by Jewel E. Ann
“I have season tickets to the Giants. Are you a baseball fan?” Dane asks.
We officially have Lautner’s attention now. He turns and zooms in on Dane’s hand resting on my chair.
“Yeah, Syd, are you a baseball fan?” Lautner’s hand rests high on my leg giving it a gentle squeeze. His eyes widen and his mouth sets in a challenging smirk.
Dane’s eyes fall to Lautner’s possessive hand, and he removes his arm from the back of my chair.
“Sure. I like baseball.” I scowl at Lautner and turn back to Dane. “But Avery does too. She’d be pretty jealous if you took me to a game.”
“Damn right!” Eavesdropping Avery pipes up.
“Oh … well maybe you two could take my tickets and see a game this week.”
“Woot woot! Thanks, Dane.” Avery bounces in her chair, clapping her hands.
I shake my head. “Yes, thanks. That’s really nice of you.”
Dane takes another swig of his beer and nods. I’m sure he didn’t see his propositioning me for a date turning into a ticket donation for a girls’ day out.
“Yeah, real nice of you, Dr. Dane,” Lautner adds with a satisfied smile.
I push his hand away and glare at him. Standing, I grab the empty plates and take them to the kitchen. To my utter surprise, Dr. Brown follows me with the rest of the dishes.
“Thanks.” I smile and take them from her.
“So … Lautner tells me you’re only in town until the end of the month.”
“Correct.” I arrange the plates in the dishwasher.
“So it would be accurate to assume whatever is going on between the two of you is … temporary?”
Obviously her attempt at domestic labor was just a front to be alone with me.
“Why do you ask?”
She glances outside then steps closer to me. “Lautner’s my friend and we’ve both worked really hard to get to where we are. He has a very demanding three years ahead of him and I just would hate to see him get distracted.”
Shutting the dishwasher door, I lean back against the counter and cross my arms over my chest.
“Distracted or taken.”
“Excuse me?” Her voice raises a few notches while her posture stiffens.
There’s a knock at the French door. Avery is holding up her empty glass. I nod and grab the margarita pitcher.
“Don’t sweat it, Doctor. I’ll be out of your way in a couple weeks.” I leave her in the kitchen and head out back.
“What’s up with Claire?” Avery asks as I refill her glass.
“She’s worried I’m invading her territory.”
“Oh, cat fight?”
“Hardly, Ave, she’s not worth the energy.” I grab my drink and claim my lounge chair next to Swarley.
All three guys are in the pool. They’ve stretched the net across and are playing water volleyball. Of course Dr. Stud is on his own. It’d probably take both Caden and Dane to beat him.
“Come on girls. Get your asses in here,” Caden yells.
Avery has a nice buzz going so she jumps in without hesitation. “Come on, Sam,” she hollers.
“I’m good. Besides, if Claire doesn’t play then it will be uneven.”
“I’m in.” I hear Claire call as she moseys to her lounge chair on the opposite side of the pool. “I just need some sunblock on my back. Would you mind, Lautner?”
He glances at me but I divert my eyes. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging that I heard what she just asked. Instead, I grab the beer beside my chair and start chugging it. I’m not sure whose it is, maybe Dane’s, but I don’t care.
“Sydney Ann Montgomery, get your ass in the pool,” Avery calls again.
I remove my skirt and adjust my top. The surge of alcohol from the margaritas and the beer rewards me with my own little buzz. I pull my hair back into a ponytail and cannonball into the pool. When I surface, Dane grins and Caden and Avery chuckle in unison.
“Sam is such a fish.” Avery shakes her head.
“Guys against girls?” Caden asks.
“That won’t be fair,” Lautner calls. He’s rubbing sun lotion on Claire’s back. I remember when he rubbed it on mine at the beach, but the thought only pisses me off now. I’m pissed that he’s doing it, and I’m pissed that I’m pissed.
“Lautner’s right. The last thing this party needs is three bruised male egos. Which is exactly what we’ll have after we girls kick your arrogant male asses.” I’m basically meaning me and Avery because I’m not sure if Ms. SPF 100 can even tread water.
“You’re on!” Caden says, swimming to the other side of the net. Dane shrugs his shoulders and follows Caden.
“Let’s do this, bitches!” I yell, feeling a little more than tipsy.
“Ah, I love drunk Sam. She’s so much fun when she gets her sailor talk on,” drunk Avery squeals.
I’m not drunk—yet—but if Lautner doesn’t get his fucking hands off albino girl, I’ll be sucking down straight tequila.
Okay, I might be a little drunk.
*
A whipping, spanking, and merciless humiliation sums up this game. As predicted, Claire has been no help. She even claps for Lautner every time he scores against us. Dane, my only true ally, has to leave because he received a call about a poodle that got into a bag of chocolate. Claire has stayed another hour since Lautner so kindly applied another coat of sunblock after we all got out of the pool. She let me know that she rents the apartment above Lautner’s. So while he walks her to the door, I imagine her reminding him of his curfew and to avoid any distractions that would prevent him from getting good sleep.
“Where’s Lautner?” Avery asks, looking very comfortable sitting on Caden’s lap.
I take a long pull of beer. “He’s say—ing goodbye to Doc—tor Bitch … I mean Brown.” I giggle. Warm all over from way too much alcohol, I’m finding it hard to think before I speak.
“Claire is just a friend,” Caden speaks up in Lautner’s defense no doubt.
“Friend.” I slur the word like I’m testing it. My eyes are closed and I’m absorbing the end of the afternoon sun. “Yes, they seemed very friendly together.”
“Who seemed very friendly together?” Lautner’s voice muffles through my fuzzy head.
“No one,” Caden offers a quick response.
“Sydney’s drunk. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“I … am not drunk. Y—you…uu are drunk, Ave.”
“I haven’t had any alcohol for the past two hours, Big Sis … it’s all you. Unfortunately, you’re on your own. Caden is taking me out tonight.” She moves her mouth to my ear. “Don’t wait up,” she whispers.
Hell, I can barely keep my eyes open now. I don’t think she has to worry about me waiting up for her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
June 13th, 2010
“Ouch!” My head is killing me and so is the stupid light filtering in from those damn sheer curtains. I’m sprawled out on my stomach. Brushing my hair away from my face, I squint at the clock. 6:05 a.m. I try to move but my legs feel like lead.
“Swarley.” I cough through my cotton mouth, realizing he’s beached out on my legs. He jumps off the bed and goes through his morning yoga stretches. As much as I don’t want to, I have to get up. Oddly enough, I feel dehydrated and yet my bladder is ready to burst. I grimace while sitting up and swinging my legs off the edge of the bed. What the … I’m naked. In spite of my stiff protesting neck, I whip my head around. Lautner is sleeping on his back with his hands resting on his bare chest and one leg flopped on the outside of the covers.
We must have had sex last night, but I can’t remember. God, that could not have been good. Or maybe it was good. It’s possible I’m quite the minx in my drunken state. He looks peaceful, maybe even … satisfied. I grin until I ease to my feet with a suppressed moan. My fingers circle my temples with firm pressure to alleviate the throbbing in my head and to keep it from exploding.
After relieving mys
elf and washing my hands, I duck my head down to the faucet and slurp in gulp after gulp of cool water. The soothing sensation feels like Heaven and hopefully so will the two Advil before too long. My mouth still tastes like ass. Yuck! Grabbing my toothbrush, I squirt a mammoth glob of toothpaste on the worn bristles and scrub the hell out of my mouth.
Swarley has claimed my spot in bed.
“Move,” I whisper. He tucks his snout under my pillow and sighs. “Now, Swarley, move it!” I nudge him and he returns a low growl without looking at me. “Stupid mutt!”
There are three other beds and two sofas, but I want to be next to Lautner when he wakes up. After what was probably some pretty adventurous sex last night, I have no doubt that he’ll want to wake up next to his sexy Sydney. It’s a king-sized bed and while my massive pile of hot, sexy muscles takes up his half, Swarley is balled up near the edge leaving me a nice pocket to slide into between the two of them. I shimmy my nakedness under the covers, resisting the urge to knock Swarley’s K-9 ass onto the ground. Sucking my bottom lip in between my teeth, I lift the covers with stealth control to sneak a peek at Lautner—all of him. To my surprise he’s wearing a pair of jogging shorts, although nicely tented.
Suddenly, I feel a little underdressed. I ease onto my elbows to scoot out but not before Lautner’s long lashes flutter open revealing the blue irises that always paralyze my body and suck my thoughts dry. Sliding back under the covers to hide my breasts, I relinquish a shy smile.
“Good morning,” his husky voice vibrates.
I roll to face him, bending my elbow and propping my head up on my hand while clutching the sheet to my chest. “Good morning.”
Clenching his fists, he stretches his arms out over his head and yawns. My lips part and my tongue traces my lower lip as I watch his muscles flex and ripple with each movement.
“That was quite a night, huh?” He grins.
I knew it! My legs press together as I try to remember what happened last night. His grin says it all. I was an uninhibited sex goddess. Now the only downside is I have something pretty spectacular to live up to but I can’t remember what. I trace his abs with my fingertips.
“Yes, it was,” I purr seductively.
He raises a single eyebrow and turns on his side mirroring me. “Let’s just say I hope for both of our sakes it doesn’t happen again anytime soon.”
What!
I pull my hand away from him as if he just burned me. “What part didn’t you like?”
His eyes double. “Uh … basically all of it.”
I’m shocked, just speechless.
He grins a little. “Well, except for the striptease. That was entertaining.”
I want to throw the covers over my head and disintegrate into the depths of humiliation hell. “I was that bad?” My voice is weak and my words are slow and incredulous.
“Bad’s an understatement. I was relieved when you finally passed out. Honestly, I felt so sorry for you. Had you been in your right mind I’m sure you would have been embarrassed.”
He reaches over and brushes a few strands of hair away from my face. “I don’t want you to worry about it. After the striptease things got a little messy, but then you passed out and I got you out of your clothes and did what I needed to do.”
I can’t believe he is saying this. Admittedly, I’ve had some bad sex in my life, but I would never chastise someone by being so degrading. And what kind of sick bastard has their way with an unconscious person?
“I think you should leave,” I say with monotone controlled emotion.
“What? Why?” Lautner’s head jerks back.
“Why? You really have to ask me that?” I sit up bringing the sheet with me. Swarley must feel the tension because he jumps down and exits the room.
“Maybe you’ve been around too many cadavers or some weird shit like that, but where I come from having sex with an unconscious person would be considered rape.”
My heart is working a marathon in my chest and my blood is racing hot in my veins, but the sick bastard lying next to me has the audacity to laugh.
“Oh God, Sydney.” He laughs, buckling at the waist the way he did when we were at the beach.
I scoot over to the warm spot where Swarley had been, tugging more covers and increasing the distance between us. I’m appalled that he thinks this is so funny.
“Oh jeez, Syd, we didn’t have sex. After your little striptease attempt you vomited on yourself and then passed out. I had to get you out of the rest of your clothes and give you a bath. Then after I got you in bed I had to go clean up the rest of your mess and take a shower myself.”
Dear God, I feel like a complete idiot. I’ve known Lautner for all of eleven days now and he’s seen me at my worst on more than one account.
I shake my head. “Why would you do that? I mean, seriously, what are you still doing here? Most guys would run for the hills. You’ve known me two seconds and you’re cleaning up my vomit and tucking me into bed?” I wiggle the sheet gesturing to my body. “Albeit naked.” I raise my brow at him and he smirks.
With a swift, unexpected motion he grabs my waist and pulls me down flat on my back, losing the sheet along the way. He hovers over me, resting his forearms on either side of my shoulders.
“I’m not most guys, Sydney, and you …” He sighs while shaking his head but doesn’t continue.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He rubs his nose against mine. “For what?”
“Everything … drinking too much, vomiting everywhere, leaving you with a mess to clean up, then accusing you of …”
He grins and dips down to trail kisses along my neck. “Raping your unconscious body?” he murmurs over my skin.
I lace my fingers through his hair and close my eyes as his touch sears my skin. “Yeah, that.”
His mouth finds mine. Our tongues lazily slide together with soft strokes. His torso sinks just enough that my nipples bud under the tease of his skin. I moan and skim my hands over his shoulders and down his back, curling my fingers into his firm flesh. He shifts his body so he’s cradled between my legs. I bend my knees and relax my legs to accommodate him. The kiss deepens. He plunges his tongue deep in my mouth while simultaneously rolling his hips allowing his rock hard erection to press right where I need it. I whimper and buck my hips, silently cursing his damn jogging shorts.
“Take off your shorts.” I break our kiss.
He skims his hands over my hips, along my ribs, and across my breasts. Working my nipples between his fingers, he trails his tongue along my jaw to my ear where he grazes his teeth over my ear lobe.
“No time for sex. I’ve got to get going,” he whispers in my ear.
“What?” My voice is a pathetic, desperate whine. I dig my nails into his back, threatening to draw blood.
His body vibrates with his chuckle. Grabbing my arms, he pries my nails from his back and pins them above my head. I wiggle my hips, enticing him to stay, but he rocks his pelvis firmly to mine, halting my movements. His blue irises sparkle and his cocky grin taunts me.
“I’d love nothing more than to consume every inch of your sexy body until you’re screaming for mercy … but I have to go.”
Holy shit! Screaming for mercy?
I’m completely frazzled and my chest works overtime to bring in some much needed oxygen. My core is melting from his steel rod wedged into the apex of my thighs.
“Wh—where are you going?” He keeps my naked body pinned to the bed underneath his deliciously rock solid frame. He’s assaulted my mouth with his expert tongue, thrust his hips into my warm slick sex, and stimulated my nipples into firm erect peaks … but he has to go? The hell!
His mouth drops to mine and he bites my lower lip pulling it between his teeth with a slow drag. “No pouting. I’ll make it up to you later.”
I barely blink and he’s out of bed pulling his shirt on. Looking down at my naked body, I grab the covers and drag them over me, but he yanks them away and shakes his head in warn
ing.
“I have nineteen days to look at your mind-blowingly sexy body. You can cover it up in July.” He grins and saunters into the bathroom.
“Humph!” I crawl out of bed and follow him.
He looks in the vanity mirror messing with his hair, which is a joke because he makes messy sexy. I press my bare chest to his back, snaking my hands around him and sliding them up under his shirt.
“Can’t I change your mind?”
He laughs and turns letting his eyes caress my naked body like a soft brush flowing over canvas. I’m comfortable in my skin but not usually to the point of letting someone leisurely stare at my nude figure. But Lautner makes me feel beautiful. It’s not lust, it’s more. I recognize it. It’s the way I look at a piece of art and see something nobody else does.
He pulls me into him and skims his large hands down my back and over the soft curve of my ass. “Unquestionably, you could change my mind. That’s exactly why I have to get out of here.” He lifts my hair off my breasts and pushes it back over my shoulders. “Mmm … mmm … mmm,” he hums shaking his head, “you and your long, dark, sexy goddess hair cascading over your flawless skin. God, I’ve gotta get out of here.” He leans down and brushes his lips over mine. “I’ll see you later, my seductive goddess.” He walks out leaving me boneless and dizzy.
I shake off his captivating spell, grab my robe, and chase after him. He’s by the front door putting on his shoes and talking to Swarley as I reach the top of the stairs.
“You never said where you’re going … and how will I contact you?”
He looks up and gives me a fetching smile. “I have a tee time with my dad in thirty minutes. It’s his birthday.”
Opening the door, he winks. “I’m in your phone, beautiful. Later.”
*
Walking Swarley and listening to Avery share every detail of her night with Caden has kept my mind off of Dr. Sexy and his distracting presence in my life. I’m off kilter. As crazy and demented as it sounds, I needed Lautner to be the twisted guy who unscrupulously took advantage of me in my altered state last night. I’m twenty-three and working for my future—my dreams. I want marriage and children, but not for another decade or so. The worst thing that could happen to me would be finding the right guy at the wrong time. I like Lautner … a lot, maybe too much. This is worrisome.