“She knows.” Bella sighed and leaned back.
“What?” Calvin’s voice rose slightly, causing Bella to chuckle.
“Take it easy. It’s not a crime.” She looked up at him. He ran his hands through his hair, causing it to stand up a little more. It had been standing up since she’d run her fingers through his dark locks moments before.
“Bella, listen,” he started, his eyes going everywhere but her own.
She chuckled as she stood up quickly. “Don’t sweat it. I get it.” She nodded, trying to swallow the pain.
Chapter Eight
How could she understand why he was struggling with kissing her? Ben was his best friend. He’d do anything for the guy. There were plenty of rules about bros before hoes… he glanced over to where Bella sat on the sofa. She hadn’t wrapped the towel around her again, leaving her clad only in the small material of her bikini. Material he’d pulled aside to enjoy… Shit. He sighed and cleared his mind of what he’d just enjoyed.
“It’s just…” He glanced towards the door, trying to get the taste and the wonderful feeling of Bella out of his mind. “Ben. He’s… my best friend.”
“And,” she started as she stood up. He watched her sway slightly as the boat moved. “I’m his little sister,” she said, sounding annoyed.
“Yes,” Calvin said, relieved that she was starting to understand.
Then the boat shuttered as a wave hit them, and she started to pitch. Reaching up, he wrapped his arms around her waist to steady her.
His eyes locked with hers as her hands moved up to his shoulders. Instantly, the memory of the taste of her almost overwhelmed him. Her soft body was pressed up against his.
“This won’t end well,” he said softly as he looked down at her.
“No reason not to have some fun.” She licked her lips again. The simple move was more erotic than anything he’d ever seen before.
“There are plenty of reasons.” He tried to hold himself steady by thinking of her request to keep her safe while she was there.
“Cal,” she started, but then the boat started moving again. He had to reach up to steady them both.
“You’d better sit back down,” he said. “I’m going to go above deck and see what’s going on.” He dropped his arms so she could move over and sit back down.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, but since he’d dropped his hold on her, she had to move over and sit or fall over.
He didn’t give her a chance to respond to him before he climbed the narrow stairs and poked his head outside.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, we’re heading in. The cops showed up and Joseph is dealing with the photographers,” Ben told him. “How’s Bella doing?”
“Good,” he responded, then he glanced back just as he heard Bella throwing up. “Shit.” He moved quickly and held her hair back as she lost her lunch in the small kitchen sink.
“Sorry,” she sighed as she held onto the counter.
“It’s okay.” He felt stupid. The reason he’d kissed her to begin with was to keep her mind off the fact that she was locked below deck. “My fault.”
When they docked, he rode with Adam, Lilly, Rowan, and Kayla, since they were heading his way.
He didn’t get another chance to talk to Bella and was kind of thankful for it. He needed time to cool off. Time to forget the taste and feeling of her tight body next to his.
Since their fishing trip had been cut short, he decided to try and get a few things done around his place that he’d been putting off.
There were a few boards on his back deck that needed replacing and the entire deck needed to be painted again.
By the time he was done working, the sun had sunk low in the sky. He enjoyed a cold beer on the freshly dried deck while the sun disappeared. When he made his way inside to catch the last of a game, he was surprised to see a few text messages from Ben.
Deciding he was too tired to read them, he called his friend instead.
“What’s up?” he asked, putting some leftovers into the microwave.
“Did you read… never mind.” Ben sighed. Ben often texted Calvin, but Calvin didn’t enjoy reading the messages and almost always picked up the phone to talk instead. “Somehow, the pictures from today are already all over the web.”
Calvin waited. “Shit,” he added when Ben didn’t say anything more.
“Cal, I’m sorry man, but it seems you made a good story,” Ben added.
“What?” He frowned as he moved over to his computer. Sitting down, he pulled up the first entertainment site he found after searching Bella’s name.
There on the screen was a picture of Calvin and Bella. The image had been taken seconds before he’d wrapped the towel around Bella’s body. Taken out of context, the image appeared to be of a couple enjoying their time on a boat together, with him holding a towel out, waiting for Bella to step into his arms. The look on his face spoke of heat while the look on hers was clear to anyone who knew her. Fear.
“Shit,” he said again.
“Yeah,” Ben said.
Then Calvin read some of the headlines.
“Bella Rothschild is officially over Michael Himes. She was caught enjoying a steamy weekend on a private sailboat with her new mysterious man.”
“Mysterious?” he read.
Ben chuckled. “Hey, it’s better than what others are calling you.”
“What?” he asked, but then he read another headline and cursed again.
“Bella’s sexy and buff new man,” Ben read. Then he added, “Bella Rothschild rebounds with muscular hunk.”
“Hunk?” He groaned.
Ben laughed again. “It could be worse. They could have called you pudgy or soft.”
“Ben.” He cleared his throat trying to find the words to explain what had happened between Bella and him in the cabin.
“Don’t sweat it,” Ben added. “The paparazzi always get these things wrong.” Calvin relaxed a little. “Hell, they claimed you and Bella were alone on the boat,” Ben added.
He closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he could say to his friend. Instead, he decided to keep his mouth shut. After all, he’d talked himself into the fact that the kiss was a one-time deal.
There was no way he was going to drop his guard around Bella again. Ben had put him in charge of making sure his sister was safe, not seducing her.
“Thanks for giving me the heads-up,” Calvin said.
“No problem. We figured it would be better to hear it from us than to see it on the evening news yourself.”
“Shit, it’s on the news?” He reached over and flipped on his set and changed the channel. Sure enough, less than a minute later, he saw the same grainy picture flash on the screen.
“Like I said, sorry.” Ben chuckled. “Sit back and enjoy your five minutes of fame.”
“Thanks,” he said before hanging up. He had to admit, looking at the picture, he realized it was a nice shot of the pair of them. Well, if you didn’t count the slight fear in Bella’s eyes.
Before he could get his food from the microwave, his phone chimed again. This time, he opened the chat from Ben and smiled down at the image he’d snapped of him and Bella earlier when he’d helped her steer the boat.