Road To Me

by Erica Andrews

  Not knowing where to put my hands, I automatically wrapped my arms around his neck. Face to face chest to chest and nowhere to go. I opened my eyes, I thought maybe, I didn’t wanna go.

  “I like you, I mean I like like you. I wanna hold your hand and pass notes in the hallway like you, I wanna stay up all night and talk to you on the phone like you. I wanna doodle your name on my notebook kind of like you. I wanna meet you out back and make out like you. I feel like a teenager, who has his first crush when I’m with you. Are you still confused?” Before I could answer his question, he cupped my face. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”

  Lips brushed over mine, back and forth, back and forth. I closed my eyes to soak up every sensation. Biting my bottom lip gently, he tugged it. I gasped at the slight sting, his tongue slightly brushing against it to soothe the pain. He went back and forth between the top and bottom lip, tugging and soothing. Pleasure and pain. It was simply the sweetest and most erotic kiss I’d ever had.

  My last kiss came from Trevor, the day before I found out about the affair. It had been a quick, perfunctory kiss good bye before he left for the office. It was average and forgettable. Nothing about the kiss now was forgettable. It was fireworks, it was foot-popping good. Dean went slowly, nibbling my lower lip as he made his way to the top. Pausing, Dean leaned back slightly as if to gauge my reaction.

  Without thinking, I followed him forward. Taking that as a sign, gone was the gentleness from earlier. The feverish claim of his kiss pulled a moan from deep within me. I’d never moaned from a kiss before. I tugged on the hair at the back of his head. He groaned and pressed his lips harder against mine. Feeling his tongue at my lips, I opened slightly to let him in. So, focused on what his mouth was doing to me, I failed to realize where his hands had gone.

  His sudden firm grip pushed me into his erection, and I moaned. I couldn’t help moving slowly up and down on his erection as I rubbed my fingers through his silky hair and pulled again. He growled when I tugged on his hair. I did it again as I pushed myself against his erection. Hearing him growl, just made me so much wetter. So, I tugged harder on his hair.

  I needed to stop before we went further, but it was so hard—both Dean and the situation. Breathing hard, I pulled back reluctantly. I couldn’t stop the self-satisfaction when I realized he struggled in similar fashion. Not being able to stop myself, I once again brought his lips to mine. I pulled one last time on his bottom lip. At his groan, I licked it just like he had done mine earlier. Breath mingling I told him how I felt. “I like like you, too. Passing notes in the hallway like like you.”

  He seemed almost relieved at my admission. “Well, all right, I like that.” When he swooped in to resume our kiss, I halted him with a gentle hand over his mouth.

  “I think maybe, now is a good time to put a bookmark right there.” If I didn’t stop this now, I wouldn’t stop at all. I’d been deprived. And Dean was a three-course meal.

  Still sitting in his lap, I tried to ease away, but Dean grabbed my thighs and squeezed as if to keep me there. Not removing his hands after I stilled, he rubbed up and down my thighs, like he couldn’t stop touching me, which was nice. “Why stop? You like like me. I like like you. Sooo…?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at how he worded it. I tilted my head to the side trying to think of a way to get him to understand. “I do, but I also have a date with Kasper tomorrow, and I don’t know where I stand with everybody yet. I don’t wanna cause a fuss, and I don’t want anybody fighting or getting mad. Do you understand? Plus, I really want to take whatever this is slow. I just got divorced. I mean I wanna be selfish, and spoiled and free.” Then I blew out a breath. “And I said no. Do you understand?”

  Hugging me close, he exhaled quietly. “I understand, I do. Doesn’t mean I like it, but I do. And if you wanna be selfish, I’ll help you be selfish. If you wanna be spoiled, I wanna be the one to spoil you. If you want a best friend, I’ll be that best friend. When you want more, I’ll be that too.”

  Cupping his cheek and trying not to cry, I smiled. “That is the sweetest thing someone has ever said to me”

  Leaning in to kiss me once more, he whispered, “Princess, you need to meet better people.”

  Kissing him back quickly, I whispered back, “I think I already have.”

  Twelve

  Kelly

  1. Having multiple fantasies of multiple men was normal… I thought.

  2. Chinese food and apple pie went together.

  3. Not every guy kissed the same way and apparently all mine were duds before.

  Saturday morning was the perfect day for a picnic. After getting my shower and shaving some much-needed areas, I went to my closet to decide on what to wear. Since starting my find me stage, figuring out what to wear had actually been harder than usual. Before, I would just go shopping and buy whatever my friends had. Or whatever was on the mannequin at each store.

  Now, I weeded through the clothes, and asked myself, Do I like this? Is this me? Which was not an easy question to answer when you were just now learning you. With this dilemma in hand, I went on a mission to find the perfect picnic outfit. After much painstaking deliberation, I had finally decided on a bubble gum pink sundress. With buttons, up the front and mini pockets on the side. I wasn’t afraid to admit that I picked it for the color, but loved it for the pockets that could hold my phone.

  I picked the dress up earlier in the week. It suited me perfectly. I put the finishing touches on my lips, smacking them together to spread the color. Next, I proceeded to toss my head upside down. Spraying my hair while hanging my head upside down was not the sexiest. I had hoped that it would give me a nice sexy bed head. Unlike Hollywood and books, real life people didn’t have perfect hair. Most of us needed a little extra oomph. And my oomph, came from hair spray and many volumizing products. Setting the hairspray down and brushing through the mess, I barely heard the doorbell.

  It had to be Kasper, and it sent a small a thrill through my body. I took one more quick once over myself in the mirror before making my way to the door. The butterflies that swarmed in when the guys were near fluttered up a storm when I neared the door. Deep breaths. I opened the door, to him standing there, calm and collected like nothing in the world bothered him. Slowly, I took in what he was wearing. Making note of his hair. That made me slightly jealous, because it did have the slightly tousled bed head look. Which I was sure required zero effort. Girls everywhere would have loved to know his secret. I stopped at his chest, surprised at the green cargo shirt that he wore. With the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, the tattoos up and down his arms caught my eye. Who knew serious school teacher Kasper Stone had such a love of tattoos?

  Leaning forward in an extravagant bow, he put his hand out as an offering for me to take. “Good morning, Miss Butterscotch, are we ready for our picnic?”

  I curtsied, to mimic his bow. “Why yes, Mr. Stone, I believe I am ready for our picnic.” Giggling, I took his offered hand and let him put it in the crook of his arm. As we walked to the truck I suddenly remembered how big it was. Before I could contemplate how I was going to get in the truck. The passenger door opened, and Kasper lifted me into the seat. “Whoa, there hoss, a little warning next time.”

  Laughing, he winked at me. “Sure, Hoss, next time.” He shut the door then jogged around to slide behind the wheel. Unsurprisingly, country music already strummed on the radio. But when Kasper began singing along? Damn. It could melt butter, or maybe certain parts of me. I didn’t even think he realized what he was,doing. Or what he was doing to me.

  “Kasper?”

  Not taking his eyes off the road he answered, “Yeah?”

  “You can sing, like really sing.”

  “Uh, oh yeah, well I’ve just always liked to sing. The guys know by now if the music is on and I like the song, then I am gonna sing.

  I rolled my eyes at the nonchalantness of his statement. I figured I’d try to explain again what I meant. “Yeah, but Kasper, you sound really good. Li
ke most people like to sing, but that doesn’t mean they’re good. You’re good. Like Kane Brown, Dierks Bentley good.”

  A small smile curved his lips. “Oh, you know your country music?”

  I had to stop myself from scrunching my face up because I couldn’t believe he had just asked me that. “Well yeah, even if you hate country music—which I do not—if you live in the South, you know country music. It’s just a fact, you can’t get away from it.”

  Over the next fifteen minutes, I listened to Kasper sing, relaxing. Though with Kasper, everything was soothing and relaxing, he just had a sense of calmness to him that put me at ease. I bet babies would love him. Which thinking of his babies made my ovaries squeal ‘pick me pick me,’ but my ovaries were kind of horn dogs, so I decided to ignore them, for now.

  We arrived at the park just after the last song on the radio went to break. Kasper came around the side to help me down. If ever I complained about being short, I just needed to remember this. The plus of having Kasper being able to touch me. After setting me on my feet, he opened the extended cab and pulled out a cooler and a blanket. Taking my hand, he led me to a little hill, where you could see kids playing on a playground, and the runners on the track trying to meet their next goal. You could hear the birds chirping, and the children laughing. Kasper spread a blanket and set our picnic up. How could today get any better?

  Once finished, he motioned for me to have a seat. Carefully, I tried to sit down so not to show any unmentionables. Though I didn’t think Kasper would be too upset if he happened to see my pink doughnut underwear.

  Yes, I even had doughnut underwear. Of course when you said it out loud in your head, it did maybe sound like I had gone a little overboard with the underwear. Fixing my dress around me, I debated asking if he needed any help. It sure didn’t look like it. Spread out on the blanket he had watermelon, a fruit salad, fried chicken, chips, and brownies. I raised my eyebrows at the feast. “I’m impressed.”

  “Well now, wait for it,” he said as he reached behind his back where he had two Mason jars and a thermos full of…“Lemonade?”

  “Yeah, well I didn’t know what your favorite drink was, so this was me hoping I did a good job.”

  I took the offered Mason jar in his hand. “You did a great job, with all of it. I’ve never had someone make me a picnic before.”

  Crooking one eyebrow up, he grinned, “So I did a good job?”

  I couldn’t help but smile back, “You did a fantastic job.”

  After eating, we took our time just sitting silently, people watching and just enjoying the silence. While Kasper sat beside me, I tried to figure out how to bring up his tattoos. Which were standing out very nicely in the bright summer sun. He was propped up on his arms while leaning back. I figured I should just go for it and asked, “So, Mr. Stone likes tattoos. I would’ve never pegged you for the type.”

  When he held out one of his arms so the light caught it better, I scooted closer for inspection. “And what did you have me pegged for? You’ve got me curious.”

  Embarrassed at being put on the spot I mumbled out, “Ya know, serious, maybe a yoga type of guy, or…” I shrugged, because now I felt stupid and was second guessing my evaluation of him. I mumbled out the rest. “Maybe, I don’t know. You like country, so hunting and fishing, too.”

  Kasper laughed loudly. “Well I’m not a yoga guy, that’s actually more of Dean’s thing. And I am serious, but just because it calms me to be in control, and as for the hunting and fishing, well me and the guys do fish on occasion. What about you?”

  “Well I used to go fishing with my dad, brother, and sister when I was little.” I popped some more of the brownie in my mouth. No, it wasn’t my first brownie, and no, I wasn’t counting either. “Those don’t have anything to do with hunting, do they?”

  He brought his arm forward for me to see the tattoo better. Our heads were so close I could smell the soap from the shower he took this morning. Distracted, I tried to focus on what he pointed to, which was the first one by his wrist. “This one is the Celtic symbol for wolf. The guys and I each have one actually.”

  There was a story there. So I tried to ask casually. “Oh, did you get them together?”

  He smirked, whether from my bad acting or an inside joke I couldn’t be sure. “Yeah, we all got them when we were eighteen.”

  I poked him in the chest with my finger. Now I had to know the story. “All right spill, there’s a story there, and I need to have it. I’ll decide later if I can use it to embarrass or blackmail either of the Timber brothers. But I know there’s a story.”

  Moving to where he was leaning back, using his arms for support, the smirk remained. He probably knew I was going to love the tale he was about to weave.

  “Well, it was the night of graduation and par the course of most teenagers we decided to get drunk.”

  Sarcastically, I put I hand up to my mouth. “No, not you guys, surely not.”

  Tilting his head, he squinted at me. “You’re laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you?”

  “Ahh, the moment was there, had to take it.”

  “I understand.”

  I waved my hand, urging him onward. “Continue. Story. Tattoo.”

  “Yes, anyway, we went to a party that Dean’s girlfriend at the time was having at her house because her parents had left to go on vacation. Dean goes upstairs to search for her, but when he does find her…”

  Putting my hand in a stopping motion, I blurted out, “Wait, wait, wait, is this gonna end as a horrible movie clichés? Like if I watch the typical teen movie, is the plot gonna be the same.”

  From the blankness upon his face, teen movies were not his forte. We could remedy this later. Now that I thought about it Kasper didn’t really give off teen movie vibes. He seemed more of an 8 Seconds type of person

  It was slightly disappointing that he didn’t get my references, but we’d fix it. “Just continue, I think I get the gist though.

  Rolling his eyes in a very Damon fashion, he continued. “Okay, well anyways, he goes upstairs like I was saying, and he finds her in bed, in her parents’ bed no less with Lucas.”

  “No!”

  Looking at me like he doubted my shocked expression, which I didn’t know why. “You know Lucas?” Gotta love a dry, skeptical tone.

  “Naw, I just felt like that was the appropriate reaction. Did I do good?”

  He continued without answering. “Anyway, when he finds her, he races down the stairs to find me and Damon, where we were already on our way to getting drunk. So, he comes and joins us. While we’re all sitting there getting drunk, his now ex-girlfriend Rachel, comes down the stairs and starts yelling at Dean about why it was his fault she slept with someone else. Well, he interrupts her and tells everybody in the room that he doesn’t need her. That she’s an unfaithful slut, that all he needs is his boys. Which thinking back now, could make it sound like we had certain tendencies with each other.” He waved his hand in front of his face as if to clear that image and continued. “Well after giving his big statement out in front of everybody, he asks Ben our friend to take us to get tattoos. Since Dean and I had turned eighteen a couple of months earlier, I don’t think it took much to get Ben to take us, but after that things get blurry. I just remember waking up at the brothers’ house and we all had, matching tats. And Ben was nowhere to be seen.”

  Leaning closer, I studied the tattoos on his arm. I watched in fascination as his muscles moved along the tattoos as he flexed. Next to the wolf, I saw another tattoo that I was sure had an equally amusing story.

  Touching the one up above the wolf was ancient type lettering that almost resembled the letter A.

  “That one stands for alpha.”

  “And does it have a story as memorable as the last one?”

  He nodded. “But for another time.”

  I weaved my finger over the artwork on his forearm, delighting in the goosebumps I saw trailing behind. The last one and the biggest one by far, wra
pped up the rest of his forearm. “And this one?”

  “That one stands for family, but it’s not such a good story.”

  The sadness in his voice surprised me. Dropping my hand, I focused on his face. “Are you not close with your family? Because if that’s the case, I can totally relate right now, my family and me are the definition of the complicated status on Facebook.”

  Sitting up, he pulled his leg forward and slung his arm over the knee. Hair falling forward into his face made it look like he was at a photo shoot and not about to reveal a complicated past. “That’s kind of a long story.”

  I took his hand and traced the tattoos on his right arm. “How about you tell me the story to this tattoo, and next week we can discuss the stories about the tattoos on your other arm.”

  One eyebrow raised. “We’re gonna have a next time?”

  We could have as many times as he wanted, couldn’t go there now. “I thought we could, I mean I like this.”

  With the pressure of his finger, he pushed my chin up so our eyes could meet. “I really like this, too”

  Relief swarmed though me at his admission. If I had a girlfriend, this was the moment I would tell her all about. “Good. Now story, pleeeaseee!”

  “Okay.” He cleared his throat, and I could see he was putting on a more serious tone to start the story that I asked for. I almost told him never mind, but I really wanted to know more about the guys. Funny how I went to wanting no men to wanting to know everything about them.