Page 136 of Legally Mine

Chapter 32

I was surprised to find that Brandon was actually a good driver as he maneuvered our rented Mercedes coupe down the crooked two-lane roads that snaked around the French countryside. Over the next two weeks, we fell into a rhythm where we would wake up in the morning and enjoy tea and coffee along with some kind of breakfast (usually scrambled eggs and fruit to go with pastries from a bakery down the street). Then we'd would look at the map of France that Mark had framed on his kitchen wall and pick a destination.

"What do you think about staying here today?" Brandon asked after we'd repeated this pattern for ten days. "The Calanques trails are open; I already checked. We could hike down to one of the beaches."

We'd already been wine-tasting twice, driven all the way up to Dordogne and spend the night in a castle, and gone for a long day drive to the Pyrenees the day before. We'd been waiting for the famous national park bordering the Eastern side of Marseille to open for summer hiking for the last ten days. Because of the dry summer weather, the trails were often closed at this time of the year. Last night, however, it had rained.

I was actually more than ready to spend a day in town. Hiking down to a hidden beach where we could swim and veg together sounded fantastic.

After packing some things to bring with us, Brandon and I took a taxi to the Marseille-side trailhead of the park and started winding our way around the gorgeous cliffs of the Calanques. It was the kind of place that belonged on a postcard, and I made a mental note to send one to Bubbe when we got back to town.

We walked for hours around the three-hundred-foot cliffs towering over the inlets for which the Calanques were named. The rocky white limestone speared up from the Mediterranean, and although we saw a few tourists also taking advantage of the rare summer access, we were mostly alone to enjoy the views, joke with each other, and eventually weave our way down to one of the many small, deserted beaches at the base of the cliffs.

"Holy shit," I said for the thousandth time as I dropped my pack onto the white-pebble beach with a satisfying thump.

I took a deep inhale of the salty sea air and pulled my ponytail off my neck to the feel the light breeze coming down the channel. Two walls of jagged cliffs on either side of the beach stretched for another hundred meters or so out to sea.

"You up for a little cliff dive, Red?" Brandon said as he dropped his pack and proceeded to strip off his sweat-soaked T-shirt.

I looked up from the towels I'd spread on the ground and ogled openly at his six-pack and well-defined arms. I'd seen the sight almost every day for the whole vacation, but it never failed to drop my jaw. Brandon's body was a bit tanner than usual after hiking shirtless the day before and swimming at local beaches and Mark's pool. On top of that, he'd only been shaving every few days, so his cheeks and jaw were covered with a golden growth that was delightfully scratchy whenever he kissed me.

I, on the other hand, just had more freckles than ever.

"See something you like, Red?" Brandon asked with a smirk when he caught me staring.

I shut my mouth and grinned. "Yes." I wasn't trying to hide anything.

The smirk deepened. "Didn't I satisfy you last night, green eyes? Or this morning? You're looking pretty hard over there."

I blushed and bit my lip, but didn't avert my gaze. He was just so damn beautiful. Luckily, two could play that game. Instead of responding, I stood up to remove my tank top and shorts so that I was even more exposed than him in the skimpy bikini that I'd bought in Nice. Brandon's smirk immediately (and satisfyingly) morphed into a dropped jaw and darkened pupils.

"I bet you're the one who won't be able to keep your hands to yourself," I countered.

Brandon's eyes, which had been blazing down my body, blinked back up. His arrogance had completely replaced the casual lust. He cocked a blond brow.

"I don't think so," he declared. He ran his hands casually up his bare stomach, knowing that the movement would make my mouth water. "Tell you what, Red. Loser has to make dinner tonight and do all the dishes."

I bent down to retrieve the sunblock in my bag. Brandon and I both suffered from competitive streaks that sometimes came out with little bets or wagers. Brandon usually won. So far, I'd gotten stuck with dishes three other nights of the trip.

But not this time. I undid the halter tie of my bandeau so that my neck and shoulders were bare.

"Sounds good to me," I said.

Brandon watched suspiciously and, if the adjustments he made to the front of his shorts were any indication, a bit uncomfortably. I squeezed some of the sunblock into my hand and proceeded to apply it to my upper body, taking extra time to rub the upper expanse of my chest and over the exposed tops of my breasts. When I looked back up, Brandon's eyes had dilated considerably. He was stone-still, muscles flexed and hands clenched by his sides.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said innocently as I continued to rub my hand slowly into the hollow between my breasts. "Did you want to help?"

Brandon just chewed on his bottom lip as I proceeded to rub the lotion down my stomach and over my thighs, fingers slipping provocatively under the edges of my bikini bottoms. I gave a few low moans just for good measure. The tenting in his swim trunks was even more pronounced. Yeah, I was going to win this bet in about two minutes.

"I know what you're doing," he said, not taking his eyes off my hands. He swallowed heavily.

"Oh?" I turned around so he could watch as I rubbed my backside, kneading at the flesh the way he liked to do behind closed doors. I looked over my shoulders at him. "Do you?"

Brandon jaw tightened visibly, and he ran a rough hand behind his neck. "Yes. And it's not going to work."

I turned back around, pressing my hands into my skin as I moved them very, very slowly up my torso and down to hook my thumbs into my swimsuit bottoms. Brandon's arousal was now bordering on indecent. I totally had this.

I smirked. "Oh really? And why is that?"