An Ounce of Hope(61)

When Max had learned that Grace would be joining them all at the cabin, he'd been pleased. He was genuinely happy that she'd made friends with Ruby and that everyone had welcomed her so thoroughly. But that was just his family. They were cool like that. He liked that they liked her and that she was becoming less and less timid, becoming braver, more inclined to take on new challenges. He was proud of her when he heard her sass the way she did when it was just the two of them.

He just didn't like it when she did it with Deputy Asswipe.

Max hadn't peeked at the truck following theirs. He'd managed to ignore the urge for at least thirty minutes already and he wasn't backing down now. Nope. He didn't give a flying shit that Grace was in Deputy Asshole's ride with Buck and two random women. Not at all.

He fidgeted, checking his cell. No signal. Damn mountains.

He glanced back.

Buck waved back wildly between the front seats, nudging Grace, who laughed and waved, too. 

Fucker.

Max noted the deputy's sly expression and clenched his fist. He understood that Uncle Vince had known the deputy for a long time, but did the prick really have to join them at the lake? The answer was apparently yes, since, as Ruby explained, he'd been doing so for the past four summers. Whatever. Max only just managed to resist the urge to flip the bird or write out a text message to show the jerk later, describing in detail how Grace's tits tasted and felt on his tongue, or what his orgasm looked like all over her skin, or the smell of her body after she'd come. But that might have been a tad overzealous.

Nevertheless, those particular images had entertained Max and his cock no end for days. Dammit, he couldn't wait to get Grace alone again, so he could see what else she had lurking under that innocent quiet of hers. The tigress he'd glimpsed was ridiculously hot, and Max knew that once he got the chance to tear away the rest of her apprehension, she'd be unstoppable.

The man she'd end up with would certainly have a tomcat on his hands. He just hoped to God that it wasn't Deputy AssBandit. For whatever reason, the dude rubbed Max the wrong way and how he looked at Grace, as if she were a piece of meat or something, made Max's teeth grind. He wasn't good enough for her and Max was more than prepared to set that shit straight anytime the prick wanted.

Thirty minutes later, with a barrage of hootin' and hollerin' from the truck's occupants, Max's uncle pulled up outside the cabin. The place hadn't changed one bit since Max's last visit, twelve years before. Predominantly logged, with a few modern metal and glass embellishments that Uncle Vince added over the years, the six-bedroom cabin sat one hundred feet back from the water, a gorgeous lake three miles long and one mile wide. Max had spent many a summer swimming, fishing, and boating on that lake with his uncle and his father, and as he stepped out of the truck and took in the beauty of it, nostalgia trembled through him. The memories he had at the cabin were happy ones, trouble-free ones, ones that every kid should have.

"Penny for them."

Max startled at the sound of Grace's voice. She was standing at his side in a pair of denim shorts, a pink tank top, and matching flip-flops. As always, her toes were painted the exact same color as her outfit.

"Nice ride up?" He cocked an eyebrow over his shades.

She shrugged. "Buck was entertaining as hell. Caleb wouldn't let us put music on. Good music, at least. His tastes leave a lot to be desired."

"Color me shocked as hell," he muttered sarcastically, causing Grace to snort. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the glare off the water.

"My goodness it's beautiful here." She breathed in deeply. "I can see why you like it."

Max peered over at her. Her eyes closed as she tilted her face up to the sun. She'd put her hair up into a messy bun that was unable to hold a handful of curling tendrils that hung from it. His eyes roamed over her shoulders and throat.

"Yeah," Max murmured. "Beautiful."

"Guys, come on!" Ruby yelled from behind them, making them both turn. "Get your bags and get changed. Dad's gonna start the grill while we have a swim."

"Best do as she says," Grace said out of the corner of her mouth. "She can be scary."

Max snickered and watched her bound back over to the deputy's truck. Back at his uncle's truck, Max yanked his own bag from its bed and slung it over his shoulder. "Which room am I in?"

Ruby paused and chewed on her lower lip. Max tilted his head. He knew that fucking look from when they were kids. "What did you do?"




 

 

"Well," she answered, elongating the vowel. "Buck's friends won't share a room, so we're one short. You'll be okay to share, right?"

He pulled his shades down his nose so he could glare at her better. "With whom?"