Fireworks: A Holiday Bad Boy Romance (5 page)

We got on the boat, and I settled down
beside her, putting my arm over her shoulders as she and Daniel conversed the
whole way back to the dock.

I got out of the boat and offered her my
hand, pulling her up and looking over my shoulder at my friend.

"I'll be back in a bit. Thanks for
driving." I winked at him as he scoffed at me and mumbled something under
his breath.

"So, where are you from?" She
walked close to me as I tugged on my t-shirt. For a woman who knew she was
headed to a one-night stand, she was starting with a question that most
experienced people wouldn't ask.

Keep it shallow. That was the rule.

"Up the road." I wrapped an arm
around her shoulders again and turned in front of the house, walking toward
town. "Let's grab an ice cream cone and head back to my place."

"Sounds good to me." Her fingers
teased my hip as she slipped them under my shirt and snuggled against my side.

"You sound good to me." I licked
at my lips subtly as she glanced up. No reason to put up pretenses. The ice
cream was a way of saying thank you for her letting me use her for the
afternoon. It wasn't much, but she seemed pleased with it.

"I am good, but if you're thinking you’re
getting in my bathing suit bottoms without me knowing anything about you, you're
wrong." She gave me a sexy smile. I wasn't sure if she was teasing me or
testing me. Either way, I wasn't missing out on hearing her moan.

I glanced up to see a beautiful new BMW
sitting in the driveway of the house just in front of us.

"I'm Brody. Twenty-five and own my
own investment firm." I pulled her toward the car and pressed her to it
with my body flush against hers. "I like expensive cars, large houses, and
women who moan loudly."

She laughed and pushed at my chest before
glancing back at the car. "Is this yours?"

"Yep." I leaned in and nipped at
her lips. "You wanna be?"

"Yours? She whispered and wrapped her
arms around my neck.

It would seem that I was wrong. She wasn't
at all the player I thought she was. Too bad I was.

Chapter 5

Cora

"A party?" Cindy snagged shotgun
on the way back to the house, which was almost comical. She rarely sat up
front, but seemed to be in a rather playful mood. "We've been here two
weeks without an invite and you guys show up and get one your first day? No
fair."

"Stop bitching and be grateful. You
wanted us to bring the party with us, right? Well, we did." Emily chuckled
in the backseat.

"Cora, there's the basketball court.
Let's go check it out later tonight after dinner. Yeah?" Dedra reached up
and pointed, tapping the window beside me.

"Absolutely." I stopped for a
guy jogging in a pair of tiny shorts. "Wow."

"Nothing to ogle over. If a guy can
wear shorts like that, then he's not got much to hide, you know?" Dedra
dropped back in her seat.

Cindy smirked and turned to look into the
backseat. "Not like your chocolate man, right?"

"Homeboy was packing something in his
swimsuit. I could see it from the boat. That, ladies, is why I almost wrecked
the boat."

I snorted and laughed, pressing my hand
over my mouth. "I swear you guys are worse than boys most of the
time."

"You love it." Cindy smiled over
at me. "You want me to show you how I make this homemade lasagna we're
having tonight? I know it's your favorite, and there will come a day when we
don't get to do this anymore."

"Do what?" I glanced at her
quickly before turning my attention back to the road. I'd never been more
nervous driving a two mile stretch of road. There were more people than trees,
plants, and animals combined.

"Get together as a friend
group." Cindy shrugged, but I could sense a change in her mood.

"Don't start this. We get to do this
sappy shit at the end of the summer, not the beginning." Emily spoke up.
"Besides, we'll always be friends. Tell me about the party and the guy
that gave you the invitation, Cora."

I nodded and reached over, squeezing
Cindy's hand as she teared up. "He was totally your type. Lanky, brown
hair, rich, baggy clothes."

"Ha ha." Emily reached up and
tugged at my hair, causing it to fall from the makeshift bun I had it in.
"Was he cute?"

"In a little boy way, yeah." I
shrugged and released Cindy to put both hands back on the wheel. I pulled up in
the driveway to the house and let out a short sigh. "One of you guys is
driving next time. That was stressful."

"We can walk, too, you know."
Dedra got out and stretched as I climbed out of the car and took another deep
breath.

"I need to find a quiet place to sit
and think. I've been waiting for this vacation all year." I closed my door
and leaned against the car as my eyes moved across the faces of people walking
by.

A cute guy waved and nodded as he called
out, "Hi there."

"Hi." I smiled and turned back
to the car as my cheeks warmed. I wasn't shy or a prude, but tucking myself
away from the possibility of dating for the last few months had me feeling like
a virgin again. Madonna started to play in the recess of my head, and I rolled
my eyes at myself as I helped with the groceries.

"Did baggy brown-haired boy have a
name?" Emily moved up beside me. "Were there any pleasantries
exchanged or did he just spitball the invitation to you and run like
hell?"

I chuckled. "You're so dramatic. Are
you sure you don't want to look into something like acting? Your science degree
will be used against you if you get all exaggerated like you always are."

"Whatever. Did he have a name?"
She opened the door as Cindy and Dedra walked in ahead of us.

"Yeah. Cliff, maybe?" I walked
into the kitchen and sat my stuff down before nabbing the last cookie on the
plate.

"Clint." Dedra glanced over her
shoulder as she worked to unpack one of the bags of groceries. "He was
cute. Totally your type, Emily."

"Cliff? Where did you get that
from?" Emily shook her head at me. "I swear you're losing brain
cells, or maybe you writing off guys really is going to work this time."

"She hasn't written off guys."
Cindy bent over to pull a large pot from the cabinet beside the stove.
"Get this."

I walked over and took it from her.
"Want me to put some water in it?"

"Yeah." She stood up and put a
pan on the stove, looking at me over her shoulder. "You haven't given up
on guys, right?"

"No, but I'm not actively looking,
either." I walked toward the sink and started to fill the pot up as I
glanced out the large window in front of me. A guy was pressing a girl to the
side of my car, laughing and touching her face. "What the..."

"What's up?" Emily glanced up
from chopping up lettuce as I walked past them.

I opened the door and moved out to the
patio, putting my hand on my hips and clearing my throat. While I wasn't super
materialistic, having some dude make out with his girl against the side of my
new car was out.

They didn't pay me a bit of attention.

I took a few steps toward the stairs as
the guy whispered something against the girl’s hair and turned to glance up at
me.

"Oh. Shit. I'm sorry." He backed
up and lifted his hands. "This yours?"

"Yes." I lifted an eyebrow at
him. He was impossibly hot with his defined abs and tanned skin. His blue eyes
moved across my face like he was trying to uncover some hidden secret.

"Brody," the girl called to him,
touching his arm. "Do you know her?"

"No. He doesn't." I took another
step toward them, waiting at the edge of the stairs. "Perhaps you can find
somewhere else to seduce this chick besides the side of my new car."

"Her new car? I thought you said-”
the girl started, but he wasn't paying her a bit of attention. He was still
watching me.

Stalker.
Hot stalker, but still a stalker, nevertheless.

"It's not mine. I lied." He
walked to the bottom of the stairs as she made an angry sound and stomped off,
cursing him all the way down the road.

"I see you have a way with the
ladies." I lifted my eyebrow and held the smile that wanted to lift my
lips under tight control. There was no way I was actually getting involved with
anyone over the summer, least of all the playboy in front of me. He had several
strikes against him, the first being his golden hair.

"Brody. Nice to meet you." He
extended his hand.

I glanced down at it and scoffed.
"Find someone else's car to covet."

"No introduction, hmm?" He
chuckled as I turned and walked back to the door. "You could at least give
me your name, seeing that you just ruined my afternoon."

"My bad." I rolled my eyes,
wishing I were more disgusted than curious. My stomach tightened with desire,
but I ignored it, not wanting to even begin to entertain the thought of
conversing with this guy.

"I'll forgive you this once." He
glanced over toward the car, giving me a few moments to let my eyes run over him.
"I like your wheels. I bet they ride real good."

I stopped at the door and glanced over my
shoulder, hating myself for being the cocky brat I fought not to be most of my
life.

"Better than anything you've ever
taken for a spin, I'm sure." I walked into the house and tried to still my
racing heart. Just the idea of flirting with someone so insanely hot was
nerve-wracking. It was going to be a long summer, as guys like him were a dime
a dozen.

"What was that all about?" Emily
handed me a bowl of salad. "Dressings are on the table."

"Some idiot had a girl pinned to my
car, making out with her." I grumbled and walked to the kitchen table,
dropping down across from Dedra and pouring salad dressing into my bowl.

"Was he hot?" She wagged her
eyebrows as I glanced up.

"He was a white chocolate man."
I laughed and took a big bite of my salad. "Yeah, he was hot."

"Most of the guys out here are, but
be careful." Cindy walked into the dining room and sat a few wine glasses
on the table. "I learned the hard way our first week here that they aren't
looking for summer romances."

"No? I'm surprised to hear
that." I moved over a chair as Emily joined us.

"Summer flings, yeah, but no romance.
They just want a night of grunting and then they're gone." Cindy shrugged
and lifted the glass of wine nearest her to her lips, downing the whole thing.

"Whoa." I watched her.
"Obviously, you have some storytelling to do."

"After a few more glasses." She
filled it back up and turned to go back into the kitchen.

"Do you need help?" I called
after her.

"Nope. Just enjoy yourself and rest.
It's your downtime for the next few days."

"And, after that?" I took a
glass of wine and took a quick sip, hating how tart the dark liquid was. I was
a beer drinker, but the smell turned my friends off completely, so I would
abstain for our first night.

"After that, we're going to bike,
hike, and boat the hell out of this place." Dedra picked up a piece of
bread from the center of the table. "Don't overeat. I don't want you to
have any excuses when I whoop your ass on the courts later tonight."

"Excuses? You're going to whoop me,
regardless. I'm soon to be in law school, and you're a basketball star. Is this
a joke? Am I being punked?" I glanced around as she chuckled.

"You're good enough to be on the
team, and you know it. You just don't want to deal with your folks over
it." She dipped her bread in her salad dressing and shrugged. "I get
it. My parents expected me to play, and yours would have died had you brought
it up."

"Why is your dad so strict? I never
have figured out the why behind it all." Emily glanced over at me.
"Was your grandfather strict?"

"He lost his parents when he was
little." I took a big bite of my salad. I rarely talked about my parents.
It wasn't a conversation that created warm fuzzy feelings inside of me, so I
usually avoided it.

"And?" Dedra leaned back in her
chair.

"And, it made him callous and
overbearing. He sees how finite life really is and wants to make sure I get the
most out of it." I glanced up as Cindy walked back in and sat down.

She pulled her salad toward her and
stirred it around. "But whose right is it to define what 'most' looks
like? Maybe you getting the
most
out
of life is dancing on Broadway or cooking for the president."

"Has he seen you dance or cook?"
Emily laughed, causing all of us to join in.

"You're right, but he is who he is. I
love him either way, though I wish I could come up with a solid argument to
fight him with. I don't want to be a lawyer. Not in the slightest." I took
another bite of my salad. The summer with my friends was set up to be a great
time, but the four of us had been friends for ages. It was hard not to dive
deep into each other's lives. I expected tears, but not on the first night.

"You'll figure it out." Emily
reached over and squeezed my arm. "When you get to the point where their
disapproval doesn't outweigh your desire, you'll fight back."

"Very true." I leaned back as
the image of the sexy guy against my car rolled through my mind. I snorted and
shook my head.

"What?" Dedra lifted her eyebrow
at me.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about
that guy outside. He had some nerve telling that poor girl that my new Beamer
was his. What if she asked for a ride?" I sat back and licked at my fork.

"Then he probably would have given
her one. The ride of a lifetime." Dedra bit her lip seductively as we all
laughed at her.

"How much longer until the lasagna is
ready?" I pushed my bowl away and fought against the desire to get outside.
I'd been cramped up all year. I wanted the freedom being out in nature would
provide.

"About an hour and a half,
maybe?" Cindy took a sip of her wine.

"Let's go shoot hoops for an hour and
get back to clean up and eat?" I stood up, turning my attention back to
Dedra.

"Sounds good to me." She bolted
up. "I'd never give up the opportunity to play."

"You guys wanna come?" I turned
my attention to Emily and Cindy.

"No." They answered in tandem.

"Let me change into some
shorts." I moved out of the dining room and grabbed my suitcase, walking
down the hall and taking the last bedroom available. They were all about the
same size—not that I cared. I lugged my suitcase onto the bed and grabbed a
pair of shorts, a tank top, and some thicker socks.

After changing as quickly as I could, I
pulled my hair into a ponytail and walked back into the kitchen, finding Dedra
already bouncing the basketball.

"Where is the court? Do we need to
drive?" I reached for my keys.

"No. We can walk. They're about half
a mile, but it's nice out. No more than a ten minute drive at most?" Dedra
cupped the basketball against her chest and moved to the door. "You bums
sure you don't want to join us?"