by Amy J. White
Chapter 3
Chaz
Standing in this place peels away the scabs I thought would get better every time I came back here. Finding Rachel, seeing her bright smile, pierces the darkness of pain surrounding my heart but it doesn’t completely patch it up.
When I found her standing at her sister’s grave, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. She looked so damn beautiful; I lost all thought of what I might say to her. Then, she ran at me, practically tackling me and it makes everything – at least between us – seem okay.
I feel her burning gaze at the side of my head. In my peripheral, I see questions swimming in her eyes. Can’t blame her, asshole. You up and left remember?
Rain pelting down on me reminds me of that moment and I tense, drawing in a sharp gasp. My knees become weak, shaking and threatening to tear me from my feet. I try to keep myself calm in Rachel’s presence. I don’t want her to worry or fret.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” She says. Hearing the phrase usually made me angry, but for some reason, it calms me, letting me know that it’s okay to start letting go.
I let her lead me to the opening of the cemetery, my mind threatens to return to the day Nick died when I stop and glance at the mountain.
We make it to my truck where I somehow manage to help Rachel inside without flying apart like an emotional basket case.
I don’t start the engine, resting my forehead against the leather head rest. Rachel waits beside me, her hands fidgeting in her lap.
“You don’t have to tell me what happened, Chaz. I’m not mad.”
Her voice breaks through my pit of self-loathing. I look at her, eyes wide to find her gentle smile as she raises a hand to cup my face.
Cracks start forming behind my defenses when I let her lean in to brush her lips over mine. God, I wanted this. Wanted her. But what could I give her in the shattered state I’m in?
Man up. Tell her what happened. She’s a friend. A friend I want as more. “Okay, I’ll tell you. Just not here. Not in the rain and not staring at the mountain.”
She nods and I start my truck, forgetting to ask her if she’s brought her car or not.
We go back to the Choc N’Chip where Rachel’s assistant has locked up for the night. She guides me to a place to park and we get out of the truck to enter in a door she uses for deliveries. I ask her if Casey still drives the truck from the dairy farm. She replies by telling me no.
“Not since he’s had Adam. He works primarily for Ethan who happens to have added goats and cows to his growing animal family,” She says with a smile.
I chuckle.
We walk past the front counter to the place where the magic happens. As if she were about to re-open, Rachel pulls out some pans which she sets on the wide white counter in the middle of the room.
I watch as she goes to the freezer to pull out a large sheet covered with what looks to be like cookies pre-prepared to go into the over. My head tilts, wondering at what she could possibly be wishing to bake this late at night.
A coy grin forms over lips almost the same color as her strawberry blonde hair. Her wide hips sway like a dancer, drawing my eyes to her ass each time she turns away from me.
God, I want my hands on those big, beautiful curves. Those perfect thighs over my shoulders as I bury myself inside her. Wait, what am I thinking? You idiot, you just got back here.
I can’t help myself the more my cock makes its desires known. My childhood friend is becoming something more right in front of me.
Rachel starts to hum as she puts on her apron, tying it and her hair behind her. “Remember when I used to bring you sweets?”
How could I forget? Like a psychic she always seemed to know what I need when I needed it. Each time she told me the story behind the reason why she chose to make the dessert she did, I would listen like a child hearing fairytales in front of the fireplace at Christmas time.
I nodded.
“Well, I think tonight, I’m going to make something we both know means the world to you.” Her usually bright eyes darken the lower her voice goes.
For the life of me, I fight every carnal, very male desire ramming itself through my body. Say something. Anything!
I plead with myself over and over. My throat feels like I’ve swallowed a choking lump.
“Chaz?”
Snap out of it! I shake my head. “Yeah?”
“Do you remember the treat you told me was your favorite?” She leans forward, her hands splayed on the counter where she’s assembled the things she needs for cooking.
It works in such a way; her breasts are pushed together, scrunching up the top of her shirt enough to allow me a peek at the globes.
The shaking in my legs returns; forcing me to use the counter behind me to hold up my weight. Licking my lips, all I can think about is yanking that shirt apart and taking those glorious globes for myself. If chocolate happens to be involved, that’s alright with me.
It wouldn’t be the first time I fantasized about what it might feel like to take Rachel in her own domain.
Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll entertain this cooking session and do a little playing of my own. My plan is set. Time to make Rachel Ellroy more than just a friend.
Chapter 4
Rachel
What am I doing? I think to myself as I watch Chaz back into the counter. That perfect tongue I want to suck into my mouth comes out to play with his lips. What is he thinking? Is it like what I am?
I know I meant to do what I did when it came to sashaying around the kitchen, sneaking teasing and flirting glances, then going on about my business.
The question I asked and the position I’m in are doing exactly what I wanted them to. I know Chaz remembers his favorite dessert. When he was down in his mood in high school, I made it for him all the time.
Chocolate Chip Pecans.
I serve these cookies every day, secretly calling them “Chazzies” in homage to the man standing in front of me.
“Chaz, do you remember?” The last word has a slight rise in tone in the off-chance he has forgotten.
He smiles a crooked grin while nodding. “Chocolate chip pecan cookies!”
He does remember. “Yeah! I call them Chazzies. Would you like to make them with me?”
A bark of laughter escapes Chaz. It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. “You named them after me?”
I nod.
It brings the cutest blush out to play on his cheeks. I take the moment to tease him about how easily it’s become to make him blush. He rolls his eyes.
From the nearby rack, I take a more masculine apron instead of the usual cream and blue frilly aprons the women who work for me wear and hand it to him.
At first, I wonder if he plans to actually put it on. To my surprise, he does and we begin to prepare the ovens for our first batch of Chazzies.
The whole time, sexual tension buzzes between our two bodies like lightning in the confines of the rather large kitchen.
Chaz takes every opportunity to rub against me, brush a hand over my ass, or lean in as close as he can.
After the cookies are the in the oven, I try to get some distance to control my raging hormones by taking the dishes to wash in the three compartment sink.
In seconds, Chaz is right there, leaning in close, his breath hot when he says, “Anything I can do for you?”
Tiny hairs on the back of my neck sharpen. Shivers run down my spine. My heart is a humming bird in the cage of my chest.
Chaz’s strong hand on my hip grips and turns me around so my ass is against the cold metal. The heat of the water brings about beads of sweat beneath my shirt.
We are now incredibly close, staring into one another’s eyes. Chaz’s are dark, almost stormy with lust. I swallow when he draws close to my lips.
He’s done. He’s done waiting! Done with flirting! Done totally with the innocence of being friends!
In my heart I want this, closing my eyes when his thumb begins to pet my l
ower lip.
“I’m sorry.” He doesn’t let me reply. “I’m sorry I never called when Sandy died. I’m sorry I left without saying anything.”
“Chaz…..” It sounds like a breath of air.
He keeps petting my lips, making them slick. “No, I need to say this. We were best friends, always there for one another. You did all you could to get me through the shit storm that was my mom. I should’ve been there to protect you when you lost your sister.”
Tears well up in my eyes at the sincerity in his tone. The petting drives the wetness in my panties to new heights, making me clench my thighs together.
As if he knows, Chaz moves his hand to the small of my back, pushing us closer.
Then it happens. Chaz tells me about the dark day he lost his brother.
“Nick and I went our separate ways that day. You’ll remember if you think about it. The one with the worst parts of the storm?”
I remembered. It was the day I watched the news, scared to death Chaz might be hurt or worse.
“Nick popped over the radio, saying he’d found some hikers stranded on a rock surrounded by the slides. They didn’t have much time left before the muck overtook them so Nick did all he could think to do.”
Chaz described a make-shift zip line Nick worked with the hikers to create. The point of it was the hikers would secure a line to a still-standing tree nearby and Nick would come over with some gear to help get the couples’ children across.
“He was almost done getting the last child over.” Chaz’s eyes squeeze shut. “When the line snapped then Nick fell into the muck, so did the daughter. Somehow he fought through the thick river, handed the girl to her mom and then…”
He didn’t need to tell me Nick had lost his battle against the slide and drowned in the mud.
Without any prompting at all, I drew our mouths together in a passionate, comforting kiss.
You beautiful, strong, brave man, we have the same pain. I want to heal you.
Chapter 5
Chaz
Recalling the memories hurt like hell. I’d been on the other end of the radio when Nick started heaving a breath as he battled to get the couple’s daughter back to them. I heard the sloshing of the mud, crunching of the trees, and last desperate words my brother uttered to me before he died.
“Be strong,” He’d said. On a breathy laugh he added, “And for Christ’s sake, stop playing with Rachel. Make an honest woman out of her, jackass.”
As Rachel and I stand in her kitchen, our mouths connected, I know it’s now or never. Heaving her thick thighs over my hips, I push us to nearest wall where I attack her mouth, my groin connected with her sex beneath her jeans.
She moans into my mouth when I start a slow grind, the harder than hell cock in my pants straining to stay behind my zipper. Sweet smells of her arousal waft into my nostrils, dragging a growl from the back of my throat.
My hands grip her thighs as I continue my onslaught against her mouth, pushing close enough my chest is squashed against her breasts.
“You’re so damn beautiful.” The words come out on a rush of air against her lips. Another moan escapes her. “I’m not letting you go again, Rach. This time, I’m making an honest woman out of you.”
Rachel’s eyes open wide, letting me know she knows exactly what I mean.
To add to the heat emanating from our conjoined bodies, I say, “I’m going to fuck you so deep you won’t know where I end and you begin.”
Vixen-like eyes accompany the hungry lick of her pink tongue over her lips and I know she agrees with me.
Smells of the freshly baked cookies fill the room, mixing with the aroma of sex and pent up lust.
I let Rachel to the floor after one last taste of her, my hand holding her ass cheek while the other goes to work shoving the buttons of her shirt apart like an expert.
Her hands work the hem of my shirt, easing it up. “Lift up your arms for me.” I do as she asks, lifting my arms so she can pull my shirt free, dropping it to the ground.
“Hot as hell,” She says.
I grin, finishing with her shirt, leaving on the ground next to mine.
The entire moment is full of passion, it’s the salt of sweat mixed with the smell of sugar. Taboo because of the place we’re in which adds to the rush.
While still in her bra, I reconnect with my woman, hands in her hair and on her ass, raising her leg to wrap around my thigh.
My lips drift from her mouth down her jaw where I nip the lobe. “Take this off,” I say, tugging at her bra.
She hurries to do what I ask leaving both our chests bare against one another.
Christ, her breasts are incredible. Not overly huge, perfectly round and already pinking with the sex blush. I waste no time in getting in close taking one of nipples in my mouth.
“Ah!” She gasps when I softly bit, swirl my tongue around the nub and nip again.
The whole time her fingers are wrapped in my hair, gripping it tight enough to sting. I let out a slight hiss.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry. Am I hurting you?” Rachel asks.
God, this woman is perfect. Heart as large as the Earth. “No, babe. I like a little pain with pleasure.”
We resume where we left off with me moving to the other nipple while my finger and thumb continues to pinch the already hard one.
Rachel’s body reacts better than any wet dream I’ve ever had about her. She begins thrusting her hips forward.
“Chaz, please. Touch me. Something!” She almost shouts.
As I continue working her breast, my free hand drifts slowly down her stomach, finding it sticky with sweat from the heat of our bodies and the oven, to the button of her jeans.
It takes some time but I manage to open it, sliding my hand under her panties. The whole time Rachel gasps and moans. Her sounds push my desire for her to new heights. I long to tear her jeans from her and bury myself in the wetness drenching my fingers.
“Christ, you’re so wet,” I say.
My finger slides down the wet creases to her opening. I run the pad of my middle finger over the hot, swollen opening. My thumb finds the hardening nub at the top of her vagina.
“Ah! Chaz!” Rachel’s voice is a mixed of a squeak and a whine.
I know she’s close. The minute I put my fingers inside her slick wetness, she’ll explode in a body-wracking orgasm – if the trembling in her legs isn’t a clear indication, I don’t know what is.
Rachel continues to whimper. Sometime through those whimpers, she says, “In me. Chaz, put them in me.”
A snicker leaves me as I do as she asks, thrusting two thick fingers into her in a single smooth motion. I’m not gentle when it comes to taking, not all the time. I like a good hard fuck when it comes to claiming what I always knew was meant to be mine.
I’m no virgin. There have been others in the city, but none have satiated the nagging ache I felt.
Being with Rachel filled me in more ways than I’d ever known. In high school, we joked about having sex just to see what it was like but never followed through.
For me, it’s torture to have her so close to flooding my hand with her sweet juices and not being able to pull my jealous cock out to replace my fingers. Not yet, at least.
Rachel writhes under the relentless attack on her body. She moans, groans, whimpers and utters soft kitten cries.
Just a few more. A few more and she’ll fly apart. I swallow her sounds as my mouth takes hers. The muscles inside her tighten, her legs a vice around my hips.
There it is. The edge I’ve waited for. I push my fingers inside her, pulling another cry as she finally comes around them.
Chapter 6
Rachel
My breath comes in shallow bursts from the amazing orgasm I have just experienced. This moment is more amazing than anything I’ve dreamed about regarding my first intimate time with Chaz. He doesn’t remove the talented fingers from within me, twitching the tips in a “come here” motion, hitting the perfect spot to cause
me to want to come again.
Warm air hits my neck and throat when Chaz leans the bridge of his nose against me, his own breath exiting his lungs in the same short bursts.
“Wow. Just…wow,” He says into my throat.
I whimper at the loss of the pressure of his fingers. He chuckles. “Don’t worry, babe. This is just an introduction.” His hand cups my sex. “As soon as I get back from the hunting trip with Ethan and Casey, I’m burying my dick in you so very deep, you won’t want me to leave.”
Thinking about what he promised excites me. A lifelong dream finally coming true in a place so special to me, it’s like family.
Dinging of the cookies in the oven makes both of us jump. Chaz lets me put my feet to the ground and we proceed to get dressed so I can rush to the oven to avoid burning the Chazzies while the man behind their inspiration washes his hands.
Along with the smell of sugar, I catch the faint remnants of the scent of our arousal. It is such a delightful aroma, I close my eyes, surprised I am so attracted to it.
I pull out the sheet pan, setting it on the large cutting board. “They need to cool off.”
Chaz lets out a burst of laughter.
My head tilts. “What’s so funny?”
He shakes his head, waving his hand in dismissal. “They need to cool off. Kind of like us, huh?”
Sudden understanding at what he means makes me laugh too. He isn’t wrong. I know both of us still feel the effects of the electric chemistry between us.
I roll my eyes, shaking my head. “Alright, you funny comedian. Get that sexy ass over here and tell me how much you like your cookies.”
Chaz’s eyes go half-mast, his pupils darkening. To add to the torture he slowly walks over to me, exaggerating every motion of his perfect body.