Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Duncan finished the tortillas, Hale. I think we’re ready,” Genny announced.
“I’ll refresh everyone’s drinks,” I offered.
“I’ll help Elsa,” Carole said.
“I’ll help get all this food on the table,” Zoey said.
“I’ll eat it when all that good grub gets in front of me,” Chuck said.
There were some laughs.
But no one really meant it.
I was sitting on a blanket on the beach.
Hale, Zoey and Carole were facing off against Fliss, Chuck and Duncan in a game of touch football in the swiftening dark.
Genny had been up in the house, having secluded herself in a room when a call came in from Chloe (they were totally talking about me, I knew it).
And now she was down with us, I knew since she was settling on the blanket beside me.
“Who’s winning?” she asked.
“Duncan has some moves. But Chuck needs more cardio. And Fliss is a flake with the attention span of a gnat. They’re going down.”
“Mm,” she hummed then asked, “How are you?”
“Doing great.”
“Liar,” she accused quietly.
I looked to her.
Two could play the honesty game.
“I know I’m going to have to earn your trust. Hale’s upset about it, but I’m not. I get it. I like that you know he’s awesome and he only deserves someone as awesome as him. And I’ll put the work in, with you and with him, to prove I deserve him. I promise.”
“Honey, if you don’t think chasing Samantha Wheeler to her car then following her down the driveway trying to shoot laser beams out of your eyes, all to protect Hale, didn’t win my trust, you weren’t paying a lot of attention at dinner.”
She did seem to warm up a bit.
“It wasn’t my place,” I admitted. “I kinda overreacted. I don’t know what came over me.”
“I do. You’re falling in love with Hale.”
My heart skipped a beat.
She tapped my knee with hers. “Theme of the night. I overreacted to you. Acted like a total bitch. I’m sorry about that. It wasn’t cool.”
“Honestly, I get it,” I promised.
“I sense you do, Elsa. But I’m apologizing anyway. I’m protective of all my kids, but Hale…”
She trailed off, not because she didn’t want to share with me, but because she knew I knew.
“Yeah,” I confirmed I knew.
She looked to the waning sun on the beach and she said, “He reminded me of his dad tonight.”
I tried not to sound too eager when I asked, “How so?”
“I was Corey’s touchstone.” She looked again to me. “And you’re Hale’s.”
There went my heart again, along with my breath.
I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t stop myself.
“It’s like pulling teeth,” I shared.
“Don’t give up,” she urged.
“Do you really think I’m his touchstone?”
“He tracks you with his eyes. Like now.”
She kept looking at me.
I looked to the game.
Hale had eyes to me.
I waved.
He jerked up his chin then started to pay attention to the game.
Genny kept talking.
“When you speak, there’s no one else in the room. He was wound up, I suspect he’s still wound up, but the longer you acted like it was all okay, the more he settled in.”
So I did. I did give him what he needed.
Now I felt settled.
I watched Zoey fall back with the ball, Hale took off like a rocket, Chuck tried to keep up with him, but failed, and Hale caught the ball Zoey sent zinging his way. Crossing the beach from covering Carole, Duncan tagged him right before Hale ran over the goal line they’d dug into the sand.
Chuck was bent double, hands to his knees, wheezing.
Fliss was at the water’s edge, shouting, “Look! A crab!”
“She’s so bad at this,” I said.
Genny laughed softly.
“He’s had it shit,” I whispered to the sea. “If I let it, I get consumed with trying to figure out how to sweep it all away and make him happy.”
“You can’t sweep it away, Elsa. So just concentrate on making him happy.”
Good advice.
I looked to her and nodded.
She reached out and squeezed my knee.
Then she rested back into her hands, like I was, and we watched people we cared about play a very lopsided game of football.
“The call was about you, yes,” Genny said apropos of nothing. “But it was also about the wedding. We’re all working hard to keep it a secret, but Chloe and Judge are getting married soon, and Chloe had some things she needed to run by me.”
I closed my eyes, opened them, turned to her and smiled.
She moved to pat my hand this time.
“Touchdown!” Zoey shouted.
We returned our attention to the game.
We started with Hale ordering me to my knees at the side of the bed where I sucked his cock.
We ended with him bending me over the bed and fucking me.
Now we were in the bed, cuddled up, listening to the sounds of the sea.
As for me, I was sensing something was different with tonight’s sexual activities. He was usually seriously bossy, obviously, but tonight he was bossier. Rougher. Not in a bad way. I enjoyed it. Nor in a detached way, he was right there with me.