The hawthorne brothers a.., p.58
The Hawthorne Brothers: A Complete Billionaire Romance Collection, page 58
He picks up the pace of his thrusts and I lift my arm over my face. I suck on my own skin to suppress the sounds spilling from my mouth, but I can’t keep myself from trembling as I feel myself drowning deeper and deeper in ecstasy.
In the distance, I can hear the waves rolling, crashing on the shore, but the waves beneath my skin are stronger. They grow larger and larger, racing to the finish line, and when they reach it, I bite my trembling arm to hold back the cry that erupts in my throat. I throw my head back. My body trembles all over.
Ryker pulls my arm away. I open my eyes and see his face right above me, his gaze glossed with lust and yet still tender.
“Claire.”
He whispers my name before he kisses me. It caresses me like a soft breeze.
He keeps his mouth on mine as he manages a few more thrusts. Then he grunts against my neck as he buries himself deep inside me. I stroke his hair as he shudders.
I continue to stroke his hair after he goes still. I plant a kiss on the top of his head.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I whisper.
Ryker lifts his head. “Why wouldn’t I be here? I’m Joel’s best man, remember? Though maybe not for long.”
“I mean here with me,” I tell him. “I still can’t believe you talked to Ethan.”
“Me either, but I’m glad I did. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. And it’s all because of you.”
He kisses my forehead. I smile.
He touches my cheek. “You know, every minute of the flight here, I kept wishing the plane would go faster so I could tell you about the future.”
“I’m glad it didn’t. You would have crashed.”
“I just couldn’t wait to take you back.”
“Well, you’ve done that now,” I tell him.
He kisses me on the lips. After he pulls away, he stays silent as he gazes into my eyes.
I wonder what he’s searching for in them. Courage?
I brush his hair off of his forehead. “Are you sure you want to tell Joel about us tonight? The wedding is only two days away.”
He gives me a puzzled look. “I thought you wanted him to know.”
I nod. “But the wedding’s almost here. It’s too close.”
If he gets devastated, and I’m sure he will, he may not recover in time.
“You don’t want me to tell him?” Ryker asks.
“Not yet,” I say. “I’m happy now. I don’t want to ruin their happiness. Yes, I know a person’s happiness is up to them, but I do think it’s hard to be happy when the people you care about are missing or you think they’ve hurt you. I want Natalie and Joel to be happy, not just trying to be happy.”
They deserve that on their wedding day. And I want it for them. In spite of everything, Joel is still my brother. He’s the only family I have. And Natalie’s been so very kind to me these past few days that I want it for her, too. I want them both to be happy.
I put up two fingers. “Two days. Please?”
I know. I know. I was the one who didn’t want to wait until after the wedding, but now that it’s so close, I do. Or maybe I was just searching for some guarantee that Ryker and I would stay together, and now that I’m more confident we will, I no longer need that. At any rate, I think Ryker should wait.
Ryker nods. “Okay. If that’s what you want, I’ll wait.”
I touch his cheek. “Thank you.”
We kiss one more time before Ryker lifts himself off me and pulls his cock out from between my legs. I sit up and grab my panties from the other bed.
I’ve barely put them on when I hear a plop on the roof of the tent. I look up. A second later, I hear another plop. Then another. The next thing I know, large drops of rain are splattering on the roof.
Uh-oh.
Ryker puts his pants on. “I think we should go to one of the cottages. Is yours closer?”
I wrap my dress around me. “I think so.”
We open the flaps of the tent. Outside, the rain is pouring. Lightning streaks the horizon.
“Shouldn’t we stay here?” I ask Ryker.
He must not have heard me, because he pulls my arm and we run across the beach. The wet sand squishes beneath my feet.
By the time we reach my cottage, I’m dripping wet. I stand on the porch and try to squeeze as much water as I can out of my hair and my dress. When I see Ryker getting rid of his shirt, though, I decide to just take my dress off. At least I have my swimsuit underneath.
“I guess it’s a good thing I put on my swimsuit,” I say.
“I guess,” Ryker agrees.
Somehow, the sight of him shirtless and drenched in rain sends ripples of fresh heat through my veins. Maybe the adrenaline from running across a beach in the rain has something to do with it, too. Whatever the case, I want him again.
I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of him.
I flatten my palms against his wet, bare chest and bring my lips to his. He claims them as his hands grip my shoulders.
Around us, rain continues to fall, but we ignore it, lost in our own storm.
Then, like a blinding bolt of lightning and a deafening clap of thunder, I hear a voice that makes me stop.
“Claire?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ryker
Joel?
At the sound of his voice, I immediately step back from Claire, but it’s too late.
Joel is standing just three feet away, a large green umbrella over his head. His face is pale, his jaw slack from shock and confusion. The same emotions are written all over his gaze as he looks at me and Claire. But mostly me.
Just like that, the guilt I’ve been living with, the guilt I thought I’d befriended and buried deep inside me, turns into a sharp knife and stabs me in the chest. A voice blares in my head as well, calling me a fool over and over as it enumerates my mistakes.
Why did I have sex with my best friend’s little sister knowing it was against the bro code? If I really respected him and if I was really serious about Claire, why didn’t I ask for his permission to go out with her before everything started? After everything started, why didn’t I stop? Why didn’t I tell him? Why did I lie and make up some imaginary girlfriend?
And the biggest mistake of all: Why did I kiss Claire out here on the porch knowing that Joel was in a cottage nearby and might see us? Why didn’t I think he would? Just because it’s raining hard?
Stupid.
Clearly, the rain didn’t stop him. Because of my stupidity, he’s just seen me kissing Claire, a situation I know I can’t lie about or talk my way out of. The secret’s out.
I thought I was ready for it. I meant what I said to Claire when I told her I was going to tell Joel about us tonight. I made up my mind to do so right after I told Ethan about the Hawthorne Foundation. I actually even considered telling him when we were in Chicago, but I wanted to get Claire back first before I did it.
I had a plan. I was going to come to Jamaica, get Claire back, have one last drink with Joel, and then tell him about Claire and me. I didn’t want him to find out like this. I didn’t want him to just suddenly show up while I was kissing Claire.
But that’s exactly what just happened. Joel saw me kissing Claire.
And I realize I wasn’t ready for him to find out about us.
Claire looks shocked as well. She hasn’t said a word. For what seems like the longest moment, the raindrops just patter around us. On the roof of the cottage. On Joel’s green umbrella. On the sand. Other than that, everything is silent.
It’s the most awkward silence ever.
Finally, Joel breaks it. “What are you doing?”
Good question.
Claire answers. “I…”
“Not you,” Joel tells her. “Get away from him. I’ll deal with you later.”
Okay.
Claire, however, doesn’t move. I decide to step further away from her instead. I swallow the lump in my throat and open my mouth. Still, no words come out. How do I start?
“Joel, calm down.”
“I am calm.”
Right.
“But I won’t be if you don’t explain to me why you’re kissing my sister. Weren’t you going to get back together with your girlfriend?”
“I was,” I answer. “I did.”
“Oh.” He turns to his sister. “Hear that, Claire? He has a girlfriend.”
Then he turns back to me.
“So why did you kiss my sister, Ryker? Either you have a good reason or I don’t really know you, because the Ryker I know is no cheater.”
“I’m not a cheater,” I tell him.
He raises his voice. “But you just said you had a girlfriend, and I just saw you kissing Claire.”
I better make things clear before he loses his patience.
“I do have a good reason, Joel.” I glance at Claire and draw a deep breath. “Claire… is my girlfriend.”
Joel gives me a puzzled look. “What?”
“I’m his girlfriend,” Claire says.
“Shut up,” Joel tells her. His eyes look straight at me. “What do you mean? Have you gone crazy? You’ve been sleeping with another woman, remember? You told me about her a few times.”
“There’s no other woman, Joel. It was Claire all along. She’s the one I’ve been telling you about, the one I’ve been going out with.”
His forehead creases. “Are you telling me that you’ve been going out with Claire?”
“Yes,” I confess.
“Since when?”
“Since before Christmas.”
“Before you knew you were going to be my best man?”
Best man. For some reason, those words sting now.
“Yes.”
“And you continued even after you agreed to be my best man?”
“Yes.”
I can see Joel’s grip tighten around the handle of his umbrella.
“Why? You know she’s my sister. You, of all people, know how much she means to me.”
“I know. That’s why…”
“And you’re my best friend, my brother, my best man. At least, you were supposed to be.”
And I guess I’m not any longer. The fact stings more than I thought it would. But I don’t answer. Right now, Joel has every right to hurt me.
“You were supposed to be my man of honor, Ryker. Where was your honor?”
“My intentions are honorable,” I tell him.
“Your intentions mean shit,” he snaps back. “I don’t care what they were. You weren’t supposed to go out with my sister. My little sister.”
“I’m not little anymore,” Claire says.
He glares at her. “You are little until I say you’re not!”
Her lower lip trembles.
“It’s okay, Claire,” I tell her. “Just leave it to me.”
“Don’t you dare talk to her!” Joel stands on the porch step. “You knew her even when she was still a child. And you…” He shakes his head. “You took advantage of her.”
“I didn’t,” I tell him. “I never…”
“You had sex with her, didn’t you?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“How many times?” he asks.
“I’ve lost count.”
Joel’s jaw clenches.
“It was consensual,” Claire speaks up. “I wanted it as much as he did.”
Again, Joel glares at her. “The woman in Ryker’s apartment. The one whose phone rang. That was you?”
Claire nods.
Joel looks at me with daggers in his eyes. “So you lied to me. You’ve been lying to me this whole time.”
“I wanted to tell you about me and Claire, believe me,” I tell him. “But we decided to wait until after the wedding.”
Joel shakes his head. “You had the gall to fuck her but you didn’t have the guts to tell me. All this time, you were talking about some woman you were sleeping with but it didn’t occur to you to tell me it was Claire?”
“Like I said, I wanted to tell you.”
But he doesn’t hear it.
“So when you were talking about the woman who was tired of you not putting her first, that was Claire?”
“Yes,” I answer. “And I followed your advice. I’ve decided to put her first. That’s why even if I knew you’d be mad…”
“Are you saying I helped you get back together with my sister?”
“Yes.”
Joel falls silent for a moment. Then he laughs.
“I helped you get back together with my sister. Wow. You really made a fool out of me, didn’t you?”
“Joel…”
“I’m not mad.” He shakes his head. “I’m just going to kill you, you traitorous son of a bitch.”
He throws away the umbrella he’s holding and climbs up the porch steps. Claire screams.
“Joel, stop!”
She tries to stand in his way but he pushes her aside and walks towards me. I jump off the porch.
“Coward!” Joel shouts.
I plant my feet firmly on the sand. “I’m not running away. I’m just making sure you don’t destroy any property.”
See. Even now, I’m still being a good friend. But Joel doesn’t see that. He just sees me as an enemy now. He jumps off the porch and comes right at me.
“Joel!” Claire shouts.
Joel throws his fist at me. I dodge. I know I said I’d let him get a punch or two in, but I can’t have that when Claire’s watching.
He throws another punch. Again, I dodge. The same pattern repeats over and over.
“Fight back, coward,” Joel taunts me.
“Joel, no!” Claire shouts again.
“No,” I answer.
I’m not going to punch him.
“Then you’re dead meat!”
He tries to kick me this time and nearly succeeds. I remember that Joel studied karate in middle school. It’s a good thing I’ve studied a few martial arts myself.
When he tries to kick me again, I block. He tries to punch me again and I dodge. Still, he tries. Again and again and again.
I can tell he’s getting tired and his wet clothes are weighing him down. His swings are becoming lazy. His footwork is getting slower. Still, he goes on.
When is this going to end? Should I just let him punch me so that it will end?
But no. I’ve made my resolve to think of myself more. Joel helped me come up with it, actually.
“Why, you…”
After he throws yet another punch, he loses his balance and falls on his face on the sand.
“Joel!” Claire comes running.
I try to help him, but it’s another mistake. He pulls me down on the sand and aims his fist at my face. I block and he punches my arm.
“Joel, stop!”
Claire pulls him off me. She climbs on top of him, pinning him down on the sand.
“Let me go.” Joel tries to push her off but she puts her weight on him and holds his arms.
I get back on my feet.
“Go!” she tells me.
I give her a puzzled look. She wants me to run?
“Go!”
I see the plea in her eyes as she struggles to keep Joel pinned down.
So I run.
I run through the darkness, through the rain, not really knowing where I’m going.
All I know is that I need to get out of Joel’s sight so that he can calm down. I need to give him space to think.
Maybe he’ll forgive me. Maybe he won’t. For now, I’ll have to leave him in Claire’s care and hope they’ll be alright.
I hope she’ll be alright.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Claire
“Shh.” Natalie rubs my shoulders as I sit on the edge of the bed in the dry clothes she helped me change into. “Everything will be alright.”
Really? I’m not so sure.
Right now, everything is a mess. Ryker is gone. I have no clue where he is. Joel is out looking for him, still intent on hurting him. And I just feel alone and helpless and clueless as to what I’m supposed to do. Plus I think I might end up catching a cold.
I sneeze.
Natalie leaves my side to get me the robe. She wraps it around me.
“There.”
“Thanks,” I mumble as I pull it tighter around my shoulders.
Then I turn my head to look at her.
“And I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Natalie asks.
“For causing all this trouble.”
She gives me a puzzled look. “You didn’t cause all this trouble. Your brother did, and I’m going to give him an earful when he comes back.”
I doubt he’ll listen, though. He’s angry. He doesn’t listen to anyone when he’s angry.
“It’s my fault,” I say as I look away. “I’m the reason Joel and Ryker fought.”
And if either of them gets hurt, I won’t forgive myself.
“Don’t say that.” Natalie holds my hand. “They fought because they’re men, and sometimes men need to fight to sort out their feelings.”
I still think it’s my fault.
“I tore them apart. They’re best friends. They’ve known each other for years, and I tore them apart. I turned them on each other.”
“And you’ll bring them back together,” Natalie tells me. “They both care about you. As soon as they realize that, they’ll be friends again. And if they don’t, I know you’ll find a way to bring them back together.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I want to do anything. I feel like I’ve done so much damage.”
Natalie squeezes my hand. “You haven’t. So stop punishing yourself.”
I meet her gaze. “What if Ryker gets hurt?”
“I’m sure Ryker can take care of himself.”
“What if Joel gets hurt?”
“He can take care of himself, too.” Natalie touches my cheek. “They’re both fine. I’m sure of it.”
“You don’t think Joel will kill Ryker?” I ask her.
She snorts. “Joel isn’t capable of killing anyone, least of all someone he’s known all his life.”
“You’re forgetting that that someone had sex with his sister. That’s a heinous crime in Joel’s eyes, a crime punishable by death.”
“Maybe,” Natalie says. “But I still don’t think Joel will kill Ryker. He’s probably just wandering on the beach trying to figure things out.”
