“Surprise!” Mom exclaimed, giving me a hug. “I told Gary it was your favorite place, and he conveniently enough has a beach house in the Hamptons! Isn’t that great?”
Gary carried his luggage down the stairs, followed by Ashton, who winked at me as he walked by. I scowled and turned from my mother, who was suddenly concerned.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just grumpy before my coffee. You know that,” I lied.
“Get packed. We’ll get some on the way,” Mom said in her soothing voice.
I couldn’t believe it! I had just unpacked, saw Ashton’s package, and now I had to go on a beach trip with him? Still, I couldn’t help but feel excitement. I would be on a vacation with my sexy stepbrother-to-be. We had better not be sharing a bathroom there.
I bounded up the stairs, briefly admiring my room again, and threw some clothes into my suitcase. Luckily, I had picked up a sexy bathing suit before I left. It was pink and lacy, barely covering my breasts and ass. I had intended to impress someone else with it, not my future stepbrother.
This is crazy. No need to be so nervous, Amy. Just go and have fun.
I put on sunglasses, looking for any excuse not to make eye contact with Ashton. I was still really flustered from the night before. Luckily, he was already in the car. I would be sitting with my mom, which I was grateful for. She scooted next to me in the seat.
“Make sure to put your seatbelt on,” she said.
“Yeah, make sure. We wouldn’t want you to projectile out of the car,” Ashton joked.
“Thanks, Ashton,” I said, not sounding the least bit thankful.
“Please.” He turned around and grinned at me. “It’s Ash. And you’re about to experience Ash Sunday, as I call it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Ash Sunday. Nice,” I said flatly. Secretly, I did think it was funny. I wasn’t going to show him that, though. I pulled out my compact to apply some lip gloss; my face was red again. Damn him.
“There’s a great coffee place up ahead,” Gary commented. “I already had a cup. Do you want any, Emma?”
“No, I’m good. Do you guys?”
Ashton looked at my mom and smiled his brilliant white smile. “Hell yeah. It’s necessary. Need that buzz, know what I mean?”
“My Amy can’t function without coffee,” my mother joked.
We stopped at the shop, which was the coolest coffee place I’d ever seen. The front was painted black, and the entrance to the store was in the middle of a giant painted coffee cup. Inside, paintings and ads for local events and mic nights filled the walls. Not surprisingly, it was also crowded. Ash followed me inside.
“Let’s just go,” I said. “We can go somewhere else. It’s too crowded in here.”
“Nah. This place has the best coffee. Let me handle it. Hey, Kelsey!” he called.
One of the baristas looked over and smiled brightly. She was really attractive, with dark brown hair and pretty, tanned skin. I felt a tinge of jealousy. Who was she? Did he know her? Had they hooked up? I scolded myself for thinking these things.
“This girl needs a coffee,” he said, standing behind me and gripping my shoulders. I nearly fell over from the tingle of his touch.
“Gotcha. What does she want?” Kelsey asked with a friendly wink.
“What do you want?” he said in my ear, barely more than a whisper.
My heart raced even more than it would be after I had my caffeinated beverage. I gulped. “Iced coffee. Small. Cream and sugar. With vanilla.”
“Small iced coffee, cream and sugar, with vanilla,” he called out. “And I’ll have my usual espresso.”
The people standing in line in front of us looked very annoyed. I couldn’t believe he was able to get what he wanted like that! Still, I was a little intrigued. Kelsey bustled over to us and gave Ash and I the coffees. He shoved a twenty in her hand, which covered far more than the cost of the coffee.
“I don’t need change. We gotta bolt,” he said.
I followed him out the door, a bit taken aback. “I guess you come here a lot, then? Thanks,” I said, my voice quivering again.
“You know, it’s really cute when your voice does that shaky thing.”
“Right,” I said, trying not to sound as nervous and impressed as I was. I took a sip of my coffee and got in the car. Ash followed, and the rest of our journey was pleasant despite the longing that crept up between my legs.
We finally reached the Hamptons, and the beach house was beautiful, maybe even as pretty as one of my mom’s bed and breakfast places. It was a white condo, much like Gary’s other house upstate. The first floor had a glass dining room with a view of the ocean. On the inside, everything was sea-themed.
Ash and I, luckily, did not share a bathroom here. I carried my luggage upstairs and put my lacy pink bathing suit on under some black boy shorts and a pink tank top. My flip-flops made clacking noises on the stairs as I walked down. My mother and Gary were standing at the door.