The Private Serials Box Set(50)

I turned back to the counter and took a few deep breaths, steadying myself before I returned to the table, taking my seat again.

"So, what's the plan now?" Sam asked, looking first to me and then to Preston.

"Well, now that you have everything under control here, I should probably head back home," Parker said.

I looked to him, saddened by the idea of him not being around. "Who will I run with?"

He laughed and then took a sip of his coffee. "I'm sure Preston wouldn't  miss an opportunity to see you running on the beach. And hey," he said,  lifting his hand in the air, gesturing toward me, "if you ever make it  back to Portland, we can run together there."         

     



 

I frowned. Parker was a great running partner.

"Don't look so sad, sunshine," Sam said. "I'll run with you while I'm here."

My eyebrows shot up. "You're staying?"

"Listen, I didn't come to Hawaii to stay for a few nights. I took a  couple weeks' worth of vacation I'd been saving up. I mean," she said,  placing her hand over mine, "I hope you don't mind if I stay a while."

"Oh, my God, of course not!" I was nearly bouncing up and down in my  seat, so excited by the thought of getting to spend some real time with  Sam. "What about you?" I asked, turning to Piper.

She shrugged. "I have nowhere else to be." She said the words with a  smile, but the overwhelming emotion was sadness. I got the feeling that  for the month we'd been living together, she'd been shielding me from  the troubles she was facing, keeping her emotions inside. I hated how  she'd been hiding things from me and I wanted to make her open up.

"What about you? What are your plans?" Sam asked, her eyes locked on Preston.

He looked to me and smiled. "I'm wherever she is," he said, nodding in  my direction, his eyes focused on mine. My heart fluttered at his words,  warmed by the idea of him being near for now.

"One last run? For old times' sake?" Parker asked me.

"Love to."



It was hours later. Parker and I had gone on one last run, all the while he tried to convince me not to give up on Preston.

"I know it's great right now, the reunion     high is so perfect, and it's  probably hazing out all the bad stuff that hasn't found its way in yet.  Just promise me, when it does, when all the bad finds the cracks and  seeps back in, you'll believe in him and trust him enough to give him a  chance."

I was watching the sand move beneath my feet as I ran, feeling my feet  sink in, then pull out, muscles burning with each step, breath panting.  Listening to Parker was mesmerizing. It was so abundantly obvious he had  every bit of faith in his brother.

"I promise," I said through heavy breaths. It was such an interesting  experience for me to watch Preston's brother and sister go to bat for  him, to have such unwavering faith in him. I found myself looking out to  the ocean and wondering what kind of sister Nadia would have been.  Would she have flown to Hawaii to make sure I was all right? Would she  have seen how bad my marriage to Derrek was and tried to help me?

I'd never really felt the loss of my sister. Later in life, I knew the  way my parents raised me was influenced by their loss, but I'd never  considered what I missed by not having a big sister around.

"He's lucky to have you and Piper," I said, just loud enough that I knew  he heard me, but still quietly. It always seemed sacrilege to speak  over the sound of the waves of the ocean.

"Patton loves him too. He's just less available to drop his entire life to help at the moment. You'll meet him eventually."

I gave him a smile and we continued our run.

Afterward, Parker found a flight, packed his bags, and took a taxi to  the airport. It was sad saying goodbye to him, and I'd obviously become  more attached to him and his friendship than I realized. But I knew I'd  see him again; it was inevitable.

"Remember what I said," he whispered into my ear as he hugged me goodbye. "Have faith in him."

I nodded, smiling against his shoulder as I hugged him. "I will."



Later that day, after everything had settled down, all four of us found  ourselves on the beach. Sam and Piper were in the water, sitting  together with the water lapping around their legs. Preston and I were  laying on towels, soaking up the sunshine as it slowly made its way  toward the horizon, the day nearly gone.

I sighed in contentment, thoroughly enjoying the relaxation the last hour had afforded me.

"I can't believe that in the two months I've been in Hawaii, this is the  first time I've just laid on the beach. I might not ever go back to  work. I might lay out like this every day of my life until I shrivel up  like a raisin."

"I'd definitely sign up to watch you lay around in a bikini all day,  every day." Preston turned his head to look at me and gave me his sexy  smile.

"Deal," I said, laughing. "You'll still love me when I'm all wrinkly?"

"Sweetheart, I'm going to love you forever, no matter what. The sooner you get that through your head, the better off we'll be."

"Deal," I repeated, but this time I leaned toward him to give him a  kiss. His hand slid behind my neck, holding me to him, and he deepened  the kiss. In fact, he took it much deeper than I had intended and I  found myself lost in his lips, lost in the way his mouth moved against  mine, how possessive it was, and how much I liked being possessed by  him.

My skin was warm from the sun, but hot from the way his tongue caressed  mine, the way his fingers dug into the tender flesh of my neck. His  other arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me to him, but he also rolled  over me, pinning me into the sand between our towels.

His hand grazed the skin just above the back of my bikini bottom,  fingertips sliding just barely into the elastic. My heart trampled in my  chest, and even though we were on a public beach, in broad, albeit  dwindling, daylight, I couldn't bring myself to stop him. His hands felt  too good on me. Thankfully, his hand didn't roam any farther and I  trained my focus on letting him kiss me.

My mind swirled with the feeling of him over me, his mouth taking  everything from me: my breath, my voice, my ability to think clearly.

"Lena," he finally rasped against my mouth, after what seemed like hours of making out on the beaches of Hawaii.

"Yeah?" I said, my hand raising up to run through his hair.

"I think we should go back to the apartment."

I laughed at his to-the-point statement. Nothing sexy about the way he  said it, but sex was all he implied. I kissed him through giggles, then  laughed even harder when he pouted.

"I've only just come up for air. I've hardly spent any time with Sam." I  trailed my hand down from his hair to his cheek, trying to soften the  blow of my tiny rejection. "We can go back to the apartment when it's  time for bed."

He rolled off me and motioned toward where Sam and Piper were still  sitting in the waves. "They wouldn't notice if you left. They're  entertaining themselves just fine."

"That's not the point."

"I see my plan to get everyone here to force you into listening to me is  backfiring. You're using my own weapons against me," he said as he  pressed his mouth into my neck, biting me gently.

"We have plenty of time to spend together, don't we?"

He pulled back, suddenly looking very serious. His hand started at my  forehead, then moved down my dark hair, twining through the strands,  gently tugging when he got to the ends. "Yeah, sweetheart, we do."

"How long before you think you'll have to go back to Portland?" I asked  the question even though I didn't want to hear the answer. In my perfect  world, Preston and I would stay on this island forever, giving not one  care about what happened back in Oregon, not letting anything taint the  perfection we'd found in each other. But I knew that was an unrealistic  daydream. I knew eventually we'd have to sort our shit out.

"I'm not on a timeline, Lena. I know how you feel about Portland, but we  don't have to go back there. We don't have to stay here either. I can  be a private investigator anywhere. The only thing I need is you. So,  what do you want to do?"

I looked at him, looked into the beautiful chocolate eyes I'd lost  myself in so many times before, but would never tire of seeing. Looked  at his new, hipster beard, running my hand along his jaw. Then I looked  at his mouth, the mouth that was so expressive. He was always smiling,  or smirking, or grinning, or even pouting. I leaned forward and pulled  his bottom lip into my mouth, tugging just hard enough to get a low  growl from him before I let it loose.

Before I could answer, before I could tell him pretty much what he told  me, that all I wanted for now was to be with him, the location  ultimately unimportant, his mouth opened again.

"I want you to know, though, Lena, the two months we were apart, I wasn't just sitting around."

I inhaled deeply, my hand still resting on his cheek, his eyes not meeting mine.