Page 75 of Resting Beach Face
“Why the fuck are you in Swallow Beach?” he exclaimed. “Shit. I’ll come for you. Just try to figure out exactly where you are. Get an address from someone and text me, okay?”
His whole body went rigid a beat later. I moved close enough to hear the blast of music and words coming from his cellphone.
“Don’t worry, my man, I’ll takerealgood care of your girl while she’s here.”
There was laughter, and a girl’s voice shouting in the background.
“Listen, asshole, you lay one finger on her?—”
The guy laughed, and there was something nasty about the tone of it.
I snatched the phone from Cash, speaking into it.
“That girl is fifteen years old, so I suggest you give her the phone and keep yourself out of jail, all right? We will be there in fifteen minutes, and if Katelyn isn’t perfectly happy when we arrive, the cops will be right behind us.”
“Shit, all right, we were just having a little fun.”
“Go have fun with someone over eighteen.”
“Yes, sir. We don’t want any trouble.”
The phone was handed off, and Katelyn’s voice came back on the line. “Cash?”
“No, this is Declan Sullivan, over at the Treehouse B&B. Hang tight. Your brother and I will come for you right now.”
She sniffed. “Oh my god, this is so embarrassing. I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right, Katelyn. Just be safe. Don’t drink anything, all right? Don’t go anywhere with anyone. Text Cash the address, and wait for us.”
“I will. Thanks.”
I handed the phone back to Cash. “Sorry for taking your phone like that.”
He surged forward, diverting at the last second to press a firm kiss to my cheek. “Thank you for backing me up.”
I cupped his face. “Did you want to kiss me for real?”
“God, yes. Always.”
“Then kiss me. You don’t have to ask anymore.”
Cash’s mouth was on mine instantly, his tongue teasing along the seam of my lips. I opened tentatively, half afraid he’d try to maul me, but I should have known that Cash would seduce, not bulldoze. He tugged my bottom lip with his teeth, then gently flicked his tongue along mine. He kissed like some people danced, starting slow and building a tempo, graceful and sensuous.
My hands tightened in his hair, tugging, and he groaned against my mouth. “Fuck, you kiss so good.”
“I think that’s all you,” I murmured against his lips.
“Maybe it’s both of us,” he said, eyes flicking up to meet mine. “We’re good together.”
My heart lurched. Now was not the time to consider whether he could be right. Maybe we’d work out, or maybe once the kissing escalated and Cash wanted more than me, we’d implode like all my relationships. Right now, we had more important matters to worry about.
“Come on. We’ll take my boat.”
By the time we’d untied and boarded the boat, Cash had received the text from his sister. He relayed the address to me, and I tapped it into the GPS. It took us ten minutes to cross the lake. The Lake of the Ozarks was long, but it was relatively skinny, which meant we got to Swallow Beach in good time, but then we had to cruise northeast for a while.
“There!” Cash pointed toward a private dock cluttered with expensive boats. Light and music poured from the open doors of a huge house. As we approached, I could see a crowd of peopleon the deck, along with a few smaller clusters on or near the boats.
Two girls on the deck of a mini yacht flashed Cash, lifting their tops and squealing with laughter as we passed. I cut my gaze toward him, but he was too busy scanning the party scene before us to notice the breasts on display.
