by RB Hilliard
Music was playing by the pool when I arrived and was relieved to discover Mrs. Brass also wearing a one piece.
“Look, Dani, Cat is here!” Mr. Brass shouted. He was floating on a giant Octopus in the pool.
“Where would you like me to put everything?” I asked.
“Here, I’ve got it,” Danielle said. I awkwardly handed her the potato salad, picked up my tote and followed her over to the table. “You can put the beer in the cooler and the chips on the chair over there,” she told me. As I put everything in its proper place I thought about what to say to her. Somehow I didn’t think, “I’m sorry for almost killing your husband,” was good enough.
“The water feels great, get in!” Mr. Brass shouted.
“We will in a minute. Watch that tentacle, Rich, it’s about to knock over your…”
“Motherfucker!” he shouted, as his cup turned over and beer spilled into the pool.
Danielle shook her head and turned to me. I wanted to run.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted.
She smiled. “I forgave you the second you told me what ass-hat over there had done.”
“Hey! I resent that!” Mr. Brass shouted. He was hanging onto the side of the pool. The octopus had floated to the other side and was getting sucked into the filter.
“Ummm, you might want to get that.” I pointed my finger at the octopus.
He let out a deep sigh of frustration. Then he gave Danielle a blinding smile. “Another beer, babe, pretty please?” he asked.
Her eyes shifted from him to me. “He’s hard to resist, isn’t he?” We both laughed and I instantly felt better.
An hour later we were all three floating on the octopus. Everlong by the Foo Fighters was playing on the radio and we were drinking beer and talking about our favorite television shows. Suddenly, Dani’s eyes shot to the side of the pool.
“You decided to join us!” she shouted. Mr. Brass and I both paused our conversation to see who she was talking to.
There, by the side of the pool wearing green and blue striped swim trunks stood Zane.
Chapter Eighteen
Zane
‡
When Rich stopped by and asked to use the pool, I thought nothing of it. I had to go to work. As long as there were no children involved and it wasn’t a liability, what did I care? When he mentioned Cathryn was going to join them my attention was piqued. All I could think about was Cathryn. The hurt in her voice when she asked Cas if he thought she was utterly forgettable had weighed heavily on my mind all day. Of all things for her to overhear me saying, why did it have to be that? The second I said it I wanted to take it back. And when she confessed how she wished her vibrator was me right before passing out, I almost lost it right there. It was getting more and more difficult to stay away from her. I glanced down at my watch. Five on the dot. I needed to start getting ready for work. I stared longingly out at the pool. I wanted to stay but knew it would be the wrong choice. I was getting tired of doing the right thing. With a sigh of frustration, I headed upstairs.
Half an hour later I was back at my office window, only this time the pool area wasn’t empty. Wearing a black bathing suit that tastefully showed off her sexy body was Cathryn. She was lounging on a giant floating octopus with Danielle and Rich. She was so close I could almost touch her. Cathryn laughed at something Rich said and I smiled. This tiny woman evoked so many feelings inside of me. It was getting increasingly difficult to keep everything in perspective. Sure, I’d had women but I never wanted to keep them, until now. As I watched them laugh and play in the pool it hit me, this life I had built wasn’t enough anymore. I wanted something…more. I wanted to be the person looking out instead of always looking in. I watched Cathryn as she happily sang along to the song playing on the radio. I want her. All I had to do was open the door and step through it. I slid my hand into the pocket of my pants and wrapped my fingers around my phone. Cathryn’s head tilted back as peels of laughter erupted from her lips. Enough was enough. I pulled it from my pocket and dialed.
“Hello?”
“Hey Blake, it’s me. Something’s come up and I won’t be in tonight. I’ll cover you tomorrow night if you’d like.”
“Lydia again?” he teased.
“Yeah, something like that,” I lied.
“Okay man, have fun. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Later,” I said, and hung up. With one last glace at Cathryn’s smiling face, I walked across the room to the bathroom, stripped off my clothes and put on my suit. Then I joined them by the pool.
“You decided to join us!” Danielle shouted. Cathryn’s eyes widened in surprise and Rich smiled.
“With you here we’re going to run out of beer,” he complained.
Suddenly, I felt awkward. “I hope I’m not intruding,” I directed at Cathryn.
“Don’t be silly, of course you’re not,” Danielle answered. Cathryn looked as if she’d sucked on a bad lemon. Her lack of enthusiasm both pissed me off and frustrated me at the same time.
“Don’t do it man,” Rich warned.
“Do what?” Danielle asked.
I waited for Cathryn to look away and then I jumped. I made sure to tuck into a ball in order to make a bigger splash. When I came up for air, the octopus was upside down and everyone in the pool was sputtering for breath. Even though Cathryn’s hair was all over the place and her mascara was running down her face, she was still beautiful.
“You ass!” she shrieked. “That was a fresh beer!”
“Sorry?” I laughed. With a hiss, she launched herself at me and it was game on. For ten minutes I let her chase me around the pool. Finally, I just wanted my hands on her, so I let her catch me. With a gleeful giggle she dunked me a few times. Pretending to save myself, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her flush against my chest.
“You kids are so cute,” Danielle announced, and Cathryn stiffened in my arms.
“Don’t,” I whispered.
“What?” she huffed.
“Pull away,” I said. A water droplet dangled from her earlobe and I fought the urge to catch it with my tongue.
Cathryn tilted her head and lifted her gorgeous blue eyes to mine. I drew in a sharp breath. So fucking beautiful. She licked her lips and I suddenly had to taste them. I lowered my mouth to hers and, right as our lips were about to touch, she grabbed my head like a beach ball and pushed me under water. When I came up for air she was swimming away. Little sneak.
An hour later the burgers were ready and we were sitting down to eat. Cathryn was on one lounge chair and Danielle and Rich were sharing the other. I could either sit by myself at the table or sit with Cathryn. I chose Cathryn. She gave me a strange look when I moved her plate to the side table. She squealed as I lifted her up, sat down and placed her back between my legs.
“What?” I asked when she wouldn’t stop glaring at me.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” she asked.
Ignoring her comment, I announced I had ice cream in the freezer if anyone wanted any for dessert. All three of them looked at each other and burst into laughter. Clearly I had missed something. Seeing my confused expression, Cathryn explained how Mr. Brass was a diabetic and how she’d come to discover this. By the end of the story we were all laughing.
“Yeah, yeah, not my finest moment,” Rich admitted. Danielle yawned and he waggled his eyebrows at her. “Ready to go?” he asked.
“I hate to bail on you kids but I’m tired,” she told us. “Someone kept me up late last night.” Rich had a sheepish grin on his face.
For fear of them expounding on their old married sex, I said, “Go ahead, we’ll clean up.” Cathryn jerked her eyes from Danielle to me and I smiled.
She pushed up from the chair and said, “I’ll clean up.” Before she could get away from me I pulled her back down.
“Zane,” she hissed.
“Stay,” I whispered.
She tensed beneath me and her eyes narrowed into angry little slits. Again, I
smiled. With waves of goodbye and promises to do it again soon, we watched the Brass’s walk away.
Right as the gate shut behind them she jerked out of my grasp and blasted me. “What was that?”
“What?” I asked.
“You know what,” she hissed.
“No, really, I don’t.”
“I don’t like the hot and cold act, Zane. After ignoring me last night at Dragonfly, here you are being all…” she waved her hand in the air… “nice. It’s confusing.”
“First of all, I wasn’t ignoring you. I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to see you there but I was far from ignoring you, sweetheart, I promise.”
“Well it sure seemed like it to me,” she grumbled. It was time we had our little talk.
“Look at me,” I commanded. It took a second for her eyes to settle on me. “I’m sorry. I want you to know that you are so far from forgettable it’s not even funny. It was a shitty thing to say and I didn’t mean it.”
Her pained expression gutted me. Her eyes darted to something over my shoulder and then slowly drifted back to my face. “Why did you say it if you didn’t mean it?” she asked.
“Because I am an asshole, because I wasn’t thinking…I don’t know,” I shrugged. “What I do know is that I don’t feel that way and didn’t when I said it.”
“Burning House” started playing and we both sat there in silence listening to the words of the song.
I knew I needed to say more but my feelings were all jumbled in my head, so I went with the first thing I could think of. “Believe it or not, I wish you were forgettable.” She glanced away. “Don’t,” I whispered. Immediately her eyes were back on me and I explained, “My best friend is your stepbrother. I promised him I wouldn’t touch you, Cathryn. At the time I meant it.”
“And now?” she asked.
“All I can think about is touching you.”
“I know,” she breathily replied.
“No matter how hard I try, I can’t stay away.”
“I know,” she repeated. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to hers. With a tilt of her head, she opened her mouth and let me in. The kiss was both slow and gentle. I’d waited so long to have her I didn’t want to rush it. She moaned when I touched my tongue to hers and sighed when I pulled back and kissed down her neck. The evidence of how much she wanted me was staring me in the face and I wanted to taste them, to roll the hard little buds over and over on my tongue. Slowly, I pulled down the strap of her swimsuit and she tilted her head back in submission. I groaned in pleasure when her beautiful tit sprang from the confines of her swimsuit. She gasped when the cold air hit her bare skin but before she could pull away, I had it in my mouth. When I pulled the second strap down, she tensed.
“We should stop,” she panted.
I pulled back and searched her face for answers. Did she really want me to stop? If she did it would kill me, but I would if she asked. Right now, for her, I would do anything. “Do you really want me to stop?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, but out here all I can think about is you with Sally. I don’t want to think of that right now.”
“Hey,” I touched her face and made her look at me. “You and I both know it may have been Sally that night but it really wasn’t, correct?” She nodded, yes. I stood and she quickly adjusted her suit. I turned off the music and held out my hand. This time she didn’t hesitate to take it. Looking me straight in the eyes, she smiled and, when I led her into my apartment, I felt like I was on top of the world.
Intermission!
I hope you are enjoying the book!
XOXO and thanks for reading….
LOL! There’s more, so keep going!
Chapter Nineteen
Cathryn
‡
As Zane stood by the pool staring down at me, I could tell something was different. When he held me against his chest in the water, and whispered for me not to leave, I could see in his eyes how much he wanted me. At that moment I asked myself if he was worth the risk, I mean really worth it, and I was not just talking about my body, but my heart. I kept coming up with the same answer, yes. Zane Mitchell was definitely worth the risk. When he looked me straight in the eye and apologized for saying those hurtful words, there was no doubt in my mind he meant it. Then he kissed me like I’d never been kissed before and I could no longer deny how much I wanted him.
We reached the threshold of his bedroom and I paused as the butterflies in the pit of my stomach sprang free. Their tiny wings fluttered nervously back and forth and I had a hard time catching my breath. I can’t believe I’m really doing this.
With a tug of his hand, Zane led me to the foot of his bed, then he turned and asked, “Bed or hot bath?” He took in my confused expression and let out a sexy chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m going to have you both places, I was just giving you a choice as to where we started.”
Smug ass. “Look at you all sure of yourself,” I teased. He laughed and I felt slightly more relaxed. I didn’t consider myself to be the least bit sexy but this man, this crazy gorgeous man made me feel like the sexiest woman in the world. For once in my life I wasn’t going to question it, I was simply going to enjoy it. Lifting my hand to my bathing suit strap, I began sliding it down my arm. Zane’s eyes dropped to my breasts and I smiled. “Well, since you’re giving me a choice, I say bed first and bath after.” I slid the strap down a little more and his hand shot out to stop me. With a huff, he impatiently brushed my hand out of the way and pushed the strap the rest of the way off. My breast popped out and he tenderly cupped it. As he swirled his finger around my nipple, a lustful groan slipped from his lips. I bit my tongue to keep from telling him to speed it up. While continuing the torment on the first nipple, he lowered my other strap and freed my other breast. I was now bare from the waist up.
“God, you are perfect,” he whispered. My nipples were so hard I could practically cut glass with them. Each swirl of his finger touched a different nerve on my body. When he lowered his head and sucked one into his mouth my knees buckled. Before I melted into a puddle all over his floor, Zane lifted me into his arms and lowered me onto his bed. Instead of stripping off my suit like I expected, he dropped his hands to his waist and began to untie his swim trunks.
Now we’re talking. I quickly sat up and reached for him. “Let me,” I offered.
He took a step back and shook his head. “If you get your hands on me right now it will be over before it begins. Trust me, neither of us wants that.” With a grin on my face, I lay back to enjoy the show. “You like that,” he chuckled. I didn’t like it, I loved it. Wanting to hurry this along, I lifted my hips and began to strip my suit the rest of the way off. “Don’t you dare,” he growled.
“Oh for heaven’s sake, you can’t have all the fun,” I huffed.
“Trust me I will not be the only one having a good time, now behave,” he scolded. The promise in his voice gave me goosebumps.
Dramatically sighing, I reached across the bed, snagged a pillow and shoved it under my head. Once settled, I focused back on Zane, who was leaning down so he could step out of his swim trunks. When he stood back up I almost swallowed my tongue. Good Lord, it’s bigger than I remembered, which is scary because in my memory it was freaking huge.
With a concerned look on his face, he took a step toward me and paused. “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re not having second thoughts. I mean, if you are that’s okay….”
His insecurity was endearing to say the least but there was no way in hell I was explaining my sudden hesitation. “Relax Big Guy.” I meant that in the literalist of terms. “I was just taking it all in.”
The perplexed look on his face turned cocky. “Oh, yeah? Like what you see?”
I casually stared down at my nails. “It’ll do,” I teased, and shrieked with laughter when he jumped on me. We wrestled around for a few minutes. That is, until he managed to pin me down by my hair. With a gentle but firm tug of my ponytail he forced my head back so he could look
me in the eye. I glared defiantly at him. He gave me a sexy smile and then captured my mouth with his. This time the kiss wasn’t tender and slow but was wild and so full of passion it stole my breath.
After Janna helped me lose weight and I started feeling good about myself, guys began asking me out. Being accepted and wanted, especially by the opposite sex, was a heady feeling. I fooled around some my last year in high school, but didn’t actually have sex until my freshman year in college. I’d had a handful of lovers since then but none had ever made me feel like this.
“What are you thinking?” Zane whispered in my ear.
“About how good you feel,” I whispered back. The surprised look on his face made me laugh. “What? I can give an honest answer every now and then. It keeps you on your toes.”
He gave me a swift kiss on the lips and sat up. “I never know what I’m going to get with you, Cathryn Haines, and I like it. How about we take this damp suit off? I wouldn’t want you catching a cold.” I lifted my torso and slowly, he pulled my suit down over my hips. When he got to my very bare pussy he loudly exhaled. “And you look so innocent,” he groaned.
“Newsflash, it’s the innocent looking ones who are the wildest,” I informed him.
“Now she tells me.” His mouth tilted up and my heart stuttered in my chest. If I didn’t watch it, I would completely lose myself in this man.
Once I was finally divested of my suit, Zane sat back on his heels and perused my body. I expected him to touch me and work his way up to the good stuff. Instead, he went straight for the gusto. I gasped when he dropped his head and swiped his tongue across my pussy. He lifted his head enough to wink at me and then he dove back in. After a few more tastes, he pulled back and muttered what sounded like, “Need more.” In the blink of an eye, he had me at the top of the bed with my legs spread wide enough to fit his entire upper body between them.
“Oh God,” I breathed.
As he continued to lick and suck parts of me that hadn’t been touched by a man in way too long, my body came alive. Zane Mitchell was an oral god, and I never wanted him to stop. When it got to be too much, I grabbed onto his comforter and clinched it between my fists. If he’d had any hair it would have been snatched from his head by now. Every nerve ending in my body was firing at a hundred percent. As if sensing I was close to the edge, Zane snuck a finger into the equation and began rubbing my clit. My orgasm was so intense, I literally felt as if I was coming apart at the seams. He pulled back and smiled with a satisfied gleam in his eye. Yes, macho man, you are that good, I thought, but didn’t dare say it out loud. I flopped back onto his bed like a limp noodle and lay there recovering while he grabbed a condom from his nightstand drawer. Most of the guys I’d been with fumbled around with the condom before finally getting it on. Either that, or they threw it at me and expected me do it for them. Not Zane. Nope, like a professional condom donner, he had that puppy open and on in two seconds flat. I decided it was best not to dwell on this.