“Yeah, you know. Women, sex, fun, laughter.” He nods to the women in the pool. “I invited them for you.”
I don’t even look at them, not wanting either of them in the least, but my eyes travel back to the midnight-haired siren currently occupying my thoughts. “Two?”
“You’re a big man,” he jokes, and I suck another mouthful, letting the smoke burn my throat.
Jace shrugs and motions toward the group of people and the woman I was just thinking about.“Come meet everyone.”
I follow at a slower pace, not wanting to chat. When Jace invited me, I thought he would be alone. I feel everyone’s stare, but hers is the only one I care about. When he gets closer to the group of women, my stomach clenches, and I mentally hold my breath, needing to hear her name.
“You can meet my bratty sister, Camryn.”
The moment he says it, I know. I know exactly who his sister is. My body stiffens.Sister. The same black hair. The same nose.
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
I knew he had a sister. In the seven years of friendship, I’d heard about her. Jace would talk about her when he got his tattoos. How his bastard father has crushed her spirit, and how much Jace wanted her to be free of their father.The one he protected. The same way I once protected Ivory, or at least tried to do so. I understood it. I respected it.
Once we are ten feet away from them, I watch her reach up and touch the black frames of her sunglasses. Long, lean fingers reach up and pull them down. She looks just like her brother, and Jace Park is already a fucking pretty boy. Emerald orbs that match her brother’s watch me warily. I stare down at her, tracing every fucking curve of her beautiful face, indexing every detail.Her pointy chin. Her high cheekbones. Her lush mouth reveals a plump upper lip that’s bigger than the bottom one. Goddamn it, that mouth is dangerous. I can picture how much more swollen I can make that inverted pout while I fuck her throat.
She’s obviously younger than I thought.Jace told me he was almost a teenager when she was born. She can’t be more than 23. More than a decade between us. Everything in me rebels against her identification. It makes her off-limits. My face must reflect my rage because she swallows. The sight of her throat undulating brings me back to my fantasy of pushing my dick deep in her mouth.Don’t think about that constriction hugging your dick, Stone.I look away and crush the tip of my cigarette between my fingers, needing to feel the burn to control myself.
“Oh, shit.”
Jace’s harsh curse makes me turn back to him.
“Be right back. Don’t need fucking bloodshed today. Told that dumbass not to leave her.”
Looking behind him, I see a bear of a man, stalking down the hill, a case of fancy beer in his hands. The rage on his face is something I know well. It’s what I feel almost 24/7. He wants blood, and I wonder whose. But there is also sexual aggression coming off him. I recognize it too. It’s what I felt the moment I looked across the pool.
Jace climbs the hill, reaching the man who tries to walk around him, but Park continues to block him. I look back at the pool where the man’s eyes are trained. He’s looking at the cluster of women. Wait…does he want her? The fury in my body surges, a tidal wave that threatens his life. The need to kill him pumps through me. I want to warn the pissed off man to stay away from her, but to what end? I can’t touch her either.
The moment everyone becomes aware of the big man on top of the hill, the energy changes. I watch, doing what I do best. The woman in yellow’s back is ramrod straight. The shorter womanin gold growls, looking at the man behind me. The only one that doesn’t react is mine.No, not mine,I remind myself. She seems genuinely confused.
When Jace calls my name, I raise a brow and head over to him and the pissed off man.
“Silas, this is Stone,” Jace says. “Stone meet, Silas Kenzington.”
We stare at each other. He’s around my height and weight, and his muscles bunch when he shifts. His dark eyes are assessing, and I recognize it. It’s the same way I’m sure I look. Eyes that hold secrets, dark secrets. Rage pours off him, but he doesn’t say a word. He looks behind me, and I follow his gaze, wanting to catch any reaction toher,but I don’t see anything that would signal his interest. Instead, his eyes are trained on the woman in yellow. She belongs to him. My shoulders shouldn’t feel this relaxed after coming to the realization that Silas Kenzington doesn’t want Jace’s sister. I catch the regret in his eyes and wonder what the fuck happened between him and the woman in yellow.
“Stone and you have a lot in common.”Jace comments, chuckling, and I raise my brow, waiting.“You both suck at communicating.” He tosses me a bottle of beer, and I catch it automatically. I pull out my pocket knife, remove the cap, and take a sip. Not bad. It’s not bourbon, but it’s not bad.
Shelooks our way again. She’s done it a total of three times. Quick glances. Nervous glances. I like it. I like that she’s nervous and wary. She should be. Everything in me is holding back the need to chase her, to hunt her, to taste her, even with my consciousness telling me to ignore her, to leave her alone. She slips into the water, and I watch her move languidly through the clear blue, that long black hair trailing behind. I swish the bitter beer around in my mouth, watching her, noticing when she climbs back out and boosts herself back onto the edge of thepool. Water droplets dotting her skin, saturating her bathing suit top. I swear I can see the dark shadow of her nipples under the fabric. My palm itches the second she wrings out the long skein of hair and tosses it behind her shoulder. That length could be used as a yoke so easily, a way to drag her body back onto my cock. I’d love to keep her anchored to my pelvis, let her feel every single one of my piercings while her back dips from my hold.
I absently listen to Jace warning Silas to cool down and not act like a madman. The bear of a man paces next to me, and I see his fight to calm down, but it doesn’t last long when Silas starts growling and pushes past Jace, stalking to the pool. Amused, I follow, intrigued by what will happen next. The woman in yellow looks like she doesn’t take shit. Getting closer, I listen to their hushed conversation. My girl in white leans in, the plump curve of her breast pushing against the nylon of her top.
I watch raptly as the woman in yellow swims away from Silas, followed by the tall man with the professor vibes. Everyone starts swimming again, except her. She stands and heads my way. I move closer and shut my eyes behind my shades when I smell her sunscreen. She turns my way and smiles shyly.
“Hello.”
Her polite hello makes my dick twitch. Of course, I want that polite tone asking to suck my cock, while on her knees. That melodic voice asking me to please come into her mouth. I should answer her, return her greeting, do what normal men do around women; flirt, compliment her, but I’m beyond polite conversation. Pleasantries are not my forte, and what I want to do to her is not nice or nuanced.
I remember I’m supposed to be having a polite conversation with his goddamn sister, whose nipples I want in my mouth. The same nipples staring at me from beneath the white triangular tops.I nod my head, not speaking.
“Food’s ready.”
She slips away, and can’t help the way my eyes train on her pert ass. Fucking torture.
Runningthe water over my face, I sigh. I’m fucking exhausted and I need to get the hell home.
