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We walked some more until we had some privacy but weren’t too secluded, either. We found a perfect spot in the sand. About ten other people were on the beach as I unfolded the chair. Two of them were couples, making out like Beth and I had minutes prior. I watched Beth’s face burn. She was probably thinking along the same lines as me. She handed me a warm bottle of water from my beach bag and I sat down on my chair, widening my legs for her. She slid onto the seat, careful so that no one else got a glimpse underneath her skirt for both of our sakes. Beth’s back was against mine as we sat on the beach hair. She took the hoodie I’d given her out of her tote and draped it on her arm. I watched her smell it and quietly sigh. I kissed the top of her head. My hands were on her flat stomach and her breast jutted out of her top.
“I don’t think I am gonna give this back,” she said playfully.
“It’s yours.” Beth turned on her side, her gaze drifting to the bulge showing through my jeans, and her breath hitched. “Whether you’re around me or not, or on my mind, I get hard. Don’t give it any thought.” Inwardly, I gave myself a pat on the shoulder for saying it so smoothly—especially with the way her blue eyes twinkled.
She fondled my dick through my jeans and I threw my head back because it felt so damn good, especially the barely-there strokes she gave me and how she firmed her grip on me. I took her hand back and placed it over my chest. I was so freaking hard I didn’t know how I even thought straight.
“You don’t want me to touch you?” The hurt in her tone brought down my lust by several degrees. I peered at her. Confusion was etched on her face.
I heaved in a deep breath and pulled a lock of her brown hair behind her ear, the back of my fingers trailing against the skin of her flawless neck that I’d become so addicted to. “I’ve been a slut for most of my life.”
Beth grimaced. “Don’t use that word. It’s so ugly.”
“It is when it’s used to make women feel ashamed of their sexuality, or when it’s untrue, but the truth can hurt. I don’t like how reckless I’ve been with my body. Like I said, I’ve been a slut. Okay, a man-slut, to be more technical about it. It’s all semantics to me. It’s been five months and one week since I’ve had sex. I’ve explicitly told you how much I want you, and that hasn’t changed.” I opened up my bottle of water and took a long gulp, which caused her face to soften. “I wanna wait a little longer before we go all the way. Is that cool with you?”
As I put the bottle of water on my side, by the edge of the seat, her nipples pebbled through her shirt. Her breasts looked fuller. I looked at the sky and shook my head. Beth sat on my thigh and traced the tip of her tongue on my top and bottom lips. “It’s cool with me.” She pushed her tongue inside, laving against it. I reached for her hair instead of her ass, tightening my fingers in her hair. My tongue caressed hers and she hummed. Panting with warm and moist breaths, our tongues teased each other’s. As the movement of my hands lowered to her bare shoulder blades, I felt her swift heartbeats. Even in the semi-darkness, she was gorgeous. I could see every fine detail of her face that made her distinctly Beth. Her top exposed just enough of her skin for me to have access to her without feeling like I was being restrictive with myself when I?
??d touched her. It hugged her curves and it turned me on more that outside of work, she did her body justice.
She separated her lips from mine. “You’re so good with your tongue. I couldn’t help myself,” she said breathily.
“You are too,” I told her.
She shot me a seductive look that made me want to go for a quick swim to take the edge off. She drew her hand away from me and settled between my legs again, her hair lying on my shoulder. When we were more relaxed, she guided my hands over her stomach and rested her arms on top of mine. Her sandals were off and I looked at her tiny feet, now painted in sky-blue nail polish, yet her nails were a beige color. “Where I come from most people consider my mom, who I’ve called Cindy since I could talk, a slut,” she started. “Uncle Anton and her were born and raised in Franklin Parks. Since Cindy was a teenager, she’s slept with many men. So when I started developing in middle school, I got the looks that she got.”
She paused for a moment and I lifted her hand and kissed the front of it. She didn’t have to say that older men were in that category of perverse assholes that had made her feel uncomfortable. The thought made me flaccid. Beth probably had to worry about her image and self-esteem more than other young girls had because of her mom.
“Everyone saw me and assumed that I was like her. I kept my head up and went to school. It wasn’t the end of the world. But what frustrated me most was that their assumptions about me didn’t come out of thin air. Cindy freely dated around and went to places in town that she’d frequented with other dates. Recently I learned that she’s with a married man.” She let out a bitter laugh. “I was stupid enough to think that she’d never be with a married man because she told me that was a line she’d never cross.”
I shook my head.
“Yeah. When I came home from school, my home was mostly bare. She’d run out of town with him.” She opened her tote again and I watched her unzip a small pocket inside and she gave me a tiny piece of paper. It read: Beth, Sorry but love doesn’t wait for you to be ready. – Cindy, xoxo. “That’s the note I found on my bedroom counter when I arrived home. Some days later, I found out that the rent hadn’t been paid in months. And that she didn’t renew the lease.”
“Damn.” I squeezed her hands. There was no need for her to have a tangible reminder of all of this. “So that’s why you’re here for summer, because you were gonna be out of a home?”
She nodded. “And no one was going to hire me because of Cindy. Word got out about who she left town with. Jake is driving Mariska to work until she saves up enough to get her own car. So even if I got a job nearby, it would’ve been a burden for Jake to work around my schedule also.”
“Those women at the gas station store were obnoxious because your mom left town with a married man?”
She bobbed her head. “And then they saw you and I… I am sure they started a whole bunch of rumors. I know that living in Franklin Parks would’ve been easier for me if Cindy weren’t promiscuous. What hurt me is that people think they’re somehow above her. And most of all, what saddens me is that she doesn’t have to reduce herself to sleeping around. If she loved herself like I love her, she could meet a man who will love her honestly.”
As I studied Beth, she sounded like a little girl. Her hands moved in mine with hope and longing for the woman who left her with limited means to support herself. How could she forgive her mom for leaving her without advance notice? Who left her a note saying that her an affair trampled their mother-daughter relationship? There was reverence and unconditional acceptance about the kind of person her mom was and who she could be that truly astounded me. That was a kind of love that I’d never thought existed. She didn’t play the victim card. She knew she was fortunate that her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt, Pierce, and Nancy cared about her, as well as me.
All that stress in her face made sense to me now. Since she hadn’t heard from Mr. Pruitt, his wife, or Pierce in years, she hadn’t assumed that anything would be handed to her. That was why she’d been studying the history of the Paloma hotel.
“Have you and your mom communicated at all since—”
“I called her a few times.” She swallowed and attempted to smile, but she ended up looking sadder. “I even texted her and I didn’t get a reply. Cindy feels free now. She’ll come back to me if she wants to. The problem is that I wasn’t just her daughter; I was her friend. And that might be where we really got screwed up.”
I combed my fingers through her hair as she ran circles my chest with her soft fingers. After she put the note back in her tote, Beth looked up at me and brought her lips to my scar, the right curve of my neck, nuzzling me. I pulled the hoodie from underneath her and covered her with it once more. Within minutes, a peaceful expression graced her face. I had it bad for Beth. I didn’t know any other way to be with her. I wouldn’t make the mistake that Cindy had of taking Beth for granted.
Chapter 10
Bethany
“I’ll take their orders,” Nico said as he got out of the counter, but Brianna put her hand to his chest and he stood still.
She plastered on a false grin that I hadn’t seen her do before. It worried me because it was unlike her. “He’s not getting the best of me this time.” She gave him a chaste kiss on his cheek and he blushed a little. She had her notepad and pen in hand, and her expression looked more natural than it had seconds ago.
