by Lacey Black
“Thank you for going to dinner with me. I had a great time.”
Eager green eyes stare up at me as she answers, “I had a great time, too.”
I step forward and give her a polite kiss on the cheek. It’s nowhere near enough to tide me over until date number two, but it’ll have to do. Her cheek is warm against my lips, and a slight gasp echoes through the night. Her fresh, floral scent tickles my senses and causes all blood in my body to one concentrated area in my pants. It’s that moment that I long to throw her over my shoulder, carry her off to the nearest bed, and have my wicked way with her.
Again, but I won’t.
“I’ll call you,” I state.
With herculean strength I didn’t realize I possessed, I step back. Slowly, I move and start to descend the stairs. Jaime remains rooted in place as I slide into the cab of my truck. I watch as Jaime slowly turns and opens the screen door. She gives one last glance over her shoulder towards my truck before slipping inside.
The look on her face was a mixture of disappointment and longing. Sitting in my truck for several minutes, I replay a fast-forwarded version of the entire evening, right up until I said goodbye. My gut tightens painfully as realization sets in. I put that look there. She thought I was walking away, clearly not aware of my attempt at politeness. Knowing instantly that I made what could clearly be one of the biggest mistakes of my life, I pull the keys out of the ignition, dropping them on the floorboard, and jump out.
My legs move swiftly as I all but sprint up the sidewalk and head towards the front door. Before I reach the top of the stairs, the light flips on and the door opens. Jaime looks concerned as she hesitantly pushes the screen door and steps back into the night.
“Is everything o-” she starts, but my lips cut her off.
My hands dive into her long, brown hair, as my lips taste hers for the first time. I feel her slender fingers grasp my side as I run my tongue along the seam of her lips, seeking just a little taste of her sweet mouth. When she opens her mouth, I slip inside, reveling in the feel of her warm, wet tongue sliding against mine. I fight off the groan that threatens to erupt from my soul.
Jaime burns my flesh through my shirt as she wraps her hands around my back, gripping my shirt and hanging on for dear life. I maneuver my hands down, holding her firmly by the jaw and lacing my fingers into the hair behind her ears. The angle is perfect to deepen the kiss, so that’s what I do.
Fingers flex against me as I pull her body flush against mine. Jaime purrs like a cat as I frame her legs with my own. She’s soft and curvy to my hard and unforgiving. And I’m not talking entirely about what’s happening in my pants. Her body melts into me. The slide of her tongue, the nip of her teeth, and the taste of her mouth are like lightning that rips through my bloodstream. I’m consumed like never before, and I want nothing more than everything this kiss promises.
And it does.
This kiss is the start of something. Something great.
But now isn’t the time for all of that. As much as I’d like to see where this kiss goes, I just can’t let it.
Keeping contact between her lips and mine, I start to ease back. I’m in desperate need of a little distance between her soft body and my own. I caress her swollen lips and crack my eyes open. It only takes a few seconds to completely memorize the euphoric look on her face: her bee-stung lips, her rosy cheeks, and the way her eyelids flutter, combined, it’s a memory I’ll happily carry with me to bed tonight.
“I’m sorry I didn’t kiss you earlier. I wanted to. God, I wanted to so damn bad, but I was trying to be polite.”
Her eyes flutter open. They’re hazy and dilated as she focuses on my face. “I’m glad you came back.”
The words are soft and lust-infused and do dangerous things to my body. They’re full of heat and desire, and I’ll be damned if I don’t want to start that kiss all over again.
“I should go. Thank you for tonight. I’m going to call you, Jaime.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
With one final kiss, I pull back and head back to my truck, this time with a little extra spring in my step. As I slide back into the cab, I find the keys I dropped on the floor and start it up. Jaime remains on the porch, her arms wrapped around a post as she watches me back out of the driveway. I sit at the edge of the road for several seconds as we both gaze through the darkness at each other.
A smile spreads across my lips as I pull away and head towards my place, the memory of that amazing kiss still playing through my mind. That was my kinda kiss. It’s a memory I’m sure to relive multiple times as I end up taking my dick in my hand to relieve the ache.
Yeah, it’s definitely going to be a long night.
Chapter Seven
Jaime
Monday morning is busy as I finish up a cheerful bouquet of daisies and roses to be delivered this afternoon to a receptionist at a law office. Payton, finished up with her morning deliveries, comes barreling through the back door at the same time Lexi comes swinging through the front.
“Tell me all about it!” Lexi exclaims as she tosses her purse up on the counter.
“What?” I ask, feigning indifference.
Honestly, I’m surprised that the news of my date Saturday night took this long to make its way through the Summer women. Usually when anything major happens in our family, word spreads faster than athlete’s foot in a locker room.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Jaime Marie Summer. You know exactly what I’m talking about.” The look Lexi gives me is stern. I can tell she’s not leaving without getting a detailed play-by-play of the entire date, start to finish.
“I heard she was making out with him on the porch,” Payton chimes in.
My face burns with mortification as I turn to face the oldest Summer sibling. “Where did you hear that?”
Even as the words leave my lips, I already know the answer: Grandma.
“A fairy told me,” Payton sasses with a grin that lights up her dark green eyes.
Lexi snorts a laugh. “A fairy. Right. You mean a seventy-year-old woman with eyes as sharp as an eagle. Come on, Jaims. You didn’t really think Grandma wasn’t waiting up to snoop on your date, did you?”
Of course I suspected Grandma would wait up to eavesdrop on my date, but when I returned home and didn’t see a single light on besides a lamp in the living room, and the rest of the house was quiet, I figured she went to sleep. Lord knows she’s not the spring chicken she was ten years ago when she was crashing our slumber parties and making surprise appearances when our dates would bring us home at night.
“Well, I had hoped,” I mumble.
“So? Tell me all about it!” Lexi exclaims once more.
“We went to dinner at Helena’s. It was nice. Your husband was there, by the way,” I mention to Lexi.
“Yeah, he mentioned he had another work thing,” she says, almost sadly. Her eyes match the tone in her voice, and I make a mental note to ask her more about that later.
“Anyway, after dinner, we went to Ice Cream Emporium and talked until they closed. That was it.”
“That was it? What about the make out session on the porch?” Payton asks.
“It was just a kiss,” I reply. My cheeks instantly turn a fabulous shade of embarrassment as I focus my attention on the bouquet I just completed.
“Just a kiss? According to Grandpa, Grandma thought she’d have to turn the hose on you,” Lexi giggles.
I thought she might have to as well.
“Are you going to see him again?” Lexi asks, her blue-green eyes sparkling with excitement.
“I don’t know. I mean we just went out three days ago. He said he’d call me, but I’m not holding my breath or anything.” I try for casual, but inside, I’m a ball of nervous energy.
I’m nowhere near ready to admit it out loud, but after the date Saturday night, I’m definitely hopeful that Ryan calls me and asks me out again, which in itself is just crazy thi
nking. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to want him, to like him.
My lips tingled for hours after he left, while I lay awake reliving that kiss over and over again. It was, without a doubt, the single best kiss of my life. The way he dominated me, took control of the moment and my body, left me with shivers of delight from head to toe, even now, three days later.
“Oh, he’ll call. You should have seen the way he was looking at her, Lex. I’m surprised the smoke detectors weren’t set off. Grandma is certain she’s already pregnant.”
My sisters giggle behind my back as they carry on as if I’m not even standing here. I busy myself cleaning up greenery clippings and stem pieces, silently wondering if Payton is correct. Will he call? Lord knows I shouldn’t want him to.
But I do.
In desperate need of a redirect, I turn back around and focus on my youngest sister. Lexi’s long, brown hair is full of honey highlights and tied in a messy knot high on her head. It’s her standard look, yet there’s something different about her. Her green eyes streak with shades of blue and lack the brightness they normally hold. Instead, they appear distant and filled with a sadness I’m not used to seeing from the baby of the family.
“Lex? What’s wrong?” I ask, unable to mask my own concern.
I know each of my sisters well. She tries to hide it. She tries to push the weight of her problems to the back so that I’m unable to see it. But it’s there, buried deep. “Nothing,” she replies with a forced smile.
“I don’t buy it,” I tell her, stepping forward until I’m directly in front of her. Reaching forward, I extend my hand and wait until she places hers against my palm.
Lexi sighs, resigned to spill whatever is causing the light in her eyes to dull just a bit. “I’m…well, I’m worried.”
“Worried about what?” Payton chimes in, coming over and standing next to me.
“Why can’t I have a baby?” she whispers so quietly that I almost can’t make out the words.
“A baby?” I ask, my heart rate kicking up a few hundred beats per second.
“Yeah,” she confirms. “Chris and I have been trying to have a baby for almost two years. I’ve been thinking about going to see someone. You know, to figure out why.”
The dejection I see in her eyes all but knocks the wind out of me. It’s a sadness I see so clearly and know all too much about. It’s devastating when your dream is there, so close, and yet still so far out of reach. Like a butterfly, beautiful and alive, fluttering high in the sky, just out of your grasp.
“You think there might be a problem? With you?” Payton asks, her face pail with worry.
“I don’t know. Maybe me. Maybe Chris. There has to be something, right? Some reason why we’ve been trying for twenty-two months and still haven’t gotten pregnant.”
“I’m sure it’ll be okay, Lex. Call Doc Simpson and see what he says,” I add.
“Uh, Jaime, Doc Simpson retired three years ago,” Payton replies with a snicker. “Apparently you haven’t needed a reason to see Doc since you returned.” Again, my sisters laugh at my expense.
“No, I haven’t needed a reason to see Doc, but that’s beside the point. Call whoever took Doc’s place and make an appointment. I’m sure everything is fine, but you should still get both of you checked out,” I instruct to my youngest sister.
Her eyes seem to lighten right before mine. As if speaking to us, saying the words out loud has somehow helped lift the little weights settled on her shoulders. The Summer sisters grew up in a large family, overflowing with tons of laughter and plenty of love. It’s no wonder that many of us have kids at the heart of our own dreams. Lexi is no exception. Even at only twenty-four years of age, I can see that Lexi was destined to be a mother.
“I will,” she replies. The smile she gives is small but real. “Thank you.”
I step around the counter, Payton hot on my heels, and engulf Lexi in a hug. It’s warm and familiar and floods my body with love. My sisters and I have always been on the touchy feely side, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.
“Keep us posted,” I whisper as the bell above the door chimes, announcing the arrival of a customer.
Stepping back, I turn and offer a bright smile to the newest arrival. My smile falters on my lips as my eyes clash with warm, dark brown ones. The smile that spreads across Ryan’s full lips is sinful. Flashbacks of our kiss Saturday night flood my mind, while warmth floods another part of my body.
Ryan must be able to sense my body’s response to his sudden appearance. Wearing his standard work boots, a pair of worn jeans and a dark gray tee that accentuates a pair of well defined, toned arms, Ryan saunters towards me like a wolf stalking its prey, that breathtaking smile spread widely across his wicked lips. Lips that I’d love to feel explore my oversensitive body.
“Good afternoon,” he says towards my sisters, yet keeps his focus entirely on me.
Unable to find words, I just grin back at him, pulled into an alternate universe created by his rich, chocolate brown eyes. A world where only he and I exist.
“Hi,” I squeak in an unnaturally high pitch. The kind of pitch that only dogs respond to.
I’m rewarded with yet another delicious arc of his uber-sexy lips. Caution is millimeters away from being thrown to the wind. Suddenly, all I can think about is whether or not Payton’s work counter is strong enough to withstand the weight of my rear perched upon it, Ryan’s tall, thick body positioned between my legs.
“See? What did I tell you? They’re going to set off my sprinklers.” I hear Payton’s words permeate the lust-induced fog that only Ryan evokes.
Startled, I take a step back and walk into the counter behind me. Ryan winks at me, but still doesn’t focus on anything other than me.
“So what brings you to Blossoms and Blooms today, Ryan? Here to pick out flowers?” Payton asks. Without needing to see her smile, I can feel it in the way she asks the question.
“Not today, ladies. I was hoping to speak with Jaime for a moment.”
The smile he turns towards them is pure panty-wetting wickedness. I feel the impact of it all the way over here, and it’s not even aimed at me. And my sisters are helpless to combat the potency of that beautiful smile. Of course, he knows that too. He knows exactly how much charm he’s inflicting on my poor, defenseless sisters. It’s the same charm and charisma he wields at me every chance he gets. This man is devilish.
“Oh? What about?” Lexi chimes in, leaning closer so that she doesn’t miss a single word.
Turning his full attention to the two panting dogs beside him, he feeds their need for information. “About Saturday night. I was going to ask her to have dinner with me again. Do you think she’ll go on a second date with me?”
It’s as if I’m not even in the room anymore.
“Are you kidding? She’s talked of nothing else,” Payton says with a mischievous grin.
“Hey.” I gently slap my oldest sister’s shoulder as my eyes bounce back and forth between the three of them.
“Really? That’s a good sign, right?” Ryan asks, feeding off their over-dramatics.
“Oh, really. It’s been Ryan-this and Ryan-that since the moment she stepped foot inside the shop this morning.” This from traitor Payton.
“And she has been beaming and talking about how much she wants to see you again ever since I arrived just a bit ago.” And of course, conspirator Lexi chimes in beautifully as if on cue.
“I’m right here,” I remind my pesky siblings.
As expected, neither of them acknowledges my statement at all. They’re as bad as Grandma. Only with less butt grabs and talks about sex toys.
“So, you’re saying I have a shot?” Ryan asks while my sisters practically drool on the smooth counter before him.
“Definitely,” one says, while the other replies, “No doubt!”
“Excellent, ladies. You’ve been most helpful, but if you don’t mind, I’m going to stea
l Jaime away for just a few moments and do this officially.” As he reaches out his hand, which I readily drop my hand into, he throws them a final wink before turning his full attention back to me.
Ryan leads me towards the corner by the display case, just out of direct earshot of the two eavesdroppers. He never lets go of my hand and stands directly before me. I can feel the heat radiating off his large body, stirring to life the same desire I’ve attempted to squash–unsuccessfully, mind you–over the last three nights.
“I have to be honest. I almost picked up the phone at least a dozen times to call you since Saturday night,” Ryan confesses in a low voice.
“Why didn’t you?” The words are out of my mouth before I can even slide the protective wall into place around my heart.
And that’s the problem here. Ryan catches me off guard. I’m completely unprepared for the reaction my body has when he’s near. How can I properly protect my heart from the devastation and destruction this gorgeous man will surely inflict if I’m swooning like a teenager every time I’m around him? It’s unsettling, really.
“I didn’t because I’m a dumb boy who’s trying to abide by the ‘three days with no contact after the first date’ rule.”
“There’s really a rule?”
“Maybe not so much a rule as it is a suggestion. Boys are stupid. And that rule is stupid, so I’m done with it. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. From the moment I pulled away from your house, you’re all I’ve thought about. It’s so bad that I missed a nail and smashed my finger with a hammer this morning.”
Bringing his hands up to inspect further, I see the fingernail on his left thumb a tad purple. Moving it to my lips, I place a gentle kiss on the discolored nail. “Poor finger.”
“Lucky finger,” Ryan murmurs, his breath hitching in his throat.