“Get out now,” Ice said as he passed me. “Before you get nailed down and can’t get out of it.”
Chris shook his head and slapped me on the back. “Have fun, but remember to suit up. The last thing we need is a little Irish running around.”
“Pappy? Please tell me you have something better than what these fuckers came up with.”
“I’ve watched as Knight, Sinner, Cazzo, and Cap have all fallen to their knees for a woman.” I nodded, understanding exactly what he was saying. “There’s nothing wrong with it, if that’s what you’re looking for. If you’re not, walk away, man. The last thing you want to do is lead her to believe it could be something more and then break her heart.”
That was about the only sound piece of advice I had gotten. I wasn’t sure if I wanted more with her, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk away either. The only thing I could do was go out with her again and see how things went. Then I would really know if I was imagining things or not.
✯✯✯✯✯
Since coffee was a bust last time, I decided to go a different route this time. I wanted to do something fun with her and see if I could loosen her up a little. However, after I walked away from her with no explanation, she was probably confused and I wasn’t sure she would want to see me. I showed up at her house in the morning, deciding that surprising her was the best way to get her to do things my way. After today, hopefully I would have a better idea if I wanted more with her or not.
I knocked on the door to her house, but there was no answer. Walking around the property, I saw that she was in the chicken coop arguing with the chickens.
“Beatrice, I’m not going to tell you again. Stay away from the hens! Henry, you’ve already eaten. Let Harriet have a turn.”
She was shooing away chickens and roosters, and coming awfully close to falling in the water bucket that she had just been using to fill the water trays. A chicken flew off the roost, flapping its wings and smacking her in the face. She stepped back into the feeder and then crashed into the nesting area. Wood shavings covered her from head to toe and what looked like chicken shit. I grimaced and wondered if maybe I should come back at a different time, but then I saw the tears in her eyes and I knew that I could make her day better by following through with my plans.
“Do you need a hand?” I asked as I approached the coop.
Her head whipped up and she quickly wiped at her face, smearing something across her cheeks that I was sure I didn’t want to know what it was.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to take you out. I figured if I came here, you would be more likely to go out with me.”
She held up her hands as if showing me her surroundings. “Well, as you can see, I’m a bit of a mess right now. Unless you like women that smell like chickens and are covered in their shit.”
“I’m not so much into the smell, but I’d be willing to let you take a shower before we head out. Besides, you look like you need a break.”
“Look, you don’t have to give me some pity date.”
“This isn’t a pity date.”
“Really? You kissed me the other day and then ran out of here as fast as you could. I told you my teeth needed to be brushed. Nobody wants to kiss someone that’s stinky.” She huffed and wiped at her clothes. “You always seem to be catching me when I’m a disaster.”
There was something different about her this morning. She wasn’t her nervous self and it made me wonder if it was because she looked so defeated. I went over to her and pulled her to her feet. “I’m taking you out for the rest of the day. Go get cleaned up. Everything else can wait until later. I’ll even help you when we get back.”
Two hours later, we were at the beach, relaxing in the sun. I loved her figure in a swimsuit. The way she filled it out was spectacular. She had a beautiful, curvy figure with big breasts that were almost spilling out of the little triangles. I was tempted to give her my shirt to cover up just so the other fuckers walking along the beach would stop staring at her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her the entire time and a few times, I had to look away quickly so she wouldn’t catch me staring at her.
“Come on. Let’s go for a swim,” I said after laying out in the hot sun for about an hour. I was sweating and this was a great excuse to get my hands on her. She quickly got up and made a mad dash for the water. Chasing after her, I picked her up just as she was stepping into the water and hauled her up over my shoulder. I ran into the water as far as I could and then flung us both into the water while she screamed and slapped at my back. When we came up, she wrapped her body around mine and crawled up me until most of her body was by my neck. She flung herself backwards, taking me into the water with her again. The woman was kind of crazy, but I was digging it.
We spent more than a half hour swimming and doing our best to dunk each other. She was laughing like crazy and I found that I was smiling more than I had ever in my life. There was just something about her that was so intoxicating and had me craving more of her joy.
“Oh, God. I’m so tired now. You’re going to have to carry me,” she said as she wrapped her body around mine. I gripped her around the ass, pulling her in close to me. She was so small in my arms and she felt so right. I started walking out of the water, but then she buried her face in the crick of my neck and squealed.
“You have to put me down. I can’t have everyone on the beach seeing my ass.”
“They won’t see. I have my hands covering it.”
“Which is even worse. I don’t need anyone seeing you grab my ass. Just put me down.”
“Not a chance in hell. I happen to like my hands wrapped around your juicy ass.”
She reared back and looked at me in horror. “You think my ass is juicy?”
“Uh, you’ve seen it, right? It’s big and perfect for me to grab onto.”
She struggled to get down and then pushed me away and stalked out of the water. “I can’t believe you just said my ass was big,” she yelled over her shoulder.
I stood there a minute trying to figure out what the hell I said that was so wrong. She had the most gorgeous ass I’d ever seen. Didn’t all girls want a big ass like that Kardashian woman? I ran after her and gripped onto her arm, swinging her around to see me.
“I like that your ass is big.”
She burst into tears and I stood there with wide eyes, wondering what I was supposed to do. There was a reason I didn’t date women. I didn’t know what the hell to say to them on the best of days. Sex was easy. Please them and they’ll be screaming your name the whole night. This…this was totally foreign to me.
“Having a big ass is a good thing. Men like to know they have something to grab onto. Besides, we want to know that you’re sturdy enough that we won’t break you when we fuck you.”
She looked up at me through her tears and cried even harder. “So, now I’m sturdy? Like a tree? Next thing, you’re going to tell me I have big thighs.”
“Big? No, definitely not big. They’re thick and muscular.”
“Thick?” She spun away from me and ran for the beach blanket, grabbing her stuff and throwing it in her bag.
“I like that you’re not a stick,” I said, trying to fix this before I totally fucked up the rest of our day. “If I wanted a model, I would go find one. But those women are all beauty and no brains.”
She sniffed and wiped at her face. “Well, I’m glad to know that I’m thick like a tree, I have a big ass, and apparently I don’t have beauty, but I have brains.”
She grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder, stalking back to the car. I went over what I had said in my head and ran a hand through my soaking wet hair. Shit. I had really fucked that up. I ran toward her, leaving everything behind so I could catch up to her. Scooping her up in my arms, I took her down to the ground and laid my body over hers. Fuck, I was hard seeing her sprawled out beneath me.
“You misunderstood everything I was saying. Yes, you have a big ass, but that’s what turns me on
. I don’t want someone with a flat ass that I can’t appreciate. Yes, you have bigger thighs and I like that, too. I don’t want a stick thin model that watches what she eats and can’t enjoy life because she’s too concerned about counting calories. And I did say that I wanted a woman with brains, but I never said you weren’t beautiful. If I wasn’t getting so fucking confused by your reaction, I would have finished telling you that you were the whole package. You’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met and what makes that even better is that you’re fucking smart. I see the way you run the farm and not just anyone could do that and work another job to keep the house running.”
I ground my hips against hers and watched her eyes widen. “And to top it all off, you make me fucking hard. I’ve never wanted a woman as badly as I want you. Now, I have more shit planned for today and I’d like to finish our date.”
She swallowed hard and licked her lips. I couldn’t resist getting a taste. I leaned down and ran my lips along her jaw until I met her lips and felt her tongue glide against mine. My hips had a mind of their own and I had to remind myself that we were in a public place before I tore her swimsuit off and fucked her right here in the sand.
“Come on. I have one more thing for us to do today.”
I stood and held my hand out for her. She took it and brushed the sand off her body, giving me a great view of her ass again. I’d have to remind myself in the future to avoid saying things that made her feel fat. I didn’t want to touch that bag of worms again.
✯✯✯✯✯
“Um, you didn’t say anything about going on a boat.”
I looked at her green face and tried to figure out how this was possible. She loved the beach and we had fun playing in the water, so what was the problem?
“It’ll be fine. We have someone taking us out. I completely trust him.”
She chuckled nervously and gripped onto my hand so tight that I thought my bones would be crushed. We walked over to the boat and I pulled her aboard with me. The captain greeted me and told me about the weather and where he would be taking us, but all I could concentrate on was how terrified Claire looked.
“Hey, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” I said as I looked at her with concern. She was actually shaking in my arms.
“No, I’ll be fine. It’s just a boat and like you said, the captain knows what he’s doing. We’ll be fine. And you’ll be right next to me the whole time, right?” I nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. Totally fine.”
“You mentioned that. It’s really okay if you don’t want to go.”
She shook her head wildly. “I’m fine.” I laughed and pulled her into my arms for a hug. “Really. I’ve just never been on a boat before.”
“Never?” She shook her head again, like she didn’t actually want to say anything. “I promise, you’ll love it. Come on.”
I sat down on a bench next to her and pulled her tight against me. Her body was shaking as we headed out onto the lake. I ran a hand up and down her arm and she started to relax. “I guess this isn’t so bad.”
“See? What did I tell you?” She smiled and relaxed into me some more. “When was the last time you took a day off and really just had fun?”
“I can’t remember. I’ve been so worried about keeping up the farm, taking care of my dad, and working to keep us eating that I don’t really have time for anything else.”
I kissed the side of her head and wished that I could make life easier for her. It was a strange feeling to want to help another person and get nothing out of it but satisfaction in knowing she would be smiling. I still had my doubts that I would be interested in the long term. I just didn’t think I was up for that, but for right now, I was enjoying the day with her.
That all changed about an hour later when the weather turned and the lake got choppy. In all actuality, it wasn’t that bad, but the slightest roll seemed to send her running for the side of the boat to heave. The captain was doing his best to get us back, but we were already pretty far out on the lake.
“Claire, it’s okay. Just breathe,” I said as I spun her around to make eye contact with her. She looked like she was going to throw up on me at any minute. “Keep looking at me. Take a deep breath..that’s it. Another one.” She did as I said and her eyes went wide right before she threw up down the front of my shirt. I stepped back in disgust, never having been thrown up on before. I probably should have been more sympathetic to her plight, but all I could think about was the smell and how close I was to throwing up now that I could see and smell it on me. I quickly whipped off my shirt and threw it in the water. There was no way in hell I was ever wearing that shirt again. No amount of soap could tempt me to.
“That’s fucking disgusting,” I muttered as I took a towel and tried to clean myself off. I looked up to see Claire huddled next to the side of the boat with her arms wrapped around her legs and tears in her eyes. Fuck, I was such an asshole. Here I was worried about having puke on me and saying how disgusting it was and she was over there sick and trying to get through this little excursion without embarrassing herself further. “Claire-”
“Don’t. Just leave me alone,” she whispered. I sat down next to her and pushed my hand through my hair.
“I’m sorry. I was being a jackass. I knew that you didn’t want to come out here and I should have taken you somewhere else as soon as I knew.” She didn’t say anything, which made this even worse. I didn’t know how to fix things if she wouldn’t talk to me. “Claire, I’m new at all this. I’ve never really dated anyone before and I’m bound to screw up a time or two.”
She finally looked at me, but what I saw wasn’t hope. “It doesn’t take knowing how to date to know how to be kind to someone. I should have known better.”
She turned away from me and right then and there, I didn’t feel like a man, but a jerk that had just destroyed the woman in front of me.
✯✯✯✯✯
By the time we got back to shore, the weather had cleared and Claire wasn’t looking quite so sick. She didn’t speak to me as we gathered our stuff from the boat and headed back to the truck and she completely ignored me on the drive home. When I got to her house, she stormed out of the truck and up the steps to her house, not sparing me a backwards glance. I had no fucking clue what to do and there were only a few people I could go to, though it wouldn’t be pretty when I told them how bad I fucked up.
Sending texts off to Cazzo and Sinner, I told them to meet me at my place, saying that beer would be waiting. I picked up a case on my way home and pulled in just after Cazzo and Sinner were parking their trucks. Sinner eyed the beer and then looked at me.
“Is there some reason we’re gonna need a whole twenty-four pack?”
“I fucked up.”
“Yeah. We’ve all been there,” Cazzo said as we walked into the house.
“No, I really fucked up. Like, I should be kicked in the balls and then drawn and quartered.”
“That bad, huh?” Sinner popped a beer open and sat down on the couch with Cazzo as they waited for me to tell them what happened. It took me a few minutes to get it out. I was ashamed by the way I acted and I knew they were gonna lay into me. Even if I couldn’t get her to go out with me again, I needed to at least find a way to let her know how sorry I was.
“I took Claire out today. I wanted to do something nice for her, so I took her to the beach for the day.”
“I don’t see the problem,” Cazzo said.
“Well, it was fine at first, but then I guess I called her fat. I hadn’t meant to, but she took it that way and every time I tried to fix it, I made it worse.”
“Like what? How exactly did you call her fat?”
“I told her she had a juicy ass.” They both made pained faces and drank down their beer. I opened my own and took a big gulp before I continued. “I also told her she had thick thighs.”
Sinner spit out his beer, covering me for the second time today in someone else’s mess. “What the hell possessed you to do th
at?”
“I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. I was meaning to tell her that she wasn’t stick thin and I liked her that way. It just came out differently than I planned. Then I said that if I wanted a model I could go find one. That models were all beauty and no brains.”
Cazzo shook his head at me and laughed. “You fucked up.”
“I know. But I fixed that part. I explained what I was trying to say and she seemed okay with it.”
“You never comment on a woman’s body unless you’re telling her how great she looks,” Sinner retorted.
“That’s what I was trying to do.”
“Then learn to do it better,” he said. “So, what else did you do?”
“I took her out on a boat. I was thinking it would be romantic and shit, but it turns out she’s never been on a boat.”
“Ooh,” Cazzo shook his head. “I don’t like where this is going.”
“She ended up getting sick and she threw up all over me. I may have said that it was…fucking disgusting.”
Cazzo and Sinner just stared at me in shock. “You did what?” Sinner asked.
“You fucking heard me. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“I couldn’t have heard you because only a total douchebag would say something that fucked up to a woman he liked when she was sick.” Sinner’s face was practically lethal, but I already knew I had fucked up. I just needed to know how to fix it.
“You fucking heard me right and I realized what a fucking asshole I was as soon as I saw her face, but it’s not like I could take it back. That’s not the worst part.”
Cazzo ran a hand across his forehead as he leaned forward and grabbed another beer. “You should have bought something harder. I’m pretty sure we’re all gonna need it by the time you’re done with your story.”
I sighed and sat back as I told them the worst part. “When I was trying to apologize to her, I told her that I was new to dating and she told me it didn’t take knowing how to date to be kind to someone.”
Irish: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 5) Page 8