You Were Mine (Rosemary Beach #9)(30)

Charity giggled at her last attempt to crawl onto the board, then turned to me and batted her eyelashes. “Help,” she said.

That was another thing. She kept wanting me to put her on the damn board, and she wasn’t wearing much of a bikini. Too much skin contact.

“Try it by yourself this time,” I instructed her, not wanting to grab her waist again. She shivered every time I touched her, and I felt guilty. I didn’t want her thinking this was going anywhere. I wasn’t her wedding f*ck. Unfortunately, she hadn’t figured that out yet.

“I like it better when you help me,” she said, dropping her voice down a notch to what I was sure would be a sexy sound to most men.

We had been at it for an hour. I’d done my duty. It was time to put an end to the ideas running through her head. “Yeah, well, I’m beat. We both have a wedding to get ready for this afternoon and a long night of celebrating ahead. Probably shouldn’t overdo it.”

With that excuse, I slipped the board under my arm and nodded for her to follow me before walking back to the shore.

“Oh, OK,” she called out behind me, and hurried to catch up.

I didn’t give her reason to think I wanted to prolong this; I just kept walking.

“Uh, so did you eat breakfast already?” she asked, catching up to me quickly.

I had only grabbed a cup of coffee before heading out, but eating with her wasn’t happening, either. She was getting too bold. “Not a breakfast eater,” I replied, which was a lie. After being out in the waves, I was starving.

“Oh, well, I guess I’ll see you later?” she asked as we finally made it to shore.

I nodded. “Sure,” I agreed, because I would. We’d both be at the wedding.

Then I headed up the small incline toward the other side of the island where the huts were located.

“You look like a man running from something,” Woods said with an amused smirk as he stepped out from a cluster of palm trees with a cup of coffee in his hands.

I shot him a warning glare. “This shit isn’t funny.”

Woods chuckled and took a sip. “I don’t know. Watching you dodge female advances is new. I was entertained.”

“I’m putting up with this for Della. But if this causes me any issues with Bethy, it ends. Charity’s nice, and I know she’s been through a shitty time. I feel bad for her. But I’m making some headway with Bethy, and nothing is standing in my way of that.”

Woods’s smirk faded. He stared out at the water for a moment, and I knew his thoughts were with Jace. This should have been a day that Jace stood by his side. It should be Jace handing him the ring and giving a toast at the reception. Today Woods would start a new journey in life, and he would do it without his best friend there to cheer him on. It was all there in his eyes. “She seems better,” he said.

After last night, I had to agree. Anger and pain were no longer boiling out of her. “Yeah. She does.”

Woods took another drink of his coffee. “Don’t push her. You weren’t here for most of it, but she loved him. They were good together.”

I already knew how much she had loved Jace. That hadn’t been hard to miss. “I’m being careful. I don’t want to take Jace’s place. He’s got that spot in her heart, and he always will. Right now, I just want to be there for her. To see her smile again. A real smile.”

“He would have wanted her happy. And he would have beaten my ass for treating her the way I did. I doubt he would’ve forgiven me for what I said to her that night on the beach.” His voice sounded pained.

I hadn’t been there, but I knew from the silent treatment he’d given her for more than a year after Jace’s death that he’d blamed her. He was right—Jace wouldn’t have been able to forgive him for that. He’d loved Bethy. But that wasn’t what Woods needed to hear right now. This was supposed to be one of the happiest days of his life.

“He may have been my cousin, but you were like his brother. He loved you,” I told him.

“I let him down,” Woods said.

“No, you didn’t. You saved her. That’s what he asked you to do, and you did it.”

Woods finally moved his gaze back to mine. I could see the emotion I understood so well. Jace had left an empty place in all of us.

“He died knowing that his best friend made a sacrifice for him that would mark him for the rest of his life. You were his hero.”

Woods studied me for a moment and then turned his attention back to the water.

After a few moments of silence, I stepped around him and made my way toward the huts once again.

“Thanks,” Woods called out. I glanced back at him. “I needed to hear that. Especially today.”

I managed a smile. “That’s what a best man is for,” I replied, and left him there with his thoughts.

Bethy

Tripp trailed soft kisses up and down my body while he held himself rigid above me. The pain from his entrance had taken my breath away, but he had stopped the second I cried out. He hadn’t pulled out, which was all I wanted him to do, so I could curl up in a ball and whimper.

But then he’d started kissing me gently and whispering in my ear.

“It’s OK. I won’t move. Just let me feel you. God, Bethy, nothing has ever felt like this.”