Lost Wishes (5 page)

The place is small, bare, and clean but has a cold feeling. So cold. Besides the unmade bed, you’d think no one’s lived here for years.  Not a single picture on the walls or anything personal lying around. I wander into the kitchen. There’s a calendar on the fridge and salt and pepper shakers on the table, but that’s it.

My belly rumbles. I guess that salad I had for lunch with Twigs is wearing off. I look in the fridge and find orange juice, bottled water, and eggs. I pull the crisper open. Ham. I take it out and sniff it. It smells okay, so I fix myself a sandwich. 

Sitting on the front porch, I eat my measly dinner and watch the sunset. It’s beautiful. Avalon is beautiful—the only dark thing on it is Fallon O’Conner. The man’s a paradox of obscurity, and I can’t figure him out. I get that he lost his wife, but why hang onto it for all these years. He’s young—late twenties, maybe early thirties. He has his whole life ahead of him.

I mean, sure, I’ve never had anyone close to me die so I have nothing to compare it to. My mother died giving birth to me, but I never knew her. Then again, look what it did to my father. It ruined him for the rest of his life, and he made sure that I felt his pain every day. He blamed me for her death.

I’ve never been in love. I don’t know what it feels like. And perhaps, losing the love of your life really does kill the part of a person that allows you to care. My father didn’t care about me. Fallon, though, I believe Twigs means something to him. But what about his family and all the people he had cared about before his wife died? Why’d he desert them?

“Hey.” Twigs pops out from around the back of the house. “See, that dress looks pretty on you. I told you; anyone can wear white.”

“I need a tan.” I smile at her. She’s cute—long braid, big brown eyes, and a smile that just makes you feel good.

“Come on.” She waves me over.

“Where are we going?” I stand up, ready to do anything other than go back into that dreary house.

“I’ll take you to Skully’s. It’s a tiki bar at the end of the beach. All the locals go there.”

“I don’t know if—”

“Fallon’s there.” She grabs my hand. “You need to go save him.”

“Save him?” I stumble in the flimsy flip-flops as she drags me along with her.

“Yeah, all the local whor—ah…girls go there and they try to get him to take them to his boat. They say he’s got the
best
and the
biggest
boat in the marina.” She gives me a sideways glance. “His boat’s definitely the best, but it’s not the biggest.”

I laugh, not about to tell the twelve-year-old that I don’t think they’re actually talking about Fallon’s ‘boat’ in the water. “Twigs, I don’t think Fallon needs or wants to be saved. He’s a grown man. He can show, ah, his boat to whoever he wants.”

“But he don’t like any of them. Like you said, he’s a grown man. He needs a woman’s company. But he likes you. He brought you here. He never brings anyone here. Please.” She stops, her large brown eyes peer up at me, and I don’t have the heart to tell her why he brought me here. “Don’t let him go with any of them.”

I can’t tell if this little girl knows what’s going on or not. Is she telling me that she’s fully aware that Fallon goes down to that bar to pick up some random girl to fuck or does she really think he’s just showing them his boat?

“Okay. I’ll go to the bar and hang out with Fallon, but I was on his boat already, so I don’t need to see it again.”

Her grin widens. “And it’s the best, right?”

“Let’s go.” I chuckle, still unsure what Twigs is referring to.

The lights come first, followed by the music that’s booming from the small hut. People crowd around the bar and some are dancing in the sand. As we make our way up to it, I spot Fallon. Dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, he sits with a couple of girls hanging on him. They’re fiddling with their hair, batting their eyelashes, and touching him as they talk. He looks bored, but that doesn’t seem to deter them. Well, he does have the
best
and
biggest
boat in the marina.

His eyes shift to the beach where people are dancing. He stops to check out a few of the women, and then he shifts his gaze in our direction. When he sees me, those hazel diamonds cut right through me. They start at my eyes and move sharply and precisely down every inch of my body. His stare burns me and desire fires up, the flames so hot and intense. The cool breeze coming from the ocean does absolutely nothing for me. Suddenly, I feel naked in this dress and all I want is Fallon’s hands all over me. God! I want him, and I decide right then that tonight, he’s showing this bitch his boat. He’s going to give me what I need, and tomorrow I’ll leave all of this, along with him, behind me.

“There he is,” Twigs says, and I remember she’s there.

Fallon must have seen her then, too. He stands up and points at her. “Get your ass home!”

She puts her little hands on her hips and juts out her chin. “I was just showing Katie how to get here.”

His face cripples. “Now!”

“I’m going!” Twigs stomps her foot and turns to me with a huff. “I’ll come see you tomorrow before you leave.”

“Sounds good,” I say and watch her walk away with her head held high. I like that girl.

I wander over to the bar and nudge my way to the front. I order a drink and wait. Fallon’s watching me, and his girls notice. They’re throwing nasty looks my way. The bartender gives me my drink, and I raise my plastic cup to all of them, smile, and take a sip.

After three drinks and observing Fallon with his entourage, I finally get bold enough to confront what I want. When he gets up, eyes locked on mine, to walk around the bar, I go and meet him halfway. He’s barefoot. His t-shirt ends just above his low slinging jeans. I stop in front of him. Heart pumping hard, my internal temperature rises a few degrees. Damn, he makes me hot.

His eyes drop to my mouth, and I get hotter, wanting to know what his lips would feel like on mine. Some guys just don’t know how to kiss. I sense with him, that’s not the case. And the way my body reacts to him, it senses that he knows how to do many things other guys don’t.

His long lashes lift and those riveting eyes find their way deep inside of me. “What are you doing, stowaway?”

“Having a drink,” I say, lifting my cup, but for some reason, I don’t think that’s what he’s getting at. He knows what I want.

“You don’t want to do this,” he sighs, looks around, and then settles his eyes back on me. “Go back to my place and go to bed.”

“You might be able to tell Twigs what to do but don’t think that when it comes to me, you’re gonna get away with it.” I grin. “And I’m not tired. Besides, Twigs thought you might need some company.”

“Ah…” His eyebrow arches. “I have company,” he says, tilting his head in the direction of his entourage.

“Yeah.” I nibble my bottom lip, and he watches me. “Well, Twigs thought you’d want my company.”

He takes a deep breath, and with his long-winded exhale, his eyes slowly trail down me. “You do realize what they’re offering, don’t you?” He bends down, lowering his voice. “Are you willing to offer the same?”

“No.” I wrap my hand around his neck, and he lets me pull him close. “What I’m offering is a hell of a lot more than what you’re going to get from any of them,” I whisper into his ear.

“Oh yeah,” his husky chuckle echoes through me. “And how can you be so sure of that?”

“Because you don’t want them.” I tilt back to find his dark eyes waiting. “You want me.”

He rubs a finger across his lips as he gazes at me from out of the corner of his eye. His finger drifts to his chin. He strokes the stubble there. The longer he makes me wait, the more my confidence slips. His hand moves, heading straight for me. The finger he just ran over his mouth touches my bottom lip. It slopes my chin, slides slowly down my chest, and skims past my breast. My nipple hardens against the soft material of my dress. The edge of his finger runs up and down over my hard tip. My pussy clenches. “I do want you,” he finally says.

Oh yeah, I have him. He’s mine. I lean in to seal the deal, but he pulls back. “Sorry, stowaway. I’ll kiss you everywhere else and make you feel real good too, just not there.”

“Not where?” My forehead tightens. “My mouth?” Is that what he’s saying? He’s gotta be joking, right. The slow drop of his head tells me that he’s not. “Wait.” I blink. “You’re really not going to kiss me? You expect me to…to…just fuck you?”

“No.” He sways forward; the heat from his body cascades over my bare skin. “I expect the women I’m with to swallow when they give me head, do exactly as they’re told, and to handle a good ass spankin’.”

“You’re a bastard.” I push away from him.

“What?” The corner of his mouth lifts. “Were you expecting Prince Charming? Sorry to disappoint, but he exited this body a long time ago. So,” he hitches a thumb into the front pocket of his jeans, and those low slinging jeans tug down even lower, “now that you know what’s expected, you’d better run along Kitty-Kat. Go home tomorrow and call Brandon if you need some company. ‘Cause, believe me, you don’t want mine.”

 Brandon? How does he know about…then I remember the text that Brandon sent me just as I’d gotten on Fallon’s boat. Oh, my God! While passed out on his bed, Fallon must’ve read the messages on my phone. “I hate you!”

“That’s good, Katie.” His smile broadens, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “That’s exactly what you should feel for me,” he says before strutting back over to his entourage.

The younger me, she would’ve done exactly as he suggested. She would have run back to his house and given up. My life didn’t start until I stopped believing my father’s cruel words. When I realized I would amount to something, and that I wasn’t a worthless, repulsive, weak little girl. A mother killer, a demon child from hell who sucks the life from anything I touch. My father didn’t beat me with his hands, but his words struck me down hard. It took me years to pull myself up, and no heartless man will ever do that to me again.

I head back to the bar and indulge in a couple more fruity drinks. I turn in the stool to watch the people dancing in the sand. An attractive guy in a t-shirt and khaki shorts catches my eye, and I must’ve caught his. He encourages me to join him with a nudge of his head. Normally, I’d ignore it. I don’t just give myself to anyone. Brandon had to work hard for me, and the only reason I gave in to him was because I met him at the gym, and there was no connection. Not to my job, my friends, or my heart. The same reason as to why I’m willing to give myself to Fallon. No strings, no attachments. Yeah, right. There’s more to it than that, but it doesn’t matter now.

With Fallon still across the bar and a slew of woman hanging all over him, I get up from the stool, kick off my flip-flops, and decide to go dance with the hottie. The reggae music, the tropical air, and the alcohol steal my reserve. I hit the crowd and start to move to the music like it’s only me in my apartment with my iTunes blaring. Hottie ebbs over. I offer him a welcoming smile, raise my arms, and spin around.

One hand gripped to his beer, Fallon’s watching me. Hips swaying, dress brushing against my hot naked body, and the heat blazing from his eyes, I’ve never felt so sexy in my life. The pressure of a warm hard body presses against my backside as a hand slips across my belly. I know hottie is there. Fallon lifts his beer. Eyes burning into me, he tilts the bottle back and takes a swig.

I know when I’m wanted, and Fallon O’Conner wants me. I drop my head back onto hottie’s chest, grind my ass against him, and before I get to see Fallon’s response, hottie spins me around.

Chapter Seven

FALLON

Slamming my beer on the bar, Bella touches my shoulder. “You okay, hon?”

“Not tonight, Bella,” I say, eyes fastened on Katie and Rolland McPherson. The guy’s a dick, comes down every weekend on Mommy and Daddy’s forty-foot yacht. Last year, he got Mindy Brockman, a twenty-year-old who works at the hotel resort, pregnant. When she told him about it, he gave her five grand and said he never wanted to see her again. Poor girl had a breakdown.

“Are you sure?” Bella leans closer, running her hand down my back.

I turn. Tits practically spilling out of her tank top, she’s tempting. I glance up at her. “Yeah, babe. I’m good.”

“All right,” she says. She looks at Tiffany, gives her a nudge, and they take their leave.

I pick the bottle up and down the remaining beer. I gotta get myself in check here. Katie offered herself to me and I shut her down. That shit’s on me. She’s an adult. She can fuck whoever the hell she wants, even if it is fuckface, Rolland MacPherson. I set the beer down with a little less force this time. I’m not going to look at her. I’m just going to turn my ass around and walk away. I stand up, and without command, my eyes fall back on her. Dancing in the sand, fuckface’s hand is pressing against Katie’s back. With one leg between her legs and his mouth real close to her neck, he’s grinding her. Something snaps and a toxic rage shoots straight through me.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I’m moving toward them like a possessive madman. Fuckface glances up. Oh, yeah. He sees me coming. Can’t say what I look like but whatever he sees, it jolts him back from Katie as I come up behind her. I reach around her waist, plant my palm firmly against her stomach, and yank her hard against me. Her head snaps back, and she looks up at me from over her shoulder.

“It’s time to go,” I grit out between my teeth, glaring at MacPherson.

Katie tries to pull away, but I have a good grip on her. “Rolland’s giving me a ride back to shore on his yacht,” she says.

“No. He’s. Not,” I tell Rolland.

“Yes, he is,” Katie snaps.

“Hey man, if the lady wants a ride, I got no problem givin’ it to her.” MacPherson grins, and I’m a half an inch away from knocking the bastard out cold.

I grab Katie’s wrist, guide her to the side of me, and step forward. A few inches taller than the fucker, I glower down at him. “You’re not taking her anywhere,” I calmly explain. He stares back up at me, and I know a wager when I see it. He obviously needs some swaying. I take another step toward him, grin, and put on my crazy eyes. “Understand?”