Summer Fling Read online

  “At least I’ll be back after training in a few weeks for my big sendoff.” She turns and hugs Max. “Take good care of her, Dad. I’ll miss you both like crazy.”

  “We’re going to miss you too, baby. And don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Sutton.” He flicks his gaze to me as Autumn walks to her ride waiting in the driveway.

  It’s a few minutes past six in the morning but still dark outside. I feel exhausted and my head is thumping. And if that’s not enough the second Autumn is gone, there’s this palpable, I don’t know … thing between me and Max. It a type of tension I’ve never felt before. But not a bad one. It’s like the kind of tension that sends all these nervous butterflies running through me.

  Also, without Autumn here as a buffer it will be weird. I don’t know how to act around her dad because we never spent any time together. Not like I did with her mom.

  And then there’s the fact that I feel like a burden. I don’t know why I suddenly do, but that’s the way it is.

  I head inside and make a beeline for my room, pulling my suitcases out of the closet.

  Max is right behind me, coming down the hall. “Hey, what do you say we head out for a little breakfast? I know this great place down the—” He pauses in the doorway, his voice going flat. “What are you doing?”

  “Packing.”

  “What for?” He steps into the room and slides his hands in his pockets.

  “I figure I can call my aunt and uncle and, I don’t know, housesit for them while they’re in Europe. I think that’s really the best solution. A win-win for everyone.”

  “I meant why do you think you need to leave?”

  I let out a tired breath, tossing my clothes in the suitcase. “Because, I’m sure you don’t want to babysit me all summer when you could be living it up with your friends and girlfriends and all that. I don’t want to be a burden.”

  Max walks over and tugs the suitcase across the bed before popping it closed. He then lifts my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze.

  “That’s complete and utter crap. You are not a burden, Sutton. And if you think I’m even about to let you walk out of this house and leave, you’re out of your damn mind.”

  Fuck. My legs go all wobbly. His eyes seem to reach right into my chest and squeeze my heart like he owns it or something. And the way he’s commanding me with this bossy, deep tone of his isn’t helping me to not feel something for him.

  “Okay, well, can I at least take a nap?”

  The corner of his mouth curls up and he brushes my cheek with the back of his hand. “Yes, you can take a nap. But don’t make me regret not putting bars over your window.”

  A small laugh bubbles up as he pulls my bedroom door closed. Then I re-unpack the few things I’d tossed in the suitcase. I shimmy out of the sweatpants I’d put on and slide under the covers and I slip back into sleep before my head hits the pillow.

  When I wake up I catch the faint smell of coffee. The sun is up but it’s high and when I look at the clock I see that I slept until almost noon.

  Feeling guilty for staying in bed that late, I sit up and rub my face, pulling my long brown hair into a bun and securing it with an elastic. After tugging on some clean shorts and a fresh tee, I wash up in the hall bath and make my way to the kitchen. There’s about a cup of coffee left in the pot, which isn’t nearly enough for me. And right as I’m about to rummage through the cabinets, Max walks in.

  “Good morning. How’d that nap do ya?” he asks, rinsing his coffee mug in the sink.

  “Pretty good. I feel much better.”

  He smiles and rubs the corners of his mouth. “You look much better.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” I reach into the cabinet and grab a clean mug, then spin around to lean against the counter. “Where would I find more coffee if I want to make some more?”

  Max reaches into the cabinet next to me, and I catch a whiff of his scent. It makes me heady. “Right here, and the filters are on the same shelf.”

  “Perfect. Thank you.”

  “No problem. I have to head into town for a while. Meeting with a seller. Are you going to be okay if I’m gone for a few hours?”

  “Yeah. I’m a big girl. Like I said, I don’t need a babysitter.”

  “I know. I just feel bad leaving you here all alone.”

  He adjusts his tie and presses down the front of his shirt. But he ends up messing it up and twisting it. I try to hold back a smirk.

  He looks down. “What is it? Do I have a stain?”

  I shake my head and walk over to him, straightening and centering the knot. “It was just a little crooked is all.”

  I brush away a piece of lint and we lock eyes, and it suddenly feels like my stomach got tossed in a blender.

  “Um, it’s better now.”

  “Thank you.”

  I step back and reach up for the coffee, feeling the seam of my shorts ride up the crack of my ass. When I turn around, I can practically feel the camel toe wedged inside my folds.

  Max notices, pointing his gaze right there before quickly swiping the keys from his pocket. “Okay, I’m out of here. Make yourself at home and call if you need anything. My cell number is on that business card on the fridge.”

  “Yeah, sure, thanks.”

  When he’s gone, I stand there feeling hot all over for a few minutes. Then I pull my shorts out of my ass and vow to never wear them again around Max.

  I think about toasting a bagel while the coffee is brewing, but I still don’t have much of an appetite. So I sit on the back patio for a while sipping on my first cup of coffee as I watch the water move on the lake. Last night, Autumn had given me the combination to their boathouse so I could go inside and get towels, rafts, and floaties. They even have this old school jambox that her dad kept from his college days, and a net for playing volleyball when he has cookouts.

  I have several bikinis, but one of them has a thong bottom. I bought it last year when Autumn and I went shopping, thinking I could wear it on campus sometime. She of course egged me on, telling me it looked really sexy. I’ve never had an exhibitionist side or anything. I guess I was just sowing some wild oats. But with it just being me here, with full access to a private beach, I have no reason to not wear it.

  I hunt around for a bottle of sunscreen and find one below the kitchen sink, right next to a bottle of rum. I’m not a drinker. Never have been. But I have been known to indulge a few times at some parties. I could use the relaxation right now. So I unscrew the cap and tip it over, pouring the equivalent a several shots inside my coffee drink. After adding some cream, sugar, and ice, I’m ready to hit the beach.

  I unlock the boathouse door and easily find the radio and a towel. And once I get settled with a rock station and angle myself toward the sun, I take a sip of my iced coffee-slash-rum and feel the stress melting away.

  A few boats ride by off in the distance, and my thoughts drift to Autumn and what all she is going through having to train for this deployment. She should be here, lying next to me. But instead, I’m all alone. Well, not completely alone. But mostly alone. Max’s real estate job will keep him busy. I already know from what Autumn has told me that he works crazy hours.

  I think about how sexy he looked in his suit, the way he hooked his eyes at me when I fixed his tie, and the excited shivers that went through me. I’ve dated a few guys but never anything serious. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like this. And when I imagine his hands cupping my chin the way they did early this morning, I feel my breasts tingle, my nipples harden, and this electric pulse between my legs. So there’s no denying this sexual attraction. I wonder what Autumn would do if she were here right now and I confessed the thoughts I was having about her dad. She’d probably be pissed as hell and never speak to me again.

  I let out a frustrated groan and roll over on my tummy before taking a few sips of the spiked coffee, feeling the warmth of the liquor hit me in all the right ways. Just what the doctor ordered. And when it get
s low, I run back to the house for a refill of mostly rum. I need all the relaxation I can get.

  Once I’m settled back on the towel, I untie my bikini straps so I don’t have any tan lines on my back. And I tell myself that after a few days, the excited shivers I get around Max will fade. And he will go back to feeling like my best friend’s dad.

  Just another authority figure.

  Max

  Damn the way Sutton makes me feel, and damn the fact that I know I’ll be fighting an erection all summer in her presence.

  When she straightened my tie before I left for my meeting, I wanted to lay hands on her, to see if her body felt the same way pressed against me in real life as it did in my head. Because in my head, I’ve touched Sutton everywhere, and she feels perfect. I need to find some way to make her feel safe around me. Safe enough to have a little fun. I know she’s vulnerable right now. And I do not want to take advantage of that fact. But fucking hell, I need this girl, and I need her badly.

  When I get home, she’s not in the house, so I peek out of my bathroom window and see her lying on the beach. My cock stirs, and I rub it through my pants. And Christ almighty, she looks like she’s not wearing a thing. I know Sutton wouldn’t lie out in the nude, so it’s probably just a skimpy bikini, but according to my cock, she’s buck naked. I step out of my dress pants and tug my cock loose, stroking it softly as I watch her push up on her elbows and let her long brown hair fall down.

  My balls grow heavy and throb painfully. But this feels wrong, stroking myself while watching from a distance. It’s too … creepy. Plus, I really can’t take the mystery. I have to go down there and see what she’s up to.

  I put on some jeans and a slide into my flip-flops, then pull a white tee shirt over my head. I grab a few bottles of water and make my way down there. It looks like she brought some coffee with her in a travel mug and …holy fuck. She’s wearing a thong bikini. My cock grows stiff once again. and every cell in my body feels like I’ve been pushed into a fire.

  Dear God, her body, the swell of her ass, it’s all so perfect. The strings of her bikini are tossed aside, and I take in her exposed back and the way her breasts are pushing out the sides of her chest. I stop about ten feet short of her, standing there with the water bottles in hand, realizing just how inappropriate it is for me to see her like this.

  And how fucking hard it’s making me.

  I should turn around. She clearly isn’t expecting me, and if she sees that I have a fucking hard-on before I’ve had the chance to warm her up to the idea of me fucking her, it might scare her away. But the second I start to turn on my heels, she turns her head in my direction, her gaze scanning from my feet all the way up.

  “Oh, hi. I thought I heard someone.”

  I lick my lips and hope like hell my cock isn’t visibly straining against my jeans. “Just thought you might want some water. Didn’t mean to interrupt.” I pass her the bottle and she starts to reach for it, showing me just a glimpse of her perfect tits as the bikini cup falls to the side.

  Christ.

  She quickly realizes she’s not covered and drops back down, pulling the towel to her chest. “I’m sorry. I forgot I undid that.”

  “It’s okay. Didn’t see a thing. By the way, you’re getting a little burned. Did you put some sunscreen on?”

  She glances at the bottle. “Whoops. Kinda forgot that too. I don’t know where my head is today.”

  I set the water bottles down in the sand next to her. “You’ve got a lot on your mind. Would you like for me to help?”

  She looks up at me, squinting with the sun blinding her pretty face. “If you don’t mind.”

  Mind? Fuck. I’d pay cash monies at this point to touch her. “Not at all.”

  I kick off my shoes and kneel next to her, opening the bottle and squirting some cream into the palm of my hand.

  Sutton rests her head on the tops of her forearms, looking in my direction. “I like your flip-flops. Not too many guys can pull that off.”

  “Oh yeah?” I rub my hands together.

  “Yeah. You have to have really nice feet.”

  I smile and gently rub the sunscreen along her shoulders. “So you’re saying I have nice feet?”

  She laughs softly then hiccups. “I guess I am.”

  “I don’t think that part of my body has ever received a compliment.” I glide my palms down to her lower back, flicking my gaze to her round, creamy globes and feeling my cock stiffen.

  Sutton squints her face as she looks up at me. “And just what parts of your body have been complimented?”

  She asks me this as I’m pressing my thumbs into the dimples of her lower back, and I pull in a deep breath, trying to calm my racing pulse. Fuck. She hasn’t even been here twenty-four hours and she’s already teasing me. I don’t know if she’s doing it intentionally. Maybe she’s just testing me or pushing my buttons.

  What she doesn’t know is this daddy can push buttons back.

  “Well, I’ve been told I look good in a suit, and that I have a nice chest.”

  “Mm-hmm?”

  “And these hands have been the recipient of a few kind words.”

  “Yes? What else?”

  I chuckle. “I could tell you more, but I don’t feel like being hauled off to jail.”

  Sutton lifts a brow and the corner of her mouth turns up. “I see. I think you’re just being modest.”

  I squirt some more sunscreen in my hands and rub it along her upper arms, blood now surging through my balls and shaft at the way her softness conforms to my touch.

  “I’m not being modest. I’m just … trying to be a gentleman.”

  Sutton adjusts her bikini top and rolls over, making sure the cups of her top are covering her breasts. Damnit. She then pushes up on her elbows and smiles at me. “Why would you want to do a thing like that?”

  I catch a whiff of alcohol on her breath. Probably the rum I keep under the sink with the sunscreen. That explains the teasing.

  “Why would I want to be a gentleman?” I ask, casually glancing at her bikini top that’s starting to roll off to the side.

  She bites her lip and nods. And I have to seriously admit I don’t know how to answer that question. Because the honest to God truth is that right now, the last fucking thing I want is to be a gentleman.

  “You’re Autumn’s best friend. And you’re a little drunk right now.”

  She twists her face. “What? No.”

  “You’re a little something,” I tell her, looking at her hands softly stroking the towel and imagining it stroking my cock.

  “Well, I’m not drunk. What makes you think I’m drunk?” She hiccups again, then snort laughs. And when she does, her bikini slips over a few more inches, showing me her pink-tipped breast.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Just a hunch.”

  Stifling a growl, I gently pull the material back over, and Sutton puts her hand on mine. “I only had a little. Really. Not enough to make me drunk. Just enough to …” she taps her chin with her other hand, “…take the edge off.”

  “Uh huh, well, the edges are definitely gone, so why don’t we go inside and I’ll make you some coffee.”

  “Oh, I got coffee right here. As a matter a’fact, you can have a sip and see that it’s not very strong.” She reaches over for the travel mug but knocks it over, letting out a gasp. “Oh crap. Well, anyway, I can still prove that I only had a little.”

  “Oh yeah? How so?”

  She walks her fingers up my arm, and I feel this wave of heat come over me.

  God help me resist Sutton’s advances. I don’t want to be that guy.

  But I don’t know what to do when she pushes herself up higher and slides a hand behind my head and says, “Easy. Just take a sip of me.”

  With her mouth inches from mine, my balls release a surge of testosterone, and that growl that I was trying to stifle a few moments ago?

  It comes up my throat.

  And the next thing I know, my mouth is on Sutton
’s, and her soft, sweet tongue is probing past my lips.

  I growl again, sinking into the kiss as I lower my body to hers, grabbing her hip in my hand and feeling her leg go around my waist.

  Goddamn it all to hell. Every rule I’ve ever had about not taking advantage of a woman when she isn’t sober is tossed out the window.

  My cock is a hard as steel as I tongue her sexy little mouth that tastes of coffee and rum. I’m not even trying to gauge how much alcohol she’s had. I’m trying to gauge how much cum my balls are producing right now and with how much force it’s going to shoot out.

  Her body writhes underneath mine, and she whimpers as I grind my erection between her legs. I knead the fleshy softness of her hip, and Sutton rolls a little to the side so I can grab onto that amazing ass of hers.

  She runs her hands underneath my shirt and up my chest, and I move my lips to her neck, kissing and nibbling and tasting the salt of her sweat and just wanting more.

  “God, baby, you’re driving this daddy crazy…”

  She exhales a long breath against my shoulder. “Daddy…” she breathes, like she’s trying on that word for size.

  I wasn’t expecting her to echo me. But fuck. Now that she has, all I can think about is peeling these thong bikini bottoms down her legs and pulling my cock out of my jeans and fucking her sober.

  Sober.

  Fuck, I’m a bastard.

  It hits me all of a sudden. I have to be the responsible one here.

  This girl has just buried her fucking parents. She drank to numb the pain. And she just called me “Daddy.”

  It’s too soon to take her body and ravish it the way I want. Because I’m terrified I might destroy her heart in the process if this isn’t what she really wants.

  I sit up and run my hands through my hair. Her bee-stung lips are pouting as she looks at me. Her chest rising and falling as she pants, her bikini top miraculously still covering her tits.

  “What?” Sutton asks, pushing back up on her elbows.