Those hulking arms wrapped around me and they were surprisingly gentle. I expected a big bear hug while I gasped for breath but what I got was light. As if I was a fragile kitten being cradled in his arms.
“Okay, you two. Break it up,” Tyler said and laughed.
I glanced over and saw his smile wasn’t reaching his eyes.
We settled in. Tyler and Jake sat on the couch while I took the leather chair.
“Come to visit your brother’s new place?”
Jake’s head shot back, and his confused expression reminded me of Tyler. They both had the same light brown hair and round eyes, but his were hazel while Tyler’s were blue.
“You didn’t tell her?” Jake pointed at me but stared at Tyler.
“I meant to, but I was a bit busy last night.” Tyler’s gaze darkened as he stared at me.
“Sex. Your brother means we were busy having all-night sex.”
Tyler’s eyes widened and he coughed. Choking on his own shock. Jake shook his head. “Nope. Unnecessary. Totally didn’t need to hear any of that.”
“You two are prudes. We’re adults. In an adult house. We are adulting so hard that two of the people in the room are engaged.” I ticked up the corner of my mouth and nodded, confirming my fake fact.
“Let’s see the ring.”
“What?” Tyler’s blush drained from his cheeks as he turned to look at his brother.
“The ring. I don’t see it on her finger. Did she give it back already?” He smirked and chuckled at his own joke.
“Let me go get it,” I said, and Tyler’s head whipped around so fast to gaze at me in surprise I thought it might fly off his neck and land in my lap.
Oh, what I could do with his head in my lap. Though, that was kind of creepy the more I thought about it.
“Let me help you, honey.” He jumped up and followed me up the stairs.
Once we got inside the master bedroom and he shut the door, Tyler turned to face me. “You have a ring?”
I nodded and moved over to the one drawer he allotted me in the dresser. For a man who dressed in either a white button-up shirt and khakis for work or jeans and a T-shirt outside of work, his clothes took up a lot of space.
Pulling out the navy velvet box from under my socks, I closed the dark wooden drawer. I felt Tyler behind me and before I could turn around, he snatched it from my hand.
“Hey. You know, it’s the woman who takes the ring from the man, not the other way around.”
He was about to open it when he said, “Welcome to the twenty-first century.”
Opening the box, his eyes widened.
“This isn’t real, is it?” Tyler reached in and lifted a platinum band with a two-and-a-half carat emerald-cut diamond in the center.
“Now get down on one knee.” I held out my hand for him to place it on my finger.
“Holy shit! No one’s going to believe that I gave this to you.”
“Well, you didn’t. It’s Babette’s. She’s letting us borrow it for the charade. Now, knees, please. This is really turning me on right now. I want to play it out.”
His brow wrinkled as his eyebrows rose. The man stared at me with his mouth open.
“What’s wrong?”
He waved his hand toward the door. “What’s wrong? All this is wrong. This ring is fake.”
“It is the opposite of fake. It’s so real that all other diamonds have to get plastic surgery to look that good.”
Taking a deep breath, Tyler clenched his jaw. “Fine. The ring is real, but our supposed proposal is fake. Our living arrangements are fake. For the first time in my life I have to lie to my brother.”
I frowned. He wasn’t handling this well.
For so long I had been surrounded by people who had no problem lying in order to win over a director, get a part, or appease the public. Tyler hadn’t. He was the same honest guy I would beg to stay the night so we could continue to make out past curfew when we were teenagers. My mother usually had fallen asleep, and I knew she’d never find out. But he would hate to lie to her. Told me that I was lucky she cared so much about me and it would hurt him to betray her trust.
“Then what should I wear? I already told your brother I had the ring.”
He opened my drawer and plopped the ring and box back inside. Once he closed it, he opened the drawer below it—his T-shirt collection drawer. The man owned at least forty T-shirts. I think some had holes, yet he still wore them.
“Here. You can wear this.”
It was an old white leather box. I opened it to find a small gold band with three diamond chips embedded next to each other. He lifted it and we stared like it held the truth we were seeking.
“It was my grandmother’s. When I was young, I think ten, she gave it to me. Told me to hide it from my parents. They would hawk anything of value. She wanted me to give it to the woman I would spend the rest of my life with.” His gaze shifted to me for only a moment before he smirked. “I hid it in Vulta, the old stuffed eagle I had since I was four. It was crusty and had several holes, but I knew my parents wouldn’t notice it and Jake would never touch it.”
“I remember Vulta. I thought you used to jizz in it.”
He scratched his head and blinked at me. “What sort of whacked-out fantasies do you think I have, Iona? Why would you think I’d get off fucking a stuffed eagle?”
“Patriotism. I don’t know.” I shrugged.
Grabbing my hand, he pushed on the gold band. I lifted it up to admire it on my finger. For a moment, it warmed my heart to wear his grandmother’s ring. The way he smiled at me, at the ring, I wondered if he felt it, too.
But then the gleam in his eyes faded, along with his grin.
“There you go. Officially, faked engaged.”
FIFTEEN
Tyler
“OH MY GOD, THAT’S INCREDIBLE, Jake. Mmm,” I heard Iona say as I came down the stairs.
As I moved closer to the kitchen, there was a moan and finally, “You are wicked, you dirty man.” Iona’s laughter had the hairs on the back of my neck rising. It was deep, sensual, and I thought used only to seduce me.
“I knew you’d love it.”
“How do you get your nuts so juicy? I didn’t know that was even possible.”
My heart pounded as I clenched my fist. How could they do that to me? My brother and my fiancée. I mean, she’s not really my fiancée, but he doesn’t know that.
“What the hell are you two doing—” I stopped when I turned the corner of the kitchen. The scene I saw was revolting. Bile crept up my throat and I hoped I wouldn’t throw up. Something dark brown coated Iona’s lips and Jake had it dribbled down his chin.
“Want some of my famous brownies?”
“Brownies?” I asked, still surprised it wasn’t what I thought. My God, if they had been doing what I thought they had been doing, I don’t think I could be in the same room with them ever again.
Jake lifted a tray with dark gooey brownies. A few were missing and I assumed in their stomachs.
“No, thank you. I haven’t had dinner and I only allow myself one indulgence a week.” I patted my stomach and moved toward the refrigerator.
After we showed my brother the ring, he made jokes at my expense about being cheap. He had never seen Grandma’s ring and had no idea that was what I gave Iona. To my surprise, Iona defended me and said she loved it.
I spent the rest of the day at work. They were home alone. I had just returned and went upstairs to change. I was hungry but not enough to ruin my appetite.
“I forgot you eat like a bird,” Jake mumbled in between bites of his dessert.
Grabbing the milk from inside the fridge, I turned back and placed it on the island. They were still munching down on the other side.
“And you eat like a caveman. Though, I don’t think cavemen had brownies.”
“I’ll have you know they aren’t all sugar. I sprinkle some protein powder in them.”
How much protein does a person need? No
wonder he looked like He-Man.
“Now that you both are here, I feel there’s something I need to get off my chest,” Jake said as he stepped closer.
“To me?” Iona asked.
“To both of you.” Jake pointed to us. “It’s something that might help clear up a few things.” Jake sighed. “Now that you two are back together, I feel I owe it to you to let you know the truth . . .”
My brother was never serious—everything was always fun and light-hearted with him. This couldn’t be good.
“You know how you lost the phone at the edge of town after the dance your senior year?”
I felt heat crawl up my neck as I nodded.
“Well, you didn’t lose it. Dad sold it to Keaghan Bailey for money. I heard Dad on the phone one day when I got home early from school. I don’t know how it went down but I know Keaghan offered him a replacement and paid him, too. Dad even thanked him for pre-programming in a few numbers for him. Which I thought was weird, but it was Dad, so I knew not to question him for fear I’d be dragged to jail for being an accessory.”
Now it all made sense. I didn’t fat-finger Iona’s number, Keaghan put it in wrong.
“So, it was Keaghan who messed up the number. And all these years, I thought you hated me. One more reason to hate the mayor.”
“Ugh. How did that sleazebag ever get elected?” She groaned and licked her fingers.
“How do you think? His usual ways—bullying people to vote for him and donate to his campaign.”
We all stood there for a moment and let the truth of what happened sink in. Finally, I grabbed a glass and began to pour the milk when I saw Iona move toward me with a gleam in her eye.
“I need a kiss from my fiancé.”
She puckered her lips, and I noticed that not only was her mouth covered in chocolate, but her fingers were, too. She was like a very tall toddler who got into her mom’s cooking batter.
“No.” I put down the carton and backed out of the kitchen toward the living room. “Stay away from me. I’ve got my good T-shirt on.”
“It’s faded and worn. How is that your good T-shirt?”
“It’s comfortable.”
My plea did nothing to stop her. It only encouraged her, and she picked up speed. I ran up the stairs double time and made it into the bedroom, but I couldn’t get the door closed in time. Though Iona was several inches shorter than me, she was quick.
Closing the door, she locked it and smeared chocolate all over the doorknob.
“You need to wash your hands and wipe off your mouth, then I’ll kiss you.”
Shaking her head, she inched closer, dragging out the dread. Unlike the rest of my body, my dick liked this game. My heart pounded and my jeans grew tighter with each step she took.
Iona stopped just short of touching me and I sighed in relief. This childish need of hers to taunt me with chocolate needed to end.
Her smile grew and I realized too late that what I had thought was over had only just begun.
Her finger reached out and my eyes widened as it headed toward my nose. At the last second it changed course, dipped lower and pressed to my lip. My reaction was instant and without thought—I opened my mouth and let it slip right inside.
My cock twitched in appreciation.
“You can help me clean up.” She stepped forward and stood on her toes. The sweet taste of the chocolate did something to me. Or maybe it was the scent of lavender that drifted from her hair as I leaned toward her. Or maybe it was how I couldn’t stop thinking about her at work today. It was a busy day but nowhere near as hectic as yesterday.
I also worried about not using a condom but made a vow that if we had the chance to be intimate again, I’d make sure to have a condom on me at all times. Not physically on my dick all the time. Like, right now, I wasn’t wearing a condom. I just made sure to carry a condom with me wherever I went.
Remembering our night on the picnic table made it hard to concentrate at work. And my eyes dipped to her lips with the memory of how she tasted. I reached out and traced the small scar under her lip.
I remember when Keaghan tripped her in the hall in eleventh grade and she fell. She had a gash on her lips and chin, which healed into a permanent reminder of what an asshole he was. He claimed it was an accident, but I saw how he laughed and high-fived his friends after.
Thankfully, the mixed-up phone numbers and cut lips are just distant memories now.
I pulled her finger from my mouth and lowered my mouth to hers. She sighed and it made the kiss so much sweeter. I nipped and sucked at her lips until she was clean.
“You taste so good,” I said as I lifted her fingers, making sure to get them clean, too.
“I knew you’d like the brownies.”
Lowering her hand, I gazed into her eyes. They were dark, almost black, as she stared at my lips. I couldn’t stop thinking about her and when she touched me, I never wanted her to stop. This woman would be the death of me, and I was sure it involved multiple orgasms and butt plugs.
“It’s you I like. I could eat you all day long.”
The corner of her lips ticked up. “Is that a promise?”
I nodded and lifted her into my arms, walking toward the bed.
“You really do have a thing about carrying me around, don’t you?”
I’ll never let you go.
“You have a thing about being a smart-ass.”
I lowered her onto the bed and stood over her. Last time she was the one almost naked while I never completely removed my clothes. This time, I was going to undress.
I was peeling off my shirt when I heard her say, “That’s it, baby. Strip for me.”
Chuckling, I threw the shirt onto the floor. “You want a striptease?”
She scooted up and sat crisscross, clapping her hands. “Yes. Please, do it for me.”
“There’s no music.”
“I’ll do the music,” Iona said, and I thought she would go grab her phone to bring up a song, but instead, she produced sounds from her mouth that might be considered music in some ancient culture.
I swiveled my hips and popped the button from my jeans. “Why does this feel like a ritual dance? Like I’m about to be sacrificed or something.”
“Because you are. I’ll sacrifice you so hard you’ll think you’ve entered Valhalla after I’m done.”
Lowering my zipper, I had no idea how to take off my jeans in a sexy way. I thought of how I’d seen women do it in movies and remembered they kept their legs straight as they pulled their pants down, showing their ass.
I decided to do that. Turning, I pulled the jeans and bent forward. My balance began to waver, and I took a step to regain it, but my jeans were around my ankles at that point. I tripped and fell face forward onto the floor. Thankfully, I reached forward in time to lessen the impact with my hand.
“Oh, damn. Did that hurt? It looked like it hurt.” Iona scrambled out of bed and lowered herself to my side.
I lay, half-naked in a ball on the floor, and I mumbled, “A little. I’m okay.” But I didn’t move.
“Can you roll over?”
She pushed at my back in an attempt to help. I winced as I moved but got onto my back. Gazing up at her, I worried. She wasn’t smiling exactly. Her eyes darted over my face and it seemed like she was forcing herself to look happy. Either that or she was holding in a fart.
“How bad do I look?”
“It’s just your face, so that’s good.”
That’s the thing everyone sees. How could that be good?
“Just tell me.”
“Half your face is super red and a little puffy. And I think that’s a cut on your cheek. Is it painful?”
“No. I feel a little throbbing by my eye but that’s it.”
Her eyes slid down my body, stopping about halfway. Even lying here hurt she couldn’t stop thinking of sex. The woman had a super activated sex drive. Even when we got home last night, she wanted to do it again. But I was beat from the day, and as s
oon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.
“Stop staring at it.”
“But it’s so handsome.”
That made me smile, which caused a bolt of pain to slice up the side of my face. “Ow. Don’t make me laugh or smile or anything that might move my face in any way.”
“Oh, my poor little man.” She reached over and cradled my head, careful to avoid the left side of my face. “I need to get you to bed.”
She took my hand and helped me up. I was light-headed but the feeling soon disappeared. Guiding me over, she pulled back the covers and helped me into bed as if I couldn’t do it myself.
I let her because I liked the doting side of Iona. She was usually so crass and silly, but this was her gentle side—willing to do anything to help someone in need, just like her mother.
“I’ll be right back.”
Iona left the room. It wasn’t long before I heard the front door open and close, and I wondered if she had left. But then she blew through the bedroom door and riffled through her section of the closet.
“I sent Jake to get some Aleve at the drug store. He should be gone for a while.” She winked with a pile of clothes and a black bag.
“Okay. Sounds good.”
She shuffled into the bathroom and shut the door. After a minute, I considered getting up and going downstairs to start dinner but before I could get up, the bathroom door opened.
Iona stood there in a perfectly fitted nurse’s costume, complete with the little fantasy hat. She held a black medical bag in her hands and sashayed over.
“Now, it’s time to check on my patient.”
SIXTEEN
Iona
THE LOOK ON TYLER’S face was worth every penny I paid the costume department on the film The Boss’s Nightmare. I played a private nurse to a rich executive and halfway through the film, I turned into a zombie.
“You’re my n-n-nurse,” he stuttered and it was everything.
Once, when we were young and our friendship had yet to blossom into something more, he admitted he had a thing for nurses. That’s why I bought the costume from the movie. Not because I thought this day would ever materialize, but it gave me an idea that it would be fun to do some roleplay with a one-night stand. My reasoning was that if Tyler had a fantasy about nurses, then other guys might, too.
Living Hell (Lost and Found Book 2) Page 10