Phase (Phoebe Reede: The Untold Story #1) (15 page)

BY THE TIME I woke the next morning, I felt a little less like death. At the very least, the tremors that raced around my body and coursed through my stomach no longer had anything to do with food poisoning. By the time I blasted down to Orlando on my bike, my whole body shook, my mouth was dry, and I couldn’t suck down enough oxygen no matter how hard I tried. But none of that was due to my sudden illness the previous day.

What am I doing?

I pulled my bike into a park and killed the engine. Glancing around the car park, I wondered if he was already there. Would I even know it was him? I had an image in my head, but was that really what he looked like? We’d had a few short hours in the dark, and that was weeks earlier. Surely my mind had inflated the mental image I’d had of him in the time since?

Closing my eyes for a second, I pictured the face I remembered. The square jaw, proud chin, and dash of stubble. The lopsided dimples and slow, easy smile. My breathing sped as I let it fill my mind. He couldn’t be quite as handsome as I remembered, could he?

Opening my eyes, I double-checked the little bag I’d packed for the day. My hand sanitiser, medication, and sunscreen were all still where they had been the last three times I’d checked. I was halfway through checking my passport and travel documents were still safely tucked away when the sound of a throat being cleared nearby made me jump.

I glanced up and met a pair of sunnies covering what I recalled were a fantastic pair of eyes. A baseball cap shaded his face, but it was the one I remembered. A nervous smile spread over my face as I realised I’d been wrong, so wrong, about my imagination overinflating his attractiveness in my memory. The opposite was true. He was far better looking than I recalled. All man—tall and broad—and standing a good three feet away from me looking awkward as fuck.

It was almost as if he were trying to reconcile what he saw with his own mental image, just like I was. I wondered how the reality stacked up for him. My hand found my ponytail and my teeth grazed my lip.

As I met his gaze, and the cautious expression in the set of his mouth, I understood his awkwardness. On one hand, the conversations between us had become familiar and fairly sexual in the short time we’d known each other, and yet we’d only seen each other once before. For all intents and purposes, we were strangers.

“Hi,” he said. One corner of his mouth lifted into a shy smile.

“Um, hi.” I moved closer to him. “What’s with the shades?”

“Uh, late night. Celebratin’ with some friends.”

A pang of jealousy struck me, but I pushed it aside. What right did I have to be jealous, after all? I didn’t have any claim on him. We were nothing more than casual acquaintances, and there was no guarantee we’d progress from there.

He lifted his shades, revealing a slightly bloodshot but otherwise perfect set of eyes. Just like I remembered, but had started to doubt, they started as a dark chocolate near the irises before dancing to amber by the edge.

I wondered what I should do next. What was the best way to greet the person I was slightly infatuated with but didn’t really know? Kiss him? Shake hands? Hug?

He reached out and grasped both of my hands gently in his own. For a moment, his gaze dropped to my lips, and I wondered if he were having the same internal debate.

“You ready for this?” he asked.

Did he mean the theme park or whatever we had brewing between us? Because the answer to one was yes, but as for the other, I had no freaking clue.

He chuckled as if he understood my nerves. Maybe he did.

I blew out a breath and nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”

One of his hands entwined with one of mine, and he led me in the direction of the gates. As we walked, he tugged the brim on his hat down and slipped his shades back over his eyes.

“So—”

“How’d—”

We’d both spoken at the same time. I chuckled and looked away, playing with the ends of my ponytail as I tried to fight the butterflies that had overtaken my stomach.

“What happened to the brazen girl I’ve been speakin’ to?”

I glanced up at him before dropping my eyes away again. “She’s in here, just a little more reserved when she can see the reaction her words have.”

Turning to me, he offered me a cheeky grin. “Part of me wants to kiss ya to get the awkwardness outta the way.”

I laughed. “I don’t think I’d complain about that.”

He brushed his knuckles over the corner of my mouth. My eyelids fluttered closed at the sensation the light touch sent rushing through me. He moved closer until his mouth was just centimetres from mine and I could feel his breath brushing over my lips.

“Hmm, but the other part has a better idea.”

Damn it!
I sighed and opened my eyes again. With his eyes hidden by the dark wraparound sunnies he wore, it was impossible to see what he might be thinking.

“Much as I hate disappointin’ ya, darlin’, I do love that you’re disappointed.”

“Ugh, you would.”

“There’s a hint of the spark that has me burnin’ for ya. When that’s back in full, then we’ll talk about kissin’.”

“I could just kiss you,” I said, my brow raised in challenge.

“Ya could indeed.” He grabbed my hand again and we headed for the gate. “But you’ll only do that when the spark is back anyway. Don’t ya think?”

My gaze trailed to his lips before lifting back to meet his eyes. “Maybe.”

“Shall we?” he asked before leading me to the park.

FOR THE better part of the morning, we’d dragged each other from thrill ride to thrill ride, roller coaster to roller coaster. Despite our ready grins and easy laughter, there was still something stopping us from being completely comfortable around each other. The atmosphere between us was stilted. Awkward. Almost as if we were on a first date.

Even as I had the thought, the truth of it echoed through me. We
were
effectively on our first date. Beau had even paid. For everything—despite my protests.

Well, if it was a first date, there was little I could do but relax and enjoy it.

“Follow me,” Beau said as he led me toward the Ferris wheel with a smile on his face.

His expression hinted at a devious plan, and I guessed it at once.

I glanced up at the slow-moving ride and swallowed hard.

“What’s the matter?” He reached over and brushed my cheek with his fingertips, drawing my eyes to him. As the day had worn on, and he’d gotten some coffee into him, he’d stowed his sunnies into the collar of his shirt, but still left his baseball hat pulled over his face. He only took that off as we joined the line for the Ferris wheel.

“I can’t help thinking that of all the rides in the park, this one might be the scariest.”

His gaze was soft as he took in my concern. “Ya got a thang about heights?”

I shook my head. “Expectations.”

“Expectations?”

“Yeah. A slow ride. Romantic. Locked away in private together. Anything could happen, right?”

He looked sheepish as he gave a little chuckle. “Heh, so ya guessed at my plans then?”

“Sneaking in a kiss on the Ferris wheel has to be about as clichéd as it comes. Which sounds exactly like what I know about you.” I nudged him with my shoulder.

He hummed, and I thought he was going to turn away, or try to deny his plan. He didn’t though, because an instant later, one of his hands was just below my ponytail and his lips were on mine. A moan of delight left me long before my mind caught up with what was happening. I relaxed into his kiss. Warm and tender, demanding and gentle; just like I remembered.

Fuck.

I could get lost in him so easily.

My breath caught as his kiss blazed through me like a match dropped into the tinder set by my hormones. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. My mind screamed “more!” and my heart pounded against my ribcage.

The person behind us in line made a sound of disgust, and we broke apart with a chuckle.

“There,” he said. “No ’spectations left no more.”

“Oh, there’s still expectations,” I replied with a wink as I moved forward with the line. “Only now, the bar’s set a little higher.”

“And there she is.” He stared into my eyes with such a blistering intensity that I swallowed and lost my breath again. “Welcome back.”

“I—uh—I’ve been here all morning.”

“Maybe, but now ya got a look in your eye to match the conversations we’ve had. Ya ain’t like other girls.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Really? You might have to explain yourself a li’l more on that one, darlin’.”

“Hmm, I think that sort of information is reserved for a second date at least.”

“Ah, so this
is
a date?”

“Maybe.” My lips twitched with a grin. We moved forward with the line, getting dangerously close to the front of the queue.

“But wouldn’t that make it our second?” he challenged.

“Well, no, because our first meeting wasn’t a date. We just met.”

“We met in the bar, but then we went out together. Don’t that make it a date?”

“I guess. If you want to get technical.”

“Darlin’, I ain’t nothing if not technical.”

“Well, then, I guess it’s information reserved for a third date.”

He laughed. “I’ll get one of those out of you before you go home if I have anything to say about it.”

“As much as I’d love to argue that point, I don’t think I can. Mostly because I don’t want to.”

He squinted as he tried to sort through what I’d said. “I think that’s a good thang?”

I nodded. “It’s a good thing. Or at least, it bodes well for you scoring another date.”

We moved forward again, waiting for our carriage to come next.

“That’s great, darlin’. How’s tomorrow work for you?”

“Tomorrow?”

“My buddies drove down with me, but they’re flying back to North Carolina because I wanted to make sure ya weren’t alone for the Fourth of July—if you’d let me.”

“Oh, shit, that’s a thing here isn’t it?”

He laughed. “Yeah, ya could say it’s a thang.”

The attendant waved us forward, and Beau slid into the seat first, moving over to make room for me. As soon as I stepped forward, he smiled and lifted his arm—making it very clear where he wanted me to sit.

I tried to hide my smile as I moved into the offered position. My hands shook as my expectations rose to dizzying heights. The attendant still needed to empty and refill half the carriages, so we would be having a slow ride to the top.

“So whadda ya say? Ormond Beach tomorrow. You and me.”

“Ah, so it’s not so much wanting another date as wanting to see me in a bikini.”

“I never mentioned nothin’ ’bout bikinis, darlin’, but I ain’t gonna complain if that’s your chosen attire. Ya might wanna bring a sweater for the night though. It could get mighty chilly.”

I can think of other ways to warm up.
The words almost escaped, but I managed to bite my lip to stop them.

The carriage jerked to a stop and swung in place as another one behind us was emptied and reloaded. The jolting motion sent me crashing closer to Beau, and my hand fell against his thigh. My gaze instantly travelled to my hand, just inches away from his cock. I went to move away, but he placed his hand over the top of mine.

“You can leave it there if ya like.”

The position left my lips close to his. Another time-stopping, body-shaking, stomach-fluttering moment passed between us where I couldn’t decide whether to focus on his eyes or his full lips. His breath hitched as I moved my hand a little to allow me to twist closer to him. Taking his approval of my accidental hand placement and movement as encouragement, I closed the last of the distance between us.

I kissed him softly at first, gentle, chaste caresses to get the taste of him again. When both of our breaths grew shorter, I became bolder and added my tongue into the mix. The little sounds that my kiss drew from Beau’s throat made me braver still. My hand caressed his leg in a small circle across the front of his thigh. Each time I reached his inner thigh—closer to his cock—he shifted in his seat and his breathing grew more ragged.