Jaxon

"That's it, darlin', let that bikini top drop right down." I held my breath. "Jackpot and those were worth the wait, baby." The seagull floating next to my WaveRunner stared at me suspiciously. "Not talking to you, buddy." I motioned with my head toward the sleek, luxury yacht anchored offshore. "Talkin' about that doll." I'd cut short my race when I noticed the most incredible sight, a hot, bikini-clad woman standing on the sunning deck of the boat. I'd circled around once to let her know she had an admirer, and she seemed to approve. 

The woman's shiny black hair floated around her as she stretched out, belly down, on her towel but then propped herself up high enough for me to get a nice glimpse of her tits. And they were fucking incredible. She lifted her sunglasses and favored me with a slight smile before dropping her head back down. A guy was up on the top deck behind the helm holding a drink and staring down at the sunning deck. He looked like an asshole.

Stella leaned down over the handlebars of her WaveRunner trying to avoid the cold spray of salty water as she raced over the choppy surface. We'd started the ride on calm seas, but an onshore wind had kicked the water into angry ripples. My sister bounced wildly on the seat as she turned the throttle to pick up speed. She reached me and eased off the gas. The front end of the jet ski dropped down and the back lifted as the machine came to an abrupt stop. A small wave from her wake rolled up over my leg.

"It's crazy out here. You should be wearing that life jacket you have stored so uselessly under the seat." She pulled her goggles down so they hung around her neck. "These racing goggles work great. I knew they were a brilliant idea. Oh, and that reminds me—I win and you lose, but what else is new." Stella smiled smugly at me and turned her motor off. Her jet ski was parallel with mine. Stella, or LaLa, as we called her, had her long brunette hair hanging down her back in a thick braid. According to our mom, Stella and I had been competitive since the womb. Mom said we used to have full out brawls before we even popped out. I managed to squeeze past Stella first, and I always liked to hold that over her. 

"It's a hollow victory because I dropped out of the race." My focus was still on the sunbathing beauty. 

"I would have won anyway." Stella looked out toward the boat. "Shit, that's a nice one. I'll bet it's fucking fast."

"Huh?" I asked. "Oh yeah, guess there is a boat underneath her."

Stella kicked water at me. "You one-track minded fuckface." 

"I'm a Stone. It's part of our genetic makeup." My gaze stayed locked on the woman. 

"I'm a Stone, too, but apparently, I'm just more evolved."

"Tie up that bikini top. You've got gawkers!" the man yelled down to the woman. She lifted a hand and flipped him off. 

My spine stiffened as he slammed his drink down and marched down the steps to the bathing deck. The woman heard the angry steps and sat up hastily to tie up her bikini top.

"Well done, Jax. Now he's pissed, and it's your fault." Stella kicked more water at me. "Let's go, gawker." 

I stayed put. "That asshole better not lay a hand on her," I muttered between clenched teeth.

Stella laughed. "What are you going to do? Ram his big boat with your jet ski?"

I loved my sister, and I'd protect her with my life, but sometimes she was an annoying little shit. 

My hand hovered over the start button. I wasn't sure what I'd do, but ramming the side of his nice, shiny boat seemed like a good place to start. 

"Seriously, Jax," Stella's voice pierced the fog of anger surrounding me. "Shut down that fucking temper. You're at the disadvantage here."

"Stones are never at a disadvantage," I muttered. The asshole reached the woman. She was on her feet now. She crossed her arms around herself defensively as he leaned his face right into hers and said something—something that made her bristle. He spun on his heels, flipped me the bird and stomped back up to the helm. 

"There, happy ending or whatever. Let's go. I'm starved, and this choppy tide is killing my tailbone." Stella turned her motor on. The smell of gasoline mingled with the briny sea air. She was right. The fun was over. The woman disappeared below deck.

I turned on my motor and took one more glance toward the boat. One thing I knew for sure, that fucker didn't deserve to be anywhere near that angel. Stella turned her jet ski around to head back home. As I turned mine around, the sun glinted off something shiny. I turned back and looked at the yacht. The woman was holding a gold watch over the side of the boat. 

The asshole jumped to his feet. "Don't you fucking dare!"

His words caught Stella's attention. She spun around. "Holy shit, is that his watch?"

The woman dangled the watch from her fingertips and then let it drop into the ocean. The man stormed down from the helm. The woman shrieked in fear, climbed up on the railing and dove into the water. 

"What the fuck?" Stella said under her breath.

The woman popped up and started swimming toward me. I turned my jet ski and headed in her direction. The man stood at the railing with fist in the air. "Fucking get back here, Bridget!"

Stella's machine still rumbled behind me. "Take off, LaLa. I'll be right behind you," I blurted over my shoulder.

"But Jaxon—"

"Just go, Stella. I'll be fine."

She grunted in frustration and took off. 

I reached the woman and leaned down offering a hand for her to take. 

"Bridget, god damn it! What the fuck are you doing!" The man yelled from deck. 

She grabbed my hand and yanked herself up and onto the seat behind me. She wrapped her arms around my stomach and pressed her wet, cold body against my back. "Go, go, go!" she squealed. 

"Hold on!" I yelled back to her as I twisted the throttle. The nose of the WaveRunner lifted, and we jumped a few feet. She tightened her grip and leaned down with me as we raced over the choppy waves. 

Her body peeled slightly away from mine as she twisted around to look back. "He's coming!" Her tone was a mix of both fear and adrenaline, the good kind. She was enjoying this chase, and frankly, even with a lightning fast boat bearing down on us, with those same amazing tits pressed against me, I was having a helluva good time.

We flew across the water. I'd found the right angle to hit the choppy surface, softening the impact and decreasing any wind resistance. I didn't need to look back to know the boat was closing in on us. Fortunately, I knew every inch of the coastline. 

I turned my face. "Hold on there, darlin'!"

She tightened her grip on me, and her laugh tickled the back of my ear. "Not goin' anywhere." Her breath warmed the back of my neck. 

I took a sharp turn toward land and headed into a rocky cove. There were far too many jagged edges for a boat to enter, but a small craft, like my WaveRunner, had no problem at all. I slowed down and felt her grip loosen as she took a good, deep breath. The boat's motor rumbled in the distance.

"It's too shallow and rocky for a boat in here," I explained. I drove slowly behind the jutting tide pools and into one of the two caves in the cliffside. The tide was still low, but in a few hours the rocks and deep cliff crevices would fill with water, and the tide pools would be flooded.

I rode the jet ski up on shore and turned off the engine. "Does that jerk swim well?" I asked as I waited for her to swing her long, tanned legs off the seat. 

She scoffed. "He'd be too worried about messing up his hair."

I stood up. Her face lifted and followed me as I reached full height. My dad, Hunter Stone, had always been the giant in town, that was until I passed him by two inches and twenty pounds. It was a source of tension between us. He didn't love giving up the title. Mom loved to tease him about it. He'd laugh, but there was no denying that the two of us could get into each other's space sometimes.

"Holy shit." Her smile was brilliant white in her tanned face. Sky blue eyes peered out from beneath long black lashes. "I knew you were something when you zipped past me on your jet ski but—" She stepped back and brazenly looked me up and down before nodding approvingly. 

"Hey, you're using my signature move," I said. 

"Yeah? That's all you've got as your signature move? You know what? All right, let's see it coming from the pro." She stepped back and held out her arms. The strings of her yellow bikini were tied up high on her slim hips, and along with her incredible tits, she had legs that went on forever. It took me a second to erase a vision of me pressed between her thighs. 

I gave myself a quick shake and started to give her a hot and heavy scrutinizing look but stopped. "Nope, it has to be spontaneous. The only way to do it right."

She laughed and spun around to look at our surroundings. The small cove was surrounded by steep cliffs, and up above, you could hear the cars on the coastal highway as they sped past. The sun beamed down at us from the western sky, and the heat reflected off the shiny black shale of the cliffs. The sunlight illuminated the beauty in front of me. A light spray of freckles covered her button nose, and her plump pink lips were begging to be kissed.

"Now it's my turn to say holy shit," I said quietly. I reached over and pushed a long strand of black hair behind her ear. "What's your name, angel?"

She blinked up at me through wet, spiky lashes. "Bridget but friends call me Gidge. How about you?"

"I'm Jaxon but people call me Jax."

"Bridget," a voice shouted from somewhere past the mound of black rocks. "Get out here, now!" 

"He's persistent." I took her hand, and she readily curled her fingers around mine. I led her to the cave.

"What is this place?" The warm sunlight turned off as if someone had flipped a switch. She shivered as we stepped into the cave. 

"My brother and cousins and I used to call it Pirate's Cove. Those tide pools would fill with tons of cool little creatures in summer, and we spent so much time up on those rocks our shoulders blistered from sunburn and our feet were filled with cuts. My little brother, Crusoe, nearly lost a toe once when it got caught in a crevice. The docs had to stitch it back on, and my cousin, Theo, broke his arm trying to climb the cliffs, but best fucking times ever at this place."

Bridget's face lifted as she surveyed the rocky ceiling above us. "Has everyone gone their separate way now?" she asked, and a touch of sadness crossed her face. It only made her more beautiful, if that was possible. "I was close to my two cousins, but our dad's had a big falling out, and I hardly see them anymore."  

"Shit, that sucks." In the distance, the boat motor still rumbled. The jerk hadn't given up, and I couldn't blame him. This was not a woman you walked away from easily—gold watch disposal or not. "We all still live in town. Don't think any of us will leave. We've got the beach and the surf and the sun and each other—just not any reason to go."

"What happened to the girl who was racing you on the WaveRunner? She was stunning." 

"That's Stella, my twin sister."

"Cousins, a brother and a twin sister, lucky you." She walked over to the side of the cave and ran her hand along the smooth shale. "I'm an only child, and my mom took off when I was nine. She found someone less odious than my dad, only her new guy wasn't interested in being a dad. She chose him."

A mechanical sound reverberated off the surrounding cliffs. "That sounds like an anchor being lowered," I said.

"You know boats."

"My Uncle Slade has a fishing boat, and yeah, when you grow up just a few blocks from a boat marina, you learn the sights and sounds … and smells. Diesel and fish glued to a morning fog—there's nothing like it."

"Thank goodness for that." Her laugh was sweet and sexy, and it was already imprinted on my soul. She sashayed flirtatiously toward me, and my entire body reacted instantly. She placed her hands against my chest and absently traced along one of my tattoos with her fingertip. "I sure am glad you buzzed past our boat on your cute water toy."

It was my turn to laugh. "My cute water toy? Well, if that doesn't cut a man's confidence at the knees."

She giggled, hopped up on her toes and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Something tells me your kiss would melt me into one big hot mess." Her blue eyes glazed with need, and her voice trailed off to a whisper.

I wrapped my arms around her. "There's only one way to test that theory." My own voice was heavy with need, and my cock was already standing at full attention. It throbbed with the notion of being buried deep inside of her. I lowered my mouth to hers. Our lips barely touched when a loud boat horn shattered the moment.

"Just so you know, asshole, I've contacted the Coast Guard to let them know you kidnapped my girlfriend. Why don't you scoot out here on that motorized tin can and talk to me face-to-face?"

Bridget lowered her arms, and we stepped apart. "Guess he's done yelling at you," I said. "Do you think he's bullshittin' about calling the Coast Guard?"

Bridget bit her lip and shook her head. "Probably not."

"Right. Wait here." I turned and climbed the layers of rocks that held the tide pools. 

"Jaxon," she called to me urgently.

"Be right back." I reached the top of the jutting rocks. The asshole had anchored as close to shore as he could get without running into rocks. Without the anchor, his high dollar vessel would have eventually been pushed into the jagged shore. 

It took him a second to spot me. He walked to the railing and lifted his sunglasses. "You piece of shit. Bring her back now, and I won't press charges."

I stared back at him long and hard. These rich pricks had become more than a thorn in our sides in Trayton. They were like vermin, infiltrating every dark corner and working hard to push us locals out. They'd already swarmed and taken over Oceanview, the town next to us. I'd been sitting in tenth grade detention, watching the second hand on the clock move painstakingly slow, as the first rumble of bulldozers floated through the open window of study hall. Greedy, arrogant money flooded the once rustic, quiet town to build up massive glass front beach houses and expensive hotels. The locals were forced out, and now the rich were making a move on Trayton. A wealthy developer had found a loophole—a questionable one at that—and purchased an entire stretch of beach between Trayton and Oceanview. Croft Beach was named after Melvin Croft, a fisherman from the early twentieth century who'd survived two shipwrecks and lived to tell his tales. The town named the beach after him, and it was a place we all loved.

"Why don't you take off your five-hundred dollar loafers and swim out here so we can have a chat," I called back. "Bridget wants to stay with me."

His face reddened even more than the already nasty sunburn he was wearing. "Listen here, you piece of trash, you bring her back here or face jail time. I'm happy to see you marched off in handcuffs."

This asshole was standing on my last nerve, and I wanted nothing more than to ride out there, climb aboard and destroy his manufactured pearly whites. "How about I come out there, and we can settle this once and for all? But Bridget stays here."

I could see his knuckles whiten as he grabbed the railing. He leaned forward. "You're going to jail, punk! Or maybe I'll just take care of you on my own." His hand flew up, and a gunshot broke the air. 

"Fuck!" I dropped to the rocks. A stinging sensation pulsed through my arm and warm blood dripped down it. I scurried off the rocks like a three-legged crab and dropped down to the sand. 

Bridget raced toward me. She was unbelievably hot, but I wasn't entirely sure she was worth all this trouble. 

"You're all right." She grabbed my face and kissed me hard on the mouth. Yeah, she was probably worth a gunshot or two. 

"You are adorable when you look worried." I winced.

"Oh shit, he got you." She noticed the river of blood on my arm. 

"Just grazed me. Looks way worse than it is." 

"I'm so sorry." She kissed me again. "I tried to let you know but you took off. Alex has a gun."

I nodded. "Yep. Figured that out." I wrapped my good arm around her and pulled her against me. "Now, I think I'm in need of a little more first aid." I lowered my mouth to hers for a proper kiss, and every inch of me was on fire in seconds. She melted against me and moaned softly against my mouth. 

"Hmm, theory proven right," she said breathlessly. 

The boat horn blasted through the air, once again ruining the moment. 

"If I ever step on that deck, I'm gonna ram that horn right up his ass so that every time he talks, he makes that obnoxious sound." I leaned down for another kiss.

"You're dripping." Bridget motioned down to the wet sand that was now a mosaic of blood spatter. "We need to get you some first aid. Any chance you have a kit in your WaveRunner?"

"Nope. Stella carries the first aid kit. It's kind of her thing because she lives with two brothers who are prone to needing first aid kits."

Bridget reached up and rubbed her fingers lightly over my short beard before pressing her hand against the side of my face. Up until now, it had been all fun flirtation, but the second she placed her hand against my face, a heavy feeling sank through my chest. "I dragged you into this, and I don't see a way out. I'm sorry, Jax. It was stupid and impulsive of me to jump off that boat, but I spend every day looking for a way to escape my life. You were there and you looked like a fucking god sitting out there on your jet ski, and all I could think about was how fucking amazing it would feel to be in your arms."

I wrapped my arm tighter around her. Her thin body felt so vulnerable in my grasp that I had to hold back my urge to hold her even tighter. 

"And I was right about that," she said with a light smile and dropped her hand from my face. "But it was selfish of me to include you in my tantrum. Just take me back to the boat."

Her last words struck like a knife in that same heavy chest. "Is that what you want?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to cause you any trouble."

"Darlin', trouble is my middle name, or at least that's what my mom says. And I've got a plan. You ready for another ride?"

"Back on the jet ski?"

"Yup." I took her hand and led her back to the WaveRunner. I paused and looked at her. "Just how good a shot is he?"

She shrugged. "You're a pretty big target, and he only managed to graze your arm."

"Good point." I started the jet ski, and she climbed on behind me. "Hold on tight."

"Not a problem." She curled her arms around my waist and hugged me from behind. She pressed a kiss against my shoulder. "I'm ready."

I turned the nose of the jet ski toward open water. We flew over the choppy waves barreling toward us. Bridget squealed with excitement every time we got airborne. It would have been a fun ride if I wasn't worried about the dick on deck with a gun. The asshole had dropped anchor, which gave us enough time to get away before he could pull up anchor and turn his vessel around. 

I rode a wide berth around the yacht. It took the jerk a few seconds to realize what was happening. He raced to the helm and then doubled back, suddenly remembering the anchor. 

We both held up our middle fingers as we flew past. 

Bridget snuggled tightly behind me. "Best day ever."

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