Unforgettable Summer: Wild Crush, Book 1 (11 page)

That guttural fierceness was back in Ty’s voice, in the tense way he held himself. What would it be like if he didn’t hold back? Suddenly Summer wanted to find out more than she’d ever wanted anything. “Yes, I’ll meet you.” She’d find a way, even though she was grounded.

“We can talk about everything, Sum. Our future—everything. So promise me you’ll come.”

Ty wanted to talk about the future? With her? Summer smiled, feeling giddy. “I promise.”

His sigh was full of relief. He kissed along her jaw, until he reached her mouth and once again dipped his tongue inside. All the while he kept his finger inside her underwear, moving it in circles that made Summer’s hips gyrate. She had to find a way to be with Ty. She’d never felt anything like this, like she was straining for something, her body thrumming like a rocket about to launch to the stars.

The loud breaking of glass made Ty jump back, leaving Summer on the launch pad. In a daze, she realized Ty’s windshield had an ugly crack in it along the driver’s side. The next blow came down hard, shattering the glass and causing a scream to tear from Summer’s throat.

Over the piercing sound of it came Jasmine’s furious voice, raising hell in the quiet night. “What the fuck are you doing with my sister?”

Summer woke with her heart pounding, something hot and hard pressing into her lower back. Strong arms enveloped her from behind. She was trapped, but her body wasn’t protesting the imprisonment. It was tingling and throbbing in parts that rarely woke her with such urgency.

“Are you sober yet?”

Recognizing Ty’s voice, Summer froze. As though to counteract her sudden stillness, he shifted against her, flexing his hips so she was no longer in any doubt as to what the hot hard rod pressing into her back was. He was in bed with her and he was naked. Naked and fully aroused.

She
was naked, save for the tiny black-lace underpants she’d worn last night.

The tingling and throbbing within her intensified. Summer fought with her body’s instinctive response, knowing something about this wasn’t right. No way would she have had sex with Ty last night and not remember it. She’d gone on that double date with Penny and…what was his name? She’d drunk white wine—which she knew better than to do because it never agreed with her. They’d all gone to the pub after the concert…

The pub. Ty. Summer remembered stalking over to him saying…

Dear God no.

“Getting excited is not your problem,” Ty rasped in her ear, his breath hot and tickly. His hand cupped her breast, the rough pad of his thumb stroking the tip, which puckered with delight at the contact. “Good to know.”

Getting excited is not your problem.

Summer slammed her eyes shut. It was true. She’d revealed everything to Ty last night. The fact she’d never truly gotten over him, her problems with reaching sexual satisfaction.

White wine was a definite no-no for her from now on.

“I thought I told you to sleep on the couch,” she croaked.

“Actually, you told me to get lost, but I stumbled into your bedroom instead. Couldn’t find the front door.”

“Right,” Summer scoffed.

“And you looked cold.” He took her hard nipple between his thumb and forefinger and gently tugged, causing everything between her thighs to clench. “Are you cold now, Summer?”

She was so far from cold she was practically volcanic, but Summer evaded the question. “I gave you a chance last night, Ty. It wasn’t an open-ended invitation.”

“Oh? You want me to stop doing this?” Summer had to stifle a groan of disappointment when Ty’s hand left her breast. She couldn’t suppress the gasp that escaped when he slid it between her legs instead. “How’s this? Better?”

His touch was sure as he cupped her folds, his finger boldly inquisitive as it dipped inside her. The ease of his entry surprised Summer. She was so hot and wet. It usually took ages for her to reach this level of arousal.

Although she wasn’t usually with Ty.

“Hell, Summer.” His morning stubble rasped against her neck as he placed a kiss there. “Let’s stay in bed all day. You can tell me what you don’t like, moan just as you’re doing now when you do like something. I’ll make you come, babe. Over and over again.”

It was the most attractive proposal Summer had ever heard. All day in bed with Ty. Maybe he was right, and he could make her orgasm, more than once. Already, from the stroke of his hand alone she was…

Reality intruded. She couldn’t stay in bed all day, she had to work. Opening her eyes, Summer caught sight of the bedside clock. “Oh crap!” She shot up in bed, oblivious to the sheet as it fell to her waist. “Is that really the time?”

“It’s your clock,” Ty muttered absently. Summer turned to find his gaze trained on her exposed breasts. With a yelp, she stumbled out of bed, taking the sheet so she could wrap it around her body. She turned and found Ty lying uncovered in the middle of her mattress, his erection practically saluting her.

She gulped. “Ah, sorry.”

“Me too.” He sounded like he was smiling. Summer couldn’t tell, she was too busy staring at parts of him other than his lips. “You want to cover me with the sheet again?”

With the only thing that was covering her? Not likely. Summer cleared her throat. “Maybe you could find your jeans and put them on.”

“If that’s what you want.” He put his arms over his head and stretched, causing the muscles in his chest and abdomen to ripple. Along with the very sexy show he gave her, Summer finally got her answers about Ty’s other tattoos. There on his right hip, not far from the erection he wasn’t trying to hide, she saw a small yin and yang symbol. And on his left pectoral, red ink formed the shape of a heart with a crack running through it.

A cracked heart.
Courtesy of a woman?
The spurt of jealousy left a bitter taste in her mouth—and it was already sour from last night’s wine-fest.

“You sure you have to leave
right
now?”

Summer wasn’t sure of anything. She’d never seen anything so aggravatingly sexy as Ty spread out on her bed in all his glory, inviting her to take the day off work. She wanted to stay. To see if he really could make her come in rolling, continuous waves like he seemed to think he could. To ask him about the tattoos.
On second thought, no.
If Ty had once been so heartbroken over a woman that he’d gotten a symbolic tattoo, Summer didn’t think she wanted to know it.

At last she managed to force her eyes to his face. Her words croaked. “Do you have a shy bone in your body?”

“Nothing shy about my
bone
, and if you’d care to get better acquainted with it…”

The familiar bleep of Summer’s mobile phone sounded from somewhere in the living room. She latched quickly on to the convenient interruption, padding in her bare feet and the sheet/toga out to find her evening purse. Locating the phone, she pulled it out of the bag and stared at the digital display.

The screen read
Jasmine calling.

Chapter Six

Pinning her sister down for an actual phone conversation was no simple feat. Summer usually had to satisfy herself with sporadic text messages and occasional emails. So when she saw the familiar name on the phone’s display, she clicked the answer button before she had time to consider if it was a good idea to talk to Jasmine right now.

While Ty, the man who’d come between her and her sister ten years ago, lay naked in her bedroom.

Her knees weakening, Summer lowered herself gingerly to the couch and rasped, “Hi, Jas.”

“Whoa, sis. You sound like crap. Have a big one last night, did you?”

Trust Jasmine to cut right to the point. Summer muttered, “Something like that.”

“No shit?” Surprise was clear across the communications network. “I was kidding, but you really did go out? With a guy?”

“Yes, with a guy,” Summer answered, annoyed at the implication. “I do date. When I can.”
When I can be bothered.

“Okay, sure. It’s just that I’m usually the one sounding like crap in the morning because I’ve been up all night. Instead I worked til two at the club then came home and slept like a good little girl.”

Jasmine’s current employment was at a nightclub in Surfer’s Paradise, the Gold Coast’s most popular area for nightlife. It was also the region’s seediest spot, where illicit drug taking and alcohol-fuelled crime were routine on a weekend. Summer couldn’t help but worry about her sister working there until the wee hours of the night. She was about to ask Jasmine about it, when her sister’s question made the words freeze in her throat.

“Who was the guy? Anyone I know?”

Ty chose that moment to emerge from the bedroom, sporting nothing but a still-hard penis and a wicked grin. He walked toward her, scratching his chest and holding her gaze with his amused whiskey-hued eyes. For a frightening moment, Summer thought he was going to scoop her up and kiss her. She held the phone tight to her ear but couldn’t speak. Then Ty reached past her to pluck his jeans off the back of the couch.

“Wait a sec—he’s not still
there
is he?”

Summer closed her eyes, slowly releasing the breath she’d been holding. It wasn’t right, being distracted and hellishly aroused by a naked Ty while she should be concentrating on how on earth she was going to answer Jasmine’s questions without lying, and without being blunt with the truth. She couldn’t simply blurt out the news about Ty’s return to Leyton’s Headland and his wayward path to her bed. Yet deceit didn’t sit comfortably with Summer either.

“Ah, the thing is…”
What? I slept with Ty Butler last night. I didn’t have sex with him, but now I want to. Is that okay with you?

Did she really need to ask Jasmine’s permission after all this time?

On the other end of the phone Jasmine laughed, drawing her own conclusions. “Way to go, Sum. Is he hot?”

Summer watched as Ty wriggled into his jeans, his turgid cock making the task a challenge. It took him a while, but he finally managed to zip up. Catching her watching, Ty sent her a knowing wink that shot the heat of embarrassment to her face, and the heat of sexual response to her lower belly. “Yes.” She all but moaned the reply. “Very much so.”

On the phone, her sister said, “Yippee. So are you going to spill any of the details?”

In front of her, Ty mouthed the words,
Who is it?

Summer shook her head at Ty, said to Jasmine, “No.”

“Spoilsport,” Jasmine groused. “I’ll tell you what I got up to last night.”

“You just said you went to sleep after work.”

“But I didn’t tell you what I did
at
work.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“I prefer to think of it as incurable. So if you’re really not going to give me any juicy stuff, at least tell me what that cryptic message you left me was all about.”

Oh, right.
She’d been desperate for some sisterly advice about men, specifically casual sex with men. With one man in particular, whose name she’d rather not mention, and who was now standing in front of her making a motion with his hand Summer took a moment to interpret.
Hang up.
Then a sexy come-hither curl of his fingers.

Hang up and come over here.

Dear Lord, she was sorely tempted to do it. Hang up on her sister and jump Ty Butler’s bones.

“I can’t.” Summer shot off the couch, clutching the sheet to her chest and sending Ty a plea for mercy with her eyes. “It’s too complicated.”

Ty shook his head, mouthed the words,
it’s easy.
Then, with a wry smile, he turned and sauntered into her kitchen, heading straight for her fridge like he was going to make himself a snack.

“You’re not making much sense, Summer.”

“I know.” Escaping into the bathroom, Summer shut the door so Ty would no longer hear her side of the conversation. With a sigh she sat on the edge of the bath. “I was just…I don’t know. Wondering how you do it, I suppose.”

“Do what?”

“Men. How do you have all these affairs that you know aren’t going anywhere? How do you jump into bed with a man and know it’s only for fun. How do you do that and not get hurt?”

After a moment of silence, Jasmine pushed out a sigh. “Wow. Those are pretty big questions for this early in the morning.”

Summer drawled, “I told you it was complicated.”

“Is this about the guy from last night?”

“Yes. I want to…you know. But he’s not staying in town. I know it wouldn’t mean anything.”

“Guys from out of town are the best kind.” Jasmine laughed. “Makes ending it real easy.”

“What if he’s the wrong kind of man for me?” Jasmine had once been so adamant that Ty was exactly that. “The kind that Dad would look down his nose at and that you’d warn me to stay away from.”

“Me? I’d never tell you to stay away from anyone.”

“You told me to stay away from Ty Butler,” Summer blurted in her shock at Jasmine’s denial.

“Ty Butler? Jesus. I haven’t thought about him in years.”

I have. Whenever I saw the surf report on the television I thought about him. Every time I passed one of those infernal billboards I had to force myself not to stare at his butt so I wouldn’t crash my damn car. Sometimes, after unsatisfying sex with Duncan, I used to wonder how my life would have been different if I had met Ty at the beach that day.