On the Ropes (12 page)

“I said five minutes.”

“It’s been five. Looks like you need another ten. You’re going to have to wash your face before your mom puts sunblock on it.”

“He should probably nap before dinner,” Meg mumbled.

Toby craned his neck to see her and gave her a look of incredulity only a young innocent could master. He seemed offended at the mere insinuation.

“If Seth told him to nap, he would,” Meg said.

Seth passed into the room from the deck at that moment and opened the fridge. “Who needs a nap? Toby or Stephen?”

“Probably both,” Janette said. “Stephen said he was going to the gym, though.”

Seth grabbed a beer and shut the fridge door. He grunted. “I’m lighting the grill in half an hour. Eating early tonight. It’s karaoke night at The Sandbar and I promised to take Toby for a bit before bed.”

“You do karaoke, Toby?”

Toby shook his head. “Laughing at people who can’t sing is fun.”

Meg sighed, clamped her hands over his ears, and said quietly, “He’s the complete opposite of tone deaf, and thinks it’s okay to tell people when they hit a clunker. He’s the kindergarten Simon Cowell.”

“Maybe he’ll grow out of it.”

Meg’s cringe adequately projected her perceived odds of that.

“Well, I’ll go tell Stephen he shouldn’t go far,” Janette said. “Maybe he’ll come down to the beach with us after all.”

“Yeah, he can carry water,” Toby said.

Ha! Stephen had called it.

She returned to the bedroom, laughing, and just feeling light. She was so rarely around people who knew each other so well, and
liked
being around each other. They were comfortable in their own skin, and she was starting to feel the same way, herself.

Stephen wasn’t on the bench, anymore, and a quick scan of the room indicated he wasn’t in it at all. She was heading toward the French doors when she heard a raspy gasp from the bathroom.

Maybe he’d noticed that bright patch of red on his shoulders. She moved toward the door, which was slightly ajar, and stopped when she caught a glimpse of him in the mirror.

He had one hand propped on the counter, and the other worked up and down his long, thick cock.

She stood, mesmerized by his handling of it, and marveling at the pearlescent slickness he massaged from the head down the shaft. His white-knuckled grip was surely a sign of desperation—of having no other recourse.

But…he
did
.

He had her.

A quiet scoff escaped her lips, but it was just loud enough for him to hear because his hand stopped and he turned his face and found her in the mirror. He closed his eyes and resumed his pumping. “Stay or go,” he said calmly, “but either way, close the door.”

It took a moment for his words to settle in, for her to act. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but knew she didn’t want to be shut out from his pleasure. She wanted to be the one giving it—wanted to see him at the moment he lost control and erupted. Wanted to see him be as vulnerable as she was, if only for a moment.

Swallowing, she closed the door then gave her hair a little yank.
Damn it.
Now what? She couldn’t leave. She’d come into the room to tell him about the change in dinner plans. If she turned tail and ran back to the family room, Meg and Seth would wonder why she hadn’t informed Stephen of what she’d said she was going into the bedroom to tell him in the first place.

“God,” she whispered. She locked the bedroom door and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for him.

She crossed her legs, and the heel of her right foot tapped out her nervousness against the floor.

Try as she might, she couldn’t think of a more awkward situation. If they’d fucked and gotten that out of the way, she wouldn’t feel perverted for watching him and liking it. Maybe he’d neglected to close the door, but she could have turned away.

She hadn’t wanted to.

The bathroom door opened, and he turned out the light. He came out, drying his hands on his white T-shirt, and looking pointedly at her.

Her gaze trailed down his exposed abs and the vee they made at his trim waist. The white drawstring of his swimming trunks dangled over a bulge indicative of a cock not quite at rest.

“I’m sorry,” she spat out and pulled her gaze up to his face.

His impassive expression pulled a knot into her belly. Was he angry at her for looking? Or for walking away? Perhaps she’d chosen badly by walking away when he’d instructed her to close the door.

“Sorry for what?” he asked.

“For…intruding. The…” Shit. She dragged a tongue across her dry lips and took in a deep, bolstering breath. “The door was open. I didn’t know you were…”

“Jacking off?” His gaze seemed to scorch her skin as it made its way to her chest. Self-consciously, she tugged her bathing suit up over her cleavage. Her nipples could cut glass, and she couldn’t even pretend their arousal was due to cold. She was sweating bullets.

“I thought the bedroom door was closed. I didn’t hear it open,” he said.

“No. You…left it open.”

He sighed and pushed the heels of his palms against his eyes. “Sorry for the show.”

She was about to say, “Thanks for giving me one,” but thought better of it. It just wasn’t something good girls said, or at least girls who
tried
to be good. “You don’t have to apologize. We’re sharing a room. We were bound to walk in on the other in a compromising position. It’s not like we can lock each other out.”

Or maybe they could. Meg was aware of the precarious state of Janette and Stephen’s relationship, and wouldn’t have batted an eyelash about them having separate rooms. Janette suspected that by now, Seth was aware of the scenario, too. She could take a different room—sleep in the room next to Toby, but hoped Stephen wouldn’t want her to.

She didn’t want to give him the chance to consider it, so she just started talking. “I came in to tell you that the Rozhkovs are planning an early dinner. Seth is going to start the grill soon, and I guess I’ll go make some sides. Toby wanted to see karaoke, so…”

Stephen’s hands fell from his face. His pupils shrank and she sat hypnotized by the increase of green. And also the bags under his eyes.

“So, don’t go to the gym, is what you’re telling me.”

His voice startled her back to the here and now, and it took a moment for the question to catch up to her. “You could go, but you wouldn’t be able to stay long. Toby still hopes you’ll take him back down to the beach to make sandcastles.”

“Oh. I see.” Stephen walked over and stopped in front of her. He took a deep breath and just looked down at her.

The intensity of his scrutiny was all at once titillating and frightening. He looked like he either wanted to devour her or cast her aside.

Please don’t cast me aside.

He leaned in and gently pulled down the collar she’d just tugged up. His breath escaped his body in a long hiss as his gaze raked over her exposed breasts.

Did they please him?

He didn’t touch her, but his stare was almost like fingers caressing her, flicking at her taut nipples and stroking the tender flesh of her chest.

“Cup them in your hands,” he whispered.

She did it without pause, and sat with back straight awaiting further instruction.

“Lick your thumbs and perk up your nipples for me.”

For him
.

She put both thumbs between her teeth and swirled her tongue against the pads.

Why he didn’t do it himself, she didn’t know, but didn’t want to ask.

She moistened her nipples and he sank to the floor in front of her, parting her knees. He pressed his chest against her core and his face between her breasts.

As his hands skimmed up her sides, tickling her, he laid soft kisses on her breastbone, then whispered, “Just give me a minute.”

“You can have all day.” They didn’t really need dinner, anyway. It didn’t matter if it was light out. She wanted to peel her bathing suit off in inches and show him every part of her. Do his bidding. No man had ever made her want to do that before, and he’d barely touched her.

“No,” he said. “I can’t.” Sighing, he eased back and re-covered her breasts.

“Why not?”

“Why not? Because right now, I’d turn you over and fuck you so hard that your face would get bruised by the mattress coils. You don’t want that, and I don’t really want that, either.”

She rubbed the damp fabric between her legs and dared him with her gaze. He didn’t look away.

“How do you know I don’t want that?”

“Because the only people who want that are the ones who don’t want to connect, or who already have and know they’ll forgive each other for it after all is said and done.”

She wanted to argue, but maybe he was right. She was so desperate for him to touch her after all this time, and so skin-starved that she would have taken his affection any way she could have gotten it. But, if he was insinuating that he could give her more than that, shouldn’t she hold out for it?

Her brain said yes, but her body wasn’t sure how long she could wait.

He stood, adjusted his cock, and smoothed his T-shirt over his waist. “I’ll help you with the side dishes, and we can take Toby to build his sandcastles before dinner.”

“And the gym?”

“I’ll go later if it’s still open.”

She slumped. That meant she’d have to go to karaoke with the Rozhkovs. No way was she staying in that big house alone.

Stephen stroked the underside of her chin gently and made her look up. “Come on. Show me what you like to cook.”

She nodded.

He walked to the door, and she grabbed a stretchy sundress and pulled it on over her bathing suit.

“Thank you,” he said with his hand on the doorknob. “Your body drives me to distraction.”

“It’s more for me than you. I’d prefer not to have half the world know I’m primed and ready and that my partner refuses to do anything about it.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Open the door, Stephen. I need to cook bacon for the hamburgers.”

He just stared at her for a long while.

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot with annoyance.

“Patience, Jan. It’s the best teacher we have.”

“Yeah? What’s it teaching you right now?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ll find out.”

* * * *

While Stephen peeled the carrots Janette had handed him, she stepped out onto the deck and took a call. She hadn’t expected to hear from Dell again so soon.

“Dell, what’s up?”

“Hey, you know how I told you I’d been in touch with your mom’s caregiver?”

“Yes.”

“Well, she called me back earlier. They found out today that the place where your mom lives has been sold. Everyone got thirty days notice to vacate because they’re going to renovate and sell off the units as condos.”

“Wow. That’s awful, but thirty days isn’t all that pressing. I mean, that doesn’t change whether I’ll go this coming weekend or next weekend. I still have time.”

God, she needed
more
time. This weekend was nearly over and she just knew the week ahead would go by in a streak. Eventually, she’d run out of excuses and would have to just go.

Or not.

Her mother could probably live the rest of her life and be fine without seeing her—without Jan coming around and drudging up miserable memories.

“It’s up to you,” Dell said, “but since you pay me for information, I’m going to give you some in the form of advice. She may have a month to get out, but don’t rest on your laurels. Your mother has a retired cousin in Michigan who’d happily take her in. She gets the company, and your mom gets someone to keep an eye on her. Your mom will probably move out as soon as she gets her belongings packed up.”

Damn
. She thumped her fist against the railing. Options. She needed
options
. “Thanks for the warning, Dell. I’ll figure something out and let you know.”

Stephen came to the door, holding the vegetable peeler, and leaned against the frame.

She ended the call and stuffed the phone into her dress’s pocket. “You done peeling already?”

“Yep. Everything okay?”

“Sure.” She tried to skirt past him, but he looped an arm around her waist and pulled her back onto the deck. “Let me go,” she whispered.

“I’ll let you go when you tell me something.”

“What would you like me to tell you?”

“You can tell me anything you like, Jan. Anything.”

She knew he was fishing, but looking up into his eyes and reading the concern in them, she also knew he was giving her an escape route. He was leaving the door open in case she should want to step through it, but he wasn’t going to push her.

“Tell me something, and I’ll let you go.”

She opened her mouth to tell him, because that was the effect he had on her. He’d give some small command, and she’d do it because his steering always seemed so impeccable. But this time, she closed her mouth.

Not this
. She couldn’t tell him about her dilemma when she wasn’t even sure how she felt about it herself. Her thoughts were just too disordered to lay out in simple statements, and she sure as shit didn’t want to babble unfettered.

Tell him something
.

She searched her brain for anything, but not just anything. Something she cared about. A tidbit of compromise.

Her cheeks burned even thinking it, but she pushed the air through her lungs anyway and told him, “It upset me that you didn’t notice I changed my hair.”

His brow furrowed and he leaned back a bit as if he wasn’t sure she was in sharp focus in front of him. “Are you serious?”

“You didn’t say anything, and I wondered if you even remembered what it looked like before.”

“Of course I remembered. I didn’t bring it up because you’ve never been the kind of woman who takes compliments well. You always brush them off, and they seem to make you uncomfortable.”

“Oh.”

The way he navigated her personality was nothing short of astounding. Was he that observant with everyone, or was she a special case? Either way, she doubted she’d ever be able to put anything past him. Why bother keeping secrets at all? Eventually, he’d ferret them out.

And she didn’t care if he did. Not anymore. But, right now, she needed to understand her own problems before she could share them.