Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,39

say so. Just… okay…”

Gia was getting serious. And she was right.

I was wrong.

But I wasn’t going to admit it.

So, I decided to distract both of us.

“Hey,” I said. “Race you!”

I took off, running as fast as I could.

Gia caught up and blew right by me within three seconds.

She was like a blur, flying through the sand.

I stopped and laughed.

I looked to the ocean.

And I made my peace with something.

To hurt Noah, Easton, and Xavier… I was going to end up hurt again too.

Chapter 14

zip it

I was sitting on the top step of the deck, lost in random thoughts, sipping a lukewarm cup of coffee when my mother opened the door and whistled for me.

I turned my head and she was smiling ear to ear.

“What?” I asked.

“Someone is at the door for you. Gorgeous young man. Rough and tough. Smells like cigarette smoke. Just a little too young for me.”

I jumped up. “What? Did you say something to him?”

“I only asked his age,” she said. “We’re all adults here, Winter.”

“Oh, god…”

My mother laughed. “Just fix your hair on the way to the door. It’s all messy from the breeze. If anything, you want that fresh, just had sex messy hair.”

I hurried across the deck to the door.

My mother blocked the way. “Is that one of the guys who…”

“I’m not answering that,” I said. “Just let me handle this.”

“Are you sure you can handle it?” she asked. “You look flustered.”

“I’m fine. It’s the coffee.”

My mother nodded. “Sure. It’s just the coffee.”

I ran through the house, my cheeks on fire.

I knew it was Easton just by the way she described who was at the door.

I was flustered and flushed and…

Nothing else.

Yeah. Fucking. Right.

I opened the front door and Easton stood there with a cigarette between his lips.

It was a nasty habit that on anyone else I would say not a chance in hell. But for as bad as Easton was, smoking kind of balanced him out.

That made no sense at all.

But whatever.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“That’s not a very nice hello,” Easton said.

He dropped his cigarette and stepped on it.

I noticed his left hand was up near his shoulder.

His pointer finger hooked around something.

A hanger.

He moved his hand and lifted up what had to have been a dress.

“For you,” he said. “For the ball.”

“Seriously?”

“Told you I would get you a dress, Winter.”

“Can’t wait to see how perverted it is,” I said.

“What does that mean?”

“Is it low cut? Or super short? Or with holes in it in convenient places?”

Easton chuckled. “This ball is a big deal. I would never want you to be uncomfortable.” He inched forward and touched my waist. “Plus, I’m willing to wait so I can see all of you. All at once. I know a nice place on the beach up there. Nobody will ever see us. Under the stars together, Winter. Your name is Winter, but between your legs it’ll be hot like summer and wet like autumn.”

That was disgustingly cheap, but it worked.

I felt a rush of heat go through my body.

I grabbed the dress from him.

“I’m not trying this on in front of you.”

“Damn,” I said. “I thought I was going to get lucky.”

“Goodbye, Easton.”

He put his hand to the door. “I can already picture you in that dress, Winter. You’ll look amazing. I can also picture that dress on the beach. Or the floor of a bedroom in a beach house that makes this place look like a shack.”

“That’s very-”

Easton leaned down and kissed me.

His mouth. My mouth.

The taste of his cigarette.

His tongue flirting with mine for a second.

He pulled back and walked away, leaving me suspended in air.

Oh, so kissing was just the normal now?

I reached behind me to get to the zipper but couldn’t reach it.

My chest pushed the dress forward, making me look slutty.

The front poofed open without the zipper zipped up all the way.

“Damn,” I groaned as I reached back again.

I tried with two hands and when I did that, the dress pulled down and my boobs popped out.

I pictured Easton standing there, seeing it.

And what his reaction would be.

What he would do.

Walk up to me. Touch me. His thumbs gently gliding over my-

“Need help?”

I lifted the dress and let out a scream.

My mother stepped into the bathroom and walked up to me.

She grabbed the dress, pulled it tight, and zipped it up.

“There,” she said. “You look beautiful, Winter.”

“Thanks,” I said.

I stared at my mother through the reflection in the mirror.

She started to grin. That same grin.

“So…”

“What?” I asked.

“That gorgeous man