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“I know, and I love you for it. ”
Movement at the door to The Sand Shark catches my attention. A tall man, with long, blond hair is coming through. My heart trips madly when I realize it’s Brody. He pulls off his sunglasses, and his eyes immediately come to mine. His gaze is intense, hot and only for me. I watch as his lips curve upward in a sexy smirk and he heads our way.
Gabby and Casey realize my attention is elsewhere and both turn in the booth to see what has it. When they turn back around, Casey huffs, “I’m going to barf with all the sexual vibes swirling around in here. ”
I don’t even respond but watch as Brody approaches. God, the man can make a simple t-shirt and faded jeans about the sexiest clothing on the planet. He doesn’t say a word when he reaches us, just slides into the booth beside me. Leaning over, he runs his lips along my neck. “Hi. ”
I shudder… hard, but manage to give him a smile. “Hi back. ”
“Eww,” Casey grumbles, but I know she’s just putting on a bratty sister show right now. I know she’s eating it up… seeing her brother smile rather than brood.
“What are you doing here?” I ask in wonder, even as I take his hand in mine.
“Just thought I’d get some pancakes this morning and saw you ladies over here. ”
As if a mind reader, Babs shows up at the table and says, “What do you want, sugar?”
“Buckwheat pancakes and bacon. Coffee,” Brody says, and then shoots a wink at me.
“Be up in a jiffy,” Babs says, and then takes off.
“You can’t crash our girls-only breakfast,” Gabby points out. “You’ll have to go sit elsewhere. ”
Brody just shoots her a lazy smile and leans back into the booth, putting an arm around my shoulder to draw me in closer. “Make me. ”
She opens her mouth to say something, and then shuts it again. Turning to me, she says, “Tell him… he can’t have breakfast with us. ”
I give her a sympathetic look and lean forward to take the last swig of my coffee. “Sorry kids, work this out yourselves. I’m going to get a move on and head over to The Haven. ”
I try to push Brody from the booth so he’ll let me out, but he doesn’t budge. “Stay while I eat. ”
“No,” I tell him. “I have a ton of stuff to get done. ”
“I’ve already been there since sunup. All the animals are fed. ”
“But I have other things to do,” I tell him.
“But they aren’t urgent. The animals are fine, and your work isn’t going anywhere. Just relax and hang with me while I eat. ”
“Damn it, Brody. You only want me to stay so I’m not alone at The Haven. ”
He shrugs his shoulders carelessly, and I can see it in his eyes. His look says, “So sue me. ”
“Let. Me. Out,” I grit through my teeth.
“No,” is all he says, as he stares me down.
“You egotistical, self-centered, chauvinistic, pri—”
My words get cut off as Brody grabs my face and shoves his tongue in my mouth. It’s an aggressive kiss meant to shut me up, and all thoughts of leaving this hot, hot man fly out of my head. I’ll stay right here… not going anywhere… as long as he keeps doing that to me.
The sound of polite coughing brings me to my senses, and I pull away. Brody has a supremely arrogant look on his face, and a quick glance at Casey and Gabby show them to be giggling behind hands slapped over their mouths.
Grabbing my chin with his hand, Brody turns my face back to him. “Baby… I’m worried, no doubt, and I don’t like the idea of you being there alone. But I also want you by my side right now, because it would make me insanely happy to talk to you while I eat. It will take me ten minutes, and then we can go. ”
Gabby sighs, and I hear Casey mutter, “Fuck, that was sweet. ”
And it was… so sweet. My heart melts, my convictions fly out the window, and I throw my arms around Brody’s neck to kiss him.
When I pull back, I say, “Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”
Chapter 21
Brody
I may be dreading meeting Alyssa’s mom, but I’m certainly digging on the time I get to spend with my girl. Because even in the shittiest of situations, time spent with Alyssa is like finding your pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
She gave me the address to her mom’s house and asked me to meet her there. I know she did this purposefully, so as to reiterate the fact that she was not going to have people hovering over her and to prove that she could drive from her house to her mom’s house without getting accosted. I didn’t like it, but I agreed and was mollified by the fact that Wyatt did, indeed, have police cruisers going by her house periodically. So far, there have been no sightings of Chad.
Alyssa said to meet there at six PM, and it looks like I’ll be a few minutes early. I asked her the other day why she just didn’t live there when she moved back to this area permanently, and she didn’t even hesitate. “Why would I? That house was never anything more than a shelter against inclement weather. All of my great memories on this island are when I stayed at your house with Casey or over at Gabby’s house. ”
Point taken.
In fact, I’ve wanted to get her over to see my mom and dad. They are intrigued that I’ve been volunteering over at The Haven, and they’ve always adored Alyssa. It’s time to let them in on the fact that their son is in a relationship now.
When I pull into the driveway of the Myers’ mammoth oceanfront home, I’m relieved to see Alyssa’s truck. As always, when I know I’m getting ready to see her, my blood starts racing and my skin tingles. I wonder if she’ll always have that effect on me, and something tells me yes… this woman will own me for eternity.
I jog up the steps to the front door and ring the bell. I can hear Alyssa call out, “I’ll get it, Mother. ”
The door swings open, and Alyssa stands there with an impossibly huge smile on her face. She’s wearing a pair of white pants that hang low on her h*ps and a light blue, baby doll top. She looks at me for just a moment, and then her smile fades into confusion. Stepping forward, she raises a hand and rubs it along my cheek… which I just shaved smooth not but half an hour ago.
“Your beard,” she whispers.
Her hand comes up to run her fingers through my hair. It takes her about a third of the time that it normally did, because I had my hair cut today too. It’s not as short as Hunter’s but several inches came off, and there’s no need to tie it back anymore.
“Your hair,” she laments, turning her eyes up to mine.
“You look disappointed,” I murmur with a smile. “My face too ugly now that the hair is gone?”
She steps up and wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me down so her lips are near my ear. “I just liked the way your beard felt on my inner thighs when you—”
“Okay,” I say quickly, pulling back with a quiet laugh. “Enough of that kind of talk. I don’t want to meet your mom with a hard-on. ”
She giggles and roams her eyes again over me. “I like it. I really do. But I liked your long hair and beard too. I hope you didn’t do it to impress my mom, because trust me, unless your bank account ends with nine zeroes, you can’t impress her. ”
I give her a quick kiss. “No, I’ve been meaning to do it, and now seemed as good a time as any. ”
“Then I approve,” she says, leaning in to me conspiratorially. “But I really will miss your beard between my legs. ”
I whisper back to her. “Just wait… you may like my smooth face better. We’ll try it out tonight and if you don’t like it, I’ll grow it back for you. ”
I love that she sucks in a lungful of oxygen over my words, and her eyes turn hot. God, this woman is amazing and suddenly, the prospect of meeting her mother isn’t daunting at all.
“Alyssa,” speak-of-the-devil calls out. “Is that your friend?”
Alyssa rolls her eyes at m
e, taking me by the hand to lead me into the kitchen. Her mother is sitting at the island, drinking a glass of white wine. She’s impeccably dressed in silk and linen, dripping pearls and diamonds, with her hair artfully styled. Her perfume smells like one spritz is worth a week of my wages. Alyssa told me her father never comes to the beach because he’s a workaholic and doesn’t know how to relax.
“Mother,” Alyssa begins as she continues to hold my hand. “This is my boyfriend, Brody Markham. Brody… my mother, Angela Myers. ”
I pull away from Alyssa and step forward to shake her hand. She takes mine, giving me a brief once over. Even though I put on a pair of new dress pants, as well as a dress shirt, I don’t think I pass her muster.
“Hello, Brody. It’s nice to meet you. ”
“Likewise, Mrs. Myers. ”
She turns her gaze to Alyssa. “Did you say boyfriend, dear?”
“Yes, Mother,” Alyssa says with what I recognize as very little patience. “I told you that not ten minutes ago. ”
Her mother doesn’t even look embarrassed. She just gives a dismissive wave of her hand and says, “But what happened to Chad Gates? He was such a nice young man. ”
I’m not touching Alyssa in any way, but I can feel the tension radiating off her, because let’s face it… that’s just rude as f**k to ask Alyssa about Chad when she just introduced me as her boyfriend. I reach out and rub my fingers over her lower back in an effort to get her to calm down. It does no good.
“Mother… I told you that Chad and I broke up… months ago. ”
“Did you?” she asks vaguely. “I don’t remember. A shame though. You two seemed well suited. ”
I can feel Alyssa vibrating with anger. Reaching one hand back, she grasps onto mine and squeezes hard. I can sense that this get together is going downhill fast, and I immediately want to pull Alyssa out of here and away from this weirdly detached woman that calls herself a mother.
Alyssa, though, has other ideas, and she doesn’t hesitate to let her mother know all about Chad. “I suppose the fact he tried to choke me makes him a good match, right? Or maybe it’s the fact he’s stalking me and has threatened Brody? Does that make him marriage material, Mother? Oh, no… wait—I completely understand why you want me with him. It’s because he’s filthy f**king rich, and it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference that he wants to hurt your daughter. ”
Alyssa stands there, her chest heaving, and I raise my hands to her shoulders. “Easy, now,” I murmur to her.
Mrs. Myers sits on her stool, her face pale as a ghost, staring at her daughter in horror. I’m not sure if it’s because of how she talked to her or the things she revealed about Chad. Regardless, she certainly shocked the shit out of her.
“He did those things to you?” her mother whispers.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Alyssa says, “Yes. He’s been arrested for stalking me once and he’s continuing to come after me, even though there’s a restraining order. ”
Her mom’s gaze falls to the floor, and her eyebrows scrunch in. “I had heard rumors… I thought they were ridiculous, so I didn’t pay them any mind. ”
Alyssa tilts her head. “Heard rumors about what?”
Her mom’s gaze snaps to Alyssa. “There had been rumors in our social circles… that Chad had hurt some woman he was dating before. ”
She leans in toward us and lowers her voice. Why? I don’t know. There’s no one here but us. “They said he raped her. ”
“What?” Alyssa practically shrieks in anger.
Her mother rears backward. “It’s just an ugly rumor, Alyssa. Nothing more. ”