My arm stretches out to rest on the back of the couch. “Of course.”
“You’d have to ask Kendall for her side, but if I had to guess… She’s always viewed me as competition.”
I frown. “Competition?”
Kayla slumps against the cushions. “When we were younger, everything just came easier to me...school and sports. Hell, I had a bare minimum skincare routine, and never any acne.”
Her nose wrinkles, then she looks up at me with earnest anguish in her eyes. “Kendall did not. My parents had to hire tutors to help her pass, she hurt herself in every sport she tried, and puberty was not kind.”
My eyebrows furrow. “That’s not your fault.”
Kayla shakes her head. “It’s not, but our father didn’t help reinforce that. He’d continuously make comments about how I was an easy child, and Kendall wasn’t. I overheard him ask her one time why she couldn’t be more like me. When I brought it up to our mother, she asked Kendall, who lied and said our father never said that.”
Her fingers twist together on her lap. “At the time, I didn’t understand why she lied, that she was only protecting herself from pissing off our dad even more, but I was a kid too. I was mad, angry at her for lying, so I pulled away. I started to rub my achievements in her face until she left for college, and by then our relationship was beyond repair. When I graduated high school, I had reached out about possibly attending the same college as her. She begged me not to and said she was finally out of my shadow and had her own life that she wanted to keep me separate from.”
Kayla shrugs her shoulders. “I respected that, and so we lived our lives. After she got her degree, she moved to the city full time and really only came up to the cabin for Christmas.”
She wipes a lone tear from the corner of her eye, and I scoot closer, sliding my arm over her shoulder.
“Hey, don’t cry. It sounds like she wasn't really determined to fix the relationship either. It’s not your fault,” I say.
Kayla sighs, resting her head gently on my shoulder. “Yeah, I guess. I had hoped when our father died that maybe it would bring her some peace, but instead she didn’t want to come to the cabin that year. It’s why I was in Costa Rica. My mother had flown to her brother’s in another state.”
My thumb rubs circles onto her arm. “And somehow we found each other in Costa Rica, so I guess we have Kendall to thank for bringing us together both times.”
She frowns, turning her head to look up at me. “Both times?”
My eyes dip to her lips and back up to her confused stare. “When we made our son, and then tonight. If I hadn't married her and came here, we might not have met again. And that would be a damn shame.”
“You’re—I don’t—Beau?—”
I know she’s trying to say we can’t be together, so I lean down and kiss her hard. She gasps into my mouth and my hand slides to her neck, holding her in place as I try to deepen our kiss.
A loud beeping startles us both, and she jumps up from the couch, running to the kitchen. My head drops back onto the cushion, debating whether to chase her or let it be for now.
Chapter 4
Kayla
Pulling the fruit cake out,I turn off the oven and then lean against the counter. My fingers brush against my lips. I can’t believe he kissed me. I can’t believe I let him. This is my sister’s husband, even if I fucked him first.
I shake my head, checking the cake to ensure it’s ready to cool, and then grab the tub of sugar to work on the frosting. It’s better if I stay busy until bedtime and just ignore him in the other room.
Beau storms into the kitchen, and I startle. My heart kicks into overdrive at the hard determination on his face as he walks straight to me.
“Beau—”
His mouth crashes to mine, and I moan against his lips. My hands tug at his shirt, pulling it out of his jeans as he slides his hands down my waist to cup my ass. I break away to breathe, and he kisses down my throat before leaning away to rip his shirt off all the way.
Then he’s back on me, unbuttoning my flannel to expose my tight black tank top. I shrug out of the warm shirt and then pull off my tank top. It has a built-in bra so my breasts bounce free as I toss it. Beau groans, cupping and kneading my mounds.
“Fuck, I forgot how perfect these are. The memories in my dreams don’t compare.” He leans down, sucking a hard nipple into his mouth.
My head falls back, and my hand tangles into his hair while gliding the other down to unbutton his jeans. I snake my hand inside, wrapping around his thick length. He groans, thrusting into my hold.
“We shouldn’t,” I say, breathing heavily before crying out when he bites lightly on my nipple.
“I don’t care what we should or shouldn’t do.”
