Chapter 21: Chapter 20

WHAT THE FUCK was I doing? I should have just driven away. But I didn’t want to.

We’d spent so much time together now that I was thinking about her when I wasn’t with her.

And I was wrestling with it all the fucking time.

I thought about talking to Hayes and telling him how I was feeling. I hadn’t brought it up to any of the guys, but they’d noticed how much time I spent with her, especially since Hayes had left town.

I didn’t feel right discussing it with them before I talked to him.

And what would I even say?

I can’t get enough of your sister, and I get off to thoughts of her in the shower every fucking day. I think about her every fucking minute of the day.

He’d laugh in my face, and he’d have every right to.

My track record was not good. But I’d also never felt this way about anyone.

So maybe I’d talk to her about it once we were out in the water.

Admit that I was feeling things I’d never felt before.

“You got lucky finding this house on the canal. It’s perfect for swimming,” I said, as I followed her outside. “You don’t have the boats over here.”

She’d slipped into her pink bikini, and I was doing everything in my power not to stare. Her tan skin glistened in the last bit of sunlight, and when we got down to the little dock sitting by the water, she dropped her shorts.

“Are you going to swim fully clothed?” She turned around and smiled at me.

I yanked my tee over my head and kicked off my shoes. I didn’t miss the way her eyes raked over me as I shoved my jeans down my legs, leaving me in nothing but my black fitted briefs.

Her eyes widened, and I followed her gaze down to see my erection straining against the fabric. I was hard every single time I was around this girl, and there was no hiding it when I was standing here with just thin cotton covering my eager dick.

“I told you it’s been a while, so it is what it is,” I said.

She chuckled before pulling all that pretty blonde hair up into a messy knot on top of her head and wrapping some kind of hair tie around it. She stepped down the few steps into the water and gasped as she let go, keeping her head just above the water. I followed her in and yelped as I adjusted to the cold water.

“It actually feels good after sitting in the car all day.” I swam behind her as she glanced over her shoulder.

“Come check out this cool little cove I found the other day.”

I moved beside her, rolling onto my back and tipping my head back to wet my hair.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked, before I rolled back onto my stomach just in time to see her ass above the water as she kicked ahead of me.

“Just trust me.” She swam a little further before coming to a stop under a huge tree, which formed a large canopy over the water. “Look at this. Someone hung a swing over here. And look through the branches. The sun’s about to set, and we have the perfect view. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?”

She held onto the rope hanging off the tree as she stared straight up at the orange-and-pink-filled sky—but I was staring right at her.

“I can’t say I have.”

Her head straightened, and she caught me looking at her as I pushed to stand, finding the bottom with my feet, and I moved in front of her.

I gripped the sides of the shabby wood that she’d pulled herself to sit on, and she held onto the rope on each side. “You want me to push you?”

“Nope.” Her voice was just above a whisper.

“You know what we were talking about in the car?”

“Yes.” She reached out with one hand and stroked the hair away from my face as I moved to stand between her legs.

“I sometimes wonder if maybe I’ve always been single because the only girl I really ever wanted was the one I couldn’t have.” My heart raced as I admitted to her what I’d been wondering since my grandmother called me out on it.

“But you can have her. You’ve just decided to become ridiculously moral all of a sudden.”

“He’s my best friend, Saylor,” I said, as she reached for my shoulders and pulled herself forward. My hands found her perfectly round ass, and I stepped back from the swing, and her legs wrapped around my waist. “We have a pact, the five of us. You know that.”

“King, you are overthinking this. Let’s just see where this goes. You are putting so much pressure on yourself. On this.” She motioned between us. “We’ve been friends for a long time, and we’re attracted to one another. I know who you are. I’m not asking you for forever. I’m asking you for right now.”

“I need to talk to Hayes. That’s what I was thinking about on the drive. I think I should talk to him.”

She groaned and made no attempt to hide her irritation. “Right. Because when you’re testing the waters and have no idea what to expect, you should definitely ask permission from my overbearing brother first.”

“I can’t lie to him.”

“I’m not asking you to lie to him. I’m asking you to treat me like an adult. When you get together with a woman, do you go to her family and ask if you can kiss her first?”

“Well, I’ve already kissed you, haven’t I?”

“You know what I mean. The minute you tell Hayes anything is going on, there is going to be all this pressure on us. Everyone will be watching, and it will change things. What if we just explore this attraction and see where it goes? It’s no one’s business. Once Hayes knows, he’ll get all broody and weird, and it’ll make things awkward for everyone. And who knows? We could lose interest in a day, and then we made it a big deal for nothing.”

Her fingers were tangled in my hair, and nothing had ever felt more right.

I knew I was being a selfish prick.

I wanted her so badly I could barely think straight lately.

“A day, huh? You think you’ll get bored of me that quickly?” I teased.

She shrugged, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. “Sure. It’s probably just a phase. An itch we need to scratch.”

“We’ll see about that. But I’m not fucking you until we tell him,” I said, trying hard to keep myself in control.

Hayes would lose his shit if things went that far. But we’d already crossed a line that I knew he wouldn’t be okay with. Maybe if we just stayed right there and didn’t let things go too far, it would be okay.

She was right. Maybe this would all pass in a few days, and then we’d have gotten everyone all worked up for nothing.

“Don’t be so sure I’d be willing to. I just want to kiss you right now. Just you and me and no one else telling us it’s a bad idea.”

I nodded as her forehead fell against mine. “Okay. But if this isn’t out of our system quickly, then we talk to him.”

“If you still can’t get enough of me when Hayes comes back home, then we can talk about telling him.” She laughed, and I buried my face in her neck.

“You think that’s funny. You might be the one who can’t get enough,” I said, nipping at her ear.

She pulled my head up, and her aqua-blue eyes locked with mine. There were pops of gold and amber with the last sliver of sunlight shining down on her. “Show me what I’ve been missing.”

And that was all I needed to hear. I tugged her mouth down to mine, and I kissed her with a need I couldn’t begin to wrap my head around.

I tilted her head as her lips parted, and my tongue slipped in.

I tasted and explored her sweet mouth as her hips started grinding against mine. One hand stayed at the back of her head, and the other moved to her hip, and I guided her up and down my throbbing cock. Even in the cold water, I was ready to explode. She slid up and down my erection, and I groaned into her mouth. And we stood there, under the canopy of leaves, kissing and rubbing up against one another.

I’d had a lot of sex in my days, but nothing beat the feel of Saylor Woodson against my body.

Against my cock.

Even if I wasn’t inside her, this was the best sex I’d ever had. Her hard nipples pressed against my chest, and I couldn’t fucking take the little moans coming from her mouth.

“Oh my God,” she groaned as she started moving faster.

Her head fell back, and I kissed down her neck as she continued riding me.

“Come for me, baby,” I said, as both of my hands found her hips, and I ground her harder against me, feeling my dick grow between her thighs.

“Yes, King,” she cried out.

I pumped harder. Even with the fabric of my briefs and her bikini bottoms between us, I could feel everything.

Every. Fucking. Thing.

Now her head was back up, and she had her hands on my shoulders, eyes wild and sated as she continued to grind against me. Up and down my shaft. Faster. Our breaths filled the air around us. Desperate and needy.

“I want you to come for me,” she whispered, and that was all it fucking took.

“Fuck,” I hissed as I came so hard, white lights exploded behind my eyelids.

And she kept moving before she fell forward, her head resting on my shoulder.

My arms were wrapped around her, and I held her there as we waited for our breathing to calm.

Her fingers traced over the tattoo on my shoulder. “Tell me why you have a dandelion on your Ride or Die tattoo. And tell me the truth this time.”

I walked a few steps toward the large boulder sticking out of the water, and I settled against it, keeping her right where she was.

I pulled back, forcing her head to rise and tipping her chin up so her gaze would meet mine. “Because it was supposed to be a reminder. Our pact with the five of us… it’s strong.”

“I know that. And I would never do anything to come between that. But we’re two consenting adults. I don’t understand why you added the flower all those years ago?”

“Because I had these thoughts about you before you left for college.”

She sucked in a breath. “And the dandelion was a reminder of me?”

“Yes. Of what I couldn’t have.”

Her gaze softened. “You should have talked to me. I’d thought about you so many times, but I never thought you felt that way about me.”

“I’m going to fuck it up, Saylor. I’m not good at this. You deserve a hell of a lot better than me. I know it. Hayes knows it. Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because I think I’ve always been yours, in a way. My forbidden King.”

“Forbidden for good reason, and don’t you forget it,” I said, grazing my lips against hers.

“So, if you’re such bad news, how come you haven’t been having sex these last few weeks? I mean, we haven’t been together, yet you’ve admitted you haven’t been with anyone else.”

“I don’t fucking know. Trust me, I’ve tried. I think you broke me.” I shrugged, and her head tipped back in laughter.

“I think you broke me. Because I’m not sick of you yet, and I want to do that again.”

“Yeah?” I asked, my voice gruff and needy. “I’ve already come in my briefs like a hormonal teenager, with that hot little pussy of yours rubbing up against me.”

“Does that mean you’re done?” She nipped at my bottom lip. “You’ve had enough and we’ll pretend it never happened?”

“Not even fucking close. I haven’t tasted you yet.”

“You’ve got one filthy mouth, Kingston Pierce.” She pulled back and studied me. “But I’m here for it. Let’s take this slow and see how we feel tomorrow.”

“I think you’re going to be begging for my lips on your pussy the minute I’m gone.” I chuckled.

“We’ll see. I might just wake up and be over it.” She smiled and raised a brow.

My gaze locked with hers. “You’re so fucking beautiful. Sometimes it’s hard for me not to stare at you.”

Her breath hitched, and she stroked the scruff along my jaw. “We’ve already established that we won’t be having sex. But everything else is on the table, so you don’t have to flatter me. I’m all in for as long as we agree to do this.”

“Let’s get one thing straight right now.” I wrapped my large hand around the side of her neck, my thumb grazing along her jaw. “I will never bullshit you. We’ve got to be on the same page if we’re going to do whatever the fuck this is we’re doing.”

“We’re just getting one another out of our systems. I’ll probably tire of you by the time we get back to the house.” Her voice was all tease. “But I agree. We need to be honest. That way, no one will walk away hurt.”

“I would never forgive myself if I hurt you, Saylor.”

“Stop overthinking it. You just gave me the sexiest make-out session I’ve ever had. Only second to the last make-out session I had with you. A few more orgasms, and I won’t even remember your name.” She smiled, but I knew she was trying to play it cool.

We both felt this pull.

It was dangerous.

Forbidden.

But I couldn’t stop it if I wanted to.

I’d tried for weeks to stay away.

Yet here I was.

With Saylor Woodson in my arms.