by Lindsey Hart
“Right,” Trace nodded carefully. They’d been over it a hundred times already. “And what if we don’t break up?”
“We’re going to break up,” she ground out “Because we were never really dating.”
“Then we can’t really break up, now can we?”
She flashed him a dirty glare and the bastard had the nerve to laugh. Ash narrowed her eyes. She observed Trace at a red light out of the corner of her eye.
There was something… off about him. For starters, he was sweating. Like… a lot. His black t-shirt clung damply to his body, and god, it was July and it was hot, but not that hot and the car was air-conditioned. Beads of sweat rolled off his forehead and down his temples. If she wasn’t so concerned, she would have appreciated the sight of all that fabric melded to his tight, chiseled abs. Every single time they had sex she was pretty much dumbstruck by how gorgeous he was, like he somehow got hotter every single time.
“Hey, are you alright?” She tried to reach over and palm her hand on Trace’s forehead, but he pulled back with a nervous laugh.
“Yeah. Just fine.” He flashed her an odd thumbs up and stuck out his tongue in a completely childish manner.
“Nervous much? And by the way, my brother is going to love you. His humor is on the same level, as let’s say… a sick five-year-old.”
“What’s sick five-year-old humor like exactly?”
“I don’t know. A hell of a lot of dirty-minded shit that only the most basic caveman would find funny. The dumber you act, the more my brother is going to love you.”
“Great. Did I tell you how much I love him already?”
She laughed softly. Her hands relaxed on the wheel as she closed in the last few blocks to the house. Her brother lived in St. Paul as well. It was the natural thing to do, move to the city after getting sick of commuting from Twin Falls. She made the move first, followed by her brother, and then after he left home, her parents downsized and finally made the half-hour trek to city life.
“I hope so.” She shut off the car and turned to Trace. “Uh- are you sure you’re going to be alright? You’re sweating a lot. We don’t have to do this.”
“I’m fine.” He flashed her a grin. “Just hot. I went for a run this afternoon and I think I overdid it. I can’t stop sweating.”
“Geez. Here I thought you might secretly be detoxing, given that it’s been a whole day since we last had sex.”
“Now that you mention it, I probably am going through withdrawals.”
“Pervert.” She took a deep breath, steadying herself for the onslaught that was her family. “Did I ever tell you that my brother was the one who got me into comics? He’d ask for them for his birthday or Christmas. I’d take them and read them after he was done. He also started out watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. I got into it from that too. I guess he’s the reason that I became a huge nerd, which is ultimately the reason that you’re here. Maybe if I was cooler, I wouldn’t have got bugged so bad and I wouldn’t be terrified of that reunion. God, it’s tomorrow.” She started breathing so hard she nearly hyperventilated.
“Hey, whoa, calm down there. I know it’s a double whammy with your mom and then the reunion but hang in there. Just remember. You. Are. A. Sex. Goddess.”
She shot him a foul look. “Great. Let me think about your dick right before we go in to meet my family.”
“You were probably thinking about it the whole way over.”
Not in the way you think. “Asshole.”
“To the core.” Trace made a production of getting out of the car. He bent at the waist and did quite an impressive bow. “One humble asshole, at your service, my lady. Please let that service later include all sorts of sexual favors.”
She giggled and smacked at his shoulder. She realized that he’d more than succeeded in banishing her nerves. Maybe he had some hidden superpowers after all. Ones that didn’t relate to his hands and tongue and far-too-amazing-to-be-real cock.
Her family, of course, was waiting like an ambush at the door. They were swept into a tide of hugs. Her mother planted a large kiss right on Trace’s cheek. She grabbed his hand, pinched his cheek right where she kissed him and began to actually tear up as she thanked him for dating her daughter.
Ash’s dad cast her sympathetic looks and shrugged. He meandered off, in search of whatever book he was likely pretending to read before they came while her mother blistered his ear off with speculative details.
“Hey, man.” Jason extended a hand.
“Oh no.” She tried to pull Trace’s hand back, but it was too late.
Jason gripped it in a killer handshake, which was more of a bone-crushing squeeze. Then he proceeded to try and attempt some bro code secret handshake that Trace knew nothing about. The good sport that he was, Trace dipped and dodged, shook and slapped tangled fingers and put his palm up to let her brother do a strange finger diddling thing to it.
“Right on! Right up here, Ash, this guy is awesome.” Jason extended his hand for a high five and of course when she went to slap her palm to it, he moved it away and pointed an obnoxious finger in her face. Her brother was six-four, so it wasn’t hard for him to move it out of her reach. He had an average build. He refused to work out and ate like a horse, but he wasn’t really fat. She remembered when she’d ridden on a quad with him the year before and her hand sucked into one of his rolls. It was weird since he didn’t have them standing up, but sitting down… there were a couple there. He was proud of his dad bod and hadn’t hesitated to tell her that when she screamed that he’d violated her hand with his strange roll vortex.
“Asshole,” she muttered.
Jason doubled over laughing. “Oh my god, Ash, if you have to finally lose your virginity at the ripe old age of thirty, this is the guy right here.” Jason slapped Trace on the back. He was still sweating, even more so since her mom’s house was, as usual, sweltering. Her parents didn’t believe in air conditioning and her mom had obviously been cooking the entire day in anticipation of their arrival.
“Uhhhh news flash. I’m not thirty.” She carefully didn’t say anything about her virginity. No one needed to know that she’d lost it on her twenty-first birthday in the backseat of a car of a guy she’d dated for two days. She may have been a little drunk and he may have not known what the hell he was doing- not like she did either- but somehow, they got the job done. It wasn’t a good first-time experience.
She basically counted Trace as her first real sexual experience, since he provided her with the first orgasm, she hadn’t had to use her fingers to gift herself.
“I know. I just had to bug you a little. You’re going to your reunion tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Of course, she is,” Trace said, far too happily.
“Uh- great. You’re ancient, by the way. I can’t believe you’re having your ten-year reunion already.”
“You’re only two years younger than me, dick wad.” Like the mature adult she was, she stuck her tongue out at her brother, who waved her the bird in response.
“Okay, you two, let’s bring it on into the kitchen. I’ll have dinner ready. Maybe you can play a board game while you wait.” Her mom winked at her. “I know how much you enjoy that, Ash. I was sure to bring them all down out of the closet.”
“Oh god, mom!” Ash hissed. She glanced at Trace, but he grinned back.
“I already know you’re a huge dork, so no harm done,” he whispered under his breath after her mom turned to head back to the kitchen. Jason trailed behind her like a puppy begging for scraps. He probably was. He was always hungry like he’d never really outgrown his teenage years of eating.
It took Ash a minute to realize that his hand was on fire. As in, it wasn’t just her crazy sexual energy fooling her. Sure her nipples were hard as pebbles and her panties were soaked, but that was just her body’s normal reaction to Trace.
She turned into him and swept her hand up to his forehead. “Oh my god! You’re burning up.�
�� She sidestepped the kitchen and pulled Trace into the hallway out of earshot. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Trace shrugged. “My niece may have been a little bit sick when I babysat her. My sister was going to stay home, but I told her to go out. It was a work thing and she’s been putting in so many hours to get that promotion. I couldn’t let her miss her big presentation and my brother in law was on the road for work. I said I didn’t mind.”
“She had a fever?”
“She might have puked a few times too.”
“Oh god. Oh no.” Ash backed away, twisting her hands for a minute before she realized how rude that looked. “I- I didn’t mean it like that.” She swept her hand back up to Trace’s forehead like it might have magically cooled off. It was still the temperature of a red-hot stovetop. “Shit. Okay, I think you’re really sick. You should have told me.”
Trace shook his head. “No way. I know how important this is to you.”
“No! We could have waited to come. God, I can’t believe you didn’t say a thing. I would never subject you to my family on a day when you’re feeling less than your best.” She was already whispering, but she lowered her voice further. “You need all your strength to face them and survive.”
Trace smiled. “Hey.” He took her hand in his and squeezed gently. “I’m okay. Just a few aches and pains. I have no appetite, but that’s not going to stop me from eating your mom’s amazing cooking.” He inhaled deeply. “Smells like heaven. It will probably fix me right up.”
“You poor thing. Seriously. You should have told me. You could have stayed home and rested.”
“No way. And don’t worry. Even if I was on death’s door, I’d drag my carcass to your reunion tomorrow. I have to witness first hand my goddess conquering the whole world.”
“You’re ridiculous, Mr. Nightshadow.” Ash stepped up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Trace’s cheek. His skin was like fire under her lips. She pulled him into a tight hug and for a guy who was kind of still a stranger, it felt good. It felt… really good to be wrapped up in those strong arms. “Thank you for this. And for tomorrow. I- you’re so good to me. The best. I think that I have a new favorite villain.”
“I’m glad to be of service.” His deep, sexy tone echoed in her ear and she shivered. “Now,” he said after she pulled away. “I say we go play some rousing board game and I’ll, of course, get my ass kicked by you and your brother since you seem to have so much more experience being dorky than I do.”
“Asshole.” She punched him in the shoulder before she remembered what he said about being achy. Honestly, she didn’t know how on earth he found the strength and fortitude to come with her. When she was sick, she wanted to do nothing but curl into a ball and sleep until her body felt like it hadn’t been railroaded over. “Oh no! I’m sorry.”
He grinned and swiped the back of his hand over his forehead. “No harm done. Seriously, no offense, but you hit like a girl.” He bent and whispered in her ear again, his hot breath sending delicious shivers down her spine. “My favorite girl.”
Those words should not have sounded so dark and naughty, especially in her parent’s house when Trace wasn’t even well. “The bathroom is just right down the hall to the left. Do you want to splash some cold water on your face?”
“Why? Am I a hot mess?”
“Never. Although, hot yes. I could bring you a cold cloth…”
“Stop worrying.” He captured her hand and brought it to his lips. She shivered again as he traced his overtly warm lips against her knuckle. “Everything is going to be fine, my goddess. And I still want you to give me a few of those sexual favors later.”
“I think you should rest later.”
“I can sleep when I’m dead.”
“No way. I need you tomorrow. Seriously.” She pressed her lips together. “You can stay over tonight if you want, but you have to get some rest. I want you to feel better, not worse. We can save the pleasure for tomorrow night after we conquer the world- or at least Twin Falls, ten-year reunion. Who even has ten-year reunions?”
“Now don’t go getting sensible on me when we’ve come up with this great plan. If some dorkus didn’t plan it to strut her vain self in front of everyone, we never would have met.”
Ash froze. “You know, you have a point.” Geez. She really shouldn’t be a weepy, girly, melting mess inside at those words. She recovered quickly and flashed Trace a devious grin. “You might want to wash your hands. My brother is a bit of a man whore. Who knows what you contracted during that bro handshake.”
Trace laughed and the sound filled up the whole hallway. God, she’d miss that laugh. What the hell? No, no way. She couldn’t go there. Not when she still had an evening with her family to get through. She was not going to give in to the tears that suddenly threatened or do an evaluation as to why that thought made her body ache like she was the one who was sick.
“I’ve never had an STD before.”
“No?” She furrowed her brow suspiciously.
“No.” Trace held up his hands in a gesture of innocence. “Although, how bad can it really be?”
“No. No, no, no,” Ash giggled. She swatted at Trace one more time. “Go and wash up in the bathroom. Take your time. Feel better. Hell, take a cold shower if you need one. I’ll just tell my mom that she’ll need a strong dose of deodorizer before anyone can go in there again.”
“Did you just make a poop joke?” Trace scoffed in disbelief.
Ash burst out laughing. “Yeah, I guess I did. It’s this place. My brother is already a bad influence on me.”
She swore she could hear Trace’s laugh even after he’d walked away and shut the bathroom door. She stayed there, staring at the empty hall like a lovesick fool. Of course, he popped his head out of the bathroom and scared her half to death. Mostly she was just embarrassed to have been caught, still there, like some weird creepy statue.
“Maybe there’s hope for you yet,” he mouthed before he shut the door behind him.
CHAPTER 12
Trace
Trace leaned back in his chair, absolutely stuffed.
Considering he came with no appetite, the food was amazing. He’d certainly eaten enough. Ash kept sending him looks, silently asking if he was going to make it out alive. He kept sending looks back, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay.
He’d somehow managed to survive getting his ass kicked at every single game he and Ash and Jason played before dinner. He didn’t mind. Losing was just fine by him because it was even better to sit there and watch Ash giggle and smile and laugh. She came out of her shell with her brother. She was funnier, not so proper, not wound up so tight.
It made his chest hurt- in a good way, being there with Ash and her family. He’d never been invited, as a boyfriend, to a girl’s house to meet her parents. It never got that far. Most women weren’t interested in him as a person. They were interested in him as a dollar sign. Even before he made his money, the invites weren’t forthcoming. He’d been too young then, not interested in anything beyond a few dates and a good time. He’d never used anyone though. He made sure his girlfriends were on the same page. It was ironic, that later the tables were turned on him and he couldn’t find something or someone real, even when he wanted it.
While he’d agreed to the visit more for Ash to give her mother peace of mind and buy some time for herself, he was genuinely having a good time. It actually looked like Ash was too. They’d survived it together.
Ash giggled at something her brother said and Trace realized that her dad said something then all eyes were on him.
“Uh- sorry.” He shook his head. “I was zoned out.”
“Zoning out about taking my sister home later?” Jason shot him a menacing look.
Trace laughed. “No, not exactly. I mean, Ash is beautiful, but she deserves to be treated like a beautiful woman. I don’t always let my mind wander straight to sinful things, especially not at the dinner table.” He flashed what he hoped
was a charming grin and her brother, who was obviously kidding just to get a rise out of his sister, stood down with a grin of his own. “I was actually thinking how nice it is that you all still sit at a table and have dinner together and play board games. I don’t know anyone else who does that. It’s nice, to be a part of your family. Thank you.”
Ash’s mom wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye and offered him a watery smile because of course, she was the classic weepy mom wooed by the mysterious dark gentleman who offered some hope in the direction of her aging daughter’s dusty ovaries. Her dad stared at him like he might actually be an alien. Jason’s mouth dropped open.
“Now that we’re all melting on the inside,” Ash said, voice definitely off, “why don’t you get us some of that pie you’re so famous for, mom.”
Jason patted his stomach. “Right. I’ve been waiting all day for that peach pie.” He licked his lips and cast a sarcastic glance at his sister.
“Gross,” Ash mumbled. “Obviously my brother doesn’t follow your example. Who are you going to whore yourself out to tonight, Jay? Oh wait, let me guess. She’s probably not under forty.”
Jason put up his hand and made a rude gesture with his tongue and fingers. Ash flipped him the bird. Trace tried hard not to laugh. It was nice to see Ash like this. Having fun, her guard down. Even if she made out that she couldn’t stand going home to be questioned by her mother about her non-existent love life, she obviously felt safe there, welcome, and loved.
That was what he missed being a part of. He’d wanted that his whole life. His mom was always far too busy trying to support them growing up. He never knew his dad. It was just him and his sister, most times, trying to scrounge up enough food to eat. Then he got busy working and Amy got a job as well and they’d never really all been together for a meal. Not even lately. I can fix that. I can do something about it now…