Page 58 of Crossed By the Stars
Performed by Imelda May
Written by May / Vito
I was surprised when Jada relaxedintome instead of fighting it.
The road to the beach was really a half-overgrown trail full of rocks and holes, and I doubted my wisdom in choosing the beach for our outing. But if I’d stayed in the house with Jada, locked up in her bedroom, I was pretty damn sure my hands and lips would have ended up on her skin again.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep my hands to myself even out in the open along the shore with Mike and Armando watching us. They’d seen worse, working for Reinard Security and traveling with me and my circle of spoiled rich kids. But I’d always tried to respect them and the person I was with by not shedding our clothes right in front of them.
The fog hadn’t quite cleared yet, and the wind had more bite than I’d expected as we journeyed along the path heading down. Jada tucked her chin and hid behind the hat I’d given her, holding it down with a semi-raised hand, body tightening as we hit every hole along the way.
When we finally got down to the shore, it was littered with branches and debris from the last storm that had blown through not even a week before. This part of the beach that Vanya owned was essentially a private cove, the rocks on each side extending into the ocean like arms, offering us privacy that the main beach in Avalyn didn’t.
As Mike and Armando checked the area, Jada helped me clear a spot to spread the blanket I’d brought with us. The seagulls squawked above us, and from the far line of rocks marking the cove, the sounds of sea lions could be heard, filling the air with barks and grunts. The scent of the sea was much stronger here than on the beach in St. Micah. It was rougher, edgier than the soft smells of the islands.
After we’d sat down, Jada asked, “Now what?”
I laughed, but it was at myself more than at her. There was nothing more to do sitting on the shore than there was sitting in the parlor at the house. I pulledThe Sound of the Wavesand a pile of pails and shovels from the beach bag. “It’s reading or building a castle. Which would you prefer?”
She stared at the buckets I’d found in the mudroom. “I have so many questions. Like who was Vanya with that had kids? And exactly when it was that you last built a sandcastle?”
“My cousin on my mother’s side has two children. The last time we were all together at St. Micah, there was a sandcastle contest going on in town, and they recruited me to help them build one.”
“And you were, what? Ten?”
I laughed. “No, it was just a couple of years ago.”
When she didn’t reply, I grabbed her hand and helped her up from the blanket. “Come on,mon amour, let’s see what kind of castle-building skills you have.” She prickled at the endearment, as I’d intended.
“None. I have no sandcastle skills. And didn’t you tell me I was supposed to rest?”
“It’s a sandcastle. It’s not like you’ll be lifting heavy beams or anything. I’ll carry all the sand-filled buckets,” I said and handed her the shovels.
I moved toward the water, and she followed.
“The trick is to be close enough to the water so that it’s damp, but not so close that it washes away too soon.”
“Oh my God, if only Benita and her vampires could see you now. They’d never call you Mr. Suave again.”
I smirked. “They don’t call me that now.”
“Yes, they do.”
Benita had called me other things when we’d been in bed together. But for some reason, her sex talk had never done it for me when normally I was all for murmured words of desire and lust.
“Are you going to build your own or help me?” I asked her.
“It isn’t a competition,” she said.
“I thought everything was a competition to you.”
She glared at me. “No. You just bring out my vicious side.”
My smile grew. “Well, we could make it a contest. Mike and Armando could be the judges.”
“They’d just vote for yours because you’re their boss.”
“Or maybe they’d vote for yours because you’reslightlymore beautiful than me.”
