Kelly Jamieson - Faceoff

He hissed. Then he groaned. Then he went very still. “Don’t make a fast move,” he said, voice constricted. “But Matt and Logan are coming.”

She couldn’t help it, she jerked her hand out from under his shorts. “Oh my god.”

“It’s okay. They didn’t see anything.” He looked at her, arousal tightening his face. “Goddamn. Listen, Kyla. I set up the tent in the backyard. Come there tonight.”

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and stared at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. We can be alone.”

“Tag…?” Her voice ended in a question.

“Hey, I thought you were going swimming,” Matt called.

“We’ll talk later.” He rolled away from her and sat up straight. “I am,” he replied to his brothers. “Just talking to Kyla for a minute.”

“You’re going swimming,” she said. “You just finished golfing. Do you ever sit still?”

He grinned and jumped to his feet. “Nope.” He held out a hand. “Coming in?”

“I can’t move,” she said. “My muscles hurt too much.”

He went to his knees beside her, scooped his arms beneath her and lifted her. “Tag! Put me down!”

“Want to get dropped into the water or want to walk?”

“I’ll walk!”

He lowered her until her feet touched the soft warm sand. “Okay.”

She followed them into the water, wading through it up to her knees, the shallow water pleasantly cool on her heated skin. She kept walking, the water climbing higher and higher, and when it touched her stomach, she tightened her belly muscles and went on her toes. Tag turned to look at her, the water still at his thighs because of his height. He grinned. “Coming, Mac?”

She gave him a look, up through her eyelashes, as if to say, I just did, remember? His eyes darkened and her heart fluttered. Was she really going to go to his tent tonight?

“It’s cold,” she said.

“Yeah, and I need that,” he muttered. And he strode farther out, then jumped to do a shallow, perfect dive. She sighed once more at the male perfection of his body, his athletic grace. And taking a deep breath, she too dove under. Cool water closed over her head, shocking her body, stealing her breath, and she emerged with a gasp. But it didn’t take long to get used to the water and she rolled to her back and floated, staring up at the blue sky and the clouds gathering right along the horizon.

“There you go,” he said. “Swimming’s good exercise.”

She kicked her feet and splashed him a little. “Why are you trying to get me to exercise?”

“It’s good for you. It’s good for your body and your mind. And your soul. Actually the best exercise for all that is sex.”

She almost sucked in a mouthful of lake water. “Okay then!” She rolled and dove beneath the surface again, kicking hard. When she came up for air, she heard him laughing. She couldn’t resist turning to look at him, at the water glistening in his hair, his eyes gleaming, his wide mouth parted in a sexy smile that tugged a curl of heat inside her.

Oh god. What was he trying to do to her? He’d practically seduced her there on the beach, touching her like that, so intimately, and her pussy clenched at the memory. Now he was flirting with her.

Maybe he was right. Maybe some hot sex in a tent was just what she needed.

With Tag, though? That might be a big mistake. She’d had a secret crush on him forever. Sure, part of her wanted to know what it would finally be like. But the practical, sensible part of her was afraid of what that would finally be like. Also there was the family to consider. What impact would something like that have on the rest of their families and their friendships if she and Tag…oh lord.

She stroked through the water in a leisurely crawl, rolled onto her back and floated again. She’d had relationships with guys, quite a few in fact. But a serious relationship was another one of those “some day” things. She didn’t have time for that right now. But maybe…soon. Depending on what happened with that partnership decision.

Or maybe she’d be even busier if she made partner.

Or maybe she wouldn’t even make partner.

Her feet dragged along the sandy bottom of the lake, the ripples of sand bumpy beneath her feet, and she stood, the water only just above her waist here. She’d drifted back closer to shore. Logan had gone to retrieve a football.

“Wanna play, Mac?” Tag called.

She had to smile as she shook her head, wading out of the water. She couldn’t catch a football if her life depended on it, despite the many times they’d tried to teach her. She’d tried so hard. “That’s okay. I’m going to go get warm in the sun.”

She toweled off and sat on her blanket, letting the sun dry her hair and warm her skin, watching three gorgeous guys throw the football and catch it with flexing muscles, taking fearless flying leaps into the water to catch it with hoots of laughter.

Remi appeared then. “Hi,” she said. She paused beside the blanket.

“Heya,” Kyla said with a smile. “My Trivial Pursuit partner in crime. Have a seat.”

Remi smiled with what looked like relief. “Thanks.” She lowered herself to the blanket. “That was fun last night.”

“It was.”

“Thanks for…uh…playing with me.”

Kyla turned back to look at her. “Uh…sure.”

“I just…feel a little overwhelmed, sometimes. Trying to fit in with this whole family.”

“I’m not family.”

Remi tipped her head to one side. “Well, practically. You’re all so close.”

Kyla remembered their brief conversation and Remi’s comment about fitting in. She’d never even considered how Remi felt in her first visit with the families. She sighed. She was so wrapped up in her own problems, she hadn’t spared a thought for someone else. She should have been nicer to her. She sent Remi a smile. “You do fit in.”

Remi smiled too. “Thanks. But I don’t have the same kind of history you all do. It’s just hard not to feel a little excluded sometimes.”

“Jase loves you. That’s obvious. It just takes time, right? To build that history. It’ll come. And his family all really likes you too. I can tell.”

“Thanks. I really like them all too. Laura’s been awesome.”

“God, I love Laura.” Kyla grimaced. “When I was a kid, she was what I wanted to be—a tomboy who could play any sport the boys could. I was hopeless at sports though.”

“So am I.” They exchanged a look of understanding.

“Did you know she played hockey?”

Remi grinned. “Yeah. I heard that. She is pretty amazing, dealing with all those men.”

“Yeah. That’s the other thing I admire about her, how she controls all those men without barking like a drill sergeant. She’s like a second mom to me.”

“See. You are practically family. Except…what’s with you and Tag?”

Kyla blinked. “Me and Tag? Nothing.”

“Uh-huh. He wasn’t looking at you like a sister last night. There were a few times I felt like the rest of us weren’t even there, the way you two were looking at each other and talking to each other.”

“Oh. Oh god.” Kyla bent her head and studied the fine grains of sand.

“You two aren’t…haven’t…”

“No!” Her stomach tightened. “But…” She glanced at Remi. She wasn’t used to talking about stuff like this with other women. “Oh wow. Um.” She didn’t even know how to say it.

“You like him?”

“Well, of course I do.”

Remi laughed. “Okay…do you want to do him?”

“Yeah.” Kyla breathed out a long sigh. “I always have. From the time I was about fifteen years old.”

Remi’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Don’t say anything. Please. Don’t tell anyone. I tried so hard not to let on. One summer, when I was about eighteen, Tag figured it out. But nothing ever happened because he basically turned me down.” She made a face.

Remi gave Kyla a slow, pretty smile. She was really sweet, Kyla had to admit. And smart. “I won’t say anything. But I think he’s figured it out again.”

Kyla blew out a soft breath, remembering the near-sex-on-the-beach they’d had earlier. “Yeah.”

That night the Heller boys and the MacIntosh siblings all went to The Pelican, the bar on the beach. They sat on the big wooden deck, listening to the live band that played every weekend, drinking beer and coolers and talking. Matt met up with a group of girls he knew from high school who were dressed in short shorts and skimpy tank tops and who were flirting outrageously with him. And he was flirting back.

Tag smiled and shook his head, lifting his beer bottle to his lips.

“This is so gorgeous,” Remi said, gazing out at the lake being tinted pink and peach and gold by the setting sun. “It’s like Lake Michigan.”

“Not nearly as big,” Tag said. “Lake Michigan is the third largest lake in North America. Lake Winnipeg is the seventh.”

“Did you read that on a Trivial Pursuit card last night?” Kyla asked with a smirk. He grinned.

“No. I happened to know that. That’s why I’m so good at Trivial Pursuit.”

“We tied at one game each,” she reminded him, leaning back in the white plastic chair she sat in.

“They’re both huge lakes,” Remi said. “You can’t see the other side, so it’s big. And the sand is much nicer here. It’s incredible, so soft and white.”

“Yeah.”

Tag watched Kyla lift one knee to prop her bare foot on the edge of the chair. She was wearing shorts almost as short as those puck bunnies hitting on Matt and a little T-shirt that hugged her breasts, the words “I’m a lawyer, not a magician” printed on the front. Cute.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to see Matt standing behind him. “Hey, dude,” Matt said in a low voice, crouching beside Tag’s chair. “Can I use that tent tonight?”

Tag frowned. “No.”

“Why not? You’re not seriously going to sleep out there, are you?”

“Yeah. I am.”

“Look.” Matt glanced at the girls. “All three of those girls want to…you know.”

Whoa. “Not in my tent.”

“But if I’m in the tent, my snoring won’t bug you. You can have the bedroom all to yourself.”

That wasn’t going to work for what Tag had planned for the tent. “No way. The tent is mine.” He already had his things out there, everything he was going to need later…

“Oh man! Come on! Three girls! At the same time!”

Tag caught Kyla’s eye and knew she’d overheard when her lips twitched. She leaned over, her breasts brushing his arm. “Come on, Tag, think of your little brother.”

He scowled at her, then looked back at Matt. “No. That’s final. Find somewhere else for your…your…”

“Ménage à quatre?” Kyla suggested.

“Er…yeah.”

“Shit.” Matt stomped away.

Kyla laughed softly, still leaning near enough to him that he could smell her hair, a spicy floral scent mingled with a faint hint of coconut that remained from her sunscreen. Remembering applying that sunscreen to her sweet little body had him instantly hard as a hockey stick. He shifted in his chair. They had to get out of there and back to the cottage. Er, tent.

“I should get back and feed Caleb before we put him down for the night,” Jessica said. She looked at Scott.

“I guess that means I’m leaving too.” But he grinned good-naturedly as he rose from his chair. “Mom texted me a few minutes ago to say Emily was down.”

“Your cell phone is working?” Jase asked.

“Yeah. Sometimes. The service is kind of spotty up here.”

Tag sneaked a glance at Kyla. Did she know what he was thinking?

A few minutes later, he yawned. “Well, I think I’ll call it a night. Keep an eye on Matt.”

“He’s gone,” Logan said. “He left with those girls.”

Tag frowned. He’d better not find them in his tent when he got there. “Well, I guess he knows what he’s doing.”

Logan laughed. “Um, yeah. Pretty sure he does.”

Tag glanced at Kyla, lifting one eyebrow, tossing some bills on the table to cover the tab. “G’night.”

He strolled back toward the cottage down Main Street, then Bluebell Lane, through the growing darkness. The trees formed a lacy black canopy against the cobalt blue sky above him, where clouds were beginning to gather. The still-warm air brushed over his skin as he walked, a breeze springing up off the lake, and he breathed in deeply the fresh air scented with pine and grass and lake water. Would Kyla know to give it a few minutes and then follow him? Would she come?

Was he crazy to be doing this?

He wanted her with a deep visceral need that was almost shocking. It had started the moment he’d watched her keel over onto the grass on Friday night.