So Much More (8 page)

The beach the next day was packed with people and a perfect cloudless day for the end of their trip. Angie felt like she was in mourning, feeling the loss of Dean as if he had up and died on her. In a way there was a death she was mourning; the death of their fling.

“Earth to Angie, come in Angie.” Stella lay under the umbrella they rented and waved her hand in front of Angie’s face.

“Sorry, just thinking about our trip. I’m kind of sad that it’s ending.”

“Umm hmm.
Sad that the trip is ending so you won’t get to see my brother anymore.”

Angie flushed scarlet. “What do you mean?” She asked stupidly, as if she could hide anything from Stella.

“Give it up. You’ve had a crush on my brother for years and suddenly he’s noticed you. Don’t think I haven’t seen the looks you two have shared. And don’t think I’m stupid enough to believe he came to our room last night wondering about a guy I met. What did he do, ask for a quickie before I got out of the shower? Hit you up for a fun romp as an end to the vacation? I really hope you didn’t fall for it.”

Well, at least part of their secret was safe. She did fall for it, for him, but not just one night of sex. It was days and nights full of raw, erotic, fulfilling sex that would forever be seared in her mind.

“No, it was nothing like that.” She lied, hoping Stella couldn’t see it written all over her face. “I won’t say I haven’t always had a thing for him. But I’ve known he was out of bounds and I wouldn’t jeopardize our friendship for sex.” Oops, she already had!

Stella thumbed through her magazine, thankfully not staring Angie in the eyes otherwise she would never have been able to lie so smoothly. “Well just remember that he thinks he’s a playboy and won’t settle down until he’s fifty. By that time he’ll be lucky if he doesn’t have a venereal disease.”

Angie lay back on her towel and closed her eyes. She wanted the conversation done with. She wanted to mourn her loss in silence and not be called to the carpet for her transgressions. “I’m going for a swim.” She sat abruptly, anxious to be alone.

The water was warm and the fish swam around her but today she didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as that first day. It was as if she had destroyed all avenues of pleasure by sleeping with Dean.
Would she ever be able to get back to normal? Maybe going back to work and her old life was the ointment for the pain she was feeling. She rolled to her back and floated, squinting up at the brilliantly blue sky. She wouldn’t mope anymore. She would go back to the beach and soak up the last hours she had in paradise without another thought of Dean. At least, that’s what she told herself, but it wasn’t as easy as that.

Dean sat at the bar and watched the dot in the ocean that was Angie. He wanted to swim out to her, kiss her, possibly molest her a bit under the water, snorkelers be damned.  But he didn’t. He just watched from afar, wishing to be with her but not taking the step to actually do it.

“Another beer?”
The bartender asked. Dean nodded, swallowing the last bit left in his plastic cup.

“Hey stranger!
I didn’t think I’d see you again.” Jasmine, the model with the white bikini sat on the barstool next to him.

“Jasmine, right?”
She smiled brilliantly. She really was beautiful, creamy clear skin, wide eyed, and tall and thin. But it did nothing for him. “How was your shoot the other day?”

“Good. Thanks for asking. Can I buy you a drink?” Dean shook his head, ready to be away from her, from the world.

“No thanks. I was just heading back to my friends. It was good seeing you again though.” The bartender set the refilled cup on the bar and Dean laid a ten dollar bill on the counter for him before walking away.

His sister lounged beneath a huge umbrella, reading a magazine and doing her best to ignore the group of guys down the beach ogling her.
“Hey sis.” He sank down onto Angie’s towel and looked for her in the water. He caught sight of her and held on tight to the image she made.

“She’s off limits, Dean. Didn’t you learn anything from dating my friend Shasta? It doesn’t ever last with you because you’re only out for a good time and my friends are always out for the real thing. I don’t want to see Angie hurt.”

What could he say to that? Nothing so he didn’t.

“I’m serious. Walk away before you break her heart. I’m not sure how far you took things and I don’t want to know. But I do know that Angie is soft and easily hurt. She can’t handle a guy like you.”

Well, Stella was wrong about that. She handled him just fine. Better than fine. “Don’t worry Stella. She already told me that your friendship is too important to jeopardize.” It was true. She had said that, right before she swore him to secrecy and screwed his brains out.

Stella shut the magazine and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
“Really?”

“Really.
She’s a good friend. And for the record, Shasta was a bitch and not worth having as a friend.”

Stella laughed before smacking him with the magazine. “That’s not nice no matter how true it is. Anyway, you aren’t the falling in love type. I imagine you playing with my kids someday, telling them that all your fortune will be left to them because you were too much of a player to have any kids of your own.”

His heart squeezed. He knew she was joking, they joked like this all their lives, but for some reason the idea of that reality made him ache for so much more. His mind kept creeping back to the previous night and how the thought of impregnating Angie sent a thrill jolting through his heart. What would their kids look like? A petite little girl with blond pigtails? Possibly a boy with the big blue eyes that mirrored Angie’s.

Angie walked out of the water, dripping wet, body glistening in the sun, and he knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted her, constantly pregnant with his children, a home in the suburbs filled to capacity with his offspring.
Their
offspring.

One of the guys who had been ogling his sister strutted up to Angie. She smiled up at him, wringing the water out of her hair as he flirted with her, the guys eyes glued to the front of Angie’s yellow and blue striped string bikini. Aggravation gurgled in his stomach.

“What an idiot.” Dean hadn’t realized he spoke out loud until Stella looked questioningly at him.

“Who’s an idiot?” She followed his gaze to Angie and frowned. “She’s not an idiot! She’s damn hot is what she is! That guy
’s got a boner just from standing next to her and I imagine most of the guys on this beach are feeling that same strain in their pants. So don’t insult her just because she turned you down.”

“I’m not calling her an idiot I’m calling him and idiot. And he doesn’t have a boner! She looks ten years old!” That was a complete lie. She looked like the woman she was, rounded breasts, a gentle curve to her stomach and hips, smooth and sexy as hell. Her wet bikini left nothing to the imagination. Damn it all to hell!  “Why did you let her wear that damn thing anyway? It’s practically nonexistent!” He stood, grabbing the towel he had been sitting on and stalked over to Angie and the idiot.

The laughter in her eyes dissipated when she saw him coming her way. “Here,” he wrapped the towel around her shoulders, hiding as much of her body from anyone who dared to look.

“Is it time to go?” She asked, obviously not seeing his anger for the jealousy it truly was.

“You need something?” He demanded of the idiot. The guy was a good four inches shorter than him and he was in such a towering rage that any fool would know to walk away before they got pummeled.

The guy merely shook his head, looking back and forth between Angie and Dean trying to determine their relationship.
“Nice to meet you.” He finally said to Angie before striding away.

“Dean, was that really necessary? He was just being friendly.”

“Friendly my ass! The guy had a hard on that could poke an eye out. Do you have any real clothes? Your swim suit is practically see-through.”

Angie gave a startled laugh. “Give it up, Dean. I’m twenty-six and single, I’m going to show off what I have.”

She dropped the towel at his feet and sauntered away, leaving him to curse and watch her backside sway with each step. He picked up the towel and stormed after her. Deep down he knew he had no right to be pissed at her, but he wasn’t thinking too rationally. He wanted to be mad at someone and she was the easiest target, after all, it was because of her that he felt the way he did. Never in his life had he been jealous where a female was involved. Even in high school when he was crushing on Jennifer Steele and she blew him off for one of the thick-skulled football players. He even let that roll off his shoulders. But everything was different with Angie.

“Is this your beer?” She asked when he joined her and Stella under the umbrella. She sat cross legged and he couldn’t help but stare at her mound,
his knowledge of what hid under that flap of blue and yellow strips making him ache with longing. She tilted her head back and drank from his cup and he watched her delicate neck working the fluid down her throat. Damn but if that didn’t turn him on even more.

“Would you tell your friend she needs to cover up a little?” He barked at Stella. She only looked confused.

“It’s a bikini, Dean. Much like the one I’m wearing and you aren’t making a scene about me and I’m your damn sister. What is up with you anyway?” His dick, that was what.

“Guess Angie didn’t tell you about the two guys at the nude beach who tried to pull her off into a tent, did she?”

“Dean!” Angie shrieked. “Shut up!”

Stella sat up straighter and looked at Angie. “What’s he talking about?”

Angie glared at him. It was rewarding really, that look. It meant that he could piss her off just as much as she pissed him off.

“It was nothing.
Just two drunks that followed me from the bar. I had it under control but your
brother
felt the need to butt in.”

“You didn’t have anything under control. Those guys would have done god only knows with you if I hadn’t stepped it.”

Angie jumped to her feet, jamming the half empty cup at Stella. Stella absently took it, too focused on the scene they were making to do anything but hold it.

“What, you think you
saved
me? Get real! It was a beach full of people, all I had to do was yell and those guys would have run off like scare puppies.”

He stepped closer to her, blood pounding in his ears, the coconut scent of her sunscreen tickling his nose. “Bull shit. They would have pulled you off to that tent and done far more with you then I did.”

“Bull shit? You’re the one full of bull shit! Maybe you read the situation wrong. Maybe, just maybe, I was interested in those guys and you ruined it for me!”

“Ha! Honey, from the way you were begging me last night I’d say you lost interest in them pretty quick once I gave you a taste of what I could do to you.”

Silence fell between them and he instantly regretted his words. Angie stared up at him with hurt filled eyes, her mouth parted, embarrassment staining her cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” He tried to reach for her but she brushed his hands away.

“Who’s the idiot now?” She asked before pushing past him and walking away.

He moved to follow but Stella stopped him. “Don’t. She needs to be alone.” He looked down at his sister and for the first time in minutes remembered she was there to witness the whole debacle. “So fill me in, Dean. How long have you been screwing her?”

“I wasn’t screwing her!” She needed to understand that it was more than that, not just the fling he set out to have. “Damn. How do I fix this?”

“I don’t know. What is there to fix?
A friendship? Is that what you have with her?”

He sank down into the sand next to her, trying to figure out the best way to put words to his
feelings for Angie. “Yeah, I guess it’s a friendship. I don’t know, she makes me think that there could be more to my future than just making money. She makes me look at my life and see it as a joke, the relationships I’ve had previously are absolutely nothing. How does she do that?”

Stella shrugged. “Because your feelings for her run deeper than anything else you’ve experienced?” She hit the nail on the head, getting to the root of it. “I thought you saw her as a kid, just your baby sister’s friend. When did that change?”

He snorted. “I’ve always put her on a pedestal. She’s the woman a guy looks at, dreams about, but doesn’t want to go further and ruin the image he has of her. When she’s around she makes me see flaws in every other woman I see. No one has ever compared to her. Maybe that’s why my relationships don’t work, because I’m comparing them to her and they all fall short.”

He looked at Stella, waiting for her reply, wanting her to tell him he was completely crazy for feeling the way he did. But she only looked startled, as if he had grown two new heads while talking.

“Oh my god you love her.” His eyes widened, mimicking hers.

“No… that’s not…” But hearing his sister say it somehow made it reality. “Oh my god I do love her.”

“Love who?” David plopped down at Stella’s feet, jumping in the conversation before realizing it was deep waters and he didn’t know how to swim. He looked between Stella and Dean, trying to get a clue as to what they had been discussing. “What’d I miss?’