Merry With a Scrooge (The Love Beach Holiday Collection)

12. Laney

Laney

“My pants stay on. Yours come off.”

Vail’s words from last night are on a loop in my head.

No matter how hard I tried, he wouldn’t give in on that. It’s how I find myself, awake, lying wrapped in his arms, naked as the day I was born while he’s still wearing pants.

At least he changed into sweatpants. Although the drawstring remained firmly knotted.

I smile. My body still buzzing from the multiple orgasms he rocked me with.

Four.

Four orgasms.

I don’t recall ever coming that many times in one day, never mind a few hours.

We might not have fucked but dammit, he’s still been inside every part of me.

“If you’re awake I didn’t do a good enough job of exhausting you,” Vail’s sleepy voice fills my ear, his warm breath brushing over my skin.

“I’m not used to sleeping with anyone.”

“Me either.”

His admission has me confused. He lived with— I cut off the thought. I don’t want to think about him with another woman.

“I never shared a bed with Kavan’s mother.” He nuzzles his nose into the side of my neck and draws in a deep breath. “You probably don’t want to hear this, but I need you to know how different you are than any other woman.”

My stomach clenches and while I want to tell him to stop, to not utter a word, I know he needs this more than I don’t.

“I’ve only ever fucked women. Never slept over or had them at my house. Kavan’s mother was no different. And you have to remember I was using her as a barrier between you and me.”

His confession has me equal parts happy and jealous.

“Before Kavan was born I’d stopped fucking her. I bought the house, moved her in, moved in myself, but our rooms were on different floors. And after Kavan came home, it stayed that way.”

“I don’t understand. Why did you ask her to marry you?”

“I didn’t.”

His words have me twisting my neck so I can look at him. “But…”

“I’ve never asked a woman to marry me. She suggested it would be better for Kavan if we were married, and I told her to go buy a ring and set a date.”

“Oh my god.” I can’t help the curl of pleasure his words give me. “You let her pick her own ring?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t want to pick it.”

“Vail. That’s…I don’t know what that is but it’s not a good start to a marriage.” I’m a horrible person for liking what he’s revealing about his engagement.

“Good thing it never happened then.”

“If it had you might have more control over what’s happening with your son.” I won’t refer to Kavan as anything other than Vail’s. That little boy is his in every way that counts and if it’s the only thing I do for the two of them, I’ll make sure father and son are reunited.

“I would. Maybe. At this point I can’t be sure. I don’t even know what’s on his birth certificate. I’ve never seen it.” He lowers his forehead to rest on my shoulder so I can’t see his eyes. “For a smart man I’ve been extremely stupid when it comes to my ex and my son.”

“Not stupid. I think you trusted her. Trusted she’d never take him from you.”

“I did. I shouldn’t have.”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

Lifting his head, his eyes meet mine. “I’m seeing clearly now.”

His gaze is full of emotions. They swirl and clash and I hate seeing him so conflicted. “Okay. How’s this. We’ll go up to the main?—”

“I don’t want anyone to know I’m here yet.” His gaze is pleading now. “I haven’t worked out how to tell your brother and I want you to be sure about us before I do that. I’d hate to cause friction between the two of you, with your family, if you’re not one hundred percent in like I am.”

Wiggling around so my whole body is facing him, I bring a hand up to cradle his face, press the other to his chest over his heart. “I’m in. I’ve been in for months I think.”

“Can we take a few days to ourselves before your brother tries to kill me?”

I laugh. “He won’t kill you. He’d never leave Hads and the baby, he can’t risk going to jail.”

Vail snorts. “He’d find a way to get away with murder on this, believe me, I know.”

His words hold conviction. “How?”

“Remember Derrick Woodman?” The name rings a bell but I can’t picture a face to go with it so I shake my head. “He came here our third year of college. Quade caught him checking you out one afternoon when you were sun baking. He beat the fuck out of him.”

“Wait. Third year? I would have been like twelve!”

“Yeah, but you’d already started to develop. He wasn’t Quade’s only friend who noticed. Over the next few years he became very selective about the people he invited here. Especially when he knew you were going to be here.”

“That’s, it’s,” my words disappear. “I don’t know what that is.”

“It’s a big brother.”

“And you never thought of me like that? Back then?”

“Nope. You were my sudo sister until the year you turned eighteen and something inside me snapped.”

“At least I was legal.”

“It didn’t feel like it. I felt like a dirty old man most of the time I was around you. It’s why I let myself fall into a relationship with a woman who was carrying someone else’s baby.”

“We really are going to fix that for you.”

“I believe you. But right now, I want to forget about the trouble with my ex and concentrate on us. Want to go for a drive? Up or down the coast. Find somewhere for brunch.”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” My smile is cheeky, and I know it even if I can’t see it. “But just so you know, I don’t put out on the first date.”

“Good.” Relief floods his eyes. “Neither do I.”

I want to argue but he puts his lips on mine before I can.

When he pulls back, he says, “I didn’t date my ex. I fucked her. There’s a huge difference. And I would have walked away after one night if I hadn’t needed to come here for Quade’s birthday party. I needed a barrier to hide behind.”

Pulling in a breath, I try to push my jealousy aside. “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done with anyone else. I might not like it, or approve of it, but I don’t have to. All I need is your honesty. Now. I don’t need your relationship history, and I doubt you want mine.”

“No. Definitely not.” A frown furrows his brow. “I’d have to hunt down every man you’ve ever spent time with and?—”

“Stop.” I laugh. “No one is hunting anyone down.”

“I love hearing that.”

“What?”

“Your laughter.”

“Well, play your cards right and you’ll hear it more often.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t made you happy.”

“Vail. It’s not your job to make me happy.”

“I want it to be.”

God. This man. “How about we make it our jobs to make each other happy.”

“I’ll do better than my best every day to see your smile, hear your laugh, and if I make you cry, because I’m sure I will, I’m a guy, I’m bound to fuck things up sometimes. But if I make you cry, and they’re not happy tears, I promise to fix whatever it is, make you smile again.”

“Vail.” I believe he means every word. I’ve never known him to lie, and I don’t count his kind of fake but not fake engagement as a lie. I have no doubt he would have married her if she had turned up at the church.

“Come on. Enough with the deep talk. Let’s get dress and get out of here. I want to experience a first date with you complete with questions about favorite movies and books and foods.”

He rolls over taking me with him and deposits me on my feet beside the bed.

“You shower first. I don’t trust myself to do it together although it’s on my list of things to do in the future,” he says.

I shiver. The thought of showering with Vail has my insides clenching tight. A coil of heat rising from my core and it’s with thighs clamped together that I walk to the bathroom and close the door behind me.

And if I get myself off to the idea of Vail being under the water spray with me it’s my secret indulgence he doesn’t need to know about.