Page 61 of Reckless Devotion

Shit.

Chapter 23

Chase:I don’t think you should wear that bikini.

Pepper:Why?

Chase:Because you’d look better without it.

PEPPER

If I had balls, they would be blue.

Making out with Chase Walker is sinful, and I’m done pretending that I don’t want that. I stare at him behind the sanctity of my mirrored sunglasses, sucking down a mouthful of the mean cocktail he blended through a long curly straw.

He stands in the water, so tall it laps around his hips, baring every inch of those insanely chiseled abs and the thick muscles that flex in his chest every time he moves his arms. It’s unfair really, no one needs all that sex appeal in one place. Total overkill. Especially with the masculine smattering of hair across his chest and the memory of how thick and heavy he felt in my hand. I’m talking post-coital-wheelchair-use-needed big.

“King Arthur himself couldn’t pull that man from me.”

For a mad moment, I think my dirty thoughts have been plucked from my head and come alive. Both Mia and I look at Chloe in alarm where she lies on a cushioned sun lounger between us, wearing a red swimsuit, her slim sunglasses pushed right down to the tip of her nose so that she can openly ogle her husband. After a stunned moment, we both burst into laughter.

“What? It’s true!” Chloe grins, pressing her glasses back up but still looking in the direction of the pool where the guys all play water polo. Sunny joins in too, hitting the ball high into the air using her clasped hands. It lands right next to Mr. Clay in the shallow end, spraying the grumbling man with water.

Clear blue fills the sky as far as the eye can see, a couple of wide-winged terns coasting above on the warm ocean swell as it drifts up the private beach. I don’t think I’ve ever been this relaxed in my life. Mia and Chloe, despite being model worthy, are the nicest people I’ve ever met. Both of which have graciously not mentioned finding us mauling one another last night. The sun warms my skin, and I cannot think of even one thing that I have to do today. This is a life I could get used to. Even Lord Bartholemew is enjoying himself, sleeping in the sun-drenched bay windows at the front of the house.

The only person not having a great time is Chase’s mom. The woman who came downstairs for breakfast this morning was a shell of the one she had been the night before, and she’d retired back to bed not long after that.

“I think we should go into town and get groceries,” Mia announces, taking the last sip of her drink and standing. “Boys! We’re cooking Mexican food tonight.”

Chase, Zeke, Diego, and Sunny totally ignore her, too engrossed in their game. Zeke launches himself sideways, trying to hit the ball Diego just served over the net, missing and crashing into the water so that a tidal wave of pool water drenches Chase.

“You’ve got the agility of a baby panda,” Chase gripes, swiping water out of his eyes and pushing back his hair. Great, now he looks even more Vogue cover shoot. Before he can even catch a breath, Zeke shoves him over roughly so that he ends up underwater.

“Doggy pile!” Diego bellows, splashing as quickly as he can over to him and belly flopping on top.

Zeke laughs, and so does everyone else. I swear I even hear something that sounds like a chuckle from Mr. Clay. I find myself smiling, but again that ache in my chest resurfaces, and I rub my palm over it in slow circles. Chloe stands too and I follow, getting as close to the pool edge as I dare, considering the free-for-all that is happening on the other side of the net.

“You coming?” Mia asks, hiking a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the house.

“Sure, one sec. Sunny?” I call out to her where she bobs in the water a few feet away, a large grin on her face and a decidedly more freckled nose than she had this morning. She reluctantly turns away from the play fight. “We’re heading into town, come get yourself dried off.”

The corners of her mouth droop instantly, a torn expression on her face as she looks at Chase, Zeke, and Diego, then back to me. “Can I stay here?”

I open my mouth to respond, but then hesitate. I’m not sure how I feel about leaving Sunny here alone with these people. Not because they’ve given me any reason to doubt their character since I arrived—quite the opposite, in fact—but because I don’t reallyknowthem. Even Chase…how well can you really know someone in four weeks? Something about handing that trust over to someone else,anyoneelse, to watch Sunny feels terrifying to me. Like I might come back and find that they’ve lost her, or something. I’m sure this is a manifestation of the fear I’ve been carrying every day since I found out my trial isaround the corner, because that really could tear me and Sunny apart.

A warm hand lands on my shoulder. “The boys will take good care of her, I promise.” Mia smiles, her eyes lit with a knowing sort of kindness.

It’s impossible not to trust this woman. She has a type of quiet grace and peace that surrounds her, and she’s one of those utterly irritating people that seem like a good person through and through. I’ll bet she doesn’t have any broken pieces that she hides away in the darkness like I do. I offer her a small smile in return and shift my focus back to Sunny.

“Okay, but call me if you need anything. Okay?” I cringe when I hear how overbearing I sound—she is fifteen, after all—she’s well adept at surviving a couple of hours on her own.

She must hear it too, because she wiggles her eyebrows at me teasingly. “Will do,Mom.”

“Girl, shut up.” I roll my eyes playfully, turning away from her and waving over my shoulder. “And put some more sunscreen on!”

I see Chloe and Mia waiting, and suddenly realize that my hesitation in leaving Sunny might have been slightly offensive. “Hey, about that back there. I’m sorry if it came across as rude, it’s not—”

“If you think that’s rude, I dread to know what people think of me.” Chloe snorts, pushing her sunglasses up her freckled nose.