Sailing with My Sister’s Best Friend (Cruisin With Curves)

Chapter 6

Aurora

I woke to the sun streaming in through the open curtains of my patio door. The light was absolutely beautiful reflecting off the blue ocean.

The scenery around us had changed in the few hours we had been asleep. There was nothing but water as far as the eye could see. I had never been anywhere that didn’t have land, but the way the sky melted into the vast horizon was breathtaking.

A small moment of sadness tried to grab hold. If things had been different, I would be touring the world with a ballet company. Seeing different landscapes and cultures would be normal to me instead of something brand new. I would have more than two stamps in my passport from a couple of college trips that hadn’t been as fun as I originally hoped.

The knock at my door saved me from going further down that melancholy road. I generally tried not to think about what I lost with my accident, but there were times when it was hard to keep the thoughts at bay.

I hopped out of bed figuring it was Darby, and bounced over to the door only to find her brother standing there instead.

Seeley’s eyes swept over my face and slowly drifted down my body.

I hadn’t bothered to grab a robe so all that separated his gaze from my skin was a thin piece of silk that dipped at my breast and barely covered my ass.

“What are you doing here?” I crossed my arms over my chest, not that it helped much. All it did was push them higher.

I reminded myself that he had seen them before. Hell, he had licked chocolate sauce off them before and swore I tasted better than any sundae. Just that small reminder of our past had my nipples hardening. The fact that he hadn’t stopped staring wasn’t helping either.

Hoping to hide my reaction to his unexpected appearance, I turned my back to him and went to get my robe. Seeley stayed where he was with his eyes glued to me. I reached across the bed and picked up the robe.

I heard a soft groan and that was when I realized that instead of staring at my boobs he now had a clear view of my ass. Memories came back to me of his hands on my waist and his cock pushing inside me from this position. A slow shiver ran through me and I shut my eyes while I willed the thoughts away. Damn, could this whole trip get any more awkward?

I stood and wrapped the fabric around my body. It was just as thin as my matching pajamas, but at least it hung closer to my knees. I tied the belt and recrossed my arms.

“Well?’ I huffed. He hadn’t said anything since I opened the door.

“Well?” He repeated. His voice was higher than normal, and his eyes were still taking in the curves of my body.

“What are you doing here?” I asked my original question again.

Last night at dinner Seeley hadn’t said more than ten words to me. He had maintained his distance and I just figured he had decided that was best for the rest of the trip. The last thing I expected was him showing up here bright and early this morning.

He cleared his throat. His eyes finally met mine. I had to admit it was nice knowing that I could still rattle him. I would have hated it if I was the only one affected by thoughts of our time together.

“Um.” He cleared his throat again. “I thought we should talk.”

“Talk?”

“About us.”

A spark of excitement went through me at the word before I remembered those days were long gone.

“There is no us.” I stamped that spark down.

His mouth turned downward. “We still need to talk.” He tipped his head toward me. “Can I come in?”

I debated if it was a good idea for us to be alone, but in the end, I moved aside for him to walk past me.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked after closing the door and stepping further into the space.

I looked around the room and realized there weren't a lot of seating options. There was a small couch but we would basically be on top of each other sitting there. I didn’t dare think about the obvious place which was the queen -sized bed sitting in the middle of the room.

“Aunt Kelly knows about us.” He started. That was unexpected if not unsurprising. There had been a few times over the last few years she had said things that made me question exactly what she knew.

“What about Darby?”

He shrugged. “I think if my sister knew anything happened between us while she was away at college then she would either be pissed or actively trying to get us back in bed.” He did a good job of trying to look anywhere other than the bed, but he failed at the last minute.

“That’s probably true.” Darby wasn’t known for being subtle. “So then we just keep our distance and everything should be fine.”

“Do you really think that will work Rory?” He stepped closer to me. His body was close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him. Desire pooled low in my stomach. I could feel the silk of my pajamas starting to dampen. My tongue ran over my bottom lip as I remembered what came next. Instinct begging me to lean in and let his mouth take mine.

“This is what I mean.” His voice came out lower. “I’m not touching you and if anyone was near us right now they would know how much I want you.” My eyes shot up to his. His lips turned up in a dark smirk. “Did you think those feelings just disappeared?”

“That was a long time ago.” I reminded him.

“Not that long ago.” He closed the distance between us. His arm went around my waist. “Not long enough for me to forget how good we were together.”

I didn’t mean to let out a moan, but just the feel of his chest pressed against me resurrected everything. My hand ran up his arm to around the back of his neck. My eyes slid closed as I felt the warmth from his mouth. I parted my lips already expecting his kiss. He didn’t disappoint.

Seeley slanted his lips over mine. His tongue came out and explored my mouth. Both of us groaned at the contact. The years melted away as we both moved on passion and memories.

His hands slid down my back to the curve of my ass. He stopped to squeeze each cheek before continuing to the hem of my robe and finding his way under it.

I leaned further into his strong chest. My fingers tunneled their way into his hair and held tight as he devoured my mouth. Both of us were breathing heavy, and we hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff.

The feel of his hands on my skin was perfect. He had always known exactly how to touch me and nothing had changed. That wasn’t true. Everything had changed, but I pushed those thoughts out of my head.

I lifted one leg to wrap around his hip in an effort to get closer to the bulge I could feel pressed between us. Seeley bent his knees to help. Positioning himself right between my legs and pressed deep.

I pulled my mouth from his. “Lee.” I breathed out. My eyes closed and my head leaned back as he latched onto my neck. His lips moved from side to side teasing and sucking at my skin.

He lifted me in his arms and deposited me onto the bed. His body covered mine. His hands maked quick work of untying the robe and spreading it open. His fingers slid over the silk of my pajamas until he cupped my breast. His thumb tracked slow circles over my nipple as his mouth returned to mine.

God, it was so easy to fall back into bed with him. Sex between us had been explosive and I missed it, I missed him, so much. Every nerve ending was begging me to let this happen. To experience ecstasy in his arms just one more time, but my mind reminded me how that ended before. The heartache that came with giving in.

Torn between desire and loss, I pushed at his chest. “We can’t do this.” I tore my lips from his. My head shook back and forth. It couldn’t be a week long fling. There was way too much history between us, and I knew my heart couldn’t take it.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Seeley kept kissing down my neck to the spot that he knew I loved right at the joint between my neck and my shoulder. His hand cupping my breast and massaging it in the best way.

“I can’t do this.” I pushed harder and he finally stopped.

He raised his head and looked down into my eyes. I could feel the tears threatening to fall and I willed them to stay put.

“What’s wrong?” He climbed off me so I could sit back up and sat to the side of my body, waiting.

“You can’t just come in here and kiss me and expect that to change everything.” I pulled my robe closed again. “You left. You just disappeared when I needed you most,” I said the words that had haunted me since I knocked on his door to find him gone.

“What are you talking about?” Genuine confusion covered his face. “You are the one that disappeared.”

“How could I have disappeared when I was in the same place as always?” I asked. “I wasn’t the one that put my career before everything and everyone else. That was you.” I hopped off the bed.

“Okay, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“The summer ended and you left.” I repeated. “You went away to school and that was it. No note, no goodbye, no anything. You just ghosted me.”

“The hell I did.” He stood. “I took an opportunity that I thought would be good for both of us, and I sent for you. You walked away from me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When my fraternity brother called and told me there was an internship in Boston I told him I was only looking in Atlanta. A couple of days later he called back with one of the partners. The offer was too good to pass up, but I had to leave right away. I had them email you a plane ticket along with mine for you to come with me. Once I got there I found information for a doctor and a rehab place. Both of which thought they could help you get back to dancing.” He told me. “I found us an apartment. I had everything set up for us to be together. I called you multiple times, but every time my call went to voicemail.” He shook his head. “If anything, you’re the one that ghosted me.”

“I never got an email.” I put my hands on my waist. “I showed up at Aunt Kelly’s and she told me you were gone. I tried calling but I didn’t get an answer. After that I muted your number. I figured if you had really cared as much about me as you said then you wouldn’t have let me show up on aunt’s door to find you had left me behind.”

“I didn’t leave you behind. I would never have done that.”

“But you did.” I argued. “You packed up your life and you walked away. You might not have meant it that way, but that’s how it felt. It was like out of sight, out of mind.”

“You were never out of my mind. If that was the case then I never would have...” He cut himself off.

“Never would have what?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He ran his hand through his hair.

“If it didn’t matter than why start?” He opened his mouth, but I shook my head. “You what? It doesn’t matter. The point is that you left me at home feeling like shit. I was going to rehab, trying and failing to dance, and having medical bills pile up the longer it took me to realize that my dream of being a ballerina was gone. And I had to do it all by myself because you were gone.”

“I learned a valuable lesson that fall. I learned you can’t count on anyone to be there no matter what they say. So thanks for that.” I stalked over to the door and opened it. “You can go now.”

Seeley opened his mouth a couple of times as if he was searching for what to say. “Rory.”

“Don’t. You lost the right to that name when you chose your career over me.”

“I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.” I closed my eyes to stop the tears. “Let’s just get through the next six days as best we can by staying as far away from each other as possible. Then we can go back to our lives and forget about the past.”

I felt his hand on my cheek. “Can you really do that?”

I opened my eyes and hardened my heart. “You gave us no other choice.”

His eyes searched mine before he walked out and I closed the door behind him. My back leaned against it as the tears finally fell.