by Jess Bryant
“Missed you too, Lemon-drop.”
She cringed and pulled back, “Call me that again and I’ll give you a wedgie.”
Seth laughed, “Oh come on, I always call you that.”
“You only call me that when you’re drunk and I hate it.” She shook her head.
Alec had called her that too. Back when things were good. Or back when she’d at least thought they were good. She’d thought it was an adorable endearment. Now it made her want to claw someone’s eyes out and she liked Seth far too much for that.
“Fine.” He sighed and leaned against the counter opposite her, “I won’t call you Lemon-drop if you’ll do me a favor.”
She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, “What kind of favor?”
“Just answer a question for me.” He grinned and she knew what the question would be before he even asked it.
“I don’t know.”
Seth tilted his head, “You don’t know what?”
“I don’t know how long I’m staying. I don’t know why I’m here. And I don’t know why you think I’d tell you something I haven’t figured out how to tell my family yet.”
“Lemon…” Seth groaned, “I’m not trying to pry.”
“I know that.”
“I’m just worried about you. We’re all worried about you.”
She snorted, “Don’t you think I know that?”
“Then tell us how to help you. Whatever is going on, we’re your friends and you can talk to us.”
She shook her head and she saw that flash of stubbornness that she’d always found so endearing in her old friend appear. He wasn’t going to back down. She hadn’t expected him to. Lydia had tried coddling her, babying her, mothering her even. Her parents had tried the hands off approach. Don’t ask and maybe she’d bring it up on her own. But out of everyone, Seth was the one that she knew wouldn’t back off until she cracked.
“I’m not ready to talk about it yet.” She lifted her glass of wine and took another small sip, measuring it out in case he was in this for the long haul and thought he could get her drunk and talking.
“Fine. How about I talk?”
“Sure. Tell me all about your beautiful wife and your two adorable rugrats.”
Seth didn’t smile like she expected, instead his gaze pinned her in place, “That. There. That’s what I want to talk about. Since when do you call my kids rugrats? Or not call Amy by her name?”
“It was just a figure of speech.”
“No. I don’t think it was. Because I’ve been watching you all night and something is off, just like your parents said it was.”
She raised her eyebrows, “You’ve been talking to my parents about me?”
“They were worried. Like I said. It’s one of the reasons I decided we should drive over for dinner tonight. I wanted to see you for myself.”
She’d gotten the feeling that her old friend wasn’t as out of the loop on things as she’d expected him to be during dinner. She’d known his parents had told him she would be here tonight and that he’d come to dinner to see her. But she hadn’t realized he was looking at her through a microscope all night, trying to dissect her secrets, and that pissed her off.
“Stop trying to pick me apart, Seth.” She started to step around him, to end the conversation, but he caught her by the wrist.
“Tell me why seeing my family upsets you.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Liar.” He called her out and she flinched away from him, “You haven’t held Embry at all. You won’t play with Eloise. And you won’t look me or Amy in the eye. Why?”
That knot in her throat was back and she shook her head furiously, “It’s not about you. I’m sorry if I was rude. I didn’t mean to be. I love you. You know that.”
Seth narrowed his eyes again and tilted his head, “Is that what it is?”
“What?”
“You love me. Are you… jealous? Of me and Amy?”
Her eyebrows winged up at that absurd comment and she scoffed, “God, no. It’s not that, Seth.”
“Are you sure? Because it seems like you’re jealous.”
“You’re being ridiculous right now.” She tried to pull her arm free of him but he held on, “Let me go, Seth.”
“No. Talk to me.”
“Let me go.”
“No, I want to…”
“Seth!” A loud, tense voice cut him off and they both jumped as they whirled to face the source of it.
Lemon swallowed hard at the look on Shane’s face. Annoyance. Frustration. And more than a little anger. His eyes jumped from her to his brother to the spot where they still touched. She jerked her arm again and Seth let her go without a fight. Shane’s jaw tensed as he came further into the room.
“We were just talking.” Seth cleared his throat.
“You’re done now.” Shane glared at his brother.
“No, I’m…”
“You’re done.” He repeated evenly, “Your wife was looking for you. Go back in the other room, Seth. Now.”
“But Lemon…”
“I’ll deal with Lemon.” Shane’s hard gaze cut to her and she barely stifled a shudder.
Seth looked between the two of them this time and she couldn’t begin to wonder what it was he saw. Shane was angry. She was trembling. And Seth’s brows furrowed more and more as his gaze went back and forth between them, trying to figure out the situation. But she couldn’t figure it out and she was a part of it so she just shrugged when he finally stared at her, as if she might explain.
“Go. It’s fine.”
“We’re not done talking about this, Lemon.” He frowned.
“Oh, you’re definitely done.” Shane growled, “Now get out before I start asking questions you won’t want to answer little brother, like why it would make a difference to you if she was jealous of your wife.”
Lemon sucked in a startled breath, “Shane!”
Seth grit his teeth and held a hand up to stop her, “No. It’s fine. Let him think what he wants. He always has with us and for some reason, I never stopped to wonder why that was until just now.”
“Get out.” Shane repeated.
“You’ve been acting like she’s your date all night.” Seth snorted, “But just because you can’t spend time with her without wanting to fuck her, doesn’t mean I can’t.”
“Seth!” She hissed at the other Lowry now.
“I’m her friend. That’s all. And as her friend and your brother, let me fill you in on a little secret… she was never mine despite whatever you think. She was always yours. You just never bothered to look at her twice.”
“Seth.” She snapped, “Stop it. You’ve had too much to drink and you’re being an ass. Shane’s right. You should go find your wife.”
Her oldest friend in the world scoffed and threw his hands in the air. He muttered something about her not being his problem anymore and stalked out of the room. He pushed the swinging door so hard that it snapped back into the wall and she and Shane both cringed. Once they were alone and the door stopped creaking, they stared at each other.
“He’s drunk. He didn’t mean what you think he meant.”
Shane’s eyes narrowed on her, “Which part?”
“The jealousy part.”
He stepped around the island that had been between them, “So not the other part then? The part where he said you were always mine if I’d wanted you?”
She felt a blush rise on her cheeks and reached for her wine glass, “Like I said, he’s drunk and being an ass. You knew I had a crush on you when we were kids. I told you that the other day.”
“So you’re not jealous of Amy?”
“Not for the reason you think.” She admitted and then frowned when he tilted his head as if he were trying to figure out what she meant. Damn it. Why was talking to Shane so easy? She took another sip of her wine but a big hand covered hers and took it away, putting it on the counter behind her, and she frowned as Shane moved even closer to her. “I was
drinking that.”
“You’ve had enough.”
“You’re not the boss of me.” She started to reach for the glass but his hand closed over hers and pressed it to the cabinet. When she started to use her other hand, he did the same thing, and her breath caught. Shane had her pinned to the counter. His hands covered hers and held her immobile. His big body was barely inches away and she couldn’t catch her breath or her thoughts to try to figure out what was happening. “Shane, what are you doing?”
“Talking to you.”
“Is this how you talk to all the girls?” She tried for teasing but he was so close and she could feel his heat, smell his musky, manly cologne, and it took everything inside of her not to lean closer.
He smirked, “Only the ones I think will try to run away.”
“I told you already. I wouldn’t run from you.”
“You might, once you hear what I’m going to ask you next.”
She frowned, “Are you going to ask me why I’m in Fate? What I’m running away from? Or what I’m hiding?”
Shane raised an eyebrow at her, “No.”
She smiled. She couldn’t help it. She’d known, somehow, that would be his answer. Whatever was happening, it didn’t have a thing to do with why everyone else was worried about her. This was about them. She’d known it. So she shrugged.
“Then you can ask me whatever you want.”
“Anything?”
She nodded.
“Do you want me to kiss you, Lemon? Because you keep looking at me like you want me to kiss you. All night, you’ve been looking at my mouth.” His gaze dropped to hers and she couldn’t help but wet her lips expectantly as heat blasted through her system, “And I want to know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours. What do you thinks going to happen if I kiss you?”
“That’s two questions.” She bit her lip and when he didn’t speak, didn’t make a joke or back off in any way, she shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I’m so curious. I’ve wondered what it would be like for so long, maybe it won’t live up to the hype.”
Shane growled and heat flashed in his eyes, “You think I’m not a good kisser?”
“Men that look like you rarely are.” She teased.
“Is that so?” He moved closer.
“It’s the ridiculous good looks.”
“Now, I’m ridiculously good looking?” He smirked.
“You’ve always been ridiculously good looking. That’s the point. You’ve probably never had to work hard to get a girls attention so why would you have bothered to learn how to be a good kisser. If a girl didn’t like the way you kissed, you probably just moved on to the next in line.”
Shane grinned, “Lines? No. I’ve only ever kissed Holly.”
She gaped up at him as what he was saying sank in, “What? You’ve never kissed anyone but your ex-wife? Really?”
“We got together when we were kids. She was my first girlfriend. We got pregnant and got married and then we got divorced and I haven’t been with anyone since. I told you that the other day.”
She goggled up at him, fumbling for words. Sure he’d told her that he hadn’t been with anyone since his divorce. It hadn’t crossed her mind that he meant he hadn’t kissed anyone either. It was sort of cute and romantic and really freaking intimidating now that she thought about it.
What if she was the one that didn’t live up to the hype? What if she turned him off kissing altogether? What if he decided she wasn’t as good as his ex had been?
Shane chuckled and their chests brushed, “What are you thinking now? You’ve got this look on your face like I told you Santa Claus wasn’t real or something. Are you really that worried I won’t be as good at is as you’ve been imagining?”
She blamed the extra glass of wine on the flush that heated her cheeks, “No.”
“I mean, I suppose I might be terrible at it but there’s really only one way to find out.” He teased.
“Are you going to kiss me?” She heard her own voice turn breathy and saw his answering smile that sent butterflies skittering in her stomach.
“I was thinking about it.”
“How long?”
“Hmm?” His eyes were still on her mouth.
“How long have you been thinking about it?”
“Remember on the porch? When I tugged you out of the rain and you fell into me? When you teased me about not being able to let you go?” He slowly raised his gaze to hers and when she nodded he cupped her cheek, “Since then.”
Oh God… she felt the world shift out of focus as he lowered his head towards her. She closed her eyes and let it happen. Couldn’t have stopped it if she wanted to. And she didn’t want to. She had to know. Even if it was a terrible idea, even if it meant nothing but exploring this frantic, sparking connection between them, she had to know what it was like to kiss Shane Lowry.
His lips settled over hers, soft and warm and she slipped completely under his spell. Reckless to the very end. That was Lemon. She’d thought Shane would be the responsible one that kept them from doing this but clearly even he wasn’t strong enough to resist something this powerful.
Because that’s what it felt like when he kissed her. Powerful. Important. Consuming.
She lost herself in his soft, slow exploration of her lips. He didn’t push. He didn’t pressure. He kept it soft and sweet. A first kiss in so very many ways. And she drowned in him.
He’d released her hands at some point and they came up of their own accord to wrap around his shoulders. She needed him to hold her up because her knees felt weak. He moved even closer instead, using his big body to pin her in place, and when she felt his erection straining between them she arched into him, rubbing against him, wanting so much more than a first kiss would ever allow.
He groaned in response and nipped at her bottom lip with his teeth. Her mouth opened on a little gasp and his tongue flickered out, teasing her into opening further, letting him in. Their tongues met, circled, tangled, and the dance between them turned from sweet to something spicier. Their bodies pressed together harder, wanting more contact, and they gripped each other more fiercely as the sparks turned into a full on fire and threatened to burn out of control.
Lemon whimpered when she reached for his shirt and he swatted her hands away. Skin. She wanted skin. His skin on hers. Her mouth on his skin. Anything.
Shane broke the kiss with a groan and buried his face in her neck, “Stop. We have to stop. Now or I won’t be able to.”
She sucked in a ragged gasp of air and tried to get a grip as reality slowly trickled back in. They were in Rosa and Hank Lowry’s kitchen. Shane’s parents kitchen. And he’d just kissed her like he wanted to lay her out on the table and feast on her. She shuddered at the thought. Luckily, or not so luckily, he seemed to have remembered where they were when she’d started trying to undress him. She felt another flash of heat hit her face at that thought.
Impulsive. Reckless. Irresponsible. It was going to be the death of her because she was going to die of shame if he teased her about this. She knew it was their usual way. It was what they did. But he’d just steamrolled through all of her walls and she didn’t have her defenses in place to block an attack right now.
“Mmm…” Shane’s lips brushed her ear and she stiffened, waiting for whatever would come next, “So… I’m an awful kisser huh?”
She giggled as he defused the situation just that easily. He really was amazing. Gorgeous and sexy and funny and sweet. He knew the right thing to say in any occasion. He always put her at ease. Except where the sexual tension was involved.
“The worst.” She agreed and he nipped her shoulder playfully with his teeth.
“You’ll have to tell me what parts didn’t work for you.” He was grinning when he finally pulled back, “Because it felt like it was working to me.”
“You want me to grade you?”
“I was thinking maybe lessons. I might catch on with more practice.” He kissed her softly, “It
could take a while tho…”
“Dad!” A high-pitched screech sounded from somewhere far too close and they jumped apart instantly. Guiltily. Shane stepped back so fast he ran into the corner of the island with his hip and cursed, clearly in pain. Lemon blushed and stammered and was still trying to smooth her hair and her clothes back into place when the kitchen door swung open three seconds later. “Dad! Please! Please! Please unground me!”
Georgie came wheeling into the kitchen with the same whiny, dramatic, the world is ending face that she’d used when Shane told her to put her phone up during dinner. Lemon took another step in the other direction, putting more space between her and Shane, not that the girl was likely to notice anything amiss. Georgie was sixteen which meant the world revolved around her, her phone, her friends and her boyfriend. The very idea that she might have been interrupting her father making out with a woman in the kitchen would never cross her mind.
“What?” Shane ran a hand through his hair, clearly still a little flustered, and trying to keep the island between him and his daughter to hide his erection.
“You have to unground me! It’s so unfair! Roni just text and I’m going to miss her birthday party next weekend if you don’t unground me.”
Shane sighed heavily and shook his head, “We’ve been over this. You’re grounded for two weeks. You can keep your phone and your other privileges but no parties.”
“But Dad!” Georgie stomped her foot, “She’s my best friend and she only turns sixteen once!”
“Georgie.” He said in a warning voice.
“But I didn’t even do anything wrong!” She whined, flipping her hair and then seeming to realize Lemon was standing there for the first time she turned on the pout, “Lemon, please, please tell him he should let me go to my best friends birthday party. If I miss it she’s going to hate me forever!”
Lemon tried not to smile at the completely over the top dramatics. It wasn’t the end of the world, it was a birthday party but it meant absolutely everything to Georgie. Clearly. And besides, Lemon remembered being a teenage girl and Georgie had a point. Friendships between girls were fickle at that age. If she didn’t go, her best friend might very well hate her for it.