Page 77 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

Maybe an hour or more later, I felt a cloud drift overhead again. Ryan had long since given up the ghost and found himself someone else to try wooing out of her bikini bottoms—as in, he never came back from getting that all-important drink. Did that make me happy? Yes, yes and yes! One less person to keep me from getting my imaginary tan on without interruption.

I opened my eyes to check out the cloud and let me just say, the cloud wasfoin. I smiled up at said cloud. “You’re blocking my sun,” I said, acting totally blasé. In reality, my insides were doing a little happy dance.

“This seat taken?” he asked, pointing down to the empty spot on my sheet.

I held my hand out, fingers splayed, exactly like I’d done for John. “Sorry. Married.”

“What your husband doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” he replied while letting that sexy smirk spread across his face. I was a Blake Parker sexy smirk slut and he knew it. Still, I played it off.

“Sorry. I’m completely loyal.”

“Give me a chance to change your mind.” He dropped down next to me but immediately rolled over to pin me under him. Then my husband set about kissing the ever-loving crap out of me. I giggled as I allowed him to discreetly move his hand into very impolite places on my body.

Finally, I heard, “Ry?” Then it was quickly followed by, “You’re not Ry.” I carefully removedmyhand from where I’d been low-key giving Blake a handy to lift my arm over the both of us and point in the direction that I’d last seen Ryan walking. My husband chuckled in that devious way he often did. The way that told me both he loved bursting that guy’s bubble and that we were far from done.

It wasn’t but a second later when we heard Lorelei shout, “No. It’s still business hours. Shouldn’t you be working?”

My husband rolled off me, still smirking. “I assure you,” Blake said in his best “I’m still turned on by my wife now” voice. “I’m very busy working.”

I slapped at his chest, giggling.

Then he went on, “As a matter of fact, I think I’ll be putting in loads of overtime.”

“Loads,” I agreed. Then I thought better of my reaction, given how we were still lying on a public beach and the image of an old 1940s newspaper headline flashed across the screen in my mind:Scandal!Or, you know, something along those lines. A newspaper headline writer, I was not. “Lorelei, Blake. My husband. Blake, my friend Lorelei.”

Blake’s eyes sparkled when his met hers. “I’m so glad that Glory has a friend here. I tore her away from her life in Michigan, and I love her, so I want her happy.”

“Iamhappy,” I countered.

“Okay,” he said thoughtfully. “Then I want you to stay happy.”

“Am I married to you in this scenario?”

“Always.”

“Then my first statement still stands.”

“Andthisis why I hate newlyweds,” Lorelei mumbled as she shoved Blake over to the other side of me so she had the space to drop down on the towel back in her original spot before going off with John.

John dropped down on the other side of Lorelei. Then I realized I hadn’t made those introductions. “Blake, that’s John. He’s here with his friend Ryan. Ryan went off to find an available woman. Lorelei is single and ready to mingle; therefore, John’s been around all day. They’ll probably have mediocre sex tonight and not call each other again after.” And cheeky Gloria was back.

“Hey!” Lorelei pushed me. “I’ll have you know I’ll rock his world.” Then she looked over at John. “Be prepared to have your world rocked.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“Great,” Blake said, pushing up off the ground. He pulled me up into his arms. “Now that we have that figured out, if you’re ready to rock his world, then we’ll be off.” He grabbed up my bag, slinging it over his shoulder, then bent down to shake the sand off my bath sheet. “Have fun, kids.” As we were walking away, he stopped to throw a, “Don’t forget: wrap it before you tap it” over his shoulder.

I slapped his chest.

“I can’t believe you did that,” I said, pointing back toward the beach, as he helped buckle me in the front seat of his car.

He shot methe eyes, then let his gaze drop to his shorts. Okay, Icouldbelieve he’d done that. Right. My unfinishedhandywork. As he turned out of the park, I casually walked my fingers over to his lap.

“Glory, baby… what are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Nothing but finish what I started. He hissed at the first contact of my palm to his hardening cock, jerking the wheel, skidding us onto the shoulder of the road. The gravel cracked and popped under the tires until he righted us. I tried to pull my hand away but his firm grip kept me right there.

“Just surprised me, is all. You started this, Glory. Don’t chicken out on me now.”

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