Free More Than Meets the Ink by Elle Aycart Page A

painfully standing in full salute.”
    James chose to look straight ahead, avoiding his father’s scrutiny, awkwardly aware of his straining erection. They were sitting on a bench in the open air, waiting for Mr. Nicholson to come back from his bathroom break, the seaside breeze filling his nostrils, and all he could smell was her and the sex they’d almost had. His dick swelled some more. Damn, he was fucked; his father was going to use this to make fun of him until his very dying day.
    “I love you, Dad, but let’s change the subject; I’m not comfortable discussing this shit with you.”
    Laughter rumbled through the old guy. “Please, I had hard-ons long before you were even conceived; don’t get prudish on me now.”
    “Hand me a beer, will you?” James held his hand out and drank half of it in one go. “A hard-on girl, Dad? Are we reading Cosmo now?”
    He ignored his son and took a swig of his own beer. “I believe you only get one of those girls in your lifetime, so you better make the best of it.”
    I was making the best of it when you came knocking at my door , he was itching to say, but he bit his tongue. There was no fooling Dad though. He stared at him in surprise and then laughed. Loud.
    “Oh God, that was what you were doing up in your room, right? Before I interrupted? I thought Tate had gone home. Now I understand your painful look. And stride.”
    “Drop it, Dad,” James warned. His…whatever it was he had—or didn’t have—with Tate wasn’t up for discussion.
    “You drop it,” he said, snorting and pointing at his son’s crotch. “Oh wait, you can’t, can you?”
    James growled in annoyance. Damn, the old man was having too much fun at his expenses. “A hard-on girl, remember? Nothing I can do about it.”
    “Yeah, I remember. Mine was your mother. We—”
    “Oh no no. I’m so not listening to that. I’m too young for this—I don’t want to end up in therapy, thank you very much. Besides, we all know how that ended with Mom. Not the best of comparisons to make.”
    “True,” his father said pensively. “Still, I just meant it’s not every day you meet a girl who can keep you on your toes, literally and figuratively speaking. And she’s good for you. I’ve seen you looking at her, laughing with her.”
    James chuckled. “Yeah, well, she seems to know how to press all my buttons.” And he had the hard-on of the century to prove it.
    His father shook his head and threw him a suspicious look. “It looks like more, son. For the past two days, she’s been dragged to all the activities here at the resort, and you’ve tagged along. Happily, I might add. What’s going on?”
    “Nothing, believe me.” And how true that statement was. He was ready to burst from lust at any second.
    “Listen to me, Jimmy boy; after that bitch Elaine, that’s all you allowed yourself to have: a fat lot of nothingness. You’ve fucked your share of women, but that’s all you do, fuck and run. That’s not good for you. You need to start thinking about your future; you need a wife. At your age, I had three sons, a wife, and a mortgage.”
    “Oh Jesus.” Here it was again. “Why don’t you do me a favor and concentrate on Cole? He’s the oldest and still single. I tried that scene, remember? I’m divorced, didn’t work well for me.”
    “I’ll get to Cole, you don’t need to worry about that, but for the moment I’ll concentrate on you.”
    Just my luck, James thought. He lifted his eyes in time to see Mr. Nicholson approaching, huffing, golf club in one hand, more beer in the other. Man, this was going to be a long afternoon.

Chapter Four
     
    Tate was drifting off to sleep when her cell phone rang. With her heart in her throat, she groped around in the dark. Please Lord, let it not be the police or anyone from the restaurant; she couldn’t cope with any problems right now, she was too…unplugged for that.
    Thank heavens, it was James.
    He didn’t waste any time with