Deliciously Thick (Naked Brews Book 2)

by KB Jacobs

  Rubbing along the back of my neck, I looked around the small restaurant to make sure no one close to us was paying attention. We sat back in the corner away from most of the patrons, but the restaurant was small...just a narrow space wide enough for a high counter with barstools on one side and a row of small square tables down the other. Our table was the most private in the place since it was in the back by the bathrooms, but that didn’t mean there weren’t listening ears nearby.

  I wasn’t sure how much to share with Simon. Like the rest of the world, he thought Melissa and I were a real couple, the fewer people who knew the truth the better. But Simon could be trusted, and I was floundering.

  “It’s all for show,” I admitted.

  He stilled and cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

  “Here’s the thing...and you can’t tell anyone about this.”

  Simon held up his hand. “Wait. Don’t tell me anything I can’t tell Nicola. That doesn’t work with us. We learned a long time ago that we couldn’t hide things from one another. Not that I plan on going home and discussing your pitiful love life with her, but I won’t lie to her about anything.”

  And that’s exactly why I needed his advice on this. He was doing this relationship thing and doing it well...so much better than I seemed to be.

  I nodded. “I get that. Nicola’s fine. I consider her an extension of you, and I trust both of you implicitly.” In fact, I might even need to go to her for advice, too, if Simon didn’t come through for me with some sort of workable plan.

  “Then spill.”

  I took a deep breath. “What you saw yesterday with Melissa was all fake. We came to an agreement. I gave her a place to live, and she agreed to make appearances with me to help fix my image.”

  Simon raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. “I saw moments between the two of you when it seemed”—he winced—“like there was more. Tell me you aren’t coercing her to have sex with you for a bed to sleep in.”

  “No! It’s not like that. Except it's not all fake anymore either.”

  "So there is something more?"

  "Maybe." I blew out a breath to collect my thoughts. "We’d agreed she could move in and come with me to competitions and such as my girlfriend. That’s it. It was all supposed to be fake...for appearances only. Then it wasn’t.” Because we’d slept together, and that made everything else confusing. “And I thought it was all good—really good in fact. Things have been great. But there are moments when I just can’t get a read off her. She runs so hot, and then her attitude changes, and I feel like my balls are going to freeze and fall off. After the competition yesterday, she blew me off, and things have been weird ever since.”

  Simon sat back and crossed his arms with a smirk on his face. “I never thought I’d see it. You really like her, and for once, you have to work at getting the girl. You can’t just snap your fingers and flash those pearly whites of yours and have her jump into your bed. I like her even more now.”

  “I’m glad my pain entertains you.” Why had I thought discussing this crap would make things any better? “Never mind, I shouldn’t have brought it up. I need to accept that it’s just really good, hot sex and not let anything else mess with my head.”

  “No, no, I’m giving you a hard time, but I’ll be serious.” Simon took a sip from his beer. “I don’t think it’s just sex. I think for the first time you’re seeing a glimpse of what a real relationship could be like, and that’s why you feel so lost. She’s living with you, right? How’s that going?”

  “Good, until yesterday.” I smiled as I thought about the little Union Jack post-its Melissa had started leaving me. But there hadn’t been any this morning, and I’d missed them more than ever. My chest hurt.

  “You mean yesterday when you were a complete jerkwad at the ski competition?" Simon raised a knowing eyebrow at me.

  My jaw dropped open. "Me? I was a complete gentleman on the slopes."

  "I saw that chick hand you a pair of lacy underwear. And if I saw it, I guarantee you Melissa did too." Simon sighed. "Look, you're my best friend, but you know how it is when you're out there in front of the cameras and groupies. Triple B takes over. Maybe she’s like the rest of us who really know you and has decided that she likes Anthony better.”

  Could it be that simple? And did I want a real relationship with Melissa? Like boyfriend and girlfriend? I’d never done that with anyone. My life had always been about the party, and that meant not letting a girl think there’d be a second night. But things were different with Melissa. I wanted there to be a second and third night. Hell, I wanted there to be a second and third month, a second and third year. Even the thought of second and third decades didn’t sound awful.

  I stilled with the shocking realization. I could see her being forever.

  A knowing smile flashed across Simon’s face. “You’ve never had this before. You care about how things turn out with her, and that’s very different from the way you normally approach women. You say she runs hot and cold...have you straight out asked her what’s going on? Women are complex. They have a whole lot more going on in their heads than we do.”

  I swallowed and looked away. “That’s probably part of the problem. She’s so smart. Did I tell you she graduated from high school two years early? She’s only twenty-two and has been completely self-sufficient since graduating from college at twenty with a dual degree. What would she want with a ski bum like me?”

  “Okay, now you’re being an idiot. I’m going to chalk it up to sex hormones messing with your head.”

  I almost said something about being a chick, but hell, I was acting more emotional than most women I knew. I was so screwed.

  “So, what’s your advice?”

  “The whole point of this charade is to show your sponsors that you're not Triple B anymore. Now you need to prove it to Melissa. Whenever you are out in public, Triple B shows up. Take her out on a date with Anthony. Show her that's the real you. Find out what’s going on inside her head, and you may find out that she’s real girlfriend material and not just a PR stunt.”

  A date? I could do that. Be real? That might be a little bit harder, especially if we went out in public where I always had to put on the snowboarding persona. I wasn’t even sure I knew how to be normal in public. I’d been Triple B for so long. Would she like just plain old Anthony who had no prospects beyond life on the ski slopes?

  Chapter 26

  Melissa

  I grabbed my sweater off the bed and hustled back down the stairs. In my rush to get out of the house as fast as humanly possible, I’d left without it this morning and spent the first half of the day shivering in our office. I could’ve come back to get it. It’s not as if Lake ran a sweatshop. But I was being a big baby and avoiding Anthony as much as I possibly could.

  I still couldn’t justify the differences in him when it came to regular Anthony and Triple B. I liked Anthony...a lot. Triple B was a jerk, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near him. But they were the same guy, and that messed with my head.

  When he’d sent a text to let me know he was running out for lunch, I took advantage and rushed over. Not that I didn’t want to see him—the opposite really. I wanted to see him too much...Anthony though. Naked and hovering over me seconds before driving his giant cock into my waiting sex. Not that other guy, making a joke of me to his so-called friends.

  But they were the same bloody guy. My brain told me to stay away from Anthony while my heart told me to hold on to Anthony. Right now his sponsors needed Anthony to be present, but when this farce ended, would he be Triple B all the time? I couldn’t handle that. I didn’t want to handle that. I’d be okay if I never had to deal with Triple B again, but that wasn’t reality.

  I paused at the doorway to the turret, my core muscles clenching as I fought off the need to run back upstairs and fetch Prince Harry out of his box. The last thing I needed was for Anthony to come home and find me pleasuring myself while I thought about him.

  Downs
tairs, the front door opened, and footsteps echoed down the front hall.

  I silently cursed myself for not being faster. Resisting Anthony’s charms was getting harder every day, and it turned out I wasn’t very good at casual sex. Despite knowing better, I was falling for the real guy...Anthony...and that would only end in heartache. Alex would be so disappointed in me.

  I locked the door behind me and tiptoed my way through the second floor and down the extravagant marble staircase. If I could just make it out without Anthony realizing I was here, I wouldn’t have to stare into his deep brown eyes and clutch my hands behind my back to keep from reaching for him.

  More sound came from the kitchen—Anthony opening and shutting the refrigerator door. I crept across the entranceway like a cat burglar, holding my breath to keep from making even the tiniest noise. I turned the doorknob and eased open the wide oak door.

  “Melissa?”

  I spun around to find Lauren standing in the entrance hallway, one hand on her hip and the other holding a carton of eggs. My held breath rushed out of me in a sigh of relief.

  “Lauren, what are you doing here?” I closed the door behind me and took a few steps back into the house.

  She held up the carton of eggs. “Just dropping off some groceries. If I didn’t do it, Lord knows that boy would starve.” She spun around and waved a hand over her shoulder. “Come on back, and we’ll have a cup of tea.”

  “I don’t really—”

  Lauren paused and looked back over her shoulder, one eyebrow lifting, an expression that made it clear this wasn’t a request. “You have time for tea.”

  I followed Lauren into the kitchen and sat silently on a barstool while she put away the rest of the groceries and set a kettle of water on the stove.

  “How’s the renovation going over at Naked Brews?” She opened the cupboard and pulled down two mugs, moving about the kitchen as easily as if it was hers.

  I shifted uneasily on the stool. “It’s...fine. Right on schedule.”

  “Good. Good.” She pulled a tea chest down off the top of the fridge and offered the open box to me. “And your apartment renovations are getting done, too?”

  Nodding, I grabbed a packet of tea from the box without even looking. The kettle let out a sharp whistle. Lauren retrieved it and poured us both a mug of steaming water. She opened her tea packet and dipped it gracefully into the mug.

  “How much longer until it’s all complete?”

  I dunked my tea bag and tried to let the soothing aroma ease my racing pulse. Lauren and I had had dozens of conversations over a mug of tea, but I got the impression she wasn’t interested in discussing her latest read. “Probably another two months until everything is finished and I can move back in.”

  Lauren lifted her mug to blow into her tea and raised another eyebrow at me. “So you are planning to move back into the apartment?”

  I choked on my sip of scalding hot tea. Setting the mug down, I focused on schooling my face into a look of confusion, pretending as if I hadn’t thought one million times about what it would be like to keep living in Anthony’s tower with him. “Of course. I really appreciate Anthony giving me a place to stay, but I can’t live here forever.” Because this was all one great big game of pretend.

  “Can we just cut the baloney for a minute?” Lauren sat her mug down and leaned against the counter on her elbows. “This is gonna sound like the worst kind of meddling mother, but you are the perfect woman for my baby boy.”

  My heart leapt into my throat, and I stared at Lauren open-mouthed. “It might look that way, but surely Anthony told you this whole girlfriend scenario is just a way to make sure his sponsors don’t drop him. In a few months, he’ll have a shiny new contract, my apartment will be ready, and we can both get back to living our lives.”

  “And yet I don’t think that will make either one of you very happy.”

  It wouldn’t. But at least I’d get to leave with my heart in one piece.

  “You didn’t see Anthony at the competition yesterday.” I shook my head and forced my mouth into a smile that felt anything but happy. “There were gorgeous women everywhere, practically throwing themselves at him. And from the smiles he gave them, I don’t think he minded one bit.”

  “And yet just a few days ago, the two of you were doing unmentionable things in my bathroom.”

  My mouth fell open, and I nearly dropped my mug of tea. Bloody hell. “You know?”

  “That condo is not soundproof, and at my age, Tony and I haven’t used condoms in quite a while.” She winked.

  “I’m—” Mortified. Dying right here on this kitchen stool. Never going to be able to go to book club ever again.

  “Please, you’re both adults.” She waved a hand at me.

  I cringed and tried to be as cool about it as Lauren. “But that doesn’t change Anthony being one person around me and someone else completely the minute his feet hit snow.”

  Lauren closed her eyes and took a slow sip. “Do you know the story of how Anthony got started in snowboarding?”

  My brain stuttered with the fast-changing conversation, but I shook my head, eager to distance myself from further talk of Anthony taking me from behind in his parents’ bathroom.

  “He was young, maybe ten or eleven. It all happened so fast. One day, he was skateboarding at the local park, and the next we were moving across the country so he could train for his first snowboarding competition.” Her voice was soft and sad. “He was a natural, and it didn’t take long for him to reach the professional level and everything that came with it.”

  “You say it as if him being a professional snowboarder is a bad thing.”

  Lauren shook her head. “Not all of it. My baby comes alive on a snowboard, and until recently, I had never seen him happier than when he was competing.”

  I took a sip of my tea and ignored the insinuation that Anthony’s recent happiness had anything to do with me. “So what’s the bad part?”

  “All the rest of it.” Lauren gave me her own sad smile. “Once he went pro, Anthony wasn’t my little boy anymore. He was a product, and everyone wanted a piece of the sales. He was young and gained a reputation for being wild and fearless in competition. The sponsors ate it up, and Triple B was born.”

  “But that’s not what they want anymore.”

  Lauren stirred her tea and looked out over the pristine kitchen. “No, they’ve decided to retire that particular product line. But nothing’s really changed. They’ll come up with some new product, and Anthony will be forced to morph into that so he can sell more snowboards, gloves, and ski caps.”

  A chill went down my back. In public, Anthony was a lady-killing superstar, at the gym he was a dedicated athlete pushing his body to peak performance, in private he was a coach for the local high school team. And in the bedroom...another shiver ran down my spine.

  “It’s none of my business, and Anthony would have my tongue if he knew I was in here, meddling.” Lauren finished her tea and set the mug in the empty sink. She walked around the island and laid a soft, warm hand on top of mine. “He’s a complicated boy, my Anthony. But at the end of the day, even the most complicated among us is only looking for love. Enjoy your tea, sweetheart.”

  She grabbed her purse and walked out of the kitchen without another word.

  I sat in stunned silence while my cup grew cold. Everything on the surface of Anthony’s life made it clear that we had no business being together. But how much of that was the real Anthony, and how much of that was Triple B? Did he even know?

  Could I love one side of Anthony and survive the other? Was I willing to risk finding out?

  Chapter 27

  Anthony

  The console for the security system beeped, and I watched on the tiny monitor in the kitchen as Melissa came into the house later that evening. I wiped my hands on my jeans and pushed the call button. “Melissa, I have some dinner made if you’d like to come into the kitchen.”

  She startled and looked up, he
r eyes wide with surprise. “I’ll be there in a moment,” she yelled at the ceiling.

  I chuckled. She got thrown every time I used the house speakers, and she was so cute. I really should clue her in on how the intercom system worked, but it was fun to play the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.

  The security system had video feed, so I was able to watch her as she shrugged off her coat and hung it up in the closet. She wore jeans, hiking boots, and a tight little blue sweater that I’d bet good money matched the color of her eyes. As I tried to see if it did or not, I realized how tired she looked. This video wasn’t the best quality, but I could still see her exhaustion.

  I wanted to take care of her. Maybe she’d let me. I switched off the video feed and lit a couple of candles on top of the granite island as she walked into the kitchen.

  “What’s all this?” Her eyes roved over the platter of cheeses, crackers, and fruit. She glanced up at me warily, and I couldn’t blame her. Simon was right about how I acted yesterday at the competition. Now I had to show her the real me.

  “This is dinner.” I circled the island and gently pushed her down onto one of the barstools at the end. I wanted her to see me, Anthony, without Triple B casting a dark shadow over us. “But before you get too impressed, you need to know I didn’t do any of this. I just brought it home and plated and reheated. There’s a new brick oven pizza place out at The Edge. I thought we should try it out and see if it was worthy of visiting sometime.”

  I tilted my head and examined her. Definitely tired. “You look like you’ve had a long day. Would you like a glass of wine?” I reached across the island, grabbing a glass for her and the bottle that I had already opened to breathe.

  She stilled at the brush of my body against her arm, and I stifled a smile even as I told my cock to stand down. She needed rest tonight.

  “That sounds heavenly, but I probably shouldn’t. Alcohol will just put me to sleep.”