I HELD A strawberry to Red’s lips and watched her bite through it. Like the other dozen or so times, she pecked my lips, and I licked the sweet juice from hers. We were on my deck, and she was wrapped in a blanket on my lap. The inky sky above us was peppered with stars. The waves whooshed as high tide rolled in.
I was in paradise: just my ocean and my girl.
Red was most definitely my girl. Even if she didn’t know it, there was no chance in hell I was letting her go.
We’d made love two more times in the last few hours, in the shower and on my sofa after we ate pizza. I planned to delight in her body a few more times before we drifted off to sleep. Then I would hold her all night long.
“I love it out here.” She snuggled against my chest and kissed my neck. “When I graduated from college, my parents gave me a bouquet of flowers and reminded me how much they paid for my school. I never wanted to major in business. I feel cheated, honestly. You got a way better gift than I did.”
“Nah, it’s just their way of buying my love. Or to make them feel better for being shitty parents.”
“How old were you when they divorced?”
“Middle school. But for as long as I can remember, preschool maybe, they fought.”
Her soft hand stroked my cheek. “I’m so sorry. A young child shouldn’t see their parents fighting.”
“I agree.” Which was why I never wanted kids. “I was in third grade when they shipped me off to boarding school for two years. They think I don’t know it had to do with my dad screwing my nanny. But I used to catch them making out all over the house when my mom was gone. Deidra, my nanny, was pretty and young. But my old man was a dog and couldn’t keep his hands off her. I often heard her telling him she didn’t want to come between him and my mom. He didn’t give a shit though. I was glad when they sent me away, so I didn’t have to pretend like I didn’t know what was going on.”
“Oh, baby, you weren’t glad. Don’t lie to me.” She turned in my lap and straddled me. She held my face in her hands with care and dotted kisses across my lips, along my jaw. Her touch soothed me. “You were sad. It’s okay if you were. You were a little boy. You needed your parents.”
“Enough about mine. Tell me about your parents.” I wasn’t trying to dodge talking about my childhood. It just wasn’t a pleasant one, and reliving it brought me down. All I wanted was to be happy with Red. I may never stop calling her the nickname I gave her, even after knowing her real name was Scarlett. It was a pretty name and it fit her, but she would always beRedto me.
“Okay. My parents are conservative Christians. My dad is a dentist and my mom is a stay-at-home mom. I have four younger siblings, one brother and three sisters. We were all homeschooled. I grew up spending most of my free time in church and riding horses. My parents entertained a lot and the Smith kids were expected to always be on our best behavior.”
“That must have been a challenge for you. I sense a wild spirit in you.” I played with her hair, looping a strand around my finger.
“I just wanted to be free to be me. You were a wild child, weren’t you?” She played with the hair at my nape in return, making my spine tingle.
“The wildest. I was always getting expelled in high school. I wasn’t so bad when I was younger, but my teenage years were a clusterfuck of incidents, costing my parents time and money.
“You just wanted attention. I get it. I never got expelled, but I rebelled in my own ways.”
“Oh yeah? How did you rebel?” I smirked as her cheeks turned pink.
She smiled and bit her bottom lip. “I was late for everything: classes, lessons, dinner. They caught me making out with a few different boys… I was topless one of those times.” She grimaced.
“Red! Topless? You’re going straight to hell for that one.”
She threw her head back, giggling. I jumped at the chance to suck on her neck. “My parents said the same thing.” She ground against me. “Yes… I love having your mouth on me.”
I stopped and leveled my gaze on hers. “How many guys have had their mouths on you?” I shouldn’t care, but I did. I’d gotten Red’s V-card, and it meant a lot to me. Still, I hated the thought of any guy touching what was mine.
“You’re looking a little scary, Leo. Possessive much?”
“Only when it comes to you. How many?”
“Well, the guy I had my shirt off with when my mom found us. He was the first guy to suck on my nipples.”
I growled but I had a feeling she was trying to get a rise out of me by the way she continued to grind against me.
“He was going to get me off, but we were interrupted. Lucky for him, I’d sucked him off before my mom came along.”
“Fuck, Red. No, you didn’t. How old were you?” My blood pressure shot up, imagining her perfect pink lips around some other dude’s cock.
“Sixteen. It was my birthday. I’d never been kissed. After that, I was on restriction for the rest of the school year.”
I shook my head, feeling this weird sensation burrow in my gut. Was it jealousy? “Your parents should’ve never let you out of your room.”