He waved me into the driveway, miming where I should park. Before I could even put the car in gear, Lisa gave me the raised eyebrows and laughed, “I think I’ll just meet you in the house.”
The drive ran straight through to a garage in the rear, where the blacktop fanned out and took over half of the small backyard. I squeezed my car between Coop’s Audi and Rymer’s truck and got out. I was feeling a tad cautious, not knowing how I should greet Trip. I mean, was grad night just a fluke? A one-time thing?
I watched as he bounded toward me with the most elated grin, not even trying to hide how excited he was to see me. One look at Trip’s face and I found myself vaulting the few steps that separated us and leaping into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist and landed a huge smooch against his smiling lips.
And then suddenly, the hello kiss took an entirely different turn.
He gave a brief look over his shoulder, before maneuvering us between the cars and backing me against Rymer’s truck. I started to put my feet on the ground, but he buried his head in my neck and whispered heavily, “No, don’t.”
He caught me under a knee with his hand and hitched my left leg back over his hip. His other hand was tangled in my hair and his mouth opened over mine as he pressed his body against me.
His breathing sounded ragged and I could hear a low hum stirring in his throat, the sound making me catch my breath as well.
I could feel his rising need through the thin bathing suit, hard and insistent, driving into the bikini bottoms under my skirt. Wow. I guessed he really was excited to see me. Had I known this was waiting for me, I’d have violated every traffic law known to man just to get down in record-breaking time.
I almost melted into him, my body turning as gooey as the steaming driveway blacktop as I returned his kiss, running my hands along his neck, his shoulders, his bare chest.
It felt so amazing, his lips open over mine, his exposed skin under my palms, his demanding body pressed so intimately against me. I was half in a trance by the time he pulled his face back slightly and whispered, “Hi.”
“Hi,” I said right back, breathless and smiling into those gorgeous, ocean eyes.
“Took you long enough to get here.”
Tell me about it. After an eternity of waiting, there I was, finally in the arms of Trip Effing Wilmington.
I laughed and said, “Yeah, it feels like it took forever.”
*
Once Trip adjusted himself in his shorts and grabbed my bag from the trunk, we headed for the house. Turned out, the inside wasn’t much better than the outside. Pickford was the first to greet us from his post in the kitchen, working an assembly line of sandwiches, apparently preparing lunch for the lot of us. Wow, that was pretty nice of him. Who knew he had a Betty Crocker streak?
“Hey, Pick,” I said in greeting, while my eyes scanned the horrors of the room. Earth-toned, flowered wallpaper served as a backdrop for the dark walnut cabinets; a yellow formica countertop and avocado refrigerator rounded out the décor quite fittingly. I noticed that Trip was watching me appraise the room, so I pursed my lips and looked at him wide-eyed. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “You haven’t seen the living room yet.” Pick’s head dropped and his shoulders shook as he laughed silently to himself.
I was ushered into a-yep, you guessed it—brown, paneled room, decorated in early Americana.
Make that very early Americana.
A thirteen-starred flag was strung up behind the brown leather recliner Lisa was sitting in. We exchanged a silent look of whatthehell? as I took notice of the bookshelves just crammed with every patriotic knickknack and memento ever created in the god ol’ U.S. of A. Tacky eagle statues, framed pictures of civil war soldiers, commemorative plates, shadowboxes of medals... Did the owners of this dive forget that it was a beach house?
I said hello to Rymer and Sargento, who were sitting on the brown and orange plaid tweed couch playing Sega, the only modern thing in the room. It was as though the place had been sealed up during a bicentennial celebration and we were the first brave souls to have walked back through the door.
Lisa must have waited for me before slamming on our friends. “Hey, nice digs, guys. What, you couldn’t find an older house? This place is much too fancy for us.”
Rymer didn’t bother looking up from the game he was playing. “Can it, DeSanto! What the hell do you expect for four hundred bucks a week?”
Lisa just rolled her eyes at me. I walked to the other side of the large living room and peeked my head down a small hallway. I scanned my eyes over the two bedrooms there, but decided I wasn’t brave enough to check out the bathroom just yet. I turned toward the east side of the living room and took note of the screened-in side porch. At least the place was pretty big. Plus, we were on a corner lot only a block from the boardwalk, so that was pretty cool. I did, however, pray that that wasn’t the only bathroom in the house.