Damn Riley, and his distracting sexiness!
Riley motioned to her, asking if she was hungry, and she nodded. She sighed inwardly. She could get used to Riley Sloan cooking her breakfast...
Wait, no! No! She absolutely would not let herself get used to Riley cooking breakfast! That would be a sure-fire recipe for heartache.
But, after spending less than two days with Riley, things that she would have settled for before were now deal-breakers. Riley was setting a pretty high bar for other men to live up to, whether he was aware of it or not.
“So, how long is Riley planning on staying? I thought he was supposed to fly home a couple of nights ago.”
“I’m not sure, we haven’t talked about it.”
“You haven’t talked about it?” Eddie did not sound convinced. In fact, he sounded downright suspicious.
“Nope.” Good, she thought. Back up on the ‘short and sweet’ horse.
“If you’re doing fine, then why is he still there, Chelle?”
“Sightseeing.” She answered honestly.
“Tell Riley to call me,” Eddie barked, “I’ve gotta go put calamine lotion on Emily.”
With that, he disconnected the call.
Chelle shook her head as she placed her phone back in her purse. She loved her brother to death. She really did. He had done his best to step up after Emily’s mom, Lacey, had bounced. Sometimes though, she wished he would see her less like his little sister and more like his equal. She knew he thought that he was helping by being so protective of her, but she was a grown woman!
I mean, hell, she thought to herself - if David hadn't turned out to be such a weasel, I would have been a married woman in a few weeks!
Whoa.
That thought made her feel slightly panicky. Would she really have been happy being married to David? Not the lying-cheater he turned out to be, that answer was obvious. But what about the David she had thought she was marrying?
And...wasn't it kind of telling that this was the first time that she had ever thought to ask herself that question?
And the answer was...No. She knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt she would not have been happy.
Again...whoa.
She sat back on the couch and pulled her knees up, hugging them against her chest. Thoughts and questions began flooding her mind.
Why had she said yes when David had proposed?
Had she really thought he would make a good husband?
Why did she never questioned him about the odd hours he had been keeping?
Why had she stayed with him when he broke so many promises to her?
What the hell could she possibly have been thinking?
She knew that as a teen she had loved David. But as an adult, had she really seen him for who he was...and loved that man?
Well, at least that last question was easy enough to answer. No, she had most definitely not seen David for who he was.
Or maybe she had seen him, on some level, deep down and had subconsciously chosen to ignore it. Because the truth was, after filtering out the initial shock, anger and embarrassment - she had to admit it. She knew that his behavior, although reprehensible, was actually pretty in-line with who he was.
At first she didn’t think she could admit that to herself. Not because it would be heart-breaking or anything like that. It was just…what kind of a person did that make her, since she had been his fiancé?
An overwhelming wave of anxiety crashed over her. It was becoming difficult to breath. It felt almost as though an elephant were sitting on her chest. Sitting up straight, she put her feet back down on the floor and tried to take deep breaths to calm herself.
Riley came around the corner from the kitchen at that moment, and the second he saw her, he rushed to her side. He told her to put her head between her legs and breathe slowly in through her nose and out through her mouth. His voice was low and soothing and she tried to latch onto it as something she could anchor herself to.
She did her best to follow the instructions he was delivering in his ultra-soothing tone, trying desperately to get herself calmed down. She really did not want Riley to see her like this. Her arms felt heavy as they dangled down beside her, her shoulders resting on her knees.
Riley’s large hand was now making slow circles over her back. Mmmmm....it felt good. It made her forget all of the questions that had nearly caused her to have a panic attack. All of those concerns melted under Riley's comforting touch.
He leaned down closer to her. “Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth,” he reminded her.
She was actually feeling much better. In fact, she was breathing just fine now. But...and this was the big BUT...she knew that as soon as she sat up, he would remove his hand, and she wanted to enjoy that lovely sensation just a little longer.
“When you’re ready, I made pancakes.” His voice reminded her of what he used to sound like as a teen when he would be over visiting Eddie and they would find ice cream in the freezer or a movie they liked came on. It was a light tone, less weighed down by whatever difficulty he might have been facing.
Well, she thought, it looks like breakfast calls.
Sitting up, she immediately felt the loss of his hand leaving her back. Although she was disappointed, she tried to put on a bright smile as she said, “Great, I’m starved.”
She got off the couch and he stopped her, much like he had the night before, by grabbing her wrist, “Hey, are you alright?”
She looked down at him and realized that physically she might be fine, but emotionally...well, she was treading in very dangerous territory. “Yep, I’m feeling better. I just got a little, I don’t know, light-headed.”
“Yeah, you looked like you were about to pass out.” He rubbed his thumb along her wrist and it sent tingles throughout her body.
They stared at each other, neither one moving for several long moments. A current of electricity ran between them.
Finally realizing that this would not help her stay out of dangerous emotional territory, she pulled her hand away and headed toward the kitchen. Even though that was the very last thing in the world she wanted to do.
Chapter Ten
“So was that Eddie on the phone?” He asked as he joined her, grabbing the plate of pancakes and syrup.
“Yep, how could you tell?” She asked bringing the butter and coffee to the table.
“When you talk to him you sound just like you did when we were kids.” He smiled while slathering his pancakes with butter.
“Really? How’s that?” She took a sip of coffee and, as it hit her mouth, she had to stifle a groan. It tasted like heaven.
He smirked. “Kind of patronizing, but with a lot of love tossed in.”
“I sound patronizing?” she asked, shocked by the description. She had never thought of herself as a patronizing person.
“Well, yeah. Maybe 'patronizing' is a bit of a strong word. It’s more like you sound like you are humoring him, but out of love.”
“That sounds a lot like patronizing to me,” Chelle said as she took a big bite of pancake.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Riley said, his tone conveying his belief that he had upset her.
“You don’t have to apologize, you didn’t say anything wrong,” Chelle assured him.
She was just trying to assess if that was, in fact, how she behaved. A little self-reflection, if you will. “Plus, I asked you what I sounded like, and you know what Grandpa J always says. Don’t ask the question…”
“If you don’t want the answer,” they both finished in unison.
“How is the Colonel?” Riley asked, the affection he obviously felt for him shining through.
“Good,” Chelle was happy to report, “He’s slowing down a little, but what can you expect? He’s about to be ninety. His age has done nothing to dull his sharpness, though. He’s just as feisty as ever.”
“Man, I’ve missed the Colonel,” Riley said with a nostalgic grin, “I’
m really looking forward to catching up with him.”
“I didn’t realize you two were close,” Chelle said.
“Yeah, he moved to town right after we lost Mom, and I was…well you probably remember. I was mad at the world, kept getting into trouble. Then, the night I got taken in for the B&E at the grocery store, the Colonel happened to be taking his nightly stroll and saw them hauling me into the police station.
“He came in and got them to release me to him and drop the charges. I still don’t know how he did it. On the walk back to my house we had a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting about the reality of what my life would be if I continued heading down the destructive path I was on.
“He told me he had lost both of his parents to measles when he was sixteen and, due to the sudden loss, he went a little crazy and started acting out. Then he told me that the only one who could ruin my life was me, and I was also the only one who could make something productive out of myself.
“I called him the next day and he drove me to the recruitment office. I had just turned eighteen, which was part of the reason why the Colonel was so concerned. I was of legal age and my record could have been ruined. I left the day after graduation, which was a few weeks later, and I really haven’t had the chance to thank him for taking the time to help me pull my head out of my ass.”
“You know he has a Facebook page right?” Chelle offered, knowing that he would still want to thank him face to face, but also thinking he might like to keep in touch with him when he moved to Louisiana.
Riley eyes widened in shock and he laughed a little, “You’re kidding me. Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Chelle smiled, “and he has more ‘friends’ than I do.”
“Wow, well I guess I’ll have to send him a friend request.”
“You should, I think he would love that,” Chelle said. But what she wanted to say was, ‘Great, and hey - why don’t you send me one, too? That way I can torture myself with your updates while you're meeting ten thousand available women in the bar you own in New Orleans.’
But...probably good that she showed restraint. She looked down at her plate and realized she had cut her pancake into pizza slices. She smiled, realizing that she hadn’t done that since she was a kid.
“I almost sent you a friend request.” Riley’s voice sounded a little more serious, and Chelle's eyes darted up meet his. Yep, he looked serious, alright.
“Why didn’t you?” she asked somewhat hesitantly. If she was completely honest, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
“You were engaged, I didn’t want to overstep. I wasn’t sure how David would feel about it.”
Chelle scrunched her brows, “David wouldn’t have cared. He never got jealous over stuff like that. Actually, he never got jealous about anything...but I guess now we know why.”
So much of David’s behavior made sense in light of everything that she now knew about his extra-curricular activities. Including (but not limited to!) the fact that they hadn’t slept together in over six months.
Holy Flipping Moly!
It really had been over six months.
What in the name of frickety frack had she been thinking during that time? She searched her memory. She vaguely remembered attributing it to him being tired, working long hours, the stress of the wedding...she shook her head. It made her blood run cold to think about it now, but she mainly remembered...well, frankly...not giving it a second thought.
“Well, I didn’t know that. The last thing I would want to do is to put you in an awkward position by having to decline my friend request.” He smiled and she knew he was teasing her, but she still wanted to make sure that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that would never happen. Self-deprecating jokes, after all, do often have their roots in real insecurities.
“Riley,” she said solemnly, putting down her fork, “It doesn’t matter who I am with - I could be married with five kids - and I will still accept your friend request.”
Riley's eyes grew a little darker and his expression grew grim, but before she had a chance to follow up by asking him what was wrong, what she had said to upset him, he abruptly changed course.
“Do you have plans for today?” he asked, sounding like he had something in mind.
“Um, Riley, in case you hadn’t noticed...before you got here, I hadn’t left this apartment. Not once. My ‘plans’ for this little mini-vaca consisted of lying in bed - or possibly on the couch for a little variety - and eating my feelings.”
“Well - as truly wonderful as that sounds - I think I may have something better in mind.” His countenance brightened with mischievous glee as his eyes danced with enthusiasm.
What she wanted to tell him was anything he had in mind would be amazing to her. They could sit and do nothing at all and she would be on cloud nine, if only he was beside her.
But she didn’t think that was really an appropriate thing to say, so she settled for, “I’m game! Let me just go take a quick shower.”
She stood and picked up his now-empty plate to carry with hers to the sink. After rinsing them, she was overwhelmed with the sensation that Riley had been watching her the entire time. She lifted her head and smiled as she was able to confirm that her suspicions had, indeed, been correct.
Oh Lord! Yep. Only...he wasn’t just watching her. It felt like he was committing her every move to memory. He studied her with an intensity that caused her body to respond with a 'HELLO! All Systems Go!' sensation.
Chelle stared, unable to tear her gaze from him. It was as if his gaze alone had pulled her under some kind of magic spell. Ah, yes, she thought. The classic man-woman magic spell. The 'lust trance.'
Well, if that was a thing, she could consider herself under it!
“You are so beautiful,” he rasped, his voice raw, yet filled with reverence.
Her cheeks became warm and she was sure that they were probably turning bright red.
She was also pretty sure he was just being nice. She needed to remind herself not to read too much into it. Why did his simple compliment affect her so much? She wasn’t some love-sick teenage girl!
A small voice in the back of her head chimed in, ‘No, you’re a love-sick grown-up girl.’
Seriously. Why did that little voice always have to be spot on?!
He was still staring at her and she felt the need to fill the electrified silence.
“Thank you...um...so are you…I mean not beautiful…you’re uh…handsome. I mean I guess you’re beautiful too but, oh whatever, you know what I mean. I just, well…you know...you’re cute.”
CUTE. Had she seriously just called RILEY SLOAN cute?!
He was a lot of things. Sexy. Gorgeous. Built. Hot. Nope, scratch that - smokin’ hot! But cute…Good God in Heaven and All That Is Holy Moly...why in the world had she just said that?!
She had just started talking (read: stammering) and CUTE came tumbling out. Gah! Chelle hated that she rambled when she was nervous. She’d always wished that like Samantha on Sex and the City (one of her favorite TV shows), she could be cool and sophisticated. But, unfortunately, those were two traits that she did not come by naturally.
Most of the time it didn’t bother her. There were, after all, surely bigger hurdles given to people in life that they had to overcome. But, good lord...in moments like these, she really wished for the ability to quickly craft a sassy comeback. One that would have made Riley see her as an equal - better yet, a sexy equal.
Instead, what she came up with amounted to, “Blah blah blah, stammer, stumble...CUTE.”
Nice. Good one, Chelle. Her response, she was sure, had only served to solidify the way Riley did see her - as his best friend’s kid sister.
He smiled, seemingly completely unaware of her internal battle. The smile spread slowly across his face, as sweet and languid as the syrup that had just spread slowly across their pancakes moments ago. When the smile had finally reached full wattage, he said, “You’re pretty cute, yourself.”
Holy catfish
! How did that man make the word cute sound so sexual? Maybe she was just projecting, or maybe he really did think being cute was sexy. Either way she needed to get out of there before she said something that would cement her in the best-friend’s-little-sister category.
But she couldn’t just walk out and ignore his last comment. Oh what to do...what to do...? Dang it, she was just going to have to open her mouth and speak again. That had an equal chance of ending up with success and disaster. Damn it! Well, she thought, here goes nothing.
“Thanks. I’m gonna go take my cute self to the shower, then.”
She smiled outwardly but inwardly groaned, feeling her stomach drop to the floor. Really ‘take my cute self to the shower’, that was the best you could come up with after the man that you have been crushing on for twenty years pays you not one, but two, compliments…in a row!?
Still, not as bad as it could have been, she tried to comfort herself. But not great. Nope. Certainly not great.
Oh, Lord. Riley was way out of her league. She was in SO FAR over her head! If that little exchange did not serve to prove that fact, she wasn’t sure what would. She ducked her head and walked quickly to her room. Before closing the door she heard Riley’s parting remark, delivered in a spicy and mischievous tone.
“Have fun.”
She leaned against the door, breathing hard. If she were Samantha, she would open up the door and say something sexy and provocative like, “I will have fun…if you join me.”
BUT, she was not. So, instead, the best she could manage was to yell, “Uh, yeah...thanks,” through the wooden door.
Yep. Definitely NOT Samantha.
Chapter Eleven
As he stepped onto the pier with Chelle, Riley was glad that he had made sure she brought both a jacket and gloves. He smiled to himself. Not that he wouldn’t thoroughly enjoy keeping her warm, but the smart thing to do was definitely to keep his hands to himself.
Damn, it was a struggle, though. For the past couple of days - not to mention nights - he had been trying to do just that. But, then things would happen. Like when the cab driver made a sharp left turn and Chelle had slid - actually more like slammed - into him. In that instance, Riley suspended his self-imposed 'no touching' rule and allowed himself a few moments to let his fingertips roam her body, making sure that everything was still intact.
My Last - Riley & Chelle Page 10