Undone

by Shannon Richard

  “Cross-country. But that isn’t really a team sport.”

  “Oh yeah. You and those long legs of yours,” he said, grinning at her. “You must have left everyone else in your dust.”

  “Sometimes.”

  “You’d leave me in the dust.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I’ve seen you running around town before. You and those crazy shorts of yours,” he said, finishing his drink.

  “What’s so crazy about my shorts?” she asked.

  “Would you like to discuss length or color? Because both are fascinating topics.”

  “They aren’t that short.”

  “Right.”

  “They aren’t,” she said, indignant. “They just look short because I have long legs.”

  “Hmm,” he said, leaning back in his chair so he could see her legs under the table. “I might need to see said shorts on you again. I observed you from a distance. Maybe upon closer inspection I’d come to a different conclusion.”

  The waiter came back with Brendan’s credit card. He signed the receipt and stood up, shoving his wallet into his back pocket.

  “You ready?” he asked, holding out his hand.

  “Yes,” she said, putting her hand in his and letting him pull her up next to him.

  He laced his fingers with hers again, and just like it had in the car, it sent a thrill of excitement through her.

  * * *

  The Sleepy Sheep was a landmark in Mirabelle. Shep’s grandparents had built it when they’d moved down about sixty-five years ago. It looked like a Scottish pub and the locals and tourists loved it. There were large, pained windows on either side of the front door and a hanging sign above the door that swayed in the warm beach breeze. It read THE SLEEPY SHEEP in big green letters, and two sheep slept in the corner, Zs trailing above their heads.

  “This looks like fun,” Paige said as they walked inside.

  The same dark wood that was outside also covered the walls, floors, and ceiling on the inside. There were framed cartoon pictures of drunken sheep everywhere, and all of the other wall space was covered in signed dollar bills. The bar took up the entire back wall, while booths were lined up on the walls to the left. There were dozens of tables surrounded by chairs scattered all over the floor. To the right, there were two pool tables and a dartboard. There was a stage in the far corner where a live band played sometimes. But tonight, music blared from the jukebox.

  Brendan placed his hand firmly on Paige’s lower back as he guided her through the bar. Again, men’s heads turned as they walked past their tables. Shep looked up as he passed a beer to a man across the counter. He grinned when he spotted the two of them.

  “You two are going to have an audience tonight,” he said as he walked over to them.

  “Who?” Brendan asked.

  Shep pointed behind them, and Brendan turned around to see Grace and Mel at one of the pool tables. Grace waved and took a sip of her drink.

  “Why does that not surprise me?” Brendan asked, turning back to the bar.

  “What do you guys want?” Shep asked, wiping a towel across the counter.

  “Just a beer for me,” Brendan said.

  “Same,” Paige said.

  “Got it,” Shep said, grabbing two frosted mugs and bringing them to the tap.

  “I like your place,” Paige said as Shep filled one glass and put it down in front of her. “It reminds me of this bar that I used to go to in Philly.”

  “But mine’s better, right?” he asked as he started to fill the other glass.

  “Oh, undoubtedly,” she said, grabbing her beer and taking a sip.

  “Good answer,” Shep said, putting the other glass down in front of Brendan. “I’ll have a beer with you in a little while,” he said, moving back down the bar to a waiting customer.

  “Let’s go say hey, and then we’ll find a seat,” Brendan said, moving his hand to the side of her waist and lightly squeezing.

  “Alright.” She nodded.

  Brendan led her across the bar to the pool table where Grace and Mel were playing.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” Brendan said as they stopped in front of Grace.

  “It’s Friday night. I like to hang out here too,” Grace said, leaning back against the table. “I have no need to spy anyways. I’ve already seen the two of you in action.”

  “Thanks, Grace,” he said, shaking his head.

  “You two want to play?” Mel asked, coming up to them. “You any good?” she asked Paige.

  “I’m okay,” Paige said, shrugging her shoulders. “Nothing spectacular, but I’d like to play.”

  False. She was in fact incredibly spectacular. Proof in point, the fact that half of the men in the bar were still staring at her. Hell, he was staring at her. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her all night.

  “We can play teams,” Brendan said, putting his beer down at the high-top that was next to the pool table. “Me and Paige against you two.”

  “You’re about to get your ass kicked,” Grace said, putting on what Brendan knew to be her game face.

  “Not before I kick yours,” Brendan countered.

  “And the trash talk begins,” Mel said as she went to rack up the balls.

  Brendan let go of Paige, something he really didn’t want to do, and walked over to the pool cues. He grabbed two and walked back to the table. Paige was laughing at something that Grace had said, her head tilted back and her smile wide. Brendan came up behind her, his hand sliding around her waist as he pressed his lips against her throat.

  Paige’s hand came to a rest on his, holding his arm around her waist. She turned her head to look at him and he leaned in closer, pressing a soft kiss to her mouth.

  “You ready to play?” Grace asked, sounding exasperated.

  “Yup,” Brendan said, looking at his little sister. “You break.”

  He didn’t let go of Paige as Grace made the first shot, the two going in the corner pocket.

  “We’re solids,” Grace called as she moved around the table to line up another shot. She hit the four into the side pocket, but missed the seven.

  “You go,” Brendan said, letting go of Paige.

  “Alright,” she said, stepping around the table.

  Grace had set Paige up for an easy shot in the corner pocket. Paige made the shot and moved around to line up her next shot right in front of Brendan. As she bent over, the hem of her shirt pulled up, exposing the small of her back. She had a tattoo of a dove on the right side of her back, the tail wrapping around her hip while one of the wings dipped down beneath her jeans.

  “Well, isn’t that pretty,” someone said in Brendan’s ear.

  Brendan looked over at Shep, who was sipping on a beer and staring at Paige, who was currently still bent over.

  “You better look at something else; otherwise I might be forced to punch you in the face.”

  “I was merely referring to the art on your girlfriend’s back,” Shep said, turning to Brendan. “And judging by that stunned look on your face, I’m guessing you appreciate it too.”

  “Appreciate what?” Paige asked, coming up to them.

  “The beer,” Shep said, holding up his glass. “It’s a new brew.”

  “I like it,” Paige said, grabbing her glass and taking a sip.

  “So does Brendan,” Shep said, smiling.

  Oh yeah, he liked it all right. And he really wanted to see the whole thing with a private, up close and personal view. But that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, so for the present he had to distract himself with playing pool.

  They lost the first game. Most likely due to the fact that Paige’s tattoo kept playing peekaboo and Brendan couldn’t concentrate for shit.

  “You okay?” Paige asked him as Grace racked up the balls for the next game. “You seem tense.”

  Oh, he was tense all right.

  He focused more during the second game, wrapping it up quickly as he shot the last of their three balls a
nd finished with the eight ball in the side pocket.

  “You ready to call it a night?” Brendan asked, walking up to Paige.

  Disappointment flickered on her face for a second before she nodded.

  “I just meant call it a night here,” he whispered, leaning into her ear and pressing an open-mouthed kiss to her neck.

  “We’re going to go,” Paige said quickly, pulling away from Brendan and grabbing her purse. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow?” she asked Grace and Mel.

  “We’ll be there.” Mel nodded.

  “Have a good night,” Grace said, waggling her eyebrows at the two of them.

  Brendan shook his head at Grace and guided Paige to the bar. They said good night to Shep and walked out to Brendan’s truck.

  “So,” Brendan said when they were back on the road. “You didn’t tell me you have a tattoo.”

  “Who said I have only one?”

  He turned to her so quickly that he almost drove off the road.

  “Where are the other ones?” he asked quickly.

  “That’s for me to know,” she said coyly.

  “And for me to find out?”

  “Maybe.”

  “You don’t play fair,” he said, turning back to the road.

  “You’re a fine one to talk about playing fair, Mr. King.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Back there,” she said, “if you’d kissed my neck one more time I was going to spontaneously combust.”

  “Good to know I have that effect on you.”

  “Oh shut up, you know you have that effect on me.”

  “Maybe I’ve noticed something,” he said. “So you going to tell me what you’re mom said to you before we left?”

  “She told me not to have sex with you tonight.”

  This time Brendan did swerve off the road.

  “Are you trying to kill us?”

  “You asked,” she said.

  “Yeah, but you’ve been refusing to tell me all night, and then you finally decide to tell me when I’m driving?”

  “I was just checking to see how big of an effect I have on you.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t test that when I’m driving a vehicle,” he told her.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “So is that why you practically ran out of the house when I picked you up? Because your mother was telling you not to sleep with me?”

  “Yeah, that and I felt like my dad was about to pull out his old go-to lecture that he told every boy I dated in high school.”

  Brendan laughed. “It did feel a bit like I was picking you up for a high school date.”

  “What did you do for dates when you were in high school? Go wrastle gators?” she asked, putting on a thick southern accent.

  Brendan really, really needed to not think about wrestling at the moment.

  “No.” He shook his head. “We dressed up in camo and covered ourselves in buck urine.”

  “Disgusting.” She laughed.

  “So what was your dad’s lecture?” he asked.

  “Oh, you know. ‘Break my daughter’s heart and I’ll break you.’ That or he promised to fail them whenever they took his class.”

  “Sounds tame compared to what my grandfather and I used to do to Grace’s dates.”

  “Oh dear, what did you two do?” she asked eagerly.

  “We would sit on the front porch with shotguns. Neither of us saying a word.”

  “How did she not kill you?”

  “Oh, she threatened to more times than I can count.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t follow through,” she said.

  “Me too.” He laughed.

  He pulled up in front of her parents’ house and turned off his truck.

  “So you know how I said that when I picked you up I felt like we were in high school again?” he asked while he unbuckled his seat belt and then hers.

  “Yeah.” She smiled as he pulled her toward him.

  “Well, I was thinking,” he whispered against her mouth, “that we could make out in my truck and blow your curfew.”

  “I should warn you,” Paige said, pressing herself up against him. “I might be just a little bit tipsy,” she said, holding her hand up, a small gap between her thumb and index finger.

  “I can handle that,” he said right before she opened her mouth on his and sucked his bottom lip into her mouth.

  They began to attack each other’s mouths. Her hands were in his hair, her fingers kneading the back of his head. Brendan had no idea where he wanted to put his hands because he wanted to put them everywhere. They were in her hair one second and then on her thighs the next. Before he knew what he was doing, his hands wrapped around her waist and he pulled her out of her seat, dragging her onto his lap so she straddled him.

  She pulled her mouth from his and let it trail down his chin to his throat. His hands traveled up under her shirt, his palms on her bare back, pushing her against him.

  “You feel incredible,” he said, letting his head fall back against the headrest.

  She pulled her mouth from his neck and looked at him, her chest rising and falling rapidly. He stared up at her, the glow from the moon lighting up her face. Her lips were puffy and wet, and her hair was everywhere, probably from his wandering hands.

  “God, Paige, you’re beautiful,” he said, pulling one of his hands from her back and reaching up to her face.

  He brushed her hair behind her ear and let it trail down her neck to her bare shoulder. Something flashed across her face before she inhaled sharply, and then she dived back into his mouth. Brendan’s hand was still working its way up her back, his fingers somehow at her bra, undoing the hooks. It loosened and he reached around and pulled it off, throwing it somewhere in the cab of his truck. And then his hands were on her naked breasts. She groaned into his mouth and her fingers dug into his shoulders.

  It was a testament to how distracted he was that he never saw the blue and red flashing lights. But he did hear the tap, tap, tap on his window and someone saying his name.

  “Shit,” Brendan said, pulling back from Paige.

  “Oh my God,” she said, scrambling out of his lap, almost kicking him in a very unfortunate place.

  Brendan turned his car on and rolled down the window. Jax was frowning at them, shaking his head.

  “Your neighbor Mrs. Forns called,” Jax said, ducking his head and looking at Paige. “She thought someone was having sex in a parked car in front of her house.”

  Brendan looked at Paige. She was still breathing hard, her hair was everywhere, and the front of her shirt was molded to her naked breasts, showing absolutely everything. Yeah, he would have had sex with her in his truck and not even thought twice about it.

  “That stupid, nosey old hag needs to learn to mind her own damn business.” She was pissed off now, and that turned him on even more. What the hell was wrong with him?

  “We weren’t having sex,” Brendan said, turning back to Jax, because if he kept looking at Paige he wasn’t going to be held responsible for his actions.

  Jax only raised his eyebrows, that disapproving look of his still written all over his face.

  “I have to go,” Paige said as the light over the Morrison’s front door flickered on and Trevor stuck his head outside. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she said as she opened the door and practically ran up the steps to her father. They both walked in and he shut the door behind them.

  “You just couldn’t let me say good night to her,” Brendan said, turning back to Jax.

  “Oh, I think you said good night all right.” Jax’s frown didn’t even waiver. Ever since he’d gotten that badge he’d become too freaking serious. “If I’d walked away she probably would’ve been back in your lap again in less than two seconds.”

  “I doubt that. Your flashing lights kind of killed the mood.”

  “Not that much,” Jax said, glancing down to Brendan’s crotch where it was pretty obvious that his mood had in no way b
een killed.

  “You’re an asshole,” Brendan said, putting his truck in gear. “I’m going home now. Happy?”

  “Extremely,” Jax said before he turned around and walked back to his truck.

  * * *

  When Paige walked into the house and told her parents why there was a county sheriff truck in front of their house, they both thought it was hilarious.

  “Mrs. Forns called the cops on you for making out?” her father asked, trying not to laugh. Paige didn’t feel the need to describe to her parents in graphic detail what she’d been doing with Brendan.

  Abby on the other hand was a completely different story.

  “You almost had sex with him in his truck?”

  “I didn’t almost have sex with him,” Paige whispered into the phone. “We were just, you know, making out a little aggressively.”

  “Sweetie, straddling a boy is just a little bit more than aggressive.”

  “I don’t know how it happened. One second I was sitting next to him, and the next I was on his lap.”

  Paige hadn’t been lying when she’d told Brendan she was tipsy, but she’d been fully in control of her actions…in a way that she wasn’t in control of them at all when he was around.

  “So he just picked you up like it was nothing?” Abby said a little dreamily.

  “Pretty much.”

  “And then what happened.”

  “Well after he got my bra off—”

  “After he what?” Abby interrupted.

  “I didn’t even notice it was gone.”

  “So the hot mechanic has magic hands? Nice.”

  “I know,” Paige said unable to stop her own grin.

  “What happened after that?”

  “After that, a deputy sheriff, who is thankfully Brendan’s friend, pulled up and put a stop to his magic hands.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “My parents’ neighbor called the cops on us.”

  Abby was gone, laughing so hard that she was snorting through the phone.

  “It isn’t funny, Abby.”

  “No,” she said, trying to talk. “It really, really is. Oh God, Paige, I’m crying. This is…there are just no words for what this is.”

  “I’m so glad that I can be a constant source of entertainment for you.”

  “Believe me, so am I.”