A Summer to Remember

chapter Nine

“So, I spoke to Autumn and Savannah today and we all want to go to Martha’s Vineyard this weekend. We don’t have to rent a place because it is all taken care of and I heard where we’re staying is the bomb. Do you feel like tagging along?”

I pretended to be busy with invoices but all this crap went to Alastor so I just logged out of the spreadsheet and decided to check my Facebook account instead.

“Sure, that sounds like a plan. When do we leave?”

“This Wednesday,” Talia said excitedly as she sipped from her tall coffee Frappuccino. “We were planning to make a proper trip of it since Independence Day is on Thursday. We would come back home on Sunday so it would be a nice, long relaxing weekend.”

“Just us girls?” I inquired out loud as I finally met her pale green eyes.

“Course not—how much fun would that be? Jude, Paul and a couple of their friends from CDG Investments were going to come so we could make it an exciting weekend. We’re staying at the vacation estate that belongs to his friend’s family. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

“No, not at all,” I lied and began to check my Facebook timeline.

Since my heart-to-heart with Paul, he’d let Ashley down gently but that didn’t necessarily mean she was out of our lives. Imogen and Jude never hooked up and since he thought what Paul had done was downright mean, he’d taken up the cause of making sure Ashley was all right. They had become very close over the last couple of weeks and I suspected they were sleeping together.

On the other hand, Paul was giving me nothing but time to heal from what had happened to me at Vassar. I hadn’t slept with anyone since Brandon and I missed the feel of a hot, warm male body on top of mine. I wanted Paul and I to take the next step and consummate our relationship but he was determined to take it slow. He didn’t want me to rush into anything but at the same time, it wasn’t like we were strangers. We’d known each other most of our lives so why couldn’t we just take the plunge and start a sexual relationship with one another?

Well, for one reason, no one knew about us. I hadn’t even told Talia what was going on because she’d had work problems and hated working with Scarlet Fever. Their new album was finished but Kasper and Jaden had insisted they start writing songs for the sixth album they planned to record in 2014. It was a pain the ass for her and all she did was complain so I didn’t want to make her feel bad with my good news.

Plus, she’d recently discovered the only man she’d ever loved was going out with Fresca Kerrigan. She was an up and coming actress who’d recently celebrated her twenty-first birthday in Vegas by getting drunk and thrown out of Chateau, an exclusive club at Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. That didn’t exactly sit well with Talia when Seth Delvecchio breezed into the studio to cut a track with Scarlet Fever and his new extension-wearing, bleached blonde, size-two Miss Thang was in tow.

Talia was hurt beyond belief but she wouldn’t share her pain with me and to talk about how in love I was with Paul just didn’t seem right or fair. It wasn’t what best friends did. I doubt she would see it that way once she found out but right at that moment, my lips were sealed.

“It sounds great. I am really excited,” I finally exclaimed and smiled in return.

She stood and smiled back. “Cool. So, I’ll see you at the loft tonight and we can talk about it in more detail then.”

I nodded my head affirmatively. “Sounds like a plan.”

Talia opened my door and almost walked directly into Paul. “Jeez, where did you come from and shouldn’t you be at work or something?”

“Yes, but I stopped by to see Jerrica real quick.”

“Mmm, you dump Ashley and all the sudden you and Jerri are spending a lot of time with one another. One wouldn’t have anything to do with the other, would it?”

I winced. Talia had never been slow on the uptake and she could read us both like open books. However, Paul laughed it off and grabbed her by the waist.

“Did it ever occur to you that Jerri and I are just good friends? Besides, I didn’t ‘dump’ Ashley. Our parting was mutual if you must know. She is looking for a husband and marriage…I’m not ready for that with any one woman just yet and certainly not one I have known less than six months. I’m a player, you know that, Talia.”

“Humph, in your dreams, maybe,” she murmured before she kissed his cheek and walked out of the door, closing it behind her.

“That was a close call,” I whispered.

If it had been anyone else, I would have spoken in a normal, conversational voice but Talia had great hearing and God knows I didn’t want her to be able to listen to any part of my conversation with Paul.

“Not really. Why can’t I come by to see you and make sure you’re doing okay?”

I stared at Paul as he walked towards me with his tousled blond-streaked hair and those liquid crystal blue eyes. His toned body was hidden underneath an Armani suit which fit him perfectly and my eyes glazed over with lust. The moment he was close enough for me to reach, I grabbed him and held on to his waist as I looked up at him.

“You need to stop teasing me and just make love to me already. I don’t know how much more of this insane torture I can take. I dream about your body and your face and you…if we were just getting to know each other, I would easily call this a case of insta-love but Paul, we have been around one another most of our lives. What are we waiting for exactly?”

He leaned down and kissed my lips ever so gently and I melted in his arms like warm milk chocolate. “I want to know that when we take that step, you’re emotionally ready to handle it, Jerrica. If we get in a fight, you can’t just throw me outta bed and tell me to get lost with a Post-It note.”

“I would never do that to you and yes, I am aware everything isn’t going to be cotton candy and roses but do you honestly believe I can be in your presence for four and a half days while we are at Martha’s Vineyard and not want to jump your bones? I don’t have that kind of will power, baby,” I explained in a truthful manner.

“I know,” he began before he smiled. “Which is why at Martha’s Vineyard, we’ll tell everyone about us and come out as an official couple. I have been best friends with Jude for so very long, I don’t know what he will do when he finds out that I am boning his sister. I mean…I think he could handle the one night stands because he would never have to face those men again but…it would hurt my soul if he cut me out.”

I laughed out loud then. “I can assure you Jude would never do that to you. He treats you like a brother and you have been his rock and the one person he can tell anything to. He might be pissed at first but he’ll get over it. I am not ashamed of being in love with you.”

Paul pulled me into his arms as his gentle warm hands caressed the small of my back. “You make that sound too sexy and erotic. Stop talking dirty to me or you will make me leave your place of business with an erection too big to conceal.”

“Oh, really?” I kissed him then and although it started off feathery soft, the moment, my mouth opened wider and his tongue sought entry, it grew with a fierce intensity. One hand clasped the back of my neck as the other snaked between my legs and slid my lace thong to the side.

His probing fingers were gentle as he rubbed the top of my * which was hard as rock and my hips bucked involuntarily toward the movement. Two of his fingers slid into my moist passage and caressed me deeply, immediately locating my G-spot and I moaned into his mouth.

My hips continued to gyrate as he teased me, pushing his fingers in and out of me as our kiss grew deeper and more passionate. He would then slip them out and caress my * with my juices. I was on the verge of a monster orgasm when he stopped and withdrew his fingers before sliding my thong back in place.

Paul slipped those two fingers dripping with my juices into his mouth as soon as we separated and suckled on them.

“Mmm, as sinful and decadent as I imagined. Now I can smell you and taste you all day,” he whispered seductively in my ear.

“And my * is just going to throb because a few more strokes and you would have brought me home. You’re absolutely evil, Paul.”

“Well, I’ll make it up to you in a couple of days when we get to Martha’s Vineyard.” He kissed me again and I could taste myself on him and it was such a turn on, the seat of my thong soaked immediately with my juices. “I’ll see you soon but in the mean time, I have to get back to work.”

I smiled at him as we separated and I was left watching him walk out while my dewy sex throbbed with unfulfilled desire. I immediately walked to my own personal bathroom, washed up and put on a fresh thong. My new boyfriend thought he was slick but he would definitely pay for what he did to me.



I wasn’t really a woman into self pleasure but I used my Rabbit vibrator that night and released all the pent up tension I felt. I felt good afterwards yet still completely and wholly unsatisfied. The Rabbit wasn’t Paul and nothing would sate me except his touch and caress again.

After my heartbeat had slowed down and I had time to think as I laid in my bed, I wondered what our friends would say about us being together? Mostly I worried about what Jude would have to say about the situation because Paul was his best friend and if he ever thought I was using him to get over Kevin, he would never forgive me.

The irony of the situation was it was the exact opposite: I had used Kevin to try to get over my love and attraction for Paul because it felt so deliciously forbidden. Personally, I suspected my brother was more concerned about his best friend getting hurt than he was for me. That was my mistake though because if I’d told him about what happened at Vassar, he wouldn’t feel that way and something inside me knew he would have to find out the truth, sooner, rather than later.

I tried to sleep but it was a reluctant entity that avoided me like the plague. I finally got out of bed and walked into the kitchen where I grabbed a glass and poured myself a shot of Macallan. I knew the scotch would make me tired enough to be able to sleep and though I didn’t resort to alcohol very often, sometimes, it was the perfect elixir.

“What are you doing up?” a male voice inquired and I turned to see my brother as he walked into the kitchen, grabbed my glass and poured himself a double shot of Macallan.

“I couldn’t sleep and I was hoping a little liquid fire would help would the situation,” I responded in a soft voice. “I have to tell you something and I don’t want you to be angry with me.”

Jude turned toward me and glared into my eyes with cold aquamarine eyes. “Save your excuses because I already know. I’d have to be blinder than the late Ray Charles not to see what the hell is going on between you and Paul. He’s always visiting your gallery and he’s been quite happy for the past few weeks. I suppose that is your doing but…is this real or just some kind of short lived love affair?”

I was taken aback by his attitude but I quickly bit my lip and accidentally drew blood. “We haven’t had sex yet so…no, this isn’t some kind of short lived love affair. He wants to take it slow and I agree with his decision.”

“Why if it’s just you two getting together because you’re lonely?” he questioned in a cool tone. “That makes absolutely no sense if you ask me.”

I stared into my brother’s eyes. “I am in love with Paul and he feels the same about me. This isn’t just some kind of affair. We want to be together and this has a good chance of leading to marriage and…happiness for both of us. This isn’t some kind of game I am playing with him.”

“So, he told you about what happened to Kevin and how much trouble he is for insider trading and you feel nothing about that?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not really…I hope he goes to prison for what he’s done…he’s inflicted worse on me and I don’t have any loyalty to him. I didn’t attack that chick in Southampton because I wanted Kevin back. It happened because I couldn’t believe he was there with another acting as if he hadn’t done anything to me and our breakup was so…normal…when it wasn’t.”

Jude sighed in exasperation before he crossed his arms against his lean chest. “And what could have possibly happened between you two that would cause your breakup to be less than normal…what ever a normal breakup is considered to be.”

I clutched the kitchen counter and found myself not being able to look at my brother. “He made me get an abortion, Jude. It didn’t end well and I started to hemorrhage a couple weeks later…I had to go to the hospital and I had emergency surgery. The chances of me giving birth to a child naturally are slim to none without the help of a surrogate. Then he dumped me and said everything that happened was my fault because I was too cheap to go to a good doctor to get the abortion.”

My brother’s demeanor changed and he punched the sheetrock next to one of the cabinets and created a hole. “That motherf*cker…why didn’t you say anything and who exactly knows about this?”

“Just Talia…and Paul because he forced me to tell him what happened even though I didn’t want to but I didn’t want him to think I didn’t trust him.” I finally faced my brother. “I didn’t tell anyone because I was ashamed I went through with the abortion in the first place. I wanted to give the baby up for adoption or…keep it. I know Mom and Dad would have been disappointed in me initially but they would have loved their grandchild.

“I let that son of a bitch talk me into doing something I knew was wrong and the aftermath was all on me. I didn’t have to do it but I thought it was the only way I could keep him. I needed to keep him because he kept me away from Paul. I have loved him for years and I thought if I stayed with Kevin, eventually, I would forget about my feelings for him but that never happened. And look what I sacrificed in the end.”

I breathed deeply because my brother was beyond livid and had begun to see red. He was so angry he didn’t know what to do and that was never a good situation for him to be in—he needed to be in control of a situation and his emotions at all times. It was just his genetic wiring and I’d accepted this a long time ago.

“So, you finally told him?” Talia inquired as she entered the kitchen.

“Yes, I did.”

Jude turned toward my best friend. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

Her green eyes paled. “I couldn’t because it wasn’t my place and I was with her during all the shit, Jude. You don’t know how f*cked up she was because I never brought her around anyone after everything went down. I thought she handled the situation pretty well after the fact. I didn’t see anything wrong with her not wanting anyone to get close after Kevin betrayed her in the most awful of ways.”

“So you were fine with her f*cking everything that moved and acting like a general whore—”

“She didn’t act like a whore, Jude. So she slept with a few guys but it wasn’t like she was sleeping with anyone who looked in her direction. I know of five intimate encounters she had with men…over the last two years. If that is a whore then what is a normal woman? Brandon was a bit much but I seriously thought she was working out the last of what Kevin did to her and seeing him again in Southampton just brought it all back to her again.”

He walked over to me and grabbed me by the arms. “I would have wanted to have been there for you, Jerri, you know that. The next time you keep a secret this huge from me, I will break your neck—you got it?”

I nodded my head as the tears began to fall regardless whether I wanted them to or not. He slid his arms around my waist and pulled me to him as I began to sob on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I know I should have trusted you if no one else but every time I wanted to tell you, it was like a block of ice formed in my throat and I couldn’t tell you no matter how much I wanted to.”

He kissed my forehead. “Don’t let it happen again, okay?”

“I promise I won’t.”

We continued to hold each other and somehow, I knew everything would be all right in the end.