nothing short of amazing, Stephanie.”
She covered her face with trembling hands, horrified that
she’d trashed their romance and thrown him aside. Knowing that
he was dead on and that she’d never feel like she had when she
was with him. It was the worst kind of epiphany, and anguish
strangled her. She felt him lean in and gently remove her hands
from her face. His face hovered over hers. and her tears subsided when she saw the knowing look in his eyes. She reached up
instinctively, feeling the familiar prickly feeling of his stubble under her palms.
His lips came down in a swift motion, and she relented as
his arm came around her neck pulling her mouth up to his, his
other hand on her hip, fingertips brushing her scar. She kissed
him back, throwing every emotion he brought out in her into
their kiss. His ferocity met hers and he placed himself com-
pletely on top of her.
He pulled away and fixed her with a blazing stare. “God, I
forgot how delicious you are.”
Then his mouth was on her neck, and his hand traveled up
her bare thigh and under her sundress. His large finger tugged at the waist of her panties, and Steph responded by lifting her hips enthusiastically. She was sure they were about to go too far when the entire force of the frigid tide crashed into them. They both 158
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gasped and pulled back from each other, and the shocking cold
stunned her out of her weakened state and back to the real world.
The world where Phillip made a public joke out of their time
together and Christopher appeared on the scene to add an
element of warmth and normalcy to her otherwise pointless and
empty life. Mustering her resolve, she pushed Phillip away with
all her strength. He rolled off of her, uncontained astonishment marring his handsome face as he flopped fully dressed onto the
beach. As he sputtered in the wet sand, she stumbled to her feet.
For the second night in a row she was rushing away from him,
soaking wet and humiliated.
“Stephanie, wait!” He called, but she ran full speed down
the beach in the other direction.
Cheyenne allowed Saffron to touch her wherever her hands
traveled. She was drunk; it had been long before her pregnancy
since she’d been drunk, and it was liberating to let go of control.
As their leering audience grew, they formed a circle around
them. When Saffron leaned in to kiss her, Cheyenne turned her
head away.
“Let’s go back to my room, Cheyenne. I would love to
show you a few more of my moves.” Saffron whispered as she
nuzzled Cheyenne’s ear like a giant blonde cat. Even though she
was slightly aroused from the attention from the crowd and the
erotic interaction with Saffron, she had no plans to take it any further than the dance floor. She stopped moving and lurched
tipsily away from Saffron. As she opened her mouth to speak,
Scot’s exasperated voice rang out.
“Cheyenne, what in the bloody hell are you doing?”
Cheyenne turned to the sound of his voice. Scot shoved his
way through the crowd to her and took her by the arm. Nathan
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TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE
hurried up behind him, his eyes wide. Cheyenne yanked her arm
away.
“I was dancing, Scot. Got a problem with that?” She
crossed her arms.
“No…” Scot began with an eye roll. Saffron uttered a gig-
gle. Kara appeared beside Nathan, and Cheyenne flung her hair
over her shoulders, as if preparing for a face off.
“You are such a bastard, Scot Charles.” Cheyenne pointed
in his face and turned to Kara, her heart hammering in her chest.
“Cheyenne, wait.” She felt Scot’s hand grip her arm again.
He spun her to face him and pinned her body up against his.
Cheyenne kept her gaze on the ground as she struggled against
him. “Look at me dammit.”
“I can’t,” Cheyenne said in a hushed tone. She felt his grip
on her loosen and heard him release a long sigh.
“I really wanted to tell you this later tonight, when we were
alone.” At those words Cheyenne yanked her eyes up to him.
She was no longer able to hold back the tears.
“So now you decide to man up. It’s true then? You and Ka-
ra?” She squirmed out of his arms.
“No.” Scot looked flabbergasted as he shook his head and
ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe you would think I
would do that to us, to our family,”
“But…I saw you together. You’re always disappearing with her,” Cheyenne slurred as she wiped her eyes with the back
of her hand.
“What you saw was me trying to sort out details of our up-
coming trip,”
“With Kara?”
“Christ, Cheyenne no!” Scot shouted and threw his hands
up in the air. Cheyenne took a moment and glanced around at the
crowd who seemed entirely too invested in the outcome of their
conversation. Nathan chewed on his fingernails, and Saffron
stroked his hair in a comforting manner. Cheyenne turned back
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to Scot, who held out his hand. She looked to it, and then back to his dark eyes, glittery with unshed tears. She swallowed hard as if choking on a grapefruit and placed her hand in his. Scot
brought her hand up to his mouth and gave it a kiss. He took a
deep breath as if gathering himself to forge on with the conversation. “Do you remember when you interviewed me for The
Sound Wave?”
“Yes,” Cheyenne felt her voice quiver. Scot reached out and
stroked her cheek lovingly.
“Where did I say I wanted to take you?” His voice was soft.
Cheyenne thought back to that day. Scot dressed in those horri-
ble skinny jeans…the way she had clung to his every word.
“Rio.” She looked deeply into his eyes. Scot gave her a nod.
“I have been planning to take you there after the wedding. I
made arrangements with Kara, so she can take Liam home di-
rectly after the ceremony. I wanted the trip to be a surprise. How often are we going to be this close to my favorite place? We
have never gotten the chance to have a proper honeymoon, my
love.” He ran a hand through her hair and placed his forehead
against hers.
Cheyenne tried to respond, but her voice
