Page 8 of Tiny Precious Secrets (The Brothers of Calloway Creek The Montanas #4)

Allie

A half-hour later, almost to the minute, there’s a knock on the door, and I swing it open.

Asher is standing there with a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and a small gift bag. And one huge, shit-eating grin.

I wave him inside, laughing. “Did you really think I’d be out with someone the night you were going to arrive?”

He comes through the doorway, takes in the entire bungalow from wall to wall, then sets the bottle and glasses down, whistling at our surroundings. “Nice pad. And I was thinking maybe you thought I stood you up.”

“I knew you’d be late. You texted me your flight information a few weeks ago. I was tracking it.”

“Ahhh. Right.” He looks pleased as he eyes me up and down. “So this incredible dress. It was for me?”

I feel my cheeks heat. Of course it was for him. But I’m not sure I want it going to his head. “Just something I had lying around.”

His chest dances with laughter, like he knows I’m full of shit.

My gaze falls to his left hand. “What’s in the bag?”

His devilish grin is full of delight. “Just something I’d like to see you lying around in.”

I swipe it from him and look inside where I see a few small scraps of pink fabric. Upon further inspection, I realize it’s a bathing suit. If you can even call it that. More like a micro-bikini. I hold it up by the tip of a finger. “What is this?”

“We’ll call it payback. You know, for the running shorts?”

I smile and nod, sure he hasn’t quite thought this through. “So you want me wearing this to the resort pool?”

The edges of his mouth turn down. “I, uh… On second thought…” He rips the bikini out of my hand and tosses it in the trash. “I’m sure the resort shop has plenty of modest one-pieces you can wear.”

I giggle silently then pick up and examine the bottle of champagne, curious as always about any competition to our winery. “I’m glad you could get away. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to.”

“Marti took Bug for the night.” He takes the bottle from me, puts it back down, and steps close, pulling me tightly against him. “But let’s be clear. My kid is thirteen. I would have zero issues leaving her alone for a few hours to get some of this.”

“This?” I wiggle against him.

He lowers his head, and I feel his lips against my neck. My eyes close of their own volition as his mouth devours my clavicle, the delicate divot beneath my ear, my exposed cleavage. Just when I’m getting all worked up, he pulls away. “Do you have a blanket?”

I look at him with a sideways glance. “That made you… cold?”

His smirk is out-of-this-world sexy. “I was hoping we could take this champagne to the beach and make love under the stars.”

My insides quiver. What is it about a handsome, older guy saying the words ‘make love’ that is so, so yummy?

“I know just the one.” I go to the couch and pull a throw off of the back.

When I turn, I note he’s been watching my every move.

So, to fan those flames, I reach under the bottom hem of my sundress, hook my thumbs around my panties, and lower them until they fall to the floor.

Then I step out of them with bare feet. “For easier access.”

“Christ.” He shifts his stance, and I just know he’s already getting hard. “I’m not sure how we’ll ever get to the beach without everyone we pass seeing how turned on I am.”

I pad my way to the back door. “We don’t have to pass anyone. I have my own private stairway down there.”

He grabs the champagne and the glasses and follows me, stopping in his tracks when he sees the moonlit bay below. I’m surprised he didn’t check out the view the second he got here—it’s what everyone usually does.

“Amazing, right?” I ask.

“It sure the hell is.”

But when I look over at him, he’s no longer looking out at the ocean. He’s looking directly at me. And there’s a fire in his eyes I’m not sure I’ve ever seen. He must be really excited to mark this one off his bucket list.

He leaves his shoes by the top of the stairs and follows me down. “Bug would die for this view. She didn’t tell me as much, but I know she was bummed our room doesn’t have one.”

“She seems like a good kid. Not as demanding as most teenagers I know” —I toss him a playful look over my shoulder— “except maybe when it comes to you . I do hope she has fun this weekend.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but she was quite happy earlier when she saw you at the bar with another guy. She made no secret of voicing how she thought he was hot and ‘age appropriate’ for you.”

I stop my descent. “How much do you think she knows? We’ve been good at hiding it when you come to Cal Creek.”

“She’s a smart kid.” He bypasses me and continues down the stairs. “And maybe she still goes through my phone.”

“So change the code.”

He sighs big time. “I want her to trust me.”

“Do you know her code?”

“No. I’ve never asked.”

We step onto the soft sand, and I start scoping out a spot. “Seems backwards, Asher, her having access to your phone while you don’t have access to hers.”

“She needs her privacy.”

“So do you.” I spread out the blanket. “But hey, at least if she thinks I’m into someone else, she won’t obsess over keeping us apart.”

“I suppose,” he ponders, admiring the way the moonlight appears to cut the bay in half. “But we shouldn’t have to lie to her.”

“So tell her.”

He sets the bottle and glasses on the blanket and draws me near. “Tell her what exactly?”

I press my forehead against his chest. “Well, shit. I walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

He chuckles. Sixteen months. Fifteen dates.

At least three dozen orgasms. And we’ve still never defined what this thing is between us.

Now here we are, in decidedly one of the most romantic spots in the universe, about to make love under the stars.

By anyone’s standards, this is the perfect time to define our relationship.

The ideal setting to tell each other our feelings.

Which is why I feel anxiety eating through my body like cancer.

In an attempt not to spoil the night, I reach between us and cup my hand over his crotch. He quickly hardens under my greedy touch while his eyes shift around skimming our surroundings.

“Allie, are we going to be arrested for public indecency?”

“I’ve been down here every night this week. And believe me, if I didn’t get caught the other night, I think we’re good.”

His whole body stiffens. His eyes no longer look at me with excitement. More like sadness. He steps back and runs a hand through his hair, reciting what I think are curse words under his breath.

I mentally replay the words I just said and realize why his whole demeanor changed.

He thinks I’ve been out here with another man.

It’s the second time tonight he’s shown signs of jealousy.

And I try to decide if I’m okay with that.

This one moment in time could be a determining factor in this whole… situationship.

If I’m okay with him being jealous, does that mean I’d be okay with this actually going somewhere?

Instead of going down that rabbit hole, I say, “Don’t get your panties in a twist, big guy, I was by myself. Watching our videos.”

His eyes brighten. “Seriously?”

I bite my lip and nod. “And I may have gotten a bit… vocal.”

Now he’s the one laughing. He sweeps me into his arms, picking me up off the ground before he puts me flat on my back on the blanket, hovering over me.

“Damn, Al. Now I’m going to have fantasies about you down here on the beach.

Alone. Touching yourself.” He grinds into me.

Then suddenly, he’s gone. He scoots off me and opens the champagne.

I watch him intently. “Has anyone ever accused you of having ADHD? You’re kind of all over the place right now.

One second your tongue is down my throat.

Then you’re pouting because you thought I was here with another guy.

Then you throw me down like you want to devour me. Then you want to have a drink.”

His deep, throaty laugh seems to echo and bounce off the trees and hill behind us. He hands me a glass. “Quite the opposite. I’m usually very focused. Shit like that only happens when I’m around you. Guess you make me kind of crazy.” He takes a sip. “And I don’t pout.”

“Oh, but you do. I’ve seen it a few times tonight.”

“So sue me if the thought of another man’s hands on you is not on my top ten list.”

I take a long drink. “Mmm. This is pretty good.”

He finishes his glass then pours himself another, topping mine off as well. “You’re avoiding the conversation.”

“I’m enjoying the champagne.”

“Have there been?” he asks, looking at me with an intense stare. “Other men’s hands on you?”

“Well let’s see.” I scrunch my brows together. “My dad hugged me yesterday. Blake tried to help me surf the other day, but neither of us were any good at it. Oh, and I believe Storm may have kissed my cheek earlier.”

“You’re a brat. You know that, right?” He takes my drink from me and puts both our glasses onto a flat rock by his shoulder. Then he flips me on my back. “Allie, answer the goddamn question.”

I might like this game a little too much. Seeing Asher get all worked up is kind of a turn on. “If I say yes, is that going to change what happens here?”

His gaze goes from my eyes to my neck. He loves to kiss my neck. I think it’s one of his favorite places on me. Amongst a few others. And his hand is getting dangerously close to one of those other places.

“I said we were going to make love under the stars. And we will.” He moves his hand up my thigh and easily slips a finger inside me. “I just need to know how hard I need to make you come to ensure you forget about anyone else.”

I groan when his thumb lands on my clit, and he moves it in slow circles with varying degrees of pressure.

He leans close to my ear. “How hard do I need to make you come, Al?”

“Hard.” I arch my back into him. Then I reach up, grab the back of his neck and force his lips to mine. “But not because I’ve been with anyone else recently. Because I love the way you make me come.”

He kisses me so fiercely, I’m sure my lips will swell. His hand comes out from under my dress, and he uses it, along with his other, to hold my head in place and devour my mouth in a way he never has before. Like he’s claiming me. Like he’s branding me as his. Like he’s… professing his love.

When he’s had his fill of my lips, he moves to my chest, shoving the neckline of my sundress down so he can draw one of my stiff nipples into his mouth while his fingers manipulate the other.

I reach out and try to find his belt buckle, but he swats my hand away. I know what that means. It means this first one is just for me. It means he’s going to wait, the gentleman that he is, until I’ve been satisfied. It means he always puts me first.

I’m drenched between my thighs when he finally returns his attention there. “Jesus.” The word comes out in a sigh when he realizes just how worked up he’s gotten me. As his fingers test the waters yet again, he stares at me. “You are so beautiful.”

It’s hard to smile when I’m about to explode with an orgasm, but I do.

Then, as he makes me come with just his fingers, in a way that only he knows how to do, I look up at the stars and shout into the night, knowing this is only the appetizer.

The first of many. One in an endless line of mind-blowing detonations that he’s going to provide me under his skilled fingers. His strong tongue. His incredible cock.

“Christ, Al. I have to be inside you.”

He pushes down his shorts and rolls on a condom.

“Wait,” I say, urging him onto his back. “You need the full ‘under the stars’ experience.” I lift my dress, straddle him, then let it fall back down, the hem surely tickling his abs and thighs with every bounce of my body.

He grips my hips, guiding me up and down at his desired pace. It doesn’t take long to get him there. His face contorts and he bucks up into me as he erupts with pleasure.

And it’s not lost on me that here we are, on this amazing beach surrounded by beautiful palm trees, salty night air, and what I can only describe as the most exquisite night sky I’ve ever seen.

Yet Asher’s eyes never once stray from mine as he rides out the waves of his orgasm.

The moon reflects in them as he looks up at me.

And although it’s dark outside, I swear I can read more in his gaze than I ever have before.

What I’m reading excites me. What I’m reading terrifies me. But most of all, what I’m reading fucking envelops me like a warm blanket on a snowy day.