by Kylie Kent
“How is it you spend two minutes getting dressed and look like the GQ cover model for January through to December?” I ask, not expecting an answer as I go back to detangling the bird’s nest.
“Good to know you like what you see,” he smirks, he’s eyes follow my body down my back, stopping on my ass. “Are you sure this brunch has to be a girls only thing?”
I nod my head yes. “You’d be bored to death, all we do is eat, drink mimosas and talk about boys, clothes and shoes.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “You talk about boys? And just how many boys will you have to discuss at this week’s brunch, sunshine?” I look at his clenched face in the mirror, is he jealous? It’s ludicrous if he is.
Deciding to play on this a bit, I scrunch my face up. “I don’t have any boys to talk about,” I pause thinking for a moment. “Oh wait, there was that one guy. Oh, and then that lawyer I met on the train a few days ago.” I continue to put on my thinking face.
Zac’s jaw tightens even more. “I think we need to get something straight, sunshine, you haven’t known me for long so I’ll give you that concession. But one thing you need to know, I don’t share.” He annunciates the three words I don’t share slowly.
I blink up at him. “Okay, well, I won’t ask to have a sip of your coffee this morning.” Knowing full well that that’s not what he was referring to.
“Maybe I wasn’t very clear, let me try again.” Turning me around so I’m facing him, Zac tilts my chin until our eyes meet before he says, “I will share anything with you; what I will not share under any circumstances, is you.” His stare is so intense, sincere. I think he actually means what he is saying, well he has me believing, anyway.
“Okay, look, I don’t know what this is,” I say, pointing between the both of us, “but if you won’t share, then I won’t be sharing either. So wherever your little black book of women is, Mr GQ,” I turn my voice sugary sweet before adding, “do us both a favour and lose it now, otherwise you might just have more bodies to bury.”
“Where the hell have you been all my life, sunshine? You might not know what this is, me and you, that’s okay, because I know. This is us always having a tomorrow, together.” He kisses my lips ever so lightly before stepping back. “Finish getting ready, I’m going to check on Ella before we head out.”
Zac pulls up into a carpark out front of the café, I go to open the door and he grabs my hand. “Wait here,” he says before jumping out and walking around the front of the car. He opens my door, but before he lets me out, he says, “you should always wait for me to open your door, sunshine.”
Does he think we’re living in the nineteen thirties?
“Zac, that’s sweet, it really is, but I know how to open doors and I don’t need anyone to do things for me. I’ve been looking after myself since I was five years old, even opening my own doors.”
His face tenses up as he holds his hand out for me, once my hand is in his he helps me out. “We will come back to that statement when we have more time.”
It doesn’t register with me that Zac is still holding my hand and walking me into the café until I see the table with Sarah, Holly, and Reilly; all who have bugged out eyes pointed toward me and Zac. Stopping, I tug on Zac’s hand to pull him back so he turns and looks at me.
“Zac, you can’t crash girls’ brunch. I’ve seen you naked and you’re definitely missing the parts that makes you a girl. Also, I’m certain you are not gay, although you sure are pretty enough to pull that off if you wanted to.”
Zac laughs. “I assure you, not gay, and if you want me to, I’m more than happy to prove it to you anywhere, anytime. I don’t plan on staying, I just wanted to walk you to your table to make sure you get there. I’ll be back to pick you up though. I programmed my number in your phone, make sure you call me when you’re ready to leave, please.”
Well that does it, I think I will do anything he wants when he adds that please on the end of a request. “I’ll call you, I promise. Thank you.” He kisses me like no one is watching, and to be honest, I get so lost the moment those lips of his meet mine, I couldn’t even tell you where we were at that very moment. My only care when he’s kissing me is how I can keep him kissing me for longer.
Before I know it, Zac pulls away from the kiss. “See you soon, sunshine. Have fun with your friends.” He gives me that panty melting smirk and walks out. I’m left standing in the middle of the café watching him and trying to figure out why I feel like a part of me went with him.
If I thought my friends would be kind enough not to bring up the fact that they just watched what was one of the best kisses I’ve received in my life, I was sorely mistaken. The moment I sat down, I put myself in the firing line. All three of my best friends are speaking, mostly at me rather than to me, at the same time.
I have answered none of their questions, choosing to sit here quietly observing the three of them and basking in the feeling of Zac still lingering on my kiss-swollen lips.
Looking at Holly and Reilly, most people wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, only those who are close enough to know the very subtle differences know which is which twin. They share the same tall, thin stature, long wavy fiery red hair, pale skin and green eyes.
The differences; Holly has a tiny freckle under her left eye, she also almost always wears her hair up, and has a more reserved personality than Reilly. Holly is a kindergarten teacher, she loves kids, she loves love, and dreams of her fairy-tale happily ever after.
Reilly is the more outgoing twin, absolutely no filter and no awareness of social appropriateness. She has confidence busting out of her in spades. Although, if I looked like that I probably would too. She flaunts her body and would tell you it’s her best asset, but it’s not. Reilly doesn’t like to show her pure, genuine and loyal heart, but she has one of the kindest hearts I know, she will go above and beyond for the people she cares about.
She’s also hopeless when it comes to men, she falls in love quicker than a one-click purchase on Amazon. However, as soon as she starts to feel something for someone, she leaves them in the dust, never staying with one person long enough to get too attached.
This thought stops me in my tracks, is that what I’ve done with Zac, not that I’m in love with him, I don’t think so. I mean how can you love someone you only met the day before? I’m not a believer in instalove; I don’t subscribe to the whole idea everyone has a soul mate and when you meet them, you’ll just know. But there is something different with Zac, he brings out feelings I’ve never felt before. Maybe it’s instalust, that definitely has to be it.
“I’m in lust with Zac.” I realise I said that out loud too late, it does however stop the three of them. They’re all staring at me with their mouths hanging open. “What? I said lust not love, close your mouths before the flies get in.”
Reilly is the first to speak. “Well, duh. You’d have to be blind to not be in lust with that fine piece of ass. I mean damn girl, I’m gonna need deets; how big, length, and thickness.” She stops talking once she notices the fact that I’m not smiling, I am however about to jump over the table and claw her eyes out. I shake my head to clear the jealous rage that seems to take over my body and soul when she started describing Zac as another random guy we’d see in passing.
“I’m not giving you deets and you should keep your thoughts about him to yourself from now on; for your own wellbeing that is.”
I can see the shocked faces of my friends. I’ve never spoken to any of them like this. I don’t recall ever being this mad at any of them. I know I’m being irrational, but I just can’t seem to help myself.
Reilly looks at me and smiles. “I think you’ve finally been hit with the love bug Lyssa. I’ve been waiting for this day to happen, we need to celebrate. I’ll get the first round of mimosas and then you can tell us all about this Zac that we,” she says, pointing to the three of them, “apparently may not appreciate in any way, form, or manner that’s not pure and platonic.” She gets up and hea
ds to the counter.
“I’m not in love with him!” I declare to Holly and Sarah, both of who just look at me with disbelieving grins.
“Of course you’re not in love, despite what my sister thinks. It takes longer than twenty-four hours or a night of good sex to fall in love.” Holly doesn’t sound like she believes her own words.
“You both know Reilly can’t tell the difference between being in love with someone and being in love with someone’s cucumber. You,” Sarah says pointing at me to drive her point further, “are most definitely in love with the man. I can tell.”
“I like him, maybe even like him a lot, but it’s not love!” I defend myself.
Reilly comes back with eight mimosa glasses. “You know there are only four of us right? And it’s only like ten thirty a.m. not p.m..” I raise my eyebrow at her.
“Well, we are celebrating the fact that you’re in love, sorry lust, for the very first time. This is only the first round.” She hands everyone a drink and then holding hers up she toasts, “to being in lust and not love!”
Taking a sip, I savour the flavours that hit my tongue. Just as I put my glass on the table my phone plays the chorus of “Stuck like Glue.” I just stare at it, it stops and then plays the chorus again and the girls all start laughing and singing along at a not so quiet level. I can feel the redness creep up my neck as I slowly die in embarrassment.
Before my phone makes any more noise, I pick up. There are two missed messages from my own GQ. Instantly I know who it is, I can’t believe he programmed his name into my phone as my own GQ and personalised the tone. I open the messages to read what could be so important that it couldn’t possibly wait a few hours. I mean, he hasn’t been gone that long.
My own GQ: Sunshine, don’t forget to order food to go with those mimosas, you cannot survive on liquid diets.
Holy shit, looking up I look around the café, is he hiding out spying on me somewhere? I can’t see him anywhere, but how else would he know I’m drinking mimosas? Looking down, I read the next message.
My own GQ: I’ve stopped in at the club, got shit to do, but I will be available to pick you up whenever you're ready. Please eat something, you didn’t get to eat dinner last night. xx
Okay, so he’s not here, he’s at the club, but boy is the man obsessed with food. I message him back.
Alyssa: “Stuck Like Glue,” really? Also, I’m 90% sure now that you have a food fetish. Is it your desire to feed me sir?
I don’t get the chance to silence my phone before it plays the song again. Dammit, I’m going to have to remember to change his tone back to a normal beep beep for a message, like a normal person would have. I open his message. If I thought I was red with embarrassment before, reading his message has me ten times redder, and wet in places I won’t admit to in public.
My own GQ: Yes, it is my desire to feed you, but what I desire to put into your mouth is not food. And now you have me walking around the club with a fucking hard on. Did I mention I have employees here? I’m sure they don’t need to see their boss with a hard on!
“Whatever the guy just sent you is good, let me see!” Reilly holds her hand out.
“Not a freaking chance in hell,” I tell her, “and the guy has a name, it’s Zac.”
“So, now’s a good time to tell us all about this Zac of yours Lyssa, you’ve kept us waiting long enough.” Holly rests her chin on her hands like she’s getting ready to hear a juicy story.
I tell them all about how I went on the blind date, how I got rooffied and how Zac looked after me.
Sarah then fills in. “He drove her home the next morning, waited for her in our living room while she had a shower, just so he could drive her to work. The boy sure is smitten.” She smiles.
“One, he’s not a boy, I can assure you he is all man. Two, he was just helping me get to work on time considering I was so late. Not smitten, just a kind person.”
“So tell, how did it go from him dropping you at the hospital to him dropping you here and playing hockey with your tonsils?” Reilly asks.
I decide not to tell them about going to the club to help his sister. Or making Zac shower when he came back into the office covered in blood, the only thought I had on that was, thank god it wasn’t he’s blood.
Thinking logically, I know I should care about whatever it is he did that had him coming back covered in blood. But for the life of me, I can’t fathom to care. All I care about is that he’s okay, and his sister can sleep at night knowing whoever attacked her did not get away with it, whatever happened to him.
Instead, I tell the girls how Zac was waiting for me outside the hospital when I finished my shift and saved me from the awkwardness of Dr. Mark, they’ve all heard about Dr. Mark before so that bit of information is not new to them.
“So, he picked you up, took you home and fed you cucumber?” Sarah asks.
I shake my head. “No, I have not had the cucumber … yet. We slept, that’s it, he held me all night.”
“Sure he’s not gay? Because if I had you in my bed all night, we would not just sleep, that’s for sure. Although, that kiss was way to convincing for him to be gay.” Reilly likes to say she’s an alcohol fuelled lesbian. Meaning if she’s drunk enough, she’d be into it.
“Thanks, I think?” I hold my glass up in her direction before drinking the last of it.
It’s one o’clock when we finish the last drink, and It’s not until I’m dialling Zac’s number that I notice how tipsy I am. “Who are you calling?” Sarah asks.
“Zac, he wants to pick me up,” I say with a huge smile.
“I bet that’s not all he wants to do,” Reilly shouts out, at the same time I can hear laughing on the other side of the phone.
“Sunshine, I assure you, picking you up is not all I want to do. Are you ready to head out? I’ll be there in fifteen.”
I sigh, I actually sigh into the phone out loud. Oh god, maybe it’s not a good idea to see Zac while I’m tipsy on mimosas.
“Zac, I Can just get an Uber home, you don’t have to come back here to get me.”
“Sunshine, do not get in a fucking Uber. I swear …” he takes a breath. “I’m already on my way. Just wait for me,” he pauses and then adds, “please.”
“Okay, I’ll wait for you. You’d be a much better view than any Uber driver anyway. Oh god, I said that out loud, didn’t I?” I can hear Zac laughing. “I’m hanging up, I’ll see you soon.”
I don’t give him a chance to respond before I hang up the phone. Looking back at my friends, they all let out the laughter they were unsuccessfully attempting to hold in. It must be contagious because I join them, laughing until my eyes water.
Chapter Eight
Zac
Walking into the café, I can hear the four women before I see them. I approach their table slowly, even though every bone in my body wants to run and grab Alyssa so I can pull her back into my arms. I stop at the table, sitting in the empty seat next to Alyssa.
Putting my arm around the back of her chair, I ask, “sunshine, did you have a good time?”
I already know the answer to my question, I can tell by the rosy colour to her cheeks she’s had a few mimosas. She doesn’t answer my question. Instead she turns and smiles at me before practically jumping into my lap. She reaches up pulling my head down to hers and plants her lips against mine.
It feels like heaven, her soft full lips on mine. Swiping my tongue out, I lick her lips seeking entrance. She doesn’t keep me waiting, swirling my tongue, tasting her mouth. She tastes sweet, a mixture of orange juice and what I think is chocolate. Whatever it is, she’s intoxicating and I’m not talking about the obvious alcohol I can taste on her lips.
I hate to do it, but I have to pull back. If I don’t, I’ll have her spread across this table before I know it. She groans as I pull away, and I can’t help but laugh at how damn cute she is.
“Why … why can’t you just keep kissing me? I like your kisses Zac, like really really like them.�
�� She purrs a little, which has my cock harder than it was a minute ago, and it was already fucking hard.
Leaning in I whisper in her ear so she’s the only one that can hear, “sunshine, I want nothing more right now than to keep kissing you. I want to strip you naked and kiss every part of your body from your head to your toes. I want to worship you the way you deserve to be worshiped, but that can’t happen in a café full of people. I already told you, I don’t share.”
Alyssa looks at me mouth open, she eventually says, “let’s go, I’m ready.”
I laugh at her eagerness, I don’t remember a time I’ve laughed so frequently, but Alyssa seems to bring it out of me with ease. “Baby, you might want to at least say goodbye to your friends first.”
I wave at the three women who are all sitting at the table staring at us like we’re an alien life form. Alyssa looks across at them, before she can say anything one of her friends speaks up, “uhh no you don’t, mister tall dark and handsome, it’s Sunday! Sunday means girls’ day. You don’t get to take her away from us on girls’ day. We have partying to do, we have celebrating to do, and we have cucumbers to pick up.”
All four women laugh when Alyssa says, “well, I don’t need to pick up any cucumbers, I have one that’s just perfect already.”
I have no idea what their fascination with cucumbers is and can’t help with that, but the first two points I can address, and still keep Alyssa with me. “Well, it just so happens partying and celebrating are something I can help with. How about I reserve a VIP table for you at The Merge tonight? You all go home, rest, sober up and meet Alyssa at the club at ten tonight?”
The four women look from one another, it’s like they're having a conversation without speaking; kind of creepy if you ask me. Sarah speaks up this time, “will there be bottle service included with the VIP table? If so we’re in. Also, you’re giving me a ride home with Alyssa.”