Uncontrollable

by Shannon Richard

  “You’re serious?”

  “Most definitely,” Harper nodded. “Make a move on him.”

  “I can’t do that!” Beth laughed, feeling a little hysterical. There was no way in hell.

  “Why not?” Grace asked. “He’s clearly interested.”

  “Why not?” Beth repeated the question. “Because it would complicate everything.”

  “Life is already complicated. Absolutely nothing is going to change that. You might as well get a few man-made orgasms out of it,” Hannah said.

  “Here. Here.” Mel clinked her wineglass against Hannah’s before both of them took a drink.

  A man-made orgasm sounded more glorious than Beth could put into words. And the idea of a Tripp-made orgasm? Well, it left her a little breathless. She was pushing her thighs together at just the thought of his hands on her body again. He’d obliterated her brain when he’d kissed her earlier, so there was no telling what the man was capable of in other areas.

  But it couldn’t be just physical, at least not for her. There was always a layer of emotion involved. When it came to sex she’d never been able to separate the two. Could she handle something like that with Tripp?

  What would happen when it ended? Not if, but when. Really? She was already putting an expiration date on it? That didn’t bode well.

  And with that thought taking over her brain, she drained the last of her wine. Then she leaned forward and grabbed the bottle on the table, pouring more into her glass. “Anyone else?”

  “Yes please,” Grace held out her glass.

  Hannah shook her head. “Still working on mine.”

  “Me too,” Mel said.

  “You can top me off.” Harper reached over and gently pushed at her glass, inching it closer to Beth on the coffee table. “Liam just texted me. There’s twenty minutes left before the hockey game is over, so the guys won’t be here for another thirty.”

  They’d all definitely had too much to drink that night and there was no way any of them could drive home. But it had always been the plan that they were going to drink too much, so their husbands had taken the responsibility for picking them up.

  “All right,” Beth said as she settled back into her seat. “Well, somebody else can be in the hot seat for the next thirty minutes. Eenny, meeny, miny, moe.” She pointed at Hannah. “It’s your turn!”

  They spent the next twenty minutes talking and laughing and doing a little more catching up. Beth hadn’t realized just how much she’d needed a night like this. There’d been more times than she could count where she’d laughed so hard her stomach hurt.

  With ten minutes until the guys got there, they headed inside and started cleaning up. Beth was loading the dishwasher with the wineglasses when she started laughing so hard she was crying.

  How could she not when Mel and Harper were telling them about Bennett and Liam putting on a little concert with Hamilton and Dale’s help? The boys had acquired a number of mentors in the last couple of years. Not only were they very close with Bennett; they’d also developed a relationship with Liam and Logan James.

  Not too shabby for the two eighteen-year-olds to have the phone numbers of a country music star and a hockey legend in their phones. Nope, not too shabby at all.

  “So anyway,” Harper told them, drying the Pyrex dish that had earlier held the brownies. “They come out into the living room dressed as the members of One Direction. Tight pants, styled hair, everything.”

  “You’re shitting me.” Grace shook her head as she leaned against the counter.

  “Not even a little bit. And the whole time they kept up with the accents. Didn’t break character once. It was my favorite thing of ever.” Mel grinned.

  “Tell me you have it on film,” Hannah begged, clasping her hands in front of herself and jumping up and down.

  “You bet your sweet ass I do.” Harper nodded, setting the dish on the counter.

  “It is a sweet ass,” Hannah said matter-of-factly. “You can ask my husband and he will tell you all about it.”

  “Of that I have no doubt,” Beth said as the doorbell rang. She headed for the front door, opening it up to reveal Bennett, Jax, and Shep.

  “You’ve come for your wives?” she asked, pulling the door open wider for them all to step inside.

  “Yes ma’am,” Bennett said, stopping in front of her for a hug.

  “They’re in the kitchen.” She nodded before she was pulled into Jax’s embrace.

  “You look lovely as always, Beth,” he said before he followed Bennett down the hallway.

  Last, but certainly not least, Shep entered. He wrapped her up in his arms and lifted her from the ground. “Hello, beautiful!” He kissed her on the cheek before he set her back down and let go of her. “You and the other ladies get good and tipsy?”

  “You betcha.” She nodded as she led him into the kitchen.

  “That’s what I like to hear. Harper,” Shep said as he walked into the kitchen, “Liam will be over in a second. He’s next door with Finn checking out Tripp’s new work on Koko.”

  “Koko?” Mel asked.

  “His Yenko,” Bennett said as he slipped his arm around Mel’s waist and pulled her in close to his body.

  “Was that even English?” Harper raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s a limited edition Chevelle.” Grace was the first to answer.

  Beth didn’t have any clue what a Yenko was, but she at least knew that a Chevelle was a car.

  It was true that both Beth and Grace had family members that were mechanics, but Grace knew a whole hell of a lot more than Beth did. She chalked it up to the fact that both Grace’s brother and grandfather were the owners of King’s Auto, the same shop where Beth’s father worked.

  “I love it when you talk car.” Jax grinned at his wife. “It’s sexy.”

  “If you’d like, I can tell you how a carburetor works when we get home,” she smirked at him.

  Hannah shook her head. “You two are strange.”

  “No argument there. You get all your cookies baked?” Jax asked, looking at Beth.

  “Sure did. They’re ready to go for tomorrow. Wouldn’t have finished as quickly without all the help I got, either. Four extra sets of hands sure does make the process go faster.”

  “What was your job?” Shep asked Hannah.

  “Bagging and tasting.” Hannah grinned at him as he moved closer to her and leaned down to give her a kiss. She was a notoriously bad baker. Her cooking skills went about as far as a frying pan. She did make killer paninis and crepes, but that was pretty much it.

  “Tasting?” Shep raised his eyebrows. “Don’t tell Finn. He was wanting to get a few samples.”

  “Did you tell him he can buy them tomorrow just like everyone else?” Mel put her hands on her hips.

  “Yes,” Bennett nodded. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Tripp come to blows over them.”

  “What?” Beth asked, unable to stop the question from falling out of her mouth.

  “Well, it appeared that Finn was a little jealous of the plate of cookies that Tripp already got.” Shep grinned.

  “And it also looked like Tripp had an issue with anyone else having some of your cookies, Beth,” Jax said.

  “Huh.” Grace’s blond eyebrows rose high. “I wonder why that is?”

  “Probably because he got a taste of something he liked.” Harper looked pointedly at Beth.

  “Okay, I think I’ve had enough of this particular conversation.” Beth clapped her hands together, bringing a finality to it…or so she hoped.

  She had no doubt her cheeks were flaming now…and though she could blame some of that on the wine, it wasn’t the main cause. It didn’t help that everyone standing in the kitchen was looking at her. Seven sets of eyes were a lot to combat when a person was trying to look unaffected by the topic at hand…and considering the topic at hand just so happened to be Tripp? Yeah, looking unaffected wasn’t going to happen.

  Nope!

  To make
matters so much worse, when Beth walked outside five minutes later to see Harper off—all of the other girls had already left with their husbands—her attempt at unaffected went from poor to failing…or more accurately, it went to falling.

  The tip of her flip-flop caught on the top step of the porch and just like that she was falling sideways right into the bushes—the very splintery, spiky, prod-a-person-in-all-of-the-places-no-one-wants-to-be-prodded bushes.

  The absolute best part of it? It all happened right in front of Tripp. He was about ten feet away, standing on the walkway with Liam and Finn, illuminated by the floodlight on the corner of the garage, a light that clearly showed his smile when his eyes landed on her.

  And that was how the ability to walk and think at the same time vanished from Beth’s skill set.

  Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

  * * *

  Tripp looked up as the two women came out of the house. He’d been interested in what Liam was telling him, but the moment his eyes caught on Beth he had no idea what his friend was even talking about anymore.

  All he saw was her…and the next second all he saw was her falling right off the front porch steps.

  As his attention had been entirely on her, he was the first one that noticed what happened, and the first one to move toward her. He was halfway there before she even hit the bushes.

  She landed on her side and the thick brush held her up, as opposed to swallowing her. As he pulled Beth from the bushes and to her feet, he was vaguely aware of the commotion around them. But he was intently focused on her and wasn’t really paying attention to what they were saying—something about her general well-being after her fall, but clearly he was taking care of that.

  Taking care of her.

  Another reason he was more than a little preoccupied was that he was touching her. His hands cupped her elbows, his fingers stretched up the backs of her arms. Even after he’d gotten her steady on her feet, he wasn’t able to let go.

  “You hurt?”

  “Just my pride,” she said as her cheeks flamed red.

  “That it?” He forced himself to let go of one of her arms and reached up to get the twigs out of her hair. The move caused the blond strands that had fallen across her forehead to pull to the side and he immediately noticed the cut right below her hairline. It was about an inch wide and starting to bleed.

  “Shit, Beth, you’re bleeding.”

  “I am?” She moved her hand up to touch her forehead but Tripp grabbed it and pulled it away.

  “Your hands are covered in dirt.” He looked down at the one he was now holding, taking in the scrapes across her palm. “Come on.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her into the house. “Let me get you cleaned up.”

  “You know I’m capable of cleaning myself up, right? I’m a nurse,” she said as he led her down the hallway.

  “And I’m a firefighter and certified EMT…and I’m not drunk.”

  “I’m not drunk either!” She stopped walking, pulling her hand from his.

  He turned around, taking in her narrowed eyes and the stubbornness transforming the set of her mouth.

  “Then why did you just fall into the bushes?”

  Her cheeks managed to flame redder, embarrassment winning out over the outrage from just seconds ago. “I tripped.”

  “Come on, Beth. Either we can do this the easy way and I can get you fixed up, or we can do this the hard way.”

  “And what’s the hard way?” Her gaze somehow narrowed even more.

  “I pick you up and carry you.”

  Her eyes went wide, with two emotions flickering in those blue depths: first agitation and then want. He wondered if they were separate, or if she was agitated because she wanted option number two.

  She glared up as she walked around him. “I take back our truce.”

  Tripp couldn’t stop himself from grinning as he followed. She rounded the corner of the hallway, heading through the kitchen to the sink.

  He’d never been past the front door of the house, and he did a quick scan of the space as he walked through, more than impressed with what he saw. He had a decent kitchen, but hers was almost double in size.

  His attention moved back to Beth, who was a few steps in front of him. She was already at the sink, pulling a paper towel from the holder, and being careful not to touch the part that she brought up and held to her forehead.

  “Where is your first aid kit?” he asked her.

  “Under the left sink in the bathroom.” She pointed to the door at the back of the kitchen with her free hand.

  “Stay here, I’ll go grab it,” he said as he headed off in that direction.

  “Can you stop telling me what to do?” she called out as he walked away.

  “Nope.” He shook his head as he crossed over the threshold and reached for the light switch.

  The second the room was illuminated he came up short. He was in the master bedroom…Beth’s bedroom.

  There was something about seeing her bed—about actually laying eyes on where she slept at night—that had him pausing for just a second. It felt…intimate, an intimacy that he wanted more of.

  He wanted more of whatever this thing was with her. He’d wanted it ever since he’d tasted her.

  He pulled his gaze from the bed and headed for the bathroom, turning on the light and taking a quick glance around as he went to the sink. Everything—from the tile floors, sunken tub, stand-up shower, sink, and cabinets—was white.

  He grabbed the first aid kit from underneath the sink and headed back through the bedroom, doing his level best to avoid looking at her bed this time around. All he needed was to get distracted again…to think about being in that bed with her.

  Not the time, buddy.

  When he walked into the kitchen, Harper, Liam, and Finn were all standing around Beth.

  “You guys can head home,” Beth was saying as Tripp set the kit on the counter and went to wash his hands. “No use sticking around.”

  “You sure? I don’t want to miss the second act.” Harper was fighting a grin that played at the corner of her mouth as she looked between Tripp and Beth.

  “There won’t be a second act.” Beth frowned, shaking her head at her friend.

  “You sure about that?” Finn asked. “You got any popcorn we can pop?”

  Beth’s frown turned more severe. “Keep it up, Finn, and Tripp will be patching up more than me.”

  “Come on.” Liam slipped his arm around his wife’s waist and took a step toward the hallway. “Tripp can handle it.”

  Harper focused on Tripp. “You better take care of her. Otherwise you’ve got me to deal with.”

  “That a threat, Harper?” Tripp asked as he grabbed a paper towel and dried his hands.

  “Nope.” She smiled sweetly. “It’s a promise.”

  “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ve cleaned more than a few cuts in my day.”

  “That’s good to know, but it wasn’t what I was talking about.” Harper moved her gaze to Beth. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  A fresh flush of red colored Beth’s cheeks at Harper’s words. “Yes. Tomorrow. Bye!”

  Everyone filed out of the kitchen and down the hallway as Tripp unsnapped the latch on the first aid kit. It was fully stocked and neatly organized, and he immediately found everything that he needed to get her cleaned up.

  “So,” he said as he turned to her and moved closer. “You going to be a difficult patient or a good one?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “Of course you haven’t. Let me see it.”

  She dropped her hand as he reached up and brushed the hair back from her forehead. His fingers grazed her skin and her next breath was sharp. He knew the reaction had nothing to do with him touching the cut and everything to do with him touching her.

  “It’s minor,” he said as he got a closer look. “It’s already stopped bleeding.”

  “I told you I could take care of it myself.” />
  “You did.” He nodded as he grabbed a washcloth from the kit.

  “But you didn’t believe me.”

  “Oh, Beth, I more than believed you.” He turned the sink on, waiting for the water to warm a little. “I just ignored it,” he hold her as he fought a grin.

  “Are you laughing at me?” Her face got redder, though he was sure it had less to do with embarrassment now. “I’m glad my falling was so humorous for you.”

  “Actually, I didn’t find you falling funny at all.” He stuck the cloth under the water before wringing it out. “Though that string of expletives was rather interesting.”

  “What?” She looked up at him, horrified.

  He pressed the cloth around the cut and started to clean it. “You have the mouth of a truck driver.”

  “I didn’t realize I’d said anything out loud. And I would prefer to compare it to the mouth of a sailor.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because, in my experience, sailors are much sexier than truck drivers.”

  “That so?” He paused from his ministrations as he looked down into her face.

  “Yes,” she nodded. “It’s the whole uniform thing.”

  “So you like a man in uniform? Well, that’s convenient,” he said before he went back to cleaning the wound.

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because I wear a uniform.”

  “And?”

  “And…” His eyes were on hers again. “You like me.”

  “Well, aren’t you sure of yourself?”

  He set the cloth on the counter as he took a step closer to her. Her eyes dilated and her breathing became shallow. “I’m sure of a number of things,” he said as he leaned down, his lips hovering just above hers. “And I’m sure that you like me, mostly because of how you kissed me back.”

  “And how was that?”

  “Like you had no control.”

  Before he could give in to the need to kiss her again—and before he made himself go from semi-hard to a full-on erection—he pulled away. The noise that escaped her throat was unmistakably a whimper.

  Tripp went back to his task of getting Beth patched up, trying really damn hard not to be so smug about the effect he’d just had on her. But it would’ve taken a much humbler man than he was to succeed at that, and it didn’t help that she caught the look on his face. Her eyes narrowed but surprisingly enough she didn’t say anything.