Chasing Carly (Holiday Cove 3)

“Aiming for?” I laughed. “Baby, I’ve been working my ass off.”

Carly laughed and shook her head at me, clearly amused. “Well, thank you. It means a lot.”

“You’re welcome.” I glanced over my shoulder, back to the small carnival that we’d just walked away from. “You think she’s staying out of trouble?”

Carly followed my glance. “Yeah. I think so. She was eyeing the kettle corn more than the guy working the stand, so that’s a good sign.”

We’d driven up the coast to a neighboring town that had a summer festival set up along the pier. A large, illuminated Ferris wheel that offered spectacular views from the top served as the central focal point, and around it were a variety of other carnival rides, games, and of course, vendors selling t-shirts, novelty toys, and just about every carnival food imaginable. Carly, Alesha, and I had worn ourselves out playing skeeball and a balloon popping game but walked away losers, with only a couple of small, plastic trinkets to show for our troubles.

And cash.

I didn’t mind at all. Carly and Alesha smiling and laughing together were more than worth the hole in my wallet where a wad of bills had been stashed at the beginning of the night.

After Carly and I settled on ice cream cones, Alesha had gone off to find her own snack, and I’d taken the chance to get a little time with Carly one-on-one by the water’s edge.

“God, it’s gorgeous out here.”

I turned around at Carly’s comment and surveyed how the sun was dipping down over the Pacific. The lights and colors from the sunset and carnival rides bounced off the glassy surface and lent an enchanted feel to the atmosphere. We came to a stop at the wooden railing and both planted our elbows on the bar as we finished our ice cream cones.

“You’re killing me, you know that right?” I teased, watching Carly’s tongue scoop and swirl up the side of her cone. The entire thing was enticing and making my pants uncomfortably tight.

Carly rolled her eyes but instead of backing down, she made an erotic pattern in the soft serve, keeping her eyes wide, locked with mine as she worked.

I groaned, but couldn’t look away. Fuck, she was sexy. Her blonde and pink hair swirled around her face in the evening breeze, the smell of her perfume mixed with the salty ocean air. Her blue eyes were wide and dark in the ever-dimming light as the day faded to night and her full, perfect lips wrapped around the tip of her ice cream was enough to make me forget where I was.

“You’re trouble,” I announced, stepping in closer to her, so my leg pressed into her soft hip. I reached for her hair and brushed it away from her face. “Beautiful, sexy, trouble.”

She laughed softly and stopped torturing me with her dessert. “You’re delusional. Or just really horny. I’m not sure which yet.”

“Are you always so damned hard to compliment?”

She shrugged. “Figured you were up for the challenge.”

“Always.”

Our eyes locked onto each other and the humor faded away, a startling intensity taking its place instead. Her eyes bounced between mine, as though she were looking for something, and then they dropped a few inches lower and settled on my lips. “Carly,” I breathed, my voice barely strong enough to carry over the soft roar of the ocean. “I want you.”

I wrapped an arm around her waist, my hand sliding low on her hip to turn her toward me. She shuddered at my touch and a fleeting question passed through my mind, wondering how long it had been since she’d let herself go completely. Since she gave herself to someone else.

Her lips parted as I dropped my face to hers and I made a slow study of them, every moist ridge and curve before I captured them with my own. She tasted like vanilla and strawberry and her tongue was still cold from the ice cream. The heat between us rose quickly and melted the lingering chill away in a sweep of passion and smoky lust.

My hands couldn’t touch enough of her. My body couldn’t get close enough to hers.

“Carly, I’m so crazy about you.”

I took a step forward, putting my foot between hers and pushing her back against the railing of the pier. Carly arched back and I dragged my fingertips down her neck and over her lips before crushing them back against mine.

A soft moan vibrated from the back of her throat as I parted her lips with my tongue and swept over the tip of hers, lingering over the silky softness of her mouth. My body went rigid and my cock went ramrod straight, straining against my jeans as I imagined how her mouth would feel wrapped around it.

God, she’d look sexy on her knees.