Page 113 of Bling

“What did my aunt do to set you off? I’ve seen that smile before. It’s not a very nice one.”

He gave her a genuine grin and draped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. “Smart girl. She made a rather rude implication about you and me. I wasn’t having it.”

“Oh? What did she imply? That I’m beneath you? Doesn’t surprise me. They also think my mom married beneath her and frown on anyone who does it.”

“First of all, if anyone is beneath anyone, I’m beneath you. You are a far better human than I could ever aspire to be.”

“You’re too hard on yourself. Look at everything you’ve done for my family. I mean I know it’s just because you’re sleeping with me but, let’s face it, I’m not that great of a lay so it can’t be the sex that’s driving you to spend your money on us. There’s at least a little bit of a good heart in there.”

They were out in the open with nowhere for him to drag her so he could spank her ass for talking like that about herself. He stopped, causing her to stumble in the sand. His hand shot out and kept her from falling down, gripping her around the waist and hauling her to him.

When they were nose-to-nose, he glowered at her. “Let’s get a few things straight, young lady. I do not do these things for you because I’m fucking you. But even if I were, you’re the best lay, as you so crassly put it, that I’ve had in a while. You think I’m hard on myself? Listen to yourself, Isabelle. I’m going to teach you to stop being so self-deprecating. I don’t care if I have to spank you every day for it. You’re mine and I always take care of what’s mine, and you know from experience that I only accept the best of everything. What does that make you?”

Her lip quivered under his intense stare and he very nearly relented and softened his gaze, but he was determined to hear her say it.

“Answer me Isabelle. Answer me or I take you back to the pool house for a dose of my hand on your ass. If I only have the best what does that make you?”

“The best,” she whispered on a choked sob.

His hand cradled the back of her head and urged her to bury her face in his neck so others wouldn’t see her if she cried in earnest.

“No one is going to make you feel any less than the best if I’m around. Not your bitch of an aunt, not your stubborn father, and most of all not you, am I clear?”

She nodded into his chest and lifted her head as she snaked her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes for a kiss.

“You’re too good to me,” she murmured against his lips. “But thank you for that.”

He smiled and tucked hair behind her ear. “Now let’s go enjoy your family, and when we get back to the beach house, you can tell me why you hid how loaded your mom's family is from me.”

She grimaced. “It’s honestly something I didn’t realize myself until after mom died.”

She let him lace their fingers together again and they trudged through the sand to where the bonfire was finally getting started.

“You must be Garrett,” someone said, handing him a beer. “We saw you snogging our cousin on national TV, so I guess you’re family now.”

Garrett grinned and took the beer. “Thanks. I’m just happy she was willing to show me off to the family,” he said winking at her as she dug through a nearby cooler for a drink of her own.

They spent the next few hours laughing and drinking with Isabelle’s family on the beach. Most of the older family went to their respective lodging for the weekend early in the evening and they were left with a boisterous group of cousins in their twenties and thirties.

He’d stopped himself after his second beer, but Isabelle was happily tipsy after her third wine cooler or whatever fruity thing she was drinking. It was fun to watch her yammer and bounce around the beach with her friends. Someone broke out marshmallows and hotdogs to roast—something Garrett had never experienced—and Isabelle had brilliant fun showing him how it was done. After his fifth marshmallow turned into a burnt, inedible pile of goo, he gave up and reached for a bag of chips to munch on instead.

“Don’t drink too much, Izzy,” one of her cousins said. “This is just a pregame for tomorrow.”

He had no idea what tomorrow night had in store, but Isabelle had described it as the gigantic party that everyone showed up for. How many people would that be? Someone said at least a third of the cousins were missing from tonight’s bonfire but would be at the party tomorrow. By his count, there had been at least forty people on the beach at one time and there was no telling how many he missed counting.

As the cousins dispersed sometime after midnight, Isabelle snuggled next to him, nearly asleep.

“Come on, Doll. Sounds like we have a big day tomorrow.”

He walked her to the pool house with her tucked close to him and they quietly rinsed off the sand and got ready for bed when they got inside.

“Thanks for calling my aunt a bitch,” she said with a sleepy giggle as he shut off the light.

Before he could respond, he could tell she’d already drifted off. They could talk about her family history tomorrow.

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