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“A Walgreens then, not a bodega,” I corrected.
“Gum, Altoids—”
“Jesus, Altoids, Julie?” Jeremy said, “my little sunburn is nothing compared to the icy hell of those things. Are you a masochist?”
“No. Sugary breath mints are for cowards,” she teased, passing the aloe to him.
I waited to see if she’d whip out the taser and play it off as a joke. Knowing that it was a clear sign of how afraid she was about her ex coming after her. My hands fisted of their own accord, wishing I could pound them into his face. I took a drink of water, but it didn’t really calm me down. She shuffled the items back into her mammoth tote bag and the conversation drifted back to the seagull that nearly crapped on Darren when he was trying to convince us he saw a whale in the distance.
Our food came, and we let out a collective sound of excitement as plates of crab legs, fried shrimp, and fluffy lobster tails were piled in front of us. We all sampled from each other’s plates, and I caught myself watching Julie lick butter off her fingers after tasting my lobster. She caught my eyes and color warmed her cheeks. A moment later, I stole another glance at her, and she was looking at me. Five or six more times during the meal, I slid my eyes in her direction, and our gazes locked every time. She was looking right back at me and it made a knot of desire in my belly tighten and twist.
Back at the house we agreed to change and then meet out on the patio for drinks to wind down. When I came downstairs and headed to the patio, I saw Julie had beaten me to it. I went over to the outdoor bar and poured her a glass of wine. I touched her bare shoulder and she turned toward me. When she took the wine glass, our fingers brushed against one another. Her eyes were dark and wide in the firelight.
Desire surged through me along with the bolt of excitement from how she was looking at me. Before I could stop myself, I leaned in and tasted her lips. Her soft mouth clung to mine, parted, and I slipped my tongue in, hungry for her. The kiss didn’t ease my desire but stoked it. Her hand came to my hair as she parted her lips more fully to give me better access. Her tongue grazed mine and arousal speared me. I reached for her neck, tilted her head to angle our mouths and gave her the kiss I’d been dying to give her. The soft noise she made was like pouring lighter fluid on the blaze that threatened to consume me.
Voices came from inside the house. The others were approaching. We broke apart, breathless. Her face was flushed, her lips puffy from the force of my kiss. She pressed her fingers to her mouth, avoided my eyes. She took a drink of wine that couldn’t be called a sip. I rushed back to the bar and made a show of mixing a cocktail, using the shakers and some ice, making noise. The others came out and joined me there, and it gave Julie a minute to recover from whatever the hell just happened between us. Soon enough she came to the bar and held out her glass for a refill.
“No fancy cocktails for you?” Jeremy asked Julie. She shook her head.
“I’m happy with my white wine. I was also thinking about going to raid the freezer for some ice cream.”
“I’ll grab the spoons,” Kendall said, going with her. When they came back, we sat by the fire pit, passing around pints of ice cream. It was starting to get colder under the pale starlight, and the girls went upstairs to bed first.
I offered to bank the fire and clean up. My brothers nodded and went to turn in. It isn’t like I’d get any sleep with this painful erection I’d been harboring all night anyway. I might as well make myself useful. I sighed. I couldn’t bring myself to regret kissing her, but it made things worse.
10
JULIE
Holy shit. Rory kissed me.
I kissed him back. Any idiot would kiss that man back. His easy charm, his fun and fearless attitude, and those eyes. The bad thing was I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t act on my attraction for any of Kendall’s brothers. The worse thing was, now that I’d kissed him, I couldn’t wait to do it again.
After sneaking glances at him during dinner, I had hurried to the patio to have time to clear my head. I could hear the waves, the distant laughter of people further down the beach on the decks of other houses. I took long breaths of the salt air and tried to let go of my anxiety about Eric and my longing for each of the Beckett brothers. I shut my eyes and imagined the waves lapping at the shore and stealing away all my troubles. I felt myself relax.
