Rebound: Passion Book 2(11)

You’re not going to solve this shit in one day Matt so just put it away. I pulled into the almost empty parking lot at the beach. The sun was barely out and there were just a few stragglers, older people it looked like. Probably had the same idea we did. Get there before the crowds and find a nice spot.





I helped lug the million and one things down to the sand and the boys and I set up the umbrella while the girls spread the blankets and sorted the coolers. It had been a while since we’d been to the beach I was beginning to look forward to a nice swim. Throwing my shirt to the blanket and hopping out of my shorts I challenged Josh and Drew to a swim in what I was sure would be cool water.

“Come on ladies let’s brave the wild.”

“You’re fucked in the head bro, I’m not getting in there until noon, that shit’s cold.”

“What do you plan on doing until then Cinderella?”

He wiggled his brows at me and looked over at his wife while Drew laughed his ass off.

“Come on Matt, I’ll go with you. Your brother’s a wimp.”

“Wimp my ass just because I have better things to do with my time.”

“You could’ve stayed home for that shit bro, now let’s go I’ll race you.” That ought to do it; he can’t resist a challenge from big brother.

He mumbled and cussed a blue streak but in the end he got down to his trunks and the three of us gave the man howl as we ran down to the water and dove in. It wasn’t long before we were splashing each other and trying to drown one another. Carrie came to the edge of the water and with hands on hips scolded us to stop picking on her husband since Andrew and I had teamed up on his ass. That’s what he gets for always talking shit.

We stayed in for a while before climbing out; I had a towel over my face rubbing the salt water away when I got a soft thump on my shoulder. “Heads up bro.” I removed the towel and turned to Josh who nodded his head in the opposite direction. And there she was. Fuck I knew they were up to something.

She walked towards us at a snail’s pace with her head down and I stood still with the towel clutched tight in my hand. Last night came flooding back in minute detail, the taste the smell the feel of her. I could kill my brother and his meddling wife. She wore some sort of wrap around number and I could see the straps of a swimsuit beneath, my body, already going from memory couldn’t take much more. My trunks were already straining as it is. Thank heavens for the towel but I can’t stand there like a statue for the rest of the damn morning. I gave Josh a good glare as the girls ran to meet her the rest of the way.





“What are you doing here?” Will there ever be a time when I’m not an asshole to this girl?

“Matt.” That was Josh’s ‘get your head out your ass tone’.

“Sorry.” I turned away under the pretense of drying my hair while trying to keep the bottom of the towel in strategic places. There was some chatter behind me as the girls talked her ear off and then I heard Josh’s softly spoken ‘oh shit’. I turned to see what the hell was his problem now and got blindsided.

“Merciful fuck.” I dropped the towel and grabbed my discarded shirt and moved towards her before I could stop myself. She was…I can’t. “What the fuck?” She was fucking half naked, and that jewel in her navel had my head spinning with visions of my mouth on it, biting… I threw my shirt around her shoulders and pushed her arms through the sleeves. The others had gone from open mouth surprise to outright laughing at my ass. I gave a fuck. I looked around to make sure no one else had seen her like that. All this time she hadn’t said a word, not even to stop me from manhandling her.

I grabbed her hand and threw a quick “we’ll be right back” over my shoulder before dragging her off down the beach. We’re gonna settle this shit once and for all. That question I had was now null and void. My head was finally catching up to my body and that shit was talking loud and clear.





Chapter 11





“What in the blue fuck are you wearing Kadyn?” I made sure we were far enough away from prying ears. The way I felt I wasn’t sure what the hell I was going to say or do next. She looked down at herself and then back up at me. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re at the beach. Besides, Carrie’s wearing almost the same exact thing.”

“That’s Josh’s problem not mine.” I crowded her, towering over her, it’s a cheap trick I know, but I needed all the help I could get. The sight of her in that thing was burned into my fucking corneas and was making me stupid.

“And neither is this.”

“Think again, I don’t want you running around the beach half naked. You keep that shirt on or I’m taking you home right now.”

“I can’t swim in this shirt.” She pulled on the tail of my shirt that dwarfed her tiny frame.

“Figure it out, the shirt or home. What’s it gonna be?”

“Why do you even think you have the right to tell me what I can or cannot do, Matthew Steele? You’ve barely said two words to me since we met and each time you did have something to say it was an insult.”

“That maybe so, but last night changed things, now everything is different.”

“I don’t see why, we hardly know each other and you don’t even like me, remember?”

“Who the fuck says I don’t like you, why do you keep saying that? Look, in a few hours this place is going to be crawling with people and I’d be fucked if I’m gonna have other men ogling your ass.” Yes I know I wasn’t making any sense, that she was one hundred percent right, we didn’t know each other. She might think we had no obligation to each other, but my mind had been made up for me and now she was fucked, because the shit that was going on inside me wasn’t good for anybody. Least of all the woman I now found myself wanting.

“You…are you insane? What gives you the right? I’m my own person Matthew Steele and I can do whatever the hell I want.” See, I knew she was going to be a pain in my ass. She tried removing the shirt but I grabbed a fistful of it and pulled her in close. “Try it.” I stared into her eyes that were all but spitting fire at me.

“You had to know what your body in that thing looks like, and that thing in your navel is a sure fucking invitation. What do you think people are gonna think? You think I want people looking at my woman thinking…”

"Just because I have tattoos and a nice ass doesn't make me a freak.”

"No but the shit I want to do to you might, and I repeat, I’d be fucked if I’m gonna have other men thinking the same thing."

“This is crazy, you can’t just go around ordering complete strangers around like you’re their lord and master. And what do you mean your woman? I’m not your girlfriend or your wife for you to have any say…

“Think again, if you didn’t want this then you shouldn’t have kissed me back the way you did. You shouldn’t have clung to me like you never wanted to let me go. I was there Kadyn. I know what I felt, or are you going to tell me you trembled in my arms because you were cold?”

“No…I…I don’t know okay, I just know this is moving too fast, I need time to think.”

“No.”

“What do you mean no?” she was breathing fire again fuck; can my life never be easy?

“I mean that there’s nothing to think about, I don’t need anymore time. I’ve thought this shit to death in the last few weeks and between last night and this morning the thinking stopped. You think I’ve been following your ass around town for the past few weeks because I’m bored?” She went pale as a sheet and pulled away from me. “You’ve been following me?” Her voice was a choked whisper as she looked around like a trapped rabbit.

“What the hell is wrong now?” I reached for her but she evaded my arms and turning, fell to her knees and threw up in the sand. I stood over her feeling helpless and uncertain before kneeling next to her and holding her hair back. This was bad, whatever this is, it was really bad. What the hell had I said that could make her have this kind of reaction? She might think it was too soon, but for me, if we were going to move forward in anyway, we were going to have to deal with this shit.





After she was through being sick, I picked her up and headed for the restrooms her state of undress forgotten for now. I made sure no one was in the lady’s room before pushing the door in with my foot and taking her inside. She’d gone limp and quiet in my arms and my gut was doing that sick churning thing again. That was something else that was coming to an end today, I couldn’t take much more of that feeling. There was definitely something going on with her and before my thoughts drove me insane she was going to tell me or I’ll set Josh on her ass. That fucker would know who her kindergarten teacher was by the time he was through digging.

I cleaned her up and wiped her face before lifting her and taking her back outside into the fresh air. She hadn’t said a word the whole time I was tending to her, just laid limply against me. As if all the life had gone out of her. “What was that about Kadyn? And no more of your fucked up excuses. First you froze up on me that day in town and now this. Start talking and if I don’t like the answers I promise I will go to your father.” I probably shouldn’t be threatening her so soon after she’d been sick but what the fuck! This shit had danger written all over it.