her down for a kiss.

She moaned into my mouth before pulling back. “Yeah, it’s this little, barely-there smile,” she murmured. “It’s more in your eyes than on your lips. Kind of like the Mona Lisa—but more beautiful. And way easier to read. At least for me.”

I hadn’t even been aware I did that. Maybe it was her effect on me, my emotions for her slipping through before I could even register them. Maybe it had been there from the start.

“I have a lot of secret things for you,” I said.

Her pupils flared. “I know.”

But then she sighed and rolled off me, stretching. “Unfortunately, I have to get to work. I’m opening today.”

Good thing we’d already had one round.

She’d slipped into my bed last night, but I’d woken up this morning to something even better—her sliding under the covers and taking my morning erection into her own hands.

Or rather, her mouth. She sucked and licked me until I couldn’t take it anymore—I pulled her up, flipped her over, and sunk into her from behind.

She’d been slick wet and moaning so loud when she came that I could only hope Walter hadn’t plugged his hearing aid in yet.

Half an hour later, she was on her way to work, and I was sitting in the kitchen, searching Walter’s face for hints.

Did he know? Had he figured out that Rio and I were sneaking into bed together every night? That I was completely gone for her? Or was he still happily oblivious?

To appease him—just in case—I challenged him to a round of Scrabble.

He agreed and we set it out in the backyard.

When the scores were clear, he jumped up to do some old-man victory shimmy, but then he froze, mid-dance, wincing.

“Damn,” he muttered.

I rushed to help him back down. “Maybe don’t gloat so much.”

“Maybe take me to that doctor of yours,” he shot back, rubbing his back.

“He’ll send you right to the Olympics.”

Walter scoffed. “Where did he send you? You seem much better.”

I hesitated, surprised at how calmly and openly he spoke about it.

“He says I might be good to play soon. But that’s something the team’s doctor has the final say on.”

“And when are you meeting him?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“He’s only seeing healthy people?”

I laughed. “No. He’ll have to see me. Even if they don’t want me, they have to release me—to another team, or altogether. Depends on the status.” A dull ache still lingered when I thought about being kicked out.

Walter nodded, rubbing his back again. “Good luck. Just let us know when that’s happening.”

Us.

I wasn’t sure if he meant himself and Simon, or himself and Rio. Either way, it felt like a loaded statement.

And it reminded me that I was still trying to find the way through this.

My options weren’t great. If Simon thought that I should fix this entanglement by cutting things off with Rio, that wasn’t happening. Not unless she wanted to. And even then ... Hell, I’d told myself a hundred times to take a step back, to be smart about this. But with her? I couldn’t.

I was in too deep. Addicted. Heart, body, mind, soul. Powerless to do a damn thing about it .

And if Simon meant I’d already broken it beyond repair—if he thought this thing with Rio had an expiration date I wasn’t willing to admit—then maybe he was right to be pissed at me.

But I wasn’t hiding the truth from him.

My team lost points in the last few games, and I knew they were eager to bring in someone in top shape.

If that happened ... well, I’d get the final boot, and that might save me the need to decide.

From the moment that hard tackle sent me skidding, my leg twisting the wrong way, the choice had never really been mine, though I’d fought against that by trying to heal.

I was used to being in control when it came to my career.

Now, I wasn’t in control of anything.

RIO AND I WERE BOTH stalling, probably because, by design, we clung to the here and now. But despite what she’d said after we got back from Nicole’s dinner, I decided to bring it up a few days later.

“Did Simon talk to you?” I asked.

“Not since telling me at dinner that I’d better know what I was doing. What did he say to you?”

“Something like that.”

Knowing her, she’d rip him a new one if she knew what he really said, and that would set off a domino effect of broken relationships between the three of us.

“Owen, I told you, whatever comes later, comes later. Okay? ”

“Okay. I just—” I exhaled, running a hand through my hair. “I don’t want you to think I’m ignoring what this means for us.”

“I know that things are up in the air right now. I like it that you don’t make empty promises like others might have.”

I love you , I nearly blurted out.

I wanted to say it.

I had no idea how I landed someone like Rio, but to say that just when she said she didn’t want me to make hasty promises before I knew where I was going to fucking live—that sounded like a bad idea. But I had to show her somehow.

She was already busy hunting for her clothes, as it was another morning after another late night.

I should’ve been content, satisfied, but the more I was with Rio, the greedier I became for her.

She had just found her bra and turned to grab her jeans, I pulled her against me.

“Owen—”

“You have time.”

She gasped as I dragged my lips up her shoulder and neck. “I really don’t.”

“You really do.”

I swiped everything off my desk, flinging it all to the floor, and lifted her onto it.

She exhaled when her ass hit the wood, but I was already kissing her, already pushing her knees apart.

I wasn’t gentle .

I pushed her back just enough to unclasp her bra, to pull her panties down her legs. I let them dangle off her ankle as I dropped to my knees in front of her.

She was already wet. Already clenching around nothing.

I licked up her inner thigh, watching as she braced herself on her palms. Her breathing was shallow, eyes dark, lips parted. She was gorgeous.

And then I flicked my tongue against her clit.

“Oh, God.”

I gripped her hips and dragged her closer to the edge of the desk, my mouth working her until she was moaning, writhing, her thighs trembling against my jaw.

“Owen—”

“I’ve got you,” I rasped.

She came hard, her hands fisting my hair, her whole body shuddering.

And then I stood, pinning her to the desk, and drove into her.

Her breath hitched, her legs locked around me.

I held her tight, pressing her to me, and fucked her right there, against my desk, the wood creaking with every thrust, our gasps and groans filling the space.

She shattered around me again, and I followed, holding her as tightly as I could as I buried myself deep inside her.

By the time we pulled apart, she was breathless, flushed, glowing.

“I’m definitely late now,” she panted.

I smirked, pressing a kiss to her jaw. “Worth it.”

She swatted at me before rushing to get dressed .

And then she was gone, and I was left wondering how she could take so much of me with her, without even trying.

SINCE WE WERE CREATING a new one-day-at-a-time normal, I took Walter and Rio to dinner at the seafood place he liked.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Clarice?” I asked, keeping my tone casual as I speared a piece of fish.

Walter paused mid-chew. “Clarice?”

Rio tried to hide a grin by keeping her gaze on her plate.

“Yeah,” I continued. “The one you destroyed at Scrabble when she invited herself over. The one you ditched our last dinner out for.”

Walter huffed. “I didn’t ditch anything. And we’re just friends.”

“Does she know?” Rio teased, nudging him with her elbow.

Walter pointed his fork at her. “Don’t they always?”

Rio and I exchanged glances. I was certain that my grandfather knew more than he let on. Maybe we weren’t as stealthy as we thought we were.

“Who wants to go dancing?” I asked when we finished eating.

“No one,” Walter said, as I figured he would.

“But your victory dance the other day was perfect,” I teased.

“I could have been a very good dancer if I put my mind to it. ”

“Best in the IRS, I bet,” I said.

He laughed. Walter actually laughed. Finally. These last few days, he let the lighter side of him shine through the grouch.

“I can go,” Rio said, giving me a tiny smile over Walter’s head, knowing this question was intended for her to begin with.

When we dropped him off later, he patted Rio’s shoulder. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“Pretty sure that’s a lost cause,” she mumbled as Walter shut the door behind him.

I laughed and grabbed her hand. “You’re with me?”

“Of course.”

The trust she put in me—then and now—I knew how precious it was. I never took it for granted.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“You’ll see.”

I pulled up in front of a small dance bar in San Luis, the neon sign bright against the night.

Rio shot me a look. “A dance bar?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really dance, but I want to have all the possible dates with you.”

Her expression softened. “I like it.” She then smirked and tugged me out of the car. “Well, if we’re doing this, I’m leading.”

Inside, the music pulsed with a slow, sultry beat.

Rio grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the floor through the dim lighting, the people swaying, the mix of perfume and alcohol in the air .

I slid a hand to her waist, drawing her close. “So, you’re in charge, huh?”

Her arms looped around my neck. “Always.”

I let her lead, move against me. All I wanted was to feel her and forget everything else.

She spun, her body brushing mine, and I caught her, holding her tight against me.

I leaned further in, my lips hovering over hers. “Your name is Rio and you’re dancing on the sand,” I quoted her song before closing my lips on hers.

Rio’s laughter drowned in our kiss that became more and more heated, right there in the middle of the dance floor. We kissed and swayed together, our bodies moving in sync, as if the rest of the world had melted away.

I didn’t care. No one cared. Here I was just a guy loving a girl.