Lie to Me

by Preston, Natasha

  One look from him is all it took to get my pulse racing.

  I’ve not been this turned on in forever, and he’s not actually done anything yet. Sure, I’ve been physically attracted to him since we first met, but since we cleared the air and I’ve let go of negative feelings, it’s made way for how I really feel.

  Which is wanting to jump his bones.

  I’m hot, and my insides feel like mush. My God, I’m pretty sure my vagina is on fire.

  Calm down. His fucking parents are in the same room!

  I take another long sip of wine and wish Judy had just given me the whole bottle.

  Thank heavens I’m not driving.

  He is though, so he can’t drink. That might not be an issue. I might be feeling this alone. That does sound right. It would totally be my luck to want a guy this bad for the first time ever, but he doesn’t feel the same.

  Kent isn’t exactly saving himself for marriage though.

  Am I seriously talking myself into a one-night stand with my boss’s brother?

  “Savannah?”

  I jump as Heidi’s hand flashes in front of my face.

  “Yes?”

  She laughs. “You were miles away then.”

  “Oh.” Great, she was talking to me. “Sorry.”

  “Spa day sometime. You in?” she asks.

  Not going to say no to that. “Definitely.”

  Judy claps her hands. “Great.”

  Kent leans forward, resting his forearms on the counter. He waits for Judy and Heidi to strike up another conversation before he looks at me.

  “What?” I whisper. My voice is hoarse, even to my own ears.

  His lips curl into the smuggest grin that lights his eyes. “Nothing.”

  Okay, he’s fully aware of the situation then.

  “You okay?” he asks.

  “Yep.” If you call a pulsing between your legs and nearly hyperventilating fine, then I’m all dandy.

  He turns to the side and hops up on the stool he was standing near. The movement is quick, but I catch a glimpse of the bulge in his jeans. Averting my eyes, I sip my wine. White isn’t my favourite drink, but right now, it’s my best friend.

  Oh Jesus, that is not helping.

  I grip the stem of the glass harder when Kent leans in close.

  “Still okay?”

  No. No, I’m bloody not.

  “Yeah, you?” I ask, raising my eyebrow but glancing south where he is still very much hard.

  He murmurs, “Follow me to the bathroom, and I’ll sort this out.”

  My mouth parts. Is he serious? We’re in his parents’ house! “Thanks, but I’ll pass,” I whisper.

  “What’re you two whispering about?” Judy asks.

  My mind goes blank. Literally blank.

  Say something.

  Not the truth.

  “Savannah was trying to get me to go to the bathroom with her.”

  Eyes widening, my head turns to him. Stay calm, and fix this!

  Summoning every ounce of cool I have, I reply, “You wish.” Okay, my voice was even. I got this.

  Kent laughs, and he actually seems … impressed with how I handled that.

  I am, too, because, until the words came out of my mouth, I had nothing.

  “Get your head out of the gutter, son,” Harrold says. He doesn’t even look around or stop stirring whatever he’s got cooking. It smells amazing though.

  “I can’t help it. She’s offering me all sorts over here.”

  I whack him with my good arm and scowl. “Heidi, your brother is annoying.”

  “Tell me about it,” she replies, rolling her eyes.

  He laughs, blocking another whack. “Why do you think we took so long to get here?”

  When I turn away from Kent, Judy is smiling.

  Oh no. I bite my lip, knowing we’ve taken it too far.

  We opened the door to civility, and lust came pouring out. His mum is kind of a force, and she’s definitely going to say things if she thinks we’re getting close … or if she just wants us to get together.

  We’ve only just agreed to start over. Yes, I want to follow him to the bathroom, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to. I don’t have to act upon this attraction, and I’m really not up for being another notch on his post.

  Even if the constant throbbing disagrees. Clearly, it’s been a long time since I’ve had sex.

  “Ignore him, Savannah. The rest of us do,” Heidi says, waving her hand in his direction.

  I wish I could but, hello, vagina on fire here.

  “Dinner is almost ready,” Harrold announces, stepping back. “And I agree that you should ignore Kent. He’s still under the illusion that he’s God’s gift to women.”

  Kent scoffs while Heidi, Judy, and I laugh. I really, really like Harrold right now.

  “I got that impression, too,” I reply.

  “If you haven’t tried the goods, don’t leave a review, sweetheart.”

  I tilt my head in his direction. “That’s gross.”

  “Kent, find your manners,” Judy says, giving him the tight-eyed look again.

  He laughs and shrugs.

  “Make yourself useful, and set the table, Kent,” Harrold instructs.

  When he gets down from the stool, I see that he’s calmed himself down a bit. He salutes his dad and heads into the room off the kitchen, which I assume is the dining room.

  “You’ll have to excuse my son. We raised all of them the same, but I must have forgotten that I dropped him,” Judy says, making me laugh.

  “I heard that!” he shouts from the other room.

  I shake my head. “That’s fine. I can handle Kent.” And I finally feel like I can.

  We each assumed things about the other before getting to know one another, and it made us hostile, only feeding what we thought was true.

  Now, he doesn’t seem so intimidating. Actually, he’s not intimidating at all.

  I bite my bottom lip as I feel my smile grow, feeling a touch more like the old me. No one could make me feel small or unworthy before.

  People are supposed to get stronger as they grow, but I seemed to have gone backward. Not anymore though. Kent is right; I’m not being myself. It’s through fear of letting my guard down too much, but I can’t live like that.

  Ha, I’ll probably change my mind about that one tomorrow. I hope not though. I want to grip hold of the strength I feel entering my body and never let go. I’m so tired of just existing.

  “We can tell that you can handle him,” Heidi says, wiggling her eyebrows.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” I hush.

  Judy bends over the counter. “I already have a lot of ideas.”

  Why doesn’t that surprise me?

  “He’s not my type.”

  Now, that much is true—in the relationship sense anyway. I’ve never gone for the kind of guys who are arrogant and sleep about, hoping I’ll be the one to change them. If someone wants to be with me, they’ll stop shagging other women. Though maybe I’ve been looking at it all wrong because Simon was quiet and reserved, and that hardly ended well.

  So, maybe I just need to die alone.

  Okay, that’s a touch dramatic.

  “We are ready,” Harrold says, tipping something into a large serving bowl.

  There are tons of dishes along the counter over by the cooker. He has pasta dishes, salad, and breads. It all looks amazing, but I don’t know how we’re going to eat everything.

  “Ooh, I’ll top these glasses up. You two go through,” Judy says.

  “Can I help with anything?”

  Harrold looks up. “Just grab something on your way and tuck in.”

  I take a dish and follow Heidi. I’d have picked up two, but my arm still hurts when I carry something with a little weight. Heidi has the bread and is looking at it like she wants to run off with it.

  I put my dish down in the middle of the table. “Where should I sit?”

  “Next to Kent,” Judy says over my
shoulder as she places a large plate on the table. “I’ll go back for wine. You all sit.”

  When I turn, Kent is looking at me with his eyebrow arched. I don’t want to sit next to him now, but if I don’t, it’ll look like I pussied out. Old me wouldn’t have backed down, so the new old me can’t.

  I walk around the table, ignoring his goddamn smirk, and sit next to him. Heidi is opposite me with Harrold and Judy on either end of the table.

  “What?” I say, keeping my eyes on the food.

  Shit, that is a lot of food.

  “Nothin’. Want a sausage?” He holds up a plate of sliced sausage. I look at the bowl with a frown. “It’s not weird really. Dad wants to put it in every pasta dish, but Mum won’t let him, so they compromise.”

  Okay, that makes sense. “Hmm… no, thanks. I don’t like tiny sausages.”

  Kent lowers the plate and narrows his eyes. “Oh, I know you didn’t mean what I think you mean.”

  Nope, I’ve seen your bulge.

  “Head out of the gutter,” I say, using Harrold’s words.

  Judy comes back in with wine, and she takes her seat. I immediately take a sip. God, I feel a bit too comfortable in their house. It warms my heart at the same time as scaring the living crap out of me.

  Losing my family—well, walking away from them—was hard enough, but these people don’t owe me anything. We aren’t related, so there’s nothing stopping them from never talking to me again.

  I’d hate that. The very thought leaves a nasty taste on my tongue. I love Heidi and her family. I can’t go there with Kent. It’d be too awkward, and I know I would hate seeing him with other women after.

  He bumps my arm, thankfully not my fractured one. “Dig in. They hate it when there are leftovers.”

  My eyes widen. Are they expecting five people to eat seven dishes of food plus a ton of bread?

  Kent chuckles. “Kidding. You’ll be sent home with a tub full though. It’s the only reason I keep coming back.”

  “Kent Lawson!” Judy snips. I love it when she uses his surname, too. “You had better be eating properly. If I find out you’re living off leftovers and takeaways …” Judy doesn’t finish her sentence, and although her intention is clear, I really wish she had said something about slapping his arse.

  “Mum, do I look malnourished?”

  No, he looks mighty fine to me.

  I press my lips together, so the words can’t slip out.

  Judy squints, looking at him like she’s trying to find something about his appearance to pick at. “You’d better not be, or you’ll be moving back home.”

  He rolls his eyes. “I’m twenty-five, for fuck’s sake.”

  “Language!” Judy and Harrold say at the same time.

  I shake my head at him. “Honestly, the amount of F-bombs you drop.”

  “I knew this would happen, Harrold. As soon as they move out, they think they can swear.”

  “The fact that I’m an adult means I can choose to swear.”

  Oh my God, I love their family!

  I wonder if they want to adopt another child. Though that would be weird with the way I’ve been feeling about Kent.

  “I’m your mum, and I don’t care how old you are.”

  There was a lot my mum cared about that she shouldn’t have. I admire Judy so much for loving her children unconditionally. That’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? There’s this bond between a mother and her child that nothing could break. My mum is an exception to that rule.

  “Fucking hell,” Kent mutters under his breath.

  Neither of his parents hears though as Heidi starts talking about Brooke’s wedding dress.

  I dish a spoonful of every pasta onto my plate and take a piece of rosemary bread. I’m not sure what’s in every one of these pasta dishes, but they all look and smell great.

  Kent piles up his plate like he’s trying to make a food mountain.

  “Are you going to eat all that?” I ask.

  He grins. “Of course I am.”

  “You’ll be sick.”

  “Are you planning on us doing anything particularly active after dinner?”

  I roll my eyes.

  “If you are, I won’t eat as much.”

  “Pile it up, buddy, because, unless you’re planning on going for a run after this, you’ll be just fine.”

  He laughs, and it makes my insides squirm.

  10

  Kent

  My stomach is screaming when we finish up the desserts. My parents are feeders. It’s a miracle Brooke, Heidi, and I aren’t all massive.

  Savannah looks at the empty serving dishes in the middle of the table with wide eyes.

  “We should get going. We both have work tomorrow,” I say before Mum can offer a final course of coffee and biscotti.

  Savannah looks so full, I don’t think she’ll need to eat for the rest of the week.

  Nodding, she stands up with me. “Okay.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for coffee?” Mum asks.

  “No, thanks,” I reply, ushering Savannah around the table.

  When you decide to leave my parents’, you have to just leave. If you hang around, Mum will start a conversation, and you’ll be stuck.

  “Okay, I’ll grab leftovers before you go,” Mum says, getting to her feet and heading back to the kitchen.

  Heidi left a few minutes before us because she is at the other side of the city and takes a different motorway.

  Mum heads out of the house with two tubs full of food.

  Dad, Savannah, and I follow her outside.

  It’s warm out tonight, and the sun has almost set, turning most of the sky pink. We reach my car with my parents close behind, like they’re trying to soak up as much Savannah time before she goes. They love her, and Mum definitely wants something to happen between us.

  They’ve both been waiting for me to find someone else for a while, not that they will ever admit to it. Savannah has been chosen as the woman to change everything.

  Apparently, I don’t get a say.

  Savannah clutches a plastic tub full of food that Mum handed over.

  I hold my door open, waiting for my mum to stop talking so that we can leave.

  “You’ll come back soon. I won’t take no for an answer.”

  Savannah laughs. “I would love to. Thank you so much for tonight.”

  “It was so lovely to have you with us, darling,” Mum replies. She then turns to me. “You make sure you bring this one next time you’re here.”

  I’m not her boyfriend, but okay.

  Biting her lip, Savannah looks at me over the roof of the car.

  “Let’s go. See you guys later. Dad, hold Mum back, or we’re never going to get home.”

  Mum raises her hand and steps back from the car. Dad puts his arm around her waist as they smile at us.

  Savannah and I get in the car, and I lock the doors.

  “Was that necessary?” she asks, putting the tub down by her feet.

  “My mum seems to love you, so I wouldn’t put it past her to come for one last hug.”

  I reverse on the drive and turn around.

  “Your mum is awesome.”

  “If you say so,” I reply, but I know she is. As interfering as she is, I wouldn’t swap her.

  “Oh my God, I’m so full,” she groans as I head toward the main road.

  “Me, too. I don’t think I could do you right now, sorry.”

  With a little laugh, she swats my arm with her hand.

  “Okay, I don’t think you should hit the driver.”

  “You’re an idiot.”

  “An idiot who could leave you to walk home.”

  “I wouldn’t walk home. I would call your mum and tell her what you did.”

  “You wouldn’t be able to call with no tongue.” Savannah’s eyebrows shoot up, and I frown. “Yeah, sorry, that went a bit darker than I’d planned.”

  She nods. “Yeah. Besides, you wouldn’t cut my tongue
out because then you wouldn’t get a blow job.”

  I nearly crash the fucking car as I join the road from the track to my parents’. As I grip the steering wheel, my head snaps to her while my dick stands to attention. “Don’t say shit like that if you’re not serious.”

  Laughing, she tips her head back.

  “I’m not joking, Savannah. That’s just cruel. Tell me you want my cock in your mouth, sweetheart.” I’m hot. It’s too hot in here. I jab my finger into the air-con button.

  Shit, I really am going to crash the car.

  “Kent, I’ll be honest; this conversation has backfired a little.”

  Cutting her a scathing look, I growl, “You’re such a tease.”

  Grinning, she tilts her head toward the road. “You need to look where you’re going.”

  “You need to …” Don’t say it. Just don’t even think about her mouth or what you want it to be doing right the fuck now. Groaning, I look ahead and take a breath.

  Why am I like a horny teenager again? I thought getting hard at inappropriate times was over. I’m an adult now. Shouldn’t I be spared that embarrassment?

  “Sorry, that was mean of me.” She doesn’t sound sorry. Her voice is light and packed full of amusement.

  “No more blow-job talk unless you’re going to do it, okay?”

  “Deal,” she agrees. “But don’t hold your breath.”

  “I thought we were getting on now?”

  “You get blow jobs from every woman you get on with?” She pauses and frowns. “Right. Of course you do.”

  I feel uneasy under her judgment of my sex life again. “Savannah, I’m single, and—”

  “And they know the score,” she finishes. “I got that.”

  “Then, why the look of disgust?”

  “I just don’t get it, but casual sex isn’t for me, so I’m not going to.”

  Fuck’s sake. My dick shrivels up and dies at her words. I’m not going to get in her pants if she’s sticking to that.

  “You’ve never done it, so how do you know?”

  “Trust me, I know.” She sounds so sure of herself.

  Arsehole ex? Bad experience? I don’t know why she’s so against a night of no-strings sex, but she needs to sort it out. I’ve got blue balls over here, and I’m fucking dying to be inside her.