Accepting Destiny Read online

  “Try these, especially this one,” as he holds up a brightly floral print....bikini.

  “I don’t do bikinis Jacko, I thought we covered this,” I say, as I snatch the small scrap of cloth from his hands, holding it up to my body. “Umm, no way Jose.....so not happening,” I toss it on to the bench with the others.

  “Just try them on, Ally. You’ll look fabulous in all of them,” he smirks, as he pulls the dressing room door closed behind him. “Fine, but I’m doing it for you...not for me,”

  I slip my dress back off and grab the floral one he just brought me. I get the top on and amazingly,it fits. Then the tiny bottoms go on over my panties and again, I’m thrilled with the waythatlooks. I pose and turn my body in front of the mirror. Humph, not too bad I guess. My skin is so white that the bright colors wash me out. Maybe I should go with the solid black.

  So I try that one on too and find I am much happier with that. I’m already going to draw attention to myself by being in a tiny two piece which I don’t need to add to that with bright colors.

  I’ll get this one for Jackson, and the one piece for me. He’ll just have to deal with it.

  I get dressed and gather the discarded items, handing them to the girl that was outside the door. “I’ll take these two and the others that gentleman has over there,” I say, as I nod towards Jackson, who is looking at something in the glass case.

  “Very well. I can check you out, up front,” I follow her to the glass case where Jackson is peering down at something.

  I place the two bathing suits on the counter and reach for the stack that Jackson has laid aside, placing the items together. As she rings them up, I reach for my wallet and pull out my credit card. Great, more debt. Well, at least I’m making more money now and I can pay it off quicker.

  Jackson slides his stuff over in to the pile and the woman doesn’t even flinch, but now I’m wondering if I’m going to be paying for his stuff too. I frown, but I don’t say anything. He’s too enthralled with something in the case and isn’t paying me much attention.

  Once she provides us with our total, I suddenly start to sweat. Shit, three hundred and sixty five dollars? Ouch, but I hand her my card. As she takes it from me, Jackson’s hand comes out of nowhere and pushes it back. I look at him curiously, but he looks away and hands her his American Express Gold card. Yikes, I’ll never see one of those in my wallet.

  Inside, I’m relieved, but I still have to put up the act. “Jackson, you don’t have to do this. I can get my stuff,” I say, trying to hand the clerk my card.

  “Nonsense. I brought you here empty handed, the least I can do, is dress you for the week. Unless you’d rather stay naked all the time,” He curls his lips up at me and I start to wonder what that might be like. The clerk just smiles at us and continues with her duties, effectively ignoring our little banter. Hell, why should she care who pays, as long as one of us does right?

  We take our bags to the car, placing them in the trunk and get ready to head somewhere else, I guess. My stomach growls before we get much further and Jackson just grins. “Hungry?”

  “Yeah, been a busy morning and I skipped breakfast,”

  “You need to not do that anymore, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

  “Well, I was a little....umm, preoccupied this morning,” I smile, as he pulls me to his chest.

  “That you were, sweet girl. Let’s feed you,” he says, as he pulls me towards a little café, where we order a pizza.

  “I need to use the restroom, excuse me,” Jackson says, as he stands to head towards the restroom. “I’ll be right back, stay here,” he tells me, on a growl, like I’m going somewhere.

  I nibble on my pizza and sit there quietly, like a good little girl. Suddenly, feeling a little out of place, but I shake off the feeling and continue to eat. A few minutes later, Jackson comes back and sits down, a deceitful look on his face. I immediately wonder what he’s up to, but he starts eating his pizza before I can even ask. Who knows with this guy?

  After lunch we take a stroll along the river hand in hand. This feels nice and normal for a change. We stop at the water’s edge and he pulls a long box out of his pocket and hands it to me. “What is this?”

  “Open it.”

  I lift the top off of the box and move the cotton padding to the side. Underneath the cotton I spy a bracelet, silver with seashell charms on it. There’s a star fish, a clam shell, a conch shell and a few others I don’t know. “It’s beautiful. But when.....?”

  He opens his devil eyes and they glow, “I didn’t really need to use the restroom. I ducked back to the shop and picked it up. Do you like it?”

  “I love it, thank you.”

  He smiles as he takes the bracelet from the box and fastens it on my wrist, the charms sparkling in the sunlight. But I’m quickly jolted out of my happiness when Jackson’s phone rings, indicating we have cell service here.

  “Bentley.”

  I try to eavesdrop on the conversation and I suddenly feel guilty for doing it, so I wander off towards the waterfront and soak in the sunshine, fumbling with the charms. I can hear him mumbling in the back ground, but I can’t make out what he is saying.

  As I stand and look over the water, I feel him come up behind me and press his hands on my shoulders, planting a gentle kiss on my head. “Any news?” I ask, without looking back at him.

  “Not really, they did confirm the emails are from two different people, but, they are both female. I figured the bad ones were from a guy, but the profiler says it’s a woman.”

  “A woman? Are they sure?”

  He nods, “Apparently, but they are still investigating and won’t make a final call yet. It’s just an educated guess.”

  “It’s gotta be Sally. Maybe she’s using two different email accounts.”

  “It’s possible, IT is looking into it,” Jackson says.

  I turn back to the water, suddenly a bit tired. “Come on, let’s get you back to the house and go for a swim,” He waggles his eyes at me. Oh yeah, like I’m really going to put on that bikini for him.

  I turn and smack him in the chest, then look up his eyes. Those green orbs really get to me and I find myself staring at him. He smirks at me with a knowing smile. “Mr. Bentley, you are so bad,” I say, as I start towards the car.

  As we pull out, I see a black sedan pull in behind us and I tense up a little. “Security,” Jackson answers my unasked question. I nod and pull my gaze forward to watch the passing scenery as we travel down Hwy 98 West, then onto 30A and back to Cape San Blas Road. I had no idea security had been following us around all day.

  The travel time seems to have gone quicker going back than it did this morning. Maybe it’s because I’m tired and weary. The heat of the day has gotten to me and I’m actually ready to jump in the pool, though I may just jump in with shorts and a tee shirt.

  Then I laugh inside, like Jackson is really going to let me do that.

  We pull under the house and before I can even open my door, Jackson is there opening it for me. Who says chivalry is dead, huh? I climb out of the car and we haul our bags upstairs, in to the bedroom. As I look around, I see it looks different. The bed is made and as I walk in to the bathroom, I see a wicker basket full of shampoo, soaps and other toiletries. Fresh towels have been put out and it smells clean.

  “Hilda arrived while we were gone,” Jackson says, as he enters the bedroom with an arm full of bags. “Did we really buy this much today?” He asks, as he looks at the barrage of bags on the floor and on the bed.

  “I guess we did,” I laugh.

  “Well, get your suit on and let’s jump in the pool to cool off. Hilda is in the kitchen fixing dinner.”

  He turns to leave and I start digging in to the bag for the one piece. I know he’s not going to be happy about this, but like I said earlier, he’ll get over it. I pull the plastic strip out of the crotch and toss it in to the trash can. I really wish I could wash this before putting it against my naked flesh
, but he’s not going to give me time.

  I pull up the suit and adjust the thin straps, shoving the girls up and in to the built in cup. Whoa. Talk about cleavage. He’s gonna freak and make me take this off, which would be a good thing.

  I wrap the sarong that I picked up, around my waist to cover my ass and thighs. There, that’s better. Though it’s going to be hard to swim with this thing around me and I don’t plan to take it off until I am fully submerged in the water. I decide to sneak out without him so I can jump in before he knows I have, that will be a good way to hide my flubber.

  I still don’t understand what he sees in me, really. I know I should just go with it, but it’s hard. I see myself for what I really am, and maybe with some work, I can see what he sees. I sure hope so, because I hate feeling this way. Maybe I should go on a diet and start jogging or joining Heather at the gym. Yeah, I’ll look in to that once I am finally home and back to my normal life. Normal. There’s that word again.

  I grab a beach towel out of the closet and sneak down the stairs and head out to the pool. I look around and don’t see Jackson, but I can hear Hilda in the kitchen, knocking around pots and pans. I take a deep breath of whatever it is she is cooking and damn that smells good, my tummy rumbling again. Been a long time since I’ve had a home cooked meal.

  I step out on to the deck, the humidity slapping me across the face and fogging up my sunglasses. I don’t see Jackson, so I drop the sarong and glasses and step in to the cool water. Well, warm water I guess, but it’s better than the stifling heat.

  Once the water is up to my shoulders I lean back and wet my hair. I float on my back adjusting to the temperature. I’ve always loved the water and decide to start my exercise routine now with some laps.

  I get through three or four laps and stop at the edge, coming up for air. I look up and Jackson is standing by the side of the pool. He is wearing low hung swim trunks, that sexy patch of hair disappearing between the vee of his abdomen. Holy shit. My eyes trail up his chest, to those steamy green eyes and I melt back in to the water.

  He hunkers down and looks at me, amusement in his eyes. “Getting some exercise are we?”

  “Ummm, just a few laps. I was on the swim team in school and I’ve kinda missed it,” I say, as I push back off the wall, still staring at his amazing body.

  “Well, carry on,” he says, as he slides in to the water.

  I start the backstroke and make my way to the other end of the pool, but not putting my head back in the water. My eyes stay glued to him as he stalks forward towards me, following me with a predatory look in his eyes. I reach the wall and stop, because I can’t go back the way I came.

  He reaches me in the deep end, the water only up to his shoulders yet, I can’t touch the bottom without going under. He cages me to the side of the pool, one hand on either side of me as I hold myself up. He slides his hands under my arms and pulls me to him, my legs wrapping around his waist.

  I lock my ankles behind his back and grab on to his shoulders. I can feel his erection pressing against me, even though the water is cool. Don’t guys usually shrivel up in cold water? I laugh internally, because my mind goes weird places sometimes.

  He grinds his cock against me, as he walks backwards to shallower water, then edges himself towards the side of the pool. He lifts me up and sits me on the side, my legs dangling in the water. He stands in between my thighs and presses his fingers in to my thighs.

  “What is this you have on?” He asks me, a hint of anger in his eyes, or is it amusement?

  “A bathing suit,” I answer a little smarter than I probably should have.

  He groans as his fingers trace my skin, under the thin straps over my shoulders, then travel just over the swell of my breasts that are pushed up over the top. This suit actually put the girls up to where they are supposed to be. “Where’s the bikini?” He asks, as his eyes travel over my body, stopping between my legs that are spread open for him to stand between.

  “I’ll wear it soon. Baby steps.”

  “Mmmm, can’t wait to see you in that one, and out of it,” he says, as he looks back into my eyes and leans in for a kiss.

  Not wanting to put on such an elaborate public display of affection, I scoot back and push his hands off me, diving back into the water, over his head. I come up on the other side and blink away the chlorinated water to look back at him, but he’s gone. Then I see his long lithe body under the water, coming towards me like a shark.

  He pops up just in front of me.

  “Baby steps?”

  I nod, “Yes, baby steps.”

  “Baby, I’ve already seen you naked. A bikini is not far from that.”

  “I know, but you know how I am. I’m not comfortable with my body and I need to work my way into this kind of exposure. If there were other people here, I’d be in shorts and a tee shirt, swimming fully clothed.”

  “No you wouldn’t, not with me around. Ally, you are beautiful and I will never stop saying that. Now kiss me before I lose my mind.”

  As his lips come down on mine, the combination of the cool water and his hot tongue sends a shiver down my spine. His arms go around my neck and he pulls me against him, as he walks backwards, in to deeper water. I wrap my legs around his waist because I can no longer touch the bottom. His mouth never leaving mine.

  He turns around and lifts me to the side of the pool, my ass making a wet squishy sound as it hits concrete. A split second later his face is pressed between my thighs and he’s pressing his tongue against me in an erotic display of affection. “Jackson, no. What if someone sees?”

  I ask, as I try to push his head away.

  He pulls back and looks at me, his eyes full of heat and passion. “Then let them see. I have no problem having an audience,” And he goes right back to where he was, his fingers pulling aside my wet bathing suit and his heated breath fluttering along my now aching flesh.

  I squeezed my thighs shut, effectively trapping him in between them. Not a good look, but it is what it is. He chuckles against me and the vibrations turned up the heat just a notch. “Jackson, not here. Let’s go inside. You might not care to have an audience, but I do. Please......ungh!!” I flop my head back as his tongue penetrates me. A few more seconds of this and I won’t care about an audience either.

  I guess the squeezing of my thighs on his head, has caused a breathing malfunction and he pulls back, gasping for air and then grabbing my knees to pull me back in the water. Once again, my legs wrap around him and I hold on to his shoulders, my sex grinding against the bulge in his bathing suit.

  He walks backwards to the steps and crawls on to them, leaving me straddling his lap. He pushes his fingers through my hair and pulls my face to his, his lips ghosting over mine in a sweet but sensual kiss. “Let’s go inside,” he says, as he stands up, my body slowly sliding down his, my hands trailing down his chest and abdomen.

  He sucks in a breath and pulls me against him. I look up at his face and he’s smiling, but it’s not a happy smile. Well, it is kinda, but it’s more a sexy smirk and my heart drops to my stomach because I suddenly feel like I’m in for it.

  He takes my hand and leads me up the stairs and on to the screened in porch, then into the house. The air conditioning blasting against my wet skin. He doesn’t drop my hand, just pulls me along to the sofa in the living room. He coaxes me to sit down and I comply, because I can’t bear to argue with him. The look in his eyes could melt steel, and that’s exactly what I feel like doing right now, melting.

  He stands in front of me, my eyes now level with his rising cock. My body freezes as he drags his fingers through my wet hair down to my shoulders, then he gently tips my face up to look at him. I know what he wants and my body is caving in, ready to give it to him.

  “Wait. Where’s Hilda?” I ask, as I glance towards the kitchen.

  “She ran in to Port Saint Joe for a few groceries. We have about an hour before she gets back.”

  I reach up and undo the drawstring to hi
s bathing suit, my fingers are cold and shaking as I tug the laces free. I tuck my thumbs under his waist band and tug down, freeing his now fully alert cock. I lean in and circle my tongue around the engorged head, taking the small drop of fluid that lingers there with me. A low growl rumbles out of his chest as I take him fully in to my mouth.

  I feel his fingers press in to my scalp and he pulls me towards him, causing the tip to hit the back of my throat. I relax my throat and try to avoid gagging as my eyes start to water. He senses my discomfort and releases me, allowing me to pull back. The combination of the sun, chlorine and Jackson is filling my senses. I drag my tongue along the underside, then swirl it around the head before taking him in to the root again. My lips hitting his pubic curls.

  “Jesus, Ally. This is all going to be over before it starts,” He says, as he tries to pull out of me, but I clamp my lips around him and suck even harder, a silent message that I’m not stopping. I feel his cock swell and throb under my tongue as he rolls his head back, groaning. “I’m gonna come Alexandra, you’d better.......” And his voice stops as the warm fluids spray to the back of my throat. I swallow it all down, tugging and pulling every last drop.

  I can feel his legs trembling under my hands, which are pressed against his thighs. “Shit,” He breathes out on a deep sigh. He tips my head up to look at his eyes and I lick the remaining drops off of my lips.

  He reaches under my arms to lift me up, when the phone in the kitchen goes off, jerking us both out of the moment. “Damn it,” he says, as he pulls his bathing suit back up and turns towards the kitchen.

  “What?” He screams in to the receiver. Then, his eyes drop and he turns his back to me.

  My heart starts racing and a huge lump forms in my throat. I can tell by his reaction that whatever it is, isn’t good. He talks quietly now, so I can’t hear him. I stay put and watch his body movements and how he keeps dragging his hand through his hair. Something isn’t right and my gut feeling tells me......well, I’ll let him tell me.

  He sets the phone down and leans in to the table, his head dropped between his arms. I can see his biceps flexing and bulging, the vein in his neck is throbbing. He stands upright and turns to me, a gloomy look in his eyes.