Authors: Jessie Evans
Keeping You
Keeping You
A Summerville Novel
Always a Bridesmaid Series 2
By Jessie Evans
A marriage of insanity...
Aria March and Nash Geary's first summer fling ended badly,
very badly
, and they haven't spoken a civil word to each other since they were teens.
Twelve years later, Aria is back in Summerville, fighting for custody of her little girl, and it sure wouldn't hurt her case to be in a committed relationship. Fresh from a nasty breakup, Nash will do anything to one-up Rachael, the woman who broke his heart a few months ago, even agree to a marriage of inconvenience to Aria March.
But all too soon the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and Nash and Aria find there are better things than revenge. There is forgiveness, and sexy second chances with the one who got away.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Copyright © 2013 Jessie D. Evans
This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. Cover image by Yuri Arcurs for Fotolia. Cover design by Bootstrap Designs. Editing by Linked In Editorial
Trademarks Acknowledgment
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Chiclet c. Cadbury Adams USA. Coke c. Coca-Cola Company. Michelob Ultra c. Anheuser-Busch. Sesame Street c. Sesame Workshop. VW Bug c. Volkswagon.
Other Novels by Jessie Evans
Betting on You
Wild For You
Catching You
Taking You
Dedicated to Second Chances
Table of Contents
Prologue
Aria slipped through the woods on silent feet, her heartbeat louder than the cicadas buzzing and clicking in the trees.
It was almost too dark to see the trail, she didn’t have a flashlight, and it was against every rule in the camp handbook for her to be out of her cabin after lights out. If she were caught, she would be thrown out of camp in disgrace. Mama and Daddy were on the board of the Arts Council that helped fund the camp, but Aria was pretty sure even that wouldn’t help her avoid the ultimate punishment.
She really didn’t want to be sent home—her two best friends were here, camp meant another four weeks away from her bratty little sisters, Lark and Melody, and she was having the time of her life sketching and painting and experimenting with new mediums during her five hours of daily art classes. She loved camp
Arts Under the Elms
, and wouldn’t put her future here at risk for anything.
Anything except
him
.
Nash Geary.
Just thinking his name was enough to make her shiver all over. He was the most delicious boy she had ever met—taller than all the other boys at camp by at least five inches, built like a contestant straight out of some ancient Olympics, with moody green eyes a shade lighter than her own and a silky Georgia drawl she could feel brushing over her skin like warm satin.
He was flat out, no holds barred, drop dead
gorgeous
.
Every girl at camp had had her eye on him the first day, but by the time the sixty-five young artists selected for the competitive summer intensive walked through the dinner line to pick up their burgers and hot dogs, Nash had made it clear he only had eyes for the redhead with the long, straight hair and the tie-dyed dress swirling around her skinny white legs.
Aria had dated more than her share of cute boys—especially considering she was not quite sixteen, and still not allowed to go on car dates—but she had never caught the eye of someone as close to a full-grown man as Nash. She knew she was pretty, with clear, pale skin, deep green eyes, and red hair that had darkened to a flattering auburn after her twelfth birthday, but no matter how much she ate, she stayed a little too skinny. Heck, she barely filled out an A cup.
Meanwhile, Nash was six foot four, muscled all over, with hands big enough to wrap all the way around Aria’s waist, and an aura that practically seethed experience.
She had no doubt that he’d gone all the way with at least one girl, maybe more.
At first, she had wondered what he saw in a scrawny thing like her, a girl who still looked like a twelve-year old if she made the mistake of forgetting to slip the padding into her two-piece swimsuit. But then they’d started talking and things had just…clicked.
Within a few hours, they were cracking jokes like old friends, making each other laugh so hard they snorted Coke out their noses. By the third day, they were taking long walks together during their free time after dinner—talking about their lives back home and school and family and which bands they liked and art and everything else—and by the fifth day they were stealing kisses behind the mess hall dumpsters before lights out.
And what kisses they were…
Just thinking about them made Aria’s body hum and her footsteps move faster along the path, already anticipating the deep, mind-numbing kiss waiting for her in the clearing where she and Nash had agreed to meet tonight.
Kissing Nash was heaven and hell all at the same time, enough to make her soul light up with joy and every cell in her body ache with a hunger that was almost painful. Up until now, kissing and some light over-the-clothes action had been all she had been interested in with the boys she dated, but now…
Now she wanted Nash’s big hands to slide underneath her t-shirt. She wanted to feel her bare skin pressed against his. She wanted to let him touch her wherever he wanted,
do
whatever he wanted, because she knew anything she did with Nash would feel amazing, perfect, and so, so right.
It had only been three weeks, but she was ready for Nash to be her first. She could feel how much he cared about her, and she had never been so completely gone on a boy. In her secret thoughts, she had imagined growing up to have a string of gorgeous lovers, each one more dashing and dangerous than the last, but now a part of her wondered what it would be like to find “the one” the first time around, to spend her life making love to only one man.
When the man in question was Nash, the possibility didn’t seem boring or typical. Not in the slightest.
“
Hey,” he whispered, moving out of the shadows at the edge of the clearing as she finally arrived at their meeting spot.
Aria smiled and skipped the last few steps off the path and into his arms. He picked her up with a soft moan she felt vibrate through her bones, and kissed her, long and hard, until her breath was coming faster and that delicious hunger rose inside.
“
I was beginning to think you’d changed your mind,” he whispered against her mouth, as his hands wandered down to cup her bottom in his big hands.
Aria’s throat constricted and an electric jolt surged through her in response. “No,” she said, breath already coming faster. “I just had to wait until Molly fell asleep. She was reading in her bunk forever.”
“
I’m so glad you’re here,” Nash murmured. “I’ve been dying to be alone with you.”
They kissed for another long minute, until the clearing was filled with the sounds of their swiftly drawn breath and soft sighs and moans, and Aria’s head was spinning.
Finally she pulled away. “Did you bring…something?” she asked, feeling a little nervous for the first time.
“
Yes ma’am,” Nash drawled in that silky voice of his. “I brought a blanket from the storage room. It’s over here.” He took her hand and pulled her deeper into the shadows.
As Aria’s eyes adjusted, she saw a dark gray camp blanket spread out on the grass. She let Nash pull her down onto the blanket next to him, rolling her beneath him with a calm assurance that made her blood pressure spike, but when he moved to kiss her again, she put a finger on his lips.
“
I didn’t mean the blanket,” she whispered in a shaky voice. “I meant…something.”
Nash paused for a long second before his breath rushed out. “Oh…I didn’t… I have something. In my wallet, but…”
“
But what?” Aria asked. The hesitation in his voice might have made her anxious any other time, but it was impossible to feel anxious with him leaning protectively over her, his big hand running up and down her side in a gentle caress.
“
I didn’t think you wanted to…you know…tonight. I thought you might want to wait.”
“
Do you want to wait?”
“
Hell, no,” he said, with a soft laugh. “But…it’s not my first time.”
“
Does that make you nervous?” Aria asked, knowing some guys avoided virgins, thinking they were too clingy or too much responsibility or something lame like that that she had never quite understood.
She might be a virgin, but she didn’t expect to be rendered idiotic and helpless because her privates and a boy’s privates met up for the first time. She was inexperienced, not a fool, and her brain was just as much a part of this decision as the rest of her.
“
A little,” Nash confessed after a moment. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“
You won’t.” Aria snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “All you ever do is make me feel amazing. I doubt this will be any different.”
“
Are you sure?” Nash asked. “I don’t mind waiting. I…”
“
What?” Aria asked, letting her fingers play with his spiky, light brown hair, wishing she could see his eyes.
“
I really like you. A lot,” he said. “I don’t want this to just be a camp thing, you know?”
“
Me, either,” Aria said, realizing the words were true.
She and Nash hadn’t talked about anything long term, but now it seemed like a no-brainer that they would last longer than seven weeks. Sure, they went to different schools and lived on opposite sides of town—Aria in a big house in a new subdivision, Nash out in the boonies with his parents and ten brothers and sisters—but there was no reason they couldn’t make a relationship work.
“
I don’t have a lot of time during the week,” Nash said. “I have football most afternoons and help out with my brothers and sisters at night, but I could come to Summerville every Sunday.”
“
And I could come out and help you babysit some nights,” Aria said, catching Nash’s excitement for their future.
“
I’d like that,” Nash said, before adding in a softer voice, “I’d like as much of you as I can get.”
“
How about all of me?” Aria asked, tugging gently at his neck. “Come on, Nash. I’m almost sixteen. I know what I want.”
Nash resisted for a moment, but Aria could hear the way his breath hitched. “On one condition,” he said in his husky drawl, his voice enough to make Aria squirm with wanting him. “You’re my girlfriend. It’s official, starting tonight.”
“
All right,” Aria said, suddenly feeling shy.
She had never had an official boyfriend before, especially not one who made it sound like such a major deal, a commitment that meant more to him than a casual, high school connection. When Nash called her his girlfriend, it was intimate, possessive, and irresistibly sexy.
“
I’m your girlfriend.” The words sent a thrill through Aria, giving her the courage to say, “Now, will you make love to me?”
Nash didn’t say a word, but the next second he was kissing her so hard and deep that, after only a moment, his breath was her breath and Aria swore she could feel his heartbeat echoing inside her chest.
A few moments later, his hand slid beneath her shirt, and not long after her shirt was off and he was kissing her in places no boy had ever kissed her before and it was…mind-blowing. Aria’s head spun and her fingers fisted in Nash’s hair as he kissed and licked and, god, the things he did, and the way it made her feel. It was more amazing than she’d ever imagined.