She knew the second the words left her mouth, her flippant attitude had landed her in a whole barrel of trouble. Maybe even more then she had ever seen before. And she was already way too close to have time to escape.
He had been fighting too many emotions at once. Fear she would get hurt. Anger with Tracy. Anger with Mindi as well. Then relief when she walked in and he could see she was okay. Mix all that in with the desire and need he always felt for her no matter what, and you had a time bomb waiting to go off. He was shaking with it. It was way more than he could hope to contain.
With one hand, he reached up and grabbed the back of her head. His grip was firm but gentle. She knew in the fraction of a second before his lips met hers, she was way out in the deep end now. She could see the fire in his eyes, and it was raging out of control.
His mouth was so hot, she felt like she’d have burns. She felt herself falling toward him, unable to support herself on her weak knees. Her uncontrolled response seemed to fuel his fire that much more. His own control seemed to have vanished. She heard a growl rumble from deep in his chest, and felt his other arm come up around her.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and pressed herself closer. She could feel their hearts racing together. He brought his mouth away from hers and she felt like she was drowning without it. He pulled her head back, and started running kisses up her neck until he made it up to her ear, and started nibbling on her lobe. Then he started working back down her jaw. By the time he reached her mouth again she was already gasping for air.
Her heart was beating so fast she felt like it was going to beat itself right out of her chest. Her head was spinning so fast, all she could do was hang on, and pray he didn’t let go. Thankfully, it didn’t feel like he was going to.
At that precise moment, the front door was flung open, and two of Mindi’s younger brothers come running through it with the family dog, a full blood Mastiff, fast on their heels. Luke and Mindi were taken by surprise to the point that they fell over in a heap. It snapped them out of the daze they were in when they found themselves rolling around on the floor.
Luke was laughing so hard, it took him a while to make it back to his feet. “I can’t say much for their method, but their timing is something I can appreciate.” I still haven’t got any self-control.
“Yeah, they’re going to be in trouble though, when Mom and Dad find out the dog is in the house,” she said, finally standing up herself. “We need to try and catch him and get him back outside before he tears something up.”
“Agreed.” He took off down the hall after the dog with Mindi right behind him.
They found the boys and the dog all in the game room. The dog was now doing laps around the room, going just as fast as he could. He was coming really close to knocking the TV over.
“You two need to catch that dog and get him out of here. He’s going to knock the TV off the stand at this rate.” Just then the dog made a run at Luke and caused him to trip. He fell back against a cabinet with a bunch of CDs and DVDs on it before catching himself. Most of them ended up spilling in the floor.
When the giant dog started barking, Mindi tried to grab at him, hoping she could distract him enough to quiet him back down. She missed and tripped over the footstool sitting in front of the couch. “Don’t just stand there. You two better do something. You’re the ones who let him in here. And you’re the ones who are going to be in trouble if he breaks something.”
The dog jumped up on the couch, and laid down, stretching nearly from one end to the other. He settled down then, and started chewing on one of the couch arms.
“Okay, now there’s really going to be trouble.” Mindi walked over to the couch and smacked the dog on the end of his nose. “Stop that. Bad dog.” She grabbed him by the collar, and tried to pull him down off the couch. She was pulling really hard, but the dog was so large, she couldn’t even budge him an inch.
Luke started laughing again. He couldn’t help himself, watching the hundred and forty some pound Mindi trying to forcefully move the two-hundred-pound dog. He was still laughing when the door opened, and Jamie walked in.
“What is going…” When Jamie noticed what Mindi was trying to do, she stopped mid-sentence and her mouth dropped open.
Mindi was concentrating so hard on what she was doing, she didn’t even realize her mom had entered the room. “Come on you two. If he tears up the couch, it’s going to be a couple of years before you get your allowance back. You know as well as I do, Mom and Dad are going to be very upset that he’s in here.”
Jamie finally recovered from the shock enough to speak. “Luke, would you, please, get the dog. You’re the only one in here who’s going to be strong enough. If he decides to do more than resist Mindi, he could hurt her.” That sobered him up really quick. He was across the room in a second, and had taken a hold of the collar. One good yank and the dog came off the couch.
“Come on. Let’s go.” The dog walked along side of Luke with his head down. He didn’t bother to try and fight at all. He knew his fun was over.
“What were you two doing?” Jamie snapped her fingers and pointed at the couch. Both, Nathan and Tony walked across the room and sat down on the couch with their heads hanging. They knew they were in trouble. “Why did you let the dog in the house?”
“We didn’t mean to,” the two said in unison.
“We were trying to get away from him,” Tony added.
“What did you do to him to cause him to chase you into the house? He’s been trained better than that.”
“Nothing,” they said together. Mindi could tell by the look on their faces they were lying. This is going to be bad.
“Really? Why don’t I believe you?” Jamie asked, giving both of them a sour look. I used to have more patience for this kind of thing.
Nathan, who knew it was better to tell the truth, rather than continue to lie, decide to make a full confession. “We were pretending like we were going to let him in. We didn’t realize we wouldn’t be able to stop him when we came in the door ourselves.”
“Okay.” She stood staring at the ceiling for a few second. “You’re grounded for two weeks from everything except outside activities. And pick that mess up,” she said, pointing at the pile of CDs and DVDs.
“Yes, Mom,” they said together again. They didn’t wait around for more instructions.
Jamie turned her attention back to Mindi. “Did you and Luke get your stuff worked out?”
Mindi started glowing immediately. “You could say that.” I know he’s not angry at me anymore. He sure didn’t kiss me like he was, anyway.
“Mindi.” Now Jamie was upset at her. “Don’t be using sex to distract him. Especially were Tracy is concerned. That could get dangerous.”
“I didn’t start it this time. He did.” Mindi saw her little brothers head snap up out of the corner of her eyes. I’m not sure I want them to hear this conversation.
“Mindi had sex with Luke? They have to get married now,” Nathan said with a glare in her direction.
Nope. I was right. I didn’t want them to hear this conversation.
To Mindi’s farther horror, Luke picked that exact moment to walk back in the game room. He had to have heard the whole exchange, because he was turning red with the effort not to laugh. He chose not to comment on what her little brother had said, and looked at Jamie instead. “I had to put him in the backyard, because every time I tried to come back in, he’d be right behind me. They had him really wound up.
“Hey, Luke, you have to marry Mindi now.” Nathan was giving him a belligerent look, like he expected him to disagree.
Luke looked over at Mindi and grinned, never breaking eye contact. “Okay. You think you can talk her into it?”
Oh, God. You really wouldn’t have to try very hard to talk me into marrying you.
“Nathan, Mindi and Luke weren’t having sex. That’s not what I meant. You don’t need to go making wedding plans…yet.” If it were possible, Mindi got that mu
ch redder and Luke struggled even harder not to laugh.
Oh, that’s just great, Mom. Do you have to all but tell Luke I want to marry him? You don’t have to tell him everything you know.
“Okay you two, you’ve got that mess picked up. Now go play with that dog, outside where he belongs, and run some of his energy off.”
Nathan, not being sure he believed his mother a hundred percent, gave Luke another glare and then stormed out behind his younger brother.
Mindi looked over at her mom with a curious look. “What does he know about sex?”
“More than I wish he did. He heard the word and asked Hunter what it was about. All Hunter told him was, it was what married people did to have children,” she sighed. “I can appreciate the fact that Hunter tried to avoid telling him too much, but it was the wrong thing to tell him. I did my best to explain without actually having the sex talk, but I’m not sure it did a whole lot of good,” Jamie said, walking out of the room.
Luke finally lost his tight hold on his laughter, and ended up bent over double. “I’ll have to make sure and steer clear of him for a few days. He’s very protective of you.”
Mindi, who was still a little red, started glowing all over again, and gave him a dirty look before walking out of the room behind them.
*******
Mindi was sitting on the back porch, staring up at the sky when her oldest brother walked out on the back porch and took a seat beside her.
“Hey, Little Girl, what are you thinking?” he asked, giving her a meaningful look.
“Little girl? Gee, Phil, I haven’t really been a little girl for a while now.”
Anyone else, and she would have been insulted, but she knew Phillip had a point and he would get to it soon enough.
“Really? Are you sure about that?”
She almost laughed, but he sounded serious. “What do you mean?”
“Dad was telling me you were lying to Luke about dating someone else,” he said looking her straight in the eye. “And now, you’re kissing him anyway. What are you doing, Sis? Don’t screw this up, Little Girl. He’s the only one you’re ever going to want. And you know it.”
“Honestly, Phil, I don’t know. I think I’ve lost my mind.”
“I believe you have. How many times do the rest of us got to tell you, he’s as much in love with you, as you are him, before you believe it?”
“I don’t know. I am starting to see it though. But now I have this other problem,” she said, the frustration ringing in her voice.
“Mark my words, Little Girl, if you’re not the one to tell him the truth, he may not be able to forgive you, because he’s not going to understand why you lied. You’ve got to have a chance to explain what you were thinking, if you were thinking at all. And yes, I mean little girl. You’re acting like one. A full-grown woman could have told him the truth about how she felt.”
“Is this why Dad told you?” Dad always sic’s Phillip on us when we’re being stupid.
“Yes, he thought I might be able to get through to you.”
‘Yeah, maybe so. I’ll tell him the truth. I just don’t know how yet.” Oh, God, he’s going to hate me.
“Just tell him the truth, and start with I’m sorry. You might add, I was being an idiot.”
“Thanks, Phil,” she said with barely controlled sarcasm.
Chapter 8 – Saturday, May 19
Luke pulled up in the driveway at Carl and Jamie’s just in time to see three of the younger Townsend boys rolling around in the dirt. God only knew what they were fighting about.
He jumped out of the truck and ran up the front steps. He stuck his head in the door only long enough to holler at Jamie she had a situation in the front yard. Then he jumped back off the porch, not even bothering with the steps on the way back down, and ran right out into the mist of the scuffle.
He was busy trying to break up the fight, and didn’t hear Jamie come out the front door. When he felt a sting across the back of his arm, he jumped back out of the fray and hollered, “Hey, you’re hitting the wrong one.”
His abruptly removing himself from the fight, and yelling at the top of his lungs, had an effect on the fight between the brothers his presence amongst them hadn’t. They were no longer fighting, but rolling around on the ground, giggling like a bunch of little girls.
When Luke looked up at Jamie, she looked horrified. She was standing there, frozen to the spot with one hand over her mouth, and the belt dangling from the other one.
“Shut up, you three. You sound like a bunch of little girls. Who knew you could giggle?” Luke asked with a grin on his face.
Alex, Michael and Hunter, all three, immediately stopped laughing and got up out of the dirt. Luke could tell their humor wasn’t entirely gone. They were working hard not to grin.
Jamie looked like she had recovered only slightly. She was still red in the face when she looked at her three misbehaving children, and told them, in a tone that let them know they better not hesitate, to go help their dad get ready for the barbecue.
Once the three juvenile delinquents had disappeared through the door, she turned back to Luke with a helpless look on her face. “Luke, I’m so sorry,” she said, turning red in the face again.
“It’s okay. It’s been a long time since you had to take a belt to me. It was Zane, James and I who were all scuffling that time.
“Oh, stop it,” she said, laughing at last. “You know I only use this thing in extreme circumstances.”
“Well, you know those three will most probably get a lot of mileage out of this.”
“Don’t you know it. I think they’ve been taking lessons from Zane and Jenny.”
Sure enough, not even a full minute later, Luke and Jamie walked into the kitchen to hear the three regaling their sisters with the tale of how their mother was getting after them with the belt, and hit Luke instead.
Mindi and Lisa both looked up when they heard them come in. Mindi, her eyes twinkling, asked him. “What did you do to raise Mom’s hackles?”
“Ha, ha,” he said. But he was laughing too.
“Run along you three. You’re supposed to be helping your dad. Or do you want to have to explain to me why you were fighting in the first place?” Jamie gave the boys a stern look, and they all three made for the door, scurrying to make it outside before their mom thought better of it, and come after them with the belt again. This time, with Luke not among them, she’d be sure to hit at least one of them. And none of them wanted to take a chance that the one she hit would be them.
*******
Tracy stood at the little front window in the cabin staring out at nothing in particular. With a snort of disgust, she pushed herself away from the window, and started pacing back and forth in the little cabin. She was pacing across the entire width of the kitchen and living room area.
What is going on over there. They’re up to it again. Mindi’s entire family is always trying to push Mindi and Luke together. Why can’t they just keep their noses out of it. They probably know the little ugly duckling won’t find anyone without their help. I mean seriously, what guy would want to look at that ugly red hair anyway. That don’t mean they need to try and steal my man.
Well, I’m not going to put up with this. I’m not just going to stand by and let them do this to me. I’m going to fight back. He’s mine, and I’m going to prove it.
He’s at their little barbecue right now, but he’ll go home soon enough, and when he does, I’ll be waiting on him.
*******
It was hard to believe just two hours ago, she had been laughing with him, because Mindi’s humor had long since evaporated. Luke was aggravating her about a friend she had invited to the family barbecue. And he would not leave her alone, even for two seconds.
Luke walked into the kitchen from the living room, causing the bat wing doors to slam against the wall as he stormed through. “Why do you always have to be so stubborn about everything? You turn everything into an hour-long debate.”
/> “Why are you always sticking your nose in my business? Why do you care who I invite to the barbecue? Besides, he’s just a friend. He’s friends with all of us. You know that.”
Mindi was starting to feel very agitated. Luke had been on her case almost since he walked in the door. All she had done was invite the neighbor down the road to her family’s barbecue.
Jake Longworth was a good friend to the entire family. Heck, his sister Christy was here somewhere. He lived two houses down with his parents. He had just moved back from Springfield, and was working as an ER nurse. He hadn’t found his own house yet.
“It’s just that you’re supposed to be dating this other guy, and you keep kissing me. Do you really need someone else on your string?” Luke was starting to sound very strange. There was something in his voice she didn’t recognize. Something she’d never heard before. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was vulnerable. But there is just no way. Luke isn’t the vulnerable type. But despite herself, she was starting to feel like she should take pity on him.
“Look, if you must know, Teresa wanted me to invite him. She’s crazy about him. She was just afraid he’d say no because she’s only sixteen. He says they can’t actually date till she’s eighteen. That’s why no one knows how they feel about it each other. Well, I’m sure Mom and Dad know. I didn’t think it would hurt anything for him to come. He’s a good guy. You know that.”
“Well, maybe so, but that’s not what he thinks. He thinks you invited him for you.”
“No, he doesn’t he’s planning on asking her out on her eighteenth birthday. And he knows I know.” Did he not just hear what I just told him? He’s making me crazy. I wonder if he would follow me to the game room if I just turned around and walked out. Maybe a few minutes making out would clear up that sour mood of his. Of course, we might not stop at making out.
Summer Obsession (The Townsends Book 1) Page 10