Have Your Way With Me

by Parker, Weston

  “And where was that puzzle lying on the floor now?” Alice propped her hands on her hips, looking like she was conducting a cross-examination in a trial.

  “On the high shelf.” Tommy averted his eyes and stuck his thumb in his mouth. It made me want to pull him into my arms and comfort him, but Alice had been here a lot longer than I had and probably knew what she was doing.

  “Did you call for an adult?” She arched a brow and crossed her arms.

  “No,” he mumbled around his thumb and stood there staring at the puzzle pieces.

  “Why not?” she asked, her voice softening as she took a step closer and ran her hand through his hair. “You could have been hurt, sweetie pie. No one wants you to get hurt.”

  “You were all busy. I thought I could reach it.” His voice broke then. “I’m sorry, Alice. I won’t do it again.”

  “Good.” She dropped to her haunches and opened her arms for a hug. “Okay, big guy. Bring it in. Let’s hug it out.”

  Tommy threw his arms around her neck and buried his little face in her golden hair, shoulders rising and falling as he sobbed. “I’m sorry, Alice.”

  “It’s okay, honey. No one got hurt this time, but next time, somebody could be.” She stroked her hand up and down his back to soothe him. When he stopped crying and stepped away, she smiled at him. “Right. Let’s get this cleaned up. Then we can go grab your yogurt. You like yogurt, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” A tentative smile curled on his lips as his eyes darted back to the spilled puzzle pieces. “I’ll pack those back in the box.”

  “Thanks.” She looked at me and winked. Then her gaze landed on two other little boys standing nearby. “Evan, Jamie, help Tommy clean this up please. I have to show Elyse here around the class for a minute.”

  The other two boys complied without arguing and I had to admit I was impressed. When Alice came to stand next to me, I lifted my hand for a high five. “That was very well done. They really listen to you, even though you treat them more like adults than like children.”

  “Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t work for everyone, but Tommy and his friends seem to respond well to it. Now, let me give you the lay of the land.”

  Alice spent the next few minutes showing me around while another girl named Mia took control of the kids. We had the older kids in our class, which I was happy about. I loved babies, but spending all day, every day with them might have become a little bit too much.

  “So,” she said about an hour into the day while the kids were reading with Mia. “I heard you’re the new Lieutenant Commander’s sister. I hope you don’t hate me for saying it, but your brother is mighty pretty.”

  “So I’ve been told,” I quipped. “I think he’s hideous, naturally. I don’t know what girls see in him.”

  Alice laughed. “Um, I can tell you if you want, but I might be a touch graphic, and it will include plenty of references to his body.”

  I cringed, shaking my head fast. “Nope. No thank you.”

  “I thought so.” She jerked her thumb at an inner door. “Do you want to go grab a quick cup of coffee? Storytime ends in about thirty minutes and the kids are really riveted to this one. Mia should be able to handle it.”

  “Hell yes,” I replied, grateful that I was about to be fed caffeine, but even more grateful that I seemed to have found a kindred spirit. I knew we weren’t supposed to leave the classroom, but just popping out to make some coffee definitely categorized as a worthy bending of the rule. “Won’t Mia mind?”

  “I’ll bring her back some, and she’ll be fine,” Alice said, already turning to start walking to the door. She mimed sipping from a cup at Mia when she caught her eye and Mia gave her a small nod without interrupting her reading of the story.

  The kitchen area she led me into was small, but it had a coffeemaker, a couple of couches, a small round table, and way more fridges than what seemed normal. “Why are there so many of those?”

  “The center is built around this area. It’s our only break room, but ours is the only class with a door leading directly into it. Useful for emergency situations.”

  “Such as needing caffeine?”

  She nodded, chuckling quietly. “If you understood that without me needing to explain it, you’re one of my people. As for the fridges, all the kids’ food is kept in here.”

  “By one of your people, do you mean caffeine addicts?”

  “Addict is such a strong word,” she joked. “Let’s call it caffeine enriched instead. You know, because it enriches your life with every sip you take.”

  “I can totally get behind that.” Alice and I clicked after that. She was funny, smart, and reminded me a lot of Lisa.

  While we waited for the coffee to brew, I found myself wanting to get to know her a little better. “How long have you been working at the center?”

  “Let’s see, I’m twenty-six now and I started here when I was eighteen. So, wow. Eight years, I guess.”

  “That’s a long time.” I watched as she stood up on her toes to reach into a cabinet above the coffeemaker that I could easily have reached normally, but she was just that small.

  She got out two bright pink mugs. “Yeah, it is. I haven’t really thought about how long it’s been for a while. I’m a go-with-the-flow kind of person. Working here makes me happy and nothing else has come up that I felt might make me happier, so I guess the flow is keeping me here. What about you? You’re new to the island, right?”

  “Yeah, I only arrived a week ago. Are you from here?”

  She shook her head. “Sometimes, it feels like I am, but we only moved here from Florida when I was ten. My dad’s Air Force, so I basically grew up on the base.”

  “You never wanted to go back to Florida?”

  She frowned deeply, as if the thought itself was unfathomable. “Dude, no one wants to leave here. It’s great. It’s the ultimate idyllic life. Why, do you see yourself moving back to…” She trailed off since she obviously didn’t know where I was from.

  I pitched in helpfully. “California, and no. This is my adventure. I’m not leaving here anytime soon.”

  “Ooh, an adventurous one.” Alice’s smile widened. “I like it. How do you feel about parasailing?”

  “I’ve never done it, but I’d like to.”

  Her eyes got all sparkly at that. “Excellent. I’m an adventurous one too. How about spelunking?”

  “I’m not a fan of tight spaces, but I don’t freak out or anything, so I’d give it a try. Gotta try everything at least twice, right?”

  “Right.” Alice grinned. “I like you, sister of hot new Lieutenant Commander. I think we can keep you.”

  “I think I’d like to be kept.” I returned her grin with one of my own just as the coffee started dripping into the pot. “Especially if we can do this at least once a day.”

  Her eyes widened in horror. “Once? This is obviously your first day at the center. You’ll need way more than one to keep up with the tiny dictators.”

  “Point taken.” I laughed and, once she filled the cups, lifted one from the counter. “These are really pretty. I love the color.”

  “So did I. These are both mine. I like to keep a spare around in case there’s no time to wash the one I used last.”

  “Because there’s nothing worse than making coffee in a mug that still has the brown ring around it?”

  Alice winced. “Just the thought of it makes me want to throw up a little.”

  “Same.” A smile spread on my lips. “I’ve decided that we should be friends.”

  “Funny, I decided that about five minutes ago.” She picked up her own mug and inclined her head at the door, then paused. “Crap, I forgot about Mia. Give me a second. I’ll catch up with you in there.”

  By the end of the day, I felt like Alice could really become a good friend. It would be nice to have someone I could really call a girlfriend close by and I was excited that I was fulfilling my promise to Kole and actually making friends.

&nb
sp; On my way out, Alice called out to me to wait for her. “If you ever want to hang out, give me a call. My number should be on the information sheet Layla would have emailed to you.”

  “I’ll definitely do that.” When I’d gotten to Hawaii last week, I’d been happy but I’d felt very alone. I hadn’t been sure if I’d ever really feel at home here or if I’d find anyone I gelled with, but now I had.

  Between Kole, who always tried to make time for me, having Jordan back in my life unexpectedly, and now meeting Alice, I didn’t feel quite so alone anymore.

  It was a really good feeling, and it made me even happier about the move. Sure, I missed Lisa, but for the first time, I was feeling like I could actually really do this. Hawaii could become my home, and it was finally starting to feel like it might.

  Chapter 15

  Jordan

  “You ready for our break yet?” Mauli asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his arm. “I’m itching for some of Mama Jo’s fries. What do you say?”

  “Fuck yes.” I replied, the sun sweltering on the back of my neck. I’d turned my ball cap around, but there was only so much it could do on a cloudless day. “I’ll drive. Meet me at the Jeep in ten.”

  “You got it.” Mauli sauntered off the field, heading to the lockers. Middle of the day cool showers weren’t uncommon in our line of work, and I’d have been willing to bet he had the same idea I had about having one before we left.

  Except mine would have to be a cold shower, not just a cool one. Even two days later, I couldn’t get my night with Elyse out of my head.

  It was like my libido had suddenly turned into a gym freak after years of only going every once in a while, a sudden-onset addiction that made me crave more. And then even more.

  I’d probably jerked off more times in the past forty-eight hours than I had in the forty-eight days preceding that night. It was hot as balls, and I had rivulets of sweat running down my back, but I was still only seconds away from being fully hard.

  When this had happened when I’d been a teen, I’d kind of figured it was just because I was supposed to be fucking horny all the time. Now I was starting to think it had been Elyse’s effect more than the hormones.

  There was also the fact that as much as I wanted to drag her into my bed and keep her there for a week, I kind of wanted to spend time with her outside of it as well. The situation was all kinds of fucked up, but it was what it was.

  One ice-cold shower later, I met Mauli at my Jeep. His hair was also damp, but his forehead was already shining with sweat again. “There you are. I was about to send out a rescue party. What took you so long?”

  “I had to bring in my latest haul.” Then my mind had wandered back off to Elyse in the shower. To my cock’s eternal disappointment though, despite the memories my brain had thrown at me, I hadn’t touched it. Jerking off at work wasn’t somewhere I’d like to go. “Grabbed a shower too. I smelled like shit.”

  “Yeah, I know the feeling.” Mauli opened the passenger door and climbed into the Jeep, then sang along loudly to the radio all the way to Mama Jo’s. It was a diner down the road from the farm that had supposedly been there for over fifty years.

  A hole in the wall kind of place, they made the best fries on the island and a mean burger to go with it. Mauli and I grabbed a table right underneath the ancient air-conditioning unit and greeted our waiter by name. His name was Jo, so it wasn’t exactly hard to remember. Apparently, it was a fluke, though. He had no relation to the old lady the diner was named after.

  “The usual, boys?” Jo asked, tapping a pencil to a small spiral notepad. “And in double time, right?”

  “Right on both counts.” Mauli ordered a milkshake with his food, while I was too damn hot for anything other than water.

  When Jo left us, Mauli looked at me with a shit-eating grin spreading on his face. “We haven’t had a chance to talk much since the luau, but man, your girl is hot.”

  “She’s not my girl.” Not in any official capacity anyway. She never could be. “But yeah, she is.”

  He propped his elbows on the table. “Why isn’t she your girl, then?”

  Fuck. I really didn’t talk about this kind of stuff. “It’s complicated.”

  “Uncomplicate it for me,” he said. “It can’t be that bad.”

  “It is.” Unfortunately, it really was. While this wasn’t the usual type of conversation I had, I realized that I could use an outside opinion. Between the extreme lust and guilt I felt at any given time, I’d lost the ability to think clearly about this topic.

  “Try me,” Mauli said, and I caved.

  He wanted to know, and I needed his opinion, but it still didn’t mean that I’d give him anything straight up. “Hypothetically, what would you have done if a girl you really enjoyed being around was a friend’s sister?”

  “Really enjoying being around her would mean I was having sex with her in this scenario, right?” Barely suppressed laughter shone in his eyes. “Because if it did, I would have just enjoyed it.”

  “Sure, but is the enjoyment worth the risk?”

  He dipped his head from side to side. “Depends. How much is the enjoyment?”

  “What’s the highest level of enjoyment there is?” I asked. My tone was light but I was being serious. There was nothing better than being with Elyse, absolutely fucking nothing in this world.

  Mauli laughed. “The highest level of enjoyment there is for me is an ice-cold beer in the shade after a hot day.”

  “Make it two beers with frosted sides, thick shade with fans hanging from the trees, and the highest temperatures in recorded history, and that’s the level of enjoyment then.”

  His eyes grew wide. “What are you even asking me for then? Drink the fucking beer, dude. Drink as much as you can for as long as you can and have as much fun with it as you can.”

  “We’re not talking about me, remember? We’re talking about a hypothetical person who enjoys spending time with a friend’s sister.”

  “Right.” He rolled his eyes. “In that case, I’d say the hypothetical person should stop worrying so damn much and just roll with it. Under the circumstances, it’s not like the hypothetical person is in love with this girl. Why not just have fun together?”

  “Because there’s a ton or two of guilt that goes along with the fun. The friend deserves to know what’s going on, doesn’t he? All of this shouldn’t be going on behind his back. It’s selfish.”

  “No, it would be selfish to tell him only so you can get a load off your own chest.” He put his hands up. “Sorry, not you. The hypothetical person. There’s no sense in telling the brother. Provided that your hypothetical person and the sister are both consenting adults, no one has any business knowing what happens behind the bedroom door.”

  “It’s not that simple, Maul-man. There’s a lot of history there.”

  He shrugged, keeping quiet while Jo delivered our drinks. When he was gone again, Mauli leaned forward. “Seems like there’s a lot of history between the hypothetical person and the sister as well. She might be his sister, but she’s still a woman. She can do whatever the hell she wants with her body, including giving it to whoever she chooses.”

  “You’re really not helping me right now,” I groaned, not even caring that I’d just admitted we’d been talking about me all along. He already knew it anyway. “You were supposed to tell me that I was doing a bad, bad thing and that I needed to stop.”

  “That sounds more like a fantasy role-play scenario you could be acting out with the sister.” His eyes shone with humor. “But honestly, asking me for relationship advice is stupid. Shit. You might as well be asking me for dieting advice. I call it like I see it and that’s how I see it.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “I guess you’re right. That is one way to look at it.”

  “Considering that the other is joining the brother when he comes after you with the bro-code, a pitchfork, and a cigar cutter to snip your dick from your body, I figured it’s the right way to look
at it.”

  “Amen to that.”

  Jo delivered our food then and Mauli and I tucked in. There wasn’t much time left on our break.

  We practically inhaled our food, then headed back to work. At the end of our shift, Mauli wished me luck and climbed into his beat-up old Honda. As I was getting into my car, my phone started buzzing in my jeans.

  When I pulled it out, I was surprised to see it was Elyse calling. “Hey, Ellie. What’s up?”

  “I was wondering if you could come over for dinner tomorrow night,” she said. “I’ve been trying out some local recipes and I need a guinea pig.”

  “I’d be happy to step up to the plate for you. What time?”

  “Is six okay?”

  “Perfect, I’ll see you then.”

  “Great,” she said. “I’m looking forward to seeing if you keel over from food poisoning.”

  “I have a strong constitution. Don’t worry.” Strong self-control, however, was an entirely different story. Or I could accept Mauli’s point of view of the whole thing and just have fun with her.

  I supposed I was going to have to see how tomorrow played out. Maybe she really did just want a guinea pig.

  Chapter 16

  Elyse

  “Hey.” Alice jogged up to me in the parking lot after work. “Do you want to go grab a drink with me? There’s a local place with a wicked happy hour nearby.”

  “You had me at drink,” I said. “Working with kids is a lot more exhausting than I thought it’d be. It’s great. Don’t get me wrong. I could just really use a drink.”

  “Always keep a bottle of wine in your fridge,” she said wisely. “And an opener handy, some ice in your freezer, and a clean glass waiting for you.”

  I brought a hand to my chest. “That might be the best advice I’ve ever gotten.”

  “Stick with me and I’ll give you plenty more tidbits just like that.”