by Liz Crowe
Rosalee had been down there a few times, with Paul of course, making out, drinking the beer they filched from the brewery, smoking the occasional joint. The Love family enjoyed nothing more than throwing pool parties. As the brothers got older, the parties tended to go on way beyond what the parents expected. She sank down onto the smoky-smelling couch and dropped her head to her knees.
A hand settled on her shoulder, making her jump, with the words, “Where were you, your Mama’s worried,” on the tip of her tongue.
Aiden touched his lips and tugged her into the darkened alcove beneath the short set of steps. Before she could say a word, he had her pressed against a stack of plastic boxes labeled “XMAS,” and kissed her without a word of warning, clutching her hair as if he let go, he would drown. Rosalee wanted not to respond. She truly did think she would act shocked, indignant, and demand that he stop acting like an infatuated teenager and leave her be so she could go find Antony, her future husband.
But she didn’t.
He tasted too good. His lips were too perfect. His firm torso under her hands, and his touch, made her want to scream and cry at the same time.
Rosalee Norris, you must have the menopause already because you are going right around the bend, never to return.
She sighed when he untied the string of her bikini top and cupped her breast beneath the thin batik fabric. “Yes,” somebody kept saying over and over again, sounding suspiciously like her own voice.
Their tongues tangled, teeth clicked together in over-eager, unpracticed urgency. His other hand had gone up her skirt, dipping into her bikini bottoms and she, Rosalee Slut Norris, let him. She even spread her legs so he could have easier access.
“Rosalee,” he whispered into her neck as he touched her, stroked and teased her.
“Please, Aiden.” The words flew out of her mouth, making her sound like some kind of sappy soap-opera heroine. When she came with a squeak into his sweaty chest, the first thing she thought was that she wanted more. She reached into his swim trunks and gripped him.
He moved his hips, encouraging her. “Kiss me, Rosalee. I want to…oh…shit….” He moaned into her lips then forced them open with his tongue. And she jacked him off, under the steps, right under the feet of his parents, and Antony, the one she’d meant to find and comfort.
Wow. Some lady of comfort you are, Rosie.
“Holy mother of…Aiden, stop.” She pulled her hand out of his shorts. “I think I’m going to pass out. Or puke.” She banged her head against the boxes.
He kept grinning and tweaking her nipples, which betrayed her with their eager poking through the dress’s thin fabric. She smacked his hands away, but he kept at her, his eyes shining with playfulness and lust. It made her want to do things to him she couldn’t even imagine doing with Antony. She shivered.
Eyes darkening, Aiden held her close, stroking her hair, and saying soothing words she couldn’t hear for the roaring in her ears.
“We can’t do this,” she whispered into his chlorine-scented skin. “We cannot do this.”
“We just did,” he whispered back, thumbing her chin so she had to meet his eyes. He stood a good six inches shorter than Antony, which made him easy to reach without having to stand on her toes for a kiss. Which she did, for a good, long, dizzying while.
Finally, she broke away, tears running down her face.
“Yes, we did. And won’t ever again. Do you understand me? I need to be with Antony. It’s what…people expect.”
“Screw that.” He nuzzled her neck, making her sigh.
“Aiden?”
They jumped apart as if someone had cattle prodded them both at the sound of a voice on the stairs.
“Yeah, Mama?”
“Have you seen Rosalee? Her boy is awake.”
“Okay, I’ll come see to him. I think she’s…uh….”
Rosalee smacked him when he snaked a hand back up her skirt.
“Well, anyway. I found Antony. He’s gone for a swim. Daddy is gonna fire up the grill in a minute.”
“Coming,” he called up the steps, before yanking Rosalee close again. “I’ll find you later.” He laid a kiss on her that left her breathless and furious.
She shoved him away. “No, you won’t. Mission accomplished. You finger-fucked and got jacked by your brother’s girlfriend. Now leave me alone.” She could barely control her shaking.
“That’s what you think this is about?”
She nodded and pointed to the steps. He snuck around the corner and fished under the couch a minute, emerging with a half roll of paper towels.
“Some things never change,” he said, handing her one before bounding up the stairs without a word.
Chapter Thirteen
“Is Margot still here?” Aiden walked quickly past his mother, who sat holding Jeffrey. “Give me a second. Need to use the restroom.”
Phrases like “take a leak” flew about as well as F-bombs around their mother. But he had to get into the bathroom, throw some cold water on his face, and wash his hands. He stood, braced against the vanity top of the main level half bath, glaring at his flushed face in the mirror.
“You are the biggest idiot on the planet,” he said. He’d had no intention of doing that, of kissing Rosalee, and touching her, and…he groaned at the memory of her lips and hands, of how incredibly responsive she’d been, hair-trigger, glorious, and perfect.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He lifted it out, noting yet another dirty text from Tricia. If she and Renee were as tight as she claimed, he sure didn’t get how the woman believed it appropriate to send him messages outlining what she wanted to do to him.
He ran a hand down his face, noting the drying white mess he’d made on his shirt. Knowing from direct experience plain water did not hide that particular stain, he yanked the shirt off, snuck out into the back hall, and up the steps to his old bedroom. After locating a shirt of Dominic’s and tugging it over his head, he stuffed the dirty one into the hamper, intending to grab it before he left.
When he came back down, Jeffrey still sat on Lindsay’s lap, thumb lodged in his mouth, staring at a book. His mother had kept nearly all of their old toys and books. “For the grandbabies,” she always claimed. Aiden listened for a moment, hearing Jeffrey’s soft questions mumbled around his thumb, and Lindsay’s gentle reading cadence that Aiden could sometimes still hear as he drifted off to sleep. She used to read to them every night as a group, until they were too old for that, leaving her with Aiden and the antsy, restless Angelique, who could barely get to sleep at night anyway, and who didn’t like being read to.
When Jeffrey caught sight of him, his eyes brightened and he raised his arms. “Pick me up.” Lindsay gave the child one of her patented politeness lessons under her breath to Aiden’s amusement.
The little boy nodded. “Pick me up, please.”
He did, loving the way Jeffrey clung to him, sitting down across from his mother who remained in her rocker, frowning at him.
“I told you not to do that.”
“Do what?” His face flushed, as he anticipated the coming lecture.
“To covet things that aren’t yours.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. The sudden vision of her sick, or in any way reduced, made him dizzy with terror.
He shook his head. “I don’t.”
No, I don’t covet her. I just groped her like a stupid teenager at a house party.
“I can read you like a book, Aiden Leonardo Love.”
“Yeah, Leonardo,” a familiar voice called from the shadows in the upper-level family room. “Hey, Mama, I think Margot is fixing to leave,” Kieran threw over his shoulder as he passed by them on his way to the bathroom.
“But we haven’t eaten yet.” Lindsay got slowly to her feet, her slight frame engulfed by her sundress. How Aiden had only just noticed she must have lost twenty pounds since he’d last seen her at Christmas boggled his addled mind.
“Hang on a sec, I’ll help.” He got up with Jeffrey still cling
ing to him like a barnacle then froze at the sight of Rosalee in the kitchen. The breeze lifted the hair framing her face, and stirred her thin dress, molding it around her frame. Noting the tears running down her cheeks, he cursed under his breath for the millionth time, swearing off it, off her, and his bizarre, sudden obsession with the woman who’d been nothing to him once but the girlfriend of Antony’s best friend—a nice girl, pretty and all, but older and unattainable.
She bent over the sink, shoulders shaking. Aiden hated himself then—utterly despised his weak-willed inability to keep his stupid, lust-addled mind and hands off the woman.
Jeffrey stirred. “Mommy!” he yelped.
She wiped her eyes and fixed a smile on her face, until she saw who was holding her son.
“Jeffrey, thumb.” She mimed pulling her thumb from between her lips. Her eyes were full of remorse. Aiden took a breath, and willed something decent to materialize out of his mouth. “Stay away from me.” She moved past him.
He touched her shoulder. “I can’t.”
She stopped, her hands on either side of the patio doorframe. “You have to.”
“What’s wrong with my mommy?” Jeffrey patted Aiden’s face, his brow knitted with worry.
“Nothing, Jeff. Everything is fine. Let’s go find Dom. I’ll bet he’d play some soccer with us.”
“Soccer!” The kid’s shriek nearly deafened him.
Aiden set him on the wide expanse of grass between the patio and pool then scanned the yard for Dom. He spotted Kieran and Melinda in a dim corner of the patio, heads together. Rosalee sat with her legs in the water, clutching a gin and tonic. Antony had propped up on his elbows, his body in the pool, his eyes dark and stormy. Margot was talking with Lindsay. His father and Dom were huddled around the grill. AliceLynn and Angelique had disappeared somewhere, probably to smoke a joint.
He wished he had one right now, truth be told—anything to ease the guilty ache in his chest. Not to mention the clear, memory sensation of rightness when Rosalee had been in his arms.
Margot waved in his general direction then turned to leave. He watched her go, pondering how a woman that attractive would get dumped for someone else.
“Show me a beautiful woman, and I’ll show you a man tired of fuckin’ her.”
“Shut up, pig,” he said, catching the soccer ball Dominic tossed his way. “You’re ruining a new generation.” He pointed to Jeffrey, who ran around chasing butterflies.
“All in a good day’s work, I’d say, little bro.” Dom kicked another ball toward a goal he must have dragged out of the shed. “I’m proud of how you turned out.”
“Right,” Aiden muttered as his brother dribbled and kicked the ball around like a pro. Bastard always managed to be good at any sport he tried.
After a few minutes of playing keep-away from Jeffrey, and running him ragged from one end of the yard to the other, Aiden saw that Margot had returned. She worried her bottom lip and held her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun.
“Hey, um, I think I need a jump or something. My car won’t start.”
Antony reemerged from the house, dressed and holding a beer. “I’ll check it out,” he said.
“Antony, he’s our car-fixin’ hero,” Dom crooned in falsetto. He slung Jeffrey around to his shoulders and raced around the yard to the boy’s delight. “Let me know when you need a beer brewed, gorgeous!”
She waved him off. Aiden was struck by her beauty again, but more so by the expression on her face at that moment. Antony seemed uneasy and unsure. Not something Aiden had ever known the man to be around anyone, especially anyone female.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
“It’s fine. But I’m still not coming to therapy.”
“That remains to be seen.”
“You don’t know me very well do you?”
As they headed down the driveway chatting, Aiden was shocked to his core when Antony roared with laughter and bumped Margot’s shoulder.
Now that is a funny turn of events. Funny. And perhaps to my advantage.
But when he caught Rosalee observing the same thing, his heart clenched at the sight of her dismay.
A few hours later, post burgers, brats, and his mother’s secret-recipe baked beans and rice, Kieran and Melinda left, her claiming she had a deposition in Miami she had to catch a flight for Monday, and Kieran mooning after her like a stone-cold fool. AliceLynn and Angelique reappeared to eat, both of them giggly and red-eyed.
The awkward silence between a grim Rosalee and a somewhat dazed-looking Antony made Aiden’s teeth hurt. He kept shifting his gaze from one to the other of them during the candle-and-tiki-torch-lit meal, at one point intercepting an angry, thin-lipped frown from his mother.
After the sun, pool, food, and extreme emotional swings he’d endured, he was utterly drained. He lay in a lounge chair by the pool, under the glow of a large mosquito-repelling torch, drifting back and forth between sleepy and horny, between tired and exhilarated. His phone had buzzed nonstop, but he ignored it in favor of studying the drama unfolding in front of him.
AliceLynn had been given a week to get her stuff packed from both houses with Angelique’s assistance. In the meantime, the two of them were staying in AliceLynn’s soon-to-be old room upstairs. Aiden had hoped to snag that room tonight. The thought of driving back out to Antony’s, only to be confronted with sex sounds he dreaded held little appeal.
By the time he’d lost count of how many beers he’d consumed he figured that maybe he’d just sleep by the pool, if the mosquitoes didn’t carry him away. The floaty, dreamlike sensation got more intense. Sounds around the patio quieted, but the music kept playing, coming from the outdoor speakers attached to somebody’s portable player. Finally, on a desperate whim to get away from there, he sent a text to Renee.
Come pick me up from the Love Estate? I’ve had about enough.
In what seemed like seconds, she stood by the pool, wearing a bikini and a smile. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was dreaming. Without a word she sat on the edge, giving him a great view of her perfect, hourglass shape, before slipping into the water and disappearing.
After checking around to ascertain that no one remained nearby, he dove in. He caught her up against the edge and kissed her, grabbing her tit with one hand, and her ass with the other. He ached for something, and figured he could purge it with the agreeable Renee.
She slipped her hand into his trunks then shifted so her legs were around his waist, and he was inside her, still drunk enough to be a bit fuzzy on the details. All he knew at that moment was how great it was to be there, so he held onto the side of the pool and got off, thrusting and grunting like some kind of loser while she clung to him, whispering encouragement into his ear.
He shuddered and kissed her, wishing very much that he were not that guy, the one who would lust after his own brother’s girlfriend while taking advantage of a perfectly nice woman in his family’s pool. Not that he hadn’t had sex in this pool, probably in this very spot with this very woman, plenty of times.
Renee drew back as he gathered his wits, post second orgasm of the day.
Talk about going from drought to monsoon.
He sighed and pulled out of her accommodating body, keeping his hands on either side of her. “Sorry,” he muttered, cupping her breast. “I owe you for that one.”
“I know a fun way to pay me back,” she whispered, before biting hard on his earlobe and tucking his softening dick back into his shorts. “Go hop in my car, sweetie. I have a surprise waiting for you at my house.”
A slow smile spread across his face. If a nice three-way won’t snap a guy out of a funk, then he should probably turn in his man card. But something about it made him wish he had the nerve to declare something along the lines of, “No thanks. All done for tonight.”
He heaved up and out, grabbed a towel then assisted Renee out. She giggled and slapped his hands off her nipples that stuck out so nicely behind her wet bikini top. When he hear
d a dramatic throat-clearing noise, he realized who made it before he saw her.
“That was disgusting.” Rosalee’s eyes blazed with fury. “I had to turn the television up and convince your parents not to look out the window at your noise.”
He rubbed his eyes, anger settling deep in his chest. Renee tugged her cover over her suit and grabbed her bag then Aiden’s elbow.
“Come on Aiden, honey. We don’t need lectures. We’re grown-ups.”
“Really,” Rosalee said as they passed by her at a quick step. “Might want to think about acting like one, Renee. You know Miss Lindsay is right inside and awake.”
Renee crossed her arms over her chest. Aiden could almost taste the fury oozing from her pores.
“Rosie,” he croaked, sick at his stomach and more tired than he’d ever been in his life.
“Don’t call me that, you pig,” she insisted, her voice tight as she sat with her arms full of pool paraphernalia. “Antony and I are getting married. He asked me tonight. Right before we saw you out here screwing in the pool like a couple of teenagers.”
Aiden opened his mouth, but no words would emerge.
She held up her hand. “No, save your congratulations for another time.” Her eyes were bright with tears and her voice wobbled.
Finally finding his own voice, he said, “Rosalee, don’t. He’s not ready.” And he meant it. Not because by marrying her Antony would remove Rosalee from him, but recalling the strange interaction between Antony and the newcomer Margot all afternoon.
“Don’t give me advice. Now go on, let your girlfriend take you home.” Her emphasis on the word made him flinch.
“Renee, go to the car.”
She sucked in a breath, but he pointed to the darkened driveway, needing just a second alone with Rosalee. Once Renee stomped off, he faced her again. “Interesting way to end a day like this, eh, Rosie?” he said, unable to stop the words from tumbling out. “I mean, you know, considering.”