Back to the Beach (Hunt Family Book 4) (8 page)

Chapter 11

Nico

A little earlier that night

Nico had
not
been planning on going to the party that evening. He really didn't want to see Mia all dressed up and flirting with Travis. It had been hard enough getting through the week pretending not to be interested in her.

He liked Cody and Evan, and he respected that they wanted to protect their sister, but he was fed up with the two of them watching his every move. It was his intention to stay behind and not even expose himself to the temptation. That was a good plan and all, but it didn't work out once he saw Mia come downstairs in her little white outfit. He was literally incapable of stopping himself from going with them. Before he knew what was happening, he had changed clothes and was on his way to the party with the rest of them.

His feelings for her had not diminished during the past week. If anything, they had multiplied, which only served to add to his confusion. All week long he dealt with the mental struggle of wondering if he was doing the right thing. Part of him knew that Cody and Evan's concerns were valid, but the other part of him thought maybe he could be the one to make her happy.

Right when they got to the party, Evan drug Nico away from the rest of the family, saying he wanted to go scope out the situation with the single ladies.

Nico had no interest whatsoever in doing that, and would have no doubt refused, but Mia looked so happy to see her friend that he decided to give her some space. He needed to cool down anyway. He felt like he wanted to have a knockdown drag-out fight with Evan, and Travis, and anyone else who wanted to come between the two of them. He was so frustrated that he had to take a minute to breathe before he even spoke to Evan.

"No one's going to talk to us with you walking around looking like you want to murder someone," Evan said as they walked away from Mia and across the backyard.

"How is it that you're on board with that dude having his hands all over your sister, but you freak out on me if I barely say her name?"

Evan took a few seconds to consider his response before answering. "First of all, I don't freak out on you. You guys have spent a lot of time together this week, and none of us have ever freaked out. And second, I'm fine with her being around Travis because nothing's gonna happen. She doesn't care about him. She's known him for two years and nothing's happened."

"How do you know that? You're definitely not watching them as closely as you watch her when she's with me."

"I thought we already went over this," Evan said patting Nico on the shoulder like they were old buddies.

"Remind me what we said," Nico said, impassively as he pulled his shoulder away.

"Mia can't be trusted with you. We all see the way she looks at you, and it's not even close to the way she looks at Travis—not even the same ballpark. You say the word, and she throws herself at you."

"Maybe I
want
to say that word," Nico said.

"That's the part we already went over," Evan said. "She throws herself at you, she gets her heart broken, and then everything gets ugly from there."

"What makes you so sure I'm going to break her heart, Evan?"

They were almost on the beach by that point, and Evan stopped and put a hand on Nico's shoulder with a smile. "You're gonna be okay," Evan said. "You're just having trouble thinking straight because you saw her in those shorts. If you could have a conversation with straight-thinking Nico right now, he would tell you that I'm right. You'll have all those movie stars and Lakergirls, and whoever else you take home waiting for you out there in Hollywood. All you have to do is get through tonight. Nobody's heart gets broken, and we all stay friends and go back to our lives the way they were."

"What if I don't want my life the way it was?"

Evan smiled. "Straight-thinking Nico would never say that."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I follow your Instagram, bro. I see the selfies with the women out in L.A. There's never the same one twice."

Nico shook his head. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Evan laughed casually and clapped him on the shoulder again as they started walking toward the bonfire. "Just be strong and get through tonight," he said. "I believe in you."

Evan did his best to find the prettiest women at the party in an effort to lure Nico away from his sister. He started talking to a particularly fine looking group, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that one of them was a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. He thought this would be right up Nico's alley and would certainly do the trick. She had dark hair, and looked similar to Mia in some ways, so Evan thought this would be a sure bet.

They stayed out by the fire for a while, talking to the girls. Nico was naturally charming and a good conversationalist, but Evan could tell something was switched off in his brain—it was like he was looking at the girls but not really seeing them—like he was hearing them but not really listening.

The girls had no idea this was the case. They were like putty in Nico and Evan's hands. If Nico hadn't been so wound up over Mia, he and Evan could have had their pick from any of them. It was too bad neither of them felt like letting anything happen—Nico was too busy thinking about Mia, and Evan was too busy thinking about how he was going to keep Nico away from Mia.

In spite of their disinterest, the swimsuit model and her friends wanted to continue hanging out. They invited Evan and Nico to come with them to the house so they could all get a refill on their drinks.

Travis had a really nice patio area near the pool, and after a visit to the bar, the group made themselves comfortable at one of the tables in the far corner near a fire pit. They talked about travel, and Evan told stories from his adventures chasing whalers all the way down to Antarctica.

Nico laughed a lot but mostly it was just a delirious laugh at the absurdity of his situation. He and Evan were surrounded by gorgeous women, and all he could do was think about Mia.

He looked up to see that she was approaching their table with a somber look on her face. He sat up a little straighter, staring back at her with great concern.

"What's the matter?" he said before she was even close enough to hear.

"Nothing," Claudia answered, thinking he was talking to her.

Nico pointed at Mia, who was approaching them by that point. "What's the matter," he repeated, hoping she was close enough to hear that time.

Mia had been looking at Nico the whole time she walked, but she shifted her attention to Evan when she spoke. "I just wanted to let you know I'm gonna head out," she said to her brother. She put a hand to her stomach. "I'm not feeling my best."

"What's the matter?" Evan said.

She shrugged one shoulder and gave him a forced half-smile. "I'm fine. I'm just a little queasy or whatever. Probably something I ate." She pointed toward the house. "I'm sure Logan or Charlotte are ready to head out anyway."

"If you're leaving, I'm leaving," Nico said, pushing back in his chair as if he was about to stand up.

Mia put a hand out to stop him. "Y'all stay," she said, shaking her head and smiling a little. "I can see you're having drinks or whatever."

"I'm not having any drinks," Nico said.

"I heard Logan Ritchie was here," one of the girls at the table blurted out even though no one had spoken to her, and it had nothing to do with anything. Obviously, she had heard Mia mention Logan's name, and could no longer hold in her comment. Mia looked at the girl who said it. She could feel the blood rising to her cheeks as she realized how beautiful she was. She hated her for sitting at the same table as Nico looking so pretty. She wasn't a big fan of confrontation, but she was mad enough to snap. "Logan Ritchie
is
here," she said with a straight face aimed at the girl. "With his
wife
."

"So-rry," the girl said, with a hand in the air in a submissive gesture. Her face was contorted into an expression that said she thought Mia was way overreacting.

"It's no problem. Don't worry about it," Mia said, pretending to take the girl's apology seriously. She then looked at her brother since she couldn't bear to look at Nico. "Anyway, you two can stay and finish up. I'm sure the others are ready to get back."

"I'm ready to get back," Nico said as he stood up.

Mia made eye contact with him, and when she did, her chest and stomach seized up. She was officially crazy about him. Her body reacted in crazy ways she didn't even understand. The desire she felt toward him was crippling. Her knees felt like they might actually give out from under her.

Nico looked at the girls sitting around the table. "It was nice meeting you," he said. "But I'm gonna head out with Mia."

Evan reached out to put a hand on Nico's arm as if he was going to try to talk some sense into him. "She said Charlotte and Logan would walk home with her if you want to stay."

Nico lifted his elbow sharply in a slightly violent gesture that said he did not appreciate Evan's hand on him. "I said I'm leaving with Mia, bro," Nico said, staring down at him with an expression that dared Evan to say more.

It was with great difficulty that Mia refrained from smiling. She had to bite the inside of her lip to do it.

"I thought we were gonna hang out a little while longer," Evan added.

"Yeah, me toooo," one of the girls said in a pouty tone.

"Mia's our sister," Evan clarified, glancing at the ladies. They all smiled as if relieved by the news.

"She's not
my
sister," Nico said. He continued to look at Evan, shaking his head at him during an awkward, tense pause. "That's enough, Evan."

"What do you mean, that's enough?" Evan asked, acting surprised to see Nico getting upset.

"You know what I mean," Nico said.

Nico's patience was wearing thin—that was apparent by the way he looked at Evan. "I don't really care what you decide to do, but I'm leaving with Mia." He glanced at the girls as he began walking around the table in Mia's direction. "It was nice meeting you," he said with a smile and a wave aimed at the girls.

Mia looked so vulnerable standing there, that he wasted no time crossing to her. He took her straight into his arms, holding her tightly. He felt her relax into his grasp the second his arms were securely around her. She sighed and wrapped her arms around his waist, causing some sort of primal instinct to rise up in him—like he would kill anybody who ever tried to hurt her. He would do it gladly and with his bare hands. In the few seconds that he held her, he didn't even remember they were at a party. He had wanted to wrap his arms around this girl for days, and now that it was finally happening, he hated to let go.

She gave him a little squeeze before pulling back enough to break contact. She glanced at him with a smile, but it was somewhat guarded. He wished he knew what she was thinking.

"I guess I'm gonna head back with you guys," Evan said, putting a hand on Nico's shoulder from behind.

"Why don't you go ahead and stay?" Nico insisted. "I'll see that Mia gets home."

The two gentlemen shared a silent exchange during the next few seconds.

"We might as well all go," Evan said. "Mia's right. Charlotte and Logan are probably ready anyway."

Chapter 12

I don't know what I expected to happen when I went to Evan and Nico's table to tell them I was leaving the party early, but I certainly wasn't thinking I'd wind up wrapped in Nico's arms.

I was shocked at how quickly he stood up from the table and crossed to me, taking me into his embrace the second he was close enough to reach out and grab me. I went willingly and before I knew what was happening, I wrapped my arms around him as well. The sensation of relief was so great that I felt like I was on the verge of bursting into tears. I made myself let go of him and take a step back for fear that I might do just that.

We looked at each other, and I smiled at him, hoping he didn't notice that I was experiencing an earth-shattering reaction to his touch. As I stood there, my arms still remembered what it felt like to be wrapped around his body. He was solid, and I was able feel the bumps and indentions of his muscular body, even though his shirt. I heard deep voices as he and Evan had an exchange. It vaguely registered that they were talking about who was going home and who was staying, but the hug had left me so dazed that it took me a second to catch up to their conversation. Nico seemed pretty insistent on leaving with me, which was all I cared about.

The crowd had grown since our arrival, and the next thing I knew, we were making our way through it in search of my cousins. It hadn't been that long since I left them, so I had a rough idea of where they'd be.

I led Nico and Evan to the living room, and we had no trouble finding them. Everyone was worried about me at first, but I explained that my stomach was okay and I simply felt like leaving. I thought they might be disappointed, but everyone seemed relieved to get back and said they basically came for me in the first place.

The seven of us set out for the beach so we could walk on the shore back to Dee-dee's. We made our way through the gate and past the bonfire before coming to a stretch of beach that was lit only by moonlight. It was in this near darkness that Nico reached out and took my hand as we walked.

He brought my hand to his chest and held it there securely. The gentle way he pulled my arm and held onto it caused me to have to walk closer to him. My shoulder rubbed against his side as he held onto my hand with both of his. I felt so happy my heart could just burst. For a few seconds, I was walking by Nico's side while he held onto me like he might never let me go. For a few seconds, all was right with the world.

Right up to the point when my idiot brother jumped in front of me, planting his feet firmly in the sand. I had no other choice but to stop walking, and it was a good thing I did, because I almost ran straight into him.

The crazy thing was that not only did he randomly jump right in front of me, but he also landed with his back toward me. He was hunched over, and he stared over his shoulder at me with a big smile. It was a crazy looking pose to go with a crazy thing to do, and I scowled at him, ignoring his smile. "What's wrong with you?" I asked.

Nico had also stopped walking. He was standing next to me, and I was happy to find that he hadn't let go of my hand.

"Jump on," Evan said.

"Me?" I asked, looking at him like he had lost his mind.

"Yeah you!" he said, still smiling at me from over his hunched-over shoulder. "I'll give you a ride back to the house."

I took a step forward with every intention of walking around him (and perhaps giving him a stiff push to the shoulder while I was at it).

"You said you weren't feeling well, so I was gonna give you a ride back to the house," Evan said.

"Aww," Charlotte said, thinking it was a sweet gesture.

The whole group had sort of slowed down when Evan jumped in front of me, but we began walking slowly again once I stepped around him. Nico hadn't let go of my hand the whole time.

"I think she's fine walking," Nico said.

"I'm fine walking," I agreed.

"You sure?" Evan asked.

"She's good," Nico said.

His tone wasn't aggressive or anything, but it did get across the point that Evan really shouldn't mention it again. I glanced at Nico, and we shared a conspiratorial smile at the way Evan was behaving. The exchange caused him to pull me closer, wrapping one arm around my shoulders as we walked.

It took another ten or fifteen minutes for us to get back to the house, and he held me close the entire time. I didn't look at him as we walked; I just stared straight ahead, fixated on the sand and the water. I couldn't see him, but I could smell him and I could feel him, and the level of comfort that gave me was unexplainable. I was disappointed when we got back to the house because I knew it would all be over soon.

We'd been talking and joking around the entire time we walked. Rachel was talking about their dog, Sampson, and how he'd fallen madly in love with Charlotte and Cub's dog, Tess. She joked about getting them a doggie tux and wedding dress to let them get married, and we were all laughing about that as we walked up to the staircase that led to Dee-dee's back deck.

The California group would be leaving first thing in the morning, so we had already decided to sit in the downstairs living room and watch a movie before we went to bed that night. That's how it always happened when we were together—our time would be almost over before we knew it, and then we'd all want to stay up late so we could squeeze out every last second.

"We'll meet you guys up there in just a minute," Nico said as everyone started ascending the staircase that led to the house. Evan had been walking right in front of us, and that statement made him turn around to look at Nico. The others continued up the stairs, but Evan stayed at the bottom with Nico and me. They stood there and stared at each other for long enough that I knew there was some sort of silent exchange going on.

"We'll meet you up there," Nico repeated after several long, intense seconds.

Evan shifted his attention to me with what looked like a mixture of warning and regret. I honestly had no brain capacity to try to figure out what he was communicating with me. My brain was completely focused on the fact that Nico wanted to hang back with me. I had no idea what he would say or do. Mostly, I hoped he would kiss me, but in the same second I had that thought, I warned myself not to get my hopes up.

Evan turned around and started walking up the steps, but he was very reluctant about it. I wondered why in the world he was making such a big deal out of it, and I shot a confused expression his way even though he was turned and could no longer see me.

Evan was almost all the way up to the deck when Nico stepped onto the staircase. He sat on the third step with his knees propped up onto the first step. I stood close by, watching to see what he'd do next. As soon as he was sitting, he reached out to grab my hand. He pulled me closer, and I went with no resistance whatsoever. It was like I was being drawn to him by magnetic force.

"Come here," he said.

The sound of his voice hit my ears in such a way that a wave of desire washed over me. I felt all of a sudden like my bones had turned to liquid, and I was in danger of collapsing.

"Where?" I said, giggling a little as I clumsily tried to decide whether I should stand on the stairs next to his feet or go ahead and sit on his lap. He positioned me onto his knee, wrapping his big arms around my waist as he rested the side of his face in the area between my shoulder and chest. He took a long breath in through his nose and let it out slowly. I couldn't see his eyes, but I knew by the sound of relief in his sigh that they were closed.

I reached up with one hand cupping it around his ear to let him know how much I loved having his head right there over my heart. We sat there for what must have been a full minute, enjoying the relief that came with finally being in each other's arms. I knew he was as relieved as I was. I could tangibly feel it radiating off of him, and I was sure he could feel the same from me.

"I've been wanting to do this all week," he said, after we sat like that in silence for a long time.

"Why didn't you?" I asked.

Another extended pause happened before he answered. "I don't know," he said, finally. "I just didn't."

His head was still resting at the top of my chest, and I absolutely relished the feel of it. I ran my fingertips over the closely cropped hair above his ears, feeling almost numb and out of body with the sensations created by finally being able to touch him and hold him near me.

He sighed again. "I don't think I'm good enough for you, Mia," he said thoughtfully.

I didn't respond right away, but he didn’t continue, so I said, "Why are you saying that?"

He shook his head but didn’t answer verbally. I started to ask the question again, but before I could, he picked up his head so that he could look at me. Because of the way I was sitting on his knee, we were eye to eye, I might have even been a little taller than him. His arms were still wrapped around my waist, and our faces were about ten or so inches apart.

"How are you feeling?" It wasn't until he said that that I remembered I had a stomach ache.

"Better now," I said, smiling and glancing down shyly.

"Mia," he said with a slight squeeze.

I glanced at him. "What?" I asked when he didn’t continue.

"Kiss me."

A gut-clenching ache washed over me at the sound of his voice saying those words. It was so overwhelming that I physically cringed from it.

"What?" he asked, noticing my reaction.

"Nothing," I said. "I just was feeling like I was riding a roller coaster for a second."

His face morphed into a grin at my words. Watching his mouth turned upward into a smile was like true magic. He was the most handsome creature I had ever seen. I wanted to smash my face next to his and wiggle it until we became one person—stuck together for life by the face. It was so irresistible that I pulled back just far enough to free my hands so that I could put them on each side of his face.

"I think you're pretty cute," I said, since I was unable to come up with anything better than that.

I wanted to say,
you're the love of my life, and I've known it since I was in second grade
, but obviously I didn't.

His smile widened at my comment, and I could feel the movement of his cheeks under my palms. "I think you're pretty cute, too," he said. "But you're stubborn."

"What?" I asked, pulling back to stare at him with a light-hearted, offended expression.

"You are," he said staring at me sideways.

"And what makes you say that?" I asked, enjoying the feel of his stubble under my fingertips as I held his face gently.

"Because I told you to kiss me like five minutes ago, and you're being really stubborn about it."

"That was like five
seconds
ago, and I'm not being stubborn about it."

"Then what's it called when I ask you to do something and you sit here refusing to do it."

"Scared," I said. My voice came out sounding as vulnerable as I felt.

He studied me with his light green eyes. Even in the dark I could appreciate their intensity. "Don't be scared of me, baby girl," he said.

I smiled. "That's easier said than done."

He squeezed me. "Why?"

"Because I like you, and sometimes liking someone is scary."

"Well then I'm scared of you, too," he said.

"Nico?" I asked, dropping my hands from the sides of his face.

He made a disapproving noise that made me look at him. "I liked your hands right there," he said. "Don't go taking them away."

I smiled as I put my palms on his face again, but this time I allowed myself to really touch him, letting my fingertips gently explore his hairline, and ears, and jaw. I could see his chest rise and fall out of the bottom of my eyes, and I smiled internally since I knew he was enjoying himself. I could feel the ocean breeze and hear the sounds of waves crashing as we sat there, staring at each other. I wanted to freeze this moment in time.

"What were you going to say?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You said my name like you were about to tell me something."

I tried to think back, but I couldn’t remember. "I don't know," I said.

"You were probably about to say you love me," he said.

I giggled, since what else was I supposed to do at a statement like that? "I was not," I said honestly, even though it totally would have been the truth if I had been about to say it.

He smiled and shrugged confidently. "You were probably gonna tell me you were about to kiss me, then."