Page 78 of For Better or Hearse
Alone.
When the trail ends and they funnel out onto the beach, Ash gasps. Stretched out in front of them is a massive rock wall where a large waterfall crashes into the swimming hole below. Farther back, calm, crystal-clear turquoise waters lead into numerous lagoons and shallow enclaves. A line of large rocks borders the shore edge. The beach is sparsely populated, an “intimate gem,” their guide claims.
“Now this,” Augustus says, “is what it’s all about.”
Claire, her face soft, wraps an arm around his shoulders. “Oh, Dad.”
The group spreads out. Doing that awkward family thing that looks like togetherness while they actually ignore each other until it’s over.
Book in his hands, Augustus sits on a boulder in the sun. Tate sits beside him, grudgingly laying his phone down.
When Nathaniel glances over, he catches Ash’s eye. She gives him a slight smile. God help him. The warmth that pours through him is shameful.
“Tarot?” Delaney singsongs, bouncing beside Ash and waving her deck.
“No,” Nathaniel and his mother say in unison.
“What’s so bad about Delaney’s tarot?” Ash asks him.
“We’ve all avoided it since the time she pulled the death card for Don, and two days later, he had to close his Costa Mesa practice.”
Claire shakes her head. “It was very ill-advised.”
“The universe did 90 percent of the work,” Delaney argues.
Ash laughs.
With a shake of his head, Nathaniel tugs his shirt off and tosses it onto his pack. As he strides by Ash, he says, “You going to swim or crisp in the sun?”
She scoffs. The flash of mischief in her eyes makes his dick twitch. “Again with the competition. If you’re so worried, I’ll show you up, just say it.”
He leans in. Notes the shiver that goes through her. “Had to find some way to get you speaking to me again, Bigfoot.”
Lips curving in a smile, she lifts a creamy white shoulder. “Hasn’t been that long.”
Twelve hours and two minutes. That’s what he wants to say, but he doesn’t.
Jesus.
When did it get like this?
She’s driving him wild, and she’s completely oblivious. Or maybe she isn’t. Maybe she just loves torturing him.
Speaking of torture…
Ash strips out of her tank top, shimmies out of her shorts, in one quick motion. And there it is. Her yellow bikini shines bright. The beacon of his ever-constant erection.
“Fuck,” he mutters. Heart pounding, he tears his gaze awayfrom her perfect breasts. Only it doesn’t get far. It gets caught on her perky ass as she struts away from him. Slender curves and creamy white flesh.
He stares, entranced.
Ash hops on a rock that juts over a lagoon. Eyes closed, she kicks out a leg like she’s testing the temperature of the sunlight.
His breathing grows shallow. She’s so damn beautiful. With her bright red lips and long black hair that curls down her back, she looks like wilderness. Like chaos.
Ash should come with a disclaimer. Catlike and beautiful, with random acts of violence. And still, all he wants to do is get close. Experience her light.
Backing up on the rock, she gets into a comical running position.