Break Away (30 page)

“So, about your dad…” I began, trying to pose the question in a way that wouldn’t upset her. “Do you think you’ll ever reach out to him?”

She turned to stare out her window without saying a word. I thought I may have crossed a line, but after a while, she finally answered. “No, I don’t want anything to do with him. It’s not that I hate him, or resent him… I just don’t feel anything toward him. He wasn’t a big part of my life even when he was around, and he never tried to find me or be a part of my life after that. He let me go and now I’m letting him go. I’m better off without him.”

I couldn’t blame her. I was relieved that she didn’t have any plans to open herself up to someone who didn’t deserve her and would probably hurt her. Some people were inherently bad and weren’t capable of changing or worthy of a second chance.

One of my worst fears was that I was one of those people.

“You know what I do want?” Olivia took a deep breath and turned toward me. “I want to get my mind off all this serious crap. Even if it’s just for a little while.”

“Done,” I grinned, knowing exactly what to do.

The narrow dirt road was so overgrown that I was afraid my truck might not make it to the end. There were huge potholes that made it nearly impossible to navigate unless you were in a lifted truck like mine. The area was remote, to say the least, and not many people knew of the spot I was taking her to. We used to light a huge bonfire and party out there when I was in high school, because it was so deep in the woods that no one would ever stumble upon us. I hadn’t been there since before I went overseas for my last tour, but if it was anything like I remembered, then it was ideal for what I had in mind.

“Where are you taking me, exactly?” Olivia asked.

“You’ll see,” I evaded.

Finally the road opened up to a big clearing in the middle of the woods. It was perfect. Last night’s rainstorm had left enormous puddles in the dirt and practically the entire area was all mud.

“I really hope this isn’t your idea of romantic,” she mused, eyeing me suspiciously as I rolled up all the windows.

My grin got wider. “Buckle up, baby.”

She tossed me a confused look, and I hit the gas. The tires spun, fighting for traction as mud flew up and spattered the windows, painting the outside of the truck. Olivia screamed, bracing herself against the dashboard as we sped over a steep bump and splashed into the puddle at the bottom.

“Are you crazy?” she laughed, unable to contain the smile on her face.

“What, you’ve never been mudding before?” I glanced over at her. “If you’re gonna be a southern girl, then it’s something you gotta do!”

My entire truck was coated in brown mud, and we could barely see through the windows, but all that mattered to me was Olivia’s carefree laughter echoing through the cab. If anything could make her forget about all that complicated shit, it was this. There was something liberating about whipping through the mud in a truck, flying into the air over a bump, and that lofty feeling you got in the pit of your stomach on the way down. It was exhilarating in the best way and made you let go of all the other bullshit. It brought me back to when I was a kid and the most fun happened when I was doing things that involved getting dirty. Adults are always going out of their way to avoid messes and stay clean, but sometimes you need it.

Being messy is a part of life. A fun part.

Every once in a while, when I hit a steep trench or sped up, Olivia would let out a little scream, but the huge smile hadn’t left her face since we started. I loved that smile. I would do anything for that smile.

We kept going until the sun started to set and the sound of our growling stomachs alerted us to the fact that we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. We stopped for dinner on the way home and when we passed the beach, Olivia told me to pull over.

“What is it?” I asked, concerned that she was going to be sick or that the day had finally gotten to her, and she was about to have some kind of emotional breakdown.

Her eyes twinkled mischievously. “There’s another carefree, reckless thing that I want to do.”

She hopped out of the truck, scampering over the sand and into the darkness. I jumped out to follow, scanning the beach futilely for any sign of her. It was pitch black and the only light came from the pale glow of the moon in the sky. My eyes began adjusting to the dark as I moved further down the beach and I nearly tripped over a pair of shoes in the sand. Olivia’s shoes.

I picked them up and kept walking. When I came across the pale pink tee shirt that she’d been wearing, my face broke into a grin, and I started moving faster. I followed her trail of clothes, finding her denim shorts, bra, and finally her panties. I looked up, and when my eyes fell on her, wading into the water without a scrap of clothing on, I damn near swallowed my tongue.

Her soft skin was radiant in the moonlight, illuminating the sloping lines of her gentle curves against the dark ocean. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back, billowing in the soft breeze and caressing her slender shoulders.

I’d never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life.

She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes twinkling as they found mine. “Well, aren’t you going to join me?”

I couldn’t get undressed fast enough.

Throwing my clothes in the sand, I waded in behind her. The water felt amazing and refreshing, warmed by the hot summer sun during the day.

Coming up behind her, I aligned my body with hers and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her tightly against me. I dropped my lips to her ear and whispered, “You take my breath away, Liv.”

She trembled slightly and curved her body into mine, pushing her round, perfect ass against my firm cock in the most tempting way. I moved my hand down her stomach, dipping it between her legs and running my fingers over her slick heat. She moaned, her head falling back against my shoulder as I took her breast in one hand and continued rubbing her pussy with the other.

I pulled her into the deeper water. The ocean was calm and relatively still, lapping against our shoulders as I turned her around to face me.

“Thank you for today,” she said softly, wrapping her arms and legs around me. Her lips brushed softly against mine, but I needed more. I wove my hands in her hair, deepening the kiss and gently nipping her soft bottom lip. She parted her mouth and let me inside, winding her tongue with mine as sweet, sexy sounds escaped from her throat and vibrated in my mouth.

She was pressed perfectly against me, and it would have been easy to slide inside her, but this was too incredible to rush. I wanted to take my time and enjoy the way her wet, sexy body was slipping against mine. The way her nipples pebbled in the cool night air and grazed against my chest. The way the ocean water swirled between us, warming every inch of our already heated skin.

I began kissing my way down her neck, along her collarbone and over her cleavage. She bowed her back and I took her breast in my mouth, licking and sucking her nipple as she writhed her body into mine. Her skin was salty from the ocean and the taste on my lips was driving me wild. I hauled her against me, dragging her along the hard length of my cock until neither of us could take it anymore. Shifting my hips I sank inside her and a loud growl escaped my lips. Nothing felt better than this. She was tight and fucking perfect, our bodies fitting together like two pieces of the same puzzle.

Her hands clasped my shoulders as she rocked her hips into me. “Oh my God, Dex… you feel so good baby, just like that.” Gripping her ass in my hands I began thrusting into her, no longer able to slow down or hold back.

“Shit, Liv, I don’t have a fucking condom,” I choked out, finally realizing that the reason she felt so incredible was because there was no barrier between us.

“Don’t stop, please don’t stop.”

I knew she was close, and I was too far gone to stop now. Clenching my jaw, I began pounding into her, hard and fast until I felt her tighten around me. I pulled out just as my own release tore through me and reached between her legs, drawing out the rest of her orgasm with my fingers.

Once she caught her breath, she looked at me questioningly. “You didn’t have to pull out,” she said with a slight pout. “I’m on the pill, Dex. I thought you knew that.”

“I didn’t know if you were… cool with that… or whatever,” I stammered.

She laughed. “You know that I trust you.” Pressing her lips against my ear, she swiped her tongue along the spot that she knew drove me crazy. “Don’t do it again… I want to feel you explode inside me when you call out my name.”

My cock immediately got hard against her and she giggled softly while I groaned. “If I don’t get you home now, I’m going to fuck you until our skin is pruned and wrinkled from being in the water too long.”

“Mmmm,” she murmured against my lips. “It might be worth it.”

“You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” I drew her close, pressing my mouth to hers and slowly coaxing it open with my tongue. I was fully prepared to stay in the water for another round, no matter how wrinkly we got, when I felt her tense in my arms and pull away from me. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I just saw something in the dunes over there… like a flash of light or something,” she said worriedly. “Are you sure there’s no one around?”

I turned toward the beach, looking for any sign of light or movement, but all I saw was darkness. “I doubt it, but I’ll go check it out just in case.”

She grabbed my arm to stop me. “No, let’s just get out of here.”

“Okay,” I agreed. She seemed nervous, and I didn’t want her to be. “I’m sure it was nothing, probably just a headlight or a weird reflection. It’s way too dark for anyone to see anything anyway. Don’t worry, babe.”

***

We dressed quickly, and even though I didn’t see anything else unusual as we made our way off the beach, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. I could have sworn that what I’d seen earlier was a camera flash of some kind, but I hoped that I was wrong. I kept telling myself that my mind was playing tricks on me, or that Dex was right about it simply being a headlight from the other side of the dunes.

I wasn’t normally so paranoid, but lately, I’d become increasingly wary. After all the weird phone calls and the strange visit from the mystery guy at work, I often found myself glancing over my shoulder and was constantly on the lookout. It was nothing more than a feeling—like the hairs on the back of my neck standing up—and so far I hadn’t seen anything to justify it. I hadn’t mentioned any of it to Dex because I knew how protective he was and I didn’t want him to worry when it might be nothing. It was probably all the stress over my past that was causing me to act irrationally, and I was creating unnecessary drama in my head to distract myself from the real drama in my life. I needed to stop making something out of nothing.

Dex paused as he pulled into my driveway, his eyes fixed on something further down the road. “I think that’s Nate’s car,” he said, parking the truck and climbing out. “What the hell is he doing here?”

I followed his gaze and sure enough, Nate’s old Camero was parked on the side of the street, almost completely out of sight and concealed behind a cluster of bushes. It would have been impossible to see if not for the bright orange paint job, and I wondered why he didn’t just park in the driveway.

“He must be looking for me,” Dex said. “Shit, what if something happened to Amy or Sadie?”