Chapter 8

Brian

Stunned at Clarice's sudden change, I can only watch her run out the door. She must have overheard my conversation with my assistant and misunderstood. Well, not exactly misunderstood, because I did buy her beach. But she has to at least let me tell her why.

Is she worth all this?

I laugh bitterly at myself as I hurry to get a shirt and shoes on. Of course she is. I don't know how, but for the first time in my life a woman has reached the part of me I thought was long gone. The part that used to enjoy a sunset and the feel of sand under his toes, completely in the current moment. The way she trusted me so completely last night crumbled the last of my defenses.

Am I going to lose a shitload of money on this deal? Yes. Do I care? No. I only care about Clarice.

She's nowhere to be found when I get to the sidewalk outside the hotel, and driving slowly with my eyes peeled left and right, I can't spot her. When I arrive at her beach, her van is locked up and empty and her little business isn't set up in its place under the palm tree.

I head down toward the water, meaning to search every inch of the beach, even those filthy caves, until I find her. The storm clouds aren't staying politely out at the horizon line, but rolling in with purpose. The shore is choppy and loud when I reach it, scanning the distance for a glimpse of yellow or the white of her surfboard.

And there she is, just a speck against the waves that are so dark they're almost black now.

"Are you crazy?" I yell, though there's no chance she can hear me. "Well, she's my nutcase," I say to myself, fists clenched with anxiety as I watch her catch one of the towering waves.

Pacing the shoreline, I wait for her to get close enough to catch her attention. I'll wave my arms around, jump up and down, whatever it takes to get her to paddle in. She's going to listen to me. I'm going to make her understand why I went through with the deal. Even through my fear for her safety, it's a beautiful sight as she drops into the perfect curl the giant storm wave creates. She's so damn talented. It's glorious and my hands slowly uncurl while I wait and watch.

But the whitewater is catching up to her too quickly. Instead of bailing, she tries to outpace it until she's utterly swallowed by the wave. My heart shoots up to my throat as I wait for her to surface from the total wipeout. Eyes jetting back and forth, I still don't see her and my heartbeat seems to be a timer, speeding up with every second she doesn't rise about the squall.

Kicking my shoes off and peeling my shirt over my head, I splash into the water, past the breakers to swim harder than I've ever swum before. It's been years since I've done a rescue, but adrenaline takes over, every muscle fiber focused on saving Clarice. Something clunks me on the head and it's her board, the leg leash snapped. With a huge breath I dive under, searching the cloudy water until I see the flash of yellow. She's a pale figure in the murky darkness, her hair waving above her as she struggles to free her foot from a cluster of rocks.

Lungs burning, I make my way to her. When she sees me, she motions to me with wide, terrified eyes. She doesn't have much air left, and neither do I. Her foot is bloody where it's wedged between two big boulders. Another smaller one has fallen onto it and trapped her. Kicking it aside with all my might, she drifts free, but I see that her eyes are closed, tiny bubbles flowing from her nose.

Every instinct wants me to suck in a breath as I scream her name, losing the last bit of my air in my panic. She's unconscious and we're still several feet from the surface. I can't lose her. I won't lose her.

Gripping her around the waist, I shove off the rocks and we rise, finally crashing to the surface where I get a much needed breath. Exhausted, lungs and muscles aching, I still have so far to get her to shore.

"Don't you dare," I tell her as I pull her through the rough waters, one arm across her chest as I kick toward the shore. "Don't you dare leave me."

Dragging her onto the sand, I haul her onto her side and whack her on the back. She's so still, silent, and pale. Just as I'm about to start CPR, she splutters and spits out murky water, then crawls onto her hands and knees and gets it all out as I rub her back.

"You scared the hell out of me," I say when she lies back down, staring at the cloudy sky. Remembering that her foot was bleeding, I hurry to check it out. There's a scratch over what will probably be a big bruise, but it's not serious. Keeping my hand on her ankle, I let out a shudder of relief. She really is okay.

She rolls away from, pulling her knees to her chest. Not a word. She's okay, but she's still pissed at me.

"Clarice," I say, touching her shoulder.

"Don't," she hisses. "Thank you for saving my life, but you can go now."

"I'm not going anywhere," I tell her.

She scrambles up, shaky on her legs so I jump up to steady her. She jerks her arm away from my grasp. "Of course. Why should you? It's your beach now."

"Will you let me tell you—"

"Why did you lie? Why make me think I had time to fix things and then go behind my back and buy the beach anyway?"

"There wasn't anything to fix. Whatever your uncle did was legal—" when she looks like she's going to spit on me I hold up my hands. "I didn't say ethical or moral, but Clarice, it was rock solid. If I didn't buy the land, someone else would have."

This doesn't make things better. She looks angrier than before I explained. "So might as well make more millions off the last unspoiled bit of sand around here." The heartbreak in her voice makes my own heart squeeze. "Oh don't bother to keep lying," she snaps. "I heard you telling construction to start on Friday. You couldn't even let me find another place to park my van first?"

What the hell? It all comes together. She's got me so flustered from nearly losing her that I haven't told her the most important part. When I laugh it's with relief, and the outrage on her beautiful face only makes me want to kiss her.

"Construction on the house," I explain. "Your house." I don't yet say our house. Not when she's still got her fists clenched at her sides. They uncurl and her anger turns to confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was going to get the original plans for your grandfather's house from City Hall, but if you'd rather have something different and new, we can hire an architect. And you're not living in your van anymore. You're staying with me."

Her mouth falls open and she sits down hard on the sand. I follow her down, taking her hands. She lets me this time.

"You're rebuilding my house for me? Won't it get in the way of the condos?"

"No condos. Just beach. Open to anyone you want to let in."

The words are barely out before she launches herself at me. I hold her close, laughing as she clings tightly to my neck. Her soft body is flush against mine and I lay back so that she's on top of me, looking down at my face with a huge smile on hers. Then it disappears as her eyes widen.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"For thinking the worst. For not letting you explain."

I eye the water, the waves crashing in at a steady pace, the sky growing ever darker. "What else?"

"Huh?" she asks, so innocently that I want to kiss her senseless. She lifts herself up, elbows on my chest, so that her tits wave enticingly close to my mouth and her shifting body makes my cock rise.

"You scared the living hell out of me, remember?"

She looks remorseful but only for a second as she feels me growing rock hard beneath her. She wriggles mischievously. "That was pretty naughty."

I nod. "It was. I should really make you pay for worrying me like that."

"Not to mention you risked your life to save me," she says.

"That too!"

"Well, how are you going to make me pay?"

Her eagerness makes me grip her sides before looking around. The coming storm has kept everyone else off the beach and I tangle my fingers in her hair to pull her mouth closer to mine. I kiss her until she's trembling and roll us so that she's on her back.

"I think I know a way," I tell her.

"How?" she asks, digging her fingers into my arms and arching her body up against my straining cock.

"By fucking you within an inch of your life."

Her soft moan and her eyes fluttering shut tells me she thinks this is a good idea, along with her fingers scrambling to touch any part of me that she can reach. I'm ravenous for her, having held out while pleasuring her all night long. When her legs wrap around my hips to pull me tight against her, I reach down and yank the string ties on one side of her bikini.

A moment later, my hand is between us, sinking into her wet heat. I moan at how tight her slick channel is and she squeaks when I find her swollen clit with my thumb. The sand coats the sides of her body and my arms, her dark hair is almost white with it. The scent of the fuming sea mingles with the ozone in the air as thunder crashes in the distance.

She pulls my head down to kiss her, her tongue clumsily meeting mine. The first drops of rain land on my back, then splash onto her closed eyes.

She shakes her head. "I don't care."

Neither do I until the sky opens up on us, dousing us with icy buckets of rain. I jump up, pulling her close to me to shield her from the worst of it. To my delighted surprise, she laughs, grabs my hand and pulls me up the beach.

"It keeps most of the rain out," she shouts as she slides open her van door.

I can't keep my hands off her cute little ass as she climbs up onto the mattress that takes up most of the platform she's installed. Giving her a little spank, I haul myself in after her. She has checkered curtains covering the windows and there's a tiny camp stove with a kettle resting on a makeshift counter next to the platform. The driver's seat is also curtained off, but she hurries to move it aside so we can see the rain sheeting down the windshield.

"I like to watch it," she says, reaching for me with her mouth parted.

As enticing as she is in this little haven from the storm that she's made for herself, I hold back. Clarice scowls and tugs at my shoulders, her body trembling with need. My own cock is bursting against my soaked jeans and my hands aren't listening to my brain as I tell them not to reach out and stroke down the side of her neck.

"We're in a van," I say. "I promised you that your first time was going to be special."

She flings herself forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and crawling onto my lap. "Are you kidding me right now?" Pulling back, she stares into my eyes with a look of wonder. "You gave me my life back. You gave me the only thing I wanted. My beach. Nothing's more special than being here with you right now."

Her eyes scream the same feeling that's been tugging at my heart since I first saw her. I get lost in her gaze until her fingernails dig into my shoulders and she makes the most adorable whine, grinding against my lap.

With an answering growl, I lay her back onto the shockingly comfortable mattress, in a pile of cozy blankets and pillows. A fat drop of water leaks onto the top of my head and I laugh. She's right. This is perfect.

Now I finally get to savor this sweet, virgin beauty. She's mine. Completely mine, and the best part is now she knows it. Her top is off in a flash and I trace each peachy nipple with my tongue until they are hard peaks. Clarice shivers and I pull the blankets over us like a tent, kissing my way down her belly.

"Fuck, you're delicious," I tell her, licking the salt from her hipbone.

She grips my hair, pushing gently. "Keep going," she murmurs.

I laugh, nuzzling her as I part her legs. I untie the other string and push her bikini bottom away from her pale mound. She arches as I lick along her tan lines.

My hunger is like a beast, yanking at a chain that won't hold it for long. I spread her legs wider and sit up to look down at my prize. She's worth more than a hundred miles of unspoiled beach. She's everything to me. She thinks I gave her life back, but that's exactly what she did for me. I know how I really want to live now. And she's going to be there with me.

I tear my gaze from her hot little pussy and find her looking at me, both hands knotted in the sheets. She nods toward my jeans. "Show me," she whispers.

It's not easy getting them off in this confined space but in a moment my cock is free, standing straight out, yearning to be inside her. She reaches for it and holds on like it's a bike handle. When I wince, she loosens her grip and strokes, a smile curling her lips.

"Show me where you want it, little girl," I tell her.

She guides it to her slick folds and I put my hand over hers, rubbing my dripping tip over her clit until her hand falls away. "Yes," she murmurs. "Right there. Please, Brian. Fuck me. Please stop teasing."

I chuckle, still rubbing my cock against her swollen nub. It's torture, pure torture to be so close to her tight little hole and not be ramming deep inside her. But watching her chest rise and fall faster as I bring her closer to an orgasm keeps me going.

"Tell me," I order her. "Tell me how good I make your pussy feel."

"Better than the best wave," she says. "Better than anything in this world."

"Just wait," I say, my patience waning as she lifts her hips and squeezes her thighs around my waist. "Wait until…"

She screams so loud the storm seems to be offended and the rain ceases. Now only soft, pattering drops hit the roof. I hold her down to keep drawing out her ecstasy until she half laughs and half sobs, limp on the mattress.

"You made the rain stop," she gasps. "What can't you do?"

Gripping her hips, I shake my head. "I can't wait to fuck you any longer."

I bury myself all the way to my balls inside her hot little hole. The spasms from her orgasm grip my shaft, making me groan as I find her mouth, forcing it to open to me. With my tongue and cock inside her, she clings to me, giving me everything with abandon.

Desperate not to hurt her, I try to hold back as much as I can, but she gives me a little shove, her palms on my chest. "Don't you dare. I need it all, Brian. I need every last inch. As hard and fast as you want."

Instead, I tease her more, pulling out slowly and filling her up, finding her clit with my fingertips until she's gasping again. I tweak her pert little nipples until she's begging me to let her come again.

"How do you do this to me?" she says, her eyes brimming with desire.

"You know." She has to know this is more than just physical for both of us. We surpassed that already. I drop my head to the crook of her neck, breathing her in. "I'm going to come inside you as soon as your tight little cunt chokes my cock," I tell her. "Come for me now. Let me feel it." With one last stroke of her clit, I let her have what she needs. What I need.

The clouds aren't having all our noise and it starts pouring again. The ping of the rain on the van roof is the perfect backdrop to our shouts as I shoot my seed deep inside her body, then our fevered gasps turn to laughter as we settle against one another under the covers.

Her breathing is still heavy as she lays her head on my chest, her arm wrapped tightly around me. "How long until we do it again?"

I squeeze her, then reach down and lightly spank her round ass cheek. She bites her lip and snuggles closer, rubbing her wet heat against my thigh.

"There's plenty more to come," I tell her, giving her another tap for good measure. "I like how voracious you are, but how about back in my suite for the next time? I have some nice silk ties you might be interested in trying out."

Her long, satisfied moan starts to bring me back to life, but for now I'm happy to have her snuggled close to me. I laugh, remembering I'm in a leaky van. But it hardly matters, because I'm with Clarice. That's the only place I want to be.