It’s empty.
Fuck!
I’m scratching my head when Lee pops into my doorway. “Did you find any?”
I dig around in my pants again. “No.”
Lee purses her lips to the side of her face and I feel like an idiot. I don’t know why things can’t seem to go right with this girl tonight. What’s worse is I don’t know why I want things to go right. It’s as if the more things go wrong, the more desperate I am to set things straight.
For her.
“I’ll be back,” I announce.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go pick up some condoms.”
“Are you going to be...” She yawns. “Be gone long?”
“No,” I grab her by the head with both hands and kiss the top of her head. “I’ll be right back. Just sit tight.”
“Your couch is uncomfortable. It’s too stiff.”
I point my thumb behind my back. “Then lay on the bed.” She skips and jumps into my room to fall flat and sink into the mattress. I’m chuckling at her display of playful behavior as I head to the sofa, grabbing my shirt and putting it back on. “But don’t get too comfortable,” I shout. “Make sure you’re awake when I get back.”
“Your bed is stiff, too,” she shouts, semi-muted through the fluff of pillows.
“Yeah?”
“Ye-yeeah,” she pokes her head up to yawn again.
“Well, that’s good because I got something else stiff waiting for you, so don’t fall asleep. In fact, why don’t you get naked for me before I get back.”
“I’ll be ready,” she mumbles to herself and I’m swift to exit.
I’d rather Lee not get naked. I’d rather be the one to tear her clothes off her myself, but the girl yawned three times and if I don’t get her back in the mood, this night is going to be over before it even started.
I walk two short blocks around the corner to a convenience store and hustle as fast as I can back to Lee. Of course, by the time I get back, Lee’s laying on her side still dressed, except for her bare feet hanging off the bed.
And she’s sleeping.
I slip off all my clothes to get naked and I crawl up behind her. Even with her mouth wide open and the soft snore sneaking out the back of her throat, she’s still turning me on. I kiss her shoulder and then her neck.
“Lee,” I whisper in her ear in hopes she’ll wake up but she snorts, shutting her mouth.
I plop flat on my back, my eyes and my erection both pointed towards the ceiling.
Dropping the condoms along with the receipt to the floor, I sigh. “Damn, this girl is so much trouble.”
7
Lee
Bacon. Smoked applewood bacon. It tickles my senses.
I wake up expecting to find myself in my room, in the country, thinking Dad is making our usual favorite Sunday morning feast—biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs and a side of smoked applewood bacon.
But I’m not in the country. Spying out an open window, I see a wall of red brick from across the street. I’m in the city.
Sitting up, I look around and notice the lack of décor in this room. There is no art or pictures on the wall. A black dresser with a matching nightstand perched next to this bed with gray sheets is all that exists plus an ironing board with an iron on it and what seems to be men’s dress shirts draped and waiting to be pressed.
The sound of sizzling bacon being added to a pan comes resonating through the open bedroom door and I remember where I am.
Kevin’s.
Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I plant my forehead in my hands. “Shit.” I’m still in the same clothes I was wearing from last night, I don’t have my purse, and I need to get back to Delaney.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
I freeze with the sound of Kevin’s voice. “You want some breakfast?’
My head manages to turn, creaking in his direction and when I get a good look at him in the light, I’m melting again. I want to melt all over him like I did last night.
No melting! Not now.
Kevin’s bleached blond hair and steel-gray eyes sparkle from all the sunlight bouncing off the white walls, beaming in through his plain undressed windows. The cuts between his abs and arms are more obvious than they were in the dark as the mounds of rippling muscle seem to shine. He’s lean—very lean—and I like the way his white lounge pants are tied to hang low below his waist to show his hip bones and that shield of muscle propped right above that one part of him that I failed to discover.
“Lee,” he shouts with a laugh, snapping me out of my ogling daze. “Are you hungry? Do you want to eat or do you want to shower first?”
Eat or shower? Why does that seem like such a difficult choice to make right now? I make eye contact with him. “Kevin, can you drop me off at Delaney’s?”
He crosses his arms, a spatula in hand, and waddles his head to the side, which makes his messy hair at the top of his head flop adorably. His eyes narrow and I swallow. “No,” he says and walks out.
No? No!
“Kevin!” I march out after him to find two breakfast plates made of eggs, toast, and fruit with a space left for the bacon. The sight and smell make my stomach growl with hunger.
“What do you mean, no?”
“I mean no,” he shrugs and flips some bacon in a pan atop of a stove embedded in a kitchen island and then looks me up and down.
I pull my hair to cover my cleavage, which is totally exposed. “Kevin, can I borrow your phone at least so I can call Delaney and she can help me get back to her place.”
He pops a grape in his mouth before he flips the bacon. “No.”
I’m beginning to get uneasy and I spy the front door.
“Lee,” he calls. He’s blushing. “I want another chance.”
“At what?” What first chance did I give him?
“To give you what you want. To give you what you came looking for last night.”
“Oh. No,” I chuckle. “Kevin, that was a bad idea. I don’t even know why I would do something like that—go to the club to hook up for the night. I don’t know why I even considered doing something so stupid.”
“Right,” he nods with a crinkle to his brow and crossing his arms with spatula in hand.
Oh, shit! I think I may have insulted him. I forgot he hits up the club all the time!
Clearly, I’m going to have to find my own way home.
Turning my head, I search his apartment. The stiff sky-blue, square-like sofa is cute. Too bad it’s so uncomfortable. “Have you seen my shoes?”
Kevin points with the spatula towards his room. “On the floor. Next to the dresser.” I turn around and head back into the bedroom when I hear him shout, “Your other stuff is on top.”
Other stuff?
I see my shoes, which he’s laid out on the floor next to a row of his—a few Nikes and a bunch of shiny dress shoes. He must work in an office. And when I search the top of the dresser, I see a very small, clear plastic Ziploc bag—the kind of bag you’d get when buying cheap jewelry at a flea market and not much bigger than my palm. It has writing marked by a Sharpie: LEE’S EYELASH.
My cheeks rise. They can’t resist and the next thing I know I’m smiling...
But then, I remember I probably still only have one eyelash on. I head to the bathroom.
When I see myself, I want to scream! I’m a disaster. And not just nuclear or zombie disaster but a zombie-gone-nuclear disaster. Mascara has flaked, scrolled, and baked down my face and my hair is no longer smooth but frizzy. I reach to tug at the false lash.
“Hey, don’t do that,” Kevin interrupts and pushes me aside to open a drawer. “You can’t just pull it off. Let me help you.”
Pulling out a Q-tip, he reaches for a small jar of Vaseline, opens the jar, and then swirls the cotton tip inside.
“Turn around,” he says, and I do. “Close your eyes,” he instructs, and I do that, too.
It’s crazy how I only recently
met this guy and I’m following all of his instructions.
The soft tip of cotton smeared with Vaseline slides across the seam of my eyelid, creating a tickle and a tingle.
Kevin focuses on my eyelid as he speaks. “What if I take you out to dinner? I feel guilty I took you to Sonic and we never got a chance to eat, except I’d like to take you somewhere else. Somewhere nice? Would you consider staying another night?” Kevin’s breath is warm against my cheek.
“Dinner?” I repeat. “You mean... like a date?”
“Not like a date,” he clarifies. “But yeah. A date.”
The cotton swab twirls against my eyelid and the lash comes loose. “How’d you know how to do that?” I’m so curious.
Kevin’s fingers lightly brush across the top of my cheek where he pinches the false lash to grip it between his fingers. He smiles, so proud. “I watched a couple of YouTube videos this morning.”
I pinch the eyelash between my fingers, taking it from Kevin, and his face falls flat. Tilting his head, he catches my eye and takes the eyelash back to place it in the Ziploc bag with the other. If Kevin’s eyes could get anymore stormy, they’d shoot lightning.
“Lee, I’m serious,” he groans. “Let me take you out tonight.” He leans up against me and the warmth of his body sets me on fire.
“Kevin,” I put my hand against his bare chest to push him away, except I find myself refraining from pushing too hard. “Kevin, that’s very sweet...”
His heart pounds relentlessly into my palm...
“...and I appreciate that you were a gentleman last night, but—”
“Why are you so much trouble?” he interjects with a cross brow.
“Excuse me?” My jaw drops. Why is he suddenly so stern?
He leans in closer. His voice is low, angry, he seems. “I’ve never had a chick give me such a hard time. Why do you make things difficult?”
Chick? I pull my hand back from his chest, placing it on the counter behind me to lean back, and swallow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was making things hard on you—”
“Ha!” he laughs. “I’m just kidding, baby.” He bobbles his head and studies me for a few seconds—his eyes wander up and down again until he points in my face. “Listen, if a guy ever talks to you like that, you need to hightail your ass out of that scenario. Do you understand?”
“Um...” My eyes squint. “O—kay.” I didn’t know I was being tested or that I needed a lesson.
“I’m serious, Lee. You were lucky to end up with me last night. The idea you might’ve ended up with someone else, some stupid fuck that could’ve had his way with you... Mmmnno,” he growls as he gives me a wicked glare and shakes his head in distaste.
My bottom lip pokes out. I feel like I’m getting in trouble and my face falls into a frown. Why it would even bother me what Kevin thinks is beyond me.
His body shifts, sensing my indifference. “You...” his face softens. “You don’t belong with anybody from that club. Do you understand me? You deserve better.”
“How would you know?” I chortle. “You don’t know me. You just met me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“Oh, believe me, I know, which is why you need to let me take you out and not some other douchebag.
“I have no intention of going out with anyone else.”
“You don’t?” His hair flips as he tilts his head with curiosity, seeking eye contact.
“No, last night was a one-time thing,” I confess.
He scratches his head. “Well, now I feel really bad.”
“Why?”
“You didn’t get your one-time thing. You still want it?” He grabs my hips and presses his groin into my front, making my breath hitch.
I’m blushing with his soft bulge pressing into my belly. “Not right now.” I plant my hand on his abs, which are rock hard, ready to push him away.
“So, later then?” he nods, waiting for an answer.
The proximity of our bodies is suddenly paper thin and Kevin’s breath gets heavier as it cycles in and out thick between us. My hand rises and falls in waves over his abdomen. His bulge also comes alive—growing, hardening. He runs the tip of his tongue across his bottom lip, making his mouth glimmer under the fluorescence of the bathroom light propped above and he leans in.
My stomach rumbles loudly, catching us both off-guard.
Kevin flinches and his eyes narrow. He rubs his chest with one palm, exhales, and removes himself from me. “Hey, let’s eat.”
The sudden distance he’s created, I must say, hurts more than my hungry stomach does. But I nod in agreement.
Following him out, I see Kevin’s placed our breakfast plates on his glass top dining room table. He scoots my chair out.
“We’re not in a restaurant,” I scold.
Kevin retracts his hands from the seat as I sit and scoot myself in. “Yeah, I know,” he shakes his head again. “I just... ” He shrugs his shoulders unable to finish his sentence as he rubs his chest again.
It’s shameful but I wouldn’t mind rubbing his chest for him.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he smiles and sits down. “I might’ve played too hard at basketball yesterday. You like orange juice?” He grabs my glass and fills it nearly to the rim without waiting for an answer.
I really wish he wouldn’t be so chivalrous. I feel like a slut still in this dress—a stinky, sweaty slut who needs a shower. As soon as I finish eating, out of courtesy because I don’t want to be rude, I’m ditching.
“Thank you,” I grin as he hands me the glass.
“Soooo...” He makes eye contact with me. “Delaney called. She said your Dad wants to talk to you. Something about a dog? She mentioned he threatened to shoot it.”
“What!” I put the OJ down and get up. “Where’s your phone?”
Kevin points at the plates. “Why don’t you sit down and eat first?”
“Kevin, please. Give me your phone. You don’t understand. This is a matter of life and death.”
He groans, getting up to walk back to the kitchen, bringing his phone to me.
I call Delaney.
Of course, the only thing Delaney wants to talk about is Kevin and sex. I’m embarrassed to admit to her that nothing happened after all the work she did on me and I also don’t want to make Kevin feel bad that nothing happened since I was the one who fell asleep, so I head towards his room and shut the door.
Plopping on the bed face down, I confess. “We didn’t do it.”
“What?” Delaney shrieks. “Why not? Did you freak? Was it too big? Was it as big as he said it was?”
My eyes are about to cross. I’m so confused. “Is that what he whispered in your ear? He told you how big he was down there?”
“Yeah,” Delaney sings. “Did you at least get a good look at it? Was he lying?”
I grab a pillow and roll over to my back. “I haven’t seen it yet.”
“Yet?” Delaney questions. “So, are you planning on seeing it sometime today? You know you left your purse in my car.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why we didn’t do it. I didn’t have any condoms and he ran out.”
“Oh, yeah? Did you guys at least make out or anything?”
“We kissed a little in the car, but that was about it,” I sigh and a tingle enters my chest. “But he did make me breakfast this morning.”
“Oh, well, that’s nice. Maybe he’s not the bad boy I assumed he was. You know I’m working all day today. My last appointment is at five. Maybe you should let him lick the honeypot before he brings you back to my place.”
The door creaks open from behind me and I flip over to see Kevin standing in the doorway. A small smile plays on his lips as he crosses his arms to lean against the frame, looking at me.
“Not likely,” I mention to Delaney.
“Why not? You’re leaving on Wednesday. You’re never going to see him again and he’s hot. You think he’s hot, don’t you?”
&n
bsp; My eyes glaze over Kevin and he stands erect, pointing to me and mouthing, Are you talking about me?
“No,” I tell them both.
“Liar,” they both say at the same time.
I give Kevin a wicked glare and roll back over to my belly. “So, what did my dad call you about?”
Delaney huffs. “You’d better call him. He says the dog that’s been coming around your house gave birth and he’s really upset you wouldn’t let him shoot her before she had puppies.”
“Puppies? I didn’t know she was pregnant. I have to hang up Delaney. I have to call my dad.”
“All right. I’ll be at the salon, most likely until after seven and then we can go out again afterward if you still want to get laid. That is, of course, if Kevin doesn’t work out between now and then.”
“I don’t think I want to go out again tonight—”
“That’s right,” blurts Kevin into the phone as his body falls flat on my back. “Because she’s staying in with me tonight.”
“Hmm,” hums Delaney. “Somebody sounds like he’s in love.”
“No,” I laugh, or try to laugh. Kevin is heavier than I thought. “He’s just...”
“I’m just what?” Kevin peeps over my neck from behind and cocks his chin up at me.
“A deviant,” I growl.
Both Delaney and Kevin chortle.
I say my goodbyes and hang up the phone to call my father. When he answers, he’s fuming. “Where have you been, Lee? I tried calling you a hundred times this morning.”
A hand strokes up the back of my head moving my hair from my neck, giving me gooseflesh.
“Dad, I’m sorry. I left my phone in Delaney’s car.”
A kiss is planted into a crease where my neck is twisted to the side and another kiss follows and then another. I struggle to contain the gasps eager to escape.
“You can’t scare me like that, Lee,” my father scolds. “I even called Delaney a couple of times and you know how much I hate talking to your friend.”
The weight on my back shifts and my butt is straddled.
“Dad, how can you say that? You’ve known Delaney as long as I have. You’re like a father to her.”
The Cuddler Page 5