by Scarlet West
Great. Where will we meet?
His reply was quick. How about Fusion Kitchen?
Sounds good I replied quickly.
I got dressed and headed out. If I felt a slight confusion about Grayson, I managed to push it down into the back of my mind and forget about it. I just wanted to have fun, I told myself—with no stronger motivations.
10
Kelsey
At the restaurant, I was pleased to see Clarke already there. We went to a table together. To my surprise, my body was tingling already, even after just seeing him. I sat down and we ordered drinks.
“How was your day?” he asked. He gave me a big smile.
“Good,” I said, noncommittal. “Relaxed. Yours?”
“Same,” he nodded. “Oh, just what I needed,” he added, as the waiter brought our drinks. He clinked his glass with mine and we drank. “Man, that’s better.”
I nodded. “Yes. You looked at the menu yet?”
“I have,” he said, indicating it where it lay on the table. “It’s a great place. My favorite, actually.”
“Oh,” I said, and lifted the menu to peruse it. I had to admit that, even though the fusion scene was less haute than it had been a few years ago, I still enjoyed it a lot. While I read through the menu with some interest, my phone made a noise. I looked at it with some surprise.
Kelsey? I’d like to chat sometime. You free tomorrow?
It was from Donnell.
I went red.
Here I was, sitting sharing drinks with his brother! I looked down, a sense of excitement. The piquancy of the situation thrilled through me. I flashed back a reply.
Maybe. Tomorrow afternoon works?
Sure, he replied. Four P.M., The Deck?
Great.
“Kelsey? You weren’t offended?”
Clarke’s earnest question interrupted my thoughts. I looked up at him with a look of mild inquiry on my face.
“Offended?” I asked, genuinely confused. “Why should I be?”
“Oh,” he said, awkwardly. “I just said something about some women being bad drivers and I thought you might think I meant you, and…”
“Oh! No,” I shook my head. “I wouldn’t think you meant that. Besides, you’ve never seen me drive,” I quipped, grinning at him. He laughed.
“I’m sure you do that as gracefully as you do everything,” he said smoothly. I made a face at him.
“You have a silver tongue, it seems.”
He blushed. “Thanks,” he said.
I felt bad, exchanging messages with his brother while I was sitting here with him. But it seemed like the two of them were somehow in this together. And I wasn’t about to say no.
“So,” I said, leaning forward in my chair. “I think I’ve decided what I want. Yourself?” I indicated the menu idly.
“Oh,” he nodded. “I’ll have what I usually have.”
“That’s easy,” I smiled.
“I’m a man of predictable tastes,” he said.
I felt the way he said that stroke along my skin, like a touch. I raised a brow at him but he was looking down. I shifted in my chair, feeling under the table for his feet with my own. He looked up.
“You are?” I asked, smiling.
He raised a brow. “I don’t know. Am I?”
I laughed.
“No, actually,” I allowed, shooting him a naughty smile that made him go red. “I would have said you were quite original in your tastes.”
“Oh?” He was really red now and I took the opportunity to slide my foot between his. He looked into my eyes and I put my head on one side, smiling at him.
“Yes,” I said sexily. “In fact, I’m sure you have some ideas you’ve never acted on before.”
“Um, yeah,” he said with a tight voice. I could sense his arousal growing and it matched mine.
At that moment, the waiter arrived and we placed our orders quickly. Our dinner passed quickly too. I couldn’t help that every little lick or sound Clarke made during the dinner resonated somewhere deep inside me, almost as if it was me he was licking or digesting.
When we left the restaurant, I was aching with my need for him.
I couldn’t believe it as Kelsey sat down in the car beside me. I was trembling as I reached over to stroke the soft skin of her neck. My lips met hers, and I sighed as my tongue slid into the warm cave of her mouth. I wanted her so badly it hurt.
“Baby,” I whispered as she leaned back, and I stroked lower, letting my hands tighten on her firm, hard breasts. “I want you.”
She sighed and laughed, that low laugh that fascinated me. “Well then,” she said. “Let’s go.”
I made myself turn toward the steering wheel and turned on the engine, then sped off into the night.
We went up to my apartment in a maelstrom of touching and kissing. We found my bed and lay down instantly. I was shivering, the floral scent of her in my nostrils.
“You said you wanted to try something new,” she whispered.
I felt my insides turn to water. “I did?”
She smiled at me. She was lying on my bed, wearing only her undies. I couldn’t help staring at her in amazement. She was so beautiful. And sexy. And the suggestion turned my insides to water with excitement.
“Yes.”
I frowned. I had a particular fantasy about having sex in the open air—something about the possibility of being discovered was really exciting. But so far I’d never actually done it. And now she was offering me the chance to ask her for that?
“Um,” I coughed, the words stuck in my throat somehow. “Could we maybe, well…try it outside? Like, on the balcony?” I could feel the heat burning my cheeks even as I made the words pass my lips. I felt so naughty.
She raised a brow and rolled over, giving me a chance to stare at her almost nudity freely. I felt my cock throbbing.
“Okay,” she said. “It’s kinda dark outside. Nobody’s going to recognize either of us if we do that.”
“No,” I admitted, blushing freely. “That’s true.”
“Well then,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”
I leaned over and kissed her. I was in my undies too. I looked out onto the balcony. It was ten o’clock and probably nobody would be out on the street and staring at the eighth-floor balconies. Even so, I felt a delicious sense of nerves as she stood and wrapped a nightgown—my nightgown—around her nakedness and went outside.
I followed her into the dark.
She leaned on the rail and let the gown fall open. I stared at her breasts. The only light fell on her from the curtained-off window. It lit her body in tones of bronze and darkness, molding her sweet curves as if she was carved of metal. I felt my cock throbbing.
I moved toward her, hastily sliding my undies down to around my ankles and then stepping out of them. She leaned back on the balcony rail, one just high enough to be above waist height, fortunately, and opened her thighs.
I slid into her, and she gasped, and then I gasped as her wetness drew me in. She was wet and warm, and the feeling on my cock was so good and so intense that I drew out and pushed back in again, wanting to feel her suck me in.
I pushed in again and suddenly the reality of the situation overwhelmed me with amazement. Here I was, on the balcony, buried inside a girl who was the most stunning girl I’d ever seen before. My arousal flew to new heights.
I heard a car hoot below and wondered, with a tension that fueled my longing, if they saw us. I pushed in and pulled out, pushed in and pulled out, a sense of delicious urgency filling me. Kelsey was groaning, and I felt the ache of her own need combine with mine and the need to be quick.
If I didn’t finish soon, somebody would see me.
The thrill of that made me cry out with wanting, and soon I was pushing out and pushing in with frenetic urgency, panting and thrusting and thrusting…
I heard her scream—not loudly, but intensely—and I felt my own climax peak. I grunted, trying to hold it back for a sweet second, but it w
as too much for me, and I yelled aloud as it ripped through me like floodwater.
I collapsed on top of Kelsey and lay there a moment, then gently turned her away from the railing, aware suddenly that she might hurt her back on the thick concrete.
“You okay?” I whispered.
“Yes,” she whispered back, breathlessly. “Oh yes.”
I sighed and enfolded her in my arms and, still holding her close, went back into the apartment with her. She leaned against me and I led her to the bed and lay her down, burying my face in her hair.
She turned and looked at me, stroking my head with a smooth hand.
“Clarke,” she said, “you don’t, well, mind about your brothers, do you?”
I sighed. At that moment, I didn’t mind anything. I had just had the most amazing climax of my experience, or at least it felt that way now, on the terrace with her. I didn’t mind.
“No,” I said sincerely. “As long as I get you too, I really, really don’t mind.”
I meant it. I didn’t.
She smiled at me. “That’s good,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t want to upset anyone.”
“Good,” I said back. I lay down beside her, holding her tight in my arms, relishing the feeling of her firm, curvy body tucked into my arms, held against my chest.
She whispered incoherent and snuggled closer and I felt my whole body melt into the sweetness that flowed through me in that moment.
I didn’t care about anything. As long as I could be with her too.
11
Grayson
When I got home on Saturday, I was in a state of complete confusion. That conversation I’d had with Kelsey in the park plagued me and woke up on Sunday morning, I had made a decision. I should go and talk to Clarke.
“He needs to tell me his current status with Kelsey.”
If Clarke was in love with her—genuinely in love—then I would be willing to back off and let things be, despite these weird feelings that seemed to be manifesting inside me. I didn’t know how I was going to manage that, but I was going to try. Even if it meant heading out of town for a while. One advantage of having your brothers as your colleagues is that you need to try less hard to get leave from work.
I had breakfast and headed to the gym to work out.
Everywhere I looked, it seemed like I saw Kelsey. Women with blonde hair miraculously transformed into her and I had to check twice make sure they weren’t. And each thing I saw reminded me of her. I kept on half-expecting to bump into her again.
The music at the gym was the same music we’d listened to at the cafe that night. The rich brown of coffee, when I relaxed after the workout before heading home, was the brown of her eyes.
Nope, I was in over my head and I had to do something soon. Before lunch, I called Clarke.
“Hey,” I called. “How’s it?”
“Okay,” he said. He sounded happy. I felt my heart twist. How could I begrudge any of my brothers happiness? That wasn’t fair.
“Well, that’s good,” I demurred. “Want to come hang out later?”
“Okay,” he agreed. “At your place?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
“Great. See you around three? Have some stuff to finish up here.”
“Great,” I agreed.
After I hung up I tried to interpret what was going on at his side—had he seen her recently? Was he seeing her? But I had to give up. I wasn’t any good at guessing these things, and anyway, what was the point? I was going to ask him now, anyway.
He arrived at three. With a relaxed grin and a sort of blissful calm, he looked happier than I’d seen him in a while. I was instantly suspicious. Much as I loved my brothers and wanted them to be happy, it was hard to be entirely happy when Clarke had seemingly just stolen the girl I wanted so badly.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi! You having a good day?”
“Uh-huh,” I nodded, noncommittal. “I worked out, did some cleaning, relaxed.”
“Good,” Clarke nodded. “Sounds like a good day.”
I shrugged. “Yeah. You want coffee or something?”
“Sure,” he said with his affable grin.
I headed off to make some. When I came back, he was lying back on my white couch, looking up at the ceiling. He looked a bit tired.
“That smells good,” he said, sniffing heavily. “Lavazza, right?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Um, listen, Clarke,” I began uncertainly. “I wanted to ask you something, well, delicate.”
“Delicate?” his face was transformed with a grin. “Sure. Ask away.”
I frowned. “Well, I know it’s none of my business, but, well…are you seeing Kelsey?”
His grin disappeared and his face transformed into a worried look.
“Um…it’s complicated,” he said.
“Complicated?” I frowned. My heart twisted painfully. What could be mean?
“Yeah,” he said with a big sigh. He reached for the coffee, took a swig, pulled a face and then put it down again, reaching for some sugar. Stirred it in and then looked up at me levelly. “Well, it’s just that, I don’t know how she feels. Or me.”
“Oh,” I said. That sounded a little more promising. “You mean, you’re not sure how serious she is?”
“Yes, that,” he nodded, taking another sip of coffee, a nervous habit. He always drank or fidgeted with things on the table when he was nervous. “That and, well, I don’t know how I feel, exactly either.”
“Oh?” That was interesting. “Well, how do you feel?”
He sighed. “I don’t know. You see…I am pretty astounded by her. Who wouldn’t be? But…” he frowned. “I don’t know how much of it is just that—the surprise factor, the wondering what’s going on here—and actual feeling. You get me?”
I frowned, thinking about it. Then I nodded. “Yeah. I think I get you.”
“Well,” he said with a relieved smile. “In which case, you get that I’m just going with what’s happening. You know?” He shrugged uneasily.
“I guess I know,” I admitted.
“When Donnell suggested that I see what would happen, I just…I went with it.”
“Donnell suggested that?” I stared at him. “Why?”
Clarke shrugged. His boyish face looked genuinely confused. “I guess because he was also unsure about what he felt?” he asked.
“Probably also because he’s a self-sacrificing fool,” I muttered.
Clarke looked confused. “What’s that, Grayson?”
“Nothing,” I said harshly. I couldn’t believe that Clarke—innocent, happy-go-lucky Clarke—hadn’t considered how our brother felt. But, then again, I could. Clarke never really considered anyone—at least, not in that way. He was perfectly happy to cheer up unhappy people or to try and make you feel better if you were down. But more than that, he wouldn’t really notice. It wasn’t his fault—he just wasn’t the sensitive type.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I just reckon I should speak to Donnell sometime.”
“Well, he’s home,” Clarke said with a frown. “Grayson, are you okay? You look mad.”
I shook my head listlessly. “I’m not mad. Not at all.” That was the least of it.
“Good,” Clarke smiled. He stretched out his long arms, clasping his hands behind his sandy-brown haired head. “In which case, have you been following the baseball results?”
I shrugged. “Can’t say I have,” I admitted.
We spent the next half hour or so discussing the baseball prospects for the various teams, and then Clarke stood, saying he had to go.
“Work to check through for tomorrow,” he said, stifling a yawn. “Gotta go.”
“Sure,” I said lightly. “See you tomorrow, huh? Good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too,” he agreed.
“Bye.”
When he’d gone, I considered what he’d said. Clearly Clarke was in two minds about Kelsey too. He was overwhelmed by her—we all were. And part of me
had the sense that maybe he wasn’t averse to sharing her.
He had certainly taken Donnell up on his offer, so the idea that one of his brothers might actually get attached hadn’t occurred to him. Or I could read the situation like that if I chose, anyway.
“Stop it, Grayson,” I told myself harshly. Golden light from the late afternoon sunset was turning my window into a mirror and it showed me a gaunt, haunted face. I was taking this all way to seriously.
I knew that it probably wouldn’t be bothering me nearly as much if it wasn’t for my past. I had always been jealous of Heath. Perhaps the person I should talk to was him. I reached for my phone and dialed.
“Hello?”
“Grayson!” Heath greeted me warmly. “How’s it?”
“Okay,” I said. “Um, Heath, I need to talk. You have some time?”
“Sure,” he said. He sounded instantly concerned. “Like, now? Or should I come over?”
I considered that reply. It would be nice to see him, actually. I decided to invite him for dinner.
“Awesome,” Heath replied. “I wouldn’t mind something to eat. Beats me having to cook.”
I chuckled. “And saves the dangerous-waste people coming around to your house with a search warrant.”
He laughed loudly. “You’re just nasty,” he said between laughing. “My cooking’s not bad.”
“No,” I agreed. “It isn’t. But do come over. I’d like to talk:”
“Great.”
When Heath arrived, I’d just put something in the oven—a simple roast fish dish seemed right. I settled down on my in-need-of-a-replacement couch and faced him.
“Is this…” he began slowly.
“Is it about Kelsey?” I asked. Even saying her name hurt. I nodded firmly. “Yes.”
“Oh,” he said softly. “Well?”
“Heath, I need to know. Do you think I have a chance with her?”
“A chance?” His brow shot up. “I’d rather say it’s a certainty, given how she’s been with us lately.”
I frowned. “Well, I found out that Donnell set up the whole thing with Clarke.”
“Donnell did?” Heath stared at me. “I thought that he…”