Love Bug (The Prescotts Book 3), Tara Wyatt [best mobile ebook reader .txt] 📗

tiny bikini drove him wild, and if she’d worn it, he probably would’ve been dragging her back to the house within an hour.

She sat down on the chair in front of him and he squirted the sunscreen onto his hands, then started working it into her back, taking his time with it, slipping his fingers under the straps of her bathing suit. She shivered slightly, so he did it again, knowing that when he pulled the straps taut, the suit rubbed against her nipples.

Once he’d fully rubbed in the sunscreen, they traded places so she could do the same for him. He closed his eyes, savoring the feeling of her small hands sliding up and down his back. His blood heated and his cock started to thicken as he remembered the way they’d moved up and down his back as he’d made love to her this morning, slow and sweet. He’d just had her only a couple of hours ago and already he wanted her again. He had a feeling that this wanting, this hunger, would never subside. And not just because the sex felt incredible, but because being with Willa made him feel whole in a way he’d never experienced before, and it only made him want her more. Want to claim her and love her and connect with her, again and again.

Sunscreen fully applied, she retreated to her chair and pulled a book out of the beach bag. It was a thick fantasy novel, one she’d plucked from the bookshelves in his bedroom back in Manhattan after he’d told her it was one of his favorites. He’d brought a book too, but he didn’t feel like reading right now. He was content to people watch, to stare out at the ocean, to enjoy the freedom of not having anywhere else to be except right here.

And that was how it went for the next hour or so, until Willa set her book down, pushed her sunglasses up onto her head and turned to look at him. “So, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you about.”

“Sure.”

She licked her lips, hesitating, and he sat up, setting his feet in the sand as he faced her. “You can ask me anything, Willa. What’s on your mind?”

She rubbed her fingers over her palm, a movement he knew meant she was nervous. “It’s, um. I keep thinking about it, so I guess I’m just curious…about that necklace. In your office.”

Oh, fuck.

His breath caught in his lungs as adrenaline shot through him. He could feel each heavy throb of his heart in his chest as his mind reeled and spun. He didn’t want to tell her about Sophia and what had happened. He didn’t want her to know about the monster he’d been, didn’t want her to see that side of him. That part of his past. What if he told her and it scared her away? What if he told her and it ruined what they’d found?

No. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to protect what they had. Had to protect her from his past and who he’d once been.

She couldn’t know the truth. He couldn’t handle losing her, and if she knew, she’d run. Any sane woman would.

He forced himself to meet her gaze, his chest tight with guilt. “The necklace. Right.” He cleared his throat, his stomach roiling. “It belonged to someone I dated once. A long time ago.”

“Why do you still have it? Why were you looking at it that night in your office?”

When he’d snarled at her like an asshole to get out. He remembered that night all too well.

“I kept it as a reminder not to hurt people. She gave it back when our relationship ended and I hung on to it to remind myself of the damage I was capable of inflicting.” He sighed, gazing out over the ocean. “And I was looking at it that night because of you, Willa.” At least that part was true.

“Because of me?”

“I was trying to convince myself to stay away from you because I was terrified I was going to hurt you. I was reminding myself of all the ways it could go wrong.”

She rose from her chair and moved to sit down beside him, sliding an arm around his waist and kissing his shoulder. Oh, Christ. He didn’t deserve this sweetness while he lied his ass off. Fuck. Even though the lie was necessary, he still felt like shit for telling it.

“So this other woman that you dated a long time ago…you hurt her? How?”

He swallowed and shook his head. “I couldn’t be what she needed, and I was convinced that I couldn’t be what anyone needed. That there was something broken inside me.”

Her arm around him tightened. “You’re not broken, Max.”

“I know. I know that now.” Another sliver of truth. With Willa, he didn’t feel broken anymore, which was one of the reasons he needed to leave his past buried, where it couldn’t hurt them. Hurt her.

She sighed and leaned into him. “I was worried that maybe you were still hung up on someone and that’s why you’d kept it.”

He shook his head, rubbing his palm up and down her back. “No. That relationship was a very long time ago now. The necklace wasn’t about the woman. It was about me, and how fucking scared I was to be with you.”

Even though he still felt guilty, he could also feel the relief trickling through him that they’d managed to skate around the worst, most damaging part of the story.

“Oh, Max. Come here,” she said, pressing her palm to his cheek and kissing him softly. “You’re not still scared, are you?”

He shook his head. “No, angel. Not anymore.”

“Maybe it’s time you got rid of it,” she suggested. “You could donate it or something. Don’t use it to beat yourself up over something that happened a long time ago.”

His mouth twitched in a half smile and he kissed the top of her head, feeling like he’d dodged a bullet.