Page 117 of 12 Months of Mayhem

“But you will?”

“Will you leave me alone tonight, if I go?”

“Sure.” I can read him as well as he can read me. We both know that’s a lie. He will leave me alone when he’s good and ready, not when I want him to. And we also both know that day will come sooner rather than later because that’s the kind of guy he is.

“You owe me answers if I go on the boat with you.”

“I can promise to tell you what I can… but that won’t be everything you want to know. We will have to meet in the middle.” This is more than he’s offered me and intriguing enough to make me want to go.

“I’ll go. But don’t think you own me just because I’m agreeing to go with you.”

“Yeah. That’s the reason.” He finally pulls me in for the kiss we’ve been in position for this entire conversation. “Tell me you brought a bikini.” He’s being playful like he used to be and it’s hard not to fall into place with him when he’s like this.

“I’ll be wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants.”

“Perfect. You’re hot as fuck in that too.” He kisses me one last time before he releases my neck and walks to the passenger door to grab my bags. All eyes are on the two of us as I follow him to the cabin while he carries my bags. It would be easy for anyone to assume that we’re together even though we both know anything we have brewing today can end as fast as it started. Time has proven that.

Chapter Five

Charlise

Zayne takes my bags to the room he plans to sleep in. I know it’s his room because it’s his bag that is laid out on the corner chair and what he was wearing earlier is in a small pile on the floor. He lays back against the headboard and props his arm behind his head to watch me. “Go ahead and put on that sweatshirt. I want to see my work again.”

“What happened to you keeping your hands to yourself?”

“Do you see me touching you? My hands are even tucked behind my head just to prove my willingness to keep my word.”

“Oh really?” I decide to wear the bikini. I have the perfect one… it’s a dark red string bikini that he will be so tempted to untie the entire time I’m wearing it. I could never wear this in front of my brother because it’s too revealing, so I’ll have to wear a cover up if I go through with this plan. That’s if we make it out of this room before he fails. My boldness starts to waiver while I contemplate how to handle Zayne and the whiplash he’s giving me. Or am I the one giving myself the whiplash, hating him one second and fucking him the next. I truly shouldn’t be alone with him until I figure it all out. My only saving grace about this is the fact that we’ll have other people on the boat with us.

I kick off my shoes and lower my jeans slowly, shimmying to get my feet out of the legs of my pants. Next, I turn so that my back is to him to take off my t-shirt. I slide my panties down my legs, making sure to look back at him in the process. He’s focused on my ass, so I do a little jiggle just to torment him a little more. He grips his cock as he watches me and for some reason that gives me enough confidence to drop my bra and turn to face him.

“Oh, fuck me.” It was more of a ‘shit I’m in trouble’ than a request for me to actually fuck him, but I think he would take that too.

I purposely move and shift more than needed to get the string bikini out of my bag. He closes his eyes tight when he sees the red strings come into view. “Do you need help tying those?” His voice is raspy and seeing the look in his eyes makes my insides twist and turn.

“No, that would be you not keeping your hands to yourself.”

“I would sacrifice for the cause.”

“I bet you would.” I start with the bottoms and make sure to tie the bows on each side perfectly. It takes longer than it usually would because I’m enjoying tormenting him. I use the tiny triangles to cover my nipples, knowing there is so much cleavage, side and even part of the underside not covered by this bikini. He will never let me out of this room with this on but it’ll be fun to see him sweat a little about how he’s going to tell me no.

“You can’t wear that. I’ll be fucking you the entire time, to hell with who’s around.” I guess he’s just going to go right to saying no.

“Zayne.”

“Under your sweats then.” I work to tie the top, knowing I would never wear this in front of my brother. He would have a coronary. My hopes were to wear it in place of being naked while skinny dipping when everyone decides to do that at tonight’s beach party. That seems to always happen at the beach parties my friends have. “Do you always wear this in front of the club?”

“No. They’ve never seen me in a two-piece bathing suit. This is the first year.”

“They won’t see you in it this year either. Believe me when I tell you, they’ll be seeing you getting fucked before they see you in this. I’ll have to cut all of their eyes out if they see you in this.” He adjusts his cock before he stands up and takes my hand to walk me to the bathroom that’s adjoined. “Look at us.” He slides his t-shirt over his head as we both look into the mirror. His tattooed, tan skin behind me is a contrast to my blank white canvas. “Do you see how perfect we are together. How fucking hot you are and how mean I could be if anyone so much as looked at you wrong?”

His intensity has increased over the years. He was never this territorial before. Obviously, because if he was, he wouldn’t have left without saying a word.

“Why did you leave me?” I swallow around the lump in my throat and hold back tears in both eyes.

He slides my hair off of my shoulder and begins to trail kisses across my skin, sending goose bumps in every direction. When his lips reach my neck, he responds to the question I’ve wanted to know for entirely too long. “I had to. It was hell and I’ll never do it again.” I turn to face him, his vulnerability punching me right in the heart and making me want to comfort him.

“What was hell?” I decide he owes me more than a passive brush off answer about where he’s been for the past four years.

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