Veritas (18 page)

“
I know.” Lauren’s lips curved in a lecherous smirk and she added, “It’s just that, well, I’m sure we could have found
something
to do to keep ourselves occupied while we were waiting around on them.”

“Oh, I
don’t doubt that.” Grey grinned and hopped over a particularly tricky section of tumbled boulders. “I just don’t trust the Cockblock Crew down there to leave us alone when everybody’s awake. And I, for one, do not want to get blue-balled again.”

Lauren laughed and nodded as she followed Grey’s path over the boulders to the uneven
trail on the other side. The Muellers did have quite a knack for interrupting them. “Fair point,” she admitted as she eyed the steep slope in front of them. The majority of the climb had been manageable, but this last three-quarter mile section was pretty much a straight, unforgiving, boulder-strewn shot to the peak. “Isn’t there an easier path up there?”

“You tired?” Grey teased,
brow arched in mock disbelief even as she pretended that her legs weren’t burning from the climb. “Want to go back down?”

“
Well, I really do like going down,” Lauren drawled.

Grey
laughed and shook her head. “I have yet to meet a lesbian who doesn’t like going down, Murphy.”

They traversed the next section side-by-side
, witty banter forgotten as they concentrated on where they were stepping. The trail eventually opened up into a steep, relatively smooth path to the peak, and Grey nudged Lauren with her elbow. “Last one to the top goes down first?”

Lauren looked at Grey and smirked. “Okay.” She bolted up the hill, laughing at the sound of Grey’s surprised gasp as she left her in her wake.

Grey gritted her teeth as she started up the path after Lauren, ignoring the way her quads protested the more vigorous pace. To be honest, she was more than a little surprised at how lithely Lauren was scampering up the hill. Lauren had admitted to being a klutz, but she sure did not look like one now. Grey bore down when she was but ten yards from the edge of the peak, digging deep into her reserves to try and overtake Lauren, but her extra burst of speed was not enough to hurtle her into victory.

“
Shit.” Grey set her hands on her hips and shook her head at the way Lauren was trotting around the small clearing, arms held victoriously aloft à la Rocky Balboa. “Way to be a gracious winner, Murphy.”

“Yup,” Lauren agreed, finishing her mini-celebration by doing a small lunge and fist-pump.
She looked up at Grey and grinned as she sauntered over to her. “I win.”

“You do.” Grey smiled and wrapped her arms around Lauren’s waist. She leaned in like she was going to kiss her
, but pulled back at the last instant and chuckled at the small pout she got for her antics. “What?”

“Nothing,” Lauren said, shaking her head as she tried to pull away. The arms around her waist held her tight, however, and she sighed dramatically as she sank back into Grey. “What
do you want?”

Instead of answering, Grey sucked Lauren’s lower lip between her own and gave it a playful nip. “
You.” She smiled as she kissed Lauren again, deep and unhurried, and hummed when she eventually pulled away. “While I have every intention of paying up on our wager, I’m guessing that you don’t want me to do it here,” she murmured as she kissed Lauren again softly.

“
Probably wouldn’t be the wisest idea,” Lauren said, remembering the three families they had passed on their way up. She cupped Grey’s face in her hands and smoothed her thumbs over her cheeks as she kissed her again. “We should really stop doing this, then.”

“I know,
” Grey whispered, even as she leaned in to recapture Lauren’s lips with her own. This kiss was slower, sweeter, one that hinted at softer desires, and she sighed when she pulled away for good. Grey’s stomach fluttered at the delicate flush on Lauren’s cheeks and the way eyes had darkened with need, and she cleared her throat softly as she slipped out of her embrace. Silence, warm and thick with longing surrounded them, and Grey had to force herself to look away to break its spell. “So…not a bad view, huh?” she asked as she folded her hands behind her head and walked up to the edge of the cliff, hoping that a little fresh air and distance would help clear her head.

“Not at all,” Lauren agreed, her voice noticeably rougher than usual as her eyes swept over Grey’s body. Grey was not wearing anything special, just a pair of royal blue Nike shorts and a red tank, but she really was spectacular. Tan skin and toned muscles, with her hair blowing lightly in the breeze, Grey was a vision to behold.

Grey turned to Lauren
, and smiled at the almost dazed look on her face. “Come on.” She beckoned her closer. “I won’t let you fall.”

Lauren shook her head and
walked over to where Grey was standing. She avoided Grey’s questioning gaze as she crept closer to the edge, and she gasped when she truly took in the view. Bitter End stretched out beneath them, the water in the harbor a clear, crystalline blue and the beach a golden strip of heaven dotted with lounge chairs and umbrellas. There was a handful of boats dotting the harbor, and Lauren nodded as her eyes landed on the
Veritas
, easily picking it out from the rest. “It’s stunning.”

“It is,” Grey agreed softly, her gaze locked onto Lauren’s face. She smiled when
Lauren turned and looked at her, completely unashamed at having been caught staring. “So is this worth the climb?”

“Yeah.”
Lauren nodded and looked back over the scene below as she pulled her phone from the pocket of her shorts. She thumbed the camera app open and smiled shyly at Grey. “Can you take my picture?”

Grey nodded and held her hand out.
“Of course.” Grey took the phone from Lauren and held it up in front of her face. She pushed it closer to Lauren and then pulled it back, forcing the camera to focus, and smiled as she called out, “Say…blowjob!”

Lauren let out a bark of laughter and shook her head at Grey
as she took her phone back to check the shot. “Blowjob? Really?”

“Best way to get people to smile for pictures,” Grey replied seriously. “Of cour
se, for kids I say ‘underpants’. Kids think underwear is frickin’ hilarious for some reason.”

Pleased with the way the picture had turned out, Lauren flipped the camera to the front-facing lens and asked Grey, “Take a picture with me?”

“Can we say blowjob?” Grey asked, grinning as she moved in closer to Lauren. She wrapped her arms around Lauren’s waist and pressed a wet kiss to the sensitive spot below her ear. Her grin widened at the way Lauren’s breath hitched, and she hummed softly as she covered the spot with her mouth and sucked against it. “Or, how about orgasm?”

Lauren groaned.
“God.”

“That’s not very smile-inducing,
” Grey murmured as she pulled back and blew lightly over the damp skin, a thrill shooting through her at the way Lauren moaned softly and shuddered in her arms.

“Hey! We’ll do you if you do us!” a new, unfamiliar voice called out.

Lauren looked up in surprise at the two men who were walking across the small clearing toward them. She had been so wrapped up in Grey that she had not even noticed them approaching. “Um…sure,” she said, ignoring their knowing smirks as she re-orientated the camera and handed the phone to the guy who had called out to them. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem, mate,” he replied, winking as he backed up and held the camera in front of his face. “Say cheese!”

Grey whispered, “Pussy,” in Lauren’s ear, and grinned when Lauren burst out laughing.

“Excellent,” the guy drawled, nodding at the picture on the screen before he handed it back to Lauren. “Now us?”

“Damn it, Grey,” Lauren muttered, blushing as she took her phone back.

“What?” S
he waved her hand at the screen. “That’s a good picture.”

And, Lauren hated to admit it, but it was.
They were both smiling widely, their eyes were twinkling with laughter, and looking at the image of herself in Grey’s arms sent a wholly unexpected feeling of warmth rushing through her. They looked really good together, and she ignored the little voice of reason in the back of her head that was telling her the whole thing was only temporary as she shoved the phone back into her pocket. “Still…”

“Whatever, Murphy,” Grey chuckled, giving Lauren’s side a squeeze as she
pulled away. “You guys have a camera?”

“Phone,” the guy who had taken their picture for them said as he pulled his cell from his pocket.

Grey took the phone from him and smiled as the two men assumed a pose that clearly suggested that they were much more than just friends on vacation. “Ready?” she asked, once they were both looking at her.

“Yeah,” they chorused.

“Say cheese,” Grey called out, smirking at the way Lauren huffed beside her. “Please. I’m not going to tell a couple guys I don’t know to say ‘blowjob’,” she muttered under her breath.

“Probably a smart idea,” Lauren said, tipping her head in agreement.

“Cheers,” the man said as he took his phone back from Grey.

“Not a problem,” Grey assured him with a smile
. The guys walked over to another vantage point, leaving them alone, and she waggled her brows suggestively as she looked at Lauren. “You ready to go down?”

Lauren laughed. “You first, Wells. I won, remember?”

“I remember.” Grey stole a quick kiss. “Trust me, I’m looking forward to it.”

Lauren’s stomach flip-
flopped in anticipation, and she nodded. “Me too.”

Lauren looked over at Grey as they made their way down the final, gently sloping section of the trail that would deposit them on the beach. Grey had slipped on a rock and ripped a nice little gash in her knee, deep enough that there was a steady trickle of blood coursing down her lower leg to her ankle, where the top of her sock was already stained a deep crimson. “Are you sure you’re…?” she started to ask for the third time, and rolled her eyes when Grey waved her off again.

“It’s j
ust a little cut, Lauren. I’m fine. Really.”

They cleared the tree line, and Lauren turned toward the dock where they had left the dinghy.
“Fine. But you do know that you falling on your ass was not the ‘going down’ I was looking forward to, right?”

“
It wasn’t?” Grey shot Lauren a look of playful surprise. “Because that was
so
totally what I meant…”

“Yeah, I’m
sure.”

Grey smiled
as she looped an arm around Lauren’s shoulders and brushed a wet kiss over her cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll still be able to go down later.”

“You better,”
Lauren sassed. “Injured or not, I expect you to pay up. I won that race fair and square.”

Grey laughed and gave Lauren’s shoulders a sque
eze. “You sure did. I was surprised, to be honest.”

“That I won?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, before you almost cut your thumb off the other day, you were telling me how you fell down all the time playing basketball…”

“
It was because I was still growing into my legs,” Lauren grumbled. “Once I stopped growing, I stopped falling down so much.”

Grey pulled away and gave Lauren’s legs a thorough ogling.
“You definitely grew into them, all right.”

“Horndog
.”

“Says the woman telling me that I
have
to go down on her later this evening,” Grey retorted. “Pot, meet kettle.”

“Oh my god!” Lauren laughed.
“Grey!”

Grey
smirked. “What?”

Lauren wanted to
pretend to be annoyed, but she could not help but smile at the mischievous twinkle in Grey’s eyes. Really, she had walked right into that one, and she knew it. “Nothing. You win.”

“If it makes you feel any better, you’ll be winning later.”

“Damn right I will be,” Lauren muttered, chuckling under her breath as she side-eyed Grey. She tipped her head at the Muellers, who were just up ahead. “Now, behave. Time to put your captain’s hat back on and pick your mind up out of the gutter.”

Grey looked at their guests and grinned. “
Hate to break it to you, but my mind is pretty much always in the gutter.”

“For some reason,
that doesn’t really surprise me,” Lauren said as she waved at the boys, who were now sprinting toward them.

The boys slowed when they saw the blood on Grey’
s leg. “You okay?” Max asked.

“Nothing a band-aid won’t fix,” Grey assured him. “So, how was kayaking?”

“Awesome!” the boys chorused as they began leading the way back to their parents, each of them trying to talk over the other as they relived everything that had happened, including Will capsizing his kayak, spilling both him and Reid into the water, and then swimming over to dump Kim into the water for laughing at him.