Hard to Resist (20 page)

A grunt slides through my teeth as my hands try to grip onto the stones. Somehow my fingers manage to find a few crevices.

Nolan pumps into me with heavy grunts as I moan and groan and call his name. His hands wrap around my waist but his hips don’t stop from burying into me. I clamp myself around him as he pulls me away from the wall to place me on my knees. He’s out of me for only a slight second but as he cups my ass, he pushes himself into me again and begins his quick strokes.

“This. Is. Mine. Natalie,” he grunts through his teeth. I can hear the growl in his voice. This is angry sex. And this angry sex is the best angry sex I’ve had yet. “I meant what I said.” He continues to pump into me, gripping his hands around my thin waist as a loud clapping noise fills the silence. One of his hands reach around to cup my entire womanhood and then one of his fingers begins to circle the flesh between.

The sand grazes against my knees and a spiral of pain and pleasure burns between my legs. His hips move at the same speed as his finger that is still circling around me. “Oh, shit, Natalie!” he groans then slaps my ass with his free hand. Pulling his hand away from my sweet flesh, he begins to pound into me without any hands at all.

“Oh, Nolan!” I moan through clenched teeth.

“Yeah, baby. Call my name,” he says as he leans forward to place his lips against my ear. “I want my name to be the only name you call like this from now on.” One of his hands cup around one of my breast while the other glues to my hip, only causing the strokes to get deeper.

“Holy, shit!”

“Nolan!” I screech at the same time.

The clapping noise continues for another few seconds as my juices pour. I tense around him just as he sucks in a low breath then lets out a slight hiss. “Shit,” he grumbles pleasurably. He smashes against me once more before finally pulling out and twisting me around. He lies on top of me, making sure that he doesn’t squish me as his eyes remain hard. His entire face is dripping with sweat as he pants heavily. Leaning in, he places a kiss on my lips.

“I believe you, babe,” he breathes.

“About what?”

“About him being your friend.”

“Good,” I mumble with what is left of my energy. “But why were you so mad?”

“I didn’t like the fact that he had his hands on you.”

I nod with twisted lips.

“I swear I was about to kill him, though,” he adds on. “I saw him drag you around that corner and I . . . I couldn’t help myself.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“I saw Harper lying on the beach and she told me you went to the shack to grab some drinks. I thought I would surprise you but when I saw that guy twirl you around in his arms, I turned and walked away immediately.”

“Why?” I ask as I reach up to push the hair away from his forehead. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I know but . . . I thought he was your ex or something. I got jealous and I let the jealousy get the best of me, which is why I came back when I saw him take you down the tunnel.”

“No, trust me,” I say as I push myself up on my elbows. “Mark will regret what he did to me when he’s sober. He’ll try to apologize but things won’t be the same between us. He’ll know it.”

Nolan nods before he finally pulls away and helps me to my feet. I reach for my bikini top and he helps me put it on. “Is he from your school?” he asks.

“We went to high school together, yeah.”

“What’s he doing down here?”

I pause as I stare ahead at the columns of thick, dark wood that is ahead. Good thing my back is facing him because as soon as I think about why Mark is here, Bryson appears in the thought bubble of my head and my face twist with disgust. “He said he’s on vacation with a few friends.” I will not tell Nolan that Bryson is down here. I just have to stay clear of this beach for a week.

“What do you say we go to the pool? I could cool down after sex that hot.” His lips spread to grin as he grabs my hand.

“Yeah, that would be great,” I breathe as I fan my hair to get rid of the specks of sand. Nolan grabs for the sodas and my wallet and we make our way through the columns of wood until we’re close enough to the edge of the dock to come out.

I can’t believe that Bryson is down here. What in the hell is he trying to do to me? I feel like he’s trying to purposely ruin my life. I will never take him back. What part does he not realize about that? I seriously hope that I don’t run into him. I don’t need the drama and I definitely don’t need to see Sara. I know that if I see her, it’s automatically going to ruin me. She’ll do nothing but rub it in my face. But my only hope is that if we do happen to run into them, Nolan is with me. At least they’ll know that I’ve moved on with someone hotter and ten times better in bed than Bryson.

My lips quirk up as I think about how their reaction will be when they see Nolan. Nolan is fit to be a model. It still surprises me that he wants to be with me.

When you give your all

And in the end, receive nothing

When it so happens that you fall

And your knees scrape while burning

Why do you allow him to let the alcohol pour?

Why do let him cause you pain?

How can you ask for more

When all that person has done

Was cause the burning in vain?

You want to take the blame

Even when you know that it’s not your fault

You want to call his name

But calling his name is like

Trapping yourself in a cult

But as time moves on

You begin to forget

As time carries on

You begin to
let go

As the days go forward

That’s when he realizes

That he stepped backwards

When you finally find the will to release him

That’s when you can smile joyously without

A single word

Chapter Twenty

“What in the hell is this?” Harper screeches as she pulls out a gold sequined tunic with blue flowers and green polka-dots. I choke on a laugh as I watch her twirl it by the hanger with a face full of horror. It’s as if she’s watching someone throw up all over her shirt. “I mean, really. Who would wear this monstrosity?” She shoves the hanger back on the rack before picking through the clothes again. “Are you done shopping?” she asks as I slide a scoop of chocolate flavored
Dippin’ Dots
ice-cream into my mouth.

“Yeah,” I say with my mouth half-full. I place my container of ice-cream on the bench as I reach for my shopping bags by the wall. “Six shopping bags full of clothes is way too many. I wasn’t expecting to shop this much.” I place my bags on the bench, replacing the straps with my ice-cream.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Daddy gave me seven-hundred bucks today and I’m going to use every last penny. As a matter of fact,” she says, reaching for her phone from the back pocket of her pink shorts. There is a brief intermission as she touches her screen a gazillion times while I stuff my face with more ice-cream. “Yep. Still got three-hundred bucks left in the account.” She flashes a broad smile as she tucks her phone into her back pocket again. I shrug as I flop on the bench while she continues to pick through the rack of clothes.

“So what was up with Nolan yesterday?” She pulls out a red blouse to scan every aspect of it. “He came back kind of pissed after I told him where you were.” Her eyes finally meet mine as I swallow my last clump of ice-cream.

“Let me ask you a question,” I say.

“What’s up?”

“Why in the hell would my ex-boyfriend and a group of his best friends be in Miami?”

Harper’s blue eyes stretch as she hangs the red blouse on the silver rail before storming around the rack to get to me. “What in the hell? He’s
here
?”

“Yeah. I ran into Mark at the shack and he tried to . . . kiss me.”

“What the fuck!” She scrambles to her feet and as I look up, a few of the employees of Forever 21 turn our way to look at us. “He kissed you? Mark, of all guys? That’s like Bryson’s best friend. Was he drunk?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say through a humorless laugh. Well, actually, now that I think on it, I am a bit humored by it. It’s not like I didn’t see it coming. Mark was looking like he didn’t want anything else in that shack but me. His eyes were staring directly at me, scanning my body intensely. I could feel the desire but I was trying my best to ignore it.

Being around him and ignoring his flirting for years has become a terrible habit for me. I knew it was going to come someday. “He had to be hammered because even when Mark takes a few drinks, he wouldn’t have done that. He took me down the tunnel, Harp. Where no one could see. Luckily for me, Nolan showed up and pinned his ass down.”

“Wow,” she gasps. “That’s crazy. And to think, I actually thought Mark was a young cutie that I could hook up with when I paid a visit to Charleston. He had potential.” She huffs as she marches for her shopping bags that are in the corner. “Come on. After hearing that, I definitely need a cold one.”

Grabbing for my bags, I nod as I clutch the straps and follow Harp out of the store.

“Did he apologize at least?” she asks, stealing a glance over her shoulder to look at me before I can meet by her side.

“Nope.”

“What a dick.”

I nod in agreement as we pass through the sea of bodies. Some are window-shoppers and some women have just as many bags as we do in their hands, if not, more. I have to say that my shoulders are about to give out on me but I did buy a ton of cute clothes that I could wear to go out more often. I even bought an outfit that I will wear to Open Mic on the night that I actually decide to read one of my poems. I’m seriously not sure when that will be.

Making the cut for the food court, Harper whips out her cell and dials a number. “I have to call my mom. She’s been bitching about me not keeping in touch with her but you know how she is. She drives me insane.” She gives a slight roll of her eyes as she places the phone against her ear. We make our way to a table centered in the middle of the food court and it is beyond relief when I sit the shopping bags down.

“Hi mom!” Harper chirps as she pulls her Michael Kors wallet out of her matching Michael Kors handbag. I stretch my shoulders and roll my neck before sitting. “Yeah, total win today. I picked out a ton of cute stuff to wear. I even bought you a new fit. You have to come down to try it on one day.” She gives me a sidelong glance as she rolls her eyes again. Harper has a good habit of sounding excited. She finally pulls the phone away from her ear to look at me. “She’s blabbering. I’m gonna go grab a Coke and a burger. Want anything?”

“No, I’m okay.”

Nodding, she places the phone against her ear before shimmying away. Crossing my fingers in my lap, I sigh as I lean against my seat. I turn to look around at everyone that is waiting in line for different food choices. There is a Chic-Fil-A, a Burger King, a place that I can tell sells Chinese food, just by their title, and then there’s a Subway. I stare at the Subway the longest as memories between Bryson and I flood me.

Bryson loved going to Subway. He would order a sub for the both of us and when they had the five-dollar-foot-long deals, those would be the best. Most times we would share when the deals weren’t happening. I stare at the green and yellow letters but as my gaze lowers, my heart clutches and a sudden spur of panic grabs hold of my heart and squeezes it tight.

At first, I am staring at his back. But as I spot the familiar black hair that is gelled to perfection and purposely tousled, his tight black T-shirt that gives definition to every muscle creasing between his shoulders, back, and arms, I grab the corners of my chair and clutch it out of instinct.