Cody (8 page)

She both envied the other
women their relationships, and worried she was just as transparent
as they were. Cody did nothing to hide how he felt about her. She
was sure if he got ahold of a fog horn he’d be announcing it to all
ships that passed by. Did she want that, though?

“What are you thinking?”
he asked as the rounded a corner on the beach.

She shrugged. “Just a
little confused about us.”

“Why are you confused? I
tell you hourly how much I love you. What’s confusing about
that?”

“I’m more confused about
how I’m feeling than anything else.” Was she smart to tell him
exactly what she felt and lay it all on the line? Or should she
keep it all bottled inside so he wouldn’t get his hopes up for a
long-term relationship?

“Talk to me about it.” He
rolled his eyes at his words. How many men would invite a talk with
a woman about feelings? He found he needed the words as much as, if
not more than, she did, though.

She debated for a moment
about how to say it, and finally said, “Well, to start with, I told
myself I wouldn’t start any relationships until the mortgage was
paid off and my brother was home from school. So, I’ve broken my
word to myself. I also always promised myself I wouldn’t fall for a
man who felt like it was his job to take care of me.” She looked at
his face in the moonlight. “You know as well as I do you feel the
need to take care of me.”

He sighed. “I’d wrap you
in bubble wrap and never let you out of my sight if I thought I
could get away with it.”

“See? That’s the kind of
attitude I’m talking about.” She paused and kicked at the sand with
her bare feet. She was carrying her sandals in her free hand. “But,
I’m so attracted to you when you’re around I can’t think straight.
You’re someone I genuinely like to be around. I want to have a
relationship with you, but I don’t think there’s any way you’re
going to hold off on getting serious until my brother comes home
from college in May.”

He stopped walking and
turned to her putting his hands on her shoulders. “What do you mean
by a serious relationship? As far as I’m concerned we’re already
serious. I’m not seeing anyone but you, and I don’t plan on
it.”

She thought about that for
a minute. “I mean getting engaged or planning a wedding. I’m not
seeing anyone else either.” Of course, she hadn’t seen anyone in
twelve years, but that was beside the point.

“How about this then? I’ll
do my best to stop proposing until your brother is home. I can’t
make any promises, because every time I see you I feel the need to
ask you to marry me. It’s become a habit.”

She laughed. “I never
thought a man could tell me that proposing to me is a habit.” Cody
wasn’t the smoothest talker she’d ever known, but he did make her
laugh.

He grinned. “Am I still
allowed to tell you I love you?”

She swallowed hard,
looking into his eyes. “I’m afraid to say the words back. At least
until my life is settled down a little more.” She knew she loved
him though. Why was she making him wait for the words?

“Am I allowed to do this?”
He lowered his head brushing his lips across hers.

She wrapped both of her
arms around his neck letting her sandals rest against his back.
“How could I say no to that?”

His hands wandered down
her back toward her bottom pulling her against him. He was
determined not to pressure her into anything she wasn’t ready for,
but he was ready to go as far as she’d allow.

She felt the familiar
warmth course through her body. She wanted him. Was it so wrong for
her to take a week out of time for herself and do whatever she
wanted to do? She pulled her head back and looked at him, taking
his hand in hers.

Leading him back toward
their bungalow, she knew neither of them would be sleeping in the
small bedroom tonight. When they were inside, she didn’t say a word
but simply pulled him along into the room she was staying in. She
threw her sandals into the corner of the room and turned to face
him. The lights were out, but she could make out his features by
the moonlight streaming in the open curtains.

Without speaking, she
slipped her hands under the hem of his tee-shirt, sliding them up
to caress his chest. After a moment, she helped him out of the
shirt altogether and pulled her tank top over her head. The top had
a built-in bra, so she was bare from the waist up.

She unfastened her shorts
and pushed them to the floor moving back to him. When she brushed
her lips against his again, she whispered, “I sure hope you were
smart enough to bring protection, because I’m not on the
pill.”

“In my pocket.” He pulled
her to him, his hands roaming her bare back before moving around to
her front to gently squeeze her nipples in his fingers. “Are you
sure?”

She nodded. “I’m living
for myself this week.”

He pulled the condom from
his pocket and put it on the nightstand before stepping away from
her to remove his shorts and boxers. Reaching out to her again, he
caught her panties with his thumbs and slowly pushed them down over
her hips and down her legs until she stepped out of
them.

She took his hands in hers
and sat on the edge of the bed. She pulled him down beside her
turning to him fully to press her lips against his. His tongue
immediately sought hers as his hands roamed her body.

She’d never touched a
naked man before and found she wanted to take her time exploring
his body. She pushed him to his back on the bed. “Hold
still.”

“You bossin’ me around?”
His voice was husky, belying the grin on his face.

“Absolutely.” She got to
her knees on the bed beside him and started with his neck, noting
the thickness of it as she ran her hands down it to his shoulders
and chest. He wasn’t a man who worked with his hands, but he
obviously lifted weights or something, because his body was thick
and covered with muscles. “Do you lift?”

“Yeah. Three mornings a
week.”

“I can tell.” Her hands
roamed down to his abdomen which was flat and taut. Her fingers
barely touched it as she moved down to his hips and thighs and down
to his feet. She kissed one of his toes softly and ran her finger
along the base of his foot. He jerked his foot away.
“Ticklish?”

“Real men aren’t
ticklish.”

“Sure.” Her hands moved
back up his body along the inside of his legs going up to his inner
thighs and onto the thick rod rising from his pelvis. She gently
stroked up and down it, feeling the soft skin covering the hardness
beneath.

He let out a low groan
grabbing her hand and dragging it away from him. “If you keep doing
that, it’ll be all over.”

She laughed, loving the
effect she had on this powerful man. He flipped her onto her back.
“I can play that game, too, you know.” His hands moved to her
breasts teasing her nipples as his mouth played with the skin at
her neck.

He moved a knee up between
her legs nudging her core. At her moan, he moved one hand down to
her slowly inserting it between her folds and into her softness.
His finger moved in and out of her slowly causing electricity to
shoot through her body.

Her hands clutched his
shoulders as he continued the movements and brought his mouth back
to hers. Their kiss was harder this time, and wilder than
before.

She cried out, clenching
around his finger, and he rolled to the side of the bed to slip the
condom on. He settled between her legs and entered her slowly,
watching her face for any sign of discomfort.

Once he was seated, he
remained still for a moment to make sure she was adjusting to him,
and then began slow steady movements inside her. She wrapped her
legs around his waist to bring him closer, and moved with him,
enjoying the friction of their bodies as they ground
together.

Within moments she was
clutching his shoulders again and crying out his name as she
climaxed. He followed her quickly collapsing on her for a moment
before rolling to her side, pulling her against him. He rained
kisses over her face whispering how much he loved her.

She lay snuggled up
against him with her head on his shoulder trying to force her
breathing to slow. Was there a way to tell him being with him was
the most incredible experience of her life without getting his
hopes up? She kissed his shoulder and sighed happily. She was so
glad she’d come with him.

“Be right back.” He went
to the bathroom and disposed of the condom and came back, settling
into bed with her. “Am I allowed to sleep here?”

She nodded her head
sleepily. “I’d miss you if you weren’t beside me.”

Chapter Seven

The whale watching
excursion was more fun than Amber had imagined. The three women got
along beautifully from the first moment, and talked up a storm in
the boat. Amber asked Bailey about the baby, and got a more
coherent answer than Cody had given her.

“My sister, Angela, dated
Steven for a few weeks last year. During that time, she got
pregnant, and instead of telling him when she found out, she came
home to Hamlin and stayed with me. They’d already broken up by the
time she knew she was pregnant.” She let out a gasp and pointed to
a spot in the water where a whale had come up just a few feet from
the ship. The clear water made every movement visible. “Anyway, she
had the baby, but she wasn’t much of a motherly sort. I took care
of the baby almost exclusively from the very beginning. And I
supported both of them. When Faith was two months old, Angela went
out with some guy and they were coming home late and were killed by
a drunk driver. Then it was just Faith and me.”

She stared out at the
ocean for a moment remembering. “Faith got really sick, and I
couldn’t take her to daycare, so I stayed home with her. I got
fired for missing too many days, and we were about to be evicted,
so I sold everything I could and packed up my car with everything I
had left. I made the drive from Hamlin to Southlake and went to
Steven’s house. I needed child support, or there was no way I was
going to be able to feed Faith. I was hoping he’d start paying
something in the way of child support, and we could go stay in a
hotel for a while. I was planning on hunting for a job and finding
her a daycare, but instead, Steven told me he wanted to keep us. He
hired me as her nanny, and we’re living in his huge house with a
housekeeper and everything.”

Amber stared at Bailey in
disbelief. “How long ago was that?”

The corners of Bailey’s
mouth turned up as she answered. “Oh, a little over a
week.”

“That’s about how long
I’ve known Cody, too.”

Sarah smirked. “She
rear-ended him.”

Bailey laughed. “Don’t
tell me! Knowing Cody, he probably offered to buy you a new
car.”

Amber sighed and shook her
head. “A new truck. I told him no, but he bought me one anyway.”
She spread her hands palm up in front of her. “He had it delivered
on Monday morning. I didn’t know what to do, but he talked me into
keeping it. I told him no more gifts!”

Bailey nodded. “I get it.
Steven told me I couldn’t take his daughter out in the rattle trap
I drove, so he bought me a Cadillac Escalade! I went from driving a
1994 Ford Fiesta to a 2012 Cadillac Escalade overnight. It’s
ridiculous!”

Amber’s eyes widened.
“Hey! All I got was a Ford F-150. Maybe I should
complain!”

Sarah laughed out loud.
“Justin just drives me everywhere. He thinks I need to quit taking
the bus. And he keeps feeding me. Every time I turn around he’s
taking me to a different restaurant. I’m glad he hasn’t bought me a
car, though.”

“Give him a week,” Bailey
said with a deadpan look on her face.

All three women dissolved
into peals of laughter. “What is wrong with them?” Amber asked.
“I’ve never had a man try to take care of me like Cody does. I
rear-ended him and within five minutes he’d offered to buy me a
truck, an engagement ring and dinner.”

“An engagement ring?”
Sarah looked at Bailey. “No one offered me an engagement ring,
you?”

Bailey shook her head. “I
guess you have us beat.”

Amber sighed. “I keep
telling him no, but he’s proposed at least once every day since I
met him.” She looked down at her hands. “It’s not that I don’t want
to marry him. Despite the fact that he’s more than a little crazy,
I think I’m in love. I just promised myself I’d wait to have any
kind of serious relationship until the ranch’s mortgage was paid
off and my brother was home from college.”

“Then stick to your guns!”
Sarah squeezed Amber’s hand. “Wait until you’re ready. If he’s
worth anything, he’ll stick around.”

The rest of their “girl
day” flew by. They talked about getting together for lunch when
they got back to Dallas, and she knew she’d made some genuine
friends.

Throughout the rest of the
week, the six of them spent time as a large group and as couples.
Mostly they sunbathed on the beach and spent time in their
bungalows. Their time on the island was cut short by a day because
Justin and Sarah decided to marry in Las Vegas on the way
home.