Island Idyll: Bandicoot Cove, Book 3 Page 3

“Every night. Five to ten, at the fish and chips shop down the road.”

  She stared at him, stunned. How could she not have known?

  “And every weekend. Stacking shelves at Coles.”

  “Two jobs?”

  Another shrug. “Family had to eat.”

  “And you had to pay for the food?”

  “Me and Jarrod.”

  His older brother. “Wh-what about your parents?”

  “Ah, yeah. My parents. Let’s see. My old man, well, I have no idea why he never gave us money. Probably because he spent seven of the twelve years I was in school in prison.”

  She knew her mouth hung open, but somehow she couldn’t close it.

  “And my mother? Yeah, she was good for work for a while. Until she discovered the attraction of the bottom of a gin bottle.”

  Her heart constricted. Dear God, what a childhood. How could she have been so blissfully unaware of the hardships in his life?

  She ached for the teenage boy he’d once been. Or maybe she ached for the boy he was never allowed to be. “So you and Jarrod were forced to work?”

  He angled the cat to the right, a little too far and too fast, and it tilted precariously. Sienna slid a little closer to Josh, so their legs pressed together. The muscles in his thigh were hard as rock and tense as elastic about to snap.

  He righted the cat, muttered an apology and turned the Hobie again, catching the wind. The cat sailed through the water, picking up speed.

  Sienna did not move her thigh. Not even an inch. She liked the way it felt resting against his. Liked the way the hair on his legs abraded her skin. Liked the way a tic pulsed in his cheek as he looked at her leg, then his, then up at the sail.

  “Josh?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why was your dad in prison?”

  Big sigh. “Fraud.”

  “Is he out yet?”

  “I’d assume so, since he was given a nine-year sentence almost twenty years ago.”

  “You don’t know for sure?”

  Josh shook his head. “Never been interested enough to find out.”

  “But surely he came back to live with you when he got out?”

  His face was once again a blank mask. “He might have. We weren’t there.”

  “Where were you?”

  “Jarrod and I moved up north. To the Sunshine Coast.”

  “And your mother?”

  “She moved on with her bottle of gin. To this day I have no idea where they went.”

  “She deserted you?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “How old were you when she left?”

  He bit his lip. “Sixteen.”

  “Sixteen?” That would have made Jarrod seventeen. “You lived without either parent for the last two years of high school?”

  His arm tensed around the tiller, his biceps bulging under his skin. “It was easier alone.”

  “You never said anything,” she whispered, dismayed by his revelations.

  “We couldn’t. Jazz and I knew if we mentioned our situation to anyone, and DOCS got wind of it, they’d step in. We managed just fine with an alcoholic mother. We managed even better without her.”

  God, he was so removed, so cold. Discussing the Department of Community Services and his past as though he had no connection to it whatsoever. Did he need to distance himself? To help him forget the pain and the hardships?

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, knowing the words were completely inadequate, yet helpless to come up with anything better.

  “Don’t be.” Again, his biceps bulged. “It was years ago. A lifetime ago.”

  “Still, I wish I’d known…”

  “Why, so you could step in and cure my ailments? My woes?”

  “I…” She let her words die on her lips. That was exactly what she’d have wanted to do. She’d have tried to help improve his circumstances somehow. And in doing so, she’d have inadvertently revealed the Lyes’ living conditions, and DOCS would have stepped in. Exactly what Jarrod and Josh hadn’t wanted. “It would have helped me understand you a little better.”

  “Ah, princess, I never wanted your pity.”

  She began to object then stopped. He was right again. That’s what she would have given him. He hadn’t wanted it then, and she was pretty darn sure he didn’t want it now. “So, let me get this straight. Your dad was in prison, and your mother was an alcoholic.”

  Josh nodded.

  “You and Jarrod worked every single day to put food on your table and…pay your way through school?”

  “Someone had to pay.”

  “And with all of this shit going on in your life you still managed to pass every exam you ever wrote and get through your HSC?”

  Determination glinted in his eyes. “A kid is nothing without a school education.”

  “So you did all of that, all of it, just the two of you?”

  “In a nutshell.”

  She bristled. “Yet you have the audacity to label yourself the class failure?”

  “Compared to you, that’s exactly what I was.”

  “Damn it, Josh, you’re not a freaking failure.” She poked a finger into his arm. “You’re a bloody idiot. I was a pampered kid who got whatever I wanted from a family who loved me. I never had to work a day in my life until I finished my uni degree.” Princess was a pretty apt description, actually. “You had to support yourself and your family, and you still made it through high school. You’re not a failure. You’re a freaking legend.”

  “A legend?” He snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  She sniffed in indignation. “A real-life hero.”

  “Heroes aren’t real,” he pointed out. “They’re made-up fantasies.”

  She looked at him sideways. “You were my fantasy for five years.”

  “That’s the problem with fantasies. They’re never as good in the flesh.”

  She gasped. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I never kid about fantasies.”

  “Damn it, Josh. Your flesh looks good enough to lick.”

  He said nothing, merely raised an eyebrow in her direction.

  Don’t blush. Do not blush. “Know what I used to call you back in school?”

  “Josh?” he hazarded.

  “Nice try.” She rolled her eyes. “But wrong. I called you Josh Lie-With-Me.”

  The eyebrow lifted higher.

  “Because all I freaking wanted to do was lie with you. Even for just five minutes.”

  He threw his head back and laughed out loud, the first genuine emotion he’d shown since he’d begun telling her his sorry story. “See, princess. That’s why you and I could never have worked. You and your angelic ways. You had a crush on me for five years, and all you wanted to do was lie with me?”

  “No, you moronic halfwit. I had a crush on you for five years, and all I wanted to do, even if it only lasted five minutes, was fuck your brains out.”

  It was Josh’s turn to gape at Sienna.

  “Lie was a euphemism,” she finished with a grumpy frown.

  Jesus fucking Christ. The girl who’d usurped his childhood dreams had just confessed she’d wanted him as much as he’d wanted her. The angelic princess, who was so far out of his league it was laughable, had been as hot for him as he’d been for her.

  Just as well he’d stayed away from her in school. Preserved her pristine purity.

  No girl as perfect as Sienna deserved to be tainted by his kind.

  “If it makes you feel any better,” she said, her lips swollen in a pout, “I still want to fuck your brains out.”

  For once in his life, Josh was speechless. He had no witty retort, no quick comeback. He was quite simply stunned all the way down to his toes. And his dick, which throbbed beneath his shorts.

  Not a day had passed at school when he’d escaped an embarrassing erection, brought upon merely by seeing Sienna.

  Over a decade later, and he was still plagued with the same affliction. Only this time, the adult woman beckon
ed even more wantonly than the child, making his cock stand even straighter than it had back then. And thicker. So much thicker.

  His gaze dropped to her chest. Again. Beneath the lifejacket that hung open over her shoulders, was the tiny little black shirt he’d first seen lying in a pile on the beach. His childhood fantasy was also the perfect mermaid who’d frolicked so freely in the waves.

  The way her breasts spilled over the top of the shirt had him stiffening even more. And the fact that her nipples were two taut peaks, staring at him, calling to him, only made matters worse.

  The kid he’d been would never, ever have thought to take advantage of the kid she’d been. He’d never felt good enough for her.

  The adult he’d become felt no such compunction. The kid had been so way beneath Sienna she’d have balked at his living conditions. The adult had a thriving business, a place in the Sunshine Coast society, and enough money saved in the bank that he need never work another day in his life.

  The adult had lived with fantasies of the perfect girl for over ten years. Had enough time passed between now and then to finally allow him a taste of what he’d missed out on as a teen? A taste of Sienna.

  “Princess,” Josh said, his voice carrying an intentional warning, “I’m not that same kid. If you offer yourself to me now, I am not going to refuse.”

  It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. “Ah, so you think my confessing that I still want you to fuck me six ways to Sunday is an…offer?”

  Good God, her eyes were exquisite. Clear as a summer blue sky. “Is it?”

  She flicked a silky lock of flaxen hair over her shoulder and sniffed again. Her eyes flashed, darkening even as her face lit up. “Hell, yeah. And mark my words on this one, you turn me down again, and there won’t be another offer.”

  Chapter Four

  It was, without a doubt, the longest trip back to shore in the history of sailing. The mere two hundred meters felt more like a hundred miles.

  Josh steered the cat into the shallow depths, jumped into the water and dragged the Hobie onto the beach. Sienna jumped too, not giving Josh the chance to lift her off the trampoline himself and carry her back to his room.

  He waved over at Luke, the guy in charge of the boats, signaling their return, then grabbed Sienna’s hand and hauled her off the sand.

  “My room is just down there.” She pointed, her voice breathless.

  Ah. A beachside bungalow. Figured. Kylie would have saved the best for her best friends. His own suite was situated in the staff quarters. Nothing to sneeze at, but a million miles away from here. “Condoms are in my room,” he told her, wondering why the fuck he didn’t carry one around in his pocket at all times.

  New rule. From this second on always carry a condom. Always. No question.

  Her lips curved into a sexy grin. “I have some.”

  He faltered midstep. “You do?”

  “There’s a box in the bathroom. Compliments of the hotel.”

  “So, they’re not yours?”

  She shook her head.

  Unquestionable relief stole through him. They weren’t hers. Which meant she hadn’t come here with the intention of having sex.

  “I didn’t think to bring any,” she confessed. Her lips twitched as she looked on ahead, steering him towards her bungalow. “I don’t usually use condoms with my vibrator.”

  Josh tripped. Over his own feet. Fuck, she hadn’t even blushed when she’d said that.

  Sienna turned to steady him. “You okay?”

  Christ, the way her eyes danced, mischief painted all over her delectable face, her freckles standing out… “You said that on purpose,” he accused. “Just to get a reaction out of me.”

  Why on earth had he ever thought her eyes were the color of a summer sky? Right now they looked black. Her pupils were enormous, dark spheres rimmed with navy.

  “Did I get a reaction?” she asked with the tiniest hint of a smirk.

  Jesus, what happened to the naïve kid he’d known in school? “Did you want one?”

  She shrugged sweetly. “Only if it promises more satisfaction than my vibrator.”

  Enough.

  He couldn’t take another second of her teasing. Of her subtle scent that drifted through his nose with hints of cinnamon. Of her creamy white skin, so silky, just begging to be touched. He couldn’t take one more second.

  With more speed than he knew he possessed, he backed her up against the trunk of a palm tree, stepped in close—so close she’d have no doubt of the satisfaction his response could provide—and slanted his mouth over hers.

  The little minx was ready for him, her lips soft, warm, welcoming and…parted.

  Holy fuck! She’d parted her lips for him, inviting his tongue in, leaving the hot, sweet cavern of her mouth open to his exploration.

  Her taste hit him with the force of a cannonball, smashing into his chest, winding him. Sweet and tangy, like strawberries and rum. And salty, like the sea air. Innocence, mischief and…sadness, all rolled into one.

  He could taste all that on her tongue? Sadness? Why?

  Then she whimpered against his lips, and his thoughts scattered. She twined a leg around his, hooking her foot around his ankle, pressing her groin into his and lining her pussy up with his cock.

  He hadn’t been kidding earlier when he’d said if she’d touched him, even once, when they were younger, it’d have been game over in a second. Suddenly he was that horny kid all over again. The determined teenager, aroused and desperate for a taste of her, a feel of her, knowing he could never have her.

  She slid her hand between their bodies, cupping his dick through his boardies, making him groan savagely into her mouth.

  The sound must have motivated her. Less than a second later the same hand was dipping beneath the waistband of his shorts and caressing his bare, aching penis. Here, in the open, standing just on the side of a public pathway, where God knew who could walk past. Anyone.

  Anyone. And she was holding his dick in her palm, petting it.

  Christ. Fuck. Holy shit.

  She was in his arms, pressing her body against him, wrapping her hand around his erection, and damned if he wasn’t on the verge of ending the game right now.

  He wrenched his lips from hers, his eyes scrunched shut, pain shooting through his balls.

  Fuck, release. He needed release. Needed to come.

  “Let go. Quick,” he rasped. Whoa. Close. Way too close. “Say something, anything. Get my mind off fucking you, or it’s not gonna happen.”

  Her hand was an instrument of torture, releasing him in tiny, tormenting strokes. Her breath came in shallow gasps, her breasts scraping against his chest with every inhalation.

  Not helping. Not one little bit. “Princess, fuck, say something.”

  With a long, breathy sigh, she released him, extricating her hand from his pants. “I…I’m getting married.”

  He clenched his teeth, willing his orgasm into retreat mode, mulling over her words, trying to make sense of them.

  Married.

  Married?

  His erection died a sudden, effective death. Her confession slapped him clean across the face.

  Josh stumbled back. “Married?”

  No way. No fucking way.

  What was he then? Some last minute entertainment before the big day? The last hurrah? A quick spin to tie up any childhood loose ends?

  Sienna’s face creased with sorrow.

  “You’re getting married, and you’re here? Doing this? With me?” Irrational fury surged through him.

  Tears pooled in her eyes. She shook her head. “No. I’m not.”

  Josh glared, his thoughts reeling. “Jesus, Sienna, what the fuck kind of a game are you playing with me?”

  “No game. I’m not getting married.” Her voice trembled.

  “You said—”

  “You told me to say something.”

  He smacked his fist into his forehead. Christ, he had. He’d practically yelled at her. “So…so
you’re not getting married.”

  A tear spilled over onto her cheek. “No.” She shook her head. “Not anymore.”

  He stared at her, shocked.

  “We broke up.”

  Ah. Could that account for the sorrow he’d tasted on her tongue? “When?”

  “Few months ago.”

  “Why are you telling me this now?”

  “Because I’m about to sleep with you. I thought you had a right to know. I, er, I haven’t been with anyone besides Ben for a very long time.”

  Oh, great. Just fucking great. “So this makes me, what? The rebound guy?”

  “Wha—? God, no!” She looked as shocked as he felt.

  “Then you have slept with someone since the break-up?”

  “No,” she practically yelled at him.

  “So I am the rebound guy,” he confirmed.

  She shook her head viciously. “Interesting perspective. I’d been thinking about you as my salvation.”

  He snorted. “Salvation. A quick fuck to get over your ex. Whatever. Same thing, no?”

  She wiped an angry hand over her cheek, brushing away any trace of her tears. “I just told you I spent five years at school wishing you’d fuck me. That I still wish you’d fuck me. And this is your answer? This is your conclusion?” Emotion flashed through her eyes. Fury? Dismay? Confusion?

  “Pretty obvious conclusion, don’t you think?” Why was he so angry? Did it even matter if he was her rebound guy?

  Her face shut down. Her body cooled beside his, noticeably. “You know what, Josh? I’ve got enough shit to deal with without you getting all pissy on me.” She shoved herself away from the tree. “I’ve fantasized about you for years. But I guess it’s true what they say. The reality can never live up to the fantasy.” Shouldering him hard in the chest, she stormed past him.

  Pain twanged through his sternum, the aching promise of a future bruise.

  “Have a nice life,” she tossed back at him and marched off.

  He watched her go. Watched her round ass swing with every furious stride. Watched her endless, curvy legs eat up the path. Watched as the woman who’d been the center of every childhood dream disappeared from his life once again.

  It was better to let her walk away. He didn’t need the complication in his life right now. Didn’t need a princess.