Outside Read online

  I couldn’t protect her when she was in there and I was outside.

  A soft glow illuminated the second story window on the side of the house. The blinds opened and I saw her silhouette in the frame.

  Taking my cue to leave, my heart a tight lump in my chest, I turned away forcing my feet in the direction of my home, the ache of separation from her growing more painful with each step.

  I was going to have to do some serious planning. She was right about the time we had together being short. I resented the daylight for stealing her away. I wanted each minute of it to go by faster so I could see her again, hold her again and maybe a bit more.

  Day by Day.

  Night by Night.

  Hour by Hour.

  I was determined to treasure every single moment that she was mine. The future was never certain. But that future was coming toward us as surely as the waves inevitably reached the shore.

  I stood at my window watching him walk away, his strong shoulders hunched, his head bowed and his hands shoved deep into his cargo short pockets. A chill that felt a little like a premonition tiptoed up each individual vertebra of my spine. I wrapped my arms around myself to ward it off. I wasn’t going to just hope for good things to happen with Lincoln. I was going to make certain they did.

  I didn’t like him being sad.

  I knew I could make him happy.

  I wanted to show him just how committed to us I was. So I held off sleeping or showering the residue of dew and sand from my skin. Instead hugging my arms around myself I replayed every word from our night together until the clock on my nightstand hit a less egregious hour.

  Popping the cordless phone out of its charger I punched in Karen’s number as I headed into my bathroom, locking the door. I took off my sandals with it cradled between my shoulder and ear.

  For Linc and me to work with my father against us, we were going to need support.

  Plus a little creativity.

  After filling Karen in on the details of my night with Lincoln, she was more than willing to help. The cloak and dagger aspect of my relationship with him resonated with her for some reason. Plus she hadn’t been totally out of the loop. I hadn't been grounded from talking with her on the house phone this past week. She had pretty much swung back to being pro-Lincoln after he had publicly brushed off Kit at the party and initiated the love note campaign.

  After we coordinated our plans I jumped into the shower and feigned surprise when my mom yelled for me to pick up the phone as I was blow drying my hair.

  Karen went through the whole spiel just in case anyone was eavesdropping. The story was that she was heading to the community pool and was inviting me to join her. I held my hand over the receiver and obtained permission before agreeing to meet her there.

  "Don't forget you need to come in early for your shift," my father reminded me at the base of the stairs. "I need you to start training Ash tonight."

  "Sure, Daddy."

  "He's a real hard worker. A nice boy." Ash was totally nonverbal at the restaurant besides the occasional whispered words to me and a consistent yes to everything my dad asked him to do. And no surfing talk. No wonder my dad liked him.

  I shrugged. "He's alright."

  "He's your age. He's taking classes at City College. Maybe you two could go out some time? Wednesdays are usually slow."

  A night off with Ash as an alibi? Hallelujah the surf gods were shining their golden rays of approval on Linc and me.

  "I'll think about it," I told him trying not to sound overly eager. I didn't want him to get suspicious. I twisted the latch and opened the door hefting my swim bag up higher while calling out over my shoulder. "See ya later, Dad"

  Flip flops snapping excitedly against the pavement, lips curved in anticipation of surprising Linc at the beach I headed to Karen's house a couple of street further from the coast than mine. We would do a U-turn and go the other way once we met up. It was a little extra walking, but whatever I had to do to facilitate the ruse.

  Turns out he surprised me, instead.

  Wearing only a pair of long black and white swim trunks and a black Volcom ball cap that was slightly askew, his arm draped over his surfboard, taking my breath away and my heart already though he didn't know it yet, Lincoln smiled his dimpled grin and my expression turned into something else entirely. Something he seemed to understand. Something that meant he was the only one for me and probably always would be.

  "C'mon gorgeous," Lincoln picked up his surfboard and opened his other arm for me to step into. "I wanna teach you how to surf."

  At the beach we met up with the rest of the crew. Each had their own reactions to Linc and me. Karen seemed practically euphoric as if she had single-handedly orchestrated my reunion with him. Ash seemed reserved though pleased. Ramon only smiled. Dominic took it in stride as if things were how they were meant to be.

  We threw our towels and bags in a pile and stacked the boards together. Karen and the others complained about the heat and decided to head into the surf for a swim. Lincoln had other plans for us. He began running me through the steps to pop up on the board while it rested on the shore.

  Karen’s laughter and a chorus of male shouts drifted back to me over the sound of the waves lapping the shore and my labored breathing. After what seemed like my hundredth attempt on the maneuver that was a lot like doing a pushup and then jumping to standing, Linc nodded his approval.

  Finally.

  I stood still toes sifting sand while Linc crouched beneath me fastening the tether from his board around my ankle. His masculine fingers lingered on my lower leg. His eyes were hot and I got that way, too, just looking at him.

  My arms felt like lead and trembled with exhaustion as we paddled out together. We moved into a position on the other side of where the waves were breaking. Lincoln gave me some more advice and information about the sport that mostly went in one ear and out the other. I didn’t really care at this point about any of that and I didn’t care that I had been up all night either.

  What I really cared about was him. I had been on a total high since the moment he had placed his warm fingers on my skin his hands practically spanning my waist plucking me out of the water and depositing me on his board.

  Now I was laid out on my stomach in position ready to paddle and pop up while he bobbed in the water beside me. He shook out his mane of wet hair and the droplets cooled my sun heated skin. The blond highlights faded into a more uniform brown when drenched by the ocean water. We stared at each other as we floated both a little tipsy on one another it seemed.

  “I could stare at you all day, gorgeous.” Linc’s sculpted lips curled. When I assured him I could do the same his dimple appeared to wink at me. “But if we do that,” his expression turned stern, “you’ll forget what I just taught you and we’ll have to start all over again. You need to immediately put what you learned into practice.” He nodded his head thoughtfully. “Trust me. I remember from when I was first starting out.”

  “Who taught you?”

  “My old man.” He frowned. “It’s the one good thing he did for me. The only thing we ever had in common really. I practically killed myself learning new maneuvers hoping if I got good enough I might win his approval. And then maybe he’d quit drinking and knocking me around. But it was never enough.”

  I gasped tears filling my eyes as he so matter of factly shared the terrible details of his upbringing. Leaning toward him, I grabbed his hand and brought it to my chest near my heart that ached for him, for the boy who had tried so desperately to please an unloving father.

  “Don’t feel sorry for me.” His gaze grew hard.

  “I don’t, Linc. I just…” My lip trembled. “I just wish things had been better for you, that’s all. I’m so glad you have your aunt and uncle and Ash. I know…” I trailed off afraid to share.

  “Tell me,” he prompted.

  “I’m not saying it’s exactly the same but I think I understand just a little bit of how you must have felt. T
hings aren’t so great with my parents, either,” I began.

  “I know, Mona.” He squeezed my thigh.

  “Everyone knows how they are,” I whispered. “People feel sorry for me. I hate that. That’s why college is so important to me. I have to get my degree so I can finally break free from all of that.” I pleaded once again for him to understand what I’d never properly explained.

  “I don’t feel sorry for you.” His clear blue eyes glistened like the surface of the water all around us. “The fact is I’m damn proud of you.” His voice thickened. “Beautiful and brave. I’m falling for you hard. You know that. Right?”

  I nodded though I wondered who was falling harder.

  I wanted to nix the surfing lesson, paddle us in and kiss her breathless. The only thing that kept me from doing so was knowing that I wouldn’t be able to stop at just kissing, not when I so desperately wanted to take her and make her completely my own.

  “Hand on the rails and get ready to pop into your stance.” I tweaked her toes where they dangled in the water beneath my board.

  She nodded and did as she was told. I nearly swallowed my tongue watching her tits nearly fall out of the tiny purple triangles that barely covered them.

  “There’s a good lump building behind us.” Only years of practice and familiarity with this beach allowed me to focus on her and the set pattern at the same time. “Now!” I ordered.

  She popped up weight balancing as I had shown her on the beach earlier and she managed it fluidly. Caught the decent sized wave, got the swell underneath her just right and even ducked into a crouch to take the curl for a couple of seconds until it collapsed on her.

  Water nymph. Surf goddess. Otherwordly.

  By the time she surfaced flipping her heavily saturated hair out of her eyes, I was there to claim her. “You were brilliant.” She grinned nearly as big as me as she clung to the board. “Unbelievable for a first time. I think you’re a natural. Let’s do it again.”

  Her eyes darkening she shook her head. Vehemently.

  “Babe, it takes a while to learn to read the waves well enough to exit at the end of a good barrel like that,” I cautioned. She had no reason to be discouraged.

  “Linc, I know you love surfing as much as I enjoy singing and I certainly love watching you. But I am done.” She enunciated each word. “Totally wiped. My knees were shaking the entire time. I’d much rather be a spectator than a participant.”

  I couldn’t fathom how anyone could quit after a ride like that. Since I had been a little grommet surfing had soothed my restless soul. But I could respect her wishes. “Sure. I’ll take you in.” I propped my elbows on the board to lean across and kiss her hard, licking the salt from her lips.

  When she reopened her eyes she looked a little dazed, but she perked up by the time we waded in and all the guys congratulated her on her ride.

  “Unbelievable.” Ash shook his head.

  “Freakin’ unbelievable,” Dominic clarified.

  “Pretty sweet,” Ramon said with his board under his arm and the surf surging around his ankles. “But why are you coming in?”

  “I’m good with being one and done. It was fun but a little too scary.”

  Ramon and Ash both looked at her like she was crazy.

  “Chicks,” Dominic commented drolly as we all tossed our boards into the water and headed back out. “Go figure.”

  With Karen sandwiched between Dominic and Ramon, the threesome led the way on the sidewalk ahead of us. Linc had his own board under his left arm and me tucked into his right, a place I very much liked being. Whistling under his breath Ash trailed along just behind us.

  Even after hours of surfing, the guys were still full of energy. I had an even greater admiration for what they did after my one and only maiden voyage.

  “How much further is it, Ash?” Karen threw the question over her shoulder. “I’m starving and my feet hurt,” she complained.

  “It’s just up ahead, Q2.” Dominic had coined the nickname for Karen the day he had discovered that she had been both homecoming and prom queen at our high school. “But I’d be happy to carry you, if it pleases your majesty,” he teased reaching for her, but she shimmied away from him giggling.

  “No. I’ll do it,” Ramon insisted. He frowned as he jostled the taller surfer.

  Grinning Karen took off running across a closely cropped lawn. Both surfers dropped their boards and pursued her each tugging on one of her arms when they caught her.

  “This is it,” Ash explained tipping his head toward the one story white stucco home with its red clay Mission roof tiles and arched Mediterranean windows.

  “Nice house,” Karen observed bumping a hip against Dominic and Ramon in turn as she easily yanked her arms free. I agreed with the assessment, admiring the classy architectural notes and well-tended flower beds filled with thriving purple topped Kangaroo palms.

  “Thanks,” Ash responded before insisting that Dominic and Ramon pick up their board from where they’d discarded them earlier on the lawn.

  “You and Linc seem pretty serious.” Karen linked her arm with me while the guys went to store their boards in the garage.

  I nodded.

  “I’m happy for you, Simone.” Her hazel eyes twinkled in the late afternoon sunlight. “But I’m gonna keep an eye on him just in case. I don’t want him breaking your heart right before you go back to college.”

  I tensed at the mere thought that the end of Linc and me might come before we’d really even had a chance to begin.

  “Hey.” She touched my arm. “Don’t disappear on me. I like this daring new version of you that he seems to bring out. I was just teasing.” She studied me a beat as the guys came back around to the front of the house laughing and jostling each other as guys seem fond of doing.

  Ash jogged up the concrete stairs and opened the front door leading the way inside. Linc followed close behind casting me a backward glance as he did. Our gazes locked and held as Karen completed her thought.

  “I wouldn’t worry,” she said softly glancing back and forth between Linc and me as her bookends returned to her side. “The way he looks at you,” she whispered, “the only way it’s going to be over is if you want it to be.”

  We all followed Linc and Ash across a small tiled entryway through the corner of a casually decorated living room into a large kitchen. The Spanish style blue and red tiled counters were overflowing with boxes of snacks and bottled drinks. The glass paned cabinets were filled with brightly colored plates and bowls and mix matched glasses. It was easy to see that this well used kitchen was the heart of his aunt and uncle’s home.

  We must have scarfed down half of the food in Aunt Maggie’s kitchen. Standing side by side at the tile counters the girls formed a sandwich assembly line with Ash adding pickles and chips to the plates while the rest of us had waited in our seats around the whitewashed table.

  Chugging sodas and talking loudly while leaning against the counter, Ramon and Dominic were back to their usual positions flanking Karen and formulating plans for meeting up later. She was going to have to choose between those two soon or things were going to get ugly.

  Ash was across from me seemingly lost in thought as he rearranged his discarded crusts on his plate. Simone was tracing the knuckles of my hand with her delicate fingers. Just that feather light touch alongside the titillating view of her in the mesh cover up that concealed next to nothing made my cock so hard I was having difficulty concentrating.

  “You’ve got crumbs all over your lap.” Looking up at me through lowered lashes Simone’s gaze gave away little but she had to have seen the massive hard on in my shorts. “Maybe we should go out into the backyard to brush them off.”

  Hell yeah she’d seen. The low suggestive purr of her voice had me imagining all sorts of things we could do together in the back yard. I wanted to touch her so badly. I glanced at the clock above the sink. For this to work out between us, and I needed it to, I had to be responsible with her.

/>   “What time do you have to be at work?” I asked while tucking a wispy strand of caramel hair behind the shell of her ear. She shivered and her nipples seemed to get even harder beneath the triangles of fabric that covered them. My cock twitched in approval.

  She licked her lips before speaking. Was her mouth as dry as mine?

  “In less than an hour,” she replied sadly a faint reflective crease appearing between her brows. “Sooner really because I have to walk to Karen’s house first to keep up the pretense before heading over to the restaurant.”

  I frowned. I didn’t like the reminder of how little time we had left today or how we had to keep that time together secret. I stood abruptly kicking back my chair. “Let me show you where the bathroom is. You can shower and change here.”

  I grabbed her hand and led her through the living room and into a hallway that led to the bedrooms and the one bath. Still holding her hand, reluctant to let her go I pushed open the door to the bathroom. “There’s all kinds of shampoo and stuff in there.” Tugging on her hand I drew her closer reveling in the feel of her soft body against mine. “I’ll shower outside in the cabana. Make it fast, yeah? I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”

  I never got cleaned up so fast in my life. I shook my hair after toweling off and finger combing it leaving a wet footprint trail as I reentered the house. When I passed through the kitchen Karen and Dominic were conspicuously absent but Ash raised a brow and Ramon gave me a thumbs up.

  “Five minutes, Linc,” Ash warned. Not stopping I tucked the beach towel tighter around my waist and hit the back hallway just as the door to the bathroom popped open, a billow of steam heralding her appearance.

  Sun kissed skin from her slim shoulders to delicate ankles swathed in a white bath towel, my sea nymph’s hair was slicked back from her forehead and hung loosely down her back. Our eyes met, hers lifting from a survey of her own it seemed.

  “Linc.” Her lips parted on my name whether an invitation or a caution I didn’t care. Every caress during the day had been too brief. Those trailing touches along creamy soft coconut scented skin only left me longing for more.