“Please,” I rasp.
Chase caves.
He moans and I hold my breath as he slowly works his cock inside me.
I clamp my teeth together, swallowing the painful hiss that threatens to work its way up, and thankfully, he drops his head into the crook of my shoulder. My eyes squeeze closed, my grip on him tightening as he pushes all the way in.
I gasp, my hips locking, and he kisses my skin.
It burns more than it aches, the unfamiliar pressure something to get used to.
Chase begins to rock, nice and slow, pulling out and pushing back in a little more each time. He moves as if following the sound of the waves crashing below us. I mirror his movements, and a low moan escapes.
I block out the slight sting and focus on the swell of him inside me.
I close my eyes and lose myself in the brown-haired, green-eyed man above me.
Chase kisses along my jaw, his palm coming up and slipping beneath the bra we never got around to taking off.
He squeezes, his thumb grazing along my nipple, and I begin to shake beneath him.
His breathing kicks up, short hisses slipping past his lips, creating goose bumps where it blows along my skin. He moans.
My core clenches, and I know I’m going to come.
Chase’s thrusts grow quicker then, his groans deeper, and when he moans my name, right against the hollow of my ear, I explode.
My body fires off, my pussy locking around him as he pulses inside me.
“Ari…” he whispers into the night once more, and my lips curve into a smile.
I run my hands through his hair, and when my body goes limp in the sand, the weight of the man I’m in love with settles over me.
I close my eyes, etching every second of this into my memory to the tune of the late-night ocean’s swell.
Sighing in exhausted satisfaction, I know I’ll never forget this night.
I had no idea just how much I’d come to wish I could…
Chase
* * *
Ari pulls the blanket up over her shoulders, her head shifting on the wicker seat, so she can look up at me.
I grin, kicking my legs up onto the edge of the stone firepit. “The fire’s getting low, should I add another couple logs?”
She shakes her head, not taking her eyes from me.
“I could get us some—”
“What the fuck?”
I fly up so fast my feet get tangled in the blanket, and I trip, my hand quickly darting out to catch myself on the back of the chair.
My eyes snap toward Mason.
His jaw is set firm and he jerks forward, snagging the blanket and rolling it in his hands. “Ari,” he forces past clenched teeth. “Get up.”
“Mase, come on,” she argues.
“Don’t,” he hisses.
“We’re just sitting here, bro. It’s nothing.” I shake my head, and only after the words leave me, do I realize they were the wrong ones.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ari’s head jerk in my direction.
Unease settles over me as she slowly climbs to her feet, taking the blanket from Mason’s hands and steps through the back door.
I raise my eyes to Mason as she slips closer to me.
He opens his mouth, but then he closes is, shakes his head and storms past.
I fall back into the seat, burying my face in my hands.
Fuck!
Chapter 10
Arianna
* * *
When my grandma died, it felt unexpected. Even though we knew she was sick, knew the treatments weren’t working and the poison was taking over her body, I didn’t expect it. Not when the day before, she was awake and alive, smiling, seemingly feeling better or okay…unlike every other day the six months prior.
I guess that was the giveaway—the white flag of surrender. That perfect day of laughs and smiles and memories she gave us, that she herself was given. That was her last strong, happy, full day before she joined my grandpa.
… Maybe that should have been my first clue, the uninhibited happiness and relief I felt not two hours ago, when Chase was mine for those few minutes in the sand.
It was perfect, and it meant something, and Chase wasn’t that guy. He’d never sleep with me then disregard me after. Sure, he screws around as much as Mason, and not nearly as much as Brady, but he’d never do that to me, to our friendship. Not when he knew how I felt. I may have never spelled it out in big, bold letters, but he knew. He had to.
Last night, or early this morning, depending how you look at it, we dressed, making our way to the house. Chase brought out a blanket, lit the fire pit, and we sat there under the stars, enjoying each other’s company, watching as the moon disappeared with the rise of the sun.
About twenty minutes after dawn was when Mason came home.