CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ALEXIS
‘‘See him?’’ Alec points over my shoulder. ‘‘That’s Benny Hansen. He’s won four years in a row. Owns the farm just outside the Bay.’’
‘‘Right.’’ I look at the beefy guy with a red face. ‘‘And he’ll win this year?’’
‘‘Maybe.’’ Alec shrugs one shoulder and leans back against his car. ‘‘It’s hit and miss, but it’s likely.’’
‘‘You say it like it’s so serious.’’
He turns raised eyebrows on me. ‘‘Princess, this is serious in the Bay. You either got it or you don’t, and if you got it, this is the day to prove it. Look around, it’s not even ten yet and the place is packed.’’
‘‘Precisely, it’s not even ten yet.’’ I lean back next to him with a huff. ‘‘So I have no idea why I’m here. I’m not even local.’’
‘‘You’re here because besides your brother, you’re the only person that isn’t local.’’ Alec laughs, wrapping an arm around my waist. ‘‘You’re local by blood, little city girl.’’
I wrinkle my nose up and look up at him. ‘‘I wore wellies yesterday. I think we can say I’m a country girl. At least, a bit of me is.’’
Alec screws his mouth up to the side. ‘‘Is it wrong if I admit I find you in wellies kinda sexy?’’
‘‘Uhh...’’ I giggle. ‘‘Yeah, yeah it is.’’
‘‘Hmph,’’ he smirks. ‘‘Well, it is sexy. Wrong or not, I can’t lie.’’
‘‘I was digging up weeds!’’
‘‘And now you’re back at the beach, where you’re comfortable, Princess.’’ He pushes off from the car and pulls me with him. He grabs my big beach bag from the back seat and we make our way onto the sand.
The whole town has to be here. Literally, the whole town. Seriously, who knew a sandcastle competition was such a big deal?
‘‘Come on.’’ Alec tugs at my waist. ‘‘I want a good spot.’’
‘‘It’s sandcastles, Alec,’’ I remind him.
‘‘Yes, Miss Smarty Pants,’’ he teases with a grin. ‘‘I know that. It’s fun trying to guess what everyone is building. For the last two years we’ve had our own competition. You have to guess what each castle is, and at the end of it the loser has to buy everyone a drink.’’
I frown. ‘‘How do you know if someone’s cheating?’’
‘‘You write it down.’’ He shrugs. ‘‘It’s a game you wanna play, since Carl lost both years.’’
I grin as we find a spot to sit down by the rocks. Even here, people are set up for the competition.
‘‘Okay, you’re on.’’ I lay my towel out. ‘‘How come no one ever gets the news or paper down here? Isn’t Woolacombe’s sand castle competition massive?’’
‘‘That’s why we don’t get them here. Woolacombe’s competition was last week or something. We keep them close. Lilac Bay is too small for too many tourists.’’
I nod my agreement. The only people that ever holiday here are family members that live elsewhere, like us.
I pull my dress over my head and lie on the towel on my front, all too aware of Alec’s eyes on me. His hot gaze sends tingles through my body. I clear my throat and his eyes snap to mine.
‘‘Do you mind?’’ I ask.
‘‘Nope.’’ He pulls his top off and lies next to me so our arms are touching. ‘‘I don’t mind looking at you in a bikini at all.’’
I roll my eyes and prop my chin on my hands, watching chaos unfolding as a klaxon sounds and the competition begins.
Alec’s finger trails lightly up my arm, over my shoulder and down my spine leaving goose pimples in its wake. He draws absent circles on the skin above my bikini bottoms. I swallow and try to ignore the feelings crawling across my skin but it’s virtually impossible. My skin blazes where he’s touched me, igniting hotter than the sun that burns down onto us. I glance at him out the side of my sunglasses. His eyes are fixed to me and I squirm under his intense gaze, looking away again.
Deep breath, Alexis!
My shoulders roll as I shiver. Alec’s hand presses flat on my back then slides round, cupping my hip. He scoots even closer and mimics my position, pressing his cheek against mine.
‘‘You did that deliberately,’’ I accuse in a hushed voice.
‘‘Can you blame me?’’ he asks innocently, turning his face so his lips sweep across my cheek. ‘‘If you had any idea how fucking hot you look right now, you wouldn’t.’’
A blush creeps onto my cheeks as he kisses my earlobe.
‘‘Alec, public,’’ I remind him. He groans.
‘‘If there was a way to magic these people away right now, I’d do it,’’’ he whispers. ‘‘I know I said we’d go at your pace, Princess, but when you lie there like that right in front of me, my patience is really tested.’’
‘‘You don’t need to wait, Alec.’’
‘‘Huh?’’ He pulls back slightly and his blue grey eyes bore into mine.
Have I not been obvious enough? Or is he just being typically dense and male?
‘‘Good morning my little daffodils,’’ Jen sings and drops to the sand in front of us. ‘‘I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I? Cause you should know, you’d have one hell of an audience.’’
A smile creeps onto my face as I turn to look at her. ‘‘No, no. As much as Romeo here thinks so, he’d be wrong.’’
‘‘Romeo and Juliet had a tragic love story,’’ Carl inputs.
‘‘Yeah.’’ Alec kisses my temple. ‘‘But it was only tragic because they were so in love. That tragic kind of love is the kind that consumes you until you can’t do anything but live and breathe it. When you have that kind of love, you know you’ve found what true love is all about. So really, when you think about it, dying for the person you love isn’t all that tragic at all.’’
I glance at him as Jen gapes. He’s looking at me again, an indiscernible look in his eyes. I gaze at him, my eyes narrowed slightly.
He talks like he knows. Like he knows what it’s like to be so deeply in love you’d do anything, be anyone and go anywhere for that person.
I swallow my gasp. His lips twitch and he kisses me softly.
‘‘Dude, someone needs to confiscate those Spiderman pants and give you the big boys boxers,’’ Carl shakes his head.
And I’m pretty sure that in a roundabout way, Alec Johnson just admitted he was in love.
With me.
~
‘‘Do you really believe that Romeo and Juliet weren’t tragic?’’ I ask as we lie staring at the stars on the now deserted beach.
‘‘I guess it depends on your definition of tragic,’’ he replies quietly, shifting so he’s on his side. ‘‘To some people it would be. It kinda sucks. I mean, he did kill himself and she wasn’t even dead, after all, but it’s kinda beautiful too.’’
‘‘I don’t get it.’’ I make out Orion and trace the constellation with my eyes.
‘‘Think how much they must have loved each other to die for it, to know there was no one else in the world they’d ever love. That’s a whole lotta love, Princess.’’
‘‘I guess,’’ I say softly, earlier still playing on my mind.
‘‘What’s on your mind, pretty girl?’’ Alec twirls a piece of my hair between his fingers and squeezes my waist.
‘‘Nothing,’’ I fib. ‘‘Just thinking about what you said.’’
‘‘What I said earlier,’’ he sighs.
‘‘What?’’ I turn my head so my eyes meet his.
“I love that you still don’t get it.” His lips curl up on one side.
“Get what?”
“What you do to me. What you mean to me.”
“What do I do to you?” I raise my eyebrows.
“Drive me crazy,” he answers, rolling over so we’re facing each other. I’m tucked tightly in his arms, our faces millimetres apart.
“You tell me that every day.” I smile and tap my finger against his chest.
“You want me to get soppy, don’t you?” He closes his eyes, still smiling.
“Maybeeee,” I tease.
He opens his eyes and the smile is gone from his face, his eyes are whirlpools of emotion.
“You’re like my drug. I don’t know if I’ll ever get enough of you. Every day I need another kiss, another smile, another fix from you. I just need more. You make me crazy, Princess, out of my mind crazy.” He strokes my back in lazy circles. “I could stare at you all day and never get bored of the view, I could listen to you speak about anything and everything and never get sick of the sound of your voice. I don’t know how you’ve managed it, but you’re so under my skin you’re practically a part of it.”
I close my eyes and lean forward. I’m not brave enough to tell him I feel the same about him and more. I’m not brave enough to admit that ‘falling in love’ has changed to fallen in love. Not yet.
“You’re an addiction,” he continues softly, his breath fanning across my lips. “But I like it. You’re the one addiction I don’t want to ever give up. You’re the one addiction I won’t ever be able to give up.”
He brushes his lips across mine twice, his touch feather light.
‘‘What if you’re my Juliet, Princess? Does that scare you?’’
‘‘Does it scare me that Lilac Bay’s bad boy seducer could be in love with me?’’ I raise my eyebrows. ‘‘No... I... I don’t think so.’’
‘‘But what if he knew that one day, he’d love you enough to take a bullet for you?’’
‘‘Then maybe,’’ I whisper, running my fingers up his arm. ‘‘Maybe the city girl would say that’s okay, because maybe Lilac Bay’s bad boy is her Romeo.’’
‘‘On one condition,’’ he whispers back.
‘‘What’s that?’’
‘‘Juliet doesn’t die before Romeo.’’
‘‘But I don’t want Romeo to die first again.’’
‘‘Then they die together. One of.... natural causes and the other of a broken heart.’’ His lips curl to one side.
‘‘Sounds like a master plan,’’ I agree, smiling too.
‘‘What if, hypothetically,’’ Alec muses, ‘‘Romeo said he was in love with Juliet. Not a could be. For definite.’’
I stop breathing.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart goes crazy in my chest.
‘‘I think I might go so far as to say it’s mutual,’’ I say quietly and meet his eyes, swallowing back my fear and dropping the word play. ‘‘But I’ve always thought words are seriously overrated, so you could always show me.’’
He swallows. ‘‘Show you?’’
I nod at him seriously. ‘‘Show me.’’
‘‘Show you.... how?’’
‘‘You know how.’’ My voice is quieter than even a whisper and he tightens his grip on me, pulling me closer to him.
“Are you sure?” Alec asks, looking at me intently.
“Positive,” I reply. “I won’t be here forever, Alec, and I know I’ve been waiting for you.”
“I just don’t want you to regret it, Princess.”
‘‘Like I could regret it with you.’’
ALEC
I look at her for a moment. My eyes search her face for any sign of resistance, any sign she’s still unsure about what she’s asking for.
Nothing. She wants it.
She wants me.
I cup the back of her head and kiss her, all the pent-up need, want and tension of the last few weeks leaving me in that second.
ALEXIS
I sink back into the sand, taking him with me. He runs one hand down my side, slipping it beneath my top and caresses my bare skin. Tingles run down my spine and I kiss him ferociously.
I need him. I need all of him.
His lips leave mine as he kisses a tender path along my jaw, on my earlobe, down my neck. A small moan escapes my mouth as his tongue darts out and licks the tender spot below my ear.
Alec’s hand moves down my leg and I bring it up. He gently caresses my foot, my ankle, my calf... He strokes his way up my thigh to my hip where he rests his hand, his fingers toying with the waistband of my skirt.
I run my hands down his muscular back and grip the bottom of his shirt, slowly pulling it up. He lifts his head enough for me to pull it over his head and looks down at me. The moon is shining behind him, and with the shadows dancing across his face all I can see is the brightness of his eyes.
His hand moves to my shoulders and he pulls down one of my straps, pressing gentle kisses against my tanned skin, reaching down towards the swell of my chest.
“Alec,” I half-breathe, half-moan.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says softly against my ear. He slides one side of my skirt down slowly, then the other, before finally taking it off.
I know he’s teasing me. I’m going crazy with want, with need, with feelings.
No, he’s not teasing me. He’s making it special, making it something to remember, and although I’ve yet to say the words, I love him all the more for it.
His fingertips brush the patch of skin above my lacy pants and my breath catches. Holy...
“Sit up,” he whispers. He helps me up and slowly removes my top before lying me back down again.
His eyes sweep my body, the look in them sending sparks of passion through me.
He takes my mouth in a kiss once more, more forcefully, and I can feel his length pressing against the inside of my thigh. I push myself against him, wanting more, needing more than he’s giving me right now.
His tongue pushes through into my mouth and I tangle my fingers in his hair. My hips buck involuntarily and he groans. He reaches his hand down to remove his jeans and his knuckles stroke the part of me that’s almost crying his name.
“Fuck, Lexy,” he groans again and kicks off his jeans.
Alec puts his hand in my hair and brings it down across me, stroking my breasts, my stomach, my thighs, and finally,
Oh finally!
His hand settles between my legs. I inch my legs open, inviting him. My breathing is shallow. I can feel the blood pumping through my body in a hard, fast beat, flowing and racing through my veins and converging in one area.
He moves the material to the side and runs a finger along the wetness. I moan incoherently and he kisses my neck.
“Like that?” he whispers between kisses, his finger stroking and probing.
I moan again in reply and push my hips towards him.
“Alec, please.” I lick my lips and close my eyes for a second.
“It’s not too late to change your mind.’’ He continues his kissing, stroking, probing.
“Alec.’’ His name is a whispered plea on my lips and I feel him shiver.
“I love it when you say my name that way.” He hooks his fingers in my underwear and removes them in one fluid motion. He stands and pulls off his boxers, and holy shit.
He’s like a god.
He smiles sexily, dimples showing, and my body goes into overdrive.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small square of foil. I shake my head.
‘‘No.’’
‘‘What?’’ He looks at me, eyes heated and wide. Did the temperature just go up by a few degrees, or is it the look in his eyes?
‘‘I’m on the pill,’’ I say quietly.
He lies back on top of me and gently pushes my legs open, settling the tip of him against me.
‘‘Why didn’t you say so,’’ he says against the skin of my shoulder. ‘‘I wouldn’t have wasted those thirty seconds.’’
I laugh-moan and hold him tightly. ‘‘Alec, please. Me and you, please.’’
“For you, anything, Princess. Now, relax,” he says, stroking my thigh. I nod and think of nothing but him.
He pushes into me slowly and pain spikes through me. I tense.
“Whenever you’re ready,” he whispers and kisses me again.
I relax almost instantly and he pushes in again. The pain is still there, but I ignore it, focusing on the feel of him inside me.
He continues moving in slowly, then pulls back. He eases himself back in and I run my hands over his back, up to his neck and back down as he increases his speed slightly.
“Okay, Princess?”
I nod against his shoulder and wrap my legs around his waist, pulling me closer to him, letting him in deeper. My breathing quickens and I can feel his heart beating through his chest, matching mine.
We move in sync, as one.
I know I’ll never experience another moment like this again.